Zinnia and Margaret exchanged a look. They both knew of Dr. Katz and his clinic through their other coven member, Fatima Nix. Fatima worked for the veterinarian. Fatima and her aunt, Maisy Nix, rounded out the coven at a whopping four witches. Not much of a coven, but it was better than nothing. They used to also have Winona Vander Zalm as a member, even though she wasn't technically a witch, but Winnie had lost interest and stopped coming to coven meetings years ago. Zinnia wondered what Winona was up to lately. The woman was so very old, she might have passed away by now. Zinnia made a mental note to drop by Winnie's lovely red house soon to check on her, even though something in her witch's intuition told her it was already too late.
Zinnia pulled her attention back to the break room. Carrot was still sharing details about her animal rescue, specifically about having to rent a carpet steamer to clean the animal blood out of her back seat.
Margaret interrupted to say, “Lunch time's nearly over. Can you tell us more about the animal? When did you figure out it wasn't a dog?”
Carrot's pale cheeks flushed. “I asked Dr. Katz to check for a microchip or an ear tattoo, and call the owners. That was when he told me it was a wolf, not a dog.” Carrot put her face in her hands. “I can be so clueless sometimes. I don't even see what's right in front of me.”
Margaret patted her on the shoulder. “You did the right thing, Carrot. Whether it was a wolf or a dog, it was the right thing to do.”
Jesse agreed. “Animals are innocent creatures. It was kind of you to help. You're a good person.”
Carrot dropped her hands from her face and looked at Jesse with what looked to Zinnia like goo-goo eyes.
The tattooed, orange-haired young woman gushed, “Thanks, Jesse. You always know how to make a girl feel better.”
Margaret asked her, “Where's Alfie now?”
“Back in the wild,” Carrot said. “After Dr. Katz stitched him up, Alfie stayed in my back yard for a while. He got better and better, and then one day he jumped the fence and left forever.”
Margaret asked, “How long was his recovery period?”
Carrot shrugged. “I dunno. Does it matter?”
Margaret and Zinnia exchanged a look. The recovery period did matter. It mattered a lot if Alfie was a shifter. Their kind didn't heal instantly, but they did heal quickly, which was critical to the supernatural creatures, because they couldn't shift from animal to human if an injury was serious.
Dawna asked, “Was it a few weeks? A few months?”
Carrot shrugged again. “A couple of weeks. Maybe a month. Not too long. He did cost me a lot of money to feed.”
Margaret and Zinnia both leaned back in their chairs at the same time. A month to heal didn't sound like any supernatural creature they knew. Alfie must have been a regular wolf.
“And that was the end,” Carrot said. “He went away. Probably far away.”
Dawna crossed her arms and snorted. “I'm not so sure about that.”
Zinnia raised an eyebrow at Dawna. Was she about to spout some new theory? Yesterday, she'd breathlessly told them all she knew who killed Annette, and then it turned out she didn't know anything. All she'd had was her wild theory about the book.
Carrot pushed back her chair with a jarring scrape. “Lunch time's over.”
“Not so fast,” Dawna said. “You haven't told us everything about Alfie.”
Carrot's lower lip quivered.
Margaret got another celery stick ready for a compulsion spell.
Dawna stared at her pale coworker. “If you never saw that wolf again, then how come last week I saw you walking across the back lawn toward the woods with a box of Milk Bones?”
Margaret jabbed the celery stick. “Milk Bones? Spill it.”
Carrot stammered, “I-I-I w-would never give a wild animal processed food. They were organic snacks I made myself. Mainly oats and coconut oil.”
“I knew it,” Dawna said, looking pleased with herself.
All at once, everyone asked if it was true. Had Carrot been feeding a wild wolf right outside the office?
She nodded and put her face in her hands. “Just a small wolf,” she said meekly. “He might even be part dog, because he's not very big. I swear, you guys, Alfie wouldn't hurt anyone.” She dropped her hands and gave them a bug-eyed look.
The group muttered to each other about the coincidence of a wolf being fed near the office and a person being attacked.
Carrot tugged at the neck of her low-cut shirt, giving Zinnia another glimpse of her tattoos. The tattoo Zinnia had glimpsed back in Karl's office was definitely an animal. Zinnia could see an outstretched animal paw, and four red lines extending from its claws. The tattoo had been drawn to look like it was scratching the young woman's skin.
Margaret berated Carrot for not saying something earlier about Alfie.
Jesse got up from his chair, circled the table, and put his hands on Carrot's shoulder's protectively. “Margaret, go easy on Carrot. She's not a tough old broad with rhino skin like you.”
Margaret's shock at being spoken to like that registered as a loud gasp that was strong enough to make the napkins on the table flutter. Zinnia felt the uncontrolled energy crackling off the other witch. Someone was going to get a blue lightning blast to the chest. Possibly two someones. Jesse for saying Margaret was a tough old broad with rhino skin, and Carrot for feeding organic dog treats to a wolf right next to the office.
Chapter 14
Zinnia couldn't allow Margaret to zap people with blue lightning in the break room, no matter how badly some of them deserved it. Zinnia clapped her hands in a very specific, controlled way that would help dissipate the other witch's energy.
By the look of the pout on Margaret's face, the clapping was working.
Zinnia clapped once more for good measure. “That's enough, everyone,” she said.
Dawna, Carrot, Jesse, and Margaret stared at Zinnia. The clapping had also served to rivet their attention on the redheaded witch.
Zinnia spoke slowly and calmly. “Even if it was Alfie who attacked Annette, he didn't do it under Carrot's orders. I think we all can agree on that.”
Jesse, who was still standing behind Carrot with his hands on her shoulders, gave the young woman a reassuring shoulder rub.
“Zinnia's right,” Jesse said. “Our Carrot is a sweet girl. She's got the tattoos of a bad girl, sure, but she's a good girl, deep down.” He leaned forward to look down into her eyes. “Isn't that right?”
Carrot nodded, her wispy bright-orange hair flipping with the movement.
Zinnia felt a bit of her half-eaten lunch rise in the back of her throat. She wanted Jesse to play it cool at the office, but did he have to be so affectionate toward Carrot?
Margaret got to her feet. “Lunch break's over.”
Dawna remained seated. “Hang on, everyone. We have two minutes left to talk about Annette's book.”
The others turned their heads, looking at anything but each other.
Dawna said, “Come on, people. You didn't read it? You had all night!”
“I didn't even get started,” Zinnia admitted. “I had issues with my printer.”
“Same here,” Jesse said, which was technically true, since he'd also gotten his copy from Zinnia's printer.
Margaret looked sheepish. “I only got one chapter in before I fell asleep with my face mashed onto it.”
Carrot looked confused. “What book are you guys talking about?”
“Annette's unpublished manuscript,” Dawna said. She went on, giving Carrot more details about Annette's secret career and the book she had been writing before her death. As Dawna explained, it became clear this was the first Carrot had heard of any book.
“But you got a copy last night,” Dawna said. “Sent by email. Didn't you open it?
“I didn't open the attachment,” Carrot said. “I don't trust attachments.”
Dawna and Margaret both groaned.
Carrot said, “That's how viruses get on your computer. I was
waiting to open it here at work, because we have IT people around who can fix our computers if they get viruses. But then I got here, and I had two days' worth of emails, and you know how Karl sends me a copy of everything, mostly by accident.”
Dawna gave Carrot an incredulous look. “Open up that attachment, girl! All the characters in the book are based on us.”
Carrot scratched the top of her head. “Really? Us?”
“You'll get a kick out of it,” Dawna said. “Your character especially.” She looked around at the group. “We should all get caught up tonight, so we can talk about it tomorrow at lunch time. Like a book club. A real book club.”
Margaret and Zinnia exchanged a look. Sometimes they referred to their coven meetings as a book club. It wasn't the most imaginative code.
Jesse, who still had his hands on Carrot's shoulders—much to Zinnia's annoyance—said, “Imagine that. A lunch-time book club with all of us. Annette would have loved that.”
Everyone was silent. Jesse was right. Annette would have loved it. She would have loved it even more if she'd been alive to take part.
Everyone got back to work after their lunch break, including Gavin, in a new pair of unripped, unstained, half-a-size-too-small trousers. Dawna caught him up on what he'd missed: Carrot's wolf's name was Alfie, not Adolf, and Carrot had recently been feeding Alfie homemade dog treats in the forested park behind City Hall. People were divided over whether or not Alfie the wolf was a suspect, but generally agreed Carrot had nothing to do with the attack. Also, Carrot hadn't opened the email attachment with Annette's book, but Dawna showed her how right after lunch, so now she had a copy.
Zinnia kept glancing over at Carrot. The young woman seemed more nervous than usual, dropping pens and bumping her computer mouse on the floor twice. Was Carrot feeling guilty about feeding a wolf near the office? She had to be. Anyone in her position would be feeling terrible after getting that City Hall memo about preventing animal attacks.
The police needed to hear about Carrot's tame wolf, Alfie. And they needed to know about Carrot's tattoo with the scratching animal paw.
Zinnia passed Margaret a handwritten note about the matter. Margaret wrote back that Zinnia should be the one to call Fung, exactly as Zinnia expected Margaret would. The words disappeared from the page as they were read by Zinnia, thanks to a handy spell. The witches tried not to pass magical notes too often, because even with disappearing words, it was risky, but it was still more secure than email.
Shortly after two o'clock, Zinnia grabbed her phone and quietly slipped out of the office. Instead of visiting the regular washroom on the ground floor, she continued on to the seldom-used special needs washroom around the corner.
Her phone call to Fung went through to voicemail, so she left a detailed message, careful not to implicate herself as a witch in case he had someone else answering his messages.
As she left the washroom, she bumped into Jesse Berman.
Jesse's captivating blue eyes widened with delight as he gave Zinnia a knowing smile. “Who's using the special washroom that we're not supposed to use unless we actually need it?” His tone was flirtatious and teasing. “I may have to report your activities, Ms. Riddle.”
“Is that so?” Zinnia put her hands on her hips. “You'd report me to the department that oversees the use and misuse of the special needs facilities?”
“That's right.” He used his chin to gesture at the door, with its multiple signs warning away people who didn't require its ample space. “They need to make those signs big enough so that even people like you can read them.”
Zinnia snorted. “What do you mean, people like me?”
“Willful women.” The light in his blue eyes danced. In a low, gravelly voice, he said, “Coincidentally, willful women are my favorite kind.”
“I've noticed that.” She narrowed her eyes, remembering his hands on Carrot's shoulders. “And you're drawn to redheads.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “Guilty as charged.”
“But not in a discriminating way.” Her voice was brittle, sharp. “It seems any sort of redhead will do.” She blinked twice.
The flirty look fell off his face. “What?”
“You seemed awfully eager to offer comfort to a certain fake redhead coworker of ours.”
“Carrot?” He snorted. “She's just a kid, Zinnia. I only like women.”
“But you used to like her.”
He took a step back and slowly nodded. “Ah. I was wondering when this was going to come up.” He closed his eyes briefly. “Did Margaret tell you something? She's such a gossip.”
“Everyone at the office knows you used to date Carrot.”
Jesse shrugged one shoulder. “Dating is such a strong word. I would say—”
Zinnia held up one hand. “Don't,” she said. “I don't want to hear about it.”
“You're the one who brought it up.”
“Only because I also don't want to see it, Jesse. I don't want to see you rubbing her shoulders or putting your arm around her. I don't think it's too much to ask.”
He looked left and right, then took a step back, eyes wide. “I don't know what's going on here, but what you saw at the office was nothing. The poor girl hurt her elbow, and then you other women attacked her like a pack of wol—” he stopped himself from saying wolves and cleared his throat. “Hyenas,” he finished.
“We were nothing like hyenas. Carrot's the one who was feeding a wild animal, Jesse. Right next to the office. I don't know if it was Alfie who attacked Annette, but something did. She's dead, Jesse. Dead. Annette's not coming back.”
Jesse studied her with a detached, clinical expression. “You're really worked up today,” he said. “I've never seen you like this.”
A wave of shame passed through Zinnia. Jesse had seen her lose control. She was acting like a jealous, crazy woman. She swallowed, fixed the collar on her blouse, and smoothed down her hair.
“I'm fine,” she said, and she was. Some emotion had gotten away from her and broken through, but now everything was back to where it was supposed to be.
“You're right about Annette being gone,” Jesse said softly. “We're all going to miss her, but it's her own fault.”
“Her fault?” Zinnia couldn't imagine where Jesse was going with this.
“Yeah.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and lifted his shoulders tight to his ears. “She was always using manipulation, trying to make us be more to each other than we are. She must have been lonely because she didn't have a family, so she tried to make the whole office into a family, with herself as the grand matriarch.”
Zinnia said nothing. It was true, but the way Jesse described Annette's enthusiasm as manipulation made it sound unsavory. Pathetic, even.
“She knew about us,” Jesse said. “About me and you.”
“Oh.” Zinnia was surprised, but not that surprised. When she and Jesse had taken their flirtation to the next level, they'd been careful, but not careful enough. Margaret had figured it out instantly. Carrot either hadn't or wouldn't let on. Dawna and Gavin were so consumed with each other and their drama that they wouldn't have clued in if Jesse and Zinnia had started making out in the break room. Annette, however, would have noticed. She'd always been good at observing people and figuring them out. It must have been her writer side.
Jesse said, “Annette liked that we were seeing each other.” He paused, looking puzzled. “She even said she approved of you.”
Zinnia frowned. She didn't like the idea of someone judging her worthiness for dating, not even someone like Annette.
“I'm going to miss her, too,” Jesse said. “This whole thing, it's just so surreal.” He looked down at his shoes and scuffed one on the floor. When he spoke again, his voice was low and gruff. “And to think, this all happened because Carrot couldn't tell the difference between a dog and a wolf.”
Zinnia felt a chill run up her back. Jesse was on the same page as her: Alfie the wolf did have something to do with the att
ack.
Jesse said, “Actually, I came down here so I could use this private washroom to put in a call to the police about Carrot's wolf.”
“No need,” Zinnia said. “I already called.”
He looked up at her, his blue eyes bright and gleaming. “You did?”
She nodded. “Funny how you and I think the same thing sometimes.”
He grinned. “Funny.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Got any plans for tonight, Mr. Berman?”
His posture slumped and he sighed. “I do, actually. My father had a bunch of old photo albums stashed in the attic. I've been meaning to go through them and get everything organized. It's coming up on the two-year anniversary of...” He gritted his teeth.
“I understand,” Zinnia said. Jesse's father, Viktor, had passed away two years ago. Grief was one of the things Zinnia and Jesse had bonded over, whether Jesse knew it or not.
“Two whole years,” Jesse said. “Sometimes I can't believe he's gone, like when I'm in the house. I feel him everywhere there. In the walls. It's comforting.”
Zinnia shivered. Whenever she was at Jesse's house, she felt it, too. Except to Zinnia, the presence was the exact opposite of comforting. The Berman house had some seriously bad juju.
“Hey,” Jesse said, snapping his fingers. “How about you come over tomorrow night? I should have all the photos cleaned up by then. I'll cook you dinner. A nice dinner.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Dinner? You cook?” He'd never cooked for her before, so she had no idea what to expect.
He laughed. “I know, right?” He waved his hands up and down his body. “All these good looks, and he can cook, too.”
“You are a man of many surprises, Jesse Berman.”
“It's a date,” he said, smiling broadly and blasting her with his effortless charm. “Saturday night. Don't be late.”
3:30 pm
The office was quiet. Too quiet. Zinnia removed her in-ear headphones and listened. Nobody was typing or clicking mouse buttons, even though they were all staring at their computer screens.
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