Wrapping Up (A Wayfair Witches' Cozy Mystery #5)

by A. A. Albright

  She threw what was left of her tissue aside, then stood behind her chair, gripping to it with shaking hands. Her tears were coming fast. ‘I’m not telling you anything. I don’t have to tell you anything, no matter what you say. I’m ashamed of it, all right? So I don’t want to tell you. I don’t want to tell anyone. Winnie was right. In the end, I knew she was right. And I just want to forget about it. I just ... I just want to forget!’

  Finn and I stood up, cautiously approaching her.

  ‘Calm down, please, Mrs Dove,’ I said. ‘We’re trying to find out who killed Winnie. So we need to know everything. Even if it’s embarrassing. Even if you want to forget it. Surely a moment’s embarrassment isn’t as important as helping us find out who killed your best friend.’

  Her sobs were growing louder, making her chest heave and her breath come short. ‘I ... I ... no. No, I can’t!’ she cried. ‘I’m not telling you what it was. I’m not! If I have to tell you something, then I ... I’ll tell you that I killed Winnie. All right? I did it.’ She held out her hands. ‘Arrest me. I did it. Arrest me right now.’

  ≈

  When we arrived at the Wyrd Court, Gretel was standing behind the Incoming desk, looking as tired as Finn and I felt.

  She looked Mrs Dove up and down. ‘This is the murderer?’

  Mrs Dove held her head high. ‘And why not? You don’t think I’m capable of it? You think as little of me as everyone else does? I did it, all right! I ... I strangled her with red ribbon, ribbon made by the Crafty Ladies. Strong enough to string a pig up, that ribbon. And then I ... I tied the ribbon in a bow around her neck, so she’d look like a Solstice present. So ... so that she and her perfect family couldn’t have their perfect family Solstice together. All right?’ She sounded as though she was choking on every word she said.

  Finn sighed. ‘And there you have it. Mrs Dove’s ninth confession since her arrest.’

  ‘Her tenth, actually,’ I said. ‘Though I can understand why you’d lose count, seeing as she keeps confessing. Are there any interrogation rooms free?’

  Gretel leaned closer to us. ‘What for? She’s admitted to it. Judge Redvein will send her straight on to Witchfield if you ask.’

  I looked at Finn. ‘Can you take her photo and I’ll help Gretel fill in the forms?’

  ‘Sure,’ he said with a grunt. ‘And maybe she’ll regale me with her eleventh confession while we’re at it.’

  As he led Mrs Dove to the far wall for her photo, I said, ‘She’s not telling us everything. We’re going to let her sweat for a couple of hours. I’ll come back to her just before the bonfire’s due to start.’

  Gretel nodded at the holding cell. ‘There’s a werewolf, a vampire and an incredibly annoying warlock in there right now. If you want to make her uncomfortable, I can’t think of a better place.’

  I looked over at the pen. The warlock was marching up and down, talking at the top of his lungs. ‘This predicament we find ourselves in would not be so if the witching world were not controlled by women! I demand legal counsel, and I demand it now! And it had better be a man!’

  The werewolf and the vampire sat back, looking the warlock up and down. Happy holidays, indeed.

  ‘What did they do?’

  ‘The warlock threw a rock in through one of our windows. He said it was a protest against having yet another female Minister for Magical Law. The vampire and the werewolf were fighting with each other because the vampire decided to feed a little too close to Lupin Lane. The usual.’

  ‘One of these days I’ll come in here and that holding pen will be empty,’ I said wistfully.

  ‘If it is, it’ll be because the criminals broke out and killed us all.’ Gretel laughed, but I could tell she wasn’t completely joking. ‘So what about it? Shall we throw Mrs Dove in with them?’

  ‘Nah. She’ll only have an audience if we do,’ I said, pulling some forms towards me and filling them out. ‘The one thing she hates is being alone. So I’m going to give her a taster of just how lonely maximum security can be. An empty interrogation room will do the job.’

  We’d streamlined things since Agatha took over the department, but there was still enough scribbling involved to give me wrist sprain. A dicta-quill didn’t really cut it when you were trying to make the quill hear you in an incredibly loud room. ‘Hey, what happened on your latest escapade?’ I asked as I shook out my wrist.

  ‘I texted you about it. Didn’t you get it?’

  I cleared my throat. ‘I’ve been having a bit of a mass deletion of messages frenzy the last couple of days. Yours must have gotten lost in the massacre. I checked on the surveillance equipment, though, and I saw that it tracked Barry to the bank, then he seemed to magic himself straight home to his flat. Was that how it seemed when you tailed him?’

  She nodded glumly. ‘He was in with the bank manager for five minutes, as usual. I guess he can’t travel from the manager’s room, because he came back out to the bank’s main floor and clicked his fingers from there. I travelled to the balcony outside his flat, and he was there, standing at the microwave, heating his dinner. It’s driving me mad, Wanda. I know he’s the bridge between the Minister and the Dark Team. I just know it.’

  I sighed and pushed the forms across to Gretel. Finn was returning with Mrs Dove, who was still sobbing at the top of her lungs. ‘Yeah. Well, let’s hope he slips up one day soon.’

  15. The Green-Eyed Monster

  As Finn and I were walking out of the Wyrd Court, I collided with Gabriel. He was dressed up in an expensive suit, and carrying a bag filled with presents.

  ‘Thank the stars!’ he said breathily. ‘Christine said I’d find you here. Wanda, I’ve been texting and calling you constantly. We need to talk.’

  I moved closer to Finn. ‘Actually, we were just going to do some last minute shopping in Warren Lane. So maybe I’ll see you later.’

  He reached out to me, and although I snapped my arm away, I could feel that stupid old feeling again, wrapping its way around me. I hated him right now. But I liked him right now too. What in Hecate’s name was wrong with me? Despite my best efforts otherwise, I felt every inch of me soften, and I reluctantly met his eyes.

  ‘Please,’ he said. ‘It’s the Winter Solstice, Wanda. The most wonderful time of the year, like you’re always saying. Surely at the most wonderful time of year you could spare some time to listen to me grovel. Because I will grovel. I’ll get down on my hands and knees. Even kiss your feet if you like.’

  I glanced at Finn. He was looking warily from Gabriel to me. ‘Um, I should probably chat to Gabriel,’ I said. ‘We have some stuff to sort out. Just remember – get her the biggest, brashest snow globe you can find, and give it to her on Christmas morning, not this evening. Oh – she likes those fancy vegan chocolates they sell in that sweet shop on Madra Lane, too.’

  ‘You sure you’re okay?’ Finn asked quietly, pulling me aside. ‘I mean, you seem sort of on edge around him.’

  I felt my nose wrinkle. ‘I don’t feel on edge,’ I promised. ‘I mean, I did, but I don’t anymore. I was just overreacting to something he said the other night. I’m fine. I swear.’

  ‘You sure?’ He looked completely unconvinced.

  I glanced at Gabriel. He was smiling hopefully at me, and I felt my mouth twitch in response. Once again, what in Hecate’s name was wrong with me? ‘I’ll be fine. Go. Shop. Be merry. If I don’t catch up with you before you’re finished, then I’ll see you at dinner.’

  Finn still didn’t look convinced, but he walked away slowly, giving Gabriel a wary stare as he went.

  ‘Wow.’ Gabriel slumped down on the steps. ‘Does everyone think I’m a twat now?’

  I sat down next to him. ‘I haven’t told Finn anything about it, actually. But as for everyone thinking you’re a twat ... I’m not entirely sure that I don’t think that myself. I didn’t like how you spoke to Max, Gabriel. You were completely in the wrong.’

  He put his head to his hands. ‘I know. I can’t believ
e how I was, Wanda. I just ... it’s just me and my dad, y’know. Since my mam killed herself, there’s only the two of us, and I was so afraid I was going to lose him too.’

  I resisted the (incredibly strong) urge to hold him. ‘Why would you think you’d lose your father? We were only asking him questions. He was never arrested, Gabriel. Your reaction was way off, and you know it.’

  He looked pleadingly at me. ‘But it wasn’t. Even if my dad was just a person of interest, it was still going to affect him big time. You know he’s an empath, Wanda. Even the smallest amount of bad vibes can send him over the edge. I just wanted to be there when you questioned him. To put him at ease. Was that so much to ask?’

  I shifted around on the step and stared at him. ‘I thought you were going to grovel, Gabe. All you’re doing is making excuses.’

  ‘You’re right,’ he admitted with a groan. ‘Of course you are. Oh, Wanda, I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know. Our relationship is the most important thing in my life. And Max comes along with that. So I shouldn’t have been such a horror to him. And I definitely shouldn’t have tried to push my way into the investigation. I don’t know what else I can say, except to tell you again – you are the most important person in my life.’

  I kept my eyes on his, trying to look stern and unforgiving. But the truth was that I was continually fighting the urge to wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest. I would never do it, though. This wasn’t about me and Gabriel. This was about Gabriel’s attitude to policing work, and more importantly his attitude to Max. Just as I was working up the resolve to stand up and leave the step, he reached into his bag and pulled out a small box, wrapped in gold paper.

  ‘Open it now,’ he said. ‘Please.’

  I pulled hesitantly at the paper, uncovering a small velvet box. Cat in a hat! I really hoped this wasn’t what it looked like.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘It’s not a ring.’

  ‘Oh. Phew. I mean ... it’s a bit soon for that.’ I pulled open the box, revealing a stunning necklace. It was a white-gold sun on a chain. The sun was spherical instead of flat, and it caught the light in the most beautiful way.

  ‘Here.’ He reached for the necklace, lifting my hair and clasping the chain around my neck. At his touch, I began to feel dizzy. ‘I didn’t get you the sun just because tonight is the Winter Solstice, Wanda. I got you the sun because that’s what you are to me. You’re everything to me. And yet somehow, I keep going and messing it up.’ He buried his head in my hair. ‘You have no idea how much I’ve missed your scent.’

  How much he missed my scent? Goodness, I was having a case of the vapours just from being close to him. Those by-gone ladies had the right idea when they carried smelling salts everywhere. It was getting more and more difficult to stay angry. Could I even stand up and march away? Probably not right now, seeing as my whole body was shaking. But I could still hold firm. ‘I ... I like you a lot, Gabriel. You know that. But Max is part of my life. A big part. There’s no amount of jewellery that can make up for how you spoke to him.’

  His jaw tightened, but he smiled and reached his hand to mine. ‘I know that. I know, and I’ll do better with him. This tension between the two of us is all my fault. I think I’m having a case of the green-eyed monster, to be honest.’

  ‘You’re saying you’re jealous? There’s nothing to be jealous of. Me and Max are friends and housemates. That’s all.’

  ‘That’s not all.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘You’re an empowered witch now, Wanda, but you still choose to live in an other enclave because Max lives there. I know there’s nothing romantic to it, because if there was then you wouldn’t kiss me the way you do. Or make that little moan you make whenever I touch your skin.’

  He traced a finger along my collar bone, and I did my best to remain silent.

  ‘But it’s a tight friendship,’ he went on, his hand still on my skin. ‘You see him morning and night, and I’m lucky if I get to see you once a week.’

  ‘That’s just because I’m so busy.’

  ‘Sure. Sure it is. But what about in the future? If I ask you to marry me, is Max going to move in with us once we’re wed?’

  I swallowed, moving away from him. ‘Look, we’re getting way off course here again, Gabriel. And I really do have some shopping to do.’

  He hung his head. ‘Okay. I have to get off, too. I’m due at the TV station and I want to give the rest of these presents to my friends there. But I’m nuts about you, Wanda. Will you still wear the brooch tonight, so I can find you at the ball?’

  I bit my lip and stood up. Never before had one simple movement been so hard. ‘I’ll think about it. I have to go now.’

  ≈

  Warren Lane was buzzing with people, rushing around and buying presents. The official reason why shops stayed open right up until the afternoon on the twenty-first was that we were sticking to the old calendar for the occasion – in years gone by, witches’ days began in the dark of the evening, and ended with the return to light that morning brought. It was a nice notion, the thought of always travelling from the darkness and into the light, and even more so on the Solstice – but I was more inclined to believe that the shops stayed open late because witches were disorganised to the last.

  I couldn’t find Finn anywhere on Warren Lane, but it was an enormous enclave, and the streets were busy. He could be anywhere by now, even in the sweet shop I suggested on Madra Lane – if he was brave enough to go to the unofficial weredog enclave on his own. For Lassie, I reckoned he might be.

  I picked up a few more gifts, and some things that my mother had asked me to bring to dinner, but all the while I kept wondering: should I buy something for Gabriel? I didn’t know what was going to happen between the two of us. That was something I would need to speak to Max about, first. But as I kept fingering the necklace, over and over, I knew the way I wanted things to go. With a sense of guilt threatening to overwhelm me, I decided to buy Gabriel a gift. Just in case. I tried one or two more shops in the search for his cologne, but I still found nothing that came close. In the end I settled on an average-looking watch.

  I was just about to call it a day when something in a shop window caught my eye. I grinned from ear to ear and marched inside. I had finally found the perfect present for Max.

  16. Suits Without Sorcery

  An hour later, I sat across from Adeline in the Hungry Hippy. ‘Thanks for agreeing to meet me so late,’ I said. ‘I’m sure you’d much rather be getting ready for the bonfire.’

  ‘Actually, I’m not going. To that or the ball. Julian’s tummy’s not the best. I’d rather stay in with him.’

  I had met Julian – Adeline’s familiar – before. Seeing as he had managed to sleep his way through an Inferno spell, and the Freezing spell we had used to wait it out, I sincerely doubted the cat could stay awake long enough to be sick. ‘Oh. Poor Julian. Well, there was a reason I asked you to meet me. I was hoping you’d help me with this.’ I pulled the flash drive from my pocket. ‘It was much easier being able to look at Mr Godbody’s records on a computer, so thanks for that – although I’m still none the wiser as to why on earth they went missing in the first place.’

  Adeline took a sip of her smoothie. ‘No one at the office took them for any reason, as far as I can determine. I’ve checked the hard copies that are there right now, and nothing new has been added, nor any applications made. It’s bizarre.’

  It truly was, and a little voice inside me said that the temporarily missing Godbody records had absolutely nothing to do with this case. Sure, they proved that he owned everything else that bordered Godbody House, bar Winnie’s property. But that was already common knowledge, long before the murder. I had the feeling that someone else was interested in Mr Godbody’s dealings. But who, and why?

  I took a long slug of my coffee, trying to wake my mind up and steer it back to the case at hand. ‘The thing is, while I was checking out the records that you digitised, I got curious,’ I told Adeline.
‘I’d like to check up on Winnie’s daughter – or more specifically who her husbands were. But I have no idea what covens they belonged to, or what their surnames might have been. How would the marriages be filed? Under Gráinne’s coven name or the husband’s or ...?’

  ‘It should be under both,’ Adeline replied. ‘But the female coven name will always have the more detailed paperwork. Here, give it to me and I’ll see what I can find. I’m used to the way they do things over there.’ Adeline picked up the flash drive, grabbed her laptop from her bag, and got to work. After a few minutes, she smiled. ‘Oh, here it is. Gráinne Wywood. Yes. She married a Karl Lewis back in the Year of the Rhinoceros. And then an Esteban Moore in the Year of the Pear. One guy died. The other marriage ended in divorce. Hang on a minute. That’s strange.’ She peered at the screen. ‘There’s a file opened for a marriage licence this year. But the marriage was never recorded, and the application form itself is missing, so I can’t see who it was she was going to marry. Maybe it didn’t go ahead?’

  I picked up a chip, dipped it in ketchup, and chewed thoughtfully. Sure, it was possible that the marriage didn’t go ahead. But I needed to know that for sure. I glanced around for a server. If I was about to go annoy a grieving relative on the Winter Solstice, then I’d need an extra order of calorific courage.

  ≈

  I had been expecting to have to track Gráinne down at her home, but as I passed by the window of Suits Without Sorcery, I saw her inside. As I pushed the door, and the little bell overhead rang, Gráinne looked up, her face full of fear.

  ‘Oh, it’s you.’ She placed her hand on her chest. ‘Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting anyone so late.’

  I walked to the till, trying to stop my nose from twitching. The place smelled like men’s cologne. I guess it was to be expected, seeing as she tailored men’s suits – but man oh man it was strong. ‘Sorry if I scared you.’ I paused to sneeze. ‘Guess I’m not the only one working so late on the Winter Solstice.’