“Yup,” Scarlett said. “Listen, I have a couple things I have to do in town for a couple of hours. Do you mind if I leave you alone for a bit?”
“Sure,” I replied. “No problem. I’ll head back home and get some work done, and we can continue this afternoon?”
“Great,” Scarlett said. “I’ll see you soon. You know how to get home from here?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Great. I’ll text you the address anyway, in case you get lost.”
“Thanks,” I replied, and a moment later I heard the familiar bing of an incoming text message on my phone. Scarlett shot me a smile and headed down the street in the opposite direction of home. I started walking toward her house, but I had no motivation to get any work done. I had about twelve hours left to find the killer before I would have to lie about undergoing emergency surgery, and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.
So instead I followed after Scarlett, walking back toward downtown, my mind whirring away, trying to make sense of everything I’d learned.
I wandered around aimlessly, not knowing where I was going. I passed by what appeared to be a park filled with giant mushrooms, I made it to the edge of the forest where I took a small trail that looped me into a residential neighborhood I didn’t recognize, and I eventually found myself right back in the middle of downtown. I passed by the hospital, and a building that read Academy, and I thought about everything I’d learned these last few days.
It wasn’t just about the murder, either. I thought about what I learned about love. It seemed unfair in a way, that I was part of a coven where love was such an important component, and yet I was fairly certain I’d never truly experienced it.
I thought about what Patricia said about love being a destructive force as well as a uniting one. And that was when everything clicked.
I stopped in the middle of the street and let out a small gasp as realization dawned upon me. I knew who had killed Thomas Sade, and why.
I sent Scarlett a text letting her know what I knew, then turned on my heel and went back to the Academy. The brick building was unlocked, despite it being a Sunday, and I walked through the halls for a moment until I found Linda’s classroom.
The classroom looked a lot like a human-world classroom. A spell was written out on the whiteboard behind the teacher’s desk, designed to block a spell cast by another witch or wizard, by the looks. The walls were covered in colorful drawings and collages, all obviously made by young children, going by the lettering and the number of misspelled words.
Linda was near the window, organizing the huge number of books in the bookcases beneath it, her back to me. I knocked on the door and she turned, smiling when she saw me.
“Mina, come in,” Linda said. “What brings you back here?”
“I wanted to speak with you,” I said quietly. “Alone.”
“Sure. My sister was here, but she just stepped out to take a call. What can I do for you?”
“I know you killed Thomas,” I said quietly, and Linda’s face went white. She pressed her lips together.
“Why do you say that?”
“You were cheating on him, weren’t you? With Mercutio. You fell in love with Mercutio, but you couldn’t give up Thomas. Not with your whole family, and the whole town, expecting you to marry him. You couldn’t disappoint them all like that, especially since inter-species relationships aren’t entirely accepted here. You were in the perfect relationship with Thomas, but you didn’t love him, and you couldn’t get out of it. So you did the only thing you could think of: you killed him.”
I wasn’t sure what I expected Linda’s reaction to be. Was she going to attack me? Was she going to cast some sort of spell on me? My throat constricted slightly as I realized that I was at a significant disadvantage if she tried to attack. But instead, Linda simply burst into tears.
“I can’t believe I did it. I can’t believe it. I didn’t realize…I don’t think I realized…” She trailed off, sobbing, and I walked toward her and gently steered her to her desk. It didn’t look like she had a wand, and she wouldn’t be able to cast a spell on me without getting access to one first. There was one sitting on the edge of the desk, so I grabbed it and shoved it in the back pocket of my jeans.
“I’ve felt so terrible since yesterday morning. I don’t know how I can live with myself. What have I done?”
Enormous, bubbly sobs escaped her once more, and I had to admit, I kind of felt bad for her. Linda obviously regretted what she had done, enormously.
“Why don’t you tell me what you did?” I asked, carefully taking out my phone and opening the recording app. I wanted proof of Linda’s confession, although I had a feeling it wouldn’t take much for Chief Enforcer Tyson to get the story out of her as well, seeing how quickly she told me when confronted.
“I loved Thomas. Really, I did. But he just wasn’t for me,” Linda said. “But I couldn’t break up with him. It would break my mother’s heart. She was so set on us getting engaged, and getting married. And for a while, I thought that was what I wanted, too. But then Mercutio…”
Linda started sobbing again, more softly this time, burying her face in her hands. I gave her a moment before prompting her to continue.
“Mercutio?”
“It was a couple of months ago. I’d had a bad day here at the Academy. A couple of my students got into a fight without me realizing, one of them cursed the other’s eyebrows and turned them into caterpillars, and one of the other students freaked out and crushed one of the caterpillars. We had to go to the Healers to get everything sorted out, and the principal took me aside afterward and told me the young witch’s parents had complained. I shouldn’t have let it happen — it was ultimately my fault — and I was upset. I went to the gym, as I always did, and Mercutio realized I wasn’t fine. He took me aside after class, and the next thing I knew, I was in his arms.”
Linda took a few deep breaths before continuing. “What we did was wrong. It was so wrong, and I knew it. But at the same time, it was exhilarating. I had never been with anyone like Mercutio, and it was then that I realized Thomas wasn’t the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. He was wonderful, but with Mercutio, there was a feeling, a spark that I never had with Thomas.”
“But why not just break up with him?” I asked softly. “Did you really have to kill him?”
Linda glanced up at me, her red eyes filled with despair. “I couldn’t do that. Everyone expected me to spend the rest of my life with him. My mother was so happy. She was buying wedding gifts for us. She didn’t think I knew, but I did. If I’d left Thomas, it would have broken her heart. And everyone else, too. The whole town always said we were the perfect couple. And Thomas was so nice. I knew it would break his heart. He loved me so much. I couldn’t do it.”
“So you decided to kill him instead.” I believed Linda.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Linda moaned. “It wasn’t my idea. But it seemed so easy. I was promised he wouldn’t suffer. Just one moment he would be here, and the next, he’d be gone. I just didn’t know what else to do. I just didn’t.”
I found it hard to sympathize fully with Linda. She had taken Thomas’s life because she was afraid of what people would think if she broke up with him to be with a shifter. But she was so obviously remorseful that a part of me couldn’t help but feel for her.
“You say it wasn’t your idea,” I said. “Was it Mercutio’s?”
“Him?” Linda said, shaking her head. “No, of course not. Mercutio had nothing to do with it.”
“It was me,” a voice said from behind, and I turned to find myself staring at another woman who was the mirror image of Linda, but with platinum blonde hair instead of a mousey brown. She pointed a wand directly at me.
“Georgina,” Linda said softly. “Don’t do anything.”
“Why did you have to go and tell her everything?” Georgina said. “You were always so weak. This is why you have to let me take care of things, Linda.”
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Something clicked in my mind as I remembered the earlier conversation with Linda. “You’re the one who got the poison,” I said. “You’d be able to make it.”
“That’s right,” Georgina said, a smirk appearing on her face. “My little sister had to get rid of Thomas. And so did I.”
“The pharmaceuticals missing from the hospital,” I said, realizing what had happened. “It was you. Thomas must have found out you were the one stealing, or been getting closer to it, so when Linda came to you and said she had a problem, and it involved her boyfriend, you were more than happy to point her in the direction of murder.”
Linda gasped. “Is that true, Georgie?”
“Shut up, Linda,” Georgina snapped. “You were always too naïve. Thomas had to go.”
“I can’t believe I killed him,” Linda sobbed. “He was such a good wizard. He was too good for me. And I thought it was the only way to get out of things without getting into trouble. What is wrong with me?”
I had a sneaking suspicion Georgina had been the one to push Linda into killing Thomas.
There was only one problem now. Georgina had her wand pointed at me, and I had no way of getting away. The only spell I knew how to cast was one to dye hair. Even if I got my hands on a wand right now, it wasn’t going to do me any good.
I was in trouble.
CHAPTER 24
“A lright,” I said, trying not to panic. I didn’t have a lot of options here. Georgina was still about twenty feet away from me, too far for me to try and tackle her, especially since there were about six or seven individual desks in between us.
“Thomas was like you. Always sticking his nose in places it didn’t belong. He couldn’t help himself; he always had to be a do-gooder like that.”
“He was so good that way,” I heard Linda mutter in a meek voice behind me. “He always put others ahead of himself.”
Georgina scoffed. “Yeah, and you killed him. You, the person he trusted most in the world.”
The wail that escaped Linda’s mouth was the most terrible sound I’d ever heard in my life. It led to another round of sobbing, while Georgina steeled herself.
“Sorry, new witch. I can’t let you leave here. You know too much, and there’s no way I’m going to jail.”
“What have I done? What have I done?” Linda sobbed quietly behind me. I steeled myself when suddenly I remembered I could cast a second spell: there was a defensive spell written on the dry-erase board behind me. I grabbed the wand from the back pocket of my pants as carefully as I could and turned around, as if shying away from Georgina as she began muttering a spell.
Simultaneously, I read the words off the board, doing my best to imagine a giant shield in front of me. A split second later, I pointed my wand directly at Georgina at the same time as a burst of fire shot forth from her wand.
“What the — you’re not supposed to know how to use magic,” Georgina cried, and I took advantage of her temporary confusion to run across the room. I did my best Tom Brady impression as I tackled Georgina to the ground, the two of us skidding along the linoleum before coming to a stop. Georgina might manage to kill me in the end, but I wasn’t about to give up without a fight.
As soon as we stopped I hit her in the face as hard as I could, but Georgina was bigger than me, and stronger. She kicked me off her and I gasped as the wind was knocked out of me and I staggered backward before losing my balance and falling onto my rear.
Georgina rose, gasping for air, and dove toward her wand, which had rolled away. She grabbed it and shouted.
“Venus, goddess of beauty, smite this witch lying in front of me.”
Sitting on the ground, I wasn’t able to roll out of the way as a dagger shot from Georgina’s wand and headed right at me. I stared in horror, watching as the sharp blade shot straight toward me.
A split second later, however, there came a flash from my left. Linda dove in front of me, and the dagger sliced straight through the skin of her abdomen. She let out a cry as she fell to the ground.
“Linda!” Georgina cried. “What is wrong with you?”
I got up quickly and ran forward, knocking the wand from Georgina’s hand. It fell to the ground and I ran toward it, grabbing it first. I snapped it in half, thinking that this way no one could use magic.
A second later Scarlett ran in, wand raised.
“What’s going on?”
“Stop her!” I cried, pointing to Georgina.
Scarlett immediately muttered something under her breath, and a moment later ropes shot from the tip of her wand and wrapped themselves around Georgina, rendering her immobile. I rushed over to Linda, but she had lost a lot of blood.
“I’ll get you help,” I said breathlessly, but Linda shook her head slowly.
“No,” she said, grabbing my wrist with surprising strength. “It’s too late for me.”
“It’s not too late.”
“It is. I killed Thomas. I deserve this. I can’t go on living with what I’ve done.”
“You saved my life.”
“And I took someone else’s. I’m not a good person, Mina. Thomas wasn’t the wizard for me, but he was a good wizard, and I took his life because I was a coward. I can never come back from that. It’s alright. Let me be at peace. I will get to apologize to Thomas earlier than anyone thought possible.”
Before I had a chance to do anything else, Linda gave me a small smile, then a single, low breath escaped her lips and her eyes lost focus. They stared lifelessly toward the ceiling. She was dead.
“Is she gone?” Scarlett whispered, and I nodded.
“Yeah.” I gulped hard. “Yeah, she is. Can you call Chief Enforcer Tyson?”
“On it.”
“You killed my sister,” Georgina shouted at me. “You’re going to pay for this.”
“Oh, shut up,” Scarlett called out, pointing her wand and casting a silencing spell. Georgina’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, her vocal cords visibly straining in her neck as she shouted at us, but no sound escaped. “That’s better.”
“She killed Thomas,” I said quietly.
“Did she really? It wasn’t Georgina?”
I shook my head. “Georgina put her up to it, but it was Linda who actually killed Thomas. She was in a relationship with Mercutio, and she was serious about him, but she was too scared to end things with Thomas. She was worried about what her mom would think, and the people in town.”
“Oh no,” Scarlett said sadly.
“Yeah. Georgina got her the potion. And she was the one who was stealing from the hospital. After all, she works in pharmaceuticals. She said Thomas was looking into stuff that wasn’t his business. My guess is he had figured out it was her. So she used her sister to kill him.”
“Wow,” Scarlett replied, shaking her head. “I had no idea. I hadn’t picked Linda as the killer at all.”
“She was a good actress at the time,” I said. “I had never suspected her either. But she broke down almost immediately when I confronted her. I think the guilt was getting to her.”
Scarlett nodded. “It doesn’t sound like Georgina has that problem.”
I glanced over to where Georgina lay on the ground, writhing uselessly against the ropes. A moment later, Chief Enforcer Tyson strode into the room, followed by two more shifters.
“Alright,” she said, immediately taking over. “Mina, Scarlett, I’ll have you step to the side. Leon, please arrest Georgina and take her to jail while she awaits transfer to Spellcatraz.”
One of the shifters immediately stepped forward and pulled out a set of handcuffs that glowed blue; they had to be enchanted to stop paranormals from escaping.
The other strode toward Linda and began taking care of the body.
“I took away her voice,” Scarlett said. “She started screaming obscenities at Mina.”
“Noted,” Chief Enforcer Tyson said with a curt nod. “There will be witches and wizards at the office that can reverse the spell. Thank you. Now, can the two
of you let me know what happened?”
I wasn’t sure how long it took to tell Chief Enforcer Tyson everything, but by the time I was finished, I was mentally exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and go to sleep.
“You do realize you should have come to me instead of confronting Linda yourself, right?” Chief Enforcer Tyson asked, and I nodded.
“I know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t even sure, you know? I just had an idea, and I wanted to see how she would react, and she immediately confessed. I have all of it on my phone.”
Chief Enforcer Tyson nodded. “I’d appreciate it if you could send me the file.”
“Of course.”
“In the meantime, this means you’re now free to head back to the human world.”
A wave of relief washed over me. In less than twelve hours I had to be back at the office, and now I was going to be. This was exactly what I had wanted.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Chief Enforcer Tyson nodded. “I’ll ask that in future visits to Fairy Falls — or if you choose to make this your permanent home — you’ll stay away from any law enforcement investigations.”
“I will,” I promised. “I really will. Trust me, I don’t want to ever look into another murder again.”
Satisfied, Chief Enforcer Tyson pressed her lips together. “Good. You’re free to go. Thank you again for the help. You may be required to testify at a trial in the future, but I don’t think it will come to that.”
“No problem. You have my contact information. It hasn’t changed.”
With that, Scarlett and I walked out of the Academy. Before we got far, however, I spotted a familiar face.
“Look, it’s Zayne Woods,” I said, grabbing Scarlett’s arm and pointing. He was headed right toward us.
“Do you witches know what happened in there?” he asked.
“We do, and we’re not telling you,” Scarlett replied.
“Come on,” he said, flashing her a gorgeous smile. His green eyes twinkled in the sun. “Are you sure you can’t help an aspiring journalist get a story just this once?”
Love at First Spell: A Witch Cozy Mystery (Fairy Falls Mystery Book 1) Page 15