“Which one?”
I swallowed hard. “Both.”
Alec regarded me. “Is the sheriff incapacitated?”
“Sort of.” I explained what was happening and shared the council’s ultimatum. “But you can’t breathe a word. I don’t want to fuel the gossip flames.”
Alec perched on the edge of my desk. “It seems to me that Nash is simply cycling through the stages of grief.”
“Nobody died, Alec.”
“No, but his hope did,” the vampire replied. “He’s grieving the loss of your relationship, of what could have been.”
That actually made more sense than revenge by an old enemy. “So, if you’re right, what happens next?”
“He should eventually work through each stage until he reaches acceptance.”
“Out of curiosity, which stage is douche canoe in? Because that’s where he’s stuck right now and it’s threatening his career.”
His mouth twitched. “Hmm. I’m not familiar with that particular phase.”
“Maybe because it isn’t the stages of grief.” I picked up a pen for the sole purpose of chucking it across the office. I was so frustrated.
“I have no need to be right, Ember. I’m only trying to help.”
“How about by solving this case with us so Granger can keep his job. If he loses his badge, it will be all my fault.”
He frowned. “How is his undesirable behavior attributable to you?”
“You said yourself he’s cycling through grief because of me. That makes anything that happens as a result my fault.”
Alec released a gentle sigh. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re too hard on yourself?”
“Mr. Lucky Charms and I are going to band together to help Granger crack this case. I think you’d be an asset, too, but not if you’re going to get all bumpy-faced about it.”
He suppressed a smile. “Bumpy-faced?”
“You know, that broody vampire face you make. Don’t you ever look in the mirror…Oh, forget it.”
He leaned down to kiss my cheek. “If it means that much to you, I pledge my assistance.”
My spirits soared. “Really?”
“Of course. It also gives us an inside scoop for the article you’re going to write about the murder.”
I grimaced. “Naturally.”
“Bentley is away, so it’s all hands on deck, I’m afraid. I’m happy to help Nash, but the paper is still a priority for me.”
“Two birds, one Ember. I get it. Thank you for offering to help. It means a lot to me.”
“Nash and I don’t exactly have the best history, but I’m willing to set that aside for you.”
“Oh, yeah. And why is that?” I asked, a teasing note in my voice.
“Because you’re my best employee.” He gave me another quick kiss before returning to a standing position. “I have an appointment with the tailor, but I’ll see you at dinner, yes?”
“Not tonight. I have that girls’ night with Linnea and Aster, remember?”
“Ah, yes. The Rose witches all in one place with alcohol. I shall issue the alert.”
I chucked an eraser at his head and he caught it the way Mr. Miyagi snatched a fly out of the air with chopsticks in Karate Kid. Sweet baby Elvis, that vampire was the sexiest thing on two legs I’d ever seen.
As Alec opened the door to exit, Deputy Bolan walked straight under his extended arm.
“Thanks, Hale,” the leprechaun said.
Alec raised his brow at me and slipped out the door.
Deputy Bolan sauntered over to my desk with a cup of coffee in his tiny green hand. “You beckoned, Rose?”
I zeroed in on his cup. “You went to the Caffeinated Cauldron and didn’t bring me one? That’s just poor manners.”
“This from the witch that uses the tip of her wand as a toothpick.”
“Hey, that was one time in a spinach emergency!” I inhaled the aroma. “What kind did you get?”
“Lava latte.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Okay, I feel better. I don’t like that one much anyway.”
He scanned the room. “Why are you alone? Did you finally manage to alienate everyone you work with?”
“Bentley is still on his honeymoon and Tanya has an appointment.”
“Okay, what’s this clandestine meeting about?”
I told him about my deal with the Council of Elders.
“A week,” he repeated. He drank half his latte in one gulp. “I guess I can do it if I work around the clock.”
“I’m going to help and Alec said he will, too,” I said. “I’ve been working on a list of facts about Shayna.”
“No way, Rose. I can do this without you. In fact, I’d prefer to do this without you.”
“You have to make it look like Granger is responsible, though. If the council figures out that it’s you, that’ll just convince them to give you the job.”
“He’s not comatose,” the deputy shot back. “He’s just…ineffective right now. I can involve him enough to make him look good. He was with me when I interviewed the berserker, in fact.”
“The one in the port-a-potty next to hers?”
The deputy nodded. “Dead end. He heard a commotion but thought a couple was getting busy in the stall. Didn’t see who.” He paused. “The sheriff seemed to enjoy probing for details.”
Ugh.
“What about cause of death?” I asked. “Definitely strangulation?”
“Technically the cause of death is the brooch that choked her.”
I balked. “Brooch? You mean that pretty pin in the shape of a flower?”
“That’s the one. You saw it?”
“Yes, she wore it at the wedding. I told her I liked it.” My stomach turned. “Some monster shoved that brooch down her throat and killed her with it?”
“Not a great way to go, is it?”
I tried to block the images that were flashing in my mind. “She told me it was from her shop. Have you spoken to anyone there?”
“Not yet. I was heading there next, in fact. According to Shayna’s lawyer, her niece has inherited the business.”
I shot him an aggrieved look. “You already went to the lawyer without me?”
“We can’t spend all our time together, Rose. Paranormals will talk.”
“You’ll have to fill me in on what I missed so I can update my notes. Why’d you come here first? I told you I’d be here for a couple of hours.”
The leprechaun shrugged. “You were on the way and sounded needy.”
I glared at him. “Your boss is the one in need, Deputy, and I’m willing to help. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
The leprechaun relented. “You do seem to be the gift that keeps on giving.”
“Like reusable shopping bags?”
“I was thinking more like diarrhea. Come on, Rose.”
The interior of Be-switched reminded me more of a Pottery Barn than a resale shop. Every item looked brand-new, from the furniture on the right-hand side of the store to the shelves of decorative objects in the middle. Only the section on the left was clearly used because the items were all identified as antiques. There were ceramic bowls, wooden boxes, and even a case filled with different styles of jewelry.
“Can I help you…?” A young troll stopped short when she noticed Deputy Bolan’s badge. “Are you here about Aunt Shayna?”
“That’s right. I’m Deputy Bolan and this is my associate, Ms. Ember Rose.”
“I’m Shayna’s niece, Lois. I work here part-time.” She paused. “Well, I guess I’m full-time now until her estate gets sorted.”
“I understand from her lawyer that she left this place to you,” the deputy said. “Did you know that?”
“She mentioned it to me once or twice, but I never gave it much thought until she died. My aunt was the kind of paranormal that you picture living forever, you know? She was larger than life and not just because she was a troll.”
“This place is a big responsibility,�
�� I said. “At least you’ve been working here part-time and know the ropes.”
“I’ll be honest. I regret that we didn’t have a conversation about it. I’m not sure that I really want the shop. I’d been thinking about going back to school, but now I feel obligated to keep this place going in her memory. Be-switched was her life’s work.”
“Would you consider selling it?” I asked.
Lois shook her head. “I think I would feel too guilty. My boyfriend says I’m being ridiculous and I should just do what's best for me.” She gnawed on a fingernail. “I need to give it some time. I feel like any decision I make right now will be too emotional.”
Well, Lois may have been young, but she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.
“I guess you must’ve been working while she attended the wedding with Franco,” I said.
Lois nodded. “She liked to stay open longer hours on weekends because of paranormals being off work and weekend tourists. I didn’t leave here on until around nine that night.”
“Are you aware of any issues that your aunt may have had with customers—or anyone at all really?” I asked.
Lois snorted. “When you have a personality like Aunt Shayna did, you tended to have issues with others. Don’t get me wrong, I loved her dearly, but I can’t sit here and pretend that she was universally liked.”
“Any recent incidents that you can think of?” Deputy Bolan asked.
“Well there was the whole shooting at the neighbor thing.”
I blinked. “Say what?”
“I don’t mean that she shot anyone for real,” Lois said. “She’d gotten a set of antique pistols and was apparently testing to see whether they were still usable.”
Deputy Bolan scratched his ear. “I think I remember this. It was about two weeks ago, right? The sheriff mentioned it in passing.”
Lois gestured to the neighboring shop. “She scared the life out of that poor wizard in Quicksilver.”
“Was anybody hurt?” I asked.
“No, and Aunt Shayna was thrilled that the pistols worked. Plenty of bullets, too.”
“Any chance we can see a recent customer list?” Deputy Bolan asked.
“Do you want to see customers who purchased items or customers who brought in items for resale?” Lois moved behind the counter and logged in on the computer.
“Both,” the deputy said. “I’ll start with customers she interacted with this month.”
“That’s easy,” Lois said, tapping on the keys. “Be-switched isn’t like a regular retailer. Our customer base is more fixed.”
“What about tourists?” I asked. “Isn’t that why you said you work keep the shop open longer on weekends?”
“Those are mostly browsers,” Lois said. “Aunt Shayna was always afraid of missing an opportunity. It was almost a compulsion with her. She was the same in her personal life. She was engaged three times before she met Franco, did you know that?”
Deputy Bolan and I exchanged glances. “No, I didn’t know that,” I said.
“She never married any of them,” Lois said. “I think she only agreed to the engagement because she didn’t want to turn down the chance to get married.”
“Did she have something against marriage or was she never that serious about them in the first place?” I asked.
The printer came to life and Lois went to retrieve the customer list for Deputy Bolan. “She always said marriage wasn’t a priority. She liked things done her own way and wasn’t big on compromise. I get the sense that the minute she had to compromise on something important to her, she bailed.”
“Any sense that she was serious about Franco?” I asked.
“She only made one comment that stood out to me,” Lois said. “And that was that she was surprised that he hadn’t proposed yet. I couldn’t tell you whether she was disappointed or just mildly interested that he hadn’t.”
“Any recent interactions with a former fiancé that you know of?” Deputy Bolan asked.
“The only one I’m aware of is Todd Andersen. He was fiancé number two. She ran into him a couple weeks ago at Elixir. I don’t know what happened, but she seemed unsettled by it.”
“Thanks for the list,” the deputy said. “Anything else noteworthy that you can think of?”
“There is one thing,” Lois said. “I’ve been going through inventory, just in case I decide to sell and I noticed that an item is missing from the jewelry case.”
“Do know what it is?” I asked.
“A brooch in the shape of a flower. One of her regular customers brought it in.”
“Did it have different colored gemstones?” I asked.
Her brow lifted. “How did you know?”
“We have the brooch,” Deputy Bolan said. “Your aunt was wearing it at the wedding. I’m afraid we need to keep it as evidence.”
“Just because she was wearing it? Do you need to keep all her personal effects?”
I shifted uncomfortably. Neither one of us wanted to explain to Lois why we couldn’t return the brooch.
“I’m afraid that the brooch is off the market,” Deputy Bolan said, and left it at that.
“Aunt Shayna would be disappointed,” Lois said. “Some famous socialite used to own it. She liked that sort of thing.” Her gaze swept the shop. “She liked all these things.” Her expression grew pained. “Now what do I do?”
I gave her arm a comforting squeeze. “The only thing you can do now, Lois,” I said. “You grieve.”
Chapter Eight
“Great Goddess of the Moon, what is that ungodly thing?” Hazel pointed to the scratching post in my living room, her face frozen in horror.
“One of Raoul’s recent treasures.”
“Can we cloak it during the lesson? It’s distracting.”
“So is your face, but I still muddle through each week.”
Hazel glowered at me. “Yes, I think muddle is the optimum word there.”
“Can we skip runes today?” I asked.
The Mistress of Runecraft looked ready to burst several blood vessels. “Why would I agree to such a thing?”
“Because you’re a generous soul with…” I trailed off. “Nah, forget it. How about because I want to?”
“If you’re not careful, Marley is going to surpass you in runes when she’s only just begun her studies.”
“Marley surpassed me when she learned object permanence.”
The witch sat across from me and threaded her fingers together. “What is it that you’d like to do instead, bearing in mind that I’m not watching a TED Talk on getting in touch with your inner Springsteen, whatever that means.”
“Stop checking out my browser history,” I said. “It’s rude.”
She pursed her cherry red lips. “It’s none of my business, but some of those more intimate questions you ask Mr. Google could be answered by the vampire himself. He knows his own body best, after all.”
I pointed a finger at her. “You’re right. None of your business.”
“What is it that you want to learn, Ember? At this point, I’m willing to entertain other options, as long as you’re learning something.”
“I want to learn more about herbs.”
“That’s an entirely…reasonable request and not at all what I expected.” Hazel contemplated me. “Why not ask Calla?”
“Oh, I can,” I said. “It’s just that my schedule is already so crammed. The thought of adding another subject into my regular rotation is too overwhelming. I’d rather ditch runes for something useful.”
“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.” Hazel stretched her arms. “I guess I could help you. Are you trying to learn about any herbs in particular?”
“I’d like to help Marley with her garden,” I said. “I kill everything and this garden is really important to her, so I don’t want to screw it up.”
“I see. That’s actually very sweet of you.” She hesitated. “I thought you were going to tell me that you want to concoct a mixture that ma
kes your aunt more agreeable or something like that.” She cleared her throat. “Which I never would have helped with, so don’t even consider asking.”
“Aunt Hyacinth isn’t much of an issue right now, not with Craig hovering around her like some kind of hunky gnat.”
Hazel smiled to herself. “She does seem smitten. It’s a rare occasion when your aunt whistles and it isn’t to summon someone for a reprimand.”
“I’m not sure I like him,” I blurted.
Hazel recoiled. “Why ever not? He seems like a perfect gentleman. A wizard from a good family. Money. Attractive.”
“Exactly. It’s not normal.”
“You’re not normal,” Hazel shot back. She coiled a strand of red hair around her finger, indulging in inappropriate thoughts about Craig, no doubt.
“Any guy that wonderful is hiding a dark secret or he’s playing a role because he wants something.”
She eyed me closely. “Is this because you’re from New Jersey?”
“No, nobody hides anything in New Jersey,” I said, shaking my head. “We lay it all out there for everyone to see.”
“Do you think Craig is using your aunt for his own personal gain?”
“Maybe.”
Hazel heaved a sigh. “Ember, don’t you think it’s possible that your aunt is just a vivacious woman whom he finds attractive?”
I considered the question for a moment. “No.”
Hazel threw her head back and laughed. “Let’s keep that one between us.”
“Not because I don’t think those things about her,” I clarified. “I just don’t trust Craig. He came out of nowhere. Linden shows up after a long time away with her impossibly perfect cousin in tow.” I shrugged. “Something feels off about him.”
Hazel appeared thoughtful. “Why don’t we combine your request for an herbology lesson with your concerns about Craig?”
“I like where this seems to be going.”
Hazel pushed back her chair and stood. “Field trip.”
“To where? It’s been a busy day and I’m a little tired.”
“Relax, lazy bones. To the herb garden out front. Bring a bowl.”
“Oh, I can do that.” I left the table to retrieve a bowl and followed her.
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