“Hello?”
“Nikoli, it’s me.”
“What’s up?”
“I need your help. I’ve been going over the evidence and I need you to go through it with me. I think I know who the killer is.”
“Who?” His voice changed to extreme excitement as if he wanted to leap through the phone.
“I told you, I want your advice. Nothing is rock solid here.”
“We’ve been looking at Opal.” He suggested. Celestial felt like her mind was wrung out like a wet towel.
“Yeah, me too. But I’ve come to some conclusions. You’re the one that’s good with this stuff, not me. Can you meet me?”
“Sure, are you at home?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
Celestial hung up, sure that the mystery was solved. All they had to do was find Victoria and see how she reacted when she was accused.
Chapter 28
Nikoli hurried to Celestial’s place, mind spinning. She met him at the door, face drawn and anxious.
“What did you find?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t find anything new. But I just came to see things in a different light. Don’t you think it was odd that Victoria and her dark coven were at Opal’s party?”
He nodded. “Yes, it is definitely out of character. It was a very loud, ostentatious type of thing. I’ve never seen Victoria or her coven at anything as fun as that.”
Celestial nodded. “Poisoning the punch was overkill. So was the gris gris bag under the bed. Don’t you see? They were working so hard to point the blame away from themselves that they exposed their guilt!”
“They?” Nikoli looked steadily into her eyes.
“Victoria. Well, the coven, but Victoria is in charge of them. She’s the most powerful. It would most likely have been her who did the poisoning.”
“So, you’re saying the spell bag under the bed didn’t make sense? I never thought about it before.”
“What do you need a curse for if the victim is dead?”
Nikoli frowned. “Could have been two separate perps.”
“Could have been.” Celestial agreed. “Two separate grudges. But did you know that Victoria and Isabella fought publicly the night of the murder?”
“No.” He looked shocked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Isabella was getting very vocal about the use of dark magic. She was publicly shaming Victoria, building a smear campaign. It was very personal. The night they fought, the other coven members told her to watch herself.”
His face darkened. “It fits. It all fits. Even right down to the catty look on her face when I interviewed her.” He looked into Celestial’s eyes eagerly. “Let’s go get her!”
They hurried to the car, pulling out into the street. There was no need to hurry, Victoria wasn’t running anywhere. She was so confident in her own genius that she didn’t believe she could actually be caught.
Especially when she had managed to frame not just one, but a few potential murderers. It was a testament to her personality that she could commit murder and then quite happily throw others to the dogs to save herself.
Except she wasn’t saved. She was guilty, and everyone was going to know about it.
Celestial was getting tenser as they got closer to Victoria’s shop. She had been put under so much stress from this, she couldn’t believe it was nearly over. Maybe, it wouldn’t be. Victoria might fight back, disappear or end up being innocent... After all, its not like they had a murder weapon covered in DNA.
When they arrived at Victoria’s shop, Celestial was amazed by how full it was. Customers packed the space so thickly that it was warm from the press of bodies. The noise of many raised voices bubbled up and down like a tide.
Celestial raised her eyebrows at Nikoli, and he nodded. This was just one more piece of evidence to add to the pile. Isabella’s constant defamation had pushed Victoria over the edge. When her livelihood was threatened, she had the motivation she needed to get rid of Isabella for good.
It was not easy to move through the shop. Tourists were flocking through the shop, going through the shelves with glee. Celestial remembered how Joyce told her she only made white magic for the shop... But did she? That part of the story had never been checked out. Celestial had to admit, she wasn’t keen on the idea of knowing one way or the other.
She didn’t like the idea of innocent people casually wandering off with dangerous spells. Just leaving a black obsidian in the wrong place without moon charging it could be incredibly bad luck. There were definitely dark things in here, whether Joyce made them or not.
Celestial moved closer to the counter, seeing Victoria a few steps away. She smiled at Celestial, perfectly composed. Nikoli moved up on her other side and Victoria frowned, sensing something out of place.
As they got closer to the counter, Celestial saw a stack of fliers. They advertised lots of things around town. One underneath was covered in dark lines and Celestial shoved the papers out of the way so she could see.
It was one of Isabella’s anti dark magic fliers, and it was covered in black ink. Someone had blacked out Isabella’s eyes and mouth, so she looked like a skeleton.
She looked dead.
Nikoli picked it up, eyes widening in alarm. Victoria had started moving towards them but when she saw them holding the sheet of paper she stopped, her shocked face quickly becoming dark and determined.
Celestial knew there was no time. She had to stop Victoria before she vanished. They would never find her if she didn’t want to be found. Nearby there was a bowl of shimmering water with floating candles in it. It was quite a beautiful display, the way the candlelight played on the water and the colorful wax flowers.
Celestial didn’t care about any of that. All she cared about was that the bowl held exactly what she needed. Water.
She picked up the bowl and hurled it on Victoria. The scream rang through the shop as it drenched her, just as she was getting ready to disappear.
They had her.
Chapter 29
Celestial watched as Victoria blinked, her magic and focus washed away in one moment. She wiped water from her face in disbelief before her face turned into an ugly sneer. Victoria stepped forward, bringing her hands up in anger with her sharply manicured nails bared. “You little—I can’t believe you. You come into my shop and—Argh!” Victoria swept her dripping hair back in a fury and started muttering under her breath.
Celestial could feel the energy building in the air and started lifting her own hands to repel whatever might be coming her way. She wasn’t well versed in any kind of combat magic but if she had to protect herself, she would.
Nikoli was ushering the gawking shoppers out of the store, citing police business. As he turned and took in the sight of the two women in a stand-off, he jumped between them with a low growl. While he didn’t entirely change form, his short hair seemed to stand up straight and his own nails rivaled the drenched woman’s manicure.
“Enough!” He barked at Victoria. “I don’t want this to become violent and I promise neither do you.”
Celestial looked past the conflict to the back of the shop where a couple more witches from the dark coven had gathered and were whispering. “We are not here to hurt anyone. We just need to take Victoria for some questions. The rest of you are free to go as you please.” She paused and shifted to catch Nikoli’s eyes. “...Right?”
He huffed an affirmative but kept focused on Victoria to make sure she didn’t try to escape again. “It doesn’t look good for you but if you’re innocent, the justice system will see it through, alright? Now, just hold your hands out in front of you...” Nikoli pulled a set of interlocked silvery bracelets from his back pocket.
Victoria looked a little wild and her prettily made up face was slowly morphing into something sad and waterlogged. She straightened up and carefully offered her wrists to the policeman. “The least you could do is dry me off, you hag.” The tone was biting but there w
asn’t much energy behind it.
Nikoli stepped closer and slipped one bracelet over each of her hands. They flashed blue for a second, then tightened and seemed to magnetically cling to each other. Even the latent power that surrounded Victoria was dampened and then vanished as the anti-magic cuffs took effect.
Celestial blew out a long breath and relaxed. There wasn’t any magical way of getting out of that one. “Just a second.” She grabbed her flurried thoughts and focused, waving one hand quickly and muttering softly. The next moment, Victoria was back to the way she had looked when Celestial and Nikoli had walked into the store only minutes before. Perhaps looking a little older and a little more tired, but much drier.
“Better,” Victoria sniffed. She called over her shoulder to the other witches. “I’ll be back before the evening, I’m certain. This is simply discrimination against our kind and I won’t allow it to destroy our way of life.”
Nikoli opened the door for her to walk out to the police car, one arm firmly around hers. “I wouldn’t count on it. The mundane police finally finished examining the evidence. They found a hair on the gris-gris bag.”
Victoria stopped abruptly in the doorway, her face ashen.
Tugging her through the door, Nikoli nodded, “Yup. Of course, they don’t have any matches yet, but somehow, I think we might have a person-of-interest to test it against. What do you think, Vicky?” He shut the door on her enraged response and came up to Celestial. “You did good here, Celestial. Do you think you can handle them on your own?” He raised his chin to the few witches still congregating in the back of the store.
The white witch tipped her head, “I can try. No promises though. Witches are a stubborn bunch.” She smiled at him and carefully patted down his hair. It was still mussed from his earlier riled stance.
Hesitantly, then very quickly, Nikoli caught her in a tight hug. “Stubborn, right. And don’t I love you for it.”
Before she had a chance to respond, he was out the door with a wave and getting into the police car.
Celestial huffed a confused sigh and turned back to the other witches with her hands on her hips. “Can I talk to you all for a minute?”
There wasn’t any vocal response but after an awkward silence, she got a couple of head nods. Figuring that was good enough, Celestial went up to them. She stopped with the counter between them, hoping that distance was enough that they didn’t feel threatened.
“I know Victoria told you that this whole situation is just because dark witches are demonized. That they’re the scapegoats for anything bad that happens. But she was lying to you.”
The collected witches broke out in a defensive rabble and Celestial waited for it to fade out. “Victoria killed Isabella. And in doing that, she set a poor example for every witch in every coven. We are powerful and we should use that power. But not against each other. And not against those weaker than us. We are better than that. We have the knowledge to help and encourage, and yes, to make fancy soaps and run voodoo gift shops.” She spread her hands in welcome.
“If any of you chose to join our coven, know that there will be restrictions. But they are there for the safety of everyone, yourselves included. And if Victoria ends up...not returning, then I hope whoever you choose to lead will learn from her mistakes and be better. Because you all deserve better.”
The women looked to each other. There were some eyerolls and some not so quiet scoffs, but among those were faces of consideration. Celestial watched them all for a moment, then turned to leave. “We have meetings every Wednesday night. Open to anyone who might be interested.” She waved over her shoulder as the little bell tinkled her exit.
Chapter 30
Celestial sat in her shop with Athena on her lap, carefully separating dried lavender blooms from the leaves. It was busy that day, with a lot of customers both magical and mundane coming in for lotions and soaps, herbs and potions.
A part of her was a little disappointed. Not many of the dark witches had come by at all and it seemed like Victoria’s arrest had driven her shop nearly out of business. While Celestial hadn’t been back, she had heard her own customers and some of the locals around town saying that the trinkets and tokens just weren’t the same. Victoria had been a powerful witch and she didn’t doubt that the loss had hurt the dark coven in more ways than simply leadership.
If the other coven didn’t get organized and get organized quickly, there wouldn’t be a shop for them much longer. Although, maybe it was better to move away from the darkness of the town and help the tourists focus on something lighter.
The shop door opened and Celestial looked up at a beaming Joyce.
“Hello, helloooo! I’ve got good news and great news,” she stated, practically bouncing up the counter. With a flourish, she offered Celestial a small card.
Celestial opened it and started to read but Joyce caught her hands before she could even begin. “We’re getting married! Sergio and I, we set a date, finally.”
She congratulated the woman and came around the counter to give her a hug. “Joyce, that’s amazing, I’m so happy for you.” With a smile she asked, “Is that the good news or the great news?”
Joyce laughed and set the card on the counter, instead pulling out a small notebook from her purse. “That was the great news, obviously. The good news is that we want you to do our little goodies. I’m thinking little bars of soap, maybe with our faces on them, maybe not. Ooo, maybe the wedding flower? I’m not sure yet. Oh, yeah, not with our faces. Who knows what people will wash with our soap?” She made a disgusted face for a second, then leapt right back in. “Probably a few hundred. Maybe about this big?” Joyce made a rectangle with her hands, about a third the size of a regular soap bar. “And if you could put a little shine charm on them? We could put ribbons that say, ‘Don’t they clean up nice?’ Oh, Celestial, it’s going to be amazing!”
Celestial smiled and nodded through the onrush of suggestions and questions. Over the next ten minutes, the two women managed to have enough back and forth to actually get some sort of plan in progress. “I’ll have to get back to you on the cost, once I’ve run the numbers. But it’s definitely do-able. Thanks so much for thinking of me, Joyce. It means a lot. Truly.”
Joyce looked at her and made a face that Celestial didn’t exactly know what to do with, before it fell into regret. Tears shone in her eyes and she grabbed Celestial into another hug. “I’m sorry, about before. We were awful to each other, weren’t we? We’re on the same side and that.. that witch killed one of our own and-and—”
She rubbed Joyce’s back gently, “It’s okay, it’s okay. It was a difficult time for the town and for our coven. I’m sorry too. But you’re right. We’re on the same side, and we remember that now.” Celestial pulled away and grabbed a handkerchief to offer the woman. “And hey, we are on to happier things now, right? You’ve got a wedding to plan!”
Before she left, Celestial gave Joyce a small bag of scrap soaps. “Take a look at those and tell me which you like best. We’ll get it narrowed down quick.”
Joyce waved goodbye and almost looked like she was going to start crying again before she turned away and walked down the street.
Celestial barely had a few minutes to herself before the door opened again. This time, Opal stood there, almost uncomfortably, in clothes drastically less brand-name than she had recently been sporting.
“Hi, Opal, what can I do for you?” Celestial encouraged her inside and waited patiently for the younger woman to work up to whatever she wanted to say.
It took her another few seconds but eventually, Opal met her eyes and sighed. “I’ve been thinking.” She stopped and had to get started again. “I’ve been thinking that maybe I should learn some more stuff. Maybe herbal stuff. Maybe, like, your stuff.”
Celestial smiled and raised her eyebrows, wanting Opal to continue and maybe clarify.
Opal groaned and looked to the ceiling. “Alright, alright. I’ve got a lot of money now but I don’t want to
turn into my parents. They just sat at home and never did anything interesting or fun or...or productive. I’m a witch, you know? I want to do witch things and you...well you run this whole place.” She gestured vaguely at the building around them. “And all this stuff with Isabella, and how Victoria used plants for... bad things. I want to do what you do. Learn how to use plants and herbs and flowers to help people.”
Considering a moment, Celestial tipped her head from side to side while Opal waited impatiently for an answer. “You know, it has been really busy lately.” She looked to the far side of the counter where her lavender piles were. “I’m trying to prepare ingredients and run the shop at the same time. And! Joyce just came in with a huge soap order that will be a lot to handle on my own. And you know Dakota...he isn’t too quick to pick up on things around here.”
Opal seemed to pick up on her tone and a smile slowly spread across her face. “I’m really quick to pick up skills. And even if I just help with the shop during the day, maybe you can teach me in the evenings?”
Celestial smiled and held out a hand. “That sounds like a good deal to me. Can you start tomorrow?”
The younger witch took her hand and shook it enthusiastically. “I can start right now, if you want!”
A few minutes later, Celestial went to help another customer while Opal sat at the counter. She was entirely focused on separating the lavender and her tongue poked out the side of her mouth in her concentration. A warm feeling bloomed in Celestial’s chest and she led the customer to some of the lotions. “This one here, it’s refreshing, light. A great way to start a day. It summons up a feeling of new beginnings and sunshine.”
As the customer continued to browse, Celestial looked around her store.
“Things are finally back to normal,” she said to herself.
She really hoped that they stayed that way this time.
She just wasn’t holding her breath.
Don’t miss the next book in the Hocus Pocus Cozy Witch Mystery Series:
Spooks and Spells Page 10
