Murder Lifts the Spirits

by Margaret C. Morse

  Adrian frowned at me. "When are you going to make sure Cullen is okay?"

  "I didn't have a chance with Marco. You saw he didn't take questions. When you and I have our bathroom turn, I'm going to bring up the Cullen issue with Carlotta. I need you as backup."

  That kept Adrian quiet until we trooped into the restroom, now steamy and soap scented. Adrian flung off her clothes and let the shower blast her. She had a muscular flat body. After all we'd been through, being naked didn't seem a big deal.

  I waited to speak to Marco's manager till I had dried off, soothed my skin with lotion, and pulled on my clothes. "Carlotta, we want to ask Marco if he has accepted custody of an object brought by Detective Jonson from the Disclaimer Ranch. It's a mask that is inhabited by the ghost of Cullen Lightman, the young man who died there earlier in the week."

  Carlotta pursed her lips rather than immediately answering me. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling brightened. The voice that emerged from the fixture was Marco's deep rumble. "Detective Jonson has just brought up this issue with me. She said you'd be his advocate. The only ghosts who live here are the spirits of former internees. Cullen may not fit in. He could be temporarily housed somewhere else."

  I dug my elbow into Adrian when she tried to speak, concerned she'd be too confrontational. "Don't send Cullen away. You can help him. You guided your friends to adjust to their life here as ghosts. Cullen is having trouble animating his mask to talk to us. His responses are very erratic."

  Adrian stared intently at the light fixture. "Cullen needs his friends around him to stimulate his memory."

  "And," I added, "if Cullen could communicate with us clearly, he might help us solve his murder. You said you admire the Disclaimer Ranch. Finding the killer will make the treatment program safe."

  "Please," Adrian implored, "Cullen's eternal life depends on you."

  "The stakes," said Marco's voice, "are high. I will accept custody of the mask."

  Carlotta's burgundy fingernail tapped me. "You will be his guardian if issues arise."

  "Where is Cullen?" I asked.

  The fluorescent lights dimmed, so I assumed Marco had left us.

  "Cullen's in the library," Carlotta explained, "where Loki will continue his protection, along with the other ghosts in that room." Carlotta opened the bathroom door for us to leave.

  Back in the sleeping room, I slung my baggie and damp towel under the cot. "Satisfied about Cullen?"

  Adrian slipped off her sturdy shoes. "We did okay, but I won't be satisfied until the murderer is discovered. You need to redouble your efforts to figure out what happened, unless you want to watch us all be picked off one by one." She stretched out on the cot and sighed.

  "Tomorrow has to be better," I declared.

  "No, it doesn't." Her normally robust voice sounded tinny in the big room. "You need to sleep so you can have a clear head." She wiggled her fingers in my direction, and a floral scent wafted over me.

  The sweet aroma spell she created relaxed my muscles but not my overactive brain. I tried distracting myself from the murder mystery by counting blackbirds backwards from one hundred. It didn't work. If only I had the magic to lull my thoughts.

  As I stared at the ceiling, I caught a faint chord of music. Holding my breath, I waited for the next note. Fingers strummed down a harp. The music paused in the air, vibrating until I breathed again, and then it continued, a flow of delicate sounds that hypnotized me into sleep. I believed it was Marco playing for all us souls who were awake.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Friday

  Breakfast was a variety of bagels and cream cheese in the basement. My nose found it through the aroma of coffee that drifted upstairs. Students and staff gathered in clumps.

  After slathering a cinnamon bagel with jalapeno cream cheese, I joined Trevor and Ira. "I heard harp music last night. It helped me fall asleep."

  Ira gulped a chunk of whole wheat bagel. "I'm sure it was Marco. Isn't he a brilliant musician?"

  I glanced around, noting the pictures I'd missed last night of internees eating at the long tables, bright eyes in solemn faces. "I thought he taught math at some all-black college in the South."

  "True," Ira said, "but that was because no big symphony would hire a black musician. It was a terrible loss to the artistic community. My grandfather was thrilled when he played at the circus, but it wasn't a full use of his talents."

  Trevor stepped closer to me. "They say he only plays for sad, injured souls like himself."

  "I'm sure he'll be playing for you too," I said.

  We smiled at each other. I liked it that he wasn't always angry, although his humor tended to have a bite.

  "Um." Ira frowned at the remains of his bagel. "You need to know something. Some of the students think it's suspicious that you were around both Cullen and Linc when they died."

  "What? Don't these people understand that someone sent a spell to Cullen and Linc and that's what harmed them? Just because I was in their vicinity doesn't mean I did it. They should be focused on who has the magical ability to create such things." While I talked to Ira and Trevor, others had drifted to the far end of the room. Dawn and Hailey had a corner to themselves.

  "I wanted to warn you," Ira explained, "in case the others act weird. I tried to make them see reason, but they think I'm biased."

  "Get this." Trevor gestured with a bagel laden with purple cream cheese. "Before you came in, Adrian was defending you."

  Adrian strode over. "You're going to have to do something. These idiots are focused on you as the bad guy."

  "You don't think I'm guilty?" She'd been nicer to me recently, but I wasn't sure what she thought.

  "I suspect everyone equally. You can convince me of your innocence if you catch the bad guy. Really, I don't think you did it, because you don't have the ability to sustain a complex magical effect."

  Saved by my incompetence—again. Nobody else had joined our table, so I decided to confide in my Watsons. "Here's what I think. Some of the residents, apparently not me, arguably have the power to make the devices that killed Cullen and Linc. But Master Wizards definitely could create a spell to attack a specific person. So the Master Wizards at the ranch—all staff and Loki—should be looked at as suspects. My problem is that I haven't discovered any motives for them to harm Cullen, except for one of them." I didn't want to betray Jake's confidence about his ex-wife and Cullen.

  "Jake had a motive because of his ex and Cullen, didn't he?" Ira asked.

  "Well, yeah. I didn't know you knew." I was definitely out of the loop.

  Adrian pointed a whole wheat bagel at me. "Since two days ago. Jake had Kai and Vidoc tell people before it came out some other way. But what about a motive to kill Linc?"

  I shook my head. "The whole thing starts with Cullen. Someone had a personal agenda against him. I believe Linc was killed because he'd figured out the method and that somehow is a clue to the murderer."

  Trevor finished his drink, a green smoothie. "I don't know about you guys, but I think we should concentrate on motive. I, for one, am not going to be like Linc and experiment with method—creating a spell that targets and kills someone. Too much could go wrong."

  I nodded at Trevor. "Your focus on motive makes sense—especially for the Master Wizards."

  Adrian sipped her coffee, which was pale with milk. She blinked several times, obviously thinking. "So today we find out all we can about Cullen, really dig deep."

  "Right," I agreed. "Linc's death was an awful trauma. People are scared for their own safety. With emotions running so high, it shouldn't be hard to get people to talk."

  Carlotta bustled in. Her hair was tightly disciplined—no escapee curls. Her red suit demanded attention. "Everybody, time for orientation in the living room."

  Photos of Marco as he underwent his starvation protest filled one of the living room walls. The first prints recorded the way he had sealed this room off so that officials couldn't get to him. The next series showed his s
upporters lined up outside the living room, holding a grenade they threatened to detonate if anyone tried to enter. The last set of photos saddened me, for they traced Marco's descent from a man with a handsome face and muscular build to a skeletal figure with sharp cheekbones above sunken jaws and spindly arms.

  When Pioneer House transformed from an unused library to a jail for empathic internees, the books had long been removed. The furniture supplied for the living room looked like rejects from a motel, sofas with orange cushions and peg wooden legs and black plastic chairs that squatted on metal poles.

  I waited until everyone was seated before I settled myself on the narrow arm of a fully occupied sofa, curious if they would shrink from association with me. The residents pointed to an empty chair, but I smiled and shook my head. Blaze appeared on my shoulder. Childish gesture. He brushed my cheek with a wing, a comforting touch.

  At the front of the furniture rows, Disclaimer Ranch staff formed an arc behind Carlotta.

  Pointing her finger at a poster board, Carlotta maneuvered it so that the residents could see the clear and crisp print of the house rules, the first two repeating what Marco had said last night and the third one requiring that we always be within sight of a staff member or Carlotta.

  "Any questions?" Carlotta's dark blue eyes surveyed us.

  "It's not bad," I said. "Marco doesn't seem to be a micromanager."

  A snort over our heads made us all start. I assumed Marco was reacting to my comment. I had to remember he was ever present.

  Carlotta inspected us. "Marco will add rules if—no—when you misbehave. Staff will work with you in small groups this morning. You are not to leave your team. If you need to use the restroom, I will escort you. Last, Marco has accepted custody of the mask of Cullen. Petra Rakowitz will be the guardian of the mask."

  "What?" The woman next to me leaped to her feet. Xara Michaels, an emaciated redhead, scowled at me and Carlotta. "How can she be Cullen's guardian? We all think it's likely she killed him. I should be the custodian. Cullen loved me."

  Tired of my narrow perch, I bounded up. "You have no evidence I was involved in Cullen's death. If you say one more thing like that, I'll be looking into suing you for slander."

  Xara made a pushing motion at me and snapped, "Fall." The spell she sent hit me like a shove, and I staggered backward, bumping into the wooden shelf under the windows. Blaze hovered before Xara's face. He flapped his wings and cawed. When she lifted her hands at him, I thrust her back, too rushed to use magic but determined she'd not hurt my familiar.

  Blaze shot upwards. Xara grabbed my hair. Before she could do more than tug me sideways, Marco's voice reverberated around the room. "Stop!" Staff pulled us apart. Xara wriggled in Vidoc's grasp, her face puffed out and red. I didn't struggle but let Jake walk me backwards. "Let the peace of the Mother of Mercy help you," he murmured in my ear.

  Blaze perched on my head and poked my scalp. Bad girls.

  "I'll behave," I promised.

  Jake released me to Ira. Over our heads, like skywriting, appeared No student fighting. Don't make me smack you down.

  Xara and I wilted. I suspected neither of us wanted to experience Marco's discipline.

  "It's okay." I didn't like the way Ira glowered at Xara. "If she was keeping her relationship with Cullen secret, it must've been a big strain. That announcement about me made her snap. She didn't hurt me."

  He relaxed but kept me close. "What's weird is I never heard any rumors about Cullen and Xara."

  "If their relationship went bad," I explained, "she'd have a motive to harm Cullen. Linc may have found out about Cullen and her, and she thought he'd expose her. And I saw her on the porch the night Cullen died. She had the same opportunity as the rest of us to toss the cat into Linc's room."

  "You're making a lot of assumptions without any real proof," Ira said.

  "I can fix that. I'm going to ask Carlotta to assign me to work with Xara. I'll say I want to repair my relationship with her. If I ask Xara to tell me about Cullen, I think she'll talk, even if she's angry with me. She's ready to burst. And I can check out her skills to see if she's capable of the magic that killed Cullen and Linc."

  Carlotta granted my request, asking Xara and me to wait for Jake, who was leading our first session. Xara complained about the assignment, but Carlotta cut her off, saying she would just have to deal with disliking me. Xara did accompany me to the door to meet up with Jake.

  She glowered. "I'm not happy about this."

  Really? I swallowed a sarcastic reply, since I wanted her to talk. "I understand. I—"

  Zeke Staben, who'd also been on the couch with her, strode over to us. His buzz haircut and square jaw complemented the stern gaze of his gray eyes. "I was embarrassed by your outburst, Xara. You should know I was the only one who had a pure love for Cullen."

  Xara and I stared at each other openmouthed. Like Ira, I'd had no idea Xara and Cullen had a relationship, and now Zeke was also somehow involved. I was pretty sure Adrian would've spoken up already if she'd known about these "love" interests of Cullen's since she was on the hunt for suspects in his murder.

  Jake emerged from a huddle with Kai and Vidoc and directed Xara, Zeke, and me to follow him across the hall to a corner of the men's dorm. The guys' sleeping quarters had the musty smell of damp socks interwoven with whiffs of a piney aftershave.

  Jake looked calm, but his face was pale, and a new frown line cut into his forehead. "I understand you three may not be happy about working together. Before we start the magic training, let's clear the air by sharing your biggest concerns." He glared at each of us. "No one is to interrupt anyone. Petra, start."

  Jake being so stern deflated me a bit. "I've witnessed two people be fatally injured. I wonder if it's going to make me crazy. And then everyone thinks I somehow caused the deaths. I want to defend myself, but nothing I do has any effect."

  Blaze hopped on my shoulder. Whiny.

  "It's not all bad. I'm making friends. My familiar is interacting with me." Blaze and I needed to work on doing magic together. His comments on my behavior—Bad girls—showed he cared enough to criticize me. We didn't have a full relationship yet. I hadn't been reaching out to him emotionally.

  Jake nodded at Xara.

  She'd bitten off her ruby lipstick. "I haven't been able to mourn Cullen. He insisted we keep our relationship secret. After he died, I forced myself to honor his wishes, even though I thought I would explode. And then when I heard her being made Cullen's guardian, I had to speak out. And I have to listen to him make claims about Cullen." She grimaced at Zeke.

  Zeke clenched his fists and began as soon as Xara finished. "Cullen also swore me to secrecy." He opened his hands, which shook. He dropped them at his side as if surrendering. "Our relationship was the purest friendship, spiritual and intellectual. I thought I was the only person who understood him. That's all I want to say."

  All these emotions suppressed and simmering below the surface made me reevaluate my opinion of Cullen. I'd thought he'd been involved in flirty, light relationships, not engaged in secret entanglements that aroused violent passions. "Jake, can I apologize?"

  He looked pleased and nodded at me.

  "Xara and Zeke, I'm sorry you've been suffering in silence. I hope you'll be able to mourn for Cullen now. Xara, about me being Cullen's guardian, Marco appointed me not because I'm Cullen's special friend but because I'm a lawyer. Also, I stepped up and got Marco to agree to let Cullen stay here. I'd like to ask you a few questions about Cullen to help me understand him better."

  Xara's face crumpled, but she took a deep breath and got control. "It's a relief to express my feelings about Cullen. Jake, I'll work with her, but I'm not letting my guard down."

  "You two can do spells together for half of the session. Then we'll switch around." Jake dropped two black stones, one red marble, and a tape measure onto the counter under the window. "Work on movement of the black stones a specific short distance. You both need to make sure your mag
ic is under control." He and Zeke set up further down the counter.

  I hadn't worked with Xara as often as I had with Linc, Dawn, and Adrian. Wary of her attitude toward me, I measured one foot from the two black stones and placed the marble on that spot. I fixed one of the stones in my mind. After I thought move to marble, I mouthed the words and waved my hand.

  Blaze grasped the stone and flew out of the room. As I darted after him, I heard a clink. I hadn't taken two steps into the corridor when Carlotta appeared. "Stop! You were told not to leave the rooms without an escort."

  Blaze had perched on the railing of the stairs. Jake ran past Blaze and pointed down. Something flew into his hand. "Blaze dropped the stone on the marble steps."

  I gestured to Blaze, who perched on my finger. "He misunderstood the command 'Move to marble.'"

  Carlotta stalked away. Blaze made a loud rude noise.

  On Xara's first try, her black stone overshot the marble by six inches. "That's not like me. I've been doing so well in the program that I'll soon be discharged."

  "Yes," I agreed. "Everybody praised your progress." Although she'd just messed up, Xara had a reputation for being a talented spell caster. She might have the skill to create the magic that killed Cullen and Linc.

  She drooped against the counter. "I was sad about that. I wanted to stay and be with Cullen."

  "I must not be very observant. I had no idea you and Cullen were in a relationship."

  "That's how he wanted it. He insisted we keep it secret." She brushed back her hair, which bristled with split ends.

  "Why?"

  She retrieved the black stone but didn't try a spell on it. "He didn't want gossip to taint our rapport. Ours was a spiritual love. We interacted emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. We chose not to engage physically."

  Okay, I had heard of platonic relationships. It surprised me that Cullen had gone this route with Xara. I thought of him as immature and impulsive, not a guy who'd be into spiritual bonding. I glanced at Zeke, who had constructed a tower out of playing cards. "What about Zeke saying he and Cullen had a special thing going?"