“Akiro!”
My eyes were brimming with tears. I couldn’t believe the way that they were looking at each other. I felt like I was in a nightmare. Betrayal flushed through my veins. “How could you do this?”
And just when I had started to feel sorry for Maddie as well. I’d known all along that I couldn’t trust her . . . and I was right. She may not have been a killer, but she was stealing my man, and that was just as bad.
Maybe love had brought him back here. But who was it love for? Me, or somebody else?
I had never felt so hurt and betrayed in my life. My face was flushed, and I was furious. I suppose that is what love does to a person. I was seeing red . . . ruby red.
I stormed over to them and ripped their hands apart from each other.
“Ruby?” Akiro said, blinking like he was in a daze. “I . . . I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
But I had too much pride to even entertain this conversation. And I certainly wasn’t going to beg for him back.
“It’s fine. If you want to be with Maddie, then you be with her,” I said, suddenly stony. The urge to slap him in the face had already started to subside. “I don’t want to be with someone who is interested in a woman like her.”
Akiro shook his head and blinked a few times. Then he stepped away from Maddie and gasped, as though things had all become so clear to him.
And they were suddenly clear to me as well.
“She’s put a spell on you,” I whispered, scarcely believing it. That time that they had met in the station, I knew that something weird had happened.
Akiro laughed and said that I was being ridiculous.
I murmured the next part so quietly that there was no way he could have actually heard it. “No, I mean it quite literally.”
I mean, I had half-joked to myself that she might do something like that, but I never thought she would actually stoop so low. Love spells were one of the most taboo spells a witch could perform. The witches in our Swift Valley coven were forbidden from performing them, just like a lot of witches were. But Maddie didn’t follow any rules. She reminded me of another witch I knew—May.
To be honest, she reminded me a little of me.
“Reverse the spell,” I said to her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said and giggled. And I suddenly realized where Akiro had been all those times he went missing. And why he had been drawn back to Melbourne again and again, like a human magnet.
“He is my boyfriend, Maddie. There is a code of ethics between witches, and you are crossing a line here.”
She just smirked and rolled her eyes. “You know that love spells can’t work unless the person you cast the spell on actually wants them to.”
I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I looked over at Akiro. Remembered the heart eyes that he had been making at her five minutes earlier. She was just bluffing. I was sure of it. I shook my head at the two of them and stormed off. I needed to talk to my best friend.
She was strumming her guitar when I walked in, my eyes full of angry tears.
Vicky didn’t have much reassurance to give me when I explained the whole thing to her.
“. . . oh, Maddie is totally right there, I’m afraid. Love spells only work if the victim is at least a little bit willing. You can’t turn hate into love. Or even dislike.”
I flopped down on the top of the bed, deflated. “If he is into Maddie, then it is all my fault,” I said. “I have been hiding the truth from Akiro for so long that it’s no wonder he has gone looking for someone else. He deserves better than me.”
Vicky was taking what I was saying so seriously that not only did she stop playing, she put her guitar entirely on the floor.
I thought she may take Akiro’s side here. That he deserved to know the truth. But she surprised me a little.
“It’s very risky to tell a human the truth,” she said, her voice solemn and eerie. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
I glanced around at her in surprise. I would have thought that Vicky would be all about telling the truth. “So, you think I should go on lying to him forever? Or for how long? Just till we are married, for instance? Afterwards even? Till he is on his deathbed? Can I tell him the truth then?”
She did not look amused. “I’ve done some thinking about what could happen. I mean, I used to date humans too, but after watching you with Akiro, I think maybe Geri and the coven have the right idea. I think that maybe you shouldn’t be dating a human at all.”
I was about to argue back, but then I stopped. Because I couldn’t help wondering if she was right.
9
There were only four days left in the course, and it was just about time for our final exams. Joe had decided now that our investigation would only count towards a measly twenty percent of our final grade, but the death of Eddie Ian was still hanging over all of us in spite of that. The police had yet to have a serious lead, let alone any suspect in custody now that John Cassidy was on the run. At least Maddie had been put in her place a little.
I ignored her when I walked into the classroom.
Joe had told us that with John Cassidy going further underground, we all had to keep our heads down, studying for our final exam. Everyone groaned. No one was a fan of exams.
Donna was chewing on her nails when I walked past the reception desk during our recess break. She stopped and looked up when she saw me. Cast me a strange look. What was all that about?
It was almost as though she could read my mind. And I had a lot on it that day. It was final exams time, and I was way behind. I stood a good chance of flunking unless I took drastic measures.
I mean, there was one way to ace the test—a guaranteed way. All I would have to do was use my witchcraft to cast a spell over Joe to make me pass, and then I would get my certification. I mean, it wasn’t as though I didn’t already know how to be a detective. And I had passed the course once before, hadn’t I? This was just a technicality . . . and for just a moment, I could justify using a spell to get me that passing grade. But then I realized there was no amount of justification that could ever make that right.
I knew what I needed to do.
I stayed back late after class and humbled myself.
“I need help,” I said as I walked into the almost-empty classroom. It was only the teacher and me left.
Joe glanced up at me but didn’t say anything. Just let me talk.
“I thought I knew all this stuff, but I think my ego got in the way. I have fallen behind, and I am finding myself struggling,” I said, exhaling deeply. There was something kinda relaxing about just letting go and admitting that I wasn’t the perfect A student that I had always made out I was.
Joe hesitated for a moment, taking it all in with surprise, but then he smiled kindly at me and told me to take a seat. “It’s no problem,” he said. “Anything you don’t understand, we can go over it until you get it.”
“You are a really good teacher,” I said to Joe, and he looked a little embarrassed at the compliment.
“So,” I said all casual-like as I glanced over at his desk. Even though I was supposed to be studying, the detective in me came out big time. “Do you eat ice creams at all?”
He looked completely bemused by the question. “Nah. I don’t touch sugar. So, if you want to pay me back for the extra tutelage, all I ask from you is passing the class.”
Hmm, that was just as I had suspected. The sugar thing, anyway. I hadn’t realized that my passing the class was of such great importance to Joe. But it was nice to hear.
“How is your stomach now?” I inquired as we started looking over the parts of the textbook that I had been struggling with.
Joe cleared his throat and said that it was feeling much better. “It was a silly business anyway. Better to just forget that it happened.”
“You have no idea who attacked you?”
He looked a little embarrassed at not being able to solve this puzzle.
“Joe, why did you tell us that we can’t investigate the Eddie Ian case?” I asked as the night wore on. “I know you retracted on it, but you were so strict on it at the start. I mean, it would have given us all practical first-hand experience. It’s almost like you don’t want us to become proper detectives.”
I saw the way that Joe’s face fell and realized that I had stumbled upon something true.
He looked ashamed. “Now that I’m teaching, I don’t get to solve cases much these days.”
“So, you wanted to stop the rest of us from having any fun?” I asked a little teasingly.
He shot me a very serious look. “It’s a tough job, Ruby. Not everyone is cut out for it.”
I nodded. “I know that, Joe. But I already do this full-time. I know what I am getting in for. And so do the others. You don’t have to worry about all of us so much. We can take care of ourselves. Even people like Vicky and Savannah, who seem a little naïve. When the pressure is really on, they will be able to handle it.”
Joe nodded slowly and looked a little ashamed. “Maybe I have been too hard on you guys.”
Ya think?
I just smiled at him and sympathized. “You know, I think that the attack on you may have been related to Eddie’s death.”
Joe looked up at me in surprise. “You think there is someone out there who is offing all private eye course teachers?”
Well, if it was John Cassidy, then yes. Maybe he was on a revenge killing spree. But I just shrugged a little, noncommittal. I was still trying to clear his name, even though he had not called me again, and when I’d tried to call him back on the same number, it was suddenly no longer in service. “It’s an idea.”
Joe frowned. But he looked intrigued at the possibility. He furrowed his brow like he was in full concentration, trying to recall any details of the attack, but he just ended up sighing heavily in frustration
“All I felt was the punch to the guts,” he said, shaking his head. “I didn’t see the attacker at all—it was like they came out of thin air and then returned to it just as quickly.”
That didn’t seem possible, but I nodded my head in sympathy. If that was what he experienced, then it was true for him.
“What about other details?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation in a more productive direction. “Did you see anyone else hanging around here that evening after class?”
He frowned at me. “Well, I know that you were here.”
I sighed and leaned back “And you also know that I didn’t attack you, Joe.” I laughed. “I am far too much of a teacher’s pet for that,” I added.
Joe looked amused by that, and he gave me quick little nod.
“Donna was the first on the scene.”
That was interesting.
“Joe, has Donna ever acted strangely towards you before? She could be the one who is right before our eyes, the one that we haven’t noticed. Getting away with it all.”
Now he looked interested, too.
He frowned and considered this—but then he shook his head. “Nah, Donna couldn’t bear to go through all the paperwork again if we lost another teacher.”
True. She had been very distressed about the paperwork.
“Unless that was all a clever tactic . . .” I said, staring out the classroom window, towards where the administration office was. “She was quite fond of John, from memory.”
Joe followed my line of vision. “She’s never mentioned him to me. But then again, I suppose she wouldn’t, if she was trying to cover up something.”
I nodded and asked if he had noticed her doing anything else suspicious. Anything at all. I knew that he didn’t want to investigate the case. But if I could just keep him talking for a little while longer, then I might be able to get some clues for my own peace of mind.
“Well, I suppose she does have a way of always being around when there is trouble.” Joe paused. “And she didn’t seem to like Eddie Ian that much.”
Hmm.
Donna’s hair—it was long and brunette. But not quite as long as the hair and head that I had seen dashing away from Eddie’s body that night that he was killed.
But unless Donna had a cloak of invisibility, I wasn’t sure that she was the one who had attacked Joe. Not without any solid proof.
How was I going to get that?
“Joe,” I said staring up at him. “How about we team up? You and I. You’re on the case one last time.”
It took a while for the grin to spread across his face, but when it did, it was blinding. “You are on, kid.”
“Thanks, Joe,” I said and grabbed my bag. I grinned down at him. “I suppose you miss the practical side of all this, huh? Teaching doesn’t quite scratch the same itch, does it?”
He nodded and stood up after me, telling me that now was as good a time as any to get started. “I suppose you are right. It will be good to get back on the case.” We passed the canteen on the way out. “How about one last sausage roll for the road?”
I grinned at him. And Donna was eyeing us suspiciously as we walked out together.
10
Joe was a little rusty. I was surprised to find myself taking the lead. But I wanted to stroke his ego at least a little bit.
“So, what would you have done? Back in the day?” I asked, dusting the last of the pastry off my hands. “First step you would have taken as a PI?”
“I would have gone straight up to her and interrogated her the old-fashioned way. Not given up until she confessed to her crime.”
Wow. That sounded a little harsh. Maybe we could try a slightly more subtle approach to the whole thing.
“If you really think that Donna did it, then we need to talk to her now and see what she has to say for herself.” He wasn’t willing to back down on this one.
“I never said that I really think Donna did it,” I answered carefully. It was clear that this guy could get riled up pretty easily, and so I kept my voice calm and steady. “I just think that she is a good suspect . . . but not the only one.”
Joe frowned at me. Sized me up. “You better be clear with me, kid. Who do you think really did it?”
I let out a long, loud sigh, so that my lungs were totally empty. But then, when I finally did speak, the word came out like a little squeak. “John.”
“Sorry?” Joe asked, leaning forward. He hadn’t heard what I had said.
“I think that John Cassidy did it,” I said and sighed heavily. “He wants me to clear his name. But I think he is just doing a Hail Mary.” I stared at Joe. “Come on, admit that you know it is John as well. I mean, what are we doing, really? Clutching at straws, thinking that it might be someone else? That it might be Donna?”
Joe sighed and admitted that he had been at the museum a couple of weeks earlier, chasing John down from the start.
“Yeah. That’s why I was there, too,” I said without thinking.
Then he blinked a few times. “Hey. I don’t remember seeing you there.”
I gulped. Whoops. “I don’t think we actually spoke,” I answered quickly. “I just saw you from a distance.”
“Hmm.”
He had that same look on his face, like he was trying to recall a groggy memory. But I just shrugged it off and said I hadn’t wanted to bother him that day. That it had felt a little awkward to approach a teacher in an off-campus environment.
Hey, it wasn’t like he was going to actually accuse me of being a witch and erasing his memory, right?
“I never got any proof that John was involved,” Joe said gruffly. “So I think he is off the suspect list, even if he has skipped bail.” He dismissively kicked at the ground and then shrugged. He thought he knew better than the cops. Better than all of us. He was about to walk off. Give up.
It was time for me to come clean and to stop trying to protect John.
“I do have some proof,” I called out, stopping him.
I gulped. I had to tell him about the ice cream sticks. And by extension, the way that I had gotten them.<
br />
“So, you broke into my desk?”
“Well . . . Eddie’s desk. You had only been there a few days,” I tried to explain, as though that made things any better. Technically, it had probably been Joe’s desk longer than it had been Eddie Ian’s.
“What made you think to look inside the desk?” Joe asked, frowning. He leaned towards me a little. “Doesn’t seem like there would be any obvious reason for you to do that.”
Gee, he really had a way of making a person feel put on the spot.
“Just a hunch,” I replied with confidence. “Call it detective’s intuition.”
“So, what ties them to John Cassidy, Miss Detective?”
“Those ice cream sticks. They come from a canteen at the museum. Where John works. There is your proof.”
Joe and I had been spending a lot of time together, trying to piece together the puzzle.
But the final exams were growing nearer and nearer, and I was taking a risk not studying and investigating instead. I just hoped that I wasn’t betting on the wrong horse. Putting my whole future at stake just for a bit of justice that might not ever come.
“Jeez. You really are a teacher’s pet, aren’t you?” Vicky looked up from her study notes after Joe had dropped me off, pen in hand, and I noticed there was a blob of ink at the corner of her mouth. Joe had popped his head in to say goodbye as he had left. She raised her eyes at the whole scene. I was a little embarrassed to have been caught with him.
“I am just getting some tips from Joe. I didn’t think that you would be here. I thought that you and Maddie were joined at the hip these days.”
“She is busy,” Vicky said with a sign. “A hot date, apparently.” Vicky rolled back over. “And besides, I really need to study for our final exams. Shouldn’t you be doing the same thing?” she asked me pointedly.
But I was still hoping that solving the Eddie Ian case would trump all the exam scores. Joe would surely have to let me pass if I could solve a real-life case. I mean, exams were such silly, irrelevant things really, weren’t they?
“Where is Akiro?” I asked her. We hadn’t exactly been speaking for the past few days, but he had still been in Melbourne trying to make things right. Sleeping on the sofa. But none of his blankets were out.
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