by Diana Orgain
“You came all the way from the café to the station? You don’t even know me.” Maeve wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or severely creeped out.
The next thing Maeve knew, Chuck promised to find Wanda.
This guy is out of his mind, Maeve thought. She described Wanda and then after a brief exchange, Joseph escorted her out of the police station.
“That guy is really weirding me out,” Joseph whispered to her. “Do you need to file for a restraining order?”
“I’m pretty sure he’s harmless,” Maeve said. “He’s probably a really high-maintenance actor who’s going to call up his poor assistant and have him drive all over town looking for Wanda while fetching him lattes or whatever.”
Joseph chuckled as he opened the passenger’s side door of his patrol car. “Glad you’re smart enough not to fall for that sort of thing. You’re the type of woman who has standards outside of a guy’s status.”
Maeve laughed. “Thanks. Ooh, I get to ride up front this time?” she joked. “Lucky me. Can we put the lights on?”
Joseph laughed.
When Maeve arrived at the café, she was astounded to find every table packed for lunch. Donnie was handling things all by himself like a pro. There was some jazz humming in the background while Donnie took orders. There wasn’t exactly a line out the door like there had been that morning, but it was crowded enough that anyone working alone could have easily gotten flustered.
She headed behind the counter where Donnie was ringing up a customer. “One caramel latte with a double shot of espresso and extra whipped cream,” Donnie said, passing the drink off to the last customer in line.
Maeve clapped Donnie’s shoulder. “Donnie, I’m impressed!”
“I hate to do this to you again, but I have to run a quick errand. Do you think you could handle it for another hour or two on your own? Things should be slowing down now that the lunch hour is coming to an end. ” she asked.
Donnie smiled. “I totally got this!” He seemed happy that she trusted him. Maeve knew that after Donnie’s one run-in with the law, he wasn’t used to having people be kind to him.
Maeve bid Donnie farewell before hopping into her purple Volkswagen, heading straight for city hall. She figured that if half the police force wanted to blame her for Mayor James’s murder, she’d better not waste any time.
She needed to speak to Susan, the mayor’s new assistant. Based on what little information she had, Maeve was betting that James had likely been poisoned. If that was the case, there could be a chance Susan had seen something earlier that day.
When Maeve arrived at city hall, she was shocked to see a press conference taking place out front. Susan was answering questions on the steps of the building, and there was a look of anxiety and frustration on the woman’s face.
There is no way I’ll be able to talk to her now, Maeve grumbled, but then another thought occurred to her. She slipped into the building, recalling how she had snooped in Nadine’s office before and got some helpful information.
She headed straight to Nadine’s old office, assuming that Susan had likely taken over the previous secretary’s space. Mayor James had his secretary handle just about everything for him; Maeve figured useful information would likely be found on the secretary’s computer, rather than the mayor’s.
She entered Susan’s little office and had a quick look around. Unfortunately, before Maeve had much of a chance to do any sort of snooping, the door opened.
“Oh my goodness!” Susan exclaimed. “What are you doing in my office?”
Maeve’s face flushed a bright red. “I’m so sorry!” Maeve straightened and looked around the office awkwardly. “I was actually coming to speak to you. I let myself in. I’m sorry, that was rude.”
Susan walked around and sat at her desk. “Can I help you?” She motioned for Maeve to sit across from her.
Maeve evaluated Susan, with her straight black hair and pressed white shirt. Susan seemed like the type of woman who appreciated honesty. Instead of tiptoeing around the subject, she dove right in. “Some of the police want to pin James’s death on me. I’m looking for information. Can you tell me anything unusual that might have happened this morning that would have caused James to become sick like he did?”
Susan sat upright. “The police think you’re a suspect?”
“Only because I gave him water,” Maeve said, leaving out the detail about her talking badly about him the night before.
Susan shook her head. “I’m so sorry! That’s probably my fault. I told the police you had given him some water, but I was just recounting what had happened right before he died. I didn’t think that would lead someone to be a suspect.”
“Please,” Maeve said firmly, redirecting the conversation. “Can you tell me anything unusual that might have happened this morning?”
Susan shrugged. “We had breakfast at a pancake house with Nadine’s brother. Mayor James wanted to treat him after all that happened with Nadine. She’d been a good assistant, so he wanted to do something nice for her brother while he’s in town.”
“It would have been quite pleasant if Christian, Eleanor’s ex, hadn’t shown up. Things got really heated between all three of them,” Susan said. “Christian yelled at James about the affair. William tried to shut him up because he was making a scene, and the two of them starting a screaming match about Eleanor killing Nadine. We almost had to call the police to get things settled, but everyone calmed down after a while.”
“Interesting,” Maeve said. “Have you told the police this yet?”
“No,” Susan said. “They want me back for an interview this afternoon, but I needed to be here to announce to the public what happened to James.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” Maeve asked.
Susan looked at her phone, checking the time. “Honestly, not right now. I have a lot to take care of before I have to return to the station. Really, you should have made an appointment. I’m sorry, but I’m pressed for time today, as you can imagine.”
“I understand,” Maeve said as she stood. “Thank you for taking a minute to talk to me.” She excused herself, slipping out into the hall where she heard a familiar voice echoing from a few doors down.
It was Rodney. He was speaking to a handful of women who worked in the building. They were gathered around a water cooler, and all four women were swooning as he spoke kindly to them, throwing in compliments here and there. Maeve sighed. Last night, she had perused the magick book she’d found among her belongings, and she was fairly certain she had found a spell that could fix Rodney.
I suppose I should just let him be himself again–even if that means he’s back to being a jerk.
She flicked her wrist and waved it in his direction. “Revert,” she uttered, and a bit of purple magick zapped unnoticed in his direction.
Rodney jolted upright and shook his head. He looked at one of the women and smiled. “You look truly lovely today, Olivia. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate—”
Maeve’s jaw dropped in horror, as she listened to Rodney recite Shakespeare to the woman.
Maeve palmed her forehead. “I made it worse,” she moaned, and suddenly Rodney was excusing himself from the group and heading down the hall.
He smiled when he saw her and bowed politely like a true gentleman. “Ms. O’Dare! Always a pleasure!” he said before heading straight toward Susan’s office.
I have to stay and see what comes of this, Maeve thought and glanced over her shoulder to see that the four women by the water cooler were just as curious as to what Rodney was up to. He left Susan’s office after a moment, as giddy as before, if not more so, and then he trotted down the hallway–bidding all the women farewell before heading to his own office a few doors down.
One of the women by the water cooler broke away from the others to take a peek. “Rodney! Why are you cleaning out your desk!” the woman shrieked and disappeared into the man’s office.<
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Susan exited her office, jaw hanging open and looking quite flustered. “What happened?” Maeve asked her.
“He just quit!” Susan exclaimed. “Said he is going to join the Peace Corp!”
Maeve exhaled heavily and muttered under her breath, “Oh, crud.”
Chapter Six
Chuck
All righty, ladies and gents, prepare yourselves to see a lady swoon. Chuck Lowry knows how to bring it. The moon will be up any second now, so I hurry to prepare myself. Maeve, I assume, is closing up the café and will be here shortly after the sun goes down.
I find some string in one of Maeve’s kitchen drawers, then take the purple construction paper I got earlier and the silver sharpie and write a little note: Told you I would find her for you–Chuck L.
My arm is still sore from my fall, but fortunately I’m able to write. I contemplate drawing a heart for some added flirtation, but I decide against it. When Maeve thinks I drove all over town trying to find her beloved pooch, she is going to melt.
Yes, I can see it now.
She’ll wait around that coffee shop of hers for the next month wondering where I went, and when I become a man again, she’ll be beyond excited to see me.
Using the string, I attach the note to the new dog collar I bought. It matches Maeve’s little purple Volkswagen–something tells me it’s one of her favorite colors. The collar is stupid and girly –purple with fake diamonds. I even had a special little heart tag made with the name Wanda engraved on it. I guess if I’m going to play the role of a woman’s female dog companion, I might as well own it. Maeve will totally love that I went above and beyond to buy a little gift for her dog, right?
There is a fluttering coming from the hall bath, and I scurry inside to see that Damien is tapping on the bathroom window. “What?” I snap.
“Can I come in?” he asks.
“No! What’s wrong with you?” I question as he sits himself on the outside window sill.
“What’s wrong with me? You’re the one who just broke into a woman’s house,” he caws.
“Save it,” I say, take note of the dimming light. “I only have a few minutes before the moon appears over the horizon.” I look at myself in the bathroom mirror and sigh. “Bye, gorgeous,” I moan and go ahead and place the collar around my neck.
“Not your color; I think you should have gone with the pink one,” Damien jokes, and I bang my fist against the window, scaring him.
“Knock it off,” I warn. There’s a tingly sensation through my body, and then some excess hair sprouts on my arm.
It’s happening.
Blue magic swirls around me, and the next thing I know I’m eye level with the toilet.
Damien starts laughing. Oh, for crying out loud!
I’m still in my clothes!
I’m Wanda, but I’m wearing Chuck’s freaking clothes! I attempt to wiggle my way out, but I’m stuck.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I howl.
Why did I think my clothes were just going to disappear?
Damien laughs at me for the next ten minutes as I struggle to kick off my shoes, socks, pants, underwear, and shirt. It’s not easy operating clothing without thumbs!
When at last I am free, I shake off my fur and growl up at the window to let Damien know he needs to stop laughing.
“Aw man!” I exclaim, realizing the note has come unattached from the collar after all of my wiggling. “All right, bird boy, you’re up. I need some help,” I say and hop up onto the toilet so that I can reach the window. I bark, and my magick opens it for him.
He flies in and lands in the pile of clothes. What happens next is a ridiculous display that I am thankful no human sees. Damien and I wiggle around attempting to reattach the note to the collar. We certainly don’t tie it all pretty in a bow, but he manages to stuff the string down into my collar to keep it in place using his beak and talons.
“Now beat it so I can go wait for Maeve,” I say.
“Fine,” he says. “But don’t forget to hide those clothes. Pretty sure she’ll notice that.”
He flies out the window, and I drag the clothing with my doggie jaw into the back of her closet where a few boxes are located. I manage to stuff the clothes into one of the open boxes that contains some of her ex-fiancé’s items. Hopefully, if she comes across them she’ll just write it off as belonging to him.
By some miracle, I manage not to knock off the note again, and I go and sit down on her couch and wait. Another fifteen minutes or so go by, and I hear her keys start to jiggle the door handle. I sit up excitedly, and my tail wags. Weird how much I feel like Maeve’s dog, sometimes I get stupidly excited to hear that door handle jiggle.
The door opens, and I hear Maeve sigh as she steps inside and tosses her keys down on a side table. I let loose one loud bark, and Maeve about jumps out of her shoes.
“Wanda!” she exclaims, and that smile is just precious. “Oh my gosh! Wanda!” she shouts and runs right over to me, plopping down on the couch and scratching my ears and kissing my forehead. “Oh, girl, where have you been? How did you get here?”
She sees the note, and I puff out my chest in my excitement.
She loosens the note from around my neck. “What’s this?” she says, and I see this quizzical look on her face. She looks at the note, looks at me, then back at the note, and then back at me. I expect a comment about how awesome I am for finding her beloved dog, but that’s not what I get. She looks mortified mixed with a hint of disgust. “How did that creep get in my house!” she shrieks and jumps up.
Crap.
She darts around the house like she thinks the boogie man is going to pop out of nowhere and attack her. She whips out her phone. “Gracie? Hey, I wanted to be on the phone with someone,” she says. “You’re not going to believe this, but Wanda is back … yeah, I know, but she was inside my locked house with a note from that weird actor … I know, right! He was at the police station when I was there too. He’s really starting to weird me out! Do you think I should call Joseph? Well … no, no, I don’t have a gun.”
A gun?
Oh for the love of all things Holy and righteous!
She steps into the hall bathroom, and I am thankful that I moved the clothes. She shrieks into the phone. “That freak must have climbed into my house through my bathroom window!” she shouts, and I cringe.
I forgot to close the window.
She slams it shut.
From outside the window comes a cackling noise. Sounds like Damien finds this surprise twist to be quite hilarious. I curl up on the couch and bury my face in shame.
This is not the reaction I’d been hoping for. Maeve comes back into the room, sits down on the couch beside me, and pets my head.
“Thanks for the concern, Gracie,” Maeve says into the phone. “But I don’t think he’s here. I checked every corner of the house. Yeah, thanks. I’ll call you if I get too freaked out,” Maeve says and hangs up. She looks at me. “I’m so glad you’re back,” she says.
I sit upright, and she takes a good look at the collar. She giggles. “Am I overreacting?” she asks me, and I nod my head. She laughs again. “Look at you, girl! You’re all clean and you got yourself a new collar. That was sweet of Chuck … maybe I just left the door open, and he locked up for me when he left?”
I wag my tail. Okay, okay, we’re heading in a better direction here. Suddenly her face scrunches up. “Oh!” she cries out. “How did he know where I live?”
Double crap.
Why did I not think any of this through?
She’s right–this is totally creepy! The next thing I know she’s on a website looking up local locksmiths because apparently she’s going to change all the locks in her house and order a security system. I freaked her out.
That’s just great. I’m a total failure!
After watching her set up a day online for a locksmith to come give her an estimate, she puts her computer away and digs around some still unpacked boxes until she locate
s an old baseball bat. “This used to be my dad’s,” she says and then I watch in horror as she places it beside her bed. “Just in case,” she says to me with a wink.
I’m mentally palming myself in the face. Maeve goes into the bathroom, and I can hear the shower running. I sit outside the door and wag my tail. I’m not going to lie. I’m hoping to get a peek, but I’m not so lucky. She emerges with a robe on and her hair pulled up in a towel, but she heads for the bedroom and invites me along.
I jump up onto her bed, and normally I get a “No ma’am!” from her when I do that, but she ignores me and goes into her walk-in closet. She emerges fully dressed in a pair of purple pajamas, her wet hair hanging down, and I sigh. I should have followed.
She plops down on the bed beside me, and I wait to be told to go sleep on the couch. “You wanna stay in here with me tonight, Wanda? I sure did miss you,” she says, and I wag my tail excitedly. That couch is not that comfortable, and I’m certainly not opposed to sleeping in the same bed with Maeve O’Dare.
I think I need to do some re-evaluating. Apparently winning over this woman’s affections is going to be a lot harder than I’d initially thought.
I mean, seriously, how did I become the creepy stalker by returning her lost pet? I’m going to need to tread a bit more lightly in the future. In retrospect, this was a terrible idea.
Maeve reaches into her nightstand, and pulls out her magick book. I yelp excitedly, and she laughs at me. Oh, Maeve, if you only knew!
How do I tell you that you’re a witch?
She pats my head and opens up the book. “Ugh, this is so confusing,” she says, skimming through the pages. She winks at me. “Can you keep a secret, girly?”
I nod, and she laughs at my response.
“I think I did something to Rodney. He quit his job to join the Peace Corps today. I need to try to fix him, even if I totally love this version of him better. I just don’t know which spell to use!”
Wait. What?
I watch in awe as she continues to skim through the book. It hits me like a ton of bricks. She knows. She knows! I jump up into a standing position, and my tail is wagging so fast it’s creating a breeze. I can’t help myself. I give her a big, wet doggy kiss.