Mitch snuck behind her and she gave a scream as he dropped an icecube down her back.
“Mitch! Stop acting like you’re 12!”
“Well stop sitting here and being sad, both of you. Steve was a jerk anyway. Forget him, Bluebell. I’ll introduce you to some of my buddies at work. One or two of them are even decent looking.”
“It’s not about looks.” Bluebell dropped her spoon, and felt even more despondent. “I really loved Steve. I can’t explain it. In my mind, the story of my life always had him in it. He was my happy ending.”
“There’s no such things as happy endings.” Veronica waggled a finger at her. Mitch scooped Veronica up, and whispered something in her ear. She giggled and screamed, and he carried her over to the others.
Feeling even lower, Bluebell decided to sneak out of the shop. Maybe she could call Steve. Yes. That was a great idea.
She snuck out and was walking on a dirt road now, vaguely aware that she was heading deeper into the woods. She hadn’t drunk a drop, but the events of the day made her feel dazed. Sadly, she realized that it was past midnight, which meant she was now twenty one.
She rang Steve’s phone, and started speaking even before he could say a word.
“Steve, I know what happened,” she slurred. “I guess you just got cold feet. That’s all it is. We’re so good together, you’re going to see that! You have to see that! You love me, I know you do!”
There was a click. He’d hung up on her. If there was one thing Steve had never done before, it was hang up on her. On her birthday too.
Ignoring the wrenching feeling in her heart, she tried to ring him back. The air around her seemed to hiss a little, and then, out of nowhere, Mathilda appeared.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Mathilda said.
“Oh, you!” Bluebell gave her a cross look. “I haven’t had a stroke of luck since you appeared in my life!”
“So it seems,” Mathilda said.
“You can admit it now, you were joking about me being a witch, weren’t you?”
“I wish I was,” Mathilda said. “You’re a hot mess right now, Bluebell. Happy Birthday anyway.”
“So you’re still insisting that you’re a witch? Fine. You owe me a spell, right?” Bluebell laughed.
“I do.”
“Well if there’s something you can do, bring Steve back to me. That’s the spell I want you to cast.”
“Bluebell, get a grip. If you were sober you wouldn’t-”
“Oh, but I’m not sober,” Bluebell said. “I’m drunk on love. This is the perfect way to figure out if you’re a cheat or not, right? So cast your magical spell, grand witch. Get me my boyfriend back.”
Mathilda sighed. “Look, why don’t I meet you again tomorrow. Being a witch isn’t casual business. You can’t just interfere with free will. Now you’ve asked me twice. Be warned that I’ll be forced to cast the spell whether or not I want to, if you ask again. Please make a better choice. Wisdom is the best-”
“This is my third time asking!” Bluebell said. “Cast it!”
Mathilda looked pained. “It is your third time asking,” she said. “Okay. I’ll do it, but believe me, you’re going to regret this.”
*****
Birds chirped around her. Something brushed against her hair and touched her cheek. A ray of sunlight somehow managed to coax its way under her closed eyes. Bluebell grumbled and shifted in her sleep. Her pillow was particularly uncomfortable, she thought. Insistently, something brushed against her hair again.
She woke up, and gave a little cry. She was lying on the grass in a little circular meadow, surrounded by pine forests. She was wearing the same clothes she’d had on last night. One shoe was off, and the other dangled precariously on her foot. She backed up, looked around, and tried to make sense of it all. She had a vague memory of Mathilda telling her she’d regret something… and Steve!
Steve was in front of her. He was sitting cross-legged on the grass, looking very serious.
“You called me,” he said. “Bluebell. You called me back.”
“I… yes.” Her phone, where was it? She hunted around, found it, and winced as she went through her calls. She’d called him seven times in total.
“I love you,” he said. “I hope you know that. I love you.”
“You break up with me for no good reason, and then tell me you love me?” A sudden anger filled her. “Why am I sleeping here anyway? What did Mathilda do?” A sick sort of feeling spread through her. What if Mathilda had cast a love spell successfully? She loved Steve, the thought of him leaving her made her feel as if the earth were splitting, but she still had too much pride to want someone who only loved her because of a spell! There had to be a way to undo it.
“Bluebell!” Cries rang out across the forest surrounding her. “Bluebell!” She heard the bark of a dog and a sharp whistle. Several more voices joined in to call her name. “Bluebell!”
“I’m here!” she shouted, picking herself up. Where was she? She didn’t exactly know. Somewhere in the woods behind Dottie’s store. Suddenly, she realized just how stupid she’d been last night. Their little town bordered the High Cliff State park, and last night, she’d had a good chance of just wandering off one, or getting lost in the dense forests around it. Sure she’d been broken hearted about Steve, but it was ridiculous how irresponsibly she’d behaved. Giving herself a good mental yelling, she dusted off her clothes and began walking in the direction of the voices.
“As for you, Steve Talzer, get lost. I don’t want to see your face right now!” Bluebell said, barely looking behind her. “You wanted to break up? Fine! I don’t need you, you’ll see! You’ll regret what you did to me!”
“Bluebell!” Sheriff Catherine appeared, a K9 dog on a leash next to her.
“Sheriff?” Bluebell hung her head. “I guess my parents reported me missing, or something? I’m so sorry if I put you to any trouble. I was just… stupid. I don’t know what came over me. You can throw the book at me. I deserve it.”
“Who were you talking to, right now?” Catherine asked. “You said something about Steve? That he’ll regret what he did to you?”
“Oh, that. No, Steve didn’t do anything.” Bluebell felt herself get even redder. “Apart from break my heart, and that’s no crime. I was just telling him to get lost, that’s all.”
“You were telling Steve to get lost?” Catherine was speaking carefully, articulating every word.
Nolan, Veronica and Mitch appeared behind her, as did a few deputies.
“Blue! You’re all right!” Veronica rushed to her, and embraced her. “We were so worried! We brought you to Dottie’s to cut your birthday cake last night, and next thing we knew you’d vanished.”
“Oh.” Feeling even more stupid, Bluebell ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t know what to say. I just wish I could erase the last 24 hours forever.”
“Oh but you can’t,” Catherine said. “Actions have consequences, Bluebell, and you can’t ever take them back.”
Bluebell nodded. “I guess. I’m really sorry though. What do we do now?”
“I’m taking you down to the station,” Catherine said. “Veronica, you might want to step back. Deputy Salverson, let’s escort her to the car.”
“What?” Bluebell felt even more confused as the Deputy moved behind her.
“Blue, don’t say a word more till your parents call a lawyer!” Nolan said. “I’m serious, don’t talk.”
“What’s happening?”
“Steve’s been murdered, and they think you did it!”
“Nolan, relax.” Catherine gave him a warning look. “We’ll advise her of her rights.”
“Steve’s been… what? No!... That’s not possible… He’s right here!” Bluebell swung around, pointing, but Steve had vanished. “He was right here! I’m telling you! He’s alive.”
“Bluebell, you were talking about Steve. Saying that he’d regret something,” Catherine said.
“So what?
So you think I… no… I would never harm Steve. I love him.” Bluebell wondered if she were still in a horrible dream. Steve, murdered? Was the world going mad? One after the other, the pillars of her sanity felt like they were collapsing.
“Bluebell Knopps, you’re being placed under arrest for the murder of Steve Talzer,” Catherine said, placing cuffs on her hands. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”
*****
Chapter 4
The Shadow of Steve Talzer
“Where is she?” Jill and Andrew Knopps burst into the sheriff’s office, a man in a suit trailing behind them.
“Jill, Andrew.” The Sheriff sighed. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. She’d met the Knopps several times, hung out with them at neighborhood barbecues. Until today they’d been friends. Friends or not, her first duty was to the law. If Bluebell had killed Steve, and increasingly, that was the only solution that made sense, then Catherine would do everything she could to see that she stayed behind bars.
Already, she knew that the case was drawing eyes from the media. A pretty young girl with a lawyer father and ex-pageant winner mother, murdering her ex on the eve of her 21st birthday? That was headline worthy. One journalist had even called her, asking if she thought the case could be related to the recent heat wave.
“You arrested her!” Andrew said, his voice shaky. “How could you, Catherine? We’re decent people! Bluebell wouldn’t do this!”
“Where is she?” Jill asked again. “Where’s my baby?”
“Bluebell is 21. Hardly a baby,” Catherine said. “She’s being held right now. She refused to say a word to us.” Well, that wasn’t totally true. Bluebell seemed to be in a daze. She’d sat in lock up, her eyes glazed, unable to speak a word. If Catherine hadn’t known better, she would have thought that it was a symptom of grief.
“I want to see her!” Jill said. “Now!”
“Jill, I think it’s best if I see her first.” The man in the suit stepped forward and shook Catherine’s hand. “I’m Oliver Holmes. I practice criminal law in Madison. I’ll be counsel for the… for Bluebell.”
“Right,” Catherine said.
The man had a sharp nose and close cut hair - a shark in a suit if she’d ever seen one. Andrew’s friend, no doubt. Andrew Knopps was a prominent civil lawyer in Lledrith. Catherine had always thought that he seemed like a nice man, as far as lawyers went. “Well, come on. I’ll lead you to her.”
Bluebell sat in a gray room with her hands tapping on the metal table in front of her. They seemed disconnected from her body. Her entire body, in turn, seemed disconnected from her mind. Over and over, she tried to ground herself by repeating the events of the previous day in her mind. Large tracts of her memory were pitch black.
There were two possibilities - either magic existed, and something had gone horribly wrong when Mathilda cast her spell, or, more likely, Bluebell had somehow become unhinged when Steve broke up with her, created the entire “magic” illusion in her mind, and somehow ended up killing him.
The thought scared her. Both thoughts scared her. Life, to Bluebell, was a simple and happy journey. She’d always known she was in control of herself - self-responsibility was one of the key values her parents had drilled into her. Right after being kind to other people and being a good citizen. Growing up, if she’d pitched a fit about kids in class not liking her, or not getting the spot on the track team, her father would gently chide her, reminding her that even if she couldn’t choose external events, she could choose how she reacted to them.
So how had she reacted to the break up? Had she gone mad? All she knew was that her sanity had slipped away like a balloon, and she felt as despondent as a child wanting it back.
No, this wouldn’t do. She needed to get a hold of herself, and fast.
The door clicked open, and a man walked in. For a minute, she wondered if he was here to model. He had on a dark blue suit draped over a clearly athletic body, a chiselled jaw and almond shaped eyes. He also had something else - an air of being filthy rich, and supremely confident about his place in the world. Bluebell couldn’t quite figure out why she thought so. Something in the way he walked, or the polished tone as he said, “My name’s Oliver James. I’m going to represent you.”
She nodded. Focussing on him seemed to break the clouds in her mind. Observing the little things was helping her relax - how he had on polished silver cufflinks and a deep blue Rolex, or how he immediately took off his tie and stuffed it in his pocket.
“So,” he said. “Talk to me, Bluebell. I’m here for you.”
“Did my parents hire you?” she asked. “Are they here? They… they don’t think I did it, do they?”
“Never mind what they think,” Oliver said. “As your lawyer, I’m always going to have your best interests at heart. So tell me this, did you do it?”
That question. The one question she couldn’t answer. “I don’t know,” she said.
He didn’t press her, for which she was grateful. Instead, he fixed his eyes on her and waited.
“I just wanted to know what’s happened,” Bluebell said. “They keep saying Steve’s dead, but… I saw him. I saw him alive today morning when I woke up.” She felt sick just thinking about it. Steve’s chocolate brown eyes had looked into hers, and he’d told her he loved her. Fresh from her sleep, Bluebell had almost believed it. Before she’d erupted in anger at him. Then he’d vanished. So had she just imagined all that?
Oliver had a notepad out, and was scribbling. “So you saw Steve today morning. Where?”
“I.. I woke up in a meadow. I have no idea where it is, exactly. Steve was there, but then Catherine arrived and he just vanished.”
“Vanished? Into thin air?”
“I don’t mean vanished into thin air, that’s crazy…” But maybe I’m crazy, too, she thought. “But he disappeared. That’s what counts. All I remember about last night is Mathilda. She…” Bluebell buried her face in her hands and groaned. “I’m going insane.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions about that,” Oliver said. “Strange things can happen.”
“What happened to Steve? Have they found his body? Maybe they think he’s dead and he’s actually escaped,” Bluebell said.
“Bluebell, Steve’s dead,” Oliver said gently. “I’m very sorry for your loss. I understand you and he were engaged.”
“No. We’d just broken up. Last night,” Bluebell said. Part of her wanted to break down and cry, but a stronger part told herself that wasn’t an option. Pulling herself together, she blinked, took a deep breath and said, “Tell me, Oliver. Did they find him? Why do the police think he’s dead?”
“His body was found today at 7am,” Oliver said. “He was found dead in his office, Bluebell.”
“7am!” That wasn’t possible. She had woken up late, about 10 am… That meant…
“I’ve probably done it, then,” Bluebell said, her face becoming very pale. “Oliver, it’s only fair to tell you, I think I’m delusional. I’ve been seeing visions of this woman claiming to be a witch. I woke up with no memory of last night. I wasn’t drunk but I felt drunk yesterday, and I saw Steve today. I can’t explain why or how all this is happening.”
“You think you’ve done it?”
“It looks that way, doesn’t it?” Bluebell said. “All the evidence points to it. I had motive. I was acting funny. I don’t remember last night. I probably killed him, and if I did, I should face the punishment.”
“Do you think you’re capable of it?” Oliver asked her.
“I don’t know what I’m capable of anymore,” Bluebell said. “A day ago, I would have said that I could never dream of hurting him. The way I feel right now, this person I am right now would never dream of hurting him. But I don’t know what happened to me yesterday.”
In response, Oliver looked around him, locked eyes with Bluebell, and then winked. She gasped. Just for a second, when he’d winked, his hair
had turned blue.
“I think I’m seeing things again,” she choked out. “Oliver, I need help.”
For a second, she thought she saw pity in his eyes. Then, they became opaque again. “You’re not having delusions,” Oliver said in a strong voice. “Mathilda exists. Right now, she’s on the run, and I’m trying to figure out why.”
“But… so I didn’t imagine any of it? I’m actually a witch?”
“Well, you’re barely a mage right now,” Oliver said. “You haven’t been initiated yet, and it’ll be hard for you to adapt since you grew up in a non magical family.”
“Wow.” She still felt disconnected, but also somewhat relieved. If she wasn’t crazy, there was a chance she hadn’t done this. “Wait, but I also saw Steve today. If I wasn’t hallucinating about Mathilda, I wasn’t hallucinating about him either. Steve was alive today morning.”
“That wasn’t Steve,” Oliver said. “The entity you saw early today was the shadow of Steve Talzer. Whatever’s left of him. The real Steve died somewhere between 11 pm and 4 am last night. He was killed by a blow to the back of his head. I’m from the DMD, the Department of Magical Detectives, and I’m trying to figure out who killed him and why. I’m also here to control the situation before it spills over and gains too much publicity. After all, we don’t want our kind exposed.”
“Publicity?”
“The thing is, Steve was killed by a blow to the back of his head, but he was found in a locked room, and the only copies of his keys were locked inside that office with him,” Oliver said. “What we have here is a murder that clearly has magical ties to it, and for the sake of magic’s future, we’ve got to solve it fast. Now tell me everything that happened to you yesterday, and let me be the judge.”
*****
Chapter 5
The Decision
Oliver secured bail for her, and in a few hours, Bluebell was back home again, sitting on the dining table while her parents spoke to each other in hushed whispers. More than anything, Bluebell wanted to speak to Oliver, but after hearing her tale, he’d moved around like a whirlwind until she was out of custody.
The Milburn Big Box Set Page 196
