She just nodded. “Figured you’d be pretty busy right now.” The woman stepped back into the house and left the door open for me to follow her.
I did. Normally, I’d feel awkward going into the house of someone I’d never met before. Especially in the type of situation I currently found myself in. This kind of felt like . . . coming home. Which was weird, to say the least.
“Lemonade, tea, or soda?”
My eyes went from the crocheted doilies—so much like my grandma’s—back to her. “Lemonade would be great, thank you.”
She came back out and handed me one of the two tall glasses she carried, then motioned for me to take a seat. Again, I complied, taking an experimental sip as I did. Some people made their lemonade far too sour. Not her. This was absolutely perfect.
“My name is Lily Hilton, but please just call me Lily.” She winked at me. “I’m a special friend of the Minehearts’. All of them, in fact, but especially Merlin.” Her voice softened as she said the name.
“Merlin?”
“Yes, dear. You probably haven’t met him yet. He’s an attorney at the firm too. Archimedes’ older brother and Arc’s uncle.” Her brows drew together. “We’ve all been so very worried about him. First the council finding Sonya, and then him dropping off the face of the earth like that. Can I ask how he’s doing?”
I hesitated and glanced around. If the council had bugged the law office, what was stopping them from watching this place too?
She saw my glance and smiled. “Don’t worry about the council here, sweetie. This place is warded and guarded against intrusion of any kind. Seven ways to Sunday, in fact.” Lily looked around her little room, and a small amount of pride crept into her voice. “This little house is probably the safest house in the world thanks to the Minehearts.” Another wink. “And maybe just a little help from me.”
“I thought from your gardens that you had to be a witch.”
“Oh yes, indeed I am. But not an elemental like your family or my dear friends. An ordinary hedge witch, that’s me.” She leaned in, and her face grew solemn. “But don’t let that make you underestimate me. I can be a fierce opponent in battle, as whoever has done this will soon find out.”
Looking deep into her eyes, I could absolutely believe she was speaking nothing but the truth.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “I don’t know how much you know about my family, but I’m the youngest Ravenswind. Amethyst Ravenswind, in fact.” I rushed out my name when I finally realized she had given hers, and I hadn’t responded with mine. Where were my manners?
Lily smiled at me. “I know quite a bit about your family, dear. I understand the two of us have some things in common.”
If she was talking about the absence of magic, wouldn’t she be surprised to learn that was no longer the case? At least for now. I hoped to return to that state of being a non-magic witch shortly. Just as soon as we found a way to break my bond with Arc.
Which left an awkward silence. How the heck could I tell this woman that I’d made the son of her favorite family into my familiar? That wasn’t likely to go over well. Maybe I’d save that part until I better knew how she’d take it.
“Arc is fine. We’re staying at a hotel just outside of town,” I said, finally breaking the silence.
She leaned against the sofa and closed her eyes for a few seconds. “Thank the Goddess. We’ve been so worried. The council is everywhere, and they won’t tell us anything. Bloody bureaucrats. Like Arc would have harmed that girl. They’d been best friends their whole lives. In his own way, he loved her.”
Lily took a sip of her lemonade and then looked at the glass critically. “Is this a tad too sweet? I’m thinking I may have added a touch too much sugar.”
“I think it’s perfect the way it is.” I paused. “It tastes just like my grandmother made it. You remind me of her, you know.”
She smiled at me. “You’re not the first to tell me that, actually.”
Wait, what? But before I could ask her who that could have been, she was talking again.
“You know, to be honest, I’m not surprised that Sonya was killed. It was bound to happen eventually. The girl was playing with fire.”
“Wasn’t that her job in a way?” I mean, she did work in demolition. And she was a Fire witch.
Lily laughed. “Not that way, dear. Oh, but that’s funny. I must remember that one for Merlin. No, I meant the way she gathered secrets to trade for favors.”
“What do you mean?”
She took a deep breath. “I’ll give you an example. The first time she found out about me and Merlin, years ago this was, she came to me. She didn’t exactly threaten to expose us—like that would have done her any good—but she made it clear that she expected me to give her a favor in return for her silence.”
“Sonya tried to blackmail you?”
Her head waggled back and forth. “Blackmail is such a strong word, but yes, in a way, I guess you could call it that.”
My brain was going double time. “And this was something she did to others too?”
Lily nodded. “They usually do, don’t they? She’d gotten ahead pretty quickly for someone so young. I’m thinking her gathering of secrets had something to do with that.”
And just like that, my pool of suspects exploded into being. If only I knew who they were.
“I do, however, so wish the killer hadn’t decided to dump the body on poor Arc.”
Yeah, me too. I was still reeling from the implications of what she’d told me. Her next question caught me somewhat by surprise.
“So how did you and Arc end up finding each other?” Her eyes widened. “Please tell me the two of you weren’t dating.”
What would be so bad about that? Did hedge witches have element preferences too? I might not be attracted to Arc in that way, but I take offense that others might not think I’m good enough. It was enough to break through my thought processes.
“We weren’t dating. We ‘found’ each other, as you put it, at the local animal shelter here. He was a cat at the time.” I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but I'm not sure how successful I was. It didn’t seem to matter to her.
“A cat?” Then she started laughing. “Oh, that smart, smart boy.”
Yeah, well, not too smart, if you ask me. He would have been neutered if I hadn’t found him when I did. But I wasn’t quite willing to go into all of that. Not after her apparent horror at the thought of the two of us dating. Maybe she wasn’t nearly as much like my grandmother as I had imagined.
I sat my now empty glass on the table by my chair and stood to leave. “Well, thank you for your time. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” And I headed for the door.
She didn’t try to stop me, but she did follow me. “We’ll expect the two of you here for a family meeting tonight around seven. We’ll eat and then come up with a game plan on how to fix this mess.”
Turning to face her, I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. We’ve already had one run- in with the council since we got here. They’ll be watching us and follow us here. I don’t think you want that kind of trouble.”
Her eyes flashed. “Let them bring it. I have claws of my own.” She paused. “Who exactly did you run into? What happened?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. The witch was the ex-wife of Arc’s dad, but she didn’t seem to be able to recognize Arc in his furry form. Kind of surprised me, actually. I’d thought we were had for sure.”
Her expression told me I wasn’t the only one surprised by that. But before she could marshal her thoughts for another barrage of questions, I left.
As I climbed into my car, she called out. “See you at seven!”
Yeah, I didn’t think that was going to happen.
Chapter 4
WHEN I GOT BACK TO the hotel, I gave the secret knock before unlocking the door and going in. Arc was feeling pretty on edge ever since running into Patty Bluespring yesterday, and I really didn’t want
him blasting me.
I found him sitting on the floor beside the second bed at the far end of the room. He would be out of sight there from anyone coming in. Hopefully, for long enough to change.
Once the door was shut and firmly locked with the safety bolt in place, he stood up and stretched. He looked concerned.
“How was Dad?”
“Your father is fine.” I hesitated. “I’m guessing you know Lily Hilton?”
“Uncle Merlin’s gal? Sure.” His eyes lit up. “That’s where you should have gone, not the office. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“You might not have, but your dad did. That’s where he sent me after I met him. She is expecting us for dinner and a family meeting at seven.” Or was I just assuming she was offering a meal with it? “I told her I didn’t think that was such a good idea.”
He grinned at me. “You don’t know Lily. It’s not a good idea; it’s a great idea. That house has so many protection spells and wards on it that a Navy Seals team couldn’t break through them.” He frowned. “Getting there might be a problem, though.”
I really wished I could tell him that if he decided to go, he’d have to go on his own. But that wasn’t possible. Lily’s home was too far away for four little cat paws, and the man form of Archimedes Mineheart Jr. wasn’t safe to be out on the street. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure the cat form would be, either, if we ran into a competent council member. I had doubts about Patty’s credentials.
But right at that moment, I had more serious matters to discuss with him. Like all the possible new suspects for the murder investigation. I took a minute to brief him. It was still hard for me to believe that he didn’t know about her secret gathering if they’d really been as close as he and Lily had thought they were.
“If anyone but Lily had told you that, I’d have called them an outright liar.” Then he got quiet and flopped on his back on the bed. “Crap. Now that I think of it, she did that once to me. But I thought she was just joking. I mean, we did favors for each other all the time, and what she was needing at the time wasn’t any big deal to me.”
“It might have been for her, though.”
“Yeah. I'm thinking so, too, now.”
“Do you think she kept a list somewhere of her secrets? A place where we could start looking for the nastier ones she was holding over people?”
He shook his head. “I’m fairly sure the police took her home computer. If they didn’t, the council did. But Sonya wouldn’t keep anything like that on her hard drive. She was too smart for that. If she had a list, it would be on some hidden online account under a false name.” He sounded a bit hopeless. “No way to find it on the web.”
I wasn’t too sure about that. Things like that were my friend Tommy Hill’s specialty. Of course, there were a couple of major problems with bringing him into all this. One, he’d already served time for computer hacking and was currently on a short governmental leash. And two, his mother was in jail for trying to kill my aunt Opal, and eventually me too. Her hatred for Opal was just older than her hatred of me, so she’d started with her.
“Are you okay? You don’t look so good.” I opened my eyes to find Arc hovering over me. When had he gotten up? I’d only lain down for a second. Then I glanced at the clock.
Crap on toast. How could I have fallen asleep with everything that was going on? Then I realized that Arc was still waiting for an answer.
“I’ll be okay. All this is just getting to be too much, you know? I mean, I really think the council is playing with us, and I don’t like that feeling. If they know you are my cat, then why haven’t they pounced on us yet? What are they waiting for?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I’m not so sure they do know I’m the cat. What was it Patty said? Our magical signatures are similar enough to mine to set off the wards, but not identical. They can’t really make an arrest without a one hundred percent match.”
“But it’s you. How can it not be a match?”
He swallowed. “Well, I’m thinking I might owe you more than I thought I did. I think my magical signature changed just a little when you made me your familiar. It makes sense, actually, as much as our magic has blended. Some of your magic must have rubbed off on me, and vice versa.”
That might be true if I had any real magic to speak of, but I’d just been using his. Hadn’t I?
“I’m sorry I woke you up. You can go back to sleep if you want. We don’t have to leave here for another couple of hours.”
“Leave? Where . . .” Oh yeah, I still hadn’t talked him out of the whole family meeting thing. “Do you really think going to this thing is the smart thing to do? You know the council has to be watching us. Even if we aren’t a for sure match, we’re close enough that they aren’t going to let us very far out of their sight. We’re on the radar now. I think our time would be better spent trying to find the killer rather than hanging out with your folks.”
Besides, I really didn’t want to go. I didn’t like the feeling of being thought not good enough for their precious Archimedes Junior.
I HATED TO WASTE THE time just sitting and twiddling my thumbs at the hotel, so I decided to do what I’d intended to finish up today. Check out Firestorm United Demolition. It couldn’t hurt, right?
Even if I was sure the killer was most likely on the list of Sonya’s secret gathering victims. There was definitely motive to be had there. It was enough to make me question Arc’s ability to judge people. It was hard to believe he hadn’t had a clue as to that side of her.
I was still wearing my interviewing outfit when I walked into Firestorm’s front office. I blame that for the confusion.
The office itself wasn’t all that impressive. A small trailer parked outside a much larger warehouse with a sign directing visitors to go there first. No problem. Who knew what they had in that warehouse? Being a demolition company, most likely there were some dangerous things inside. That didn’t concern me right now, but it made me nervous at the thought of being so close to a virtual powder keg. I wondered how the neighbors dealt with it on a daily basis.
There was just one man inside the trailer. So much for making friends with a female co-worker and pumping her for information. This was beginning to look like a very small operation.
The man looked up as I entered. The nameplate on his desk said Stan Grayson, not that he bothered to introduce himself. After giving me a onceover, his eyes rested firmly on the area of my breasts. And no, my sweater wasn’t that tight. The man was just a chauvinistic pig.
I pasted a fake smile on my face and walked over to his desk. He didn’t bother to stand. Another mark not in his favor.
“Oh, please tell me you’re here about the job opening,” he said with a leer. “If so, you’re hired.”
Strike three. The man was a class act. I almost walked out, but I didn’t. Blackmailer or not, Sonya’s murder still deserved justice. And Arc’s name still needed to be cleared.
I forced my smile to stay in place. It wasn’t easy. “Actually, I was looking for Sonya Ignacio. She works here too, right?”
His face shut down. “Not anymore.”
Even after waiting a few seconds, he didn’t say anything else. “I see.” Ruby would consider that a loss, me talking first. “Can you tell me where she’s working now, or how to get ahold of her?”
He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Can’t nobody get ahold of her where she’s at.” Finally, he stood, but only to step around his desk and take my arm to lead me to the door. “Now I think you need to leave.”
“What if I’ve decided the job might be a good fit for me?” I was thinking there was a reason he wanted to be rid of me so quickly, and of course, all that did was make me want to stay and find out what it was.
“The position is no longer available.”
With his hand at my back, he literally pushed me out the door and closed it behind me. I heard the lock turn.
Hmm. That was an interesting turn of events.
Maybe the blackma
il list didn’t hold the only suspects after all. Suddenly, I really wanted Mr. Bigshot to be the killer. The man was a true winner. Women everywhere would be much safer if he were in prison.
I had just reached down to open my car door when I heard him call out behind me. "Wait up!"
What the heck did he want now? I turned to find him walking toward me with a large box. When he reached me, he shoved the box into my arms with such force that I stumbled backward. Luckily, my car helped me stay on my feet.
"You can give Sonya's stuff to your cop buddies. And while you're at it, tell them to lay off me. If they ain't got a brain in their heads between the lot of them, I'll give them a little hint. The one who killed her is Archimedes Mineheart. If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then chances are you've got a duck. The same thing goes for killers, too."
He stormed back into his office and slammed the door, not that I had any inclination whatsoever to follow him.
Why look a gift horse in the mouth? Especially, when right at the top of the box sat Sonya's laptop.
My heart was a lot lighter on the way back to the hotel. Not only did we have a whole new avenue to explore via her computer, but we also had a piece of vital and comforting information that we didn't have before.
The police weren't convinced that Arc was the killer.
There was hope yet.
Chapter 5
BY THE TIME I GOT BACK to the hotel, my fingers were itching to try my hand at hacking. If Arc should be wrong about Sonya's intelligence when it came to keeping stuff on her computer, we could have the world of Ignacio at our very fingertips.
It's kind of hard to drive with your fingers crossed, by the way.
I walked into the room to find Arc pacing. That wasn’t good. He was losing his fear in all his excitement about seeing his family. If I’d been the council instead of myself, they’d have had him.
“What took you so long? I don’t want to be late. Lily really doesn’t like it when you show up late. And I know you don't know her, but you really don't want to tick Lily off.”
Relatively Familiar (Accidental Familiar Book 2) Page 3
