A Taste for Magic (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 5)

by Sara Bourgeois

  “The pictures look like selfies. At first, I thought perhaps he was spying on those girls or something, but all of those photos look like the girls took them themselves.”

  “Stop calling them girls,” I said and gagged. “It makes it sound even more creepy.”

  “Right. Sorry. It looked as though all of those young women took the photographs themselves.”

  My conversation with Rebecca came back to me. She’d said he had groupies. It was entirely possible and plausible that all of those… young women had sent him the pictures. They were most likely all of age, so there probably wasn’t anything illegal going on. But the discovery of all of those photos was shocking and disturbing for me. Surely they didn’t know they were all sending him such private pictures.

  I wondered if Paul had made them all think they were the only one. He probably made them all feel special. It was so gross that I had to step away from the computer. I felt slimy and gross even though I’d had nothing to do with it.

  “You okay?” Dorian asked me.

  “I just need to get some air,” I said. “That was… gross.”

  “You think one of them could have hurt him?” Dorian asked as I made my way around the desk. “Like maybe they found out about the others and didn’t take it well.”

  “So you don’t think they were okay with him having pictures of dozens of other women either?” I asked.

  “I’m guessing he probably told each and every one of them that they were special and the only one. He probably told them that it was something he would never do in a million years, but that they made him crazy.”

  “I had thoughts along the same lines,” I said as I ran into the edge of the desk.

  When I did, I kicked something, and it came shooting about from under the desk and hit the wall.

  “What was that?” Dorian asked.

  I walked over to the object, bent down, and picked it up. “It’s a really old key.”

  “Let me see it,” Dorian said.

  I handed it to him, and he proceeded to walk around to all of the filing cabinets again. Then, he checked the desk.

  “I don’t think it goes to anything in this office,” I said. “We don’t even know if it’s his. It could have been under there for a long time.”

  “You’re right, but we should hang onto it nonetheless,” Dorian handed the key back to me.

  I slipped it into my purse and felt my hand brush against Meri’s fur. He’d hopped back in right before I plucked the purse from the desk when I was about to make my hasty retreat from the office.

  As we were leaving the building, I nearly ran right into a campus security guard. He was tall, way too thin, and had that look in his eyes like he had something to prove. I nearly stomped on his foot when he wrapped his spindly fingers around my upper arm.

  “Hey, get your hand off me,” I shouted. “Do you want to get sued?” Or turned into a goat… was the part I didn’t say.

  Something in my voice must have frightened him because he let go immediately. His voice quivered a little when he spoke. “I need you to wait here, ma’am. I’ve called the county sheriff, and he’s on his way.”

  “Called him for what?” I practically spat. “This is a state college, and I have every right to be here.”

  “I have you on camera going into a private office,” he stated a little more confidently.

  Great, the amulet worked on people but not on cameras. I made a mental note of that.

  “We made a wrong turn,” Dorian said sternly. “The office wasn’t locked, so it sounds like this campus has a security problem.”

  The security guard turned bright red and huffed. “We do not. I’m sure it was one of the family members that left it open. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You can work it out with the county sheriff when he gets here.”

  We waited at the curb for a few minutes, and then much to my surprise, Thorn’s cruiser pulled up. He got out of the car and gave the security guard, who was still standing way too close to me, the stink eye. Then, he turned that stink eye on me.

  “I’ve got this under control,” Thorn said. “Thank you for calling.”

  “You’re not the county,” the guard said skeptically.

  “County sheriff’s office is busy and understaffed right now. I act as backup whenever they need me. Like I said, I’ve got this under control,” Thorn stated plainly.

  “Whatever,” the spindly security guard huffed. He turned around and stomped off while mumbling something under his breath.

  “Where is your car?” Thorn asked.

  “Over there,” I said and pointed toward where we’d parked.

  “I’m going to escort you to it and then give Mr. Black here a ride home,” Thorn said.

  “I can drive him back to Coventry,” I said. “His car is parked in my driveway anyway.”

  “Get in the cruiser, Mr. Black,” Thorn said to Dorian. “You can sit in the front.”

  “All right,” Dorian said with a sort of amused shrug.

  “Let’s walk to your car,” Thorn said to me.

  We crossed the parking lot to where I’d parked, and by the time we’d gotten there, Thorn’s expression had softened considerably. I turned to face him and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “He’s married to a man,” I said. “There’s nothing going on between us.”

  “I already knew that,” Thorn said flatly. “Dorian came into the station and introduced himself when he moved to town. Did you really think that was why I was upset? You think I’m that so jealous that I’m going to lose my cool over you being friends with another man? You were out in public, Kinsley. I’m not that crazy.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you were,” I said. “So I guess you’re mad because I got the cops called on me then.”

  “What were you doing?” Thorn asked. “Wait, I know what you were doing. I guess my question is, why are you doing it?”

  “Because whether you want to see it or not, his death was suspicious. I’m not going to let it go. Don’t even try to make me,” I said.

  “I could arrest you,” Thorn said softly. “I should arrest you. That’s my job.”

  “Try it, mister,” I said. “Just try it.”

  Thorn put his hands up in a placating gesture. “Whoa, let’s take this down a notch. We both know I’m not going to arrest you. Your mother and great-grandmother would destroy me before I even knew what hit me.”

  “That’s right,” I said but a lot of the fight had gone out of me. I didn’t actually want the matriarchs of my family destroying my soon-to-be husband.

  “You have to stop,” Thorn said.

  “No, I don’t.”

  I took a few minutes to tell him about what I’d found on Paul’s computer. I didn’t mention the key because I still wasn’t sure what it meant. I did know for sure that when a witch found a key, it meant something. I’d bring it up with Thorn when I figured that part out. It wasn’t like I was actually interfering with a case. There was no case. Not yet anyway.

  “So, as far as you’re telling me, what you found was between consenting adults, right?”

  “Yes, but it’s still gross,” I said. “I know it means there was some malfeasance on his part. I can feel it, Thorn. Plus, it’s motive for murder if one of them found out about the others.”

  “That’s a good story, sweetie, but you have to realize you’ve made it up in your head. You have no idea if those women knew about each other or not. Maybe they did. People are into weird things. It’s not enough for me to open an investigation, and worse than that, what you found is fruit from the poisoned tree. I can’t use it because you broke into his office.”

  “I…”

  “You should go home now. I’ll take Dorian back to the house. I want to have a talk with him. I’ve got some things to finish up at work, and then I’ll be over later for dinner?”

  “All right, fine,” I said, but I wasn’t done.

  Not by a long shot.

  Chapter
Eight

  “You really stepped in it this time,” Meri said as soon as we were inside.

  “No, I didn’t. Nothing even happened. Someone called the cops and Thorn showed up. It’s like the Universe is taking care of me. I’m actually taking it as a sign that I’m on the right track.”

  “Oh, jeez,” Meri retorted.

  “How about some bacon?”

  He stared at me and blinked for a few seconds. “Well, okay.”

  With Meri satisfied for the moment, I was just about to settle in on the sofa and read. Before I was able to crack the book, I heard someone pull into the driveway.

  It was Thorn dropping Dorian off. The cruiser pulled out into the street, but Dorian lingered next to his car. He saw me peeking out the curtains at him and offered a wave.

  I went outside because I was super curious about what Thorn had said. Dorian didn’t look like his normal irksome self. He was quite pale, and though he got it under control by the time I got to him, I could have sworn I saw him tremble.

  “What is it?” I asked. “What’s going on? Did he threaten you? No, that’s not possible. Thorn would never.”

  “He gave me information about my father,” Dorian said so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him.

  “About your father? What is it?”

  Dorian started to say something, but then he closed his mouth. After thinking for a few seconds, he finally decided what to say. “I can’t right now. Maybe I’ll share it with you later.”

  It was then I noticed a beat-up manilla envelope in Dorian’s other hand. He had it pressed against his leg, and I hadn’t seen it until then.

  “Okay,” I said. I wanted to press the issue further, but the look on his face told me to leave it alone. “I’ll drop it, but I’m here if you need me.”

  “Thank you, Kinsley. You’re a good egg.”

  I took a step back so he could get into his car. After retreating to the porch, I watched Dorian back out of the driveway. Once he was in the street, he rolled his window down and leaned out. “One murder at a time, Kinsley Skeenbauer.”

  “What does that mean?” I called back, but he just waved and then accelerated off down the street.

  I knew what it meant. Whatever Thorn had told him, and given him, made Dorian believe his father had been murdered. But, like he’d said: One murder at a time.

  The next morning at the shop was uneventful. I’d pressed Thorn the night before about what he’d told Dorian. I’d tried to resist, but curiosity won. Of course, he wouldn’t tell me anything. Thorn said if Dorian wanted to discuss it with me, he would when he was ready.

  I was so mad that Thorn wouldn’t tell me anything, but then he made me chocolate chip cookies. He really did know the way to my heart.

  So, I was in my shop sorting crystals for a display, thinking about what Dorian could have found out about his father, and completely forgetting that Paul was dead. That was about the time Hollie walked into the shop.

  She looked pale and her eyes were rimmed with red like she’d been crying. When she saw me looking at her, she whipped her head to the side like she didn’t want me to see her face.

  I let her shop for a few minutes, expecting her to run out of the store at any second. I was alone that day because Reggie had called in sick.

  She wasn’t really sick. What she had was a case of the my boyfriend just got back from overseas, but I wasn’t going to call her out on it. I knew Reggie needed time with Jeremy, and I could totally run my own shop.

  After about ten minutes of Hollie perusing the shelves, I decided to approach her. She’s been picking things up and putting them back down with a series of heavy sighs and sniffles.

  Hollie turned to look at me as I approached her. When she didn’t flee, I said, “I can help you.”

  “I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she said.

  “I think you do, and it’s okay. I own the shop, so I’m not going to judge you. No one here is going to judge you for being here. But, of course, I’m the only one here right now, so why don’t you let me help you?”

  “I never believed in this stuff. Not even when I was a kid. But, now… Now, I guess I will take any help I can get. I guess I’m sort of desperate. What I need is something for protection. I thought about getting a gun, but that seemed so drastic. I don’t know… I hoped that maybe something here would prevent me from needing something like that. I don’t really like guns, and I don’t have any experience with them.”

  “I would be happy to help you with some protection items, Hollie, but why don’t you tell me what’s going on first. That way we make sure to get it right, and then you won’t need to do anything drastic.”

  Hollie sighed heavily again, but that time it was a sigh of relief. “I guess I can talk to you. There’s just something about you… and this shop. Anyway…” Hollie shook her head as if she was clearing out the cobwebs, “there was something going on between Paul Fraser and me. It started out as a flirtation, but he eventually convinced me to send him photos. Like, do you know what I mean by that?”

  “I think I do,” I said.

  “But what’s weird is it stopped there. Like, I thought we were getting involved, but at some point, I realized all he wanted was the photos. It never went any further than that. Well, once he sort of kissed me when I got really upset about the whole thing, but that was it. He gave me just enough to get me to send him some more photos, and then… I don’t know. I guess he moved on? I saw him flirting with another chick on campus, and I can only imagine that he’d done the same thing.”

  I wanted to tell her about all of the photos I found but decided against it. If she didn’t know, then no good would come from it. “That’s terrible, Hollie. I’m sorry that he used you like that.”

  “It’s my own fault,” she said with a shrug. “I should have known better than to get involved with an older, married man. I’m old enough to know better, but I’ve learned my lesson. That’s not the worst part, though. That’s not why I need protection. I was deleting all of the photos I’d taken for him, but some of them were mixed in with my regular photos. You know? Stuff with my friends from when we went out. I’d never really sat down and just looked through all of my photos, but when I did, I noticed something. Rebecca Fraser was in the background of every photo. She was stalking me, Kinsley. Rebecca was stalking me, and she wanted me to know it. She was looking into the camera in every single one. It looked so sinister.”

  Hollie pulled out her phone and showed me the photos. She wasn’t making it up or exaggerating. There were hundreds of photos of Hollie and her friends. Most of them were of them out on the nature trails or at a coffee shop having a fancy latte. Some of them were of the girls gathered around tables at the college studying. And in each and every photo, Rebecca was somewhere in the background looking right into the camera.

  “You should show these to Thorn,” I said.

  “I tried showing them to campus security, but he told me there was nothing they could do. You see, she’s never approached me. She’s never threatened me. There’s no law against her being in the background of my photos,” Hollie said.

  “Well, let’s make sure she leaves you alone from now on,” I said. “I’ve got an obsidian and tiger’s eye pendant you should wear around your neck whenever you go out. Probably better that you wear it all of the time when you can. I’ve also got a protection spell bag that you can keep in your pocket. Put it on your bedside table at night too.”

  “And those will work?” she asked hopefully.

  “They will,” I said.

  “How?” Hollie questioned.

  “Magic, of course.”

  Hollie looked like she wanted to ask more, but the veil over Coventry kept her from thinking too hard about it. She just smiled and nodded.

  We walked up to the cash register, and I rang up her purchases. I didn’t have a college student discount, but I gave her one anyway. I wanted to give the necklace and spell bag to her for free, but I knew better than to
just start giving things away.

  “Thank you, Kinsley. Thank you for helping me find the right items and for listening to me,” she said on her way out.

  “Come back anytime you need help.”

  That was the extent of the excitement for the day. The rest was slow and boring. It was raining outside, so the tours had been canceled. A few witches came in to buy supplies, but no one was very chatty. Even Meri spent the entire afternoon napping.

  As I was getting ready to leave for the day, I got a killer craving for nachos. Knowing I didn’t have the stuff at home to make what I wanted, I decided on a quick trip to the store. Sure, it was possible that Hangman’s House would make what I needed magically appear, but it was never a guarantee. If the house was in a mood, I’d be left nacho-less.