Over the Broom

by Sara Bourgeois

  “Do you need a nap or some food?” I asked. “We’re going there to talk to Jenny Mueller about her appointment the day of my wedding.”

  “Whatever,” Meri said. “I knew that.”

  “Sure you did,” I said and rolled my eyes. “But after we talk to her, we can get some food.”

  “I wish we could go out to eat,” Meri said wistfully as I pulled the car away from the curb.

  “I wish we could too, but that’s not possible until we find this killer,” I said.

  “We could go out, and you could just let me try the food first. I can’t die, so we’d be able to tell if something was poisoned,” he offered.

  “That’s sweet of you, but we don’t know for sure if the poison would affect a familiar the same as a witch,” I said.

  “There’s one way to find out.”

  “You want me to feed you poison,” I said.

  “I mean, I can’t die. So, there’s really no risk,” he said.

  “I’d have to get some of the poison from Amelda, but I can’t believe I’m even thinking about this,” I said. “I don’t want to feed you poison, Meri.”

  “I will be fine. You’re just being emotional.”

  “Hey, watch it, buddy. You don’t want to see me get actually emotional,” I said.

  “Anyway. I should do it. If you feed me the poison and I react to it, then you’ll know. You can stop worrying about yourself and the baby. Instead of going through all of the testing and blessing food, you could just give me a bite of whatever you’re going to eat. It would make everyone’s life a lot easier. It’s my job to protect you after all,” Meri reminded me.

  “Let’s go talk to Jenny Mueller first, and then I’ll call Amelda for the poison,” I relented.

  “Good,” Meri said.

  I could tell he was smugly satisfied that he’d won the argument. Even if it did mean I’d be poisoning him.

  We went down to the town square and I parked my car near the bank. As we were walking across the square to the bank, I felt something and stopped.

  “What is it?” Meri whispered from inside my bag.

  “I could have sworn I felt the baby,” I whispered back. “But that’s got to be impossible. She’s not big enough to kick yet.”

  “Maybe she’s doing magic,” Meri whispered. “You’re standing on a ley line.”

  He was right, what I felt had started right as I’d stepped on one of the main ley lines that ran under the town square. It was so strange, and yet, it made total sense. Sort of…

  “How can she be doing magic, Meri? She’s got to be the size of a bean,” I said.

  “And if she can make you stop in your tracks at that size, imagine what she’s going to be someday. That’s why they are after you,” Meri said.

  “You’re right, but we’re going to get that taken care of now.”

  The baby calmed down when I stepped off the ley line, but I could still feel her. It was as if stepping on that line had activated her magic. I’d have to talk to Brigid or Amelda about it later. Right then, it was time for business.

  I walked into the bank lobby and looked around. Jenny Mueller had a desk out in the open at one time, but I didn’t see it anywhere. One of the tellers smiled at me, so I walked up to her window.

  “How can I help you today, Brighton?” The woman’s name plate said Beverly. I’d seen her before, but we didn’t know each other well.

  “I wanted to speak with Jenny Mueller,” I said. “She used to have a desk out here, but I don’t see her.”

  “Oh, well, Jenny left the bank about six months ago. Is there something I can help you with? Or we can get you set up with another banker.”

  “Six months ago?” I asked.

  That was around the time of my wedding. Was she even still working for the bank when she had her appointment with Coraline? I had to find out.

  “No, thank you. Do you know what she’s doing now? Did she leave to take a job somewhere else?”

  “She quit rather abruptly, but word around town is that she’s working as a secretary for Strange and Sons,” Beverly said.

  “Thank you so much.”

  I turned and left the bank in a hurry. Not only did Jenny leave the bank around the time she was allegedly booking Coraline for something at the bank, but she’d gone to work for the law firm. She probably had access to all kinds of private information there.

  There was a small business district a couple of blocks from the town square. All of the offices were in old houses that had been converted. The old neighborhood actually looked a lot like Coraline’s except all of the old houses were now businesses with signs out front advertising who was operating inside. There was the lawyer, a couple of accountants, a dentist, a psychologist, and the local real estate agency.

  The lawyers’ office was in the middle of the block in a big blue Victorian with even darker blue shutters. I walked inside, and there was no one around.

  There was a desk in what I assumed was the reception area, but no one was sitting at it. I waited a few seconds, and I could hear someone moving around farther into the building.

  “Hello,” I called out.

  “I’ll be right with you,” a female voice answered.

  I waited a couple of minutes, and a tall blonde woman in a checkered pencil skirt and red sweater emerged from the back hallway. Her lipstick matched the sweater, and they both matched her long manicured nails. She wasn’t just tall either. The woman, Jenny, was really tall. You could have mistaken her for Nicole Kidman’s much younger sister.

  There was no doubt in my mind that it was Jenny. I’d seen her around before, and seeing her again that day jogged my memory. You couldn’t forget a woman that looked like that.

  “Jenny?” I asked anyway.

  “Brighton, right?” she responded.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “How can I help you today? Do you need to speak with Carter?”

  “Carter?”

  “Carter Strange. The law offices of Strange and Sons,” she said and waved her hand in the air like spokesmodel. “Although, he is one of the sons and his children won’t be old enough to become lawyers for a long time.”

  “Oh, right. Law offices. No, I came to talk to you,” I said.

  “Oh, good,” she said with a sigh of relief. “I heard around town that you were expecting, and it would have been such a shame if you were here to file for divorce. Or if you were having legal troubles. That would have been much worse.”

  “Nothing like that,” I said, but in truth, my problems were far worse.

  “Phew,” she said and pretended to wipe her forehead with the back of her hand. “Well, then. What can I do for you?”

  I suddenly felt bad even asking her what I’d come to ask. Jenny seemed so sweet and genuine. But, I reminded myself, this was about my child. I would be as polite as possible, but I couldn’t just let her off the hook because she was nice. Nice people killed people too, right?

  “I wanted to talk to you about the order you discussed with my Aunt Coraline,” I said. “You were there to talk to her the day of my wedding.”

  “I was.” Jenny’s forehead scrunched together in confusion, but a moment later, the lightbulb went off. “Oh, yeah. That was the day she died. I’m so sorry. She seemed fine when I was there talking to her. It’s really tragic.”

  “You were there to discuss catering for the bank, right?” I asked.

  “Yes. We had a dinner coming up for management.”

  “But you also quit working at the bank around that time,” I said and hoped she’d get the hint.

  “You’re right,” she said thoughtfully. “That did all happen around the same time. In fact, that was one of the last days I worked at the bank. I quit later that week.”

  “Was there a particular reason?” I asked.

  “I don’t see what it has to do with Coraline, but I supposed it’s not actually a secret. I met Carter and we got married a day later. He said I could come work here for him, an
d I jumped at the chance. I hated working at the bank, and I love spending my days here helping him. At least until we have a baby, and then I’m going to stay at home.”

  “Congratulations,” was all I could think to say.

  Because of Coraline’s death and my wedding, I’d completely forgotten hearing all of the gossip about Jenny and Carter’s whirlwind marriage. It was the big gossip for a couple of weeks at least and even overshadowed Coraline’s death.

  The two of them had met and gotten married the next day. Tongues wagged like crazy over the whole thing. People said they’d never make it.

  While it had only been six months, she seemed really happy. I knew I was going to spend my life with Remy by the time we’d been together for six months, so I would have been willing to bet at that point that things would be great for Jenny and Carter.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I’m so sorry about Coraline. If I could help, I would, but like I said, she seemed just fine when I met with her.”

  “If you think of anything, can you call me?” I asked.

  “Sure, just leave me your number, and congratulations to you too. I hope I’ll be joining you in the motherhood club soon,” she said with a hopeful smile.

  When I left Strange and Sons Law Office, I cast a fertility spell on Jenny. I’d seen it in her eyes that she was ready, and I hope my blessing helped.

  Unfortunately, talking to her didn’t help me in any way with finding the witch killer. I still had another suspect to speak with, though, before I was completely at a dead end.

  Chapter Eight

  I wanted to go talk to Linda Farmer at the school right away, but I realized that it was probably closed for the day. Plus, I needed to get home. I could always go talk to Linda in the morning after Remy left for work.

  Back at home, I felt tired but restless. I tried to take a nap, but every time my eyes would close, they’d just snap back open like I’d heard a loud noise.

  Sensing that it was useless, I decided to get started on dinner. I sort of wished I could just order pizza, but since that wasn’t an option, I decided to make it from scratch.

  Meri studied me as I mixed the ingredients for the crust in a bowl. “What are you doing?”

  “Making pizza crust,” I said.

  “There’s got to be an easier way to do that.”

  “There probably is, but I’m doing it this way,” I said.

  “You going to make the sauce too?” Meri teased.

  “You know what, I actually am. It’s not that hard.”

  I went to the fridge, and thankfully, there were some tomatoes inside. I took them out and put them in a pan to cook.

  “If you go out to milk a cow to make cheese, I’m out,” Meri snarked.

  “You’re in a mood,” I said.

  “You haven’t called Amelda yet,” Meri retorted.

  “I will have Remy do it when he gets home. Or I’ll call Annika and have her do it,” I said. “She’s more likely to say yes to one of them.”

  “You’re carrying the baby that everyone in the coven has been waiting for. I think she’ll say yes to you,” Meri said.

  “I’m making pizza.”

  “And that’s why I’m in a mood.”

  “Whatever,” I said.

  “Whatever.”

  He wandered over to the other side of the kitchen and lay down in a huff. I still didn’t want to poison him, so I was putting it off until Remy got home.

  While the sauce was simmering and the dough was rising, I set to work shredding a block of mozzarella cheese I'd procured from the refrigerator. I chuckled thinking about Meri's comment about milking the cow. I saw his ears prick up when I laughed, but he didn't open his eyes. My guess was that he was going to ignore me by pretending to sleep until I did what he wanted. I thought he was being a little silly, but he really was just trying to protect me.

  By the time I had the pizza assembled, I realized it was almost time for Remy to be home. I didn't have time to bake the pizza, but that wasn't a problem at all. I put it on the stone and waved my hand over it a few times. The kitchen filled with the scent of fresh baked bread and cheesy goodness.

  Remy walked through the front door just as I finished. "You didn't order pizza, did you?" he called out with concern.

  "No, silly. I made it myself from scratch. Don't worry, love, everything came from within the house,” I responded as he appeared in the kitchen doorway. "And hello to you too."

  "Sorry,” he said sheepishly. He crossed the kitchen and joined me at the counter. Remy planted a kiss on my head. "It looks delicious."

  "Let's get this baby sliced up. I'm starving,” I said.

  "You go sit,” Remy said. "You didn't have to do all of this, but since you did, let me take care of you."

  "All right,” I said.

  I went and sat at the table while Remy got me a plate of pizza and a glass of lemonade. When he joined me at the table, we ate quietly for a few minutes. After our first slice, I finally said something.

  "How was your day?"

  "Good. Work was pretty quiet,” Remy responded. "How was yours? What did you guys do today?"

  "I investigated Coraline's murder,” I said.

  I couldn't believe I'd just blurted it out like that. I should have at least tried to make it sound not as bad, but I'd just come right out with it.

  "Brighton,” Remy began, but I cut him off.

  "But that's not even the best part. The best part is that Meri wants me to get some of the witch poison from Amelda. He wants me to give it to him so we can confirm that it will hurt him but not kill him. He thinks that it's a good idea for him to start testing my food so that we don't have to be so careful. It's a crazy idea, right?"

  "I mean, it's not something I would feel comfortable asking him to do, but if he volunteered."

  "Remy."

  "It's his job to protect you, and it's his job to protect the baby. He can't die, so why not see if it works?"

  "Fine. I don't want to do it, but I will,” I said. "Will you call Amelda and ask her for some of the poison?"

  An hour later, Amelda was in my living room, and we were about to give Meri some of the poison. He was sitting on the fireplace hearth swishing his tail expectantly, and Amelda was on the sofa eating a slice of pizza.

  "Thank you for the pizza, dear," Amelda said. "It is very good."

  "You're welcome,” I said. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

  I wasn't sure why I was asking Amelda. Things were better between her and Meri, but she still wasn't a fan. I had no expectation that she'd be the voice of reason.

  "I think it's a grand idea. Any way we can make that cat more useful is good, and if he suffers a little in the process, all the better,” she said with a chuckle.

  "See, I knew she'd love this,” Meri said.

  "I'm just joking around with you, cat. The coven appreciates your efforts to protect Brighton and the baby."

  Remy had decided that he was going to give the poison to Meri, but Amelda wouldn't have it. He'd said he would be careful, but Amelda said she was far less susceptible to it.

  I stood in the dining room and watched through the doorway. Amelda and Remy didn't even want me in the room while they did the experiment. I was kind of surprised they hadn't banished me to the garage.

  Amelda set her plate down on the coffee table and pulled the poison bottle out of her purse. She withdrew the dropper and approached Meri. He opened his mouth and she squirted a few drops of the poison into his mouth.

  We all watched silently. Within a minute, he let out a horrible howl and fell over. "Meri!" I said and tried to rush to him.

  Remy blocked my path. "You can't. He's got the poison in his system. You need to stay back."

  "This is a terrible idea. I can't believe we did this,” I said.

  "He's going to come back,” Remy said. "Just give it a minute."

  "Even if he does, did you hear the sound he made? That had to have been so painful." I was fighting back tea
rs.

  I stood in the doorway and watched Meri. A few minutes later, his tail twitched a little. Slowly it started to swish back and forth over the hearth.

  "See, he's fine," Amelda said as Meri lifted his head.

  She walked over to him and waved her hands in the air. With that, Meri sat up quickly.

  "Did you heal him?" I asked.

  "Nope, I just took away any pain and sickness he's feeling,” she said. "I'd call this little experiment a success. I suppose we can relax some of the restrictions around Brighton a little. The rest of the coven and witches of Coventry will still have to adhere to them until the killer is caught."

  The next morning when Remy was getting ready for work, he kept staring at me. "What?" I finally asked.

  "I know it won't do any good for me to tell you to stay home and be safe today,” he said.

  "But?" I asked.

  "But take the cat with you and be safe,” he said.

  "I love you,” I said.

  "I love you too. Both of you."

  "Aw, thanks,” Meri said as he sauntered into the bedroom.

  "Ha-ha. I'm not talking to you, cat, but I do appreciate what you've done for us,” Remy said and scratched Meri under the chin.

  As soon as he was gone, I got my big bag. "You ready to go, Meri?" I asked.

  "Go where?"

  "We're going to the school to talk to Linda Farmer."

  "Ugh, the school? Really? With, like, kids? I hate kids,” he groused.

  "Well, that's not good considering I'm going to have a kid soon,” I said.

  "That's different. Your baby is family, and that I don't mind."

  "Are you sure?" I asked.

  "Of course,” Meri said.

  The school was quieter than I expected given how much Meri had protested, but that was probably because classes had already started for the day.

  For some reason, I expected there to be security at the front door, but there was none. It was one of the benefits of living in a small town. We didn't need metal detectors and security guards at our elementary school. I imagined the witches in town probably helped protect the place too.

  As soon as we walked through the front door, I immediately felt like a giant. When I was a kid, everything in my school seemed normal size, but as an adult, a lot of things were very small.