With a small thank you, Thea backed away from her desk and took a seat at the other side of the lobby. She still kept her sights on Sandra. The woman seemed quiet, but hardworking. A small side of her couldn’t believe that she was the one who caused the scene at Cuisine Maline. At first glance, she looked as if she wouldn’t hurt a fly. She was the pristine image of a professional, attentive assistant. It was hard to believe that she managed to create such a commotion.
Then again, Thea needed to remember not to let appearances fool her. If she was capable of yelling at Marcel in the middle of his restaurant, she might have been capable of killing him out of jealousy. That thought didn’t escape her mind too easily.
Just as the boredom was making her trail the faint lines in her jeans with her fingertips, she heard her name being called from up ahead. Sandra was motioning to her, indicating that Aunt Tiegen was ready to see her. Immediately, she got up and hurried inside her office.
Seeing her aunt was a welcoming sight. Aunt Tiegen looked as polished as ever. Her desk was spotless, enough to create its own reflection.
“How’s everything going?” Thea asked as she sat down in front of her aunt’s desk. “Has the festival been running smoothly?”
Tiegen sent her a knowing look, as if she had pinpointed the exact reason why Thea was in her office in the first place. “Would you like a spot as a judge for the events?”
Thea frowned in confusion. “What?”
“You know, as an officiator. Or do you wanna be one of the organizers instead? I can find a spot for you if you want it.”
“What are you talking about?” Thea asked. She shook her head, waving her hands to stop her aunt from proposing more positions. “I was just here to check in on you. I didn’t want a job.”
“Oh,” Tiegen replied, dejected. “That’s unfortunate. Well… if you’re not going to help out with the mundane work, you should take this as an opportunity to work on your magic instead.”
Thea should have known this conversation was going to pop up sooner or later. However, she took it well. Tiegen was only looking out for her best interests, after all.
“Can we work on that later this week, then?” Thea asked, which lit up her aunt’s face. “I’m open to practicing. I want to learn from you.”
“Why didn’t you just say so? We can do a little exercise right now.” Tiegen exclaimed, quickly rising out of her seat. “Try some magic meditation. It’s pretty easy to do. Close your eyes for me, Thea.”
With a deep breath, she followed her orders.
“Focus on your inner power. You’ll feel it soon.”
As she concentrated on maintaining a stable breathing pattern, she felt a warm sensation radiating from her chest. She didn’t know how to explain it, but something was blossoming within her.
“Now open your eyes and point out the magical items in this room.”
Even though she was unsure of her powers, she did what she was asked. As she gazed around the room, she noticed a few small items along her aunt’s bookshelf that glowed a pale blue light. She nodded in their direction and Tiegen responded with a proud smile.
“See? You’re getting the hang of it.”
Thea accepted her compliment in stride. However, she shifted the topic of their discussion in another direction.
“Aunt Tiegen, I’m curious about your assistant.” Thea hoped to put up a nonchalant front. “Is she a good worker?”
“Oh, Sandra?” Tiegen motioned outside the door. “She’s great. She’s always meeting her deadlines since she’s so focused. I’ve heard rumors that she’s short-tempered, but personally, I’ve never seen that side of her. The closest she got to losing her cool was with that ex-boyfriend of hers, but I never found out who he was.”
Thea swallowed thickly.
“I think I saw her crying over the break-up, too. I felt bad for her, since that must have been horrible for her,” Tiegen said, ending her sentence with a sigh. “Life goes on regardless.”
“Of course,” Thea mumbled, fiddling her thumbs.
Aunt Tiegen narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Thea, you have a whole day of excitement awaiting you outside. Why are you withering away in my office?” she asked, shooing her niece out of the room as Thea let out a small whine in protest. “Go on and have fun. Your youth isn’t gonna last forever, you know.”
Chapter 13
Thea left the building thinking about what she’d just learned from Tiegen. She knew that Tiegen would needle her about her ambitions. However, the techniques she’d picked up for detecting magical objects was sure to come in handy.
Thea took a deep breath of crisp fall air. The cold air smelled fresh and sweet and lightly stung her lungs.
“Thea?” She heard a voice call behind her.
Thea turned around. She saw Sandra standing with the door to the building open and one foot outside. When Sandra saw that she had caught Thea’s attention, she rushed over.
“What can I do for you?” Thea asked, surprised to see Sandra again so soon.
“I’m sorry to bother you like this,” Sandra apologized. “I just was wondering if the police have found anything out about the murder yet.”
Thea cocked her head.
“I know you and Blaine are close,” Sandra explained. “I just thought maybe he would’ve told you something about it.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you were interested in the case,” Thea said. She wondered if this had anything to do with Sandra’s connection to Marcel.
Sandra crossed her arms and frowned. She let out a small huff. “Well, I am. Is that an issue?”
Thea held her hands up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just surprised. That’s all. Why do you want to know?”
Sandra got red in the face. She glared at Thea and stepped forward. Thea leaned back, surprised by Sandra’s sudden hostility.
“Because Marcel and I were close, and I want to know that they’re doing all they can to find whoever killed him so they can lock them away forever.”
“Oh, I see,” Thea said, taking a step backwards. “I’m afraid there’s not much I can tell you. Is there something I should pass on to Blaine?”
Thea’s retreat made Sandra remember herself. Instantly, her look softened and the redness from anger in her cheeks was replaced by a blush of embarrassment. She fixed her hair and frowned.
“You don’t think it was over the Best Restaurant thing, do you? Marcel was obsessed. I know he and Eleanor argued about it after it was announced. She came over to his house and everything.”
Thea raised an eyebrow. That was interesting information.
“Best Restaurant thing? You’re suggesting Eleanor could have hurt him because of that?”
Sandra paused for a moment. It was clear that she was choosing her next words carefully. She had already reacted harshly to Thea at the beginning of the conversation. She didn’t want to drive away her strongest connection to the police entirely.
“I’m not accusing anyone of anything directly, but I’m sure it’s something to look into. After all, the police can’t leave any stone unturned, right? This is a pretty big stone with Eleanor’s name all over it.”
Thea looked thoughtfully into the distance as she processed the information. Sandra was right. This new evidence was pointing to Eleanor.
“Can you tell me any more about it?”
“Just that they were at each other’s throats about it. It was a stressful time with her showing up and everything. Do you think it’s a good lead?”
Thea thought about the information Sandra was giving her. It was too soon to tell what it could lead to.
“Truthfully, I don’t know,” Thea admitted. She was telling the truth. However, she felt doubtful that Sandra’s piece of information was the motivation for the murder.
“Well, it’s something to consider,” Sandra said. She looked back towards the building. “I have to get back to work, but make sure the police look i
nto that, will you?”
“I’ll pass it along,” Thea promised.
Sandra pulled her sweater tighter around her and walked back into the building.
Thea watched her as she left. At this point, she had plenty of reasons to doubt Eleanor’s truthfulness. She turned the new information over in her head, wondering if it could lead her to the killer.
She felt her cell phone ring in her pocket. She saw Blaine’s face and name pop up on the screen. She answered as she continued walking towards her car.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hey. I don’t mean to be brief, but can you and Sybil meet me at the corn maze in an hour?”
“Sure. What’s going on?”
“We’re still looking for the bullet. I think it’s time to bring in an outside consultant on the matter.”
“Of course. I’ll grab Sybil and we’ll be there right away.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you soon.”
Thea hung up the phone. She closed her eyes and mustered her magic to bring Sybil to her.
The small cat appeared in front of her, laying on her side and looking around sleepily.
“This isn’t where I fell asleep,” Sybil said.
Thea scooped her up. “Unfortunately not. I had to pull you from your nap. We have a job to do.”
Sybil yawned. “I was having such a wonderful dream of cat nip and warm milk. I can’t work under these conditions.”
“Well, we’re heading over to the festival. How about I buy you some lunch there as an apology?”
“I suppose I could be persuaded that way. What sort of lunch are we talking about?”
Thea laughed. “We’ll see what they have there. I’m sure there will be something you like. If you’re good. I’ll even throw in some cotton candy for good measure.”
Sybil licked her lips. “I do like the sound of that. Lead the way.”
Thea opened the door to her car. Sybil gracefully jumped from her arms into the front passenger’s seat. She settled in and yawned again as Thea got into the car and put her keys in the ignition.
“Mmm. Cotton candy,” Sybil said, settling into the plush seat, ready for another cat nap.
Thea chuckled at her familiar’s antics and drove in the direction of the festival. Still, she couldn’t help the rising tide of excitement swelling within her at the thought that they were about to find the bullet that had killed Marcel Faust.
And, along with the bullet… the identity of his killer?
Chapter 14
Blaine smiled as he saw Thea walking towards him with Sybil hot on her heels. The smile helped conceal the dark circles that were starting to form around his eyes. He raised his disposable coffee cup in greeting.
Thea smiled back and waved when she saw him. Due to their height difference, it wasn’t long until she was looking almost straight up at him.
“What’s that?” he asked, gesturing to the bag of cotton candy in Thea’s hand.
Sybil licked her lips and flicked her tail around happily. Thea rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask.”
Blaine chuckled. “Okay. I won’t. But what I will ask you to do is help us find the missing bullet.”
“I can scry for it,” Sybil said. “It’ll be a cinch to find.”
“That’s how we found the weapon last time too,” Thea observed. “So I suppose your track record supports you, Missy.”
Blaine laughed. “Oh, I remember that. I don’t think I’ll ever forget finding you in the middle of the night holding a knife.”
Thea bit her lip and smiled. A blush crawled across her cheeks. “Let’s not get too distracted by old news,” she joked. “Lead the way to the crime scene.”
He led Sybil and Thea over to the corn maze. The entrance was covered with caution tape. He lifted it so Thea could slip under before ducking under it himself.
Men with shears were cutting into the corn to make a direct path to the crime scene. She picked up Sybil and followed the path of newly shorn corn.
They got to the clearing where the murder took place. It was clear that the area had been searched extensively by police. Certain areas were carefully marked for evidence, and the remaining corn was disheveled.
Sybil hopped down from Thea’s arms. “Now, watch as the master works,” she said.
Thea and Blaine stood back and Sybil walked confidently to the west of the clearing. Suddenly, she stopped and began to head north.
The two watched as the cat walked in different directions before turning on her heel and trying a new one.
This went on for a couple of minutes before Thea called out to her familiar.
“Everything all right?” she asked. “This usually doesn’t take this long.”
Sybil’s tail began to puff up. She turned to look at Thea looking irritated.
“I’m doing my best here,” she said.
“I thought we were watching the master work,” Blaine joked.
“You are. Something is interfering with my scrying.”
Thea looked worried. “Blocking your scrying? How could that be?”
“I don’t know, but without it, I’m trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
“Or a bullet in a corn maze,” Blaine said.
Suddenly, some of the corn stalks began to rustle. Thea and Sybil jumped at the sudden noise. Blaine quickly turned around ready to act.
A fox walked into the clearing from between the stalks. She held something in her mouth. The fox spoke, her voice partially muffled by the object.
“Is this what you’re looking for? They’re all around the clearing.”
What?” she asked, still holding the item in her mouth. “Did I miss something?”
Thea let out a sigh of relief. “Pippa, you scared us.”
“Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to freak everyone out.”
“What’s that you’ve got there?” Blaine asked, pointing to the thing in Pippa’s mouth.
Pippa put the item down and batted it over to Thea. She knelt down to inspect it. Sybil also came over to give the item a sniff.
It was a clear crystal. Thea was immediately able to identify it.
“It’s a quartz,” she said, picking it up. “You said they were all around the clearing.”
“That’s right,” Pippa confirmed. “You’ll practically trip over it if you don’t notice it.”
“Does it seem like someone just dropped them?” Blaine asked, looking at the quartz over Thea’s shoulder.
“No. I think someone placed them,” Pippa confirmed.
“These weren’t here yesterday,” Blaine said. “We would have noticed them when looking for the bullet.”
“It doesn’t seem like we’re looking for a mundane murderer then,” Thea commented.
Sybil swished her tail around. “Hey, Pippa. Why don’t you go pick those quartz crystals up for us. I bet they’re what’s blocking my scrying.”
“You got it,” Pippa responded. She leapt back between the cornstalks to retrieve the rest of the stones.
***
She returned to the clearing periodically with the quartz. She dropped one in the small pile that had formed.
“All right,” Pippa said. “I think that’s the last one.”
“Whoa,” Thea said. “Whoever put these out wasn’t messing around.”
“Ah, yes. Now I see it,” Sybil said. The small cat sprinted across the clearing over to a pile of downed corn stalks. She slipped underneath it, hot on the missing bullet’s trail.
Blain went over and lifted some of the corn stalks to help her.
Soon enough, Sybil came back out of the pile, happily batting the missing bullet. Blain reached down and used an evidence bag to put up the missing piece of evidence.
“Hey, you got your bullet,” Pippa said happily. “Glad I was here to help.”
“I’m glad you were too,” Sybil said. “Now these two can see that I really am the master.”
Thea chuckled. “Yes, we’re all very impressed.”
P
ippa looked up to the sky. “Well, I’ve got to run. I have to head back to the shop.”
Before the others could say anything else, she ran back into the corn stalks, disappearing into the maze.
Blaine examined the bullet in the bag before looking over to the pile of quartz. “Why don’t you look into that,” he suggested. “That seems more up your alley than mine. Like you said, it doesn’t seem that the murderer is so mundane if they left these behind.”
“You think it was the murderer who left them then?” Thea asked.
“Well, you know what they say. The murderer always returns to the scene of the crime. In any case, I think they were left by someone who has a vested interest in interfering with the investigation.”
“I think so too,” Thea said. She began to gather the quartz and placed it in her bag, wondering what this all could mean.
Chapter 15
Pippa was just unlocking the front door to A Novel Idea when Thea arrived. After unlocking the door, Pippa looked up and waved hello to Thea.
Thea smiled and gave a slight wave. Pippa held the door open for her friend and allowed Thea to walk in first before she scuttled toward the beeping alarm at the back of the store. Thea slowly walked toward the back as well, flipping on the light switch on her way.
Beep, beep… Thea waited patiently as Pippa turned off the alarm and set down her bag.
“All righty, all set,” said Pippa. “Thanks for coming back with me. Sorry I couldn’t stay longer at the maze, but the store can’t open itself.”
“It’s okay,” Thea responded, “I think you and I have done all we can at the maze for the time being.” Pippa nodded her head before grabbing a nearby stack of books and a price gun.
“Mind if I get some work done while we talk?” Pippa asked.
“By all means,” Thea responded. “Can I help?”
“Don’t worry about it. So, about Francis…”
“Anything juicy?” Thea asked hopefully. She hadn’t sensed much off about Francis when she met him at Cuisine Maline, but that didn’t mean the rumor mill wouldn’t provide some unexpected details.
Creature Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Series Book 2) Page 5