Graves and Goons (A Hocus Pocus Cozy Witch Mystery Series Book 4)

by Constance Barker

  Chapter 28

  By the time Nikoli arrived, Celestial was already pacing impatiently outside. Truthfully, she was grateful Nikoli arrived when he did: she had been just about on the verge of breaking her promise to him and running in alone.

  “I can’t hear any noise coming from inside,” she said in lieu of greeting as Nikoli came trotting up. “But I thought I saw something at the window--yes! Look there!”

  Breathless, she pointed to the front window. Nikoli followed the gesture. Indeed, just then, there was a flicker at the front curtained window, and they both saw the same thing: the silhouette of a person, walking back and forth. Nikoli squinted, but the outline was too faint to tell much about the identity of the person, either sex or size--anything other than that restless, pacing act.

  “She looks agitated, wouldn’t you say?” Celestial asked, voice low.

  “She?” Nikoli said. “Celestial, where exactly are we?”

  “It’s the killer,” she said.

  “How sure are you of this?”

  She hesitated. In fact, it really was just an instinct, a hunch--but it was one that covered all the facts, all the nagging little details she’d picked up without quite noticing over the last few days. Celestial had never felt more certain, though she knew she didn’t have time to stop and explain her reasoning to Nikoli. And anyway, if she was right, he was about to find out in a more immediate and tangible way.

  She met his eyes. She didn’t need to answer: he saw the answer there.

  “Wait outside,” he told her, voice firm with determination. “Stay safe.”

  “You stay safe,” she returned, but already he was marching up the front steps and to the door.

  He knocked. “Hello? Police!” There was no answer, so he tried the door. Unlocked. He walked in and disappeared into the dark of the house.

  Out in the front garden, Celestial was immediately regretting allowing Nikoli to tell her to wait. The figure had disappeared from the front window, and now the house looked oppressively and uncannily peaceful and still. She felt restless, eager to jump in after him and see what was going on, help if she could be useful. As soon as he was out of sight from where she stood, she started to count silently to herself. Five minutes and I’ll go in, she told herself, but the house was so silent--why was it so silent?--that she only ended up lasting twenty seconds before she was racing up the steps and heading into the house after him.

  The first few rooms were empty. Celestial stopped and checked the front window, the one that looked out onto the garden from the living room, but there was no one there.

  Then, Celestial heard the sound of Nikoli’s voice coming from one of the rooms deeper in the house. She followed it there, her heartbeat too loud in her own ears.

  To her great relief, she found Nikoli in the kitchen, bending over a chair on which Sofia was sitting. No, not sitting, she realized--Sofia was lashed tightly to the chair with thick ropes, which Nikoli was working on untying. Sofia’s head was slumped heavily to the side, her mouth slack and her eyes closed, and Nikoli was saying her name, low and urgent, searching for a response. The chair was seated close to the stove, and Celestial noticed that all of the burners were turned on high, their flames switched off. The room, the entire house, was filled with gas.

  “Nikoli, the burners!” she shouted, crossing the room rapidly and switched them off. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone rushing down the back stairs, headed for the door that evidently led into the back garden.

  “Get Sofia out of here!” Celestial cried to Nikoli before taking chase. The running figure didn’t have a chance to slam the door shut behind them, Celestial was right at their heels, and within a few steps out into the garden Celestial flung herself forward, falling with the full weight of her body onto the fleeing culprit.

  The two fell in a complicated tangle of limbs, rolling over twice before coming to a stop in the middle of a patch of mint. Celestial landed on top and looked down into the scowling, grotesquely smeared face of Jennifer Atkinson.

  “Get off of me!” she shrieked, shoving forward to try to dislodge Celestial’s grip on her, but Celestial held tight. She was smaller than Jennifer, but more determined, and for all Jennifer’s blows and bucking she managed to maintain the upper hand. Jennifer’s nails, however, were sharp, and she caught Celestial’s arm with two jagged scrapes of her scrabbling hands before Celestial managed to rattle off a binding spell. Suddenly, Jennifer’s entire body seized, compressed and restrained by invisible bonds.

  As soon as Jennifer realized she was unable to move, she started to cry. Celestial clambered to her feet, wiping her forehead and trying to catch her breath. The air smelled of crushed mint leaves and Celestial’s own lavender lotion, which Jennifer must have been wearing. Just then, the back door flapped open again, and Nikoli emerged, bringing an unconscious Sofia with him in a fireman’s carry.

  “Mrs. Atkinson?” Nikoli said, startled. He looked at Celestial for a response, and she opened her mouth to answer him, but, to her surprise, the sobbing Jennifer got there first.

  “Yes, very well, I admit it! I was the one who turned on the gas at that horrible woman’s house. I’m the reason they’re all dead.”

  “Because you knew Jolene Bennett would be there,” Celestial prompted.

  “She was sleeping with my husband! Do you know what kind of person does that to another woman? It’s cruel and heartless and unnatural--and all the while she’s trotting around town, going to society parties and grand openings and pretending to be the paragon of morality. After I found out about her and Brett, I confronted her and told her to back away. She didn’t take me seriously--not at first. Just laughed at me. So I knew she’d never respect me, she’d never butt out of my marriage unless I did something serious. Something to make her stop.”

  “And Celestial?” Nikoli said, a growl of rage in his voice. “You tried to kill her too.”

  “Not to mention Sofia,” Celestial added.

  “By the time I heard you were trying to help solve the murders,” said Jennifer, sounding almost proud of herself now, eager to tell the story, “I knew I’d already told you too much, that you might be able to figure it out. That I was the one who did it. So I tried to take you out. And when that didn’t work, I figured I would try again, except this time I would use your friend as bait.”

  Nikoli had a disgusted look on his face. He looked to Celestial. “Will those bonds hold her?”

  Celestial nodded.

  “Good,” he said. “I’ll call for backup. We should get her booked right away… and get this one,” he added, with a nod to Sofia, who was just starting to stir faintly at his shoulder, “to the hospital.”

  Chapter 29

  Celestial sat in the waiting room at the hospital, eager for the doctors to let her know it was all right to go in and see Sofia. They were still attending to her now, but last she’d heard Sofia was conscious and talking, if a little disoriented. Celestial wanted to verify with her own two eyes that her friend was alive and well, and she also wanted to see if there was anything she could bring to make Sofia happier and more comfortable. She couldn’t imagine that the drab, washed out palettes of these bland hospital rooms were quite Sofia’s style.

  Most of all, though, she wanted to be the one to tell Sofia that she didn’t have to worry about the case anymore. Celestial had stuck around the house long enough to satisfy herself that Jennifer was arrested and booked for four counts of first-degree murder--as well as two counts of attempted murder--thanks to the evidence Celestial and Nikoli had given, which was enough to take her into custody.

  That didn’t necessarily mean, of course, that the whole ordeal was over. It didn’t matter that Jennifer had confessed to Celestial and Nikoli, because she hadn’t yet been given her Miranda Rights at that point, so the confession would have been inadmissible in court. If Jennifer Atkinson lawyered up now, she might be able to make things seriously complicated.

  Just as Celestial was puzzling
this over, however, her phone rang, Nikoli’s name blinking on the screen.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Thought I’d fill you in on what’s happening here at the station,” he said, voice low and quick. It was the tone he got when he only had a couple of minutes between other tasks to check in with her, so she didn’t interrupt him as he told her what was going on. Evidently, Jennifer was telling the officers everything, signing a full statement in confession. “It looks like she’s got the wind knocked out of her,” he told Celestial. “I’d guess she just doesn’t care anymore.”

  “There was tons of evidence,” said Celestial. “Maybe she thinks you’ll go easy on her if she cooperates at this point.”

  “Maybe,” he said. Then, the sound of voices, footsteps on his end of the line. “Look, I’ve got to go. They let you see Sofia yet?”

  “Not just yet. Looks like it might be a little longer.”

  “Hold tight,” he said. “I’m sure she’s fine.” Then the call ended.

  “Important policeman,” she grumbled, “thinks he doesn’t need to say goodbye.”

  * * *

  Celestial had already paged through the interior design magazine on the table next to her--not her style, too minimalist and clean--but she was starting to consider picking it up again by the time a nurse came up to her.

  “You’re Celestial Meadows? Here for Sofia Jorgenson?”

  “That’s right,” she said, sitting up straighter in her chair.

  “She’s asking for you,” the nurse said with a smile.

  Celestial was greatly relieved to see that Sofia was sitting up straight in her bed, eyes clear and alert enough to greet Celestial and smile as she entered. “What happened?” she asked. “The last thing I remember is being at my house, and then….”

  “I think you must have been knocked out,” Celestial said, pulling up a seat next to Sofia’s bed and taking her hand warmly.

  “That makes this massive headache make a little more sense,” said Sofia, raising her other hand to the back of her head and wincing. “But I don’t understand. Who was it? What happened?”

  So Celestial told the whole story, all the information she’d been dying to tell Sofia all that time in the waiting room. Sofia mostly listened with an alarmed look on her face, interjecting only now and then with a colorful comment about what must have been Jennifer Atkinson’s state of mind.

  “Well, I’m glad the whole thing is over,” Sofia said when Celestial had finished the story, up to and including Jennifer’s official and signed confession of guilt. “And I’m so, so glad you were there to help me out.”

  “Help you? I might have been the one who put you in danger,” Celestial said, feeling guilty.

  “No.” Sofia squeezed Celestial’s hand tightly. “You are a great witch, and an even better friend. You were determined to help exonerate me, and you did it. And, on top of that, you saved my life.”

  “Well, technically, it was Nikoli who saved your life.”

  “But you were the one who figured out where to find me, and just in time,” Sofia said, catching Celestial’s eyes and giving her a warm, real smile. “And, speaking of Nikoli….”

  At Sofia’s nod, Celestial looked over her shoulder. Indeed, there was Nikoli, lingering in the door.

  “Hi,” he said with a brief, awkward wave when the women looked up at him. “Just thought I’d check on the patient.”

  “I’m fine,” said Sofia, yawning. “Feeling a little tired, though. I might need some quiet, actually, just now.”

  “Of course.” Celestial rose. “We’ll leave you to it.” She helped Sofia to lie down in the bed and pull the blanket up over her, while Nikoli hit the lights, but Celestial didn’t miss the wink Sofia dropped just as she was turning away.

  Once Nikoli and Celestial were alone out in the hall, he turned to her and said in a low voice, “You did good work today.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled. “You too.”

  Then, a little irritated, he added, “You didn’t wait out front.”

  She shrugged. “You were in danger.”

  He didn’t reply to that immediately. Instead, he took her by the elbow and pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her in a hug that was firm, comforting without being tight. The hug lingered a second longer than Celestial expected, just long enough to make her feel warm and flustered.

  Then, he drew back. “Thank you,” he said, soft and sincere. Then turned and walked down the hall toward the elevators.

  This time, maybe, she appreciated that he hadn’t said goodbye.

  Red-faced, mind still stuttering on the feeling of that hug, Celestial gathered herself and, with a feeling of accomplishment and determination, set off for home.

  Chapter 30

  To Celestial, there was nothing quite so relieving as this sight: a fully recovered Sofia, wearing her brightest fuschia dress and cerulean slacks, standing and chatting with the others in Herbal Heaven. So much better than the woozy, tired, hospital-gowned Sofia of one week ago.

  “I swear, I’ve never sold this much honey before,” Sofia was saying, voice bouncy and pleased. “All the people who snubbed me before have been tripping over themselves to apologize and get their orders. Mrs. Gibson actually wrote me a card to apologize. The owners of the corner store ordered triple their usual order. I told them I couldn’t fill that much, that it would totally clear me out, so they said they’d buy up whatever I had. I’ve officially run out!” She grinned. “That has never happened before.”

  “Hey, you should be falsely accused of murder more often,” said Dakota.

  Sofia shuddered. “No, I don’t think I’m in any rush for that to happen again. Once is plenty.”

  “You know what I just heard this morning,” said Stella conspiratorially. “That Reverend Younger is planning to leave town.”

  “We saw him packing his things ourselves,” Bella piped up.

  “Good riddance,” Tamara added darkly, crossing her arms. She had never quite managed to shake her suspicion of both the Reverend and Joseph Bennett. Even if they weren’t guilty of this crime, she’d told Celestial just yesterday, I get a bad feeling from them. I’m sure they’re guilty of something else.

  Celestial wasn’t so sure. They were both flawed, difficult people, and the Reverend had some backward beliefs and major hypocrisies, for sure. But she was doing her best to keep in mind Nikoli’s advice: that you shouldn’t indict people for crimes unless you had the evidence.

  “Not too surprising he’d want to leave,” Celestial remarked. When the whole story about Jennifer had come out in the papers, so too had news of Reverend Younger’s affair with Mariah, which the townspeople--and particularly the people of Reverend Younger’s church--hadn’t taken too kindly to. “I wonder where he’ll go.”

  “Personally, I think he should consider this a wake-up call,” Sofia said. “Clearly he’s not in the right business.”

  “And he definitely doesn’t have what it takes to go up against witches,” Dakota eagerly agreed.

  Tamara smiled and quirked her head. “Crazy, isn’t it? Religious people never seem to last very long in this town.”

  “I think it’s even crazier how religious people always seem to be guilty of sins much worse than any of the supernatural people we’ve chased after,” Dakota countered, grumbling.

  “I’m just glad,” Celestial interjected, “that it seems like things are going to be settling down for a while. I am exhausted.”

  “Only a matter of time before another mystery falls in your lap,” Athena teased, causing Celestial to flap her hand in dismissal.

  “Please, no,” she cried. “Can’t we have some peace and quiet for once?”

  “For such a quiet little town, a lot does seem to happen,” Tamara remarked.

  “Oh, Stella and I could tell you stories about this town that would keep you up at night!” Bella said with glee. “It’s far from quiet and innocent, despite how it might look, believe me.”

>   Perhaps that was the biggest lesson Celestial had learned from all of this--from Reverend Younger, and Joseph Bennett, and the LMS. From Jennifer Atkinson, most of all. And, in their own way, from her friends, too. That you couldn’t judge from the outside what something was really like. That, in order to understand someone’s true nature, sometimes you had to set aside your judgments, and your preconceptions, and really listen and look.

  Later, after everyone else had left and Celestial was left to tidy the tea sachet display Dakota had knocked over on his way in, she remembered the notebook in which she’d written down all the suspects and clues in the case. She felt strangely compelled to find it, and started digging through the papers that were stacked up on her counter. Eventually, she located it, hiding out under a pile of old newspapers.

  She opened to the page where she’d neatly laid out all the evidence, trying to reason her way into figuring out the case. With a small, secret smile, Celestial took up a pen and, with great happiness, struck through where she’d written Sofia’s name in her list of suspects.

  “There,” she said, setting down the pen and dusting off her hands. “That’s done.” And closed the book.

  ***

  Don’t miss the next book in the Hocus Pocus Cozy Witch Mystery Series:

  Brooms and Brains

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