“So, what now, are you two deciding how to best wreck the house in different bodies?” I asked the black Luna-bat, putting my hands on my hips. Her ear flicked, and she blinked down at me. I had to admit, she was about as cute like this, too. I could see why bat familiars were starting to be a trend.
“Actually,” she said, “we were just taking a breather to admire the artwork.”
“Artwork?” I started, but looking down I realized they were talking about the paw prints scattered around the room. I sighed. “Well, if it gets you calmed down, I won’t complain.”
“You have to admit, there’s a kind of chaotic beauty to it,” Lara said, sounding about as unconvinced as I was.
“Well, at least it gets us a ceasefire for now,” I said as Lara gingerly took the bats down from the ceiling and used her magic to change them back into cats who couldn’t run on walls faster than our eyes could keep up with. Once they were back to normal, the two glared at each other before Luna simply strode off, flicking her tail.
“If you need to find me, I’ll be brooding,” she said, and based on the look on Lara’s face, Lucy had just said something similar.
“I’ll call it a win,” Lara said to me at last with a weak smile, and I couldn’t help but reach over and give her a quick yet sincere hug.
“Honestly? Don’t know where I’d be without you sometimes, Lara.”
Chapter 14
Ten minutes later, Luna was sulking in my room while Lara and I scoured the ground floor for any other messes we missed on the first pass. Fortunately, the only mess that magic couldn’t take care of in the blink of an eye was Lara’s shredded painting, which I still felt terrible about, no matter how many times she insisted it was fine. It didn’t help that she had to be the one who cast all the spells. I’d be lying if I said my magic’s odd little malfunctions weren’t at least interesting, but with renovations underway at the B&B, I couldn’t really afford to roll the dice with things. Knowing my luck, I’d accidentally turn the walls to chocolate. Which, you know, wouldn’t be the worst thing if I ever had to demolish part of the house.
“I think that’s everything,” I said at last as I watched the remnants of some of my favorite wine glasses slide sadly into the garbage can.
“Lucy is a lot clumsier than you’d think,” Lara said apologetically. “It was probably her fault, so I’ll replace them.”
“No, don’t worry about that,” I insisted, “Luna is-” I stopped as I felt my phone buzzing, and I looked down at it. “Oh, it’s Xander. Give me a sec. But you’re not paying a dime for this.”
Lara stuck her tongue out at me, and I did the same before bustling out the back door to the deck to answer the phone.
“What’s up?”
“Hey Arti,” Xander said, sounding out of breath. “House still standing?”
“Barely, but no permanent damage, I don’t think. How about you?”
“We have a problem,” Xander said, and I could hear the worry in his voice. “Jordan’s gone.”
My eyes widened.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“He isn’t at his office or his house. His office was locked up, and I couldn’t find the receptionist anywhere. No note, no ‘back in five minutes’ sign, nothing. I think we might have a runner on our hands.”
“I should have known the kind dad vibes were just an act,” I murmured. “So, should we do that thing where you put a charm on the town so nobody can leave?”
“Not an option,” Xander said. “It was hard enough to justify doing that last time, because it brings the town’s economy to a standstill, and that makes people real angry real fast. Last time was for the kidnapping of a little girl. That’s a lot easier to get sympathy for than a murder case.”
“Yeah, I hate to say it, but that’s reasonable,” I said, frowning. “Okay, so, we’ve got our prime suspect, right? Safe to say?”
“I try not to say that until I’ve got a confession,” Xander replied. “But disappearing when your ex-partner gets murdered and the law starts asking questions is fairly suspicious. The big question now is how dangerous we think he is. Poison isn’t exactly a crime of passion, which means we could be dealing with someone very patient and very calculating.”
“Great,” I said. “There’s nothing like a cold-blooded killer on the loose to keep spirits up. I even accepted a cookbook from him.”
“Huh?”
“Nevermind. I’m guessing you and Morgan are about to fan out and look for him. Need an extra set of eyes?”
“Not right now,” Xander said. “I just wanted to keep you in the loop. I can justify you tagging along to help with the investigation, but the paperwork for allowing a civilian to help hunt down a potentially dangerous murderer is-”
“More than you need to deal with right now,” I finished. “No problem. In fact, I’ve got a couple things I need to knock out today anyway. Keep me posted and don’t get murdered, okay?”
“Haven’t forgotten those rumors of a lobster omelette, so I’d say I’ve got something to live for, yeah,” Xander chuckled, and I felt a blush on my cheeks.
“Oh, well, sometime,” I said, nothing else coming to mind as I laughed, and I hung up the phone. Moon help that poor guy, I had no idea why he was still hanging around me.
I breezed back through the building, where Lara was using a comb to smooth out a very grumpy Lucy’s fur.
“How’s your boyfriend?”
“You hush,” I said with a smirk. “Jordan Orin pulled a runner, so I think we’ve got our suspect numero uno. Xander and Morgan are taking care of the search, so while I’ve still got daylight left, I need to take care of a couple errands. I gave Luna food and water and exiled her to my room, so there shouldn’t be any more trouble there besides some very sad cat-yodeling. Don’t let her deceive you, she’s more than happy up there,” I added.
“Noted,” Lara laughed. “Will you be back in time for dinner?”
“Always,” I said with a wink, just before darting out the door.
A few minutes later, I was on my broomstick and turning onto the road leading to my parents’ house. If Diana didn’t know anything about what my mom was up to, then it was time to take things up to the next level. She had already made it clear she was very interested in meddling with the renovations I was planning for the B&B, so if there was more of that afoot, I wanted to know about it before she decided to break into my house to start moving things around.
I brought my broom to a halt outside the gate to my parents’ cottage, smelling the heavenly aroma of baked goods coming from the house. As much as I loved the B&B, I couldn’t deny that I was jealous of my parents’ retirement cottage. When I hopped off the broom, I was happy to see Dad standing out in the garden while Mom stood in the front doorway. This was my chance.
I waved to her as I opened the gate, but when she caught sight of me, she looked around furtively before waving back and half-stepping inside. I knew she was about to do, so I tried to bustle as fast as I could to the door, but it was too late - Mom was already shouting across the yard.
“Oh, hey there honey! Don’t come inside right now, I’ve got some, uh, laundry I’m working on. Help your father, would you?”
She promptly slammed the door shut and drew the blinds in the windows, leaving me halfway down the walkway with my jaw hanging open. I put my hands on my hips and rounded on my dad, who was doing his darnedest to pretend to be busy with something else.
“What on earth was that?” I asked him as I made my way over. “She dodged me earlier today, too. She’s up to something, I know she is.”
“Oh, honey, you know how your mother gets,” he said dismissively. He even waved his Vague Hand, as my sister and I called it. It was the half-hearted, dismissive wave he always gave us when he knew Mom was up to something he wasn’t supposed to talk about. Mom thought she was slick, but we both knew Dad was her tell.
“Yeah, I do, and it usually has something to do with snooping around the B&B,” I said, probing for a littl
e more. “You’d tell me if it were something I should be worried about, right?” I was like, seventy percent sure I was Dad’s favorite, so I tried to use the leverage where I could.
“Oh of course, dear, of course,” he said noncommittally, and I slumped my shoulders.
“Fine, fine, I’ll let her be mysterious,” I lied. “What do you need help with, anyway?”
“I’ve got this under control,” he said, looking around at the ground, “just dealing with a feud.”
“Feud?”
“I got a second garden gnome,” he said ominously. “The first one doesn’t like him.”
“Oh,” I said, not sure how else to respond.
“They’re enchanted, of course, but these aren’t the fancy singing ones you get nowadays, these are old-fashioned gnomes. They never move during the daytime, only at night, and they’re frozen in whatever pose they were in when dawn broke.”
“That’s creepy,” I said bluntly.
“No, it’s cute!” dad insisted, and I couldn’t help but smile. “You hear about stories of waking up to them holding hands up on a tree branch, or building a little mushroom house together.”
“But these two aren’t getting along so well?”
“I woke up last Wednesday and found them frozen in such a pose that one of them was holding a tiny little axe mid-swing over the other one,” he grumbled, shaking his head sadly. “Almost had a gnome murder case for you to solve. Don’t even know where he got the axe. Anyway, I haven’t been able to find them all morning, and I want to make sure to separate them before dusk.”
“Wait, they can use weapons? You glazed over that a little too fast.”
“Like I said, your old man’s got a handle on this one,” he said, beaming at me. “Don’t sweat your mother, she’s just keeping busy.”
“Well, alright,” I said uncertainly, scratching my head. “See you around, Dad.”
“Take care, honey!” he called after me, and I heard him murmur from behind as I left. “Aha, found you, you little bastard. Come here…”
Giving up on my mother for now, I had just one more stop to make before calling it a day, and I wasn’t sure if I was entirely proud of this one. There was nothing wrong with it, per se, but the timing might have been a little less than classy.
I was heading down to the Kleins’ magical furniture warehouse.
Sure, it was a hotspot for an ongoing murder investigation, and even though Jordan Orin was on the run and our prime suspect, Karrie was still one of the only other people to have been in contact with the victim before he died. There was still a solid chance she had something to do with the murder. But frankly, she wasn’t a very promising suspect in either my or Xander’s eyes, so I thought there was no harm in doing business with her.
Honestly, I was eating my words from before. Yeah, this stuff was expensive, but the thought of having some spiffy new furniture to go along with the renovations had been in the back of my head all day.
“Oh, hello again!” Karrie said as I stepped inside, looking nervous immediately. “Is everything okay? Do you have any more questions for me?”
“Well, I do have questions,” I said sheepishly, setting my broom against the wall, “but not the kind you’re thinking of. So, I know the timing here is a little weird, but you know how I run a B&B, right?”
Karrie stared at me for a moment as she processed my words, and then her face lit up. I could practically see the dollar signs in her eyes.
A minute later, I was being led through the warehouse to peruse the Kleins’ selection.
“I know it sounds trite to say,” Karrie said, her voice still a little shaky, “but I really hate that all this happened right now. Arnold had just gotten in such a lovely new selection from some woodworkers out on the coast that he was raving about for weeks before it arrived. Check this out!” She scurried over to a large bed and plopped herself down on it, waving for me to join her. I made my way over to it and tested it with my hands, then laid back on it.
“Oh my Moon,” I said immediately. The mattress didn’t look like anything special, but as soon as I laid down, I felt myself getting sleepy. But better yet, even though the warehouse was a little warm thanks to the heating, the bed was perfectly cool, even after my body heat had a chance to warm it up. “The temperature’s perfect!”
“Exactly!” Karrie gushed, looking over at me. “It’s a temperature-controlled bed frame. It knows what your ideal sleeping temperature is and matches it.”
I didn’t even want to look at the price tag.
“You weren’t kidding,” I said, sitting up and patting the mattress. A bit of fine white dust rose up out of it in a small cloud, and I held my face away so I wouldn’t breathe it in. “Between you and me, how do you think Florence is going to handle the place on her own?”
“Well, she never got involved in this side of things,” Karrie said as we stood up, “but you’ve met her, so you know what she’s like.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine that kind of person letting a business flounder for lack of trying,” I said.
“So, do you know what you’re looking for, or do you just want to browse around? We have wardrobes with non-physical storage space, mirrors that clean up blemishes for photography, a door that you can silence for guests you don’t want, and a bunch of other stuff.”
“All of that sounds amazing,” I gushed as we started touring the floor again. “I think I’m focusing on the kitchen and dining room right now. Doing some renovating, you know.”
“Ooooh, that’s perfect!” Karrie said. “Come this way, I’ve got just the thing.”
She led me over to the kitchen and dining displays, and I could tell what she was heading for before she even got to it. It was the most beautiful dining table I’d ever seen, and there were matching chairs to go with it. It was a rich, dark walnut with four curved legs at each end, connected by a bar running the length of the table. Six small white candles floated over it at different spots, and the woodworking was exquisitely detailed. It all looked so sturdy I thought a giant could sit at it and be comfortable.
“This is beautiful,” I breathed, throwing any haggling credit I might have had out the window.
“It’s not just beautiful,” Karrie said knowingly. “Notice that there’s silverware and dishes and all laid out? That’s not just for show. Take a seat,” she offered, and as soon as she said so, one of the chairs glided out to welcome me.
“You’re kidding,” I laughed, taking a seat, and sure enough, it glided me into place, not too far and not too close, all without making a sound. “It doesn’t even scratch the floors.”
“Exactly,” Karrie said excitedly as she took a seat on the opposite end. She drew my attention to the silver plate sitting in front of her. “But you haven’t seen the main attraction. Here, care to try some of my dish?” As if on cue, the plate in front of her floated a few inches off the table and started wandering its way down to me, where it set itself before me without bumping into the other plate or even getting too in my way. I looked down at the plate, then looked up at Karrie with an expression that told her she’d already made the sale.
“Can I customize the words that trigger the spell?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s pretty good at sensing when you mean to trigger it, don’t worry. I’ve tested it pretty thoroughly,” she said, leaning forward. “And that’s not the best part. You can get it to carry dishes from the kitchen counter to the table.”
I leaned my elbows on the table, holding my temples and staring at the candles for a moment and listening to the pained groans of my bank account.
“Alright, yeah, I think I’m going to head home and think it over with… oh, who am I kidding?” I laughed as Karrie grinned at me. “Sold.”
Chapter 15
“So, how was your day?” Lara asked as I sat across from her at the dining table later that night. Now that my guests had checked out after their stay, it was back to just the four of us: Lara, Lucy, Luna, and me. Come to think
of it, I actually felt a little left out that I was the only one without a four-letter L name, like I had been rejected from some super-exclusive club or something.
“Oh, it was busy. Very busy,” I answered honestly. I was pushing the noodles around on my plate with a pair of reusable chopsticks, too distracted by my worries to be especially hungry. Normally by dinner time I was ravenous to the point of almost veering into hangry territory, but tonight I just felt too weighed down to properly enjoy my veggie lo mein.
“Yeah, it seemed like it,” Lara said sympathetically, tilting her head to one side. “You do look pretty exhausted, Arti.”
I raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. “Well, thanks,” I chuckled. She blushed deep pink and shook her head, realizing she’d put her foot in her mouth a little bit.
“Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. You look beautiful as always, but you do look like you need a good night’s sleep. Or maybe a slice of chocolate cake,” she suggested rather wistfully.
“Or a shot of vodka,” I added with a smile. “Something to calm me down a little. I’m tired, you’re right, but I can’t seem to relax. It’s like my brain is going into overdrive worrying about this case. There are just so many moving parts I have to find a way to put together. It’s like the world’s most harrowing jigsaw puzzle. And then there’s the whole thing with my magic not working. There’s just a lot on my mind at the moment, I guess.”
“I bet. I have no idea how you juggle it all, Arti. I’m serious. Between the bed and breakfast and the amateur sleuthing and playing referee to our two brat-cats, it’s no wonder you look so worn out,” she said, giving me an almost motherly look of concern. She used her chopsticks to pick up a bite of lo mein and a floret of sesame broccoli. How did she manage to look so elegant and dainty while eating Chinese takeout? It would have been infuriating if I didn’t adore her so much. Meanwhile, I could downright sense the annoyance radiating from Luna and Lucy, who were curled up under the dining table, with as much space between them as they could possibly manage.
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