There's No Business Like Mage Business: Casino Witch Mysteries 3

by Nikki Haverstock

  I chewed carefully, savoring each bite. Bear and I hadn’t ever discussed Vin in detail, but Bear had known. He seemed to always know more than I shared. I suspected that he could read emotions the way I could, but his years of investigation had probably fine-tuned his skills to a discerning degree. While Badger was the taskmaster, pushing me to do more than I thought I was capable of, Bear always knew when I was ready to break.

  I inhaled the doughnut and moaned with pleasure to see the bag was full of an assortment of other flavors. I pulled out one covered in a thick topping of chocolate. “What is Badger up to?”

  “Catching up on business. I haven’t talked to him in a few days. Investigation isn’t his specialty, but we’ll include him if necessary. Sounds like you didn’t get anything in the dressing room for the two performing. Janie and Stacey?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Huh, so they died either of something else or someplace else. Have you tried getting readings elsewhere and seeing what you can pick up?”

  I pulled out a round doughnut dusted with granular sugar. Biting into it, I discovered it had a lemon filling, sweet and tart at the same time. Covering my mouth with a hand, I replied, “No, I’m not even sure what the range is on sensing a murder. It could have happened anywhere in Rambler.”

  “I’m guessing that it was in the casino. Otherwise, why would they go to all the bother of making up a fake story about them leaving town? They probably wouldn’t even know that they are missing.”

  “Good point.” I searched in the bag for what felt like the last doughnut and pulled out a neon-pink one topped with teal icing and covered generously with multicolored sprinkles. The first bite was just as special as its appearance. It was sweet with a hint of fruity goodness. Thank goodness that magic burned about a billion calories, or I would be as big as a blimp eating this way.

  “Feeling better? Your cheeks are starting to get their color back.”

  “I am. Thanks.”

  He put his hands on his knees and pushed to stand up with a loud groan. “These late nights are killing me. I need to head to bed. What are you planning to do today?”

  “See what I can find out about Legacy from Beth. She took a sabbatical from the casino a while ago, but I have her number. If Britney is up and can talk, then I’ll swing by the hospital. I have a show this afternoon.” I groaned and finished off my coffee. “I can’t believe I have to get on stage and perform in the middle of all this mess.”

  He stifled a yawn and scrubbed his face with his hands then slipped on his jacket. “Sometimes undercover work puts you in weird situations. You’ll do fine. Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached into another hidden pocket and pulled out a small vial no bigger than my thumb and tossed it to me. “If you do manage to get some Legacy, slide it in there. Try not to touch the pill directly. We don’t know how it works, so there is a little potion inside that acts as a preservative and a shield. Just push a tiny bit of magic into the vial after you cap it.”

  “That reminds me. I talked to a doctor at the hospital. She was the same one that helped me when I was there last time. She is pretty eager to find out what the deal is with Legacy.”

  He paused. “What did you tell her?” His tone had a bit of suspicion.

  “As little as possible, of course. But I did admit that I was interested in stopping Legacy from causing more harm, and that seemed to be sufficient.”

  He yawned again and started moving toward the door. “What’s the doctor’s name? I’ll do some research on her. See if we can trust her.”

  “Dr. Trout.”

  He stopped mid-stride and jerked his head around before quickly regaining his composure. If I hadn’t been watching him, I would have missed it. But I wouldn’t have missed the sudden flare of emotions that took a few moments longer to wrestle under control. He had been shocked with a strange mix of happiness and sorrow. There was a story in there.

  But not one I would discover that day. He rushed to the door and was half gone when he shouted his final goodbye, then he slammed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I had called the hospital, but Britney was still in the coma. Or at least that was what I assumed. They had just said that they could not connect me to her room. I left a message on Dr. Trout’s cell phone to call me once Britney was awake.

  Instead, I got ahold of Beth and made arrangements to go to her place. Once ready, I had gotten into my car and headed over to her neighborhood. I wasn’t too familiar with the area, so once I was on the right street, I slowed way down to inspect each number on the curb so I didn’t miss the address she had given me. My phone announced that the destination was one hundred yards ahead on my right, but I had discovered that the more I used magic, the more technology started misfiring.

  My internet was functional most times, but I had discovered that more and more often, I couldn’t pull up a website or it took several tries. My cell phone had bad static even in the city center. Most of the apps crashed. I still used modern technology but had started to rely on it less and less. Mages in general used technology less than humans, who were ever connected with their computers, phones, and gadgets.

  Another issue I had discovered was that mage information was totally missing from the web. There was something about magic that tended to fry the electrons of wherever the information was stored. I had first noticed when I start transcribing Bear’s great-great-aunt’s journal. She was a Monza and had left him a journal about her life, but I had discovered that under the existing handwriting was a second journal that held more private information about her training.

  I had decided that I would type it up so I could read it more easily. To unlock the secret information, I had to press my channeling key, a moonstone egg, into a divot. The handwriting was loopy and slanted and gave me a headache. I spent a full day typing only to wake up the next morning and find the file corrupted. I tried again the next Sunday only for the same result. I tried one more time only to wake up with the entire computer ruined. I took it in for repairs, and the round-faced man behind the counter accused me of storing a magnet on the laptop.

  After that, I wised up and asked Auntie Ann about computers and spells. She rolled her eyes as though I had asked if stabbing myself in the eye with a sharpened pencil would hurt. Apparently, like so many things, every mage on earth knew that incarnations and magical information could only be recorded by hand. Maybe you could use a mechanical typewriter, but even then, the keys tended to stick and skip.

  My phone announced that I had arrived at my destination when I slowly rolled by an empty lot. I kept driving, as Beth had described a blue-and-white house with a white truck out front, and I hadn’t reached the address. My phone became irate, insisting I needed to make a U-turn. I jabbed my finger at the screen, trying to turn it off, but Patagonia thought I was teasing her and jumped onto the middle console to chomp down on my fingers.

  “Ow! Dang it.” I snatched my hand back and sucked on a knuckle that had borne the brunt of her teeth and claws. The copper taste of blood told me that she had broken the skin. “Why are you so mean?”

  I spied the correct address on the curb and pulled over even as my phone insisted that the house was back several hundred yards. The robotic voice stuttered then decided that it was in fact one mile ahead on the left.

  I sighed and grabbed the phone and turned off the navigation. Would I always be able to text and call, or would the quality of those continue to deteriorate? I added that to the list of things I needed to ask. It was tough having to learn an entirely new world. Had it really only been one year since I discovered I was a mage? In some ways, it felt like an eternity but in others, a blink of an eye.

  I turned to Patagonia. “I know I can’t stop you from coming, but you need to behave. No biting. No fighting with her familiar. No clawing at the furniture.”

  Patagonia blinked at me then rolled her eyes. I was quite sure that she understood me, but she didn’t care to follow my instructions. One time, whil
e under the influence of a spell, I had heard her voice in my head. Exactly how intellectual were familiars? A question that I had not found an answer to yet.

  I got out of the car then went around to open her door. I grabbed a bag of food for Beth from the floor and waited for Patagonia to exit. She took her time exiting, first licking her paw then rubbing it across an ear. Finally, I went to shut the door—she could just materialize to join me later—but as soon as I moved to close it, she jumped so her front paws were on the curb while her back feet were still planted on the seat.

  I was sure she was slowly growing larger. Vin’s familiar was the size of a jungle cat, though humans and even some mages didn’t see anything other than a slightly large cat. I had asked why Aristotle was so big, but no one knew.

  Patagonia made a big show of stretching, shifting her weight forward then back and arching her back.

  “Get on with it, or no more tuna treats.”

  She looked up at me through narrowed slits, only the tiniest crescent moon of teal iris visible, before jumping onto the grass. The color of her eyes was deep bluish green that shifted over time. Next to the bright-green grass they seemed greener. I had noticed that they perfectly matched my eyes. If her fur were bright red instead of black, she could be my hairier twin sister.

  I approached the house, and the door opened before I could knock.

  I kept my face under control to hide my shock. Beth was both gaunt and puffy at the same time. The thin tank top showed a line of ribs where there used to be cleavage, and above her sagging yoga pants, her hip bones jutted out like shark fins. But her face was puffy, her eyelids thick, as if she had been crying for days. Her coloring didn’t seem right, as though she were a photograph that had faded in the sunlight. Even her hair refused to shine despite the greasy appearance.

  And her emotions were muted and sluggish. They weren’t shielded but rather just barely there, as though her brain were half asleep. She looked much worse than when I had last seen her, and she had been in rough shape then. I felt sick that we hadn’t checked on her sooner.

  I hugged her. “So good to see you.” It felt like hugging a delicate bird, and I was given the impression that if I squeezed too tight, she would be crushed to dust. “I brought food.”

  She smiled weakly and took the bag. “Thank you. I was surprised to hear from you today.”

  Her tone, like the rest of her, was faint but did not carry any malice, but my stomach twisted with guilt all the same.

  She had lost two friends, an ex-boyfriend and her then-current boyfriend, about a year before when I was investigating my first set of murders. She’d almost been killed. It hadn’t been pretty. While Vanessa and I had recovered pretty well, Beth never had. About six months earlier, she had gone on sabbatical, and I had assumed she was improving.

  She dug into the bag and pulled out the sandwich I had bought her. I wished I had brought three. She took a bite, and she walked into her living room. She chewed with effort then swallowed before wrapping it back up. The single bite seemed to have worn her out. “Delicious. Thank you. I’ll save the rest for later.”

  I wanted to force her to eat, but I knew I couldn’t make her. Instead, I took the moment to work a little spell, one that I knew I could do without a potion. Auntie Ann had been reluctant to teach me many spells that affected others’ moods, but she had taught me one that would lift people’s spirits just a little. It took a lot of energy from me, but considering how I had neglected checking on Beth, it seemed like an appropriate penance.

  It wasn’t a delicate spell but crude. Basically, I grabbed a bunch of my good thoughts and hurled them at another person through sheer force of will. It used brute magic and would leave me tired, depleted, and a bit sad.

  I pretended to have a coughing fit. “I have a little tickle in my throat. Can I have a glass of water?”

  When Beth went to the kitchen, I quickly worked the spell. It was the magic equivalent of running a sprint full out. It didn’t take long, but I was breathing hard by the time she returned.

  She walked across the room faster than when she had left, and her cheeks had a rosy glow. It was subtle but a sure sign that the spell was working. She looked at me with concern. “Are you okay?”

  “Just a little asthma.” I drank the water and tried to slow my breathing.

  She sat at the other end of the couch and pulled her legs up under her. She grabbed the bag from where she had left it and pulled out the sandwich. “This smells so good. Maybe I’ll just have a little more.” She bit into it with gusto.

  My stomach growled. That spell had taken me from uncomfortably full to starving again. Fortunately, I had some food waiting for me in the car.

  I caught Patagonia walking across the room and spied her destination. On a pillow in the windowsill was a thin grey cat sleeping. Beth’s familiar. I was ready to shout at Patagonia to leave her alone, when Patagonia leaped onto the pillow and starting grooming the other familiar. She was gentle but insistent, like a mother cat. I bit back the words and let her comfort the cat.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come visit sooner. I let far too much time pass.”

  Beth looked at me over her half-eaten sandwich. “Why do you say that? I’ve only been gone for a few weeks. Surely you couldn’t have missed me too much.”

  I stared for a moment, trying to decide if she was joking and, if so, what it meant. “A few weeks?”

  “I took my sabbatical right after the cheese convention.” She dug into the bag, her energy returning as she had eaten. She dug out a bag of crisps and ripped it open.

  “The cheese festival was a while ago. You do realize that you’ve been gone from the casino for six months, right?”

  She looked at me blankly then turned away. “I knew that.”

  The awkward silence stretched out between us. I checked my watch, and I realized I had to dive straight into questioning. “I need to know more about Legacy.”

  Beth jerked her head around to me, and all the color in her face drained away. Her emotions spiked with guilt and fear. All the pieces fell together. She was using again.

  My heart broke for her, but I had no idea what to say.

  Her face didn’t move, but her eyes slowly filled with tears until they coursed down her face.

  I had a whole lie ready to tell her about a friend of a friend who was addicted to Legacy, but I set it aside. I moved across the couch and wrapped her in a hug.

  She buried her head in my shoulder and cried deep body-shaking sobs. I closed my eyes and worked another spell for her. I should have saved my energy and emotion for later. What if we confronted the person behind Legacy and I needed my strength? But the immediacy of her pain was too much to bear. She didn’t notice the sweat on my brow or my huffing and puffing over her crying, but her sobs grew softer, and her mood lifted. Hope welled up in her as she leaned back.

  “I’m so sorry. I just… I’ve been hiding this for so long. I’m so ashamed. Michael overdosed from Legacy, and I hate it so much, and yet…” She sniffled and turned away to grab a few tissues from a box behind her.

  “Addition is addiction. But Beth, you have to stop. A lot of people are overdosing.”

  “What do you mean by a lot?”

  “Like five this week. It would be six, but one of the gals was found before she died. She’s still in the hospital.”

  Tears started to well up, but her familiar crawled into her lap. The tension eased from her face a little as she petted the thin creature. She stared into her lap.

  I tried for the gentlest tone I could muster. “Please tell what you know about Legacy. What is it like when you take it? What about afterward?” I had my lie ready in case she questioned me on why I needed to know. My stomach turned at the thought of lying to her in her state, but lives were at stake, including hers.

  She didn’t move even though she must have heard me. My stomach twisted as I took a harsher tone. “Beth, you have to tell me.”

  Her shoulders rolled forward, bu
t she started to talk. “It just makes you feel good. That’s all. Then when you don’t take any more, you just get sad.”

  “Can you do magic afterward?”

  She blushed a little and avoided my eyes. “No. Not for a few days. I know I shouldn’t do it—”

  I cut her off. “Beth, I’m not here to shame you. I just need this information. And I will do what I can to help you.”

  She nodded. “I’ve been thinking about getting into the rehab program over at the hospital, but then I just…”

  I waited, determined to let her speak first.

  “I have to get someone to drive me there.”

  “I’ll do that right now.”

  “But first I have to call some doctor, but I don’t remember her name or the number.”

  I perked up. “Was it Dr. Trout?” I grabbed my phone from my pocket and started to pull up the number.

  “That’s it. Do you know her? Do you think she could get me in today?” Fear and relief mixed and rolled out of her.

  I dialed the phone and held my breath. Of all the times for my phone to act up, this would be the worst time possible. Dr. Trout answered after the first ring.

  “Ella?”

  “Yes, Doctor. I’m here with a friend that is addicted to Legacy and would like to come to get treatment.”

  Beth was working her way through her emotions, and I could almost see the thoughts in her head as she switched between doubting and anxious to hopeful.

  “Of course. Are you with the person right now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Get her in the car and bring her right down. I will meet you at the curb.”

  I stood up and gestured at Beth to rise. “Does she need anything?”

  “No, nothing. Give her a smile and start walking to the door. Don’t say anything, but listen. So far, we have only had one person come in for treatment for Legacy addiction. For whatever reason, they try to back out. A couple even jumped from moving cars, so get her in the car and drive straight here. Got it?”