At one of the smaller tables sat Logan, a cup of coffee I’d managed to bring him in one hand. With him sat Max, who I hadn’t realized was even there because he hadn’t come up to order yet. Spooky had come down from his bookshelf to sit in Max’s lap, so the cat was officially out of the bag, as it were. Max knew the cat was no longer glowing, and he might want to know why.
I chewed my lip, wondering what the two men were talking about as another customer approached the counter.
“Earth to Addy,” Richie said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
I tore my gaze away from Max and Logan, giving Richie my full attention. “Sorry, it was quite the morning rush, I’m a little dazed.”
I glanced back toward Logan’s table. They were both smiling, that had to be good, right? Surely they weren’t talking about glowing animals, and whatever I wasn’t telling them about said glowing animals.
“You know, I’m around if you need to hire someone else.”
I turned my attention back to Richie to find him grinning at me.
I frowned. “Don’t you have class?”
He shrugged his leather jacket up on his shoulders. “Only a few hours a day, and I’m free first thing in the morning. I could help you with the rush.”
I thought about it. Evie had to stick to a particular schedule because of her daughter. It might be nice to have someone to cover for me whenever things were crazy in my life, which seemed to be all the time lately.
“How about a trial run right now?” I asked, glancing again toward Logan and Max.
Richie was around the counter next to the register before I could think twice about it. “You won’t regret this, Addy.”
Grinning and shaking my head, I made Max a coffee before leaving Richie behind the counter. Perhaps at another cafe the owner might be worried the customers would be intimidated by Richie’s overall tough look, but not at the Toasty Bean. My customers could get their coffee from an alleged witch, a street kid who was actually a gentle college student, or Evie . . . who wasn’t really a misfit however you looked at it.
As I approached Max and Logan with Max’s coffee, I realized I had already convinced myself that I would hire Richie. There were few people I would trust more.
Both men looked up at me as I reached them, and I realized they had been talking about me, judging by their sudden silence.
Logan was the first to speak. “Max tells me your cat was glowing last night.” He gestured toward the cat in Max’s lap.
I aimed a quick glare Max’s way.
He held up his hands. “He said he knew you were going to try to trap the animals. I figured he knew about . . . the rest of it.”
I pursed my lips, but handed him his coffee. It was a reasonable explanation, but now I was going to have to explain to Logan why Spooky was no longer glowing. I knew Max probably wouldn’t push me too hard for answers, but Logan would, and I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to tell him.
My problems doubled when the next person walked into the cafe.
My mom was tall and thin, but seemed to take up more space than her wiry frame required. She removed her lavender parka, raked fingers through her ginger curls, then aimed brown eyes at me. “Adelaide O’Shea, we need to talk.”
I groaned as she moved closer to me. “Luna called you, didn’t she?”
“Of course she did.” She looked down at both the men watching us. “You,” she pointed to Logan. “I want to speak with you first.” She looked to Max. “You make sure Adelaide doesn’t run away while I’m not looking.”
She turned and walked toward my office, leaving no room for arguments.
I gave Logan a grimace. “You better follow her. You don’t want to make her mad.”
Logan quickly obeyed, leaving me alone with Max.
I slumped into Logan’s vacated seat with a heavy sigh. “I suppose you want to know what happened with the animals after you left.”
He nodded encouragingly, and I willed my tired brain to come up with something believable to say. I hated lying. I wasn’t good at it, and it gave me a nervous feeling in my stomach, but in this situation I saw no other way.
So I lifted my chin, stiffened my jaw, and lied through my teeth.
Chapter Fifteen
“So the glow just went away?” Max searched my face, probably trying to tell if I was lying. Spooky had vacated his lap to go back to his bookshelf.
I shrugged. “When I woke up this morning, both the animals were fine. I dropped the rat off on my way to work. I have your trap in my car by the way.”
He sipped his coffee, then placed his cup on the table. “Maybe we should set the traps again to get a better look at any other glowing animals before it fades.”
Think Addy, think. I shrugged. “I think it seems pretty harmless. Maybe it’s just some form of bioluminescent organism.”
His eyes went distant for a moment in thought. “But why would it die off so suddenly?”
“Maybe because we brought the animals inside?”
He pursed his lips. “Maybe, but if this is a new undocumented organism, I really would like to know more about it.”
I couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was clear I wasn’t going to steer him off this path. I was saved as my mother and Logan emerged from my office past the bookshelves. Logan had on his unreadable cop expression, and my mom looked unhappy.
I found myself dying to know what they had talked about.
Logan reached the table first, ignoring Max and looking down at me. “Your mom filled me in, now I need to get back to work.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he patted my shoulder and walked toward the door, leaving an opening for my mom to address me.
She put her hands on her hips and gestured with her chin back toward the office. “You next, Adelaide.”
Max scooted out his chair. “That’s my cue to leave.”
Looking at my mom’s stern expression, I couldn’t blame him for fleeing. “Save yourself,” I said to him.
He stood. “I’ll call you later.” He turned to my mom. “Nice seeing you again.”
She gave him a brief smile, showing him that she was mad at me, not him, then Max escaped, leaving me alone with my mother. Well, alone with my mother and a cafe full of people. I glanced toward Richie, seeming completely at home with the cash register as he rung up a customer’s order.
My mom tapped her foot on the wood floor. “Let’s go, Adelaide.”
I sighed, and stood. I was pretty sure that Evie had been teaching Richie the register while I was away from the cafe. It seemed the choice to hire him wasn’t entirely my own.
I followed my mom into the office, holding the door open long enough for Spooky to hop down from his shelf and join us.
Once we were alone my mom gestured for me to sit behind my desk while she stayed standing.
She crossed her arms and looked down at me with Spooky twining around her legs. “You shouldn’t have taken in the spirit fragments, Adelaide. Any time you channel any part of a spirit or ghost, it has the potential to possess you.”
“It’s not like I had a choice,” I argued. “It just happened. As soon as the rat touched me the glow left it. And I’m fine now, by the way. Thanks for asking.”
She sucked her teeth, mulling over my words. “Luna says you both believe a necromancer is behind this. Ida agrees.”
My jaw dropped. “You talked to Ida?” After my mom’s long-dead sister had briefly possessed me, we hadn’t seen her again. My mom thought the ordeal had weakened her too much to make contact with the living.
She nodded. “She’s back, and she senses a new power in town. She’s not sure if this new person is working with the dark magic, or if they were simply lured by it, but either way she’s scared. No ghost or witch is safe with a necromancer around.”
I leaned my elbows on the desk, bracing my chin in my hand. “So what do we do?”
“We stick together, and we find this necromancer.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Wh
at exactly do you mean by stick together?”
I already knew what was coming before she said it.
“You need to come stay with me, Adelaide. You’re not safe by yourself, and your sisters can’t watch you all the time. This is more than just the dark magic. If that dark force is working with a necromancer, they’re both coming for you.”
Even though I’d been expecting her words, my stomach plummeted to my feet. I loved my mom, I really did, but we’d never fully seen eye to eye. I’d fought hard for my independence, and anything that threatened it made me feel like a glowing rat in a trap.
“You know I’m right,” she pressed. “A necromancer would want to use your connection to the other side to draw greater spirits into this realm. It’s not just your safety on the line.”
I buried my head in my hands. She was right. Whatever this necromancer had planned wasn’t bad for just me. “Fine,” I groaned. “Spooky and I will head over before dark.”
“I’m glad you can see reason. Now you have a visitor, I’ll leave you to speak with her.”
I lifted my head enough to watch my mom leaving the office, wondering what she meant about a visitor.
I found out just a second later as Martha popped up right where my mom had been standing.
“How long have you been spying?” I asked.
Martha crossed her arms and lifted her nose. “I followed the detective here. We saw Blake on the street leaving the cafe. Did you learn anything from him?”
I almost wanted to shout at her that I had bigger problems than her murder, but managed to contain myself. “Well, Blake was pretty excited to inherit your house, or actually to inherit the cash he’ll get from selling it. He also implied that Cheryl is broke. She’s been pawning her belongings, including several paintings.”
She floated closer to the desk, looking down at me. “But Cheryl doesn’t have any paintings of value, and if she did, why wouldn’t she come to me? I could have gotten her the best price for them.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but it’s suspicious.”
“That settles it then. We need to pay her another visit.”
I stood. “What I need to do is get back to work. I’ll call Logan and tell him what I learned, and he can go question Cheryl about it.”
Martha nodded sharply. “I would appreciate if you could call him now.”
I saw no reason not to, so I leaned to one side and drew my phone out of my pocket, scrolling through the contacts and picking Logan’s name. After six rings I got his voicemail and left a message for him to call me back.
Martha’s eyes darted around the office impatiently, settling on the cat now sitting on my desk. “What am I supposed to do until he calls you back?”
I stood and moved toward the door. “I don’t know, go spy on Cheryl. Check back with me in a couple hours and hopefully I will have heard from him.”
With a huff, she disappeared, and I was free to go back out into the cafe to do my job. I might as well spend the rest of the morning training Richie on anything Evie hadn’t gotten to. If I was going to be hiding out at my mom’s, I would need him now more than ever.
Hopefully we could find the necromancer and deal with him quickly, and life could go back to normal.
Or as normal as the life of a witch could get.
Chapter Sixteen
As the hours ticked on, I left two more messages for Logan. Things were slow at 4 PM, so I decided to close up early so I could pack for my mom’s before dark.
Martha popped up just as I was locking the front door with Spooky standing at my heels.
“Cheryl was at work all day,” she explained. “What a bore. Have you heard from the detective?”
I turned with my keys in hand and glanced both ways down the street, making sure no one was close enough to see me talking to myself. “I left two more messages, but he hasn’t called me back. I wonder if my mom said something to him to keep him away.”
Martha crossed her arms, hovering just above the sidewalk. “Well then you’ll just have to go question Cheryl. I cannot wait another night. I feel—”
Her gaze went distant, and I realized why she was suddenly being more insistent.
“You’re beginning to fade, aren’t you?” I asked. “You’re losing your grip on this realm.”
She shrugged her spectral shoulders. “I’m not sure, I just know that I feel strange. Like I’m losing pieces of myself.”
A gust of wind sent dead leaves skittering across the sidewalk around my boots. It got dark early this time of year. I either had time to pack, or to visit Cheryl, not both.
“Can you tell how much longer you have?” I asked.
Her brow creased as she thought about it. “I’m not sure, but I’m inclined to think not long. I don’t want to go without knowing who killed me, Addy.”
Her pleading tone pushed me the last inch toward my decision. “All right, we’ll go speak to Cheryl. But we have to make it quick, I need to get out to my mom’s before dark.”
She gave me a sad smile. “You’re a true friend, Addy.”
Hopefully I don’t end up a dead friend, I thought. “Let’s go then, we’re burning daylight.”
She followed me to my car, melting her way into the back seat. I sat Spooky beside me in the front and started the engine, then tried giving Logan one last call.
Still no answer. If he was avoiding me on purpose, I was going to get angry. Angry enough to not tell him I was on my way to question Cheryl. I hung up before the voicemail greeting could finish, then started driving.
Along the way I finally gave in and left messages for Callie and Luna, telling them I was stopping by Cheryl’s before heading out to mom’s, and also inviting them to come to mom’s too. If I had to stay out in the woods with my mom, I at least wanted my sisters along as a buffer.
Martha remained silent for the drive, and I wondered just how much of herself she had already lost. It was normal for ghosts to fade unless they had some sort of strong connection to the living world. Sometimes they could attach themselves to objects, or like Ida, to a place. Some held on wanting vengeance, or justice. The need for justice was what had made Martha hold on for this long, but it wasn’t strong enough to keep her here forever. Eventually she would fade, and we would no longer have her input on the investigation.
Not only that, but she would never learn who killed her. Maybe it didn’t matter wherever she was going, but it felt wrong not to give her answers so she could be at peace.
My thoughts carried me all the way to Cheryl’s where my car crunched up the gravel drive.
I parked and shut off the engine, glancing back at Martha. “Any advice on how to broach the subject?”
She shrugged. “As is the case in many situations, the truth might be the best option. Tell her you’re friends with my nephew, and he mentioned that she had been trying to sell paintings.”
I took a studying breath, preparing for the confrontation ahead, then opened my door and got out of the car. I let Spooky follow me out. If anything bad happened, I wanted him near me.
Martha disappeared as I approached the front door. She had probably gone ahead into the house to see Cheryl’s reaction at my reappearance.
Cheryl opened the door before I could knock, looking me up and down. There were dark marks beneath her eyes. She still wore her slacks and silk blouse from work, stocking-clad feet visible atop the wooden floor of the entryway.
“Detective,” she said pleasantly, “can I help you?”
I stared at her dumbly for a second, then realized that we had never clarified who I was when we first came to question her. She just knew I came with the other detective, and probably assumed I was his partner. It was illegal to impersonate an officer, but was it really that bad if I just didn’t correct her?
“I just have a few more questions for you. Do you mind if I come in?”
She stepped back and opened the door further, revealing Martha hovering a few paces behind her.
I ste
pped inside. It was getting dark enough that she didn’t seem to notice Spooky slipping in through the door behind me.
Cheryl shut the door, then walked into the sitting room, giving me her back for a moment, long enough for Spooky to trot in the other direction further into her house.
“I was just fixing my dinner,” Cheryl explained as she turned back to me. “But I have a few minutes.”
I stepped into the sitting room, feeling a bit wary about what I was doing. It was probably a mistake to come and question Cheryl on my own. I didn’t really know her, or what she was capable of. If she really was the murderer, she could be dangerous.
I watched her expression turn wary, realizing my thoughts had shown too much on my face. Best to cut right to the chase then, before she could kick me out. “How familiar are you with Blake Monroe and his business, Golden Dollar Pawn?”
Her eyes widened, just a fraction, but enough to be noticeable. “Blake was Martha’s nephew, but I’m not overly familiar with him or his shop.”
Maybe I should have tried to be clever to get her to admit something, but full dark wasn’t far off. There just wasn’t enough time. “That’s odd, because he just told me that you’ve been trying to sell stuff to him for months, including many paintings.” I left it at that, no accusations, not yet.
Her mouth opened and shut like a fish gasping for air until she took a shaky breath, then shuffled her feet toward a cushioned chair. She sat down and looked up at me. “I know this looks bad, but it’s not what you think. I’ll admit that I’m broke, but I haven’t done anything wrong except try to save my pride.”
Martha hovered near her friend’s seat. “Ask her about the paintings,” she whispered.
I flicked my eyes to Martha, then back to Cheryl. “What sort of things were you trying to sell?”
She chewed her lip, deciding what to say. Probably wondering if Blake had already told me.
I took a seat across from her and waited.
“It’s really not what you think,” she blurted. “The paintings were mine to sell.”
“Where did you get them?”
Catnip Cantrips (Twilight Hollow Witchy Cozy Mysteries Book 2) Page 8
