Poison and Pinot (A Paranormal Cozy Mystery) (California Witching Book 2)

by Samantha Silver

  When I still hadn't been seen twenty minutes later, I was starting to get the feeling that maybe Jeanette had a good reason for being so impatient earlier. I flipped through the rest of the magazines, giving up once I’d gone through everything. All that were left were the medical pamphlets stuck in the cardboard bins behind them. I picked up the nearest one, yawning to myself as I flipped it open. Who knew, maybe I would learn something.

  A blonde woman with a million-watt smile stood out on the front of the brochure. I sighed and opened it up. At least it wasn’t about STDs.

  The BOTOX Cosmetic is a prescription medicine that is injected into the site of different facial muscles, to improve and smooth out the look of forehead lines, crow’s feet lines, and frown lines between the eyebrows.

  I thought about Kayla Murphy and how she could be a walking advertisement for botox. I swore, if that woman could smile, her face would likely tear in two.

  I continued to read on, not particularly interested, but having really absolutely nothing else to do.

  IMPORTANT!

  The BOTOX Cosmetic may cause serious side effects that can be life threatening. Seek medical help immediately if you have any of these problems any time after injection of The BOTOX Cosmetic:

  Being unable to swallow, speak, or breathe due to weakening of those muscles as this can be severe and result in loss of life. You may also experience spread of toxin effects. The effect of this particular botulinum toxin may affect areas away from the facial injection site and cause harmful symptoms including: loss of muscle strength or ability to move, double vision, blurred vision and subconjunctival hemorrhaging, trouble breathing, and trouble swallowing.

  What the heck was subconjunctival hemorrhaging? I understood all the rest of it, which was scary enough as it was, but just those words alone sounded like something I would never want to experience, personally. I pulled out my phone, my curiosity getting the best of me.

  As soon as I typed in the words subconjunctival hemorrhaging, a picture that looked all too familiar popped up in my browser. It was an illustration depicting someone's eye, where the entire white part of it was red.

  Just like Lisa's eyes had been.

  I quickly scanned the passage with the definition, my heart beginning to race. So, it was a broken blood vessel in the eye? Or in Lisa's case, all of the blood vessels breaking in the eyes.

  I couldn't imagine this being a coincidence. Botox was clearly lethal enough to cause serious damage, or even death, according to the pamphlet in my hand.

  But how would someone poison Lisa with Botox?

  I thought back to when I had looked through Lisa's purse, and the contents I had found in it. The wallet, the letter, and an empty contact lens case. An empty contact lens case that smelled really weird, and not at all like contact lens solution. Both of my parents had worn contacts, so I was familiar with this stuff, but at the time it had never occurred to me why Lisa's empty case smelled funny. There was too much else going on around me, and I’d let that fact slip from my mind, until now.

  I typed in something new in my phone's browser, my eyes widening as I read the results.

  The top article headline read, "Botox for B.O. How this stinky chemical can get rid of those stinky armpits."

  I suddenly wished I had some sort of spell on hand where I could take my memory and rewind it to relive it again. Had it been Botox that I had smelled?

  I thought again about everyone Karen and I had on our suspect list. James Lim — did he have access to Botox?

  He didn't look like he used it… but maybe his girlfriend?

  No… Anya White was still very young, and probably didn't need Botox.

  I had already ruled out Jeanette, because no one who cried over their mother every night in secret could have murdered her, surely.

  But what about Callie Landsdowne? I could definitely see her using Botox on the sly,

  but while she definitely looked like she had an expensive beauty routine going, she also had a few lines here and there, from what I could remember anyway. She probably wasn’t really into the whole Botox thing. And Portia I knew wasn’t that old, but I had seen the crinkles around her eyes as she played with the animals. If she wasn't using Botox to cover up those crow’s feet, then how would she have access to it? I knew for a fact that Botox wasn't something that was kept in a vet’s office.

  I frowned. Had I just crossed everyone off the list, then? It's not as if I knew everyone Lisa Lim had ever come in contact with. And the only person I could think of who would even know where to find any Botox was her best friend. Her business partner. The one who claimed she wasn't sure how she'd go on without Lisa.

  Kayla Murphy?

  Chapter 19

  I shoved my bike up against the tree outside the house, the rain-slick stone pathway splashing underneath my feet as I ran toward the front door, fumbling for my house keys.

  I hadn't expected the sky to open up and drown me on the way home from the doctor's office, and the last thing I needed was to get sick if my powers had decided to go on the fritz.

  Sure enough, the doctor told me that my arm had seemed completely fine, and that I had nothing to worry about. Maybe it had just been a long time since I’d almost broken my arm. Maybe when I was a kid I healed more easily, and maybe it simply took my powers longer to work their magic – literally – as an adult.

  Inside, I shed my soaking wet jacket and headed downstairs to our apartment so I could charge my phone before it died.

  "I have got to get a car," I muttered to myself as water dripped from my hair and onto the floor as I plugged the phone into the charger in my room.

  Since both Barbara and Karen were at work, it was just me at the house. I'd originally planned on heading back to the souvenir shop after my appointment, but now I wasn't so sure.

  All that was on my mind was Kayla Murphy and the way she'd come to my defense after James Lim had cornered me yesterday at the memorial. Was she honestly just trying to be a good person, or were there other motives involved? Like wanting to see if I knew anything more than I did about Lisa?

  I wanted to text Karen, but she didn't need to be distracted while she was busy at work. And the same was true for Barbara.

  The voice in the back of my head reminded me that there was someone else I could call... Karen had tried to be stealthy one night and 'accidentally' add his number to my phone contacts.

  Before I realized what was happening, the phone was in my hand, my thumb already punching in Ken's name. I fumbled it as the line rang once, twice, and just when I thought I was safe to hang up and forget any of this ever happened, I heard his voice on the other end.

  "Good morning, Ken speaking."

  I wanted to melt into the couch, never to be seen or heard from again. This suddenly seemed like such a terrible, terrible idea. "Um. Hi. It's Taylor."

  "Taylor? Hey! What's up?" his whole tone changed, going from strictly business to happy to hear from me.

  My mouth went dry. "Hi.” Great. I was repeating myself. “I, uh, was just wanting to see if maybe you'd want to come with me to do a little investigating today. About the murder, I mean. If you're busy at work, that's okay—you know, I actually forgot about that, so I'm sure you're probably swamped—"

  "Oh, right. Well, I'd love to, but I'm kind of in the middle of filling out some court papers for this week's docket."

  I tried to ignore the way my heart sank in my chest. "It's totally okay, really. I'm just going to go talk to Kayla Murphy and um, yeah. I'll be fine. I'm sorry to interrupt and all," I stumbled, gnawing on my lip.

  "It's okay! I'm just drowning in this pile of paperwork. It's just boring lawyer stuff," he chuckled softly. "Listen, if you want, I can maybe meet you after—"

  "Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. I’d better leave you to it, then. Thanks, Ken," I blurted out, wishing the entire conversation would just hurry up and be over. My cheeks were so hot that I was considering splashing ice water on them.

  I waited for him
to say goodbye, and when he didn't, I pulled away from the phone, utterly confused. Had he just hung up on me? The screen showed that I had accidently ended the call, and I swore under my breath. Great. Real smooth.

  I stared down at my phone, realizing that before I could do anything, I first needed to figure out just where the heck Kayla Murphy even lived. She had mentioned something about living next to Lisa when I first met her.

  Hopefully Karen would have some idea. I was going to have to call her after all.

  "Come on, pick up," I muttered, shifting from one foot to the other impatiently as I waited for her to answer the phone.

  "Hey, what's up?" She answered, yawning. "I thought you were going to work today?"

  "I just got home. I went to freshen up a little after the doctor’s appointment. Everything seems fine, by the way. The doctor tried to tell me I must have been hallucinating my broken arm."

  "I don't see why you went in the first place. You knew they were going to tell you that — it's not like you had any leftover evidence of breaking your arm or anything. You're all good to go. I wouldn’t worry about it anymore, personally."

  Maybe she was right. But she wasn’t the one suddenly having to question her own powers. "I ran into Jeannette today. That was pretty bizarre."

  It sounded as though Karen was scratching something down on paper. "Yeah, you told me."

  "Right. One of the people in the waiting room with me said that she was the Lims’ neighbor. They all seem to live in the same neighborhood, don't they? That's like the tenth person to say something like that."

  Karen chuckled, covering the mouth piece of her phone up to mumble something to someone else out of earshot. "Everyone who lives in Jackson Walk makes sure to tell you they live there. They probably mention it every conversation if they have the chance. It's the most prestigious neighborhood in Rosemary Creek."

  Bingo. That was what I wanted. I smiled into the phone, feeling rather accomplished.

  "How fancy of them.

  "Was there something you needed? You usually just text me if you're wanting to chitchat."

  "Nah, I should probably go, too. I need to change into some dry clothes."

  "Oh, shoot," Karen muttered, the sound of barking dogs not far off in the background. "I need to get going. If you see her before I do, tell Mom I'll be home around 5:30."

  “Sure thing, see you,” I said before hanging up. I felt a little bit bad leaving Karen out of this next plan, but she was obviously super busy, and I wasn’t sure I was even on the right track.

  Chapter 20

  It didn't take much detective work to pin down Lisa's house, and Kayla's house by proxy. The website where Lisa’s obituary was listed had contact information for the funeral home, which listed where the family was going to be receiving people after the memorial — their home.

  Jackson Walk was the most prestigious neighborhood in the town, and while it was just short of being a gated community, it was definitely run the same way. The sidewalks were pristine, everyone's yards were trimmed down to the quarter inch, and the wide streets gave plenty of room for the huge vehicles that were parked in the long driveways.

  It felt a little silly to be riding my bike over to talk to Kayla, but I didn't have any other choice. I knew Karen would want me to wait until she could come along, and maybe I should have, but I was just so curious. I had to see for myself if Kayla was capable of something like murdering her supposed best friend.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I silenced it, taking care to prop my bike up against one of the expertly trimmed hedges that stood along the property line of what I figured to be Kayla Murphy's house. There were only two houses at the end of the cul-de-sac to begin with, and since the other one belonged to the Lims, it stood to reason that the other had to be Kayla’s.

  I felt around to make sure that I remembered to bring my small spell book, tucking it into my pants, just in case. Barbara was always going on about how I should always keep it on my person at all times.

  "You never know when you'll need magic," was basically her mantra to me, and I knew she was right.

  I knocked on the door, my stomach fluttering. I knew it was just a presumption, that maybe I was overstepping at this point, but I had to know. I had to find out if I was right.

  Remembering that I needed to have some sort of evidence in case she did slip up, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened the recording software on it, tucking it back in where no one could see.

  The door creaked open a moment later and Kayla Murphy peeked her head around it, looking slightly suspicious for a moment until she saw me, at which point her face broke into a large smile.

  "Oh, hello! We met already, right? Taylor, was it?"

  I nodded, giving her a quick wave. "Yeah, we did. It's nice to see you again. I, uh, wanted to see if I could talk to you for a few minutes. About Lisa. I was hoping maybe you could help me with something."

  She pulled the door open wider to reveal a home so modern that it wouldn’t have looked out of place in a fifties sci-fi movie set in the 30th century. "Come in."

  Large Greek-style marble statues stood tall around her main parlor area – or whatever you could call the enormous entrance I was led into. Columns separated each room from the next, and the ostentatious grand staircase made up of black marble was a stunning focal point of the house. It was absolutely stunning.

  "Wow, your home is beautiful."

  Kayla smiled, though it didn't quite meet her eyes. "Thank you. You wanted to talk about Lisa?"

  She gestured for us to take a seat in the larger parlor room, and I sat down on the black sofa that could easily hold ten people. "Right. Lisa. So…" I had to think on my feet — I hadn't thought this far ahead. "Barbara had mentioned something about her and Lisa discussing selling the uh, wine glasses at Creekside Trinkets?"

  Kayla raised a brow at me. "She did? She never mentioned anything like that to me. Usually I'm the one he finds our vendors we work with. But I guess that makes sense. She'd always liked Karen, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she went to see her mother."

  I quickly nodded. "Exactly. So I guess I'm kind of like the spokesperson here on behalf of Barbara. I was checking to see if maybe you would still be interested."

  Kayla sat there for a moment, looking at me as if she could read my mind. "You know now that I come to think of it, Taylor, Lisa never mentioned anything like this. And I know she would have."

  She stood up, tilting her head to the side. "Why are you really here?"

  I swallowed hard. "It's actually about what happened with Lisa. I'm sorry, I just panicked. I'm supposed to be doing my own little secret investigation with Karen about Lisa's death, and I have no idea why I'm telling you any of this," the words came tumbling out of my mouth, faster than I could have possibly thought that. I struggled to think of the next thing to say, that there was no way around it. I had just given her exactly what she wanted, and Kayla did not seem pleased whatsoever.

  "You can't just come into my house and lie to me. No one can," she growled, throwing her hands up and looking straight up at the ceiling where I noticed something shimmering in the air. What the heck?

  "Stupid little witch," she hissed at me, her eyes narrowing. "What, you thought you were the only one?"

  Wait. This was definitely not something I had expected.

  "You're a witch?" It felt as though my stomach had all the insides ripped out of it. How had I not seen this? I supposed I had always assumed Barbara and Karen were the only witches in Rosemary Creek. Great. That wasn’t exactly smart of me.

  Kayla tilted her head to the side, watching me closely. "You didn't know? Well, how convenient. I guess now that the cat’s out of the bag." She took a few steps closer until she was hovering over me, looking down at me. "Why are you here?"

  I tried to clap my hands over my mouth, but it was too late. "I think you killed Lisa."

  Kayla’s face flushed red for a second, but she didn't move an inch. "Interesting theo
ry. And why do you think that?"

  I squealed, trying to keep my mouth shut, my teeth clenched tightly together. But it was just no use. I couldn't stop myself from confessing. There must have been some sort of truth serum magic happening.

  "I know it was Botox that killed her. And I saw that you use a lot of it yourself. I came to test my theory, but I wasn't sure if it was true or not."

  I sounded like a robot, completely detached from myself.

  "I don't suppose you know anything about a good old-fashioned sponge spell, do you?"

  I shook my head, and it was the truth — I had no idea what she was talking about.

  A sinister smile crossed her face, made even creepier by the fact that her skin barely moved in doing so. I was pretty sure Kayla’s face was like, 90% Botox at this point.

  "Why don't I show you? Exsorbeo portentiaroa!"

  I screeched as what felt like hundreds of sharp little hooks dug into every part of me, wrenching my magic from where it belonged inside of my body, slowly draining it from me, bit by bit. Across the room, Kayla was laughing like a maniac. Somewhere in my head I imagined myself looking back on this moment and quoting Lord Acton's "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Of course I was nerding out in a moment like this.

  I squeezed my eyes together in concentration. What was it... what was it?

  "Protego concustodio admoenio paries personoroa," Karen had said. At least, I thought she had.

  But I knew that wouldn't work the way I needed to. I didn't need to literally silence Kayla, especially not with my phone recording her every word in my pocket. But I needed some way to put her in a bubble, to restrain her somehow.

  "Of course I've always known Barbara and her little bratty daughter for who they really are. I mean, how could you not? Barbara tries to pretend to be this upstanding citizen, but I know she just looks down her nose at everyone else in town. Typical. And really, why waste your talents on something so trivial like a souvenir shop in a small town like this? Barbara has raw power, power that she could do a lot with. It's kind of pathetic. No, it's very pathetic, actually. And then you," Kayla laughed, turning on her heel to grab something from her kitchen table. "You come along, and you're powerful, but in a different way. I think you know the kind of power that lies inside of you, but you're too scared to use it. You'll never learn with the two of them. You restrict yourself, to never fully tap into your power."