“That might not mean anything,” Remy said. “I’m sure that happens a lot.”
“It does mean that their marriage has been in trouble before,” Meri said. “Can we go get chicken now? The blandness of this office is giving me a headache.”
I was about to say that we could go, when I heard the front door of the insurance agency open. Either because we were in the back of the office in the shadows or because Meri was using some sort of cloaking, the person coming through the door didn’t immediately notice us. The man was also looking down at his phone, and that probably helped.
“Dang it, I knew I left my computer on again,” the man said.
We’d all dropped to the floor to avoid detection, but we’d need to do more than that. The man was none other than Wade Clark, and he’d be heading back to his desk to shut off the computer that I’d turned on.
Not only did we have to figure a way out, but I needed to close the file. At the very least, he’d know he wasn’t working on that particular one before he left.
“Cloak,” I mouthed to Meri.
He gave me a nod of the head, and I slowly reached my hand up and clicked the mouse to close the file as quietly as I could. As soon as I’d done that, we all started crawling away from the desk in the opposite direction of Wade.
We managed to stay hidden and make it to the front door. From that point, I didn’t know how we could get out without him seeing the front door open and close. I wondered if we should just wait there until he left again, but Wade actually gave us the break we needed. For whatever reason, he got up from his desk and went to the boss’s office door.
I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but I glanced back one last time before I slipped out. He was picking the lock on his boss’s door.
Chapter Nine
The snow had stopped by the time we pulled out of the insurance company’s parking lot. I guessed that agents or employees must have left their cars in the lot overnight from time to time because Wade didn’t even seem to notice it. Whatever he was up to, he obviously didn’t care about a stray car in the lot.
The drive to the chicken place was much easier without the driving snow making everything look like a winter wonderland of doom.
Much to our luck, it was past prime dinner hours and the snow had people staying home rather than driving. The restaurant was practically abandoned, and they upgraded all of our combo meals for free. When we sat down at the table, I looked out the window to see Meri sitting on the dash of the car staring at me.
I had his box of plain nuggets, and I’d planned on taking them to him when we were done eating. I don’t know what I was thinking, and there was no way I could eat my food with him boring holes in my head like that.
“I’m going to take Meri his food,” I said.
Annika and Remy looked out the window and laughed.
“Someone had better get out there before he loses his mind and comes inside,” Remy said. “Do you want me to go?”
“No, you guys eat,” I said. “It will only take me a minute.”
I grabbed his box of nuggets and headed out of the restaurant. As I opened the car door to give Meri his nuggets, another car pulled into the parking lot.
Two women got out and started walking to the entrance. They both looked at me, so I didn’t say anything to Meri. Instead I just put the open box on the floor and shut the door. I don’t think he minded at all. Meri just wanted the food. He would be content to wait for us as long as he had his meal.
When I went back inside, the two women were standing back from the counter looking at the menu. The both turned to look at me again, but this time, they seemed to be studying me.
One of the women was wearing a blue blouse with dark wash mom jeans, and her hair was pulled up into a bun that sat at the base of her neck. She was staring at me much harder than the other, who had gone back to perusing the big menu over the counter.
“I know you,” the woman in blue said.
“I’m afraid we’ve never met,” I said with a shake of my head.
I tried to place her, thinking that she might be someone from my distant past. I couldn’t. I didn’t recognize her at all.
“No, we’ve never met,” she said with a chuckle. “But I’ve seen you on television.”
“I’ve never been on television,” I said as I wracked my brain in an attempt to figure out what actress this woman thought I could be.
“Sure you have,” she said. “They put your picture up on the news when you rescued those two hikers.”
“Oh, yeah,” the other woman said as she turned to look at me. “And again when the guy was murdered in your house. During that big party. I can’t remember what it was for…”
“The news people never came to my house,” I said more to myself than to them.
Thinking about it, that did seem pretty strange. All of these murders happened in Coventry and the news never showed up to do a story. I figured it probably had something to do with the protective magic over the town.
“They probably just got an old picture of you off of the internet,” the woman in blue said with a shrug. “It’s not that hard to find tons of information on anyone these days. So, what do you think happened? My money is on her finally fighting back. I just hope she doesn’t get prison time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those two lived in a little town just west of here,” the woman in blue began. “Same town as me and Gertie here. When a man is no good to a woman, you hear all about it in a tiny place like that. Their relationship was no good, and everybody knew it.”
“He was always saying it was her,” Gertie added. “Janet, don’t you remember hearing that he’d told one of his buddies that she was the one who was mean. He’d never go to the police, but I swear I saw bruises on him sometimes.”
Janet snorted. “I still think it was him. She probably just got a few licks in from time to time.”
“So, he was never arrested for hitting her?”
“Not that I can recall,” Gertie said. “People knew about it all over town, but either they didn’t call the sheriff or he just steered clear of the situation. It’s a real shame in this day and age that a sheriff would ignore something like that, but sometimes it seems like our town is stuck in the past.”
“You should go eat,” Janet said. “Your friends are looking at you, and once your cat friend gets done with his meal, he’s going to be ready to go home.”
It seemed that Gertie and Janet were done with our conversation, so I went back to my table and joined Annika and Remy. I sat down and started to eat without saying anything because it hit me how hungry I really was. After three chicken nuggets and a couple of waffle fries, I looked up to find Annika and Remy staring at me.
“What?”
“What do you mean, what?” Annika asked. “Those women, what did they want?”
“Uh, they lived in the same town as Finn and Joanna. Apparently, their relationship has a history of violence. One of them thinks it was Finn hurting Joanna, and the law just turned a blind eye. The other thinks it was her that was abusive, and Finn was too afraid to ask for help.”
“That’s interesting,” Remy said.
“One of the woman told me that Finn had told a friend it was Joanna abusing him, but he never went to the police,” I said.
“That’s not unusual. Men don’t report it because they’re supposed to be tough,” Annika said before stealing one of my waffle fries.
“Is there anything we can do with this information?” Remy asked.
“I still think we should talk to Gunner about whether Finn made a statement or not,” I said. “We’ll figure it out from there.”
It was getting a little late by the time we made it back to Coventry, but Gunner still agreed to meet with Annika. We figured she should ask him. He was more likely to open up to her, and I didn’t have to know about it if she used a little bit of magic to loosen his lips.
Remy and I waited at my house for her to call. Sh
e never did call, but a couple of hours later, Annika came strolling into my living room. Remy and I were sitting at the coffee table playing Risk.
“Oh, wine and Risk. I’m glad I made it back in time for this party,” Annika declared.
“There’s a bottle open on the kitchen counter if you want red. The white is in the fridge.”
“You know which one I want.”
Annika came back two minutes later with a full wine glass and a bag of cheddar and sour cream chips she must have pilfered from my pantry. I had to wrinkle my nose at the thought.
“That is a horrible combination,” I said.
“Speak for yourself. I like it,” Annika said.
She plopped down on the floor at the end of the coffee table and set her wine glass on the table. The bag of chips went next to her hip.
“What did you find out?” I asked.
“At first he didn’t want to tell me anything,” Annika said. “He said to tell you to stay out of it unless you want to become a deputy for real.”
“You said at first,” Remy said.
“Yeah, I told him he was being completely unreasonable. I said it wouldn’t hurt anything to just tell me if Finn made a statement or not. He said he didn’t want me involved in cases either, but I told him he wasn’t the boss of me.”
“And?” I asked.
“As far as Gunner knows, Finn never made any kind of official statement to any police entity. He doesn’t believe he ever woke up.”
“But he doesn’t know for sure?” I asked hopefully.
“He didn’t know for sure. It is still possible that he spoke to someone in the hospital or the ambulance.”
“So, I guess the next step is to figure out how to get the nurses to talk to us,” Remy said. “I think that will be harder than getting Gunner to open up.”
“We could do a potion,” Annika offered. “Something in a spritz bottle to get them to open up.”
“We can’t,” Remy said flatly.
“You guys are such babies,” Meri snarked as he sashayed into the living room. “You guys are always trying so hard not to influence other people’s will, but you are witches. It’s not like you’re raising your ex from the dead to torture him.”
“Could we really?” I thought of the implications of having a truth potion.
“You can as long as you don’t use it for nefarious means or personal gain,” Meri said. “Are you going to gain personally from this?”
“Not really,” I said. “I mean if nothing else, it will help Joanna if she’s innocent and help Finn if he was.”
“Then let’s make a potion,” Meri said. “You could certainly use the practice.”
Our first step was to gather ingredients. Some spells simply required your intentions, but potions required stuff.
Some of that stuff was easy to get. I had it in my house already. A couple of items we could get from Ruby's Apothecary. One particular element, we had to get from a special supplier.
What I mean by special supplier was Amelda. The tiny, rare berries weren't stocked in Ruby's shop because they were too powerful and also expensive. They were something a bad witch would break in to steal. It just wasn't safe for anyone but a coven leader or a "special" supplier to keep on hand.
Remy told me that Amelda got the berries from a place that put Fort Knox to shame. Not only did it have the highest level of mundane security, including armed guards, but the place was tricked out with more magical protection than any place other than the building where the Grand Coven resided.
The tiny, red berries were known simply as "gooseberries". They were called that because even their real name held magical power. We just needed a small pinch of the powder made from the dried berries.
What we had to do was convince Amelda to give it to us.
"Truth potion." She looked at the three of us skeptically. "The cat put you up to this, didn't he?"
The three of us looked at each other before responding. There was no point in lying to her. She already knew. It made sense, though. How else would we have gotten the recipe?
"It was, but it's good for all of us," Remy reasoned. "We need to know how to make potions like this. We are the future of the Skeenbauer coven."
"Yes," Annika added. "Won't the three of us be in charge of the family coven some day?"
"I'm not a Skeenbauer,” I interjected. "I can't lead your coven."
Annika shot me a look. She didn't have to say anything because Amelda did.
"You will be a Skeenbauer when you marry my grandson. That bond is as good as blood, and your child will be my great grand... child."
Why did I get the feeling she already knew if it was a boy or a girl? I wanted to ask, but that's not why we were at her house.
"Yes, the three of us will lead one day soon," Remy said. "And then someday in the future, my child will be the Grand Wizard."
I had no idea what he was talking about, but it made Amelda's eyes light up. She decided right then to help us make the potion. Amelda was going to do more than just give us the berry powder.
"I'll help you put it together since you didn't bring the cat."
"But we left everything else back at my house," I said. "Plus, we still need to go to Ruby's Apothecary for a couple of ingredients."
"Not to worry, Brighton. I have everything else you need here."
I wondered if Meri would be upset that we'd made the elixir without him, but I wasn't about to turn down Amelda's help. I figured he'd just have to understand.
Turned out, he wouldn't have to after all.
While we were gathering what we needed from Amelda's supplies, there was a small scratch at the front door. "Could you get that, Brighton?" Amelda called from her basement. "I believe it's for you."
I walked over to the heavy oak door and stood up on my toes to look out the peephole. I didn't see anyone out there, and I wondered if they'd given up and gone away. Surely it wasn't a ghost or malevolent spirit, or Amelda wouldn't have sent me to the door like that.
Unless she really did want me gone.
But I knew Amelda would never do something like that with Remy and Annika around. So, I looked out again.
"Are you going to open the door or what?" I heard Meri's voice.
It was him scratching on the door, and he was sitting too close for me to see him. "Hang on," I said and threw the deadbolt.
I opened the door for him, but Meri just sat there. "Can I come in, Amelda?" he finally called out.
"Yes, you can,” she shouted back, and I heard her begin to come up the basement steps.
"Thank you," Meri said.
He sashayed into Amelda's house like he owned the place and looked around. Eventually, he moved through the living room and into the kitchen.
"Hey, Meri," I said. "Amelda offered to help us with the potion. I would have called, but you're a cat."
He just sort of looked at me blinking for a second, and then began licking his paw and cleaning his ears. "I figured that would happen. I should have just come with you in the first place and volunteered to stay in the car. It would have saved me the walk."
"Sorry you had to walk," I offered.
"It's all right. You can make it up to me later with bacon," he said.
"That I can do."
"So, where are we at with the potion?" Meri asked.
"We've got almost all of the ingredients ready," I said as Amelda walked by and set a small black glass vial down on the kitchen table. "Strike that, I think we have it all."
"Is that the... powder?" Meri asked Amelda.
"It is," she said. "I'm going to add what we need to the cauldron, and then I need to put the rest of this back in the vault."
"You have a vault down there?" I asked absentmindedly. Of course she had a vault down there. It's not like Amelda left her most powerful ingredients just sitting around on a dusty basement shelf. "I'm kind of curious what else you've got in there."
"Oh, my dear, I'm not sure if you're quite ready for that yet
,” she said with a knowing smile.
"Grandmother has some very powerful tools and ingredients down there," Annika said. "As well as a few relics the Pope wishes he could get his hands on."
"You have religious relics in your vault?" I asked.
"A few things," Amelda responded. "I have some hair from... someone very important to the church. I also have some wood splinters from a table made by a most important man. Oh, and the graveyard dirt from several important men and women. I mostly have them to keep them safe. Make no mistake, they could be used to create some devastating magical potions or effects, so that's why I keep them."
"I wouldn't think those things would have any power. I mean, maybe before I found out about witches, but.."
"Oh, my dear. So many things you don't know," Amelda said with a soft smile. "It's okay. Someday you will. For now, I'm just going to put this vial away. It's not safe to have this much of it out in the open like this."
I watched as Amelda walked out of the kitchen and heard her go back down the basement stairs. We didn't wait for her to come back to begin.
"Let's do this," Meri said.
He told us what to add to the cauldron and in what order. A few minutes after we began, Amelda returned to the kitchen and took over. I thought Meri would protest, but he stood back and observed.
When everything had been added to the cauldron and gently stirred, Remy carried it over to the stove. He was about to light the burner, but Amelda stopped him.
"On second thought, why don't we do that outside?" she said and waved her hand toward the back door. "Better safe than sorry."
"Is it dangerous?" I asked.
"Only when you first light it... and when you stir it... and while it's cooling down," she said. "After that, it should be fine."
"Are we going to hurt someone using this?" I asked.
"No," Meri answered. "I mean, as long as they don't drink it and you don't spray it around an open flame."
"Good to know,” I said, but I was still slightly concerned.
Remy took the cauldron out to Amelda's back yard. She led us down a path and past her extensive gardens. We arrived at a large stone circle. In the middle of the circle was a large black iron frame with chains hanging down in the center. At first, I thought it was some sort of torture device, and I began to get a little nervous. When Remy attached the cauldron to the chains, I realized it was just a frame for cooking or making potions.
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