“Sure. I’m happy to keep Morty whenever you need me to. You know that.”
“Thanks.” Raine sat Morty’s pot on the coffee table in front of her then sank back into her seat and curled her legs beneath her. Bella trotted over to sniff the plant. She must have sensed that he wasn’t well, because as soon as she got near she backed up a bit and looked at Issy uncertainly.
“It’s okay. Morty’s not well. You can cheer him up.”
“Yip!”
A warning vibe tingled at Issy, and she smiled down at the little Pom. How cute. Bella was warning her away from the ailing plant. “It’s okay. He can’t make us sick.”
Bella backed away from the plant and jumped into Issy’s lap.
“She’s coming along pretty good,” Ember said.
Issy nodded proudly. “She is. Too bad that doesn’t help us with the demon. Obviously, our little exorcism the other day at Enid’s place didn’t work, and it’s still around.”
“True,” Ember said, setting her tea aside. “But, really, I don’t think Nikki’s the person it’s inhabiting. Remember how I said me and Gray would tail her?”
“Yep,” Issy said.
“No.” Raine frowned.
“You were asleep,” Ember said to Raine. “Gray and I watched her the entire time, right up until Owen found the second victim, and she didn’t go anywhere near the scene of the crime. So how could she have tried to strangle the victim?”
“Demons can move at super-speed, but maybe that explains why she didn’t finish the job. Maybe she knew you were watching her and didn’t have time?” Issy suggested. She knew it was a lame reason, but she couldn’t think of anything else.
The others gave her the side-eye, and she shrugged. “It was just an idea.”
“Now that you mention it, it is kind of odd that the demon hesitated to kill this last person,” Ember said.
“Maybe it has a conscience,” Gray suggested.
“Either way, we’re back to square one with finding out who the demon’s host is.” Issy shook her head. “And I know one other person who would definitely have that charm. Starla.”
“Yeah, and she has been acting funny,” Raine said. “With coming to our end of town and contacting Gray and all.”
“She was trying to help.” Gray ran his hands through his hair. “I mean, that’s what she said. Honestly, she didn’t seem possessed…”
“Demons can be good actors. Maybe she told you Nikki bought the charm to try to cast suspicion away from her and frame Nikki,” Ember said.
“I don’t know.” Gray sounded dubious. “If that was the case, then why was there a big electrical disturbance when you fed the potion to Nikki?”
“Good question.”
“How potent was the stuff you put in those chocolates?” Gray asked.
“Potent enough,” Ember said. “It’s possible that the demon jumped from Nikki into the electrical system when we fed her the candy. Because Enid ate some of it too, there probably wasn’t enough of the potion in Nikki’s system to banish it completely and send it back where it came from. Then it traveled through the wires and somehow found another host.”
“There weren’t any electrical disturbances in town, so it must have found someone fast,” Gray said.
“Would the next host have to be in close proximity?” Issy asked. “It might help us to figure out who the next host might be.”
“I’m not sure,” Ember said. “I think it can travel rapidly, though, through the electrical circuits. I mean, electricity is pretty much instant.”
“Oh man.” Gray scrubbed a hand over his face. “If that’s the case, then it could’ve gone anywhere and gotten into anyone.”
“Not just anyone,” Issy said. “The same rules still apply. The host would have to be someone weak enough or sick enough to accept it. Still, it seems pretty impossible we’ll find it in time. There’s only three days left until the new moon.”
Her shoulders slumped as Issy looked from Ember to Raine then back again. “If the killer is targeting redheads, whoever’s doing this will need to step up their game. With the last victim still alive, they’ll need a new sacrifice.”
“There is one more clue.” Ember cuddled Endora and Bellatrix under her chin. “The doll at the crime scene. According to what it depicted, the next murder will be a poisoning.”
“That doesn’t really help us much.” Gray sighed. “There are a million ways to poison someone.”
“True.” Ember smiled at him over the top of a kitten head. “But those weren’t black drops dripping from the doll’s mouth.”
“They weren’t?” Raine asked, leaning forward.
“Nope.” Ember placed her kittens back in their basket then straightened her skirt. “I took a closer look before Owen bagged the evidence. They were tiny mushrooms.”
A spark of hope reignited inside Issy. “There’s only one place in Silver Hollow to get decent mushrooms for potions, spell casting, and poisoning.”
“The secret field,” Gray said.
“Yep.” Ember grinned.
“Perfect!” Issy pushed to her feet, her energy renewed along with her optimism. “All we have to do is catch the killer digging them up, and we’ll know who the new host is.”
17
The next afternoon, Issy drove old Brown Betty around to Divine Cravings to pick up Ember. They were headed out to the mushroom field to keep watch so Gray, who’d been there all morning, could get back to work. Ember all but skipped out of her store and climbed into the passenger seat then waved to her assistant behind the counter. “Hey,” she said as she buckled her seat belt. “Lovely day.”
“It is.” Issy glanced at Ember, wondering how her cousin could be so chipper when a murderous demon was on the loose. “Though I can’t help but feel like a black cloud is hovering over us with this demon thing going on.”
Ember’s cheery expression darkened. “Yeah, me too. Do you think we might be in danger?”
“If the demon’s looking for redheads, we might be.” Issy gnawed her bottom lip. “Are you worried about fighting a demon?”
“I think we could take one. If we were together. They fight dirty, though, and use all kinds of energy tricks that we’re not equipped to handle. Especially alone, attempting that might result in full energy depletion.” Ember’s face turned grim, and Issy shuddered at the thought. It took tremendous amounts of energy to cast spells, and if one overdid it, one could drain their entire energy source. And full energy depletion usually resulted in death.
“Well, then, I guess we better stick together.” Issy signaled and pulled out into traffic then did a double take in her rearview mirror. Dex Nolan was right behind her, in his vintage sedan. “Um, quick change of plans.”
She signaled and made a quick right then another quick left before pulling off to the side of the road on a residential street and crouching down in her seat.
Ember gripped the dashboard and gave her a concerned look. “Everything okay?”
“Dex was behind us,” Issy whispered, gesturing for Ember to get down too. “I don’t want him to follow us to the mushroom field.”
“You remember it’s enchanted, right?” Ember gave her cousin some serious side-eye. “Humans can’t see it.”
“I know, but we don’t need him following us into the woods and then seeing us disappear.” Issy leaned up a bit to peer out the windshield then ducked down quickly again at the sound of an approaching car. She was being ridiculous. It was just that after that wonderful date last night and then that mind-blowing kiss, Dex Nolan had her on edge.
Of course, the fact that Bella was dancing around her feet as though she had ants in her tiny pants and was telepathing strange signals to her didn’t help either. Issy gave her familiar a concerned look. “What is it, Bella? Huh? I know, Mommy’s acting strange.”
“Got that right,” Ember said then twisted around to look out the back window. “He’s gone. We better hurry, ’cause Gray’s already left the field. Don
’t want to leave it unattended for too long.”
Issy scooted up in her seat, moved Bella to safety in the back, and then restarted the old truck’s engine and pulled out into the road again. They reached the outskirts of Silver Hollow and made a left turn down an all but invisible path into the woods surrounding the town.
The farther they drove, the darker it got, until only a few hazy beams of dappled sunlight streamed through the heavy forest canopy. The air here was cooler and smelled of musty, rotted leaves and dirt. Issy eased the truck around a bend and down into a little valley near a bubbling brook. She parked off to the side of the dirt path, and she and Ember got out.
Bella immediately sniffed all of the trees within a five-foot radius while Bellatrix and Endora peeked out from the top of the tote bag Ember had them in as the cousins walked the short distance to the stream and surveyed the area.
A few yards from where they were stood a shadowed figure. Issy nudged her cousin in the arm and pointed. “Someone’s here.”
The figure was bent over and appeared to be digging in the dirt.
Issy swallowed hard around the lump of tension in her throat. “Let’s go.”
As they got closer, however, her heart sank. It was Enid and Becky. The little porker was snuffling the ground and pawing the soil as if helping Enid dig.
Bella tugged on her leash, eager to say hello. Issy followed behind her, guessing this must’ve been what her little familiar was so excited about in the truck. Bella and Becky were true pals.
Enid stood in the nonpoisonous, gourmet section of the field and clearly had no clue of the imminent danger. Issy cleared her throat, hoping not to startle the older lady. “Hi, Enid.”
“Oh!” Enid whirled around fast, and Becky oinked. “Issy, dear. You scared me. I didn’t see anyone else arrive.”
“We parked a little way down.” Issy glanced at Ember then back to the elderly witch. “What are you doing here, Enid?”
“Searching for some rare Trabucco mushrooms. They’re one of the special ingredients in my secret pizza sauce recipe I promised to Luigi.” She held up the small bundle in her hand and opened it so Issy could peer inside. “Of course, I’m not going to give him the location of our mushroom field, so I came out here to dig a few up myself. Thought it would be a nice gesture to give him some of the actual mushrooms to get him started on his first batch of sauce. I know he’s from the committee and all, but it would be smart for us to make friends with him, don’t you think?”
“Yes, that’s smart.” Issy wrapped an arm around the smaller woman’s shoulders. For a minute there, Issy had been worried Enid was out here digging up poisonous mushrooms. But Enid couldn’t be possessed by the demon, because she’d eaten Ember’s candy, and besides, she didn’t have any poisonous mushrooms, only the Trabuccos.
“He’s not so bad, you know,” Enid said. “Luigi, I mean. He’s really kind of a pussycat underneath. A tortured soul.”
Tortured soul that wants to bring the punishment hammer down on whoever unleashed the demon. Issy didn’t voice her thoughts, though. The more Enid helped him, the more he’d like her, and hopefully, that would go in her favor if she was brought before the committee. Plus, the previous conversation with him had left Issy doubting if he actually was even interested in turning anyone in.
“Well, Ember and I are going to head across the stream for a moment. We’ll see you later.”
“Be careful,” Enid called from behind them. “Those are the bad kind.”
Issy waved then followed Ember across a tiny footbridge to the poisonous side of the field. Here, the light was downright gloomy. There was no birdsong, no breeze rustling the leaves, just ominous silence and the smell of danger. Issy picked up Bella and held her in her arms, not wanting to take the chance of her tiny dog getting sick from being near the poisonous plants.
“The black mushrooms are on the hill over there.” Ember pointed toward a large tree, its dead limbs twisting up into the air. They started toward it slowly. Over here on the poisonous side, it was as if the air were thicker, harder to breathe. And time seemed to slow, almost as if the area itself were cautioning them to think about what they were doing and take their time. Poisonous mushrooms were a serious matter.
Ember crested the hill first then stood looking at the ground, her mouth in a tight line. “Oh dear. This isn’t good.”
“What’s wrong?” Issy moved in beside her cousin, her stomach sinking as they peered down at the freshly dug holes in the earth. “Someone’s been here already.”
“They’ve already dug up the mushrooms.” Ember sighed.
Bella whined, and Issy hugged her close. The poor little thing was trembling. Maybe she was cold. It was pretty dismal in this small patch of woods. Issy and Ember started back the way they’d come, Issy’s steps slow with defeat. “They must have come after Gray left and before we got here. Which means we’ll have to find another way to catch our killer.”
18
Dex sat in his Buick along the side of the two-lane highway, Gordon perched on the back of the seat next to him. He’d tailed Issy and her cousin to the woods, but for some weird reason when he’d gone to turn off the road, the path they’d followed wasn’t there. He’d backtracked two or three times but couldn’t find it. So he’d finally given up and decided to wait instead.
He glanced over at Gordon, who looked back at him with the lizard equivalent of a “What’s up, dude?” expression. “I know, buddy.” Dex sighed. “Pretty pathetic, huh?”
Gordon rose on his hind legs and lifted his front paw as if in agreement.
Yep. Nothing like camping out in the middle of nowhere to protect a woman who wanted nothing to do with him or his guardianship. Still, he’d vowed to watch over her and her nutty family, and that was exactly what he intended to do, whether Issy liked it or not.
What the heck could they be doing in there anyway? He checked his watch for the umpteenth time then shook his head. It had been over a half an hour already. He’d figured maybe they were walking their pets or something. It was a nice day out, and he seemed to remember Issy mentioning her love of the outdoors back when he was working the Drummond case.
The Drummond case. Dex frowned. Every time he remembered those days, something didn’t sit right inside him, like a wrong puzzle piece jammed into place. There was something about being in the woods with Issy, something about that killer they’d caught here, something he and Issy had shared…
Scowling, he shook off the hazy thoughts. It seemed that no matter how hard he concentrated, all he ever got was a splitting headache for his trouble.
His phone dinged. Stan again. Dex debated not taking it, but he was afraid Stan would just hop on the next plane out if he thought there were paranormal activities. Better to be able to talk him out of coming in the first place.
“Stan! How’s the case going?” Dex tried to sound as though he were happy to hear from him.
“Good. Wrapping things up soon. I heard some strange rumblings about dark magic going on in Silver Hollow. What’s going on down there?”
“Yeah, I’m on that. Unfortunately, I don’t think it has anything to do with the paranormal.” Dex tried to sound disappointed.
“No? Why not?” Stan really did sound disappointed.
“Well, you heard about the murder the other day.”
“The dishwasher dumpster murder?”
“Yeah, that one. Anyway, there was a doll found with the body.”
“A voodoo doll. Black magic.” Stan’s voice rose with excitement.
“Seemed that way at first, but there was an attempted second murder, and turns out the dolls aren’t voodoo dolls. They’re clues to the next murder. So I’m afraid we just have an average run-of-the-mill serial killer on our hands.”
“Oh no. Really? What about the energy disruptions—that happens when there’s magic.”
“I told you that was just a bad transformer. Haven’t been any since.”
“Oh, right. Dang. I was hopin
g we could get someone really powerful from Silver Hollow. I know there’s magic there. I can feel it.”
Dex’s chest constricted at the vengeance in Stan’s words. The guy really wanted to experiment on a paranormal. A few weeks ago, Dex might have thought it was funny because there was no such thing, but given recent events, he was starting to question his earlier beliefs. Something was off with this dishwasher killing, but Dex didn’t know if it actually pointed to anything magic.
Whether it did or not, he sure as heck didn’t want Stan down here trying to drag people back to Area 59. Dex was starting to get attached to Silver Hollow and its residents, especially one in particular, and the farther away Stan was from them, the better.
“Sorry, buddy. Nothing paranormal here. At least not with this case. I’ll stick on it, though, and let you know.”
“Roger. I’ll have my bags ready.”
Stan clicked off, and Dex took a deep breath. He didn’t know how long he’d be able to hold Stan off from coming here. Good thing he was tied up in that other case. As soon as it was over, though, he’d be wanting to come to Silver Hollow, and Dex had better be ready. He had the feeling he might need to protect the residents from more than just the serial killer that was on the loose now. He might be protecting them from his own partner.
Dex thumbed through his messages. A new one appeared from Owen. The sheriff had found some new information on the case.
After tossing the phone back on the seat, Dex secured Gordon’s leash to the seat belt then started his engine. Time to head back to the station. Didn’t look as if anything much was going to happen here.
A few minutes later, he pulled into the small parking lot in front of the Silver Hollow Police headquarters and unhooked Gordon, giving him time to scramble up on his shoulder before exiting the vehicle.
Owen met him by the desk of Myra Bell, the station receptionist.
“I’ve tracked down the charm found in the wound of the first victim.” Owen led Dex through a doorway leading to the back area and the sheriff’s office. On his desk, in a small baggie, sat the evidence in question.
Spell Disaster (Silver Hollow Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series Book 2) Page 10