“This is Tina,” Kyran said. “I was hoping we could talk to you about Rosa Lynn.”
“Right,” Leon said, his friendly smile dropping as he shook his head sadly. “Awful business, that. Let’s go outside, where we can have a bit more privacy.”
The three of us went out into the street and began walking aimlessly along the cobblestone.
“I heard that you were fired as her head of security,” Kyran said. “Is that true?”
“Now, you know I trust you, but I do need to know why you are asking about this,” Leon said.
“Tina here works at The Witching Flour. It was started by Ellie, one of her best friends.”
“Right, the cinnamon bun which,” Leon nodded.
“That’s her. Anyway, yesterday was the opening day of the new store, and Rosa was poisoned with one of the cinnamon buns. Now they’re not getting any customers, and Tina and her friends are trying to figure out who killed Rosa so they can save the reputation of the new shop.”
“Well, I can tell you that I’ll do my best to help,” Leon said. “If you ask me, the real crime here is using those cinnamon buns for evil.”
“So you weren’t a fan of Rosa’s?” I asked, and Leon shook his head.
“Can’t say that I was,” he replied. “She was my employer, and I did my job to the best of my abilities, but speaking personally, I didn’t think she was a nice person.”
“And she fired you not long ago?”
“Three weeks ago tomorrow,” Leon replied. “Along with the rest of the security team. However, I’m sure you got my name because I was heard arguing with her after she fired me. Everyone else went willingly. I think most of the staff were happy to get away from her, even if it did mean having to find new jobs.”
I raised my eyebrows. I hadn’t exactly expected Leon to admit that he’d gotten into a fight with Rosa not long before she died.
“What was the argument about?”
“Whether or not she needed security at all. Personally, I didn’t care about the fact that I’d been fired. I worked as an Enforcer for years; I have a pension. I take some side jobs for extra spending money so that I can go on a nice vacation once or twice a year, and because I find it to be interesting work, but it’s certainly not necessary. However, a witch like Rosa, with so much money and such a bad reputation in town, was absolutely a target, and I thought that firing her entire security team was a bad idea.”
“So why did she get rid of you?” I asked.
Leon shrugged. “To be completely honest, I don’t know. But she seemed to be trying to cut expenses in a number of different parts of her life, so maybe that’s all it was.”
“What did you do as her security team?”
“Mostly I just made sure her home was secure. There was me, a wizard who cast the wards that were needed, and another shifter who worked part time whenever she held a dinner party or had a large event at her family’s estate.”
“Did you have any recent problems with anyone trying anything?” Kyran asked, and Leon shook his head.
“Not recently. A few months ago, some young wizards were caught sneaking onto the property with a carton of eggs. I don’t think they were attempting anything beyond petty vandalism, though. I sent them back home with a warning that if I saw them on the property again, I would be calling Chief Enforcer King myself. That seemed to put the fear of Jupiter into them and they ran off. But I don’t think they were serious threats, just young wizards getting into a bit of trouble.”
I nodded. Wizards who threw eggs at people’s houses were annoying, for sure. But murderers? I didn’t think so.
“So no attempts on her life or anything like that?”
“Absolutely not. In fact, I think that’s one of the reasons she felt confident letting her security team go.”
“Is it not strange to have private security for just one person?” I asked, and Leon shook his head.
“No, especially since the security wasn’t for Rosa personally so much as for her entire estate. Rosa came from one of the richest magical families in the entire paranormal world, and her family’s estate is enormous. However, Rosa was unmarried, and her only family was her sister, who chose to live in town in a regular apartment. So, Rosa felt that the family estate, with only a single witch living in it, needed protection. After all, there is a ton of art, ancient artifacts, and other items in there worth thousands of dollars. There are break-in attempts at least once a year, and while obviously Rosa had insurance, one can never be certain that a burglar won’t run into Rosa and attack her.”
I nodded. That made a lot of sense. “Do you know who might have wanted her dead?”
“Dead? If I had to venture a guess, I would say that witch, Ophelia Storm, might have done it. She was convinced that Rosa had stolen her boyfriend.”
“Did she?” I asked.
“I’m not sure if ‘stolen’ is the word I would use. However, Rosa and Ophelia’s boyfriend Kyle were definitely having an affair. I’m one hundred percent certain of that. I was in the room when Rosa met Kyle for the first time; he was her personal trainer at the gym. He definitely did not resist when Rosa immediately began flirting with him.”
“Ok, so even though Kyle was a willing participant, I can definitely understand how Ophelia would have believed Rosa stole her boyfriend,” I said. “Is there anyone else you can think of who would have had a grudge against her? Enough to kill her, I mean.”
“No,” Leon said, shaking his head. “Not at all. Sorry, I wish I could give you more to go on.”
“Hey, if that’s all you know, that’s all you know,” Kyran said with a shrug. “Thanks for the help.”
“No problem. You need anything else, just give me a shout, ok? I’ll try and spread the word among the lion shifters in town that The Witching Flour isn’t the sort of place that will get you killed, too. How’s that sound?” he added with a wink.
“That would be amazing, thank you,” I said gratefully. The more people came by Ellie’s bakery right now, the better.
Leon said his goodbyes and headed back toward the gym while I thought over what he had just said. I liked that Kyran was willing to let me think without interruption until I was ready.
“Well, Ophelia is definitely the main suspect, then.”
“Agreed,” Kyran said. “There are still a few hours before she’ll be at The Magic Mule, though.”
“Well, it feels like we haven’t been on a proper date in forever. What do you say we grab some food to go and have a picnic in the Coven Gardens?”
“Aren’t you worried about people seeing us together?” Kyran teased. Witches and elves were not supposed to see each other, and our relationship was actually considered fairly taboo. But hey, I loved him, and everyone who had a problem with that could just deal with it.
I smirked. “We can buy a carton of eggs to throw at paranormals who stare at us for too long, inspired by the vandals.”
“Now that’s what I call a romantic picnic plan.”
I punched Kyran lightly on the arm as we made our way to Two Wizards and a Griddle, a cute little ’50s-style diner that did surprisingly delicious food. After we grabbed a couple of burgers and some fries, we began walking toward Coven Gardens, and as we passed The Witching Flour, I stopped.
“Now what kind of friend would I be if we didn’t get dessert from here?” I asked.
“Good plan. I want to see what it looks like inside, too.”
The two of us stepped through the door to find that, luckily, the place wasn’t completely deserted. Lucy was helping a couple of tourists choose some pins on her side of the store, and three young witches were enjoying whoopie pies at one of the tables. Ellie came out from the back a second later and perked up as soon as she saw us.
“Tina! And Kyran! How’s it going?”
“We’re about to go have a picnic, but we couldn’t do it without stopping by here first,” Kyran said. “This place looks amazing.”
“Thanks,” Ellie said. �
�It’s too bad a certain event that took place yesterday has absolutely killed my sales.” She let out a puff of air from her cheeks. “I mean, a part of me hopes it was that. If it wasn’t, and it’s just that nobody wants to buy my baked goods, even if the killer is found, this place is bound to fail.”
“Don’t say that,” I replied. “Yesterday’s events are obviously the problem. You had no issue selling out every week at the markets.”
“You’re right. Anyway, how’s it going on that front?” Ellie asked, glancing over at Kyran.
“Don’t worry, he knows we’re investigating,” I said with a laugh. “You can talk about it in front of him. I’ll tell you when you get home, but we have one main suspect. I’m going to The Magic Mule to talk to her around six.”
“Oh good, I’ll come with you. Goodness knows I could use a stiff drink after the last couple days. Come and get me on your way?”
“Will do,” I nodded.
“Alright, well, I won’t keep you two lovebirds any longer. What can I get for you?”
“How can I possibly get anything but a famous Ellie original cinnamon bun?” Kyran said with a wink, and Ellie packed it up.
“I’m going to have one of those whoopie pies,” I said. “As much as I love a cinnamon bun, I think I like the whoopie pies even more.”
“Oh, those are dangerous words in this town,” Kyran said with a grin, pulling out his wallet.
Ellie immediately held out a hand. “Oh, no way. This is on the house.”
“Absolutely not,” Kyran replied, pulling out some abras. “You’re starting a new business, and the best thing I can do to support you as a friend is to pay for the goods I buy at said business. I’m paying for these, and that’s final.”
Ellie looked like she was about to cry with gratitude.
“I hope you and Tina and the others manage to find the killer,” Kyran said. “I want to see this place succeed.”
“Thanks,” Ellie said, handing us a box with our goodies. “Now have a good afternoon, you two. Tina, I’ll see you later.”
The two of us left the store and made our way to the gardens for a nice, romantic lunch.
Chapter 9
Kyran and I took our time walking to the gardens, so by the time we got there, settling down at one of the picnic tables by the lake, our burgers and fries were definitely more lukewarm than anything else.
“Oh well, the company is more important than the food, anyway,” Kyran grinned.
“As nice as that thought is, there’s no reason you can’t have both,” I said, pulling out my wand. “Jupiter, god of thunder, take this food and make it hotter.”
A pulse of energy coursed through me and out the wand. Kyran picked up a fry and took a bite.
“Ooh, that’s hot! Good job! Who knew dating a witch could come in so handy?”
I grinned as I took a big bite of my burger. It was really a gorgeous day outside. Birds chirped in the trees above, a couple of ducks swam across the lake, and a warm breeze tickled the grass as Kyran and I dug into our food in silence.
“So how have things been going for you? A lot quieter since you’ve taken down that ring of vampires?”
“That’s right,” Kyran said with a nod. “Honestly, it’s been a little bit boring. It seems like a number of paranormals took the hint and have stopped going to the human world to commit crimes.” Kyran worked as a vigilante; he was officially unemployed, but unofficially he traveled to the human world to find paranormals causing trouble there and brought them to justice. Most recently he had discovered and stopped a ring of vampires who had been murdering young men for their blood. “But hey, I’ll take that any day of the week. How about you? How are things going, apart from the launch of The Witching Flour?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Honestly, I’ve been feeling a bit down lately. I did one of my movie nights the other day, and no one showed up. It was just me and the girls. I know it was raining, so people probably didn’t want to come into the park, even though Amy made a spell to cover everyone from the rain, but still. It feels like I’m putting in the effort to try and bring different types of paranormals together, but it’s not working. It’s like no one here wants to change.”
Ever since I had moved to Western Woods, I had thought the strict hierarchy of what types of work different paranormals were supposed to do, along with the fact that generally paranormals stuck to socializing with their own kind, was a little bit ridiculous. I had tried to do a weekly movie night encouraging different paranormals to hang out together, but, well, it didn’t seem to be working.
“I don’t think you’re giving yourself nearly enough credit,” Kyran said. “And I also think you’re expecting things to happen at a much faster rate than they’re going to.”
He paused for a second while considering the rest of his sentence. “Things have been the way they are in the paranormal world for literally thousands of years. I know you’re trying to change things, and I’m all for it, but it’s not going to take six months. These things have been engrained in the culture here. I also don’t think it’s going to happen the way you think, with everyone one day realizing the way they’ve always done things is wrong.”
“No, I wouldn’t expect them to.”
“Right. It’s going to be a very slow movement. It’s not going to be a tsunami; it’s going to be a slow erosion of rocks over years and years. Besides, I don’t think you’re giving yourself nearly enough credit. While you may not have shifted the attitudes of every paranormal in town, you’re definitely starting to make a difference, even if you don’t realize it just yet. Changes like these take time. Susan B. Anthony never saw the passing of the thirteenth amendment, let alone how far women have come in so many fields since then. But she was still instrumental in the women’s suffrage movement in the United States back in the human world.”
“I guess,” I said, chewing my burger thoughtfully. “You’re right, of course. I’m just being impatient. But it’s hard when I see things like the two old witches who just walked past staring at us like we’re zoo animals just because we’re dating.”
“That’s probably just because you have a giant smear of ketchup on your cheek,” Kyran grinned, and I quickly slapped my hand to my face, wiping off the red goo, and groaned as my boyfriend handed me a napkin.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me about that earlier? How did that even get there?” I complained as I wiped the ketchup off my fingers, and my cheek.
Kyran laughed. “One of life’s great mysteries. Anyway, try not to beat yourself up for not changing thousands of years of tradition in less than a year. You’re having more of an effect than you know, and it will eventually ripple out.”
“Thanks,” I said to him with a smile. “For the pep talk. Not for letting me ramble on with a giant glob of ketchup on my face.”
“If it helps, I think you’re adorable, ketchup or no ketchup.”
As we finished our picnic, I couldn’t help but appreciate just how comfortable I was around Kyran. No matter what happened, he was always ready with a kind word of encouragement, and always ready to guide me through the paranormal world, in his own way. He was so different to everybody else that I had met here, and it was a shame that most people considered him a little bit of an outcast simply due to the fact that he had shunned the traditional elvish way of life and did his own thing.
Eventually, the sun began to dip toward the horizon, and we packed up our things. After all, I had to meet Ellie at The Witching Flour, and then we were going to have a chat with Ophelia at the Magic Mule.
“Text me if you need anything,” Kyran said when we reached the edge of the gardens. “And I mean it. I don’t want you getting hurt investigating this murder. And it’s not like I have a lot of other things going on right now.”
“I will,” I promised, nodding. “I’ll keep you in the loop.”
As we separated, I was all too aware of the light ache in my heart. I really had fallen for Kyran hard.
I stuck my tongue out at her. It was just after five; Lucy had gone home and Ellie appeared to have everything here under control. Everything at the front of the shop was cleaned and ready for the next day.
“It was nice, actually,” I said. “I love being outside in the summer.”
“Western Woods has the best summer weather,” Ellie agreed. “It doesn’t get stupidly hot and humid like the other parts of the country, but it’s still warm enough that you can be outside and soak up the sun’s rays no problem.”
“Kyran has offered to help if we need it, too,” I added.
“That’s really nice of him,” Ellie said. “Honestly, today was just dreadful. Nobody came into the bakery. I swear, we had, like, twenty customers total the entire day. We had more than that yesterday in the first half hour.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie,” I said, shaking my head. “But at least we have a solid lead to follow today. Ophelia Storm should be at The Magic Mule in less than an hour, so hopefully we can find out if she’s the one who killed Rosa.”
“Good. I was also thinking we should find out what Rosa did between leaving The Witching Flour and eating the cinnamon bun. If we can find out what she did and who she saw, we may be able to narrow it down to a list of people who had the opportunity to poison the cinnamon bun.”
“Right, good plan,” I said. “Between all of us, I know we’re going to solve this.”
I said the words with as much resolve as I could muster, forcing myself to believe them. There was absolutely no way I was going to let some murder ruin Ellie’s business before it even got off the ground.
Chapter 10
When Ellie and I stepped into The Magic Mule just before six, it was completely different from the atmosphere I had experienced that morning. The whole place was bustling with energy now, with music pumping from the speakers and witches and wizards sitting together either at the bar or at the tables, huddled in conversation or nursing their own drinks individually.
Seven Year Witch Page 5