If the Curse Fits

by Kennedy Layne

  I say we all put down our teacups and do what has to be done—eviscerate the man.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Did she just use the word eviscerate?” Orwin’s dark gaze swung to Detective Jones, who was still speaking with Heather and Megan. “Lou, this has gotten to a whole new level. We’re not equipped for dealing with that amount of violence, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  I’m not seeing the problem here. We can even enjoy a hot cup of tea afterward.

  “We are not eviscerating anyone.” I was completely losing control of this conversation. It didn’t help that Detective Jones would more than likely want his table back. “Piper, Knox Emeric wasn’t suggesting that he believes you killed Cassie. He was just pointing out…”

  You can’t win this one, my dear hexed one. Knox Emeric must be eliminated.

  “I’m surrounded by the certifiably insane,” Orwin muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose before putting his glasses back in place. He looked at me as if I could fix our current situation. “You’re going to do something, right?”

  You better be referring to our current predicament, Mr. Cornelia.

  “Knox Emeric was suggesting that I could murder someone in cold blood.” Piper leaned back in her chair and gently put her palms to her face. I fully expected tears of disbelief to fill her eyes, but she held her own. “I’m a good person. I am.”

  Of course, you are, my sweet Piper. He’s the one dealing with all the inner turmoil.

  “We know you are, Piper,” I consoled, grateful when another table opened up that allowed Detective Jones to claim it for his talk with Heather. I noticed that Megan had decided to stay by Heather’s side. Had Orwin not already cleared them for Cassie’s murder, I would have said that was a sign of guilt. “Orwin, please tell me John Cooper recorded something on his phone that can help us.”

  We’ll have to find a place to dispose of his skull.

  By this time, Pearl had jumped up into Piper’s lap. Her green eyes were fixated on me, as if she thought I would have the address of some secret place where we could dispose of the evidence.

  “That is not how we deal with our cases,” Orwin fiercely whispered, leaning forward to get his point across. Pearl had completely dumbfounded him, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. I motioned for him to reply to my plea, thankful when he finally focused on the case. He lifted his phone to indicate he needed to do some more research. “I wish I could tell you that we had video proof of who killed Cassie Grier, but Cooper wasn’t home. Give me five minutes to find out where he works, and then I’ll pay him a visit. Do you think you can hold down the fort without the need for the fire department or the EMS?”

  The two of you are clearly not seeing the danger you’re allowing to brew up by ignoring the more important evidence in this mystery—Knox Emeric. He all but threatened my sweet Piper.

  “Is there such a thing as a familiar mafia?”

  Orwin had directed his question toward Piper, and I couldn’t quite tell if he was trying to lighten the mood or if he was dead serious.

  “Orwin, you’re not going anywhere before you walk over to Knox Emeric and introduce yourself.” I couldn’t go another minute without knowing what the man knew and more importantly…whether or not he was of the supernatural realm. “Pearl has a point, though not about the evisceration thing. Knox is a complication, and we need to make sure he’s not going to become a problem before we have a chance to solve this murder. On top of his involvement, we need to find out if Cassie Grier really did know about Piper’s family.”

  Do you need spectacles? That…beast…already is a problem, and you’re being distracted by his foul pheromones.

  “Fine,” Orwin mumbled, his stuffed-up nose clearly having gotten worse since he’d walked through the door to the café. “Anything to get away from crazytown over there.”

  “You don’t mean that,” Piper chided, giving Orwin a worried smile. “We enjoyed ourselves today. Pearl is just worried about me, and there are times that she overreacts. We can clear up this misunderstanding and then focus on Jamie. I’m confident that Cassie didn’t know anything about me or my family. Our coven is very, very careful.”

  Or we can always use my method of cleaning up messes.

  Piper had her head on straight, unlike Pearl. The longer we sat here, the more likely it was that an attempt on Jamie Lehman’s life could take place. She was our sole mission right now, and Orwin could ease our worries within seconds. Besides, maybe Knox Emeric was simply some type of low-level warlock who somehow recognized our abilities and wanted to stir up trouble.

  Knox Emeric is no warlock—no matter the level. I’ve told you this several times. You really should listen when someone is talking to you, dear.

  I guess Pearl would know whether or not Knox was warlock, especially considering she could hear all thoughts of witches and warlocks in the magical realm. Unless, of course, Knox had used some type of warded spell to prevent familiars from doing so.

  With that said, I do recall using my telekinesis at the back of the gas station when I couldn’t find a bag of my favorite chips. I’d made sure that no one was around, but that wasn’t always a guarantee with the advent of surveillance cameras. Maybe Knox really hadn’t been sent here by Ammeline, and he was just fishing around for some evidence that all was not as it seemed.

  Once again, Mr. Emeric is—

  “Tad didn’t kill Cassie Grier,” Orwin exclaimed, leaning down and resting his hands on the table so that no one overheard him. He’d gotten up to walk across the café to get some insight into Knox, but such movement had put Orwin within six feet of Tad Whitaker. “Poor guy. He’s having it rough today, but he’s grateful for the mindless work of making drinks.”

  “See?” Piper said, resting her hand on my arm. “Tad had nothing to do with Cassie’s death. Neither did Heather, Megan, or Vickie. And we’ve ruled out those three men who were standing in line with Orwin, so that only leaves…”

  Pearl frowned, as well as both Orwin and myself.

  What had we missed?

  Quite a lot, it seems. It’s simply process of elimination, leaving one Knox Emeric as the guilty party.

  I was a full believer in process of elimination, but it was like we’d missed something that had been right in front of us all along.

  I quietly turned in my chair for the first time since sitting down at the table Detective Jones had claimed earlier, taking the time to scan the faces of those at the numerous tables and booths.

  Detective Jones was deep into his conversation with Heather and Megan.

  “…discovered some things have happened lately, and all of these occurrences are connected to you, Ms. Coyle. The gentleman who interviewed you for the position at Cassie Grier’s work was mugged three days ago. The property manager who didn’t respond to your call regarding the leak underneath your bathroom sink reported a break-in at her office. The man living in the apartment above yours who you reported as being too loud had his sound system stolen last week. I’d say that being around you, Ms. Coyle, is bad luck at the minimum and hazardous to one’s health at the extreme.”

  Where was Detective Jones leading this conversation? Orwin had already ruled out Heather Coyle as the killer. Why were so many crimes linked to Heather?

  “Cassie was the one who got the job over Heather,” Piper whispered, having overheard the detective make his case. “Could Orwin have missed something?”

  No one’s perfect, my darling.

  “No, Orwin didn’t miss anything.”

  I agreed with Pearl that no one was perfect. With that said, only someone who understood how Orwin’s gift worked could have kept specific thoughts away from him. Heather? She was an intelligent woman, but she was merely human and didn’t have the advantage of the magical realm behind her.

  We needed to think outside the box.

  We’d based the motive on someone hating Cassie enough to kill her, but what if her murder was based on what she’d done to Heathe
r? From the way the detective laid out the summary of events, anyone who upset Heather had been punished.

  Had Heather hired someone to do all those horrible things?

  After giving that two seconds worth of thought, it wasn’t unlikely.

  Had Jamie done something to Heather?

  Was that why the café manager was now a target?

  Come to think of it, Jamie spilled a drink on Ms. Coyle the day of her interview a few weeks ago. You can imagine how that went over, but Jamie apologized profusely and even comped Heather’s next few drink orders. Honestly, that was more than I would have done given her screeching that could have broken glass.

  Tad was still behind the counter, calling out names of customers whose drink orders were ready. Jamie was speaking with the cashier, safe from harm.

  For now. It never occurred to me that Mr. Emeric might believe he’s some knight in shining armor. I guess there is a chance that he fancies himself in love with Ms. Coyle. Love has blinded many people over the years.

  “I haven’t seen Mr. Emeric around town before this entire thing started, so that’s unlikely.” Piper gently stroked Pearl’s back as they continued their conversation, thankfully making it seem to everyone else that the blonde barista was talking to me. “Anyway, I overheard Heather say a while ago that she was thinking of dating some tech guy who lives in her apartment building, but that something held her back from saying yes. I can’t quite recall her exact words, but I got the impression there was something off about the guy. I know this may come across as selfish, but I’m still worried over the fact that Mr. Emeric knows so much about me and my family…especially if he’s just an everyday human.”

  Orwin was halfway across the café toward Knox in order to either confirm or deny the man’s involvement with the crime—who currently made no pretense of watching me and my friends. There wasn’t even a hint of panic in Knox’s expression, which pretty much reassured me that he wasn’t the murderer.

  Fortunately, there were no longer any druids in the vicinity to get in the way of Orwin’s gift. As I waited for Orwin to give me a signal on whether or not we’d cracked the case, I did one more perusal of the patrons.

  Heather was currently adamantly denying anything to do with the crimes of those people who’d upset her, Megan was doing her best to defend her friend, Tad was still serving the customers, and Sophia and Emma were at a corner table talking to one another. Both the college girls were looking out the display window where Michael Pierce and his cameraman were walking down the sidewalk.

  And behind them was one John Cooper—the single witness from last night none of us had been able to question.

  Oh, I just had a zing of satisfaction! That was quite exhilarating, if I do say so myself.

  I’d call my zing a combination of concern and fear, but I did get what Pearl was hinting at—we might very well have solved the case.

  Unfortunately, we now had a major problem on our hands.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Piper, what did you say about Heather dating someone from her apartment building?”

  “I overheard Megan talking about it when she and Heather were in line the other day. She said something about the guy knowing things he shouldn’t, and that he made her uncomfortable. Did I miss something? I’m not seeing the connection with Mr. Emeric.”

  Hold onto your hat, my sweet Piper. The adrenaline rush of solving a mystery is quite satisfying.

  Piper was turned in her chair facing me, so she didn’t pick up on what Pearl and I were seeing out the display window.

  No time to explain. We must spring into action!

  Pearl jumped down from Piper’s lap as multiple things happened at once.

  Orwin finally gave his signal, which was to slowly shake his head from side to side. He was now standing next to Knox to let me know that he wasn’t the guilty party, though his arched brow told me he’d caught something of interest. Most likely it had to do with Ammeline, but she and her minion would have to wait until I could secure Jamie Lehman’s safety.

  I had already put two and two together, but an algebra problem was staring me right in the face…and I didn’t have time to go through all the steps to find the right answer.

  No need for math, dear. Follow my lead.

  Pearl had seen our tiny problem, as well.

  Jamie…well, she was calling out to Tad that she’d forgotten her phone in her car and that she wouldn’t be long. She was leaving the café, straight into the sights of John Cooper.

  This was it.

  I could practically picture the future events, but not in the same manner in which I was inflicted with a vision. No, this was my imagination stating clearly what would happen should we allow Jamie to leave the café.

  The shift manager would walk to her vehicle, which she most likely parked in the lot down the road near the mall due to the fact that this place was so crowded, and she would be stabbed to death by none other than John Cooper for simply spilling a drink on the subject of his obsession.

  John Cooper had allowed his fixation to escalate to the point where he needed to kill.

  Well, don’t just sit there. Make this look convincing, and whatever you do, do not make her squish me into a pancake.

  “What is Pearl talking about?” Piper asked at a loss since she was only able to hear Pearl’s side of the conversation.

  Pearl and I didn’t have time to answer.

  The white feline dashed in front of Jamie, allowing me to flick my wrist and make it appear as if Jamie had tripped over Pearl. In reality, Jamie had already seen the cat and would have been able to avoid her had I not given her a bit of a nudge.

  A bit of a nudge?

  Pearl shook off where Jamie’s foot had caught her in the side before gracefully rubbing herself on Jamie’s shoulder. To any bystander, she was just a sweet white kitty who hadn’t meant to cause a bit of mayhem.

  I do believe the poor girl lost all the air in her lungs. Don’t just sit there. Help her up and figure out how to let the good detective know that John Cooper is Cassie Grier’s murderer.

  “What?” Piper exclaimed in a fierce whisper as Detective Jones and Orwin both rushed to Jamie’s side. “John Cooper? He…”

  “He’s definitely the one,” I whispered in confirmation, quickly rising from my seat to make my way toward the exit. It didn’t appear that John was coming into the café, but instead walking past to get a glimpse of Heather and avoid Detective Jones. In all likelihood, had Jamie walked outside alone, John would have taken the opportunity to hurt someone who he believed offended the woman he’d become obsessed with. “Stay here and make sure that Jamie is okay.”

  I had nudged the manager a bit harder than I’d intended, but I couldn’t take the chance that Jamie would have brushed herself off and still walked out the door to her death. Before I did anything though, I needed that point zero one percent filled in for my own peace of mind.

  “Heather.” I stopped at her chair, blocking her view of the others attempting to help Jamie off of the floor. “Heather, look at me. Was John Cooper the man who asked you out last week?”

  “What?” Heather tried to peer around me, but I shifted to keep her focus on me. “John? Yes, he was the one who asked me out last week. How did you—”

  I barely felt the cool fall temperature as I barreled through the door, but it was a bit of a shock when the drizzling rain began to come down a little steadier. No wonder Michael Pierce and his cameraman had called it a day. They were entering the café as I’d busted out, but John Cooper continued to walk by the second display window with barely a glance.

  What do you think you’re doing, going off alone like that? This is why you need your own familiar—to keep you out of trouble. I wouldn’t want that job for love nor money. You are quite the handful, you know.

  I’d fallen into step behind our suspect, following him close enough to garner his attention but not enough for him to confront me. When I’d given Piper an order to stay behind, I’d
meant for Pearl to do the same.

  My dear, have you not heard the saying that a leopard cannot change its spots? Mr. Cooper will likely try and remove you as the obstinate obstacle you are, thereby unknowingly threatening to expose your extraordinary lineage to those human witnesses mulling about with their umbrellas. You and I both know you have the ability to eviscerate him…in the same manner I’ve reserved for Mr. Emeric.

  “Pearl, I’ve done this a time or two,” I muttered, shoving my hands in my black leather jacket. Gloves would have been nice, but I’d left them in the Jeep believing I wouldn’t have need for them. I dodged around one of those navy-blue umbrellas Pearl had been talking about, grateful that some of the storefronts had those green awnings to prevent me from becoming saturated with rainwater. “And we are not eviscerating Knox, especially now that we know he wasn’t responsible for Cassie Grier’s death. We’ll figure out how he knows about Piper later. Right now, you need to go back and make sure that Jamie is okay, and that Piper is doing her part.”

  I left Mr. Cornelia in charge, although I do doubt that boy’s sanity from time to time.

  Pearl hadn’t made herself visible, although I could feel her next to me. I wasn’t going to waste time arguing, especially when John Cooper quickly veered right and entered a rather thin alleyway in between two shops. By the time I turned the corner, he had vanished.

  I must say that I think I’d rather prefer that zing of satisfaction at solving a mystery over the trepidation that someone could jump out at us with a really sharp knife. I’m not fond of being put in this situation, Miss Lilura. I’ve been on this plane of existence for over two thousand years, and I’d like to double that, if possible. Being around you seems to lessen my chances of that happening.

  Larger drops of rain were now coming down steadily, and it was only a matter of time before the storm was right overhead. My black hair was now soaked into long strands, cold rivulets of water were running down the back of my neck and sneaking past the collar of my jacket, and I had to blink away tiny droplets of water that were hanging off my lashes.