Creature Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Series Book 2)

by Constance Barker

  Thea did, in fact, remember the tourists Jesse was referring to. She didn’t pay too much attention when she first saw them, but in hindsight, she agreed that they looked very suspicious. Now that Marcel was found murdered, she wondered if any of those people had something to do with it.

  She figured that she would look into that later.

  “But don’t worry, Thea. I’ll help you out with this case. I’ll keep an ear to the ground and see what I can find.”

  “Thank you, Jesse. I appreciate that,” she replied candidly.

  Following their brief conversation, the two of them got to work. Since Halloween wasn’t too far away, Thea had been taking time lately to decorate A Stitch in Time accordingly. She and Jesse worked in unison to restock most of the items on display. Because the two of them were quick and nimble on their feet, they managed to finish the job in no time.

  Since there were no customers in the shop, Thea figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to create some decorations using her magic. Lacy spiderwebs were easy to make, so she decided to weave them all across her shop. Over the counter, in the corners that connected the walls to the ceiling, and across various shelves.

  With the help of Jesse, she managed to prop up some do-it-yourself harvest centerpieces in noticeable areas of the shop, as well as some Halloween crafts. Jesse was particularly proud of the final display, considering he had worked on a majority of the pieces.

  Lastly, Thea made sure to include some floating ghosts and bats near the front of the shop. They would be the first thing customers would see when they walked in and she was happy with the result. A Stitch in Time was now spooky, but not in an overbearing way. It still carried that amicable feel that attracted so many people to the store in the first place.

  “The shop’s looking good, Thea!” Jesse called out, sending her a thumbs-up.

  He held up a wooden box, filled with sharp tools used for carving pumpkins. Considering that there was a pumpkin carving contest scheduled for next week, Thea knew they were going to be hot sellers.

  “Where do you want me to put these?”

  Thea pointed near the end of the counter. “Put them over there. Make sure to include some labels so people know what they’re picking up.”

  “On it,” Jesse replied, getting straight to work.

  As Jesse continued to bustle around the shop, Thea decided to take a break. She pulled out her phone, wanting to call Blaine and talk about the situation a little more. Thinking back on how hastily he left her home that morning, she hoped that everything was all right.

  After dialing his number and waiting a few seconds for a response, the call was eventually accepted. She smiled, eager to discuss things with him.

  “Blaine?”

  “No, this is Officer Samuels from the Ardensville Police Department. Is there a reason why you’re calling? Is it urgent?”

  “Wha– I… no, not really. I was just calling to see if I could talk with Blaine,” Thea stumbled on her words, taken aback by the situation. She didn’t expect some other officer to answer her call when all she wanted to do was talk to Blaine.

  “My apologies, Miss, but Detective Coburn is busy investigating a potential murder suspect at the moment. If you would like, you can always call back later.”

  “I understand,” Thea responded gently, lowering the phone from her ear and pressing the button to end the call.

  As her phone screen went black, she stared down at her reflection that soon appeared. That was… awkward.

  However, she found solace with the fact that that the murder investigation was progressing along with Blaine at the forefront. That was a plus, at the very least.

  Chapter 7

  His desk was a mess, he knew that. Papers were scattered across the table top, with random pens found amongst the files that Blaine used to mark notes on the information he found. The various documents were all linked to the same person.

  “Marcel Faust,” Blaine muttered, tapping the page under his hand.

  The half-demon man smirked up at Blaine from the photograph that had been paper-clipped to the front of the file. He looked so very, very alive.

  So opposite from the body Blaine had found shot dead in the maze.

  Now, it fell to Blaine to research Marcel's background in an attempt to see if the man had any sort of criminal record. If not that, he wanted to see if he could find any potential enemies he had who might have been responsible for his death. So far, the man seemed clean. No reports or claims filed against him.

  However, he was fascinated to see other criminal cases that Marcel was attached to. Not as a suspect, of course, but as a witness or alibi to someone else. As it turned out, his name managed to pop up around a dozen times in separate cases. In one instance, Marcel was walking by when he saw a robbery take place. In another circumstance, the victim of an assault was a longtime friend of his.

  Even with all of the information he was finding surrounding the murder victim, Blaine wasn’t completely satisfied. None of this told him if Marcel had any enemies against him. Nonetheless, he wanted to look into each of these cases individually. There was a possibility that the suspects in one of these cases had it out for him in some way. He wanted to find out.

  Just as he was settling in to skim through the files, engrossed by the documents he held in front of him, his office telephone began to ring. Without missing a beat, he picked up the call. His eyes never left the papers.

  “Hello, this is Detective Coburn speaking.”

  “Ah, Detective! It’s a great thing to hear from you, I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to tell you that the coroner’s report has been finalized. It’s ready for your collection.”

  From the sound of that voice, Blaine knew that this was an officer. However, he couldn’t pinpoint who their name was. He shook that off, realizing that it wasn’t important.

  “Thank you for letting me know,” he replied, annotating some paragraphs of text as he spoke. “Where can I find the report?”

  “Down in the morgue.”

  Blaine mumbled a quick thank you to the messenger before hanging up the phone. He halfheartedly organized some of the papers on his desk before getting up and leaving his office. His movements were swift as he squeezed through the other people lingering in the hallways of the police department. He didn’t want to lose track of his research progress, so he wanted to get that report and return as quickly as possible.

  As he made his way through the basement hallway, the dim lights tended to play tricks on his eyes. For that reason, he thought he was imagining things when he saw a shadow suddenly melt around a corner. Skidding to a halt, he stared towards that general direction with a bewildered expression on his face.

  “Hello?” he called out loudly, his voice reverberating off the walls. “Is anyone there?”

  As expected, there was no response. That didn’t calm down the prickly sensation he felt at the back of his neck. The small hairs on his body shot upwards as a course of adrenaline began traveling through him.

  Calm down, Blaine, he thought to himself. It’s probably nothing.

  Despite the rational side of him trying to make sense of the situation, it was soon overwhelmed by the defensive aspect of his personality. The bear in him was antsy, ready for a fight if it was needed.

  Keeping his footsteps light as he neared the corner, he decided to call out again. His words were much more gruff this time around.

  “Hello? Is there anyone out here?”

  He waited a few seconds to see if anyone would reply. When silence was all he received, he whipped around the corner.

  To his surprise, there was a person down here after all. However, they were trembling with fright at Blaine’s sudden appearance. He furrowed his eyebrows, looking him up and down.

  “Sir, are you lost?” he asked the cowering man.

  He didn’t reply at first. Instead, his shaking hands fumbled to take out a silvery symbol and hold it out in front of him. As if this would shield hi
m from any harm.

  Seeing the state of this individual, Blaine rolled his eyes as he loosened up. He was grateful that there was no need for a fight. Still, he was unnerved by the fact that someone was down here in the first place.

  “What are you doing here? This is a morgue, you know that right? If you’re not a police officer or a detective, you aren’t allowed to be here.”

  After a few seconds, the man blinked. He looked up at Blaine with a wide-eyed expression, pocketing the symbol. His insistent trembling ceased abruptly as he straightened out his posture, held his chin a little higher, and puffed out his chest.

  Blaine was baffled by the sudden wave of cockiness that had overtaken this man. However, he said nothing.

  “What are you talking about? What do you mean I can’t be here?” the man asked, shaking his head. “I’m here to see the proof of my lord of darkness!”

  Once those words fell out of his mouth, there was no way Blaine was going to take this guy seriously. He seemed like a waste of time, which irritated him to no end when he had things to do, but he grabbed him by the arm regardless.

  “All right, you’re coming with me,” Blaine said, almost dragging the guy along as they returned the way he came from. The man let out a yelp at the tightness that engulfed his forearm. “How about explaining to me what you were doing down here.”

  “What are you doing? Let go of me!”

  “Stop fighting it,” Blaine mumbled, feeling as if he were dealing with a fussing child instead of a grown man.

  As they passed through the halls, various people sent them odd looks. Blaine was heading towards the interrogation cells, wanting to get to the bottom of this. Was it possible that this stranger was related to Marcel’s murder case? He wasn’t certain, but he planned to find out nevertheless.

  Walking by his office, he could hear the distant sound of his phone ringing. He brushed it off, however. He had other matters to attend to.

  Chapter 8

  Out of boredom, Thea wiped away at the dull stains on the surface of her counter. She was more preoccupied with that than focusing on her shop, which was something that pestered a certain orange familiar. So much so, the kitten hopped onto the counter and planted herself in front of Thea, whose eyes were glazed as she daydreamed her time away.

  “What’s going on with you? Slacking on the job?” Sybil asked, tilting her tiny head to the side as she stared up at Thea.

  She blinked, snapping out of the daze she was in. She swallowed thickly, taking a brief look around the shop. Customers were gradually trickling in.

  “I didn’t mean to,” Thea mumbled, glimpsing at the unimpressed familiar. “I just kind of… lost track of time.”

  “Mhmm. Seems likely,” Sybil replied, motioning towards the people gazing at the displays. “Go on now...secure some sales. Don’t keep the people waiting, Thea.”

  “All right, I’m going,” Thea responded, holding her hands up in surrender.

  The kitten was much more fiery than her appearance let on, that was for sure. Shaking off her grogginess, Thea made her way around the shop and began to advertise the various things she was selling. Fortunately for her, many of them seemed interested by her displays.

  Within half an hour, she managed to sell streamers as well as plastic, white gourds for young children to paint on. She smiled, watching as little children exited the shop, eager with the purchases their parents made for them. Satisfied with her productivity, Thea headed back to the counter to take a quick overview of the shop.

  As she did so, her attention was caught by a small man in a suit standing in front of the pumpkin carving kits that Jesse had set up earlier. He looked somewhat perplexed by the tools, picking them up and twisting them around in his hands. Thea made her way over, hoping to help him out.

  “Hi there,” she introduced herself, holding out her hand for him to shake. He took a brief glance at it. “My name is Thea Beal and I’m the owner of this shop. Were you looking to buy something?”

  Gradually, he met her halfway and shook her hand. “Dennis Wilson. I was just observing for now. Are these for carving pumpkins?”

  “Yes, actually. They’re high quality, so they make your cuts very efficient. With something as thick as a pumpkin, it’s really helpful to have. Would you like to try one?”

  “No thank you,” he replied, shaking his head. “I just wanted to see what these tools looked like. I’m one of the judges for the pumpkin carving contest, so I needed to familiarize myself with the entire process.”

  “Okay.” Thea exclaimed, leaning over the counter and sliding over a carved pumpkin with a scary face as its design. “Here’s one that was just carved. Do you like it?”

  “Hey, I worked on that one!” Jesse piped up with a smile, interjecting their conversation. He took his place behind the counter. “I have a few cuts on my hand, see?” he pointed at the small scabs along his fingers. “I need to be more careful with that thing. It’s pretty dangerous if you don’t know how to use it.”

  “I can imagine,” Dennis replied, raising a brow at the kits. “I need to see what patterned designs look like. I can’t have people passing off their creations as freehand when they aren’t. That is strictly against the competition’s rules.”

  Jesse scoffed. “Oh, c’mon. Do you really think people will do all that in a contest that’s just for fun? I doubt there’s that big of a prize to win, anyway.”

  “I’m serious,” Dennis said, stone-faced. “I don’t want people to get an advantage over others in the competition. That’s unfair.”

  Thea tried to hide her frown. When was the last time this guy had some fun? Looking over to Jesse, she watched as he pressed his lips into a thin line to avoid scowling at the man. At least she wasn’t the only one soured by Dennis’ presence.

  “So you’re judging the pumpkin carving contest,” Jesse said to clear the air. Thea silently thanked him for that. She didn’t know how else to get the conversation rolling again. “That sounds fun. I’m sure you’ll have a great time.”

  “I’m also judging the pumpkin pie contest and the costume contest,” Dennis replied in a monotone voice. “They picked me because I am an objective person. I tend to give an unbiased opinion about many things.”

  “Oh, that’s… nice,” Jesse replied, more so to be friendly. He wasn’t too engaged by the conversation, but he kept it going. “That’s a great asset to have, you know. Not a lot of people are like that.”

  “Of course, and it’s a shame that you’re right. But I am an impartial person all the same,” he said, straightening out the wrinkles of his suit. “I pride myself in being able to see the positive in each side. In that way, I’m able to create a much more balanced conclusion.”

  Exchanging a brief look with Jesse, Thea knew that neither of them wanted to be in this situation anymore. Especially not her. She could feel her eyes beginning to droop as she listened to Dennis drone on about how much of an neutral person he was.

  Eventually, she had enough.

  “Thank you so much for your service to our community, Dennis. The people of Ardensville will appreciate you greatly, I know it,” Thea said, patting on his arm and motioning to Jesse. “I have to run an errand, but you can continue this talk with Jesse. He’ll be manning the shop while I’m gone.”

  Jesse’s eyes widened. “Wait, wha–”

  “See you two later!” Thea exclaimed with a bright smile, sending Jesse a cheeky wave as she made her way out the door.

  Once she exited A Stitch in Time, she let out a small breath of relief. She was glad to have gotten out of that situation, it was such a bore.

  In that instant, her stomach grumbled loudly. In a spur of the moment decision, she headed off to Cuisine Maline. For one, she wanted something that would satisfy her appetite and based on all the good things people said about the diner, she figured that would be the best option.

  And as an underlying reason, she wanted to see if she could find out some more information about Marcel and the
murder case. Discreetly, of course.

  Chapter 9

  Walking through the threshold of the establishment, Thea felt a distinct difference in the ambiance of Cuisine Maline compared to Witt’s End. By the looks of it, the diner was much more suited for tourists rather than the townspeople of Ardensville.

  Most of the interior was painted white, as well as the furniture. The waiters wore pristine clothing with black ties and dark slacks. As she stood near the front of the restaurant, waiting to be attended to, she realized that most of the servers were way too busy. They dashed to and fro, handling one table after the other.

  Thea should have known better to head into a popular diner at the height of lunch hour. However, she wasn’t going to back out now. Her stomach was still gurgling loudly.

  “Excuse me?” she called out to one of the passing waiters. “Can I talk to someone please?”

  “I’ll be there in just a moment, ma’am,” the waitress replied, almost out of breath. She pointed towards the other side of the diner. “I need to serve a few more tables, but I promise that I will get to you soon!”

  “Can I just speak to whoever’s in charge?” Thea asked.

  The waitress’ eyes widened. She looked towards the direction of the kitchen then back towards Thea. Swallowing thickly, she managed her words out carefully.

  “Y-you want to talk to our boss?”

  Thea nodded. “Yes, if that’s possible.”

  Although the waitress seemed reluctant, she took a long stare at Thea before nodding slightly. Motioning with her head to follow, she led Thea through the maze of tables and chairs until they reached a small, empty office near the back of the diner. Its entrance was obscured well by a large plant.

  The girl turned on the light, revealing a wooden desk covered with stacks of documents that were one blow from tipping over. She pointed at the chair, encouraging Thea to take a seat.

  “I’ll get him, but he’s pretty busy right now. I’ll do my best to bring him over as soon as possible,” the waitress promised before exiting the room hastily.