I didn’t get the chance to ask her if there was another reason besides the will to put Esmeralda at the top of the suspect list. The evil ghosts were trying to rip through their tethers and cross over into the world for real. It wasn’t just the ones that had been in the house already either.
More started to come like moths to a flame. Ginger and I had seconds before we’d be overwhelmed. I tried to close the circle as fast as I could, but a spirit slipped through untethered.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Shoot,” I exclaimed and took off after the spirit that was headed for the kitchen.
I cast the Frosty the Ghost spell to freeze the spirit in place. It wasn’t the best spell option available, but it was all I could think of on the spot.
You cannot move!
Your arms and legs are stuck!
Your body is encased in frozen muck!
The spirit froze in place, but it was taking all of my energy to hold him. Ginger scrambled up next to me and assisted me in keeping the ghost from breaking free of my spell.
He looked like a young man. I got the feeling that he was sad and lost, and that was better than an evil spirit. I still couldn’t let him go. His sadness could have been a ruse to get me to let my guard down. And even if he wasn’t purely malevolent, a mourning spirit could still inflict a lot of havoc on the world. He had to go back.
“No one is safe,” he said somberly. “No one.”
That sounded ominous. Did I want to ask him what he meant, or just send him back? There was always the chance that he was just trying to sound all enigmatic, so he could confuse me and then escape. But I couldn’t in good conscience just banish him without finding out what “no one is safe” meant.
“What do you mean?”
“Dark hearts and dark arts don’t mix.”
Well, that helped a lot. I had no idea what that meant either. Ghosts liked to talk in riddles. Especially ones trying to escape. I’d have to figure out what his cryptic message meant later. I was getting a really bad vibe off the ghost. The dead didn’t have the same type of aura as the living, but if this guy did, he’d be pitch black.
Back where you came
Out of my sight
Your butt is toast
Go into the light
The spell worked and the ghost was sent wailing obscenities back into the void. Unfortunately, when I looked around, Joe was gone too.
Craptacular.
Had I banished him too?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Normally, you couldn’t banish live people, but magic could be weird sometimes. For a moment, I panicked and wondered if I’d be able to bring him back from the other side intact. Could you bring a living person back from the spirit world?
Before I cast a circle and began trying to practice necromantic rituals that I knew almost nothing about, I decided to take a look around the house. That seemed like a more rational thing to do than freak out.
Fortunately, I found Joe in the pantry looking a little green. But he was still in the land of the living. It’s not as if he were a coward. Please don’t take that away from this portion of my story. It’s hard on a person the first time they see an evil spirit trying to flee into the world. It’s enough to shake a person to their core.
Okay, back to the story.
“I was just trying to stay out of the way of your magic,” he said in a voice he’d forced a couple of octaves down from his normal speaking voice.
Joe also had his chest puffed out. It was an attempt to look macho and not let me know he’d been scared. Unfortunately for him, I could see the fear in his aura. I wondered why men had to pretend like things didn’t frighten them. I was a witch and some of those malevolent spirts got to me.
“It’s okay. It happens to everyone the first time they see an untethered malevolent entity,” I said.
“So about what he said?” Joe asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t understand it, and I got the feeling that I shouldn’t stand around having a chat with him. What are you going to do now that we know for sure that the will is a fake?”
“I have no idea, Zoe. I can’t exactly got to a judge and tell him that the conjured spirit of a murder victim told me the will was fake.”
“Why not?” I asked
Joe just stood there for a moment with his mouth partially open until he figured out I was joking. “You’re hilarious,” he said, but I could tell Joe was trying to hide a grin. “I’m going to bring Esmeralda in for questioning. Maybe I can get her to admit the will is a fake.”
I wanted to ask to listen in on the interrogation, but I knew Joe would put up a fight about that. I was tired, and Ginger had fallen asleep in the middle of the kitchen table. I figure Joe would tell me what happened after he questioned Esmeralda. He always had in the past.
“I should get home and get some sleep,” I said and yawned.
“Do you want me to walk you home?”
“I think I can manage. You’re probably the one that needs me to walk you home,” I said and poked him playfully on the arm.
He just grunted and then shocked the heck out of me by pulling me into a hug. “Take care of yourself.”
As soon as he was gone, I wished I’d let him walk me home. I had no idea why I’d turned him down. He’d offered to spend time with me, and all I did was make fun of him for being scared. I could have kicked myself.
“Why is Joe so afraid of magic?” Ginger’s voice startled me. I thought she was asleep.
“I don’t know. That’s something he’s never really told me. But it’s okay if he’s afraid of it because it means he respects it. That’s more than I can say for a lot of people.”
“I just wish he wasn’t so afraid of it because he would make a really good boyfriend,” Ginger said sleepily.
“Well, you never know if you don’t try. Maybe you should go ahead and ask him out.”
“Shut your mouth, witch,” she said with a giggle. “I meant for you. He’s not my type.”
“You’re just as bad as my mother.” I reached into the bag and scratched her between the ears. “So, if Joe isn’t your type, then what is?”
“Hmmm. I think I’d like to have one of those beefy werebear guys,” she said and giggled again.
“Well, I’ll be on the lookout for one for you. But in the meantime, I don’t need a matchmaker. I need my familiar. I’ve got a murderer to catch.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The next morning I managed to haul my butt out of bed on only a few hours of sleep. I was going to try and sleep in, but I got an urgent text from my mom.
I’ve had a headache all morning. It’s probably a brain tumor.
I sighed and swung my feet over the side of the bed before pushing off into the bathroom to clean up. Her hypochondria thing was really getting out of hand. Okay, it had probably been out of hand for a long time, but that morning it was interrupting my ability to sleep in.
It crossed my mind to just turn the ringer off and go back to sleep. I was in no mood to deal with her neurosis, but I could almost feel her distress through the phone. I decided that I would go and hopefully talk her out of believing she had a brain tumor.
When I got to her house, she was standing over a perfectly clean stovetop scrubbing it like her life depended on it. “Mom, it’s clean,” I said.
“It may look clean to you, but I know differently.”
“Maybe inhaling all of those chemicals all day is why you have a brain tumor.”
She dropped her scrubber. “Do you really think I have a brain tumor?”
I felt my eye twitch. “No, mom. Of course you don’t. But, you probably do have a headache from a combination of constantly sniffing bleach and stressing yourself out.”
“Remind me why I wanted you to come over?” She picked up her scrub brush and started going at the cook top again. I had no idea why she wasn’t using magic, but maybe the manual labor made her feel better. I felt a twinge of guilt for mouthing off.
&
nbsp; “Well, actually I came over here to talk to you. I was over at Regina’s house last night.”
“It must be a mess,” she interrupted.
“Mom.”
“Fine. Go on. Tell me what you were doing at the dead woman’s house.”
“Joe and I went there to summon Regina’s spirit.”
“Oh, now that’s interesting,” she said and put the scrubber down before turning to face me. “Do tell.”
“Oh, goddess, mom. You’ve got that I’m about to get grandchildren look on your face again.”
“Sue me.”
“Have you ever considered how messy children are? They are like walking petri dishes too.”
Mom just stood there blinking at me like she needed a system reboot. I decided just to finish telling my story.
“Anyway, Esmeralda claimed to have a will that left her all of Regina’s estate. So Joe and I went there to summon Regina and ask her if the will was real. He’d talked to Esmeralda earlier that day and gotten the feeling she was lying.”
“And Joe took part in the summoning ritual?” She cocked one of her eyebrows. “You’re making up stories.”
“I’m not. He was totally there. I think it’s possible that Esmeralda killed Regina to take her money.”
“Why would Esmeralda leave Regina’s body in the bakery? Why did she try to frame you?”
“I have no idea.”
What I did know was that I wanted to confront Esmeralda. I didn’t know if Joe had the chance to interrogate her yet, but I was determined to do a little interrogating of my own.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I wasn’t sure where Esmeralda would be, but I had a pretty good idea. My hunch paid off. When I arrived at The Seeing Eye, I could see Esmeralda through the window.
As I reached for the door handle, I hesitated. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for me to confront the person I thought murdered Regina. No. I knew I would be fine. I had my magic to protection me.
Just before I was able to pull the door open, Bethany McGrath came out. Her face blanched as her eyes widened to saucers. She had not been expecting to see me.
“If my husband finds out that I’m coming here to see Esmeralda, he’s going to kill me,” she said softly.
Hmmm. That was an interesting choice of words. I had to wonder if she was serious. Did Bethany really believe that Thomas would kill her? I was curious to know if she believed her husband would murder her.
Before I had the chance to ask, Esmeralda came out. Bethany scooted off like she’d seen a snake, and I was left there faced off with the woman I was mostly convinced killed Regina.
“I was wondering when you were going to come see me,” Esmeralda crowed. “I have to say, I didn’t appreciate you sending your cop boyfriend to interrogate me.”
“Joe isn’t my boyfriend, and I didn’t send him anywhere.”
Esmeralda snorted. “What do you want?”
“I think that you faked Regina’s will and killed her to get her business,” I said.
“Ha. That’s crazy talk, Zoe. I would never murder Regina and risk her wrath. I can still feel Regina’s spirit in the shop, and she’s just as strong as she was when she was alive. She might even be stronger.”
I knew that was a lie. It just confirmed my suspicions that Esmeralda was up to no good.
“Why don’t you come in so I can read your tarot cards?” Esmeralda cooed. “On the house, of course.”
That felt like a bad idea. I knew she was probably just trying to get me off the street and into the store. To do what, though? Did I really think she was going to kill me too? That seemed farfetched, but it was still too risky.
“No thanks. We can talk outside. On the street. Where there are witnesses,” I said curtly.
“Well, this sun is just baking my complexion,” Esmeralda said and pushed a lock of her dark hair away from the fair skin of her forehead. “Would you like a glass of ice tea? I just made it.”
“No, thank you.” I said. Goddess only knew what she put in that tea. Never accept tea from a woman with a prized poisoner’s garden.
“Well, if you’re only here to accuse me of Regina’s murder, you can get lost. I didn’t murder anyone. You need to focus your attention elsewhere. It was probably one of Regina’s customers. Some sucker got mad about all the money they spent on fake psychic readings and useless bags of herbs. How about the McGraths? Or, maybe it was Regina’s boyfriend, Jacob Snide. They weren’t getting along too well. In fact, they never got along very well. Besides, I have an alibi for the night Regina died. I was with Buzz McGrath all night.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
I walked down the street to Your Fly’s Open. If Esmeralda claimed to have been with Buzz all night, I wanted to confirm it. As I reached for the door handle, I felt something wiggling in my purse.
“Ginger, is that you?”
“None other.”
“Have you been in there the whole time?”
“Yeah. I was going to pop out and give your mom the vapors, but she seemed a little overwrought today.”
“That was kind of you.”
“What can I say? I’m a peach.”
“You might want to stay in there while I talk to Buzz.”
“Fine.”
We went inside, and it was like a ghost town. There was no one on the sales floor and there were no customers as far as I could see. I walked to the back and looked in Buzz’s office. He wasn’t there. So I made my way into the stock room and found Buzz lying on the floor between two stacks of shelves.
My heart began to pound so loud that I could hear it in my ears. Was he dead? I knelt beside him to check his pulse. The second I touched him, he woke up and sat bolt upright.
He screamed.
I screamed.
Ginger screamed.
She’d climbed out of my bag and was on the floor next to Buzz. He turned his head toward Ginger and his eyes went wide with wonder. “Did she just scream?”
“No. You must have been hit on the head or something. Guinea pigs can’t scream,” I said.
Not everyone in Destiny Cove knew everything there was to know about witches and familiars. Some of the residents didn’t even know they lived amongst magical beings, and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell them.
“What happened to you?” I asked and tried to help him to his feet.
“I was doing inventory on a new shipment, and I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see who it was, and that’s the last thing I remember. I don’t know how long I’ve been out.”
“Well, it’s late morning. When did you start taking inventory?”
“I was taking it early this morning before we were supposed to open.” Buzz rubbed the back of his head, but I didn’t know if was because it hurt or if it was just an unconscious gesture. “Are Jacob and Lila okay?”
“They aren’t in the store. Nobody is in the store, Buzz.”
“Oh, no. I hope they are okay. But if they were okay, wouldn’t they have helped me?”
“I would think so. Do you think they were kidnapped or something?”
Or maybe they were the killers? I’d never considered that there could be more than one, but it was entirely possible.
“I don’t know. I’m worried that Esmeralda did something to them,” he said and rubbed the back of his head again.
“Esmeralda?”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking a lot about who could have killed Regina, and I’m convinced it was Esmeralda.”
I hadn’t expected that. Esmeralda had said she was with Buzz the night Regina died. In fact, that’s why I’d gone to Your Fly’s Open. I had to wonder if I should even ask about Esmeralda’s alibi.
“Esmeralda said she was with you the night Regina died. That’s why I came here. I wanted to ask you about it.”
“That’s not true,” he said. “She was supposed to come over to my house, but she called at the last minute and canceled. I knew our little rendezvous plan was too good to be true.�
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“Are you guys dating?”
“No. It wasn’t anything like that. Just two lonely people getting together for some fun without strings,” he said. “But of course, it was never really going to happen. I should have known better. I bet she did kill Regina. Maybe Lila and Jacob knew something about it?”
“Whoever attacked you wasn’t Esmeralda,” I said. “She was being questioned by Joe this morning. I’m almost sure of that. After that she was at The Seeing Eye with… A client. I saw them together before I came here.”
I helped Buzz to his office and into his chair, all the while wondering if maybe Esmeralda wasn’t doing a reading for Bethany. What if they had conspired together to kill Regina? Both of them had a good reason to want her dead. But where were Jacob and Lila? I had to figure out if they were missing or if Jacob had something to do with the murder.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Joe.” I tried to keep my voice steady.
“Yeah, Zoe. What’s wrong?” He’d picked up the phone after one ring, so I hoped that meant he wasn’t in the middle of something important.
“I went to Your Fly’s Open to talk to Buzz, and I found him unconscious in the stock room. Someone attacked him. Jacob and Lila are gone. He said they’d been there with him. Was Esmeralda with you early this morning?”
“Yes. I brought her in to talk to her.”
“So she’s probably not the one who attacked Buzz.”
“Doubtful. I’ve had Deputy Block following her.”
“Okay. Yeah, Neil would have seen her go into Your Fly’s Open then.”
“Stay there, Zoe. I’m headed your way.”
I decided to listen to him for once. I went back inside to check on Buzz. I felt bad about going outside to use my phone, but I got terrible reception inside the building. When I walked back into Buzz’s office, he was rubbing the back of his head and grimacing. I worried more that he’d taken a blow to the head.
The Witching Hour Page 9
