“Sure,” I said. “I assume we’re looking for anything that might indicate Yamordir killed Thomas?”
“You got it. An invoice that he paid for poison would certainly be a step in the right direction.”
I nodded and got to work straightaway, knowing that time was of the essence. I sat down on the floor, pulled open the cabinet, and began flipping through the files.
They were personnel files on everyone who worked at the hospital, I assumed. It was pretty easy to tell by the majority of masculine first names that Thomas had been right about the lack of female employees. A solid two thirds, possibly more of the names trended male. I hadn’t had a ton of experience in hospitals, but from what I’d seen, the gender split was even wider than these files made out.
I flipped through the files until I found Thomas’s. Setting the others aside, I opened the slightly worn manila folder, a faint musty smell reaching my nostrils. The first page was simple biographical information: his name, address, date of birth, that sort of thing.
The next page had a copy of a transcript from an Academy, along with a slip of paper announcing his certification as a healer, and a registration card for the Paranormal Association of Healers, Witch and Wizard Division.
I skipped past a few other pages of random administrative files before finding a copy of the complaint Thomas had submitted to the board about Yamordir’s hiring practices.
I scanned the sheet of paper.
Complainant accuses Yamordir of prioritizing the hiring of male paranormals over female paranormals over a period spanning several years. Complainant claims that he has spoken to Yamordir on this topic multiple times, but that his opinion is always ignored. A hearing with the board is scheduled to take place on September 4th.
That was a few weeks away still, but from what I could tell, Thomas would have had a case. No wonder Yamordir was worried. I imagined at the very least he would lose his chance at that prestigious promotion he wanted. I wondered briefly if I would kill someone over a promotion.
But no, I couldn’t. Not even Louise, with the smug look she gave me when I realized she had poached my new client. I would never murder someone, no matter what I got out of it. Just the idea of it was unfathomable.
My eyes scanned the rest of the paper before I flipped forward to see what else was in this file. There was a complaint from another employee, this time about Thomas. That was certainly interesting. I was surprised to see the plaintiff in this case was Healer Lauren, the doctor – healer, I supposed – who was currently busy making the potion to get rid of my tail.
“Hey, I might have something here,” I said to Scarlett.
“Oh yeah? What is it?”
“It looks like Lauren, the healer I’m seeing, complained about Thomas.”
“What did she say he did?”
“Actually, nothing,” I said, my eyes flying across the page as I tried to take in the information as quickly as possible. “It wasn’t actually him she was mad at, it was Mercutio Blane.”
“So how did Thomas’s name come up?”
“It looks like Mercutio came into the hospital a few times trying to hit on Lauren. She shut him down, and he followed her home after work one night. Thomas saw it happen, and backed Lauren up when she complained.”
“Well, there’s another great motive for Mercutio,” Scarlett said. “I can’t believe I never heard anything about this. When did it happen?”
“About a year ago. It sounds like the hospital tried to keep things pretty hush-hush. I mean, if it wasn’t for Jess, we never would have known about the complaint about Yamordir, either.”
“Good point,” Scarlett conceded. It was strange, talking to her and knowing she sat only a couple of feet away, but still being incapable of actually laying my eyes on her.
“I don’t know, it sounds like you’re barking up the wrong tree to me,” a voice said, and I gasped.
“What was that?” I asked. “Who said that?”
“Who said what?” Scarlett asked. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“It was me, obviously,” the voice said again. I turned around and froze as my eyes landed on a cat, sitting in the middle of the floor, that had obviously gotten in through the open window. The fact that we were on the second floor didn’t seem to have been a problem for her.
“Scarlett?”
“Yeah?”
“The cat is talking.”
“Wow, how rude. I’m right here, you know,” the cat said, shaking her head. She was obviously a Siamese, with gorgeous blue eyes and fur of various shades of brown. She sat elegantly and gave the impression that she was looking down at me, even though we both sat on the ground and I was taller.
“Really?” Scarlett said, the chair at the desk moving slightly as she obviously moved to get a better look. “It’s talking to you?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “What’s your name?” I asked the cat.
“Pawdrey. Pawdrey Hepburn,” the cat replied, and I had to admit, the name suited her perfectly. She reminded me enormously of the classy, famous actress of yesteryear. I half expected her to pull out a cigarette on a long holder.
“Congratulations,” Scarlett said to me. “You’ve just met your familiar.”
“My familiar?”
“Yeah. When the universe deems it appropriate, every witch and wizard is given a familiar, an animal companion that they can speak to. Most of them are cats and dogs, but I’ve heard of witches who have goats, pigs, and even raccoons as familiars.”
I stared at the cat. “Are you my companion, then?”
“Obviously,” Pawdrey Hepburn replied, carefully licking one of her paws. “How else would you be able to speak to me?”
“You’ll have to forgive me. I’m new to this whole witch thing.”
“What I don’t understand is whether it’s normal that I can’t see you.”
“Yes,” I replied. “I have an invisibility spell cast on me. We’re sneaking around trying to find proof of a murderer.” I felt kind of ridiculous talking to the cat, but it was answering me, and Scarlett didn’t seem alarmed, so I supposed I must not have completely lost my marbles.
“Oh, a murder, now doesn’t that sound interesting? Anyone I’d know?”
“I have no idea. It was a wizard named Thomas.”
“Well, I’m afraid not. I’ve only just come to Fairy Falls to find you.”
“How do you know where I am if you can’t see me, anyway?”
“You’re my witch. I can sense you,” Pawdrey Hepburn answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Right. Ok, well, we’re going to try and find some proof that the elf who works in this office is the killer, and then we’re getting out of here. I’m guessing you can’t read?”
“What a rude assumption to make.”
“I didn’t hear a no.”
“Fine,” Pawdrey Hepburn admitted. “I can’t read. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help.”
She walked over to a piece of paper on the ground and plonked herself right down on it. I bit back a smile. Even magical cats couldn’t resist the aura of a rectangular sheet of paper on which to sit.
“Well, I found the file on the stolen potions,” Scarlett said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, it’s a dead end for sure. Thomas’s name isn’t in here at all, and they even have a witness who saw the thief from behind one day; it’s a witch with blonde hair. Nothing to do with the murder.”
Sure enough, none of the witches in the coffee shop had been blondes.
Before I had a chance to respond, however, there came a sound from the door. I froze, my blood turning to ice in my veins. Bile rose in my throat. If Yamordir walked through that door, we were caught. Pawdrey Hepburn, luckily, immediately jumped back out the window through which she entered, so I didn’t have to worry about her.
I shoved the papers back into the files and quickly threw them back into the cabinet, shutting the door as quickly but simultaneously as quie
tly as I could, in the hopes that Yamordir wouldn’t notice that there was someone in his office right away.
Of course, given how much of a neat freak the elf obviously was, I knew he’d notice as soon as he opened the cabinet, but hopefully Scarlett and I would be long gone by then.
The door opened and I gulped.
CHAPTER 18
Someone entered the room, but it wasn’t Yamordir. Instead, I found myself looking at a wizard — the thin, completely black wand about a foot and a half long in his hand gave him away — who strode confidently into the room. His hair was a deep brown, almost black, but his intelligent eyes were a brilliant shade of green.
Scarlett grabbed me by the arm and yanked me away from the desk and toward the corner of the room as the wizard looked around the room, then strode right where I’d been sitting only a moment earlier. I didn’t dare to so much as breathe as I watched the wizard open the cabinet and go immediately to the files I’d been looking at just a moment earlier.
After a moment, however, the smell of something burning reached my nostrils. Something was wrong. I looked back and gasped as I realized the leafy plant had caught on fire. Smoke rose from the flames as one of the leaves quickly turned to ashes, the flickering of the flames threatening to light even more of the plant. I poked at Scarlett, trying to get her attention so she could put it out.
The burning plant caught the wizard’s attention just as a burst of water shot forth from about a foot away from me, where Scarlett was standing, although I couldn’t see the wand it shot from, obviously.
The wizard pointed his wand toward us and muttered a spell, and the next thing I knew Scarlett was visible once more. I looked down and saw my own hands for the first time in a while. Great. We’d been caught.
“What are you doing here?” the wizard asked, his eyes flashing with anger.
“I could ask you the same question,” Scarlett replied.
“You were here first.”
“You’re the one going through Yamordir’s things.”
“And it’s obvious someone else was here before me, so you were doing the same thing as I was. Admit it.”
“I’m not admitting anything,” Scarlett said.
“Ok, why don’t we sort this out later,” I said. “Yamordir is going to be back any minute.”
Realizing we were right, the wizard nodded. “Fine. I won’t tell anyone about this if you don’t.”
“Deal,” Scarlett replied, pointing her wand at the plant and muttering a spell. A moment later, the leaf that had been burned rejuvenated, as if it were a sped-up camera view from a nature show on TV. I stared at it for a second, amazed, and then followed Scarlett as she left the room, with the wizard immediately behind us. He was so close I could smell his aftershave, the faint scent of sandalwood reaching my nostrils.
He was tall, at least six foot one, and his presence towered over me as the three of us left the office and wordlessly headed back down the stairs, thankfully not coming across anybody else before we reached the bed. Scarlett and I slipped through the curtains and I sat down on the thin hospital mattress, my legs doing a great impression of jelly. I doubted they could have carried me much further.
“Well, my expected lifespan just dropped about five years,” I said to Scarlett, exhaling sharply, and she laughed.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that. It certainly got the heart rate going.”
“Who was that guy, anyway?”
“His name’s Zayne Woods. He’s not from our coven; he moved here from Mt. Rheanier a few years ago. He works as a reporter for the local paper, the Fairy Falls Ogopogo.”
“The Ogopogo?”
Scarlett shrugged. “It’s a human-world mythical beast that lives in a lake up in Canada not far from here. The wizard who founded the paper a hundred years ago loved the name and decided to name the paper after it.”
“So Zayne Woods works for the paper?”
“Yeah,” Scarlett replied, nodding. “I wonder what he was doing in Yamordir’s office.”
“Probably the same as us,” I replied. “Looking for information about Thomas’s death?”
“Maybe,” Scarlett said, but she didn’t look convinced. “Would his sources really be that good? We had Jess tell us the problems at the hospital.”
“Well, if he’s an investigative reporter, then that would be his job, right? To have sources.”
“That’s the thing, though,” Scarlett interrupted. “He’s not an investigative reporter. He just does simple columnist jobs. I mean, this is Fairy Falls. There’s never anything to investigate. He shows up to council meetings, writes down what they decide, and then reports it. The end.”
“Hm,” I replied. “That is interesting, then.”
Before we had a chance to discuss the topic further, however, we were interrupted by Healer Lauren, who returned carrying a large brass cauldron. Bright red smoke poured from the top, dropping over the edge and down toward the floor, most of it evaporating by the time it reached her knees.
“Is this going to hurt?” I asked her, carefully eyeing the cauldron as she placed it down on a small table, and Lauren shook her head.
“No, don’t worry about that. You’re not going to feel a thing. I just need you to sit on the edge of the bed, with your back facing me.”
I did as she asked while Scarlett stood to the side.
“This might feel a little bit cold on your skin.”
A moment later I gasped, my spine arching involuntarily as Lauren put some of the potion on my tail. It was like having an ice cube dropped down the back of your shirt, only the ice cube covered the entire length of the tail sticking out of my lower back.
“Ohhhh, that’s so cold!” I said, doing my best not to shiver.
“Sorry. It’ll be over soon,” Lauren replied. Sure enough, after about thirty seconds, the feeling dissipated. “Done.”
I turned my head to look behind me, and sure enough, the tail that had been there only a few moments earlier had now completely disappeared.
“Cool,” I grinned. “That was awesome.”
“It’s a good thing you came here. You could do some damage with that flaming tail if you weren’t careful.”
“Boy do I know it,” I replied with an easy laugh. “Thanks again. Hey, did you know Thomas at all? He worked here, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Lauren said, her face clouding over. “I still can’t believe it. They told me when I came in this morning. What a horrible thing to have happen to a really good wizard. He was one of the best.”
“I was there when he was killed,” I said softly. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you,” Lauren replied. “I had heard you were there. Someone mentioned the new witch in town was one of the people in the shop.”
“Wait, why would my name come up?” I replied, and Lauren’s eyes widened like she just realized she’d spoken out of turn, then they fell to the floor.
“Some of the paranormals in town don’t really trust newcomers immediately,” she replied, for the first time since I’d met her not looking fully confident.
“Great,” I said with a sigh, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. “So not only am I stuck here, but some people in town think I’m the one who killed Thomas.”
“It’s obvious you wouldn’t have,” Lauren added quickly. “There would be no reason for it, and besides, we were told he was poisoned. There would have been no way for you to access any magical poisons even if you wanted to. But some paranormals aren’t quite smart enough to figure that out straightaway, and they are a bit shy of newcomers. Please don’t take it personally. Most of us are very happy to have you here.”
“Thanks,” I replied. The reality was, even if a few people in town felt that way, no one had said or done anything to my face to make me feel anything but welcome here in town. Those people had to be a minority. Or so I hoped.
“We heard Thomas helped you with a problem you had with Mercutio,” Scarlett offered, and Lauren scowled.<
br />
“I thought that was going to be kept confidential. I wonder who’s been blabbing.”
Scarlett shrugged. “I just heard it from someone around town. They went to Mercutio’s gym sometimes, maybe that’s where they heard it. It’s true, then?”
Lauren paused for a second, taking a moment to decide whether she was going to admit to it or not, then nodded curtly. “Yes, it’s true. Mercutio was a patient here; he hurt himself at his gym, but there were no shifter Healers available, so I took over. He wouldn’t stop hitting on me, and eventually Thomas noticed and stepped in. Mercutio got in his face and told Thomas that if he didn’t leave him alone, he’d be sorry.”
I let out a low whistle. “Geez. Sounds like someone needs to tell Mercutio that no means no.”
“Exactly. I can’t stand shifters like that. Or any paranormals, really. I told him I wasn’t interested, and he wouldn’t stop. I was glad for Thomas, who put himself in harm’s way to protect me. Although, that said, I was willing to kick Mercutio in the gonads if it came to that.”
I couldn’t hide a smile at the mental image of an overly enthusiastic shifter refusing to take no for an answer getting kicked in the balls for his trouble.
“Do you think Mercutio could have taken out his anger on Thomas?” Scarlett replied, and while I expected Lauren to look shocked at the answer, her expression simply turned thoughtful.
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing all day. I honestly don’t know. I don’t know Mercutio at all. I don’t know what kind of shifter he is, other than the kind who thinks he can put his hands where they don’t belong. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone who respects witches’ bodies that little would resort to poisoning someone.”
“How would he have gotten access to the poison, though?” I asked aloud. “After all, if it was rare or hard to make for witches, would he have had that kind of source?”
“Yes,” Scarlett replied, her face darkening. “A lot of paranormals who are super into working out like to take potions to change their bodies. For some it’s to lose weight, for others it’s to put on muscle, or to improve certain muscle groups like their fast-twitch ones. Some of the potions that do this are legal, tested, safe, and regulated, but a lot of them aren’t. There’s a huge black market for potions that will strengthen your fast-twitch muscles to make you faster, or improve your lung capacity, and that sort of thing.”
Love at First Spell: A Witch Cozy Mystery (Fairy Falls Mystery Book 1) Page 11