Mangroves and Murder: An Enchanted Coast Magical Mystery

by Maher Tegan

  He nodded. "That's them. Three of them thought because I was water folk that they'd be able to skunk me, but the other two with them had a little more faith and they could win with me on their team. They bet the other three a ridiculous amount of money, and I was happy to help them beat the pants off their buddies."

  Hope filled my heart. All I had to do was track down the werewolves and get them to vouch for Jackson. "So you have an alibi. Did you tell Blake that?"

  I did, but by the time they caught me, the werewolves had all checked out."

  My heart sank. Though I could try to get in contact with them, I'd have to track down their names, and half the guests that came to the resort didn't leave cell phone numbers because it wasn’t a required field. Still, if they were willing to swear that they'd seen him during the time when the murder was supposedly happening, Jackson would be free and clear.

  "Okay, we’re pushing our luck right now. Take off, and I'll do everything I can to clear you." I narrowed my eyes and wagged my finger at him. "I'm going out on a limb for you, so don't hang me out to dry."

  "If you do," Tempest said, her tone brooking no argument, "I have plenty of friends who are water familiars. There won't be anywhere you can hide."

  "I swear, I will not betray you." He didn't even bother to take his clothes off before he dove toward the water.

  Amber reached out and took my hand. "You're a true friend. We won't let you down."

  Just as she released me, a little jolt of electricity ran over my skin. That was a sign that somebody was trying to breach the wards I had set on my cottage. "I have to go. You guys get out of here, and don't show back up until I call for you. I promise you, I'll do everything I can to clear his name."

  I didn't wait for her to respond before I snapped my fingers and ported to my own bathroom. Somebody was about to bang my front door off the frame, so I grabbed my suitcase and flung it on the bed, then tossed a pile of clean T-shirts from the top of my dresser into it so it looked like I was packing. I wasn’t sure they’d come inside, but my contract with the resort waived the requirement of a warrant for resort security to do so with just cause.

  "Hold your horses," I barked. "I'm on my way."

  I rushed toward the front door but, Tempest, who’d jumped off my shoulder, grabbed my pants leg and pointed toward it. I glanced down and pulled in a deep breath when I saw that the bottoms of them were wet from where I’d been standing in the ocean. I muttered a quick drying spell, then strode the rest of the way toward the door.

  I jerked it open with an outraged glare. Blake and Lester were standing there with three guards. "What do you want, Lester? I'm packing, and I know Blake wouldn’t come bangin’ on my door like this on his own."

  Lester squinted at me, suspicious. "Where have you been?"

  I rolled my eyes at him, mostly because that's what I would've done had I not just broken out his scapegoat. "You mean in the ten minutes since the last time you saw me? I literally just walked in my front door. It takes me that long to walk from there to here."

  He stretched his neck to peer around me and into my house. "Who do you have in there?"

  I crossed my arms and glared at him as I leaned my hip against my doorframe. "And what business is that of yours? I'm not on the clock, I don't work for the Council, and I haven't done anything wrong. I'm not sure why you think you have the right to ask me about my company, but if you must ask, I’m having tea with the Queen."

  Fortunately, I came from a family who ate little worms like him as a late afternoon snack. If he wanted to go attitude to attitude with me, there's no way he'd win, and I didn't care how high up at the Council he was. My family wasn't exactly without influence, and I wasn't about to bow down to a self-important, pompous little jerk like him. Besides, if I had, it would've been completely out of character for me, and he would've known right away something was up.

  He bristled, and I knew I'd struck a nerve. People like him didn't like to have what little bit of authority they had questioned. "It's my business because the prisoner just escaped."

  I just raised my brow at him and kept my expression neutral. "I'm sorry, but I don't see how your inability to keep track of your prisoner has anything to do with who's tiptoeing through my tulips. Even if I were the fastest sprinter in the world — and I'm not — there's no way I could have gotten anywhere other than here in ten minutes. I surely didn't have time to figure out where y’all are hiding him, get there, break him out, then come all the way back here and hide him in time to answer my front door for you."

  He spluttered. "You didn't have to figure out where we were hiding him. Blake spilled his guts right in front you."

  "Nooo," I said in a tone I'd use on a hyperactive five-year-old, "all he said was that you were keeping him in one of the employee cottages. We have like a hundred of those on this resort. Now, if there's nothing else, I have some packing to do."

  His lips curled into a devious smile. "So that means you'll be leaving immediately?"

  Crap. He had me there. We emphasized that I was leaving on vacation, but I still needed to be around the resort in order to talk to people. I lifted my shoulder. "No, I’m not leaving until day after tomorrow because that's when my boyfriend’s vacation starts. He's meeting me here, and we’re leaving straight through the portals, not that it’s any of your business."

  "So, what's the rush to pack?" He thought he had me, but … not in this lifetime.

  "The rush is because I'm anxious to get out of here. Also, I'm a woman. I pack and repack at least three times before I'm ready." I gave him a smart-ass smile. "You know, I wanna make sure I pack plenty of tampons and pantyliners. You're welcome to come in and help me count them if you'd like."

  He ground his teeth together. "That won’t be necessary."

  "Then if there's nothing else, I have things to do. Good luck finding your man." With that, I swung the door shut.

  "How did they get to the front door?" Tempest asked, scowling at me. "Didn't you have your wards set?"

  "Apparently not all of them," I replied as my heart rate slowed back to something near normal. "I did get the warning from the property ward, but they shouldn't have been able to cross it if the other ones were set."

  The fact that I'd forgotten to set them was a perfect example of why I needed a break. Time to solve a murder and get to it.

  Chapter 10

  "What now?" Tempest asked, trotting along beside me as I went back to the bedroom.

  I plopped into the rocker beside my bed and brace my elbows against my knees then dropped my head in my hands.

  My first order of business was tracking down the werewolves. The best way to do that would be to take a peek into our guest services log and hope that they'd left cell numbers. The idea of teleporting off the resort made me cringe because that meant I'd have to spend hours tracking down the exact addresses, and I was afraid I didn't have that much time.

  Fortunately, I had access to those records via the management portal, so I could use my laptop to run them down. “First, we need to find those werewolves. All this ends if they’ll come forward and say Jackson was with them.”

  “Then what are you waiting for? We could have this wrapped up in twenty minutes and be on our way.”

  She jumped off the bed and scurried toward the kitchen, her tail twitching as she did. With a fresh spring in my step, I followed.

  Once in the kitchen, I grabbed my computer from the sideboard where I’d left it and plopped down at the table. It only took me a second to log into the tiki records and track down their names using the room charges they'd racked up the afternoon before. I was frustrated that they’d all checked out, but at least I had their records and could get in touch with them. Even if they were willing to testify over the phone that they’d been with Jackson, that would be enough to stay the process.

  The main downside to what I found was that only three of them had charged things to their room while they were at the tiki, at least in the time period that I’
d been there and I hadn’t caught their names since I’d been too busy dodging their stupid football and pulling them off each other. That left two unaccounted for, but the three who had made charges had listed their cell phone numbers at check-in. I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed the first number. I groaned when it went straight to voicemail but figured I had two more shots. Hope faded to discouragement when neither of those picked up either.

  I drummed my fingers on my dining room table, thinking. I had two choices. I could either trek off the resort to their hometown in Michigan, or I could stay here and interview Sandra and Xavier. Since I could only teleport to places I'd been, I'd have to use the resort portal to get me to the town and then use human travel to get me to the exact addresses. That was inefficient and possibly unnecessary if I could figure out why Xavier was lying.

  Tempests had hopped up on my lap while I was researching but had gotten bored and decided her time would be better spent watching out the window in case Lester decided to come back.

  I close my laptop and stood. "I think Sandra is the best place to start. She's the most obvious suspect, so maybe we’ll luck out and poke a hole in her armor. I’m not sure how to go about it without letting them know who I am and what I'm doing, though."

  "Let me think for a minute. I know we need to talk to Sandra and Xavier, but I'm not sure how to go about it without letting them know who I am and what I'm doing."

  She hopped up on a kitchen chair and twirled in a little circle, then laid down and dropped her head on her paws. "Yeah, stealth and subtlety aren't in your top ten for sure. Didn't Blake say something about the spa?"

  I lifted my head and looked at her. "You're freaking brilliant. What better way to start my vacation than a spa day? That won't look suspicious at all."

  As a resort employee, I got huge discounts on all the services we offered, but I never had time to take advantage of them. I'd had a massage a couple times, and they’d been heaven on earth. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure they didn't do group massages, so I was going to have to hope Sandra was in one of the communal areas.

  Tempest preened. "Of course, I'm brilliant. Now we just need to let Blake know where you're gonna be so he can keep that squirrely little dude away from you."

  She closed her emerald eyes for a moment then popped them back open. "There. Done. He said they're going over to the cottage to look for tracks, so he'll try to keep them over there as long as possible."

  "Good,” I said with a decisive nod. “Then let's get to it."

  I debated changing from my blouse and cargo capris into something a little more me but decided against it. It would be better if I showed up looking like a resort guest rather than a beach bum even though many of the guests dressed like that. The goal was to get Sandra to confide in me, and I had a feeling showing up in ratty jean shorts wouldn't further that cause. Assuming I even ran into her, that is. I double checked my appearance in the bathroom mirror and touched up my mascara, noting that it was almost empty. I got the stuff from a witch in Abaddon's Gate who made it herself, and it was the bomb. I’d need to grab some before we left.

  Once I was ready, I glanced at Tempest and worried my lip. I didn't know how to tell her, but she sort of made me stand out. Not that I was internet-famous or anything, but if anybody said, "Hey, I ran into a redhead with a black and white fox. Does anybody know who she is?" then everybody on the resort would know who they were talking about. Without Tempest, though, I'd be a lot harder to pinpoint, especially as busy as the resort was right now.

  She looked up at me and scoffed. "I already know what you're thinking. Believe it or not, I probably beat you to it. I know I'm unique, so I'm gonna go down to the tiki and see if I can eavesdrop on anybody. Also, Bob's been there for a little bit now, so maybe he's heard something."

  I slipped on my sandals and grabbed my purse. "Then it looks like we have a plan. I'll holler if I learn anything, and you do the same."

  With one sharp nod, she winked at me and disappeared. I decided to follow her example and teleport, too. After all, I didn't want to waste any more time than I had to because Blake was only going to be able to stall Lester for so long. Also, unless I missed my guess, we were about to have half the Witches Council raining down on our heads because we'd allowed a murder suspect to escape. I frowned, hating that Blake was gonna have to take the heat for that, but he was a big boy with broad shoulders.

  A minute later, I was standing in an employee alcove on the side of the main building. I hustled around toward Margo and gave her a wave as I passed. "I'm going in to see if I can find Sandra, the wife of the guy who got killed. Something tells me she knows where the money came from, and I want to know who made the donation."

  Not only did I think it was important to solving the case, I also wanted to know who thought they were so important that we could be bought. If I found out, then we could disabuse them of that notion, and I’d take joy doing it, or rather, telling Ari and watching him do it.

  Margo nodded. "Good luck. She hasn't come this way. Of course, I've only seen her once or twice the entire time she's been here. She doesn't exactly strike me as the outdoorsy, beachy type. If you don't find her in the spa, maybe check the lounge. She does strike me as a martini type."

  I smiled at her. "Not that I can judge. And besides, if she's got a couple martinis in her, she might be more prone to talk." Heaven knows they certainly did that to me.

  Sheena, a faerie who'd worked there as long as I had, was working the front desk at the spa. Her face lit up when I walked through the door.

  "Hey, Destiny! Did you finally come to take me up on my offer of a massage? Sonja’s here today, and she’s amazing."

  I was glad she was the one working because we'd gotten sorta close. She came down to the tiki at least two or three nights a week when she got off work, and she was a Southern girl, too.

  "Sorta," I replied, weighing my options. She was a faerie, and they operated outside the realm of the Witches Council. She also had no love lost for them because her brother had run afoul of the Council when a crazy witch he’d been dating accused him of stealing her stuff when they split up. Finally, she knew Amber and Dax and possibly even Jackson. When I added all that together, I decided she was worth the calculated risk. I leaned in so that nobody else could hear me even though we were the only ones in the lobby. "Amber and Dax came to me last night. I assume you've heard about the murder?"

  Of course she had. The Enchanted Coast was just like any other small town in that the only thing that traveled faster than bad news was bad news that was supposed to be a secret.

  She nodded. "I did. And I'll tell you the truth, I don't think Jackson's got it in him to do that. He's a good guy. What does that have to do with you, though? Rumor has it, you were going out of town."

  I waved a hand. "They’re getting ready to send Jackson off today, and Blake's hands are tied." I gave her a meaningful look, and she nodded.

  "Let me guess — a lot of money, and suddenly there are no other suspects.” Her face twisted in disgust, and for just a second, I was ashamed, not that I couldn't blame her. Of all the supernatural organizations, the Witches Council was known to be the most crooked.

  I tapped my nose. “Bingo. Got it in one. So that leaves me to save him. There's been … a slight hiccup in their plans to take him today, but I'm not sure how long I have even considering that."

  She leaned her elbows onto the counter, her expression conspiratorial. "So, what can I do to help?"

  "I need a few minutes with Sandra Keller. And I need her not to know who I am."

  Her mouth curved into a smile, and she waggled her brows. "Then you came to the right place. Ms. Keller just went into the sauna, and she's the only one in there."

  "You're a freaking goddess," I said grinning at her. "Where do I sign up?"

  She slapped a hand. "I got you covered. There's nobody here but me today running things, so I'll just put you down as a comp. Follow me."

  She stepped from beh
ind the counter and headed toward a set of ornate oak double doors. The vertical bar handles on them were brass, and there were no windows so that guest privacy was assured.

  "Did you guys get a remodel?" I asked, glancing around.

  As was typical with most spas—at least from what I’d seen on TV—everything in the room was meant to be relaxing. Soft ocean sounds wafted from a surround-sound system, and lavender candles flickered from their places on little wicker end tables situated in each corner of the room. The colors were muted, and the eggshell carpet under my feet was thick. One of the benefits of being magical was that you could have light-colored carpets and just magic them clean at the end of the night.

  I followed her through the double doors. She opened a small closet halfway down and pulled out two plush white towels and a fluffy pink robe with the resort's logo on the right breast. She glanced at my feet and raised a brow. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you in anything other than crocs or flip-flops,” she said, then pulled out a pair of pink flip-flops that matched my robe from the closet as well.

  "Here," she said, handing the stack to me. "Go in that room over there and change, then come back out, and I'll lead you to the spa. Or do you know where it’s at on your own?"

  I shook my head. "No, I've only been here for a massage twice. I never bothered with the steam room because I figure we essentially live in a sauna. If I want that, I'll just stay outside.”

  She grinned. "Girl, you and me both. If it's gonna be hot and steamy, I want a fruity drink in one hand and an ocean in front of me. Otherwise, I'll take my AC."

  I stepped into the room and pushed the door shut behind me, then changed quickly into the robe, gathered the towels, and slid my feet into the flip-flops. There was a small bank of lockers in the room, and I popped one open and slid my stuff into it, then twisted the lock and pulled out the key. It was on a lanyard, so I looped it around my neck and headed back into the hallway.