by Erin Johnson
It was like some icy thing between Peter and me melted away, and I felt a rush of warmth.
As Mrs. Harrington dissolved into sobs and the cops arrested the struggling Chaz Harrington, I looked over at Peter and mouthed, “Thank you.”
25
A Confession
Peter and Daisy sat across from me in the same booth at the same diner we’d hit up the other night. Rain pattered the awnings outside the window at my back, and the griddle sizzled, the whole place smelling of burgers and fried food. My kind of place.
As we waited for our orders of fish and chips to come out, Peter cleared his throat, then looked earnestly at me across the chipped table. He laced his fingers together, rolling his thumbs one over the other. “Look, I need to be clear about something.”
He darted a look around the half-full diner, then leaned forward and lowered his voice. “My issue with you being a—a shifter, isn’t because I think you’re gross or less than, like that creep did.” He rolled his shoulders. “For me, it’s about trust.”
I nodded and kicked my feet, ankles crossed. “I get that… now.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “I’m having to work to trust you too, you know.” I raised my brows at him. “Shifters don’t have the best view of cops. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen officers fail to look into robberies, murders, and more. If it happens to someone in the Darkmoon District, it’s treated like business as usual.” I shrugged. “And even worse for shifters. If the cops get word that you are one—it’s just a matter of time before they pin something on you.”
Peter’s throat bobbed, and he let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. I get that. I’ve run into my fair share of corruption within the department, so I know firsthand that it happens.” He lifted his blue eyes to mine. “We’re not all like that though.”
“I know.” I winked. “You’re one of the good ones.”
His cheeks flushed pink. “Jolene, as a cop, I’m putting my life and the lives of those I’ve sworn to protect on the line. If I have any doubts about trusting someone I’m working with…” He splayed his hands, brows pinched together. “I just don’t know how to do that.”
I licked my lips, thinking this over. If Peter had experienced betrayal from within his department and had had experiences with shifters lying to protect their own… no wonder it had devastated him to find out I’d been keeping big secrets from him.
A warm hand closed around mine, and I looked up. Peter reached his other hand across the table and cupped mine in both of his. “Could we work on rebuilding trust together?
A happy tingle shot up my arm and down my back. I grinned. “Yeah. I’d like that.” I gulped, throat tight. Well… it was now or never. “Which is why, in the interest of being totally transparent… I have one more thing I need to tell you.”
Peter’s thick brows pinched together. “I might need to order a beer, huh?”
I winced. “Yeah, probably a couple wouldn’t hurt.”
Peter glanced toward our waitress, who bustled behind the tall counter.
Daisy, eyes worried, looked between us and whined. Are you holding hands or is he arresting you?
I whined back at her. We’re thumb wrestling. If I lose, he arrests me.
She glared at me and sniffed. Har har.
Peter spun back to face me. “I’ll catch her in a minute.” He took a deep breath. “Alright. I’m ready.”
I winced again. “We’ll see about that. It’s uh, kind of a doozy.”
I explained about Ludolf and the whole underground shifter society. Peter paled, and the whites shone all around his eyes, but he didn’t interrupt as I explained how Ludolf had threatened to hurt him to get me to fall in line and the way the mob boss manipulated all of us with threats and favors that amounted to blackmail—why shifters tended to stick together.
I lifted a palm. “You saw how the Harringtons reacted earlier tonight. You know what we’re up against out there. And within our own society, there’s this huge pressure to conform.”
He shook his head. “That’s a lot.”
I nodded. “And even worse—I recently learned that Ludolf was the one who cursed me a few years ago. I was getting too close to pinning a crime on him, and he wanted to take me out while testing a potion on me.”
Peter looked horrified. “Test a potion for what?”
I shrugged. “I still don’t know. And now he’s testing cures on me.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “Peter, I’m genuinely concerned it might hurt me… kill me, even.” I plastered on a sad grin. “And frankly, I’d rather not get killed by a maniac, if it could be avoided.”
Peter’s eyes searched my face. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry.” His throat bobbed, and he held my gaze. “How can I help?”
I grinned. “That’s very sweet of you.” I bit my lip. “I think I need to learn more about Ludolf, to understand how he’s got this grip on power among shifters.”
I thought of what my old headmistress had told me about the Monster Wars and the propaganda against shifters. I lowered my voice. “And then I want to take Ludolf Caterwaul down. As long as he’s in power, shifters are never going to be free.” A tingle of excitement and fear shot through me at saying it out loud.
Peter nodded thoughtfully.
I leaned closer to him, our hands still clasped. “This is incredibly dangerous, what I’m talking about doing. I understand if you want to walk away or need some time to think about it.”
Peter squeezed my hand. “No. Like I said, I want to help.”
I raised my brows. “Did I mention how dangerous it is?”
He leaned closer to me across the table, so that our faces were only inches apart. “Why do you think I became a cop, Jolene? To protect people—all people.” His eyes drifted to my lips. “Especially the ones I care deeply about.”
I parted my lips, leaned the rest of the way across the table, and kissed him. His warm palm cupped my cheek, and he pulled me deeper into the kiss. My chest flooded with warmth and I grew light-headed.
“Ahem.”
Lips still locked, my eyes slid to my right. Our waitress stood there, two baskets of steaming fish and chips in her hands.
Grinning sheepishly, we leaned apart, and she set our food down, a little twinkle in her eyes.
After she left, Peter shot me a grin, his cheeks pink, and I chuckled, then sucked on my lips. In spite of vowing to take on a suicide mission against the mob boss of shifters, I was in a surprisingly giddy mood.
Daisy sat beside him, her ears flat, and whimpered. I need something to wash away the bad taste in my mouth at having to watch you two maul each other.
I whined back at her before popping a french fry in my mouth. Oh, relax, Daisy. It was just a kiss. I grinned at Peter, with his broad shoulders and cute grin. It was a pretty fantastic kiss, though.
She whimpered again. A milkshake would certainly go a long way, though. She kept her nose pointed to the floor, but her eyes darted up at me.
I shook my head but leaned over, catching the waitress’s eye. “A vanilla milkshake for the dog, please.”
She frowned but nodded.
Peter raised a thick brow, and I waved it off.
“Peace offering to Daisy.” If all it took was a milkshake to keep her off my case, I could handle that.
He grinned and ruffled her head.
I munched on a bite of fried fish, thinking over the wild events of the night. I raised my brows. “You feeling okay with… everything?”
Peter grinned and found my foot under the table with his. “Yeah. I’m feeling good with everything.”
I winced. “You sure? This is pretty risky.”
He grinned wider. “Yeah, but I think it’ll be worth it. I think we’re on to something big.”
I fought a grin. “Are we talking about the whole Ludolf thing or—” I motioned between us. “Us?”
He winked. “Both.”
Think Jolene’s mystery-solving days are over? No way! Keep reading to dive into the next mag
ical mystery today!
When the owner of a sanctuary is killed in a cage, can Jolene solve the murder and find the missing phoenix?
Read The Squawking Dead to solve a zoo of a mystery today!
Click Here to get your FREE copy of Saved by the Spell and check out rookie officer Peter Flint’s first case with Daisy. Saved by the Spell is the prequel to the Magic Market paranormal cozy mystery series: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/39ltzc764w
Keep reading for the next book, The Squawking Dead!
The Squawking Dead
A Cozy Witch Mystery
About The Squawking Dead
When the owner of a sanctuary is killed in a cage, can a witch who can speak to animals solve the murder and find the missing phoenix?
When the owner of an animal sanctuary is found dead inside one of the cages, Jolene teams up with her hot cop boyfriend and his lie sniffing dog to catch the killer. But with rumors that the victim axed her millionaire husband, a second body, and a missing phoenix thrown in the mix, it’s turning into a zoo of a case.
On top of everything, the animals are giving her the silent treatment, and Jolene fears the sanctuary is hiding a dark secret.
Will this cursed witch be able to find the fire bird before it combusts, and bring the truth of the murders to light? Or will Jolene get burned as the whole thing goes up in flames?
The Squawking Dead is the seventh novel in the hilarious and enchanting Magic Market paranormal cozy mystery series. If you like talking animal sidekicks, delicious riddles, and cheeky female leads, then you’ll love Erin Johnson’s enchanting tale.
Happy reading!
1
Crab Puffs
“Appetizers?” Heidi rolled her wrist, wand in hand, and the round gold trays laden with dragon rolls, shrimp, mini quiches, and cheese and crackers magically lowered to waist height. The chattering group of guests broke apart and clustered around the trays, eagerly scooping up snacks.
Thank the seas Heidi was such a good friend—and so coordinated. She managed to not only keep her own appetizer tray afloat, but mine as well as we threaded through the hundreds of glittering party guests.
As a certain curse had deprived me of magic, I’d have had to manually carry that tray around without her. And I’d have either tuckered out or probably knocked the tray over on some aristocrat’s head and gotten myself fired. Which would have been unfortunate. And it wasn’t because I needed the money or all the food and drinks I’d been sneaking—I was here to collect intel.
A woman in a floor-length leopard print dress pointed a black gloved finger at a mini quiche.
“Is it vegetarian?”
I blinked back at her, eyes wide. For one, she’d caught me unprepared—I’d been wondering where one found a floor-length leopard print dress. But two, I’d just stuffed one of those dragon rolls in my mouth and could barely chew, my mouth was so full, much less talk.
Thankfully, Heidi leaned over and saved my scales once again. “Nope. They have ham in them. Try the cheese and crackers?” My friend magically rotated the tray so they’d be easier for her to reach.
The guest smiled her thanks, took her cracker, and rejoined her similarly decked out friends. Animal print was apparently the theme for the Night of the Phoenix fundraising event at the Magical Animal Sanctuary.
“Excuse me!” I jumped back as a woman shoved past.
“Oof!”
She stumbled into a heavy man who turned and scowled at her, but the lady, who looked to be about seventy, never paused—just pushed her way through the crowd. I followed her with my eyes for another minute. It wasn’t just her expression—she’d looked pale and distraught— that made me take note of her. I frowned a little as I realized she was maybe the only person at the party in head-to-toe black—well, besides us servers—no hint of animal print. What had her in such a hurry?
As she disappeared into the sea of party guests, someone else caught my attention. I nudged Heidi with my elbow and jerked my chin at a guy threading his way through the crowd.
“Would you ever date a guy who wore a tiger print tuxedo?” I had to lean close to her and raise my voice to be heard over the murmur of voices, click of heels, clink of glasses, and the magically amplified harp music coming from the stage in the corner of the big, glass-ceilinged room.
Heidi giggled, then her dark eyes grew wide and she pressed a fingertip with a shiny black nail to the communication device in her ear. “Oops! No, Peter, that was not a question for you.”
She flashed her eyes at me, and I grinned as I munched on the last of the dragon roll.
She swatted at me and mouthed, “Stop eating all the food.”
I popped a quiche into my mouth before she magically raised the trays higher than I could reach.
“It’s food. It’s here to be eaten.” I rose on my toes and swiped at the trays while she grinned.
Her gaze dropped, and she nodded. “Okay.” She looked at me. “Peter wants me to tell you that he’s cold and misses you and that you should stuff some crab puffs into your pockets for him for later.”
I grimaced. “If there are any left. They’ve been very popular tonight—”
Heidi shot me a flat look. “With you.”
I shrugged, then remembered something. “Ask Peter if he’s seen you-know-who.” I rose on my toes and glanced over the heads of the guests as Heidi relayed my message. Overhead, a glass greenhouse ceiling revealed the fast-moving clouds gliding past a bright half-moon.
The huge room echoed with the voices of the densely packed crowd, and a huge banner that read Night of the Phoenix—embellished with flames, of course—hung from the tall ceiling in front of a red velvet curtain. A stage, raised a few steps above the polished marble floor, stood empty in front of the red curtain, which apparently hid the phoenix’s enclosure from view.
I frowned as I looked toward it. I’d never seen a phoenix in person and wondered how the extremely rare creature was handling all the hubbub outside its cage. Hopefully the sanctuary had cast a dampening spell to at least keep the noise down for it.
Heidi nudged me to get my attention and shook her head. “No sign of him. But Peter says he’s also been working patrol along the perimeter, so he could have arrived when he wasn’t stationed at the gates.”
I nodded. “Thank him for me?” I winked. “And tell him I’ll warm him up later.”
Heidi shook her head, grinning, her braids coiled into two buns at her nape. “You’ll have to tell him that yourself, lovebird.”
I glanced around again, muttering to myself. “Where is he…?” Peter and Daisy weren’t suffering out in the cold and Heidi and I didn’t have aching feet just for kicks. We were here for the mob boss of shifters himself, Ludolf Caterwaul.
We’d decided we needed to learn more about Ludolf to take him down and prevent him from likely killing me by using me as a lab rat to test “cures” on—for the curse he’d put on me in the first place. So Peter and I had gone to the best (and only) reporter I knew, Madeline L’Orange and asked her to dig up some dirt on him.
She’d said she was still doing research but had gotten word that he’d be attending the Night of the Phoenix fundraising event at the Magical Animal Sanctuary. When a list went around the station, Peter signed himself and Daisy up to work the event as an off-duty officer helping with security. And Heidi had begged a favor from a friend so that we could go undercover for the catering company.
I frowned as I looked at all the glittering zebra and leopard prints. Seemed like both an oddly wholesome and tacky event for a man as devious and particular as Ludolf, but hey. Maybe even evil villains enjoyed a good crab puff sometimes.
Plus, the place was brimming with Bijou Mer’s elite, all gathered at this opulent mansion on one of the top tiers of our magical island. Maybe Ludolf was here to rub elbows with the rich and powerful. I sighed. If he was even attending. Maybe Madeline had gotten it wrong.
“Come on.” Heidi turned, the trays magically hovering beside us. �
�Let’s keep looking for him.” She glanced back over her shoulder and grinned. “It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it? Will’s going to be so mad he had to keep the clinic running tonight and couldn’t come.”
I grinned back. This part was kind of fun, though I doubted Will would be all that jealous. Before an angry outburst outed him as a bear shifter years ago, he’d been one of Bijou Mer’s top surgeons and had attended swanky parties like this one all the time. I doubted he’d want to show his face here as the help.
I thought over the last month. Being summoned to Ludolf’s secret underground lair in the sewers to have possibly deadly potions tested on me had been less than pleasant. I wanted to figure out how to prosecute Ludolf for one of his crimes—not one of his underlings, who he always managed to shift the blame to—and put him away for good. I’d nearly done so years ago when I’d been a successful lawyer—until I got too close and Ludolf cursed me to silence me.
I still didn’t quite understand why he hadn’t just killed me back then. He could have. And yet, he kept me around to test potions on. Why?
He’d already summoned me down there several times. Each new potion threatened to take the last bit of magical ability I had left—being able to speak to animals—or worse, even my life. Every time I thought about it, it sent shivers down my spine, so I fished some salami and cheese out of the pocket of the black slacks I’d borrowed from Heidi and popped them into my mouth. Stress eating—always worked for me.
I followed my friend as we laced through the partygoers, past laughing groups of glittering elite and clouds of overly sweet perfume. The whole time I scanned for Ludolf.
“—think she’ll kill the new hubby off tonight?”