by Elle Adams
Breaking into Angie’s shop didn’t necessarily indicate guilt, but if she did turn out to be responsible, who would take my word over the leader of the coven?
“Where in the world have you been?” asked Allie, when I returned to the hotel lobby. “Carey was worried about you.”
“Oh, sorry,” I said. “I went to Angie’s shop to wait for her ghost to show up. Instead, Mina Devlin came in, claiming the shop belongs to the coven now, and booted me out.”
“You’re lucky that’s all she did,” she said. “What was she doing there?”
“She wouldn’t say,” I replied. “I’m also sure whatever hypothetical coven membership I might have had has been extinguished by now, too.”
She straightened her hat. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t think you’re missing out on much.”
“I figured, but it’s not making this investigation any easier.” I released a sigh. “I really thought I’d beat her to finding Angie’s ghost. Maybe she’ll show up by morning, but now Mina knows…”
“You don’t think she’s likely to send Angie’s ghost away?” she said. “She might be vindictive, but she wants to protect her fellow witches.”
“She’s also an obstructionist who doesn’t want me investigating her coven,” I added. “And who breaks into the homes of her fellow coven members after their deaths. She wouldn’t tell me why she was there.”
Her mouth pressed together. “Be careful, Maura.”
All I knew was that I wasn’t giving up. I wasn’t a quitter by nature, and the detective’s belief in me made me reluctant to quit. Unfortunately, I had a grand total of one person left to ask about our vanishing ghost… the Reaper. And given how my usual luck was going, I’d rather not tick him off again. I’d alienated quite enough people this week already.
At least the ghost’s room was promisingly silent when I returned to my room and cast a warmth spell to banish the chill from my limbs before putting the bottles I’d swiped from the apothecary on the bedside table.
Mart drifted into the room as I flopped onto the bed. “Who are you? I remember my sister once staying in this room… I remember she promised to let me marathon all the Star Wars movies with her, too.”
I lifted my head. “I know I haven’t been around much…”
“Because you’ve been smooching the detective.”
“There was no smooching,” I said. “A little breaking and entering, though.”
“You didn’t invite me?” He gave a mock gasp. “I thought we were partners.”
I slumped back against my pillows. “Please, lay off the guilt tripping. I’ve been hiding in the back room of Angie’s shop waiting for her ghost to show up for the last hour.”
“And did she?”
“What do you think?” I raised my head. “No, instead the very much alive coven leader ambushed me in there and kicked me out. If she was the person who banished Harriet’s ghost, she’s probably already got rid of Angie by now. So at this rate, I’ll have to wait until the next victim comes along.”
Mart whistled. “So I take it you won’t be joining the coven?”
“Definitely not,” I said. “Pretty sure I’m blacklisted anyway. Never mind that Mina was breaking and entering, too, and I doubt she had altruistic motives.”
“But on the plus side, you don’t have to sit through boring council meetings,” he said. “Okay, you already dropped that from your life when you picked Reaping over witching anyway. Reapers are much better than witches.”
“I’d have had to go to council meetings if I’d become an official Reaper,” I reminded him. “You would, too. Just with Reapers and not with witches.”
He scoffed. “My choices went up in smoke a long time ago, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” I drummed my fingers on the bed. “I gave up my own choice at the same time, too.”
When I’d tied my fate to his, I’d got myself kicked out of my Reaper’s apprenticeship and shunned by my former coven at the same time. My brother and I had almost been in a similar position, but I was the one who’d survived. He was stuck as an eighteen-year-old who few people could see, and while we’d both grown used to his predicament, it didn’t make him forget it entirely.
“Never mind,” he said, in falsely bright tones. “I’ll get over it. Or not, as the case may be.”
I never quite knew what to say to him in these situations. He knew my regrets and I wouldn’t do either of us any favours if I made this about me, so I said, “I could ask Mina to let you join the coven, but I doubt that will go over well. Unless you really want to learn all about boots and broomstick regulations.”
“Over my dead body.” He laughed at his own joke, which was my plan, and with that, he was past his funk as soon as it had begun.
“I’m kinda worried it might be over mine,” I admitted. “How do you think it would go if I publicly accused the coven leader of committing a crime?”
He floated around in a circle, a pensive look on his face. “Depends on the crime.”
“She claimed that the healer’s shop was the coven’s property and she had every right to be in there,” I said, “but I still think it’s suspicious that she was sneaking around there at night with no explanation.”
“Maybe she wanted a boil-cure potion.”
I snorted. “She can’t see ghosts, but I bet she can banish them. Luckily, I suspected something like that might happen, so I took care to remove certain items.”
He floated up to me. “You didn’t… did you?”
“I did.” I pushed off the bed and indicated the pilfered bottles on the table. “I might have delayed her a bit, but there’s more than one source of banishing spells in town.”
“You stole from the coven.” He shook his head. “And there I thought you were on your best behaviour to impress Mr Detective.”
“I’ll put them back when Her Highness stops nosing around the place.” I sat back down again. “I didn’t expect her to come barging in there at night. On top of that, the ghost in the room next door is probably another one of the coven’s victims, but if I mention her name to Mina, she’ll probably put me on their hit list next.”
“Wait, what?” he said. “Our unwanted neighbour is a coven member? Since when?”
“I thought you knew,” I said. “She used to be a coven member when she was alive, anyway. Drew and I were going to ask Mina about the circumstances of her death, but then we found the healer’s body, and now I’ve ensured she thinks I’m out to start a war with the coven, I’m not sure I want to ask her.”
“Then I’ll find out,” he said. “I’m sure one of the other ghosts will know how she died.”
I lifted my head. “You’d do that?”
“Why not?” he said. “If it means I don’t have to stick around here to listen to her wailing next door, I’d be more than happy to. If you keep up your end of the bargain, anyway.”
“I appreciate it,” I told him. “Really.”
If we found out the ghost’s identity and the circumstances of her death, we’d be one step closer to the truth—without inadvertently starting a war with Mina Devlin.
If it wasn’t already too late for that.
11
Mart and I stayed up late holding our promised movie marathon, after which he went to ask the other local ghosts about our new neighbour. He wasn’t back by morning, so I met Drew and we headed to the hospital to speak to Cathy again.
The new coven healer wouldn’t be thrilled to see us, but that was too bad. Maybe I could get some more clues from her about Harriet’s death, as well as Angie’s, but I had to be careful who I told, given what’d happened to the former healer. And especially after Mina’s mysterious appearance in Angie’s shop. I decided not to mention that to Drew, given that I’d been the person who’d had the least right to be there out of the pair of us and it wouldn’t exactly endear me to the rest of the local police force if I mentioned I’d skirted on the wrong side of the law.
Didn’t mean I thought Mina Devlin was the slightest bit innocent, but I’d just have to be sneakier next time.
The detective and I entered the hospital to find Cathy in the same room as before, where she reacted to our appearance with a sigh and an eye-roll.
“You again?” she said, stirring one of the ever-bubbling cauldrons around her. “Might have escaped your attention, but our last healer died this week, and now the entire coven is mobbing me asking for advice. This is the first free minute I’ve had in two days.”
“I’m aware she’s dead,” I said. “That’s what we came to ask you about.”
She groaned. “You think I killed her. As if my week wasn’t bad enough already. Sometimes I think I’d rather go to jail than deal with another coven member who’s incapable of picking out their own herbal recipes.”
“As her successor, you should have been aware you’d be a potential suspect,” said Drew, not unkindly. “That doesn’t mean I think you did it, but I’m going to have to ask a few questions.”
She swore under her breath. “Fine, but please don’t take too long.”
“When was the last time you saw Angie?” I asked.
“The day I got the position,” she said promptly. “She came here to congratulate me. I’ve been run off my feet ever since.”
“Who told you Angie died?” the detective asked.
“Mina did,” she responded. “The coven leader would have been the first to know.”
“Because we called her,” I said. “We went to visit Angie early that morning, and we found her body. Did she not mention that?”
“No, but I didn’t ask.” Her brows rose. “You’re the one who found her? Really?”
“We both did,” said Drew. “I called Mina over to her shop right away, and we’ve already talked to all the witches who’ve had contact with her. Except for you.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “Look, I haven’t even seen my own house much this week, and I can’t even wrap my head around the fact that she’s dead.”
“Who, Angie?” I said.
Cathy rubbed her eyes. “I’m too tired to even think, but there’s no time for me to stop.”
“You shouldn’t have to work yourself to death,” I said. “Why would the coven members come to you instead of going to the apothecary themselves?”
“Not everyone is a healing expert,” she said. “It’s not a common gift at all, and with two of the other gifted healers in the coven dead within a week, people think I’m the only option.”
That sounded plausible enough. Most witches had one dominant gift and healing wasn’t the most common. I was the only witch I knew who didn’t have one, but the universe presumably thought my Reaper powers were more than enough to make up for it.
“Doesn’t mean they can’t do anything for themselves,” said Drew.
“Maybe not, but not everyone was thrilled that I got the position,” she said. “It wouldn’t be a great start to my new job if I spent the week turning people away who need my help. I volunteered for this, but I didn’t expect the only other expert healers around to die right after I got the job.”
“There are really so few of you,” I said. “Like Harriet. I guess her death didn’t help matters, either?”
“No, it didn’t,” she said. “Any progress with your investigation into her death?”
“We confirmed her ghost didn’t visit Lisa,” I added. “She only came to you. Are you sure it was all about the healing position?”
And not, for instance, because she’d killed her?
“Sounded like it,” she replied. “I don’t know what she was thinking, but her mind was fixed on the job she lost. I think it was on her mind when she died, and that’s why she came here.”
“What was her general mood?” I asked. “Was she angry about her death?”
“She was angrier about losing the position of healer, I’d say,” she said. “She kept ranting about it. Going on about how Mina was biased against her, that sort of thing.”
“She mentioned the coven leader?” I said casually.
“Well, yes,” said Cathy. “Mina is the one who chose me, after all. I ended up putting on an earplug charm until she left.”
“Did you know she spent a lot of time with Angie?” I asked. “Studying for the test?”
“Yes, I did,” said Cathy, in sour tones. “Mostly because she kept switching out her shifts and leaving the rest of us to pick up the slack. That’s one reason I was already taking on a ridiculous workload before she died and made it even worse.”
Hmm. That might be a motive for murder… or not. Cathy wouldn’t have voted to make her own life more difficult, surely.
“What was she like at work, then?” asked the detective. “Before her death?”
She shrugged. “Distracted. Studying all the time and barely paying any attention except in life or death scenarios.”
“Was she really not bothered about Maxwell’s cheating?” I asked. “I mean, they were living together.”
“You’re not going to let this drop?” She looked between us, her lips pursed. “Look, I didn’t know her personally. We weren’t friends. But I did overhear her talking on the phone when she left her shift, and sometimes… I got the impression she was talking to a guy, and not Maxwell.”
“Come again?” I said.
She drew in a breath. “Maxwell wasn’t the only one who was seeing someone on the side during the last weeks of their relationship together. Harriet said so when I saw her ghost. She kept saying she had to apologise to him. But I guess she didn’t end up doing that.”
“Harriet was cheating, too?” That changed things—or not. It certainly added another dimension to the puzzle that was Harriet’s life, though. “For how long?”
“No idea,” she said. “I think Maxwell suspected, but he’s not bright, and he was too fixated on his own affair. I reckon that’s why it took so long for both of them to do anything about it.”
“Makes sense.” But there were still a fair few gaps in the story. Like what exactly had led to the couple finally deciding to split up. “Who was she cheating on him with, do you know?”
“Archie.”
“Who’s that?”
“A wizard,” said Drew. “He was one of the wizards who was at the inn, in fact.”
I turned to him. “Not the ones who found her body?”
“The very same.”
“Whoa,” I said. “He didn’t admit it when we questioned him, did he?”
“Perhaps he didn’t want to taint her memory,” said Cathy.
Or perhaps he had something else to hide.
Drew caught my eye, clearly picking up on my thoughts, and nodded. “I’ll certainly be speaking to him again.”
“Might he have feared retaliation from the coven?” I asked. “Some of the wizards seem scared of Mina.”
“Can you blame them?” said Cathy. “She pretty much threw them out of her office when they asked to set up their own coven.”
“Why?” I asked. “What’s her issue, anyway? It’s not like they would have had any effect on her position as coven leader.”
Having one single coven wasn’t unusual for a small community, but it still struck me as a bit of an over the top reaction on her behalf. It wasn’t like Archie and the other wizards were doing any harm, and it sounded like Mina had a screw loose. Not that I hadn’t already suspected that was the case, based on what I’d seen of her.
“That’s exactly what she thinks,” she said. “You’re either in the coven or out, and she’s not keen on any rivals getting in the way.”
“And how do you feel about that?” asked Drew.
She shrugged. “I’m a healer. This is what I do. I don’t get involved in any other drama. If the wizards want to set up their own coven, they’re welcome to, but Archie is a few twigs short of a broomstick anyway.”
I stifled a laugh. I appreciated her honesty, yet I still hadn’t entirely bought her alibi.
“I have
one last question,” I said. “Do you know why Harriet might have visited Angie’s shop the night she died? If not to talk about the position of coven healer?”
“To borrow some herbs?” she said. “I don’t know. Maybe she knew everyone kept bothering me and decide to take matters into her own hands. I don’t ask her business.”
That was probably the closest to an answer I’d get without admitting I suspected the coven leader of being up to no good. It seemed Cathy was keeping secrets from her anyway, but I hadn’t entirely removed her from the suspect pool, either.
“Thanks for your time,” said Drew.
We left Cathy to her potions and walked out of the hospital into the street, where a few raindrops were beginning to fall from the overcast sky.
“Interesting,” I said. “So they were both cheating at once, were they? I guess that explains why she and Maxwell happily drifted apart.”
I’d pretty much struck him and Lisa off the suspect list, but as for the wizards at the inn? What had possessed Archie to pretend he hadn’t known Harriet at all? That seemed suspect, to say the least. I had to admit I’d never considered any of them might have had a hand in her death, but that didn’t make them innocent. Had Harriet been on her way to meet him when she’d died? Why had he lied?
Drew pulled out his phone. “It’s almost lunchtime. Archie and the others will probably be at the inn, and we can question them again, if you like.”
“You read my mind.”
We turned the corner of the street and made our way towards the bridge.
“I think we should ask the wizards if they knew Angie,” I said to him. “And find out if they have an alibi for her death. I still reckon the same person who killed Harriet killed Angie, too.”
His brow wrinkled. “I can’t see why one of them would murder the former healer. They had almost no contact with her, as far as I’m aware.”
“Unless they were covering their tracks,” I said. “Harriet and the healer spent a lot of time together, especially in the last week or so. Maybe Angie figured out who killed her, and they bumped her off before she could reveal the information publicly.”