Dead Over Heels

by Lily Webb

  “Is everything okay, Julia?” Zoe asked, keeping the ruse going, but I almost didn’t realize she was referring to me because I was still so dazed from the vision. Slowly, things came back into focus. A thought struck me: Ryder had lied to Zoe when he told her he hadn’t seen or spoken to his sister in years — because Rory had been standing in this very store just last night.

  And based on the charged conversation Ryder had been having with his sister, something told me he had a good reason to lie. But would he really have killed his own sister? He seemed plenty resentful enough toward her to do something drastic, but what had finally pushed him over the edge?

  “I think you two should leave. Now. Before I call the cops,” Ryder said. His nostrils flared in time with his angry breathing. I didn’t want to push our luck, so I nodded.

  “Yes, sir. We’ll go. I’m sorry to have bothered you,” I said, and without waiting for a reply, I grabbed Zoe by the sleeve of her robes and pulled her out of the store because she and I had a lot to talk about.

  Chapter 6

  We’d barely gotten out of the store before Zoe stopped me. “What did you see?”

  I glanced over my shoulder, confident the last thing I wanted was for Ryder to overhear any of what I had to share, and found him scowling at us from the doorway of his shop. He’d definitely followed us, most likely to make sure that we left, but part of me couldn’t help wondering if there was more to it. I nodded in his direction. “Let’s not do this here.”

  Zoe followed my gaze and grimaced. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Hold on tight,” she said and seized my wrist with one hand while she reached into her robes for her wand with the other.

  “Wait, where are we go—” I started, but my words quickly turned into an incomprehensible jumble of sound as Zoe cast the teleportation spell once again and the world swirled around me as if someone had flushed me down the drain of the universe.

  A beat later, we popped back onto solid ground outside the Starfall Valley police station. I glanced at the front of the building, then to Zoe, and had to wonder how much she’d already put together.

  “I can read your thoughts, remember?” she asked. “You didn’t have to say anything for me to know that this is where we needed to head next. But I only got the general outline, not the details. Now tell me, what did you see?”

  “It was an argument between Ryder and Rory,” I started, struggling to remember all the details of my vision. “I’m not sure what they were fighting about, but it sounded like Rory thought her brother was doing something he shouldn’t have been.”

  “And what did Ryder have to say about that?” Zoe asked with a smirk.

  “He insisted he wasn’t and told her she could search the store to prove it if she wanted to.”

  “Wait a second… Ryder said he hadn’t seen or heard from his sister in years, so could your vision have been from that long ago?” Zoe asked.

  “I doubt it. It’s way too much of a coincidence that Rory would start asking questions around here and then turn up dead.”

  “Then that means Ryder lied to us.”

  “Exactly, but why?” I asked, truly unable to come up with an answer, though the fact he’d so forcefully told us to leave didn’t reassure me he wasn’t hiding anything. Then again, if I were him and some strange witch had come into my store and put her hands on me before going into psychic shock, I probably would’ve been in a hurry to get her the heck out too.

  “If your twin sister had died under suspicious circumstances, would you want anyone knowing you had an argument with her recently?” Zoe answered with a question of her own, and my brain lit up with activity.

  “Do you really think Ryder killed his sister?”

  Zoe frowned. “I don’t have any way to know that for sure, but what you saw certainly doesn’t paint Ryder in the best light, given the situation. Besides, he sounded furious at his sister when we asked about her. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but family resentments can run deep.”

  “True, but that wasn’t all I saw,” I said, and Zoe’s eyes snapped to mine. “After Ryder told Rory she could search the shop if she didn’t believe that he wasn’t up to anything, she stormed out and I saw Officer Dunham standing across the street — almost like she was staking out the store or something.”

  “So that’s why her name kept coming up in your thoughts,” Zoe said and smiled as she glanced at the building behind us. “Sounds like the SVPD knows more than they let on originally.”

  “Well, to be fair, they said it was an active investigation so they—”

  “Couldn’t share details,” Zoe interrupted. “Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a million times, but it’s still annoying,” she continued, then chewed her lower lip for a moment while she thought. “In the vision, did Ryder see Officer Dunham, too?”

  “Definitely. They stared each other down for a bit before Officer Dunham left.”

  Zoe’s eyes widened. “Then I’m not so sure this was part of their investigation. I mean, this interaction had to have happened before Rory died since she was in the room, so why would Dunham be watching Ryder’s shop then?”

  That was an excellent question I didn’t have an answer for, but now that I thought about it with more of a clear head, I had to admit Zoe was on to something. If Dunham wasn’t following Ryder because of Rory’s death, then why was she following him at all? My heart jumped when a connection formed somewhere deep in my brain.

  When Jadis and I had first followed Dunham back to the SVPD after Leo’s speech in the town square, Officer Aimes said something about there being an influx of outsiders coming to Starfall and stirring up trouble. Could that be why Dunham was monitoring Ryder? And was that what his sister thought he’d gotten involved with?

  Then another, more disturbing thought popped into my brain: If the argument I’d seen in my vision had taken place the night of Rory’s death like it seemed, and if Dunham had been outside the shop and gone in the same direction as Rory, could she have some involvement in Rory’s death?

  “I like the way you think,” Zoe said, pulling me back into the present. “It’s hard to follow sometimes, but you always end up in the right place. I was wondering about Dunham, so it’s nice to hear you are too.”

  “Uh, thanks? I guess?”

  “Despite how it sounded, it was a compliment. Anyway, should we pop in and talk to Officer Dunham while we’re here?”

  “I guess,” I said, though I would much rather have had more time to collect myself and make sense of my vision before confronting someone else — especially an armed officer of the law.

  “You can say no, Selena. It might’ve taken me a few years to get there, but I’ve realized I can be a bit too much for some people,” Zoe said and laughed.

  “No, it’s okay, really. I’m a little dazed still from the vision, but that’s normal. I’ll pull it together fast.”

  “Are you sure? I really won’t be offended if you need a break.”

  “I’m sure. I don’t want to miss any of this.”

  “All right, then let’s see what Officer Dunham has to say for herself,” Zoe said, and walked into the SVPD like she owned the place. With her reputation, she was probably right to. After taking a deep breath, I followed her inside and found her already in conversation with Officer Dunham.

  “Aimes stepped out to talk to a person of interest,” Dunham was telling Zoe when I came to a stop in front of her broken down desk. She stared at us over a beaten up, scratched laptop that was missing at least two letters on its keyboard.

  “Related to the death on Blackwood’s property?”

  “I can’t comment,” Dunham answered.

  “Not even off the record?” Zoe asked with a mischievous smirk.

  “Especially not off the record.”

  Zoe sighed. “Fine, suit yourself. It’s probably a good thing Aimes is out of the office, anyway.”

  Dunham raised an eyebrow at Zoe. “Oh? Why’s that?
”

  Zoe plopped down on the corner of Dunham’s desk and invited me to join her. “Because Selena and I have a few questions we’d like to ask you.”

  “About what?” Dunham asked without budging.

  “Rory Hallewell,” Zoe said, and Dunham winced. The expression happened so quickly that if I hadn’t been paying attention, I would’ve missed it.

  Dunham shot Zoe a contemptuous look. “Did you pick that name from my thoughts?”

  “I didn’t need to, actually. But since I was here last time, it seems like someone’s shown you how to block those from me, anyway,” Zoe said, and stared Dunham right back in the eye.

  “We’re cops, Ms. Clarke. We’re working with sensitive information we can’t exactly afford to broadcast to spies.”

  “Ouch. I’ve been called a lot of things, but ‘spy’ is new,” Zoe teased. “But fine, that’s fair, so I guess Selena and I will just have to gather information the old-fashioned way,” she continued, and glanced at me. “So, Selena, do you want to ask Officer Dunham here about what you saw?”

  Dunham’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the question. When I locked mine on hers, she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She wasn’t the only uncomfortable one. I cleared my throat and gathered my courage. “I had a vision, officer. In it, I saw you standing watch outside Hallewell’s Heel shop, but we don’t really understand why you were there.”

  Dunham hesitated for a moment, no doubt racking her brain for a way to deny what I’d seen. My visions could be incomplete or misleading sometimes, but they were rarely outright wrong, so I didn’t think Dunham could come up with an alibi. Then again, I’d been mistaken before.

  Finally, Dunham sighed and slumped back in her chair. “All right, fine. You two clearly know a lot more about this case than we’d like already anyway, so might as well be honest.”

  “We’d certainly appreciate it,” Zoe said with a smile.

  “Ryder’s been on our radar for a while now, ever since his old friend Marcus showed up and started haunting Starfall again,” Dunham said. I almost couldn’t believe my ears.

  “Wait, are you talking about that weirdo warlock who’s selling junk out of a suitcase?” I asked, and Dunham chuckled.

  “Yup, that’s him.”

  “That guy is friends with Ryder Hallewell?” Zoe asked. “Seems like an odd match.”

  Based on how grumpy and, well, unfriendly Ryder had been during our conversation with him, I had to agree. Marcus was strange, no doubt about it, but he seemed nice overall. So how had he ever linked up with someone like Ryder?

  “Marcus wasn’t always like that. Going to prison for a few years has a habit of changing people, though I have no idea where he picked up that weird way of speaking,” Dunham said, and my brows instinctively shot up my forehead.

  “Marcus was in prison?” I asked. “What for?”

  “He got busted smuggling illegal magical contraband into Moon Grove,” Dunham said matter-of-factly, as if something like that were the most routine thing in the world. For a cop in a paranormal community, it probably was, but it definitely wasn’t for me.

  Dunham shifted her gaze to Zoe. “Rory’s actually the one who caught Marcus and ultimately put him behind bars, so when we got word that Marcus was getting out early for ‘good behavior’ and coming back to Starfall, we decided to keep an eye on him and Ryder both. Between Marcus’ sketchy past and all the shady characters going through town lately, we had good reason to be wary of him.”

  “But what does Marcus want with Ryder?” I asked.

  “He’s fresh out of prison, so maybe he thought Ryder would give him a job or help him get back on his feet some other way? I dunno. We aren’t really sure yet,” Dunham said, “but as far as we can tell, Ryder hasn’t been receptive to Marcus’ attempts.”

  I jolted as something occurred to me: Had Rory gotten wind of Ryder and Marcus getting back in touch? Could that be why she’d shown up at the shoe store asking questions about Ryder’s activity? If that were the case, though, what would make Rory think her brother had anything to hide in the first place?

  “If Ryder’s not receptive to Marcus’ attempts, then why have you been watching Ryder and his shop?” Zoe asked, taking the question right out of my mouth.

  Dunham hesitated again. For a moment, it looked like she was going to tell us to mind our business and get out of the station. Eventually, though, she caved. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this yet, but the case is going public soon anyway, so you’ll figure it out, eventually. The smuggling operation that sent Marcus to prison also involved Ryder.”

  “What? Really?” I asked, shocked. Ryder seemed like a lot of things, but a criminal wasn’t one of them. From what he’d said, he sounded proud of his family business in the shoe store. So how did someone like that end up in league with a smuggler?

  Dunham nodded. “Yes, really. Ryder didn’t help Marcus move any materials directly, but he helped Marcus get around Moon Grove’s security. For whatever reason, Moon Grove’s leadership decided that wasn’t enough to throw Ryder in prison too,” she said, and let her words hang in the air. A few moments later, she frowned. “I don’t have any proof — or at least not yet, anyway — but I’m sure that one or both of them are connected to Rory’s death.”

  “Why?” Zoe asked as she hung on every one of Dunham’s words.

  “Well, think about it. Before Marcus got caught, he and Ryder were best friends. They went to the Starcrest Institute together, graduated together, everything. They were both brilliant warlocks in their own right. But then someone hired Rory to investigate the smuggling in Moon Grove, and she caught her brother and his best friend in the scheme, then sent Marcus to prison. If I were them, I’d probably hate her too.”

  “How did Rory end up living and working in Moon Grove?” I asked.

  Dunham shrugged, and annoyance flashed across her face. “She hated it here; always did. She used to talk all the time about how she was going to leave Starfall and make a name for herself elsewhere, even if it cost her everything. Well, in the end, it did. Now she’s dead.”

  “So you knew her back then?” Zoe asked.

  “I did. She and I used to be close. We went through police training together, and for a long time we talked about starting our own two-person PI operation here in Starfall, but somewhere along the way she decided she wanted to go solo, so she ditched me for Moon Grove.”

  So, Dunham’s patrol of Marcus, Ryder, and the shoe store wasn’t just professional; it was personal, too. Though it sounded like Dunham had some bad blood with Rory herself, she probably still wanted to know what’d happened to an old friend. I couldn’t blame her for that, especially given the way Rory had died — and the people connected to Rory.

  Dunham sighed. “Just imagine, if she hadn’t insisted on blazing her own trail, if she’d stayed here and started a business with me, she might still be alive.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Zoe said bluntly. “By that line of thinking, for all you know she could’ve gotten killed during an earlier investigation with you, so there’s really no sense in dwelling on it like that.”

  “Harsh, but true,” Dunham said and chuckled.

  “The night I saw in my vision, when I saw you outside Hallewell’s Heels, I also saw an argument between Rory and Ryder in the shop before Rory stormed out. You had to have seen her leave. Did you follow her?” I asked.

  Dunham shook her head. “No. It’s not exactly protocol for a cop to follow a PI, especially when the investigator is conducting business. Besides, I knew from our time in police training that Rory knew how to handle a wand around perps; I didn’t think anything could ever happen to her.”

  “That’s not your fault either,” I blurted before Zoe could speak. I knew Zoe meant well, but now probably wasn’t the best time for brutal honesty.

  “I know it isn’t, but it’s hard not to think about it sometimes, you know? If I’d followed her, could I have helped? Or would I be dead now too?”
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br />   “Who knows? That’s exactly why we need to figure out what happened to Rory. Someone clearly didn’t want her to share whatever she’d found out,” Zoe said, and I couldn’t help wondering just what was worth murdering a PI over. Would whoever had killed Rory back off now that she was dead, or were they still out there and waiting to take out anyone who picked up where she left off?

  I gulped when I realized that if they were, that meant Zoe and I were walking right into their hands — but we didn’t have any choice other than to keep going.

  Chapter 7

  I left the SVPD with my head reeling. From the news that Marcus had gone to prison for smuggling “illegal magical contraband,” whatever that meant, to the fact that he’d gotten out of the slammer early, I didn’t know what to think.

  “I’m just as lost as you are on this one, girl,” Zoe said and laughed. “And that’s saying something, because that almost never happens for me.”

  “Well, whatever else is going on, things aren’t looking good for Ryder. I was already suspicious of him, but knowing what I know now about his connection to convicted criminals, my suspicion has gone through the roof.”

  “I’m not convinced he’s involved, but he definitely knows more than he’s letting on. Why else would Ryder be the first person Marcus tracks down after getting out of prison?”

  “Yeah, and why is he back in Starfall where everyone knows what he did?”

  Zoe rubbed her chin. “Maybe he thought his skills could be useful for something?”

  That hadn’t occurred to me until Zoe said it, but now that she had, I struggled to think of a better explanation, especially when I considered what Marcus was currently doing to make a living. When we crossed paths with him earlier, he’d made it sound like he traveled from community to community, collecting random wares from each to sell to residents in the others — which sounded a bit too much like smuggling to me.