I stepped carefully back, trying to be subtle. I didn’t want Jack to see me, since I didn’t want to talk to him, but unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky. He looked up, spotted me, narrowed his eyes, and made his way toward Vinnie and me.
“Good morning, what brings you to the enforcers’ office today?” he asked, looking down at Vinnie. “And why do you still have that goat?”
“This is my familiar, Vinnie,” I replied, and Jack raised his eyebrows.
“You finally got a familiar, did you?”
“That’s right,” I replied. “The universe decided it was time. Probably because I’m a much better witch than you. That’s why you don’t have one yet.”
Jack laughed good-naturedly. “That must be it. Well, I feel like a goat suits you.”
I looked down at Vinnie. “I like him. Plus, he’s a big fan of head-butting wizards.”
“I bet he is, if he’s yours. Anyway, it’s nice to see you here during business hours this time. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No, but I bet I can find something Andy can help me with.”
Jack raised his eyebrows. “Got a little crush, do we?”
“Not at all. I’ve sworn off all men forever, and you’re partly responsible for that. But Andy isn’t you, so he’s an improvement.”
“Right,” Jack said. “Come on. You and I both know Andy is hot as hell. You’re just lucky that I’m with Sean and that he bats for your team instead of mine.”
I grinned. “Fine. I admit that we agree on that one. Anyway, tell me what you know about Danielle’s murder.”
Jack narrowed his eyes at me. “I knew that was why you were here. And I knew that was why you were in Pacific Cove, too. How on earth did you find out she’d been spending time there?”
I laughed. “Because I’m way better at your job than you are. Now come on, tell me, are you close to making an arrest?”
Jack crossed his arms. “I’m not telling you that.”
“Fine. I’ll trade you. I have some information you’re going to want, that you can get from no other source. You tell me what you know, I give you the information.”
“That’s not how this works. You do know that, right? You can’t literally bribe an enforcer for information. That’s illegal and would cost me my job. And if you have information that’s pertinent to a case, you’re supposed to tell us. That’s part of your role as a good citizen.”
“Come on. No one would ever know. Just give me a little tidbit, or I will not be a good citizen and tell you what I know.”
I was totally bluffing. I was definitely going to tell someone in this office about Jon, since he did threaten to kill Danielle, and if he really did have an alibi, then he had nothing to worry about.
Jack smiled at me. “Come on. I know you. The only reason you’re looking into this is because half the town thinks you did it and you want someone else to get arrested. So if you have information that might actually help, you’re not going to keep it to yourself, no matter how mad you are at me.”
“Wow, this guy knows you,” Vinnie said. “But I get the impression you don’t really like him. Would you like me to head-butt him?”
“Not just yet, thanks,” I said to the goat. “I’ll keep you updated if things change, though.”
“Fine. Boring,” Vinnie said, and he wandered off to go do whatever it was that goats did. I figured there was only so much trouble he could get into by himself, so I kept my focus on Jack.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Fine. You’re right. I do have some information that I want you guys to know, because it could help clear my name. But I don’t have to give it to you. I can wait until Chief Enforcer Loeb gets back here and tell her directly. Or you can give me something, and then I can tell you what I know, and you can bring it to Chief Enforcer Loeb yourself.”
“Do you honestly think I would compromise a case just to be able to bring a juicy tidbit to my boss? Besides, how do I know you even know anything? You might just be lying to me to get some information.”
“Do I seem like the kind of person who would lie to you?”
“Absolutely yes.”
Ok, that was fair. “Fine, I have and would lie to you. But I’m telling you, this time I’m telling the truth.”
Jack crossed his arms. “Ok. Fine. What do you want to know? And this does not mean I’m going to give you any information, just so we’re clear. I just want to know what you’re after first.”
“Deal,” I said.
“Alright. What do you want to know?”
“Are you looking at somebody more closely than others for Danielle’s death, and why?”
Jack pursed his lips. “That’s the question you want to ask?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Fine. And remember, I will lie if you tell anyone about our arrangement. The honest answer is, we’re basically nowhere. We have a ton of suspects, no alibis since everyone is in bed at five in the morning, and the further we get from the day of the murder, the more our leads evaporate. So I genuinely don’t have any real information to give you.”
I sighed. “Seriously? You don’t have a clue who did this?”
Jack shook his head.
“Great. What about Pacific Cove?”
“Well, we heard she went there a lot from her friends, and we know she spoke with the owner of Phoenix Chocolates. But she didn’t give us much to go on. Said that Danielle had coffee with her a few times and that she wanted to know about Las Brujas, but we don’t know why. As far as we know, they don’t operate in Mt. Rheanier. It’s not like there’s been an influx in crime recently, or anything like that.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that was kind of what I had figured out as well.”
“So I don’t know.” Jack’s face was grim. “Honestly, I would have loved to tell you we were just about to arrest someone and you could stop this silly investigation of yours, but that’s just not the case.”
“Thanks for not trying to discourage me this time around,” I replied with a wry smile.
“I’d have done it if I didn’t know I was wasting my breath. And honestly, after hearing what people in town think about you, I don’t blame you for trying to clear your own name on this one. There are a lot of people out there who think you’re a murderer, and the nicer ones think you should just be banished from Mt. Rheanier forever.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” I replied. “What can you do?”
“You can tell me what you know,” Jack said. “After all, that was our agreement.”
I nodded. “Fine. Jon Gress saw Danielle Dashwood outside the hospital the day before she was killed and threatened to kill her. He heard her talking about me and thought she was going to try and kill me, so he thought maybe if he threatened her, she’d think twice about a second shot at attempted murder.”
Jack raised his eyebrows. “I’d love to know how you know this.”
“Sorry. Sworn to secrecy. But it’s true. That said, Jon also says he has an alibi; apparently he was at some potions program in England while Danielle was being murdered.”
“Honestly, how you find out some of this stuff—” Jack started, but he was suddenly interrupted by a commotion on the other side of the room.
“What the—? This goat’s eating all my stuff!”
Uh oh.
Chapter 21
Jack and I turned to see where the disruption was coming from. A wolf shifter had just jumped up from his seat. Vinnie was standing on the table, happily chewing away at some pieces of paper that I really hoped weren’t important.
“Get away from there!” the shifter shouted at Vinnie. “These are important documents. I need these! I don’t have copies and I need them to take to court with me tomorrow!” The panic in the shifter’s voice was obvious, but Vinnie was completely oblivious to it. Instead, he continued to happily chew the paper, staring at the shifter the entire time.
“Vinnie!” I shouted, making my way toward him, but the shifter had enough bef
ore I got there.
“That’s enough! Stupid goat, I’ll show you.” The shifter immediately turned into a wolf, and I gasped.
“No!” I cried out, pulling out my wand. “Leave him alone!” But it was too late. The shifter had turned into a wolf, drool dripping from his fangs as he growled at Vinnie, ready to pounce.
Vinnie, true to his nature, took one look at the wolf, let out a squeal, and immediately fell over, his limbs having frozen. My fainting goat had completely fainted.
I began casting a spell, but it was too late. The wolf’s muscles tensed as he leaped toward my new familiar, and I let out a cry of anguish as I pointed my wand uselessly at the wolf anyway. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t anything. It wasn’t fair. Vinnie didn’t deserve this.
It was like everything was happening in slow motion. The wolf lunged toward Vinnie’s immobile body, but when he was about a foot away from my goat, it was like the wolf hit a wall. His body collapsed on itself as he hit the invisible barrier head-on before collapsing into a heap on the floor and immediately shifting back into human form.
“What on earth?” the shifter said, groaning on the floor as I rushed toward Vinnie, quickly scooping up the goat and holding him against me, my wand pointed at the shifter. As soon as I pointed my wand at him, all the other shifters immediately began shouting at me to stop, circling their comrade.
“Put down that wand,” one shouted at me.
“You can be arrested for assault,” another one said. They must have thought I was the one who cast that spell. I glanced over at Jack, who raised his shoulders slightly in question. He didn’t know who had done it either. That left one wizard in the room. Moving my eyes over to Andy, I couldn’t help but notice him slipping his wand back into his pocket. Andy had cast the spell and saved my familiar. I owed him, big time.
“Witch! I’m not joking. Put that wand down or I will arrest you!” one of the enforcers shouted at me. He was only a couple of feet away from me and looked like he wanted to try and take me down.
“Me? Your coworker just tried to eat my familiar,” I shouted back. “He’s the one you should be arresting.”
“He was acting in his capacity as an enforcer,” the second wolf replied. He was tall and thin, and despite his gray hair looked to be a few years older than me, maybe in his early-to-mid-thirties.
“Oh yeah, because my ten-pound goat was such a threat,” I replied. “I’m not putting this wand down until I’m sure he’s not going to try and eat my goat.”
“I’m not going to, you stupid witch,” the shifter said, his voice sounding super nasally. He stood up then, and I was pleased to see blood pouring from his nose where he had hit the invisible wall Andy had put up to protect Vinnie. “You broke my nose.”
“You tried to eat my familiar,” I replied, my wand pointed right at his chest. I wasn’t about to get Andy in trouble with his coworkers for having cast that spell, so I was fine with the enforcers thinking it was me who had done it.
“Do you know how many important documents he destroyed? I’m going to get in so much trouble!”
“It’s not my fault you’ve never heard of a photocopier. You don’t get to eat my goat because you’re bad at your job.”
“I’ve had it with you, witch,” the enforcer shouted, making his way toward me. The other shifter enforcers moved toward me, and I grinned.
“Do you all really think you’re going to be able to stop me?” I asked, and I was about to cast a spell at them when Jack stepped between us.
“That’s enough, all of you,” he said firmly. “Ali, get out of here. You’re the worst peacemaker ever. And the rest of you, that’s enough. Kyle shouldn’t have shifted to eat the goat, and you know it. Ali is stressed because she almost lost her familiar here today, so she’s not thinking straight. She’s going to go home, and we’re all going to move on with our lives.” Jack turned and gave me a hard look. “Right?”
“Right,” I said. Vinnie began squirming in my arms; he was obviously coming to. It was time for the two of us to get out of here. I was definitely going to make my opinion about these idiots known, though. An enforcer couldn’t go around eating a witch’s familiar because he nibbled on a few sheets of paper the guy was too dumb to photocopy.
“What about my work?” the shifter complained.
Jack shrugged. “Nothing to be done about it now, Kyle. Sorry. The goat’s definitely eaten it.”
I turned and left, torn between my desire to yell at Kyle some more and take care of Vinnie. But my familiar was my priority now. I walked off with a couple of the enforcers still shouting after me. I threw up a middle finger salute as I left, holding Vinnie in my other arm.
“What happened?” he asked as I walked down the stairs, and my body was flooded with relief hearing him talk. It was going to take some getting used to the idea of his fainting whenever he got a fright.
“One of the enforcers tried to eat you because you ate some important documents on his desk.”
Vinnie groaned, the sound coming out as a bit more of a bleat. “I fainted? Again. You know, that habit really messes with the bad boy persona I’m going with.”
“I know, buddy. Sorry.”
“He didn’t eat me, though. Did you save me?”
Shame flooded through me. “I tried. I was too slow to get my wand out, but one of the other enforcers managed to cast a shield spell in front of you, stopping the shifter. I’m sorry, Vinnie. I’m really glad the other wizard was there. I’m so glad you’re ok.”
I squeezed him hard, pressing him close to me. Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized just how quickly the bond between us was forming.
“Yeah, well, I’m pretty glad I didn’t get eaten, too,” he replied. “Should we go back up and head-butt him?”
“No, I think we’re in enough trouble for one day,” I said, smiling despite myself. As soon as we reached the ground floor, I put Vinnie down, and when I stood up, Chief Enforcer Loeb was standing in front of me.
“Ali, how are you?” she asked.
I shrugged. “One of your enforcers tried to eat my familiar just now, so I’ve had better days.”
“I feel like it was worse for me,” Vinnie said, and I kicked out my foot a little bit to shush him. Chief Enforcer Loeb frowned.
“Are you joking?”
I shook my head. “No. Ask Jack or Andy. I’m pretty sure the shifter enforcers will lie to protect Kyle. But Vinnie here decided some of Kyle’s documents would make a nice snack, and Kyle didn’t notice until Vinnie had scarfed down a couple important documents he didn’t have copies of. He immediately shifted and tried to attack Vinnie, but I cast a protection spell to stop him. Then the enforcers tried to arrest me, but Jack diffused the situation enough for them to let me go.”
“Yes, I wouldn’t imagine you would have done that yourself.”
“What can I say? I was protecting my goat.”
Chief Enforcer Loeb nodded, looking down at Vinnie, then stooping down on her haunches and giving him a pat. “Well, I’m glad he’s alright. He looks none the worse for wear, at least. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I find this sort of behavior from my enforcers to be completely unacceptable, and I promise you, I will look into it. I’ll be in touch. There may be the opportunity to press charges against Kyle if you would be interested in that.”
“It’ll be up to Vinnie,” I said, motioning to the goat, and the chief enforcer nodded.
“Of course. But I want you to know it’s an option. If what you’re telling me is true, I can’t be having enforcers acting like that on my force, and I want to thank you for bringing it to my attention.”
I nodded. “Yeah. And, unrelated, but Andy seems to be fitting in really well here.” I wanted to keep it a secret that he had cast the spell—I certainly wasn’t going to deny him the proper credit if he wanted it known that it was him, but I could also understand if, being the new guy, he didn’t want to admit that he had been the one who cast the spell that injured his cowo
rker.
“He is,” Chief Enforcer Loeb said, a smile crossing her face. “I’m glad you agree. I hope he decides to stay on with us. It’s refreshing, having a couple of wizards as enforcers. I know it’s a little bit unconventional, and most towns don’t have any, but it’s working out well for us.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m glad. Well, I’ll see you.”
“Of course,” she nodded, making her way back up toward the office, her spine ramrod straight as she moved elegantly up the stairs.
“Is she going to head-butt him for us?” Vinnie asked, and I nodded.
“Perhaps not in a literal sense, but it sounds like metaphorically, yes, she is.”
I was glad to have had that conversation with the chief enforcer. Enforcer brutality wasn’t a problem in Mt. Rheanier—the fact that the town barely needed enforcers at all most of the time helped a lot with that—but it appeared Chief Enforcer Loeb was taking what had just happened seriously.
“Alright, little dude. I think we’ve caused enough trouble for today. Let’s go home for now.”
“Good, I’m hungry,” Vinnie said, and I gave him an exasperated look.
“Why did you eat that guy’s paper, anyway? Just something to do?”
Vinnie looked up at me and I could have sworn he was trying to smile. “I was walking along and the enforcer muttered that goats were the world’s most evil animal. So when a moment later he took his coffee cup and went for a refill, I decided to get my revenge.”
I couldn’t help but grin at Vinnie. We were going to get along just fine.
Chapter 22
I took Vinnie home, had a little bit of lunch, shared a peach with my new familiar, then put something brainless on the television as background noise while Vinnie had a nap and I thought about the case. I was really stuck, but I figured the next step was to confirm Jon’s alibi. I had no idea how to find the place where he had been in England, so I figured the next best thing was to go back and see Professor Kaminek. Maybe he could give me some more information that would confirm or deny Jon’s alibi.
Get with the Potion Page 12