by K. J. Emrick
On her wrist, Kiera’s grip tightened. “Whatever you saw, I will take care of it. Don’t worry yourself over it. Most likely, it was nothing.”
“I’m telling you, Kiera, I saw it. Why won’t you just tell me what’s bothering you? If you’re calling on things like this—”
“I said I would handle it,” Kiera said in a way that made it plain there would be no more discussion. “Go on, now. When you get back it will be gone. Promise.”
It wasn’t lost on Addie that Kiera hadn’t actually admitted to casting a spell to call up the entity. She still wouldn’t say what was bothering her, either.
The cardboard box that she’d been looking for was right there on the shelf next to them, and a quick look through it might give her the answers Addie needed. If it was important enough for Kiera to spend time on it this morning then there must be something special inside, but somehow she doubted Kiera would let her take so much as a peek right now.
Instead, she memorized where the box was on the shelves. She could come back later and look through it then. Her sister was entitled to her privacy the same as she was entitled to hers, but not if it meant keeping secrets that put their family and their home in danger.
“Well,” she said, taking her hand back from Kiera. “I guess I’ll see you after work, then. Oh, that reminds me. The detective I told you about, Lucian Knight? He’s going to meet me at the café today. He wants to take my official statement for the investigation but I’ll try to get some news out of him as well. After that I think we should talk to the Norris family. I don’t know them very well, but I have to believe they would have some idea of who might have killed Esmerelda.”
“That stands to reason,” Kiera agreed. She turned Addie around by putting an arm through hers, and then started them back toward the stairs. “I haven’t seen Esmerelda’s mother or father in some time. Not even in our weekly Vision walk through the town. Talking to them is definitely the right next step. However, if we’ve learned one thing from dealing with Typics, it’s that reason doesn’t always enter into the way they live their lives. That’s why they have us. To protect them.”
“We protect Shadow Lake. Sure. I suppose.”
Kiera furrowed her brow, frowning at what Addie had said. “You don’t sound convinced.”
“No, I do. I mean, I am. I take our position of protector seriously. I just have to wonder if Willow might not be sort of right, and maybe our time might be better spent on something else. The police can handle finding a Typic killer. We have trouble enough with the magical threats.”
Like the thing in the bathroom this morning, she nearly added.
“Ah. You mean, how do we protect people from themselves.” Kiera chuckled lightly as they went upstairs. “I wish I knew. However, consider this. As you know, murder is a violent crime that tips the balance between good and evil. It is a crime against humanity itself. If we let this murder stand, what damage are we doing to Shadow Lake through our inaction?”
Addie knew where she was going with this. “All good people have to do to allow evil to flourish, is stand and do nothing when they encounter it.”
“Precisely!” Kiera was pleased with her sister’s response. “That is a very simple truth, and one spoken by a Typic. Not every great thing in the world was done by someone with magic. All people, everywhere, deserve our protection. Also, consider this. It’s not just Typics who hurt and kill each other. People with magic in their veins hurt their own kind often enough as well. We’re not above such petty vices as greed and jealousy.”
“That may be so, Kiera, but when was the last time you had to worry about me or Willow killing you in your sleep?”
“The very last time I told Willow to spend more time here with us and less time prancing about with men who couldn’t take their shoes off if the instructions were stitched onto their socks.”
Laughter burst out of Addie. She couldn’t help herself. The eldest Kilorian sister hardly ever made a joke. She certainly never commented out loud on her younger sister’s life choices. This was such a rare moment that Addie considered marking it on the calendar.
A malevolent entity within the walls of Stonecrest, and her sister telling a joke. This was a day for strange things, it would appear.
“About time,” Doyle grumbled when they came up to the top of the cellar stairs. “We’re going to need to hurry if you want to make it to the café before opening. Come on, come on!”
The cellar stairs opened up on the backside of the kitchen, and Addie noted how Doyle had managed to knock the plastic container of his cat treats off the counter again. He stared up at her innocently but the evidence—what was left of it—was all over the floor. She smiled at him indulgently as she picked up her keys and her purse and went through the house to the front door.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes, Old Man. Stop worrying so much. There’ll still be lots of customers to get your handouts from.”
He made a spitting, coughing noise in his throat. “They only do that because they love me. They obviously can recognize royalty. It’s not like I go begging for it.”
“Of course not.” She gave him a smile while keeping her eyes alert for any sign of that invisible thing she’d felt earlier. What was it doing here? What was it after?
More importantly, where was it now?
Kiera would take care of it. Of the three sisters, Kiera was by far the most powerful. That was the only reason Addie felt comfortable leaving her alone in the house today.
In the driveway was her Jeep, right where she’d left it. She checked her watch. Yes. Plenty of time to get to the café…
Doyle stopped short in front of her and she nearly tripped over him. Annoyed, she resettled the strap of her purse around her shoulder and glared down at him. “For a cat who was in such an all fired hurry to get out of here, you sure picked a funny place to pretend to be a rock.”
Doyle’s whiskers twitched. He had his gaze locked on something ahead of them.
Addie was surprised to hear him growl.
The entity, was her first thought. Reaching inside of herself for her magics, just in case, she began curving her fingers into specific shapes that would let her call up certain spells.
Then she followed the line of Doyle’s sight, and dropped her hands again.
A cat was sitting beside the tire of the Jeep Cherokee. A big black tomcat. Just sitting there, looking like he was completely unimpressed with the fit of anger Doyle was displaying by bristling his tail and growling again.
“Dude, it’s just another cat,” Addie told him. He hated being called “dude” because he thought it sounded silly. Sometimes, she did it just to irritate him. “Relax.”
“This is my house,” he grumbled. “You defend it from all those magical beasties who want to crunch our bones and put Spam in everyone’s shoes, or whatever, and I’ll protect it from stray cats who want to eat all my food!”
He leapt forward without warning, like a black and white streak of lightning, all fur and teeth and claws. The black cat watched him coming, his eyes getting wider, his pupils rounder, until Doyle was right on top of him.
Then he jumped up in the air a good three feet, and Doyle ran right through the empty space he left behind, smack dab into the hubcap of the Jeep.
Addie fought her urge to laugh as she rushed to Doyle’s side, scooping him up in her arms and asking him if he was okay. The black cat watched them over one big shoulder for a long moment, and then sauntered away, down the slope of the lawn to the tree line. He was gone in the next instant.
“Wh-what hit me?” Doyle asked after a moment of listlessly clinging to Addie’s shirt.
“My car hit you. Actually, it might be more correct to say you hit my car. I wouldn’t be surprised if you dented my wheel. You’ve got a pretty hard head, Old Man.”
“Oh, very funny. Ha, ha.” He righted himself in her arms and then leapt down to the ground. His ears perked up as he looked all around them. “Where’d that cat go?”
“He lef
t. You must have scared him away with your ability to run into solid objects.”
“You know, you only think you’re funny.”
“Actually, I know I’m funny,” she said with a smile. “Oh, don’t be so grumpy, Doyle. You did a great job of scaring off that trespassing feline. I don’t know what we would do without you around here.”
His eyes narrowed. “Mock me if you want, but cats always have a motive for what they do. If he was here, now, there had to be a reason. I should know. I happen to be a cat myself, you know.”
“Is that a fact? All right, so big bad cat had a reason to be here. You don’t think he might have just been looking for something to eat, or chasing a mouse or something?”
Doyle sighed through his nostrils. “Humans. You have so much to learn.”
Chapter 8
Darla had already opened the Hot Cauldron for business when Addie got there. The lights were on. The “Come In and Sit a Spell” sign was facing out through the front glass door. There were even a few customers inside already…
Those weren’t just any customers. She recognized them through the front window as she drove around the building to park at the back. They were two of the last people she expected to see here this early. From what she understood, her sister slept in whenever she spent the night at Gary’s. Something about the two of them staying up very, very late to enjoy each other’s company.
Addie had never asked for details.
“Isn’t that your sister’s car?” Doyle asked, putting his paws up on the dash to peer out the windshield. “What do you think Willow’s doing here?”
“Getting breakfast, I hope.” She didn’t want to know what other reasons Willow might have had for dropping by this morning. There was already enough going on without adding more into it. Although, she and her sister did have a lot to talk about. The thing in the house this morning, for one. She wanted to discuss Kiera’s odd behavior too but somehow, she felt like Willow would have been completely oblivious to it. She’d been too wrapped up in her own emotions last night.
They went inside together after Addie let Doyle out of the Jeep and locked it up. There was nothing in there worth stealing, really, but with a killer on the loose in the town it seemed like the right thing to do. She would have laced the Cherokee’s exterior with a spell, too, if the people of Shadow Lake weren’t starting to wake up and move around. They weren’t supposed to let anyone see them work their magic. Not even Darla knew they were witches.
She was in the kitchen when Addie came in, already baking trays of muffins and bread and other treats in the double oven. They made other things like pancakes and eggs to order, but some mornings were busier than others. Addie had learned early on that it was best to have a supply of their most popular treats ready to go. The coffee was already brewing too and it smelled delicious.
“Good morning, Darla. You got here early.”
“Well, good morning to you, too.” The older woman smiled as she mixed a bowl of dough with a metal whisk. A few strands of gray had fallen out of the elastic she’d used to tie her hair back and she kept hooking them behind an ear as she worked. She was wearing a long blue dress today, Addie noticed in passing, with flowers stitched around the shoulders. Not very flattering to her figure but then Darla had always been more worried about living her life than about what other people thought about her.
“Did you see who was out there?” she asked Addie. “Your sister and that boyfriend of hers were outside waiting when I came to unlock the door.”
“I saw them, yes.” Addie checked over some paperwork from the corner table, order forms and such, and then got herself a cup of coffee. “I usually don’t take money from family but I really have no problem taking Gary’s money. Make sure we write them up a bill… but don’t push it if Willow asks, okay?”
Doyle had already made his way out of the kitchen and into the dining room. He’d be curled up in his window bed before too much longer. She’d better get out there, too, and find out why Willow had decided to stop into the café. She couldn’t even remember the last time that had happened.
“I’m getting everything ready now,” Darla told her. “You can relax until the crowds start coming in.”
“Thanks,” she said, putting the papers away again. “I can always count on you.”
“Why else would I be here?” Darla shrugged, still stirring her mix.
In the dining area Addie found Willow and Gary kissing each other, sitting very close to each other on one side of their round table. It would have been cute to see her sister looking so much in love, if Addie hadn’t seen this same thing a dozen times before with a dozen other men. She was dressed to attract, that was for sure, in that tight purple t-shirt and those jeans she liked so much with the rips across her thighs. It was a different outfit than she wore yesterday. That made Addie wonder if she was keeping some of her things at Gary’s place now.
She went up to them with a smile anyway, because after all this was her little sister. “Hey, you two. I wasn’t expecting to see you in here this morning. Can I get you anything?’
“Darla already took our order,” Gary told her impatiently, his fingers tracing Willow’s on the tabletop. “How about just giving us some privacy for now?”
Inwardly, Addie seethed at being spoken to that way, by this man, in her own restaurant. She didn’t let him see what she was thinking because he was a customer and her sister’s boyfriend as well, but if she had the power to turn imbeciles into ash just for wishing it, then Gary would have been a pile of cinders in designer pants.
Willow looked dreamily into Gary’s eyes. “Honey, she’s just doing her job. Um. Why don’t you sit here and think about taking me dancing this week while me and Addie have some girl talk.”
Gary shrugged. “I just lost a big chunk of my income and you want to go dancing?”
“I’ll pay the cover charge if you buy the drinks,” Willow offered. “How’s that sound?”
“In that case, you’ve got a deal.”
He kissed her again, a little too long and a little too intently for a public place, in Addie’s opinion. When they paused for breath Addie took her by the hand and tugged her to the far corner over by the cash register.
“Willow,” she whispered as soon as they were far enough away so that Gary wouldn’t hear either of them. “What is your boyfriend talking about? He lost part of his income? When are you going to pick a guy to be with who is smart enough to be worth your time?”
Willow glared at her. “My love life is not your concern. When was the last time you even had a man in your bed?”
“There’s more to dating than that,” Addie started to argue.
“Whatever, sis. I’m not here to debate my life. I came because Gary’s got information on our murder.”
“What? Gary’s got… what?”
“That’s right.” Willow stuck her chin out, proud to be defending her boyfriend. “That thing he said about losing part of his income? That’s because he got fired last night by the Norris family.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Now Addie put up a barrier of silence around them with a flick of her wrist as an extra precaution. Maybe she shouldn’t have bothered with the simple spell. A glance over at Gary showed her she had nothing to worry about from him. He was too busy trying to balance a fork off the edge of his glass to pay attention to anything they were saying. “So explain this again. Your boyfriend just happens to work for the family of the murder victim?”
“Used to work for them,” Willow clarified. “He was giving Misty Norris’s children karate lessons. He was a jock in high school, you know, and he found a way to use what he loved to make money. Apparently he was hired by Esmerelda. Now that she’s dead, the family money is being overseen by Misty, and she called Gary out of the blue and said his services would no longer be needed.”
“And he didn’t think to mention any of this to you before?”
Willow gave her a pointed look. “Uh, we didn’t exactly tell him that
we were sticking our noses into Esmerelda Norris’s murder, now did we? How was he supposed to know we’d care one way or the other?”
Addie had to admit that was true. They kept their coven’s doings a secret from everyone. She was pleasantly surprised to know that Willow hadn’t been blabbing all their secrets away in pillow talk.
So… Esmerelda had been in charge of the Norris family’s finances. Now that she was dead the job had fallen to her sister-in-law, Misty Norris. In the Typic world, money was often a good motive for murder.
Only, Esmerelda had been sure she was murdered by a man. Detective Knight was sure it had been a man as well. So, that should rule Misty Norris out as a suspect. Unless she paid someone to kill Esmerelda.
Now that was an interesting thought.
For a moment, her eyes slid back to Gary. Could it be…? No. Her sister would know if she was dating a guy who was capable of murder.
Then again, how much did any of them really know about him? Willow could tell Addie that Gary was good in bed all she wanted, but that didn’t make him an angel.
“Stop that,” Willow hissed at her. “Gary had nothing to do with this. Saints preserve us, Addie, I just came in here to tell you what I knew about the murder, since we’re oh-so-very worried about the Typics killing each other. I wasn’t expecting you to go all Nancy Drew on me!”
She flailed an arm for emphasis and when she did, she broke the magical sound barrier Addie had hastily thrown up. Her last few words carried loudly around the room.
Behind them, without turning to look, Addie could hear Darla slowly opening the door to the kitchen. Even Gary looked over to see why Willow was raising her voice. “Hey, hey, calm down,” Addie said, lowering her voice and hoping her sister would follow suit. “No, I don’t think Gary had anything to do with this. It’s just a pretty big coincidence that now our family has a connection to the murder.”
Willow’s eyes narrowed. Obviously, she hadn’t thought of that.
“Well… all right, then,” was all she had to say to Addie. She crossed her arms in a huff, though, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
