by Joyce
“And then you have to be strong enough to deal with it.” Elsie gave me a look that said I shouldn’t be too encouraging with our new witch.
The captain of the riverboat had made a distress call to the Coast Guard vessel that was in dock. He’d already thrown out life preservers. They floated on top of the river close to where we’d surfaced.
“Oh dear.” Elsie shook her head. “This is going to be a mess.”
It was more of a mess than she realized. Joe had jumped on the Coast Guard vessel—that’s what comes of focusing your thoughts on someone you don’t want to notice you. I’d never seen his face look quite the way it did that day. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or scared.
The Coast Guard crew helped us on board and gave us blankets. They were polite and deferential. They offered to call an ambulance if we needed one.
Joe sat beside me. Somehow, I’d become separated from Dorothy and Elsie. They were laughing and talking with the crew about the experience. I was stuck with a slightly angry husband who didn’t understand what had happened.
“What in the world is going on?” His dark eyes were full of concern. “What made you decide to take a trip on the riverboat when you were headed home or to the shop?”
“I can’t really explain.” My mind was racing. We were walking a thin line between the truth and what I could get him to believe.
“Is it the new girl? What’s her name? Dorothy? Is she forcing you and Elsie to do things you don’t want to do?”
“Of course not. Dorothy is a librarian, and a very nice, sensible person. She probably has trouble collecting overdue book fees.”
“Then what is it, Molly?” He gently moved a strand of hair out of my eye. “You can trust me with whatever is going on. Are you in some kind of trouble? Is that why Olivia was killed?”
What could I tell him that would throw him off? I was in the middle of the river, strong with the water, but had never felt so helpless. My mind was still trying to wrap itself around the attack on the boat. I didn’t know what to say.
“You know I trust you, Joe.” I took a deep breath. I was going to have to jump in with at least a partial truth. “We thought we recognized a man on the boat. He might have been dating Olivia. But it wasn’t him.”
He looked almost comically surprised. “And you were going to tell me this when?”
“I wanted to surprise you. I thought we could solve Olivia’s murder together.”
It was almost too much for him to take in. “What? Where did you get such a crazy idea? The police will be lucky if we can find Olivia’s killer. How did you even think of such a thing?”
I shrugged. He was angry, but he was a safe distance from magic.
“You’re my husband. It’s not like we haven’t talked about some of your cases. I taught you how to make an omelet. I was thinking that I had probably heard enough to solve this case.”
He struggled to get his emotions under control. “You need to tell me everything, Molly. I hope I’m clear about that. I need to know all about this man on the boat, and anything else you can tell me that could help.”
I nodded and promised that I would. My blanket was slipping down. As I reached to pull it up, our hands met.
Joe pulled the blanket more securely onto my shoulders. His gaze softened. “Don’t ever do this again, sweetheart. You just took ten years off my life that I didn’t have to lose. If that man had killed you—I don’t know.”
I put my arms around him, sorry that I had hurt him, but more determined that we should find the killer before him.
If Brian was the witch who had killed Olivia—which seemed more possible than ever—he was very strong. He was probably stronger than the three of us had been in our prime. He would have killed Joe without thinking. The only thing that had saved Elsie, Dorothy and me was my affinity with the water.
Joe could never find this man. We were going to have to take care of it and hand Brian over to the Grand Council. There was no crime worse than killing another witch. They would act appropriately.
“I’m sorry, Joe.” I smiled and kissed him. “I love you. Let’s sort this out later.”
He held me close for a long time. We were still together when the Coast Guard vessel docked again. The crew helped Elsie and Dorothy off the boat. I got off with Joe.
I saw Lisbet waiting for him on the dock, a puzzled expression on her handsome face. No doubt Joe would tell her my story. She was his partner, and that tended to make people close. I was sure she knew all about our lives together.
I didn’t like that she’d think I was a little crazy, trying to solve Olivia’s murder myself. It couldn’t be helped. It kept Joe away from my reality and left us free to continue our search. Now that we had a better idea of what we were facing, I hoped we’d be better prepared.
“I’m going to take everyone to their houses and then go home and change clothes,” I told Joe. “Maybe we could have lunch somewhere and talk about everything that’s happened.”
“That would be fine,” he said. “But I need Elsie and the new girl—if she knows anything about this man who might have been dating Olivia—to come with you. We’ll have to interview all of you.”
“It was only me and Elsie. We met Dorothy later. She’s going to help out at the shop.”
Smuggler’s Arcane had always been the perfect cover for our magic. It gave us a reason to be together at all hours. Joe had never questioned how important the shop was to me. I’d always supposed that he was glad I had something to do during the long hours he spent at his job.
“Maybe this isn’t the best time to talk about it, Molly, but I think you should consider giving up the shop. We don’t need the money—if you’ve ever made any money at it. Olivia’s death might be the right time to call an end to it. Elsie certainly isn’t getting any younger. Maybe the new girl would like to buy it.”
It was like a sword to my heart. The shop had been more than a distraction, it had been a place to store all the magic artifacts that I hadn’t wanted to bring home. I knew I was going to have to say good-bye to the place when we retired and moved to Boca, but I wasn’t ready yet.
“You’re right. This isn’t a good time to talk about it. Not so soon after Olivia’s death. I’m sorry, Joe. I can’t think about that right now. I’ll bring Elsie for lunch after we’ve changed.”
He caught my arm as I would have walked away. “I’m sorry, Molly. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“I’m fine.” I was very conscious of Lisbet watching us. “Can you have lunch with a suspect?”
He laughed and kissed me. “You’re not a suspect. I just need to know what’s going on in your head. Let’s meet at Riverboat Landing. Give me a call when you leave the house.”
We separated as we walked down the dock to the shore. I didn’t want to know what he said to Lisbet or her opinion of me.
“Is everything okay?” Elsie whispered as we walked back where the car was parked. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“Of course not. I love him. I don’t want anything to happen to him.”
“Good.” She let out a relieved breath. “What now?”
“We go home and change clothes. Joe wants to talk to us about what’s happening with Olivia and a man she might have been dating—no name. I had to tell him something. A little truth seemed like a better idea than the whole truth.”
“I see.” Dorothy looked out over the river with a mournful expression. “So your husband can’t help us with Olivia’s killer.”
“No. It would be too dangerous for someone without magic.”
“I thought you said there weren’t good and bad witches,” Dorothy accused. “Just witches. That seemed like a very bad witch to me.”
“It was a very bad witch,” I agreed. “We’ve never known someone like this before. It was frightening for us too.”
Elsie took off her hat and shook the water out of it. “What do we do now, Molly?”
“We lie to Joe, I’m afraid. I kept him out of the magic part by telling him we were trying to solve Olivia’s murder by ourselves.”
“You did what?” Elsie made a hissing noise like a cat. “All I can say is that we’d better be having lunch someplace really good.”
Dorothy shivered and got in the car. I could see she was deeply shaken by what had happened. I wished I had a better answer for her.
Riverboat Landing was a quaint, historic restaurant that faced the river. It had private balconies and the best flatbread pizza in Wilmington.
You’d think I’d have been tired of the water after the dunking I’d received, but it was still pleasant to look out and see the river. The weather had cleared a little, and a few artists were out on the riverfront, painting the beautiful scene.
Elsie didn’t feel the same way. She turned her chair a little so she didn’t have to look at the water. She also had chicken salad because pizza upset her stomach.
“How are you feeling?” Joe asked her.
“I’ve felt better, thanks. I didn’t think Aleese was ever going to let me out of the house again. Sometimes that girl goes a little too far trying to protect me from myself.”
Joe sipped his water as we waited for our meals. “Maybe she’s trying to protect you from Molly.”
Elsie’s red eyebrows went up. “I would hope she’d know better than that by now too.”
“It was probably a little startling seeing you come home soaking wet,” he continued. “Did you tell her you fell off the riverboat?”
Elsie glanced at me as if to say, Is that our story?
“I told Joe about the man we think could have murdered Olivia,” I filled in for her. “And then we fell off the riverboat.”
“Oh yes. Yes.” Elsie picked up her glass of red wine and mumbled into it.
“It must’ve been hard for all three of you to fall off the boat.” Joe seemed like he was musing about the experience, but I knew he was fishing for more information. It was the way he thought.
“It all happened so fast,” I added quickly. “We didn’t expect anything like it.”
That was certainly the truth. While I’d been home changing clothes, I’d confided what had happened to Isabelle. She agreed that the man who’d accomplished that feat was certainly powerful. She warned me against future encounters with him.
The problem was—I had no choice. It was either that or let Joe run into him. I didn’t think it was likely the police would find a strong witch like him, but anything was possible. At least Elsie, Dorothy and I could handle basic defense.
“What did he look like?” Joe asked. “The man who might have been dating Olivia.”
“I thought we were being interviewed after lunch?” I smiled at him and separated my silverware from my napkin.
“This isn’t an interview. This is your husband and Elsie’s friend asking what you remember of the encounter. Did he rush at you? Did he have a weapon?”
Elsie excused herself to go to the ladies’ room. I glared at Joe after she was gone.
“It may not be an interview, but it feels like more than friendly questions from my husband.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. I was discussing this with Lisbet. It’s hard to believe that none of you screamed. How did he push you off the boat?”
Lisbet. I knew they were going to talk about us. It was a little annoying but not unexpected.
“It’s difficult to describe.” I frantically tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. “For one thing, we were afraid of him. We’re convinced that he killed Olivia.”
He nodded. “But not afraid enough to call me when you saw him? I was standing right here by the dock. You have a cell phone. I’m pretty sure all of you have cell phones. One call, Molly. That’s all it would’ve taken.”
“I didn’t think of it.” That was the truth too. I did think about staying out of Joe’s radar. Not that I would’ve called and endangered his life.
“Do you know this man? How long do you think he was dating Olivia? Were the three of you friends with him? Is that why you don’t want to tell me who he is?”
I realized that he sincerely wanted to understand what had happened. I wanted to help him, but I could only mislead.
“None of us had ever seen him before. He strolled into the shop one day, and Olivia helped him look for what he wanted. They took a fancy to each other and left together. Does that sum it up for you, Detective Renard?”
He sat back in his chair and frowned. “You make me feel like you’re hiding something. I’ve known you a long time, Molly. You’re not a good liar.”
It was all I could do not to laugh. Not a good liar? He had no idea.
I wasn’t proud of the fact that I had lied to him since the day we’d met. It wasn’t my wish to keep him in the dark about my activities as a witch. But it was necessary, and I’d become very adept at it.
I glanced down at my plate, the sun reflecting off the white china. What was I missing that Joe was picking up on? I knew he was good at his job, but this was surprising. We’d never had a clash of this type before. Was I handling it wrong?
Elsie returned as lunch was served. She ordered another glass of wine and shrugged as I wordlessly questioned her intentions. Was she trying to get tipsy? Wasn’t that going to make talking to Joe more difficult?
“Do you think the two of you could help a sketch artist with a drawing of this man?”
“Of course.” Elsie dug into her chicken salad as though it were the most important thing in the world. “I got a good look at him.”
Elsie winked at me, and I shook my head. She obviously didn’t understand the plan. What was she saying? We couldn’t sketch Brian for the police and help them find him.
CHAPTER 9
Despite the dark, despite the night.
I seek the truth, to bring the light.
I see through lies, I see through pain,
The truth shall rise, reveal the way.
Elsie drank more wine and polished off her chicken salad. She kept making observations about people walking by on the street and boats moving back and forth on the river. What Joe had said seemed to have no effect at all on her.
But then he wasn’t her husband.
It was a different story for me. I had never been so angry with Joe. He’d treated us like we were suspects in Olivia’s murder. I saw no sign of him backing down from it either. Between him and Elsie—we’d be ruined.
After our regrettable attempt at a pleasant lunch together, Elsie and I drove to the police station in front of Joe’s car, as though he were escorting us. I had to go along with his suggestion that we might be able to identify a photo of the mystery man Olivia might have been dating or help draw a sketch of him. Not to do so would’ve meant yet another accusatory conversation.
Besides, there was still a possibility of finding the man who’d heard Olivia scream in the alley. We had a better shot at it being at the police department—if I could keep Elsie from spilling the beans about everything. I was a little angry at her too.
“What was that all about?” Elsie’s words were a little slurred.
“I don’t know. I don’t like it.” I realized I was gripping the wheel so hard that my knuckles were white. “I know he’s upset about the case, but I didn’t like being interrogated—especially not by my own husband.”
Elsie squeezed my hand. “Molly, we want the same thing—Olivia’s killer. We’ve never faced a threat like this before. Maybe we should let Joe help us.”
That made me laugh. “We’ve never faced any threat before.”
“That’s true.” She giggled in her high-pitched schoolgirl voice. “I think the only threat we’ve ever had as witches was keeping those terrible big rats out of the cave. W
e came up with a permanent spell to take care of it, as long as we leave the cauldron down there.”
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Hyperventilating wouldn’t help. “I know you’re right. I know we’re not experienced in dealing with this kind of thing and Joe is, but we can’t involve him. I don’t want Cassandra paying him a visit and wiping away all of his memories to be sure he doesn’t know anything about magic.”
“You’re right. I don’t know if we could get those memories back.” Elsie gazed out the window.
“I remember that time Cassandra wiped away poor Walter Slabs’s memory. His wife was a witch too. What was her name?”
“Sylvia.”
“Yes, Sylvia.” I glanced in the rearview mirror at Joe. “The four of us managed to retrieve most of his memories after the council took them away. I don’t know of a fourth witch we could work with again.”
“True. I think Sylvia moved to Jamaica with Walter.”
“I’d like Joe and me to make it to Boca while he still has all his memories.”
“I know you would, dear. But we’re never leaving Wilmington if we can’t find our spell book.”
“And we can’t find our spell book unless we figure out who killed Olivia and took it.”
“That’s right. Eyes on the prize, my husband used to say. Sometimes I miss him saying that ridiculous stuff. I always miss him sleeping next to me at night, even though I had to wear earplugs so I wouldn’t hear his snoring.”
“I can’t tell Joe that Olivia was a witch and was killed by another witch. I also don’t want him and Lisbet to somehow get lucky and find Brian. They wouldn’t stand a chance against him. We have to get a case together that we can present to the council. They could handle him.”
Elsie rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure we could’ve handled Brian, even when the three of us were young. He was very strong. I’ve never felt so much strength. And why didn’t he kill us? He could have.”
“I think he was giving us a warning,” I whispered back. “He knew we couldn’t hurt him. He was mocking us.”
