Murder of the Month

by Tegan Maher

  As I turned to drop the crackers to the waiting rats, sun glinted off the windshield of a passing vehicle outside. I glanced out the front window, holding my hand up to deflect the glare. That’s when I saw the something lying in the outside windowsill.

  I moved closer to get a better look. It was some sort of leather satchel. I went outside and brought it in.

  “Did you see who left this?” I asked Erol.

  He shook his head. “Nope. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t even see it ’til you picked it up.”

  “You mean you didn’t notice it?” I asked, examining it.

  “No,” he replied. “I mean I literally couldn’t see it until you physically touched it. It looked like you were reaching for thin air until your hand made contact with it.”

  Okay, that was weird.

  Still, maybe it was a trick of the light and somebody just set it down while they were window shopping and forgot it. I tried to open it up to see if there was any sort of ID inside.

  No matter what I tried, the clasp wouldn’t give. Frustrated, I used a spell my mom had taught me when I was just a little girl when I kept accidentally locking the house door behind me. The latch popped right open.

  Instead of the standard legal pads or business paperwork I was expecting, there were file folders containing what could only be described as dossiers on several different women.

  Flipping through them, I realized they were all on witches.

  “Noelle?” Cheri Lynn said, a cautious note in her tone.

  “Yeah?” I was distracted, flipping through the folders. All of the women were witches, and none of them were good ones.

  “I think you should call Camille.”

  “Why?” I asked, slowing down to read the details on some of the files. These women were horrible, and I don’t mean in the steal a lipstick from Walmart sort of way. They all had several different crimes of epic proportions against both normal people and magical ones.

  One of them had even killed an old witch, apparently to steal her Book of Shadows, a tome filled with spells and potions passed down through the generations. It didn’t say why she stole the book, but I assume it wasn’t for anything good if she was willing to kill for it.

  “Because,” she said, pointing to one of the folders I’d left open on the counter. “this is one of the women who attacked Addy and Beth when you were little.”

  I’d only recently learned that Shelby had lost her powers when Aunt Beth had been attacked while hanging out laundry. Shelby’d been playing in the clothesbasket, and a spell had rebound on her, or so we thought. It was a little fuzzy; all we knew was that she hadn’t come into her powers like an average witch did, around the age of eleven. Instead, it had taken a serious clunk on the noggin for her magic to burst through the block last summer.

  I turned to the file she was pointing to and sure enough, under known crimes, that attack was listed. Addy and Beth had said they’d been attacked by a group of witches intent on taking over the council because they didn’t think any witch should have to hide. I tried to remember the details of the conversation, or even what they said had happened to the women, but I couldn’t.

  It was time to talk to Addy. And Cheri was right—Camille needed to be brought into it, too. First though, I called out for my auntie. As always, she popped right in, smiling.

  “What’s up, buttercup?” she asked. “I was just hanging out with Ida, plotting ways to torture Millie. It’s better to have a coordinated attack.”

  Nice to know she was spending her off time doing something good.

  “Look what somebody left on the windowsill outside,” I said, motioning toward the files and satchel. “I had to use an unlock spell to open it.”

  She moved closer, motioning for me to flip through the pages as she read. Her expression turned from lighthearted amusement to concern as she read. “These women are dead.”

  “Then why did somebody leave their dossiers in a bag on my windowsill?”

  “I don’t know,” she said as she continued to peruse one of the open folders, “but call Camille. Now. Don’t mention this in voicemail if she doesn’t pick up.”

  I pulled my phone from my pocket and hit her number, but as anticipated, it went straight to voicemail. I left a message to call me, then texted her for good measure.

  “The only thing to do now is wait, I guess,” I said.

  “Call Raeann and get her to the farm,” she said. “Shelby, too. They both need to see these, and I need to go talk to somebody. I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes,” she said as she faded out.

  I texted Rae and Shelby both, simply saying we needed to have a family pow-wow in a half-hour. Shelby responded immediately that they were both already there. That just left me, then.

  “Okay guys,” I said. “I’m going home. Erol, can you keep an eye out when you’re here in case our visitor comes back? I sure would like to know what’s going on, or at least who left this stuff.”

  He nodded. “Sure thing. I wasn’t planning on going out tonight anyway. Do you really think they’ll be back?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’s weird they just left this on the sill, so I reckon it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they’ll be back.”

  After setting the TV to the CW, I grabbed my bag, locked the door, and headed to the farm. For the first time ever, the pleasure of riding my bike failed to soothe me.

  CHAPTER 44

  SURE ENOUGH, SHELBY and Rae, along with Gabi and Matt, were at the farm when I got there. I’d missed a call from Hunter, but I figured finding pictures of people who tried to annihilate my family and take over the witching world should probably take precedence over everything else. I texted him and told him I would call in a bit.

  Once inside, I pulled out the folders and spread them onto the table, where Rae and Shelby were already gathered. “These were left in a satchel on the windowsill of Reimagined,” I said.

  “So?” Shelby said as she moved closer to take a look at one. Rae pulled a couple more toward her.

  I poured myself a glass of tea then rejoined them, taking a seat at the head of the table. “So they’re the women who attacked Addy and our moms,” I said. “The ones responsible for your wonky powers, Shel.”

  They shot me twin looks that were a cross between disbelief and confusion. “And you have no idea who left it?” Rae asked.

  I shook my head. “No clue. Erol said he couldn’t even see it before I laid hands on it.”

  “Have you tried an identity spell?” Shelby asked.

  “No, but maybe that’s not such a good idea,” I said.

  Rae agreed. “She’s right. There’s a chance whoever you’re identifying will feel it, and it’s probably best not to take that risk just yet.”

  Instead, we flipped through the dossiers and I noticed more the second time through than I had the first. Even then, it wasn’t much. Just personal details. There were fourteen folders in all, and the women ranged in age from mid-twenties to one who was over a century old, though she looked more like fifty. Witches with longevity tended to age slower, for obvious reasons.

  Addy popped in a few minutes later, and Beth rumbled up the driveway at about the same time.

  Once we were all convened at the table, Addy spoke. “I’ve gone to the council and spoken with Aurora Darkmore.” Aurora was the head of the witch’s council and was a badass in her own right, though she wasn’t exactly the type I’d invite to dinner.

  Rae, Shelby, and I glanced at each other. If Addy’d gone to Aurora, this was much bigger than we’d thought. The two of them weren’t exactly cozy.

  “She’s in meetings all afternoon and evening that she can’t ditch, but she’ll be here straight afterwards to pick up those folders and the satchel,” Addy said.

  “What about Camille?” Shelby asked.

  Emma popped into the kitchen. “What about Mom?” she asked.

  I’d forgotten she was staying with us while Camille was out of town.
<
br />   “I wish she were here,” I said. “It seems we have a problem, and it would be awesome if she made it home today or tomorrow, because we have no idea what we’re dealing with.”

  Shelby explained what was going on, and Emma pulled up a chair to check out the dossiers.

  While the girls looked at the folders, Beth turned to Addy. “Why is Aurora so interested? These women are all dead. To me, the question is why somebody left these for Noelle to find.”

  Addy shook her head, so wound up she forgot to assume a sitting position like she usually did when we were all gathered. “They’re not, Beth, at least not all of them, and if whoever left these folders was trying to give us a heads up, then there are some new faces in the crowd, too. According to Aurora, people say they saw three of the original coven in a café in Paris just over a year ago. It’s not confirmed, which is why the council’s been keeping it hush-hush, but there’s a chance we didn’t kill ’em as dead as we thought we did.”

  That caught my attention. They’d never said what they did to the women, but I’d assumed they’d gone to jail. The idea that my aunts found a more permanent solution had never occurred to me. It only took me about two seconds to decide I was okay with it; after all, the women had gone there to kill them.

  “Speaking of the person who left the satchel,” Raeann said. “We need to find out who it was. We can’t assume they’re on our side.”

  “That’s true,” Addy said. “As bad as I hate to admit it, Aurora’s a whiz at detection spells. If anybody can make that bag reveal its secrets, it’ll be her.”

  Beth’s face turned white as realization set in. “I can’t take them on alone, Addy, and the girls aren’t ready. We barely managed it with the three of us whole and hearty the last time.”

  Addy nodded. “I know, sister, and it kills me that I won’t be able to help when and if the time comes.” She looked from Shelby, then to Rae, then to me. “There is one thing I can do, though. Now that we know who we may be dealing with, it’s time to up our game and get your powers under control and up to full charge.”

  I didn’t know what that was going to entail, but suddenly the idea of dealing with a regular ole garden-variety serial killer wasn’t so bad after all.

  CHAPTER 45

  SINCE I COULDN’T DO anything about the satchel and its contents until Aurora showed up, I called Hunter.

  “Any news?” I asked when he picked up.

  “Yeah,” he replied, “we got him. He was sitting at the bar, half plastered.”

  “Has he said anything yet?” The problem when you were dealing with small-time troublemakers was that they tended to take pride in being arrested and in keeping their mouths shut. It was almost like a bragging point for them. Idiots.

  Hunter snorted. “Not a word, other than he admitted to owning the property next to yours, and only then because I tricked him. I told him we already knew.”

  “He said somebody offered him a shit ton of money for it, his words, but he wouldn’t say who.”

  I dragged in a breath and blew it out through my cheeks as I took a seat on the porch swing. “So we know who owns the property, now at least.”

  “Yeah,” he said, taking a seat beside me. “At least. I’m gonna let him sweat. We’re not formally arresting him, so nobody can bail him out. Give him some time to think about it. He’s too drunk to deal with right now anyway.”

  I swung in silence for a couple minutes, the back-and-forth motion soothing me. “The only string we really have left to pick is Millie,” I said.

  “Not much of a string, though,” he replied. “Other than just being a despicable person, she hasn’t done anything.”

  “She’s Kensey’s cousin, and it’s fishy that she tried to claim her property when Merriam died, and now basically owns Ida’s house and property. What’s her deal?” I knew I was grasping at straws, but something about her just didn’t sit right with me. Still, I couldn’t see her masterminding any kind of big conspiracy any more than I could see the kid doing it.

  He was quiet for a few seconds. “Maybe it’s time I go ask. She’s about our last chance, because that kid’s not talking, at least not anytime soon.”

  “It may be best if I go with you,” I said. “I’m not sure if Ida’s gotten to her yet.”

  He sighed. “I feel like I should be worried about myself because I understand exactly what you’re talking about and, worse yet, am okay with it.”

  “Well,” I said, trying to look on the bright side, “at least now you know. Look at it this way—if you weren’t in the loop and showed up out there once Ida gets in full swing, you’d doubt your own sanity. Now you know it’s just a nice older lady defending her house.”

  He huffed. “Nice older lady, my foot. But you’re right. It’s better to know about the crazy than to walk into it blind.”

  “Hey!” I said. “I resemble that remark.”

  I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “I know you do, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As a matter of fact, I kinda hope we show up in time to see Ida at work.”

  Even though he couldn’t see me, I grinned. “My job here is done. I’ve converted you to the dark side; there’s no goin’ back now, sweetheart.”

  He picked me up ten minutes later, and we headed straight to Ida’s rather than Felix’s apartment since we figured Millie’d either be measuring for drapes or huddling in a corner with wet drawers, depending on whether or not Ida’d already gone to work on her. Sure enough, Felix’s truck was there when we pulled in.

  I knocked on the door and the woman of the hour answered, a puzzled look on her face and a new pack of paint rollers in her hand. We’d stepped around several pieces of tacky floral furniture sitting on the porch on our way to the door, so she wasn’t kidding about moving right in.

  “If Felix’s daughter’s sicced you on me, I’m within my rights. He said I could do what I want with the place, and that’s all the permission I need now that the hateful old bat he married the first time around kicked the bucket.”

  Hunter ran a hand over his face and stepped forward, choosing to take the high road. I admired his patience and bit my tongue, doing my best to follow suit.

  “We need to ask you a couple of questions,” he said.

  She narrowed her eyes and examined us both for a few seconds before opening the door to us. “All right, but you’re gonna have to make it quick. I’m getting ready to paint. All these neutral colors make me feel like I’m in some sort of mental hospital.”

  “You’d know,” I muttered.

  “Excuse me?” she said, her voice an octave higher than usual. Hunter shot me a death glare.

  “I said, you’d know,” I rushed to say. “About colors, I mean. You seem to have a knack for ... mixing colors.” It was the best I could do.

  “Oh,” she said, preening like a peacock. “I watch those DIY shows all the time. All it needs is some brightenin’ up. This place’ll look like a million bucks when I’m done with it.”

  How apropos.

  I stepped inside, paying closer attention to the décor than I had the last time. True, the colors were neutral, but they were shades of grey and sand that complimented the wood floors and rich mahogany tones of Ida’s furniture. Though I could see how Millie would take offense to anything so tasteful.

  Just the thought of painting over it with the bright purple on the sample in Millie’s hand made me cringe. When Ida popped in behind her, I knew Hunter and I were officially against the clock if we wanted to get any information of value; the haunting was about to begin.

  “Tell me I got here before she so much as opened a can of that in my house,” she said, swooping up the stairs, then back down through the ceiling.

  I nodded. “You made it in time.”

  “In time for what?” Millie asked me, tilting her head, confused.

  Hunter shot Ida and me a glare as he answered her. “We were just hoping you could answer some questions. We picked up a man named Macon Jessup this
evening.” He paused and we both studied her face, watching for any sort of reaction. All we got was the standard blank look that seemed to be her resting expression when she wasn’t pouting or complaining.

  “And?” she asked. “What does that have to do with me?”

  “Look,” I said, sick of dancing around the issue. “I don’t know why we’re beating around the bush here. Two women are dead. One of them was your cousin, and the other was your new husband’s ex-wife. You’re currently moving into the ex’s house and, from what we gather, you thought you were going to inherit your cousins’s, or at least part of it. You had a lot to gain if Ida and Merriam died, or at least you thought you did.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re implying, but if you think I had anything to do with the deaths, you’re barkin’ up the wrong tree. Damned straight I’ll claim what’s mine, but I didn’t do nothin’ to hurry the process along.”

  In my mind, she didn't have any claim to any of it. Hunter must have read my mind because he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and rushed to speak before I could. I decided it might be best if I zipped it and let him do the talking.

  “Why were you in such a hurry to get the keys to this house?” he asked.

  She took a step back and gave us an appraising look. “I think I’ve said all I’m willing to without my lawyer here.”

  “Lawyer, schmawyer,” Ida barked in her ear. “Answer the question!”

  Millie jumped about a foot in the air and whipped her head toward the sound. “Who said that?” she demanded.

  I struggled to maintain a bland expression. “Said what?”

  “Oh boy,” Hunter muttered.

  “I said it,” Ida snapped. “You know, the hateful old bat Felix married the first time around.”

  “How are you doing that?” Millie asked me, suspicion bordering on fear written all over her face.