Once Upon a Charmed Time

by Rose Pressey

  “Great, that’s fantastic,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

  I was reluctant to hand over the bag, but I knew that he had a job to do, so I would have to let go.

  The detective’s stare lingered a little too long again. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

  Chapter 8

  As we walked down the hallway toward Victoria’s office she pulled on my arm. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

  Instantly my stomach flipped. The tone of her voice sounded serious. In my mind that meant bad news. Nicolas and Liam had already reached her office door.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Go on in, guys, we’ll be right there.” She waved.

  They stared suspiciously for a second and then stepped into her office and sat down. Victoria pulled me to the side.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  She glanced over my shoulder. “Detective Manning was asking about you.”

  I studied her face. “What about me?”

  “He wanted to know if you were single.”

  That was what this was all about? I thought something was majorly wrong.

  “You told him no, right?”

  “I wasn’t sure.”

  How could she not be sure?

  “You can tell him I’m engaged,” I said.

  She smiled. “Okay, but he’s persistent.”

  “Not as persistent as me.” I turned and headed for her office.

  We were in Victoria’s office again when my phone rang. I recognized the number and I was excited to get a call from Detective Manning. Minus what Victoria had just told me.

  “Good afternoon, Halloween,” he said. “I have some information for you.”

  “I’ve been waiting for your call,” I said.

  Now I was uncomfortable with everything I said to him. What if he took it the wrong way? Victoria looked at me and smiled.

  “What did you find out?” I asked.

  “We did find a fingerprint, so I do have a name for you.”

  “Oh, wonderful news. What’s the name?”

  “His name is Bart House.”

  “That’s not the name that we have on the card,” I said. “It’s not the name of the person who spoke with Victoria.”

  “Well, the only information I have on him is from a disorderly conduct charge back several years ago. Other than that there’s nothing on record for him.”

  “Do you have anything else you can give us? Possibly an address or something like that?”

  “I’m not so sure I should do that. Perhaps you should let the police take care of that.”

  “Would you be willing to go with us?” I asked.

  Nicolas and Liam frowned.

  “Hold on just a second,” Detective Manning said.

  While I waited for him to return I explained the news to Victoria, Nicolas, and Liam.

  Detective Manning returned to the phone. “Okay, I can go with you. Can you meet me here at the police station in fifteen minutes?”

  I looked at my watch. It would be close, but I said, “All right, we’ll be there.”

  “Where are we headed?” Nicolas asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “We have to go back to the police station to meet with the detective. He’s going with us to the address that he found.”

  Nicolas didn’t look exactly pleased. Liam either. I wasn’t sure that they trusted the detective. Victoria hadn’t told Nicolas the detective had asked if I was single. I hoped that she kept it just between us. I had asked her to and I was pretty sure she would.

  ***

  Detective Manning had led us to the address. We’d followed his vehicle to a small brick house on a dead end street. Nicolas and Liam had noticed Detective Manning staring at me when we got out of the car. I knew this because I’d seen them exchange a look. After spending a lot of time with the brothers I knew them better than they thought.

  Tall grass and weeds covered the landscape in front of the house. Several other homes on the street looked to be in the same condition.

  “If someone lives here they’re not interested in the curb appeal,” Victoria said.

  Detective Manning knocked on door. Nicolas and Liam stood beside me on the steps. Victoria was on the porch behind Detective Manning. He’d barely touched the door when it opened, as if some invisible force had been waiting for us and had just invited us in. That usually was never a good sign.

  “Stay close,” Detective Manning said as he stepped inside.

  We followed him through the door and into the dimly lit hallway. Furnishings in the house were sparse. Yellowed wallpaper peeled from the walls and cobwebs dangled from the light fixtures. I wasn’t sure if someone was living there or not.

  “Wait here for me and I’ll have a look around," Detective Manning said as he took off down the hallway.

  The echo of his footsteps was the only sound. It would be hard to explain our presence if the homeowner returned. Detective Manning certainly broke the rules. I was surprised he’d brought us here in the first place, much less taken us inside with him.

  “This seems like a waste of time,” Liam said.

  “Well, we didn’t know until we checked it out,” I said.

  "I have a feeling the detective would rather Hallie came here with him alone,” Nicolas said.

  I stared at Nicolas as if I had no idea what he meant.

  Before I had a chance to respond the Detective peeked around the corner of one of the doors at the end of the hallway. “You all might want to take a look at this.”

  Please don’t let it be a dead body, I thought. The three of us headed down the hallway toward the last room on the right. Once in the space with the detective, I stopped in my tracks. On the wall in front of us were photos. Lots of photos. A picture of me was in the middle of all the others. It was like a giant collage of witches, and I was the nucleus.

  “What the hell? This is bizarre,” Liam said.

  I moved in for a closer look.

  “I want to know what’s going on around here.” Nicolas gestured toward the wall.

  Victoria’s photo was to the right of mine. I recognized a photo of Tina too. The pictures were spread out like a family tree, or a who’s who of witchcraft.

  “It looks as if someone was doing a bit of research,” Detective Manning said.

  This made my skin crawl. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. “The photos need to come down immediately. I don’t care who lives here.”

  Technically it was someone else’s property, but I was angry and didn’t care.

  The detective removed the push pin and took my photo from the wall. “I’ll just remove all these for evidence.”

  “Evidence or a memento?” Liam whispered to Nicolas.

  Victoria helped him remove the photos. I hoped that they weren’t put up there in order to cast a spell. That might explain why witches were losing their witchcraft powers.

  Once back outside Detective Manning said, “I’ll see what else I can track down about this guy and let you know. In the meantime just be careful.”

  What was Bart House doing with all the photos? It was as if we were the target and photos were pinned to the wall for reference.

  Chapter 9

  The next day I had been spent looking for more information with little results. Now we were back at the hotel.

  “I just got off the phone with Victoria,” I said.

  “That doesn’t sound like a good thing,” Liam said as he looked at me suspiciously.

  I guess he knew by the tone of my voice.

  “We’ve been invited to a party,” I said.

  “What kind of party?” Nicolas leaned back in the chair.

  I cleared my throat and then continued, “It’s a costume party.”

  “Oh, the worst. You told her no, right?” Liam asked. “We don’t have time for parties.”

  “You don’t have to party?” I asked. “The only reason you don’t want to go is because it’s a costume party. Otherwise, you’d be
all over it.”

  “Not true,” he said with a smile.

  “Regardless, it’s at Cameron’s house. Victoria had no idea that Cameron was doing this, so she thinks it’s a good idea we go. Maybe we’ll go and see what Cameron is all about.”

  “I think this sounds like a good idea,” Nicolas said.

  “Well, it looks like I’m out numbered with this vote,” Liam said. “So what are we going to dress up as? Witches?” He laughed.

  “Victoria said she would handle everything. She said to meet her at her office at nine o’clock and she would have everything ready for us.”

  Liam quirked an eyebrow. “This should be interesting.”

  We arrived at Victoria’s office at nine o’clock on the dot. No other people were around as we went up the elevator to her door. She was waiting in the lobby as we stepped inside. Victoria was dressed in a black gown. She held a black mask up to her face. This gave me hope that my costume would be equally as fun.

  “I’m glad you made it,” Victoria said, taking the mask away from her face.

  “We're looking forward to seeing what happens.”

  “I have costumes here,” she said, gesturing toward the chair in the lobby.

  I spotted mine right away. “Wonder Woman?”

  She handed me the outfit. “Sorry, but the selection was kind of sparse in your size.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said with a fake smile.

  I hoped she didn’t notice my reaction. For Liam and Nicolas she had Batman and Spiderman. They were superheroes too? Needless to say I was pretty sure we would look ridiculous.

  “There are restrooms out in the hallway that you guys can change in,” Victoria said.

  “Halliw, the things you get us into,” Liam said as we stepped into the hallway.

  “I’m just looking forward to seeing Hallie in that costume.” Nicolas wiggled his eyebrows.

  After changing into the costumes we met back in the hallway. Of course I laughed when I saw the guys.

  “You look great. You’re really going save the day.” I bit back more laughter.

  “Well, you’re quite a wonder woman.” Nicolas kissed me.

  Victoria met us in the hallway. “Oh, you guys look great. Are we ready to go?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Liam adjusted his tights.

  We got in the elevator and went down to Victoria’s car. We would’ve looked even more ridiculous if we had rode in the rental car dressed as superheroes. A short time later we arrived at Cameron’s house. There were already a lot of cars parked in her driveway and along the street. She’d left the gates open for tonight’s event. The party had obviously gotten into full swing without us.

  When we reached the door Cameron opened it and guided us inside. “I’m glad you’re okay. This just wouldn’t have been a party without you. By the way, you all look fabulous.”

  Cameron wore a silver bodysuit with knee high silver boots. I wasn’t sure if she was a superhero, or an alien.

  “Thank you,” I said as I scanned the crowd.

  I didn’t recognize anyone, of course, but I hadn’t expected to. I did however feel an uneasiness. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, but something was amiss. We picked up glasses of champagne and then went around the room talking with the other witches. I kept my eyes open for anything unusual the entire time. Cameron was acting a bit nervous, but perhaps that was just because there were so many people in her house and she wanted to be a good hostess. I still wasn’t sure why she called this party in the first place. Was it just to get to know the other witches? Perhaps that was it. At least that was what I wanted to believe.

  “If you’ll excuse me, guys, I’m going to adjust my bustier and my cape.” I flashed my gold cuffs.

  “Of course,” Nicolas said. “I’ll be waiting.”

  As I stood in the bathroom looking in the mirror and adjusting the little crown on my head, I happened to notice something in the reflection on the wall behind me. I was surprised because the rest of the house seemed so clean. It looked as if Cameron missed a spot. When I turned around and examined the spot closer. It was some kind of blue stain. As if someone had splashed something on the wall. Maybe it was mouth wash?

  Just then the door opened. Cameron eyed me up and down. She saw what I was doing and I knew she was immediately suspicious. A strange look came over her.

  “I guess you wonder why I was examining the wall?”

  I had to play this off so she wouldn’t be suspicious, but that was virtually impossible. How could I act as if nothing was up?

  “Oh, I just was trying to see the reflection of my costume in the back,” I said, acting as if I had been looking in the mirror over my shoulder.

  She stared at me for a moment and then smiled. “You look great. Would you like for me to fix your skirt?”

  “Sure.” I moved away from the wall a bit.

  Standing that close to her made me nervous.

  She tugged at the fabric. “There. You’re all set.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  She stared at me for a moment without saying a word.

  “Well, I should get back to the party.” I stepped around her and out the door.

  Without turning around I knew Cameron was still watching me. I felt her stare on my back. I had just made it down the hall when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Someone was outside on the patio area. They were dressed all in black and trying to get in the other side door. Just then Cameron walked up.

  “Someone is trying to get in your house from the back. I’m pretty sure that they shouldn’t be doing that.” I pointed. “We should go check it out.”

  Cameron waved her hand. “Oh, I’m sure it’s probably just a guest.”

  I opened the door and started to walk outside.

  She grabbed my arm. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  I stopped and looked at her. “Why? What makes you say that?” I yanked my arm away. I didn’t like the way that she grabbed me.

  “It’s just because I don’t want you to get hurt if someone really was trying to break in.”

  So which was it? Someone was or wasn’t trying to break in? I started to step outside again, but when I looked out, the person was running away. That told me that they weren’t supposed to be there. I recited words for a spell so that possibly I could get them to stop. We needed to find out who this was. With such short notice it was hard to do spells properly.

  “Do the spell with me,” I said.

  Cameron frowned, as if she didn’t know what I meant.

  “I’d rather not,” she said.

  Why wouldn’t she do magic? Wasn’t that the entire point of her joining the coven so that she could do the magic with us? My spell apparently didn’t catch the guy because he disappeared into the night.

  “Why wouldn’t you do the magic?” I asked.

  I felt like that was a fair question.

  “I just didn’t want to mess up what you had going on.”

  I studied her face to see if she was telling the truth, but I couldn’t quite guess. Without waiting for further explanation, I ran over to the gate where the guy had taken off. There was no sign of him. He had gotten away. Cameron was still standing by the door watching me.

  I went back over to her and said, “I think it’s time to end the party.”

  Her expression let me know that she was astonished that I would even suggest such a thing. But without knowing who the man was and everything else that was going on I felt like that all the witches located in one spot needed to be cleared out before something bad happened. I rushed past her and inside. Nicolas and Liam saw me and knew that something was wrong. They hurried over to me.

  “What’s wrong?” Nicolas asked.

  “I just saw someone trying to break in and I think the whole party needs to be cleared out. As a matter fact, I’m going to insist that everyone leave right now.” I picked up a glass and a fork and tapped the side. “May have your atte
ntion please. Would everyone please leave the house? This is important. We need to exit now. I have fear that someone might be trying to plan an attack on all the witches, so therefore if we could all stay calm and just get out.”

  “We can just use our magic to get rid of this person,” someone beside me said.

  “I’m afraid it doesn’t work quite like that. They have plans on stopping our magic so to have all of us in one location is not a good idea.”

  Surprisingly, everyone stayed calm and filed out at the house. I hoped that they hurried because I didn’t know if this person would be back soon. For all I knew they could be waiting outside for everyone to leave. Cameron was standing in the corner of the room with her arms crossed in front of her chest and a pout on her face.

  “What am I supposed to do now?” she asked.

  “Do you want to come with us? If you don’t feel safe here you can come with us,” I said.

  She scoffed. “No, I feel perfectly fine here.”

  Wow, such a snippy attitude.

  “Suit yourself,” I said as I walked toward the door.

  Everyone was pulling away from the house as I got into the car with Victoria, Liam, and Nicolas. My senses told me something was seriously wrong. Now I had to figure out what that something was.

  Chapter 10

  I’d received a call from someone who claimed to have information about the case. The man hadn’t left his name, but he’d given us an address to check out.

  “Looks like this is the street,” Liam said as he made a left turn.

  We pulled up in front of the white house. It looked like it was built in the twenties. It definitely had that glamorous Hollywood look with palm trees and a large circle drive around the front. Liam pulled the tiny car up to the front. I felt like I was in a scooter or something.

  “They’ll probably hear the car and think it’s a mosquito,” I said.

  Liam cut the ignition. “Very funny.”

  Nicolas laughed from the backseat. I was glad that he got my humor.

  “Well, I guess this is it,” I said. “Shall we go see what the problem is?” I unbuckled my seatbelt.

  Liam opened the car door. “It’s now or never.”