I thought of Sedgwick, who probably wouldn’t hesitate to make a snack of bat-shaped Demetrius.
“Can you jump high?” I asked.
“Yes, and we’re strong. Our golf clubs are magically enhanced so we don’t break them when we play.” He tapped his elegant fingers on the table. “We also have impressive stamina, in case you were wondering. Any more questions for me?”
I cleared my throat, feeling the heat rush to my cheeks. “Not at this time, Your Honor,” I joked.
“Now it’s my turn,” he said, just as a server arrived. She set down two wine glasses and a plate of something that looked like a pretzel and cracker combo. I guess that was futzel. “Thank you, Sasha.”
“Anything for you, Dem.” She gave him a sultry wink before retreating.
“Is she a succubus too?” I asked.
“No, she’s simply an incorrigible flirt. Sasha is a dryad.”
“A tree nymph?”
He seemed impressed. “That’s right. Now about you…”
I took a sip of wine. “Delicious,” I said. I wasn’t exactly an expert since my wine generally came out of a box, but I always had an opinion. “Before you grill me, can I just talk to you a little more about Gareth?”
He leaned back against the booth. “I thought you told the sheriff you were done investigating?”
“I meant it when I said it.” Twenty minutes ago. “A woman is entitled to change her mind.”
He grinned. “That she is. So what would you like to know?”
I told him about my conversations with Alison, Myra, and the harpies. “The sheriff still has no leads, and neither do I.”
“And this bothers you?”
“How can it not?” Although I spoke more heatedly than I intended, Demetrius didn’t seem bothered. “I took his house, his job, even his cat.”
“Calling that thing a cat is an insult to cats.”
“Even so, I’m having a hard time stepping into his shoes while his murderer runs free. It feels horribly unjust.”
“So what do you need from me? I want Gareth’s murder solved as much as anyone. He was a dear friend.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about the days leading up to his death?” I asked.
Demetrius leaned forward. “I really wish I had the magic answer, but I don’t. And you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it either, although I must admit, I find your intrepid nature quite attractive.”
A thin man stumbled over to our table and slapped his hands down. “You look fabulous in that outfit,” he slurred.
“Nice to see you, Ricardo,” Demetrius said. He cast a sidelong glance at me. “I take it you shopped at Ready-to-Were.”
“Impeccable taste,” Ricardo shouted.
Sasha approached the table with a tray of shot glasses. “Ricardo asked me to bring these.” She set a shot glass in front of each of us.
Ricardo picked up his drink and toasted me. “To a fantastic addition to the community.” He threw back the amber liquid and slammed the glass onto the table. “It tastes like Christmas is coming in my mouth.”
I cringed. “What is it?”
Demetrius lifted his glass and sniffed. “An Evergreen Blast.” He tipped his back slowly and exhaled. “Nice.”
“You will love this. I promise you.” Ricardo gesticulated wildly. I wondered how long he’d been drinking. I hadn’t even noticed him when we came in.
I raised the drink to my lips and glugged it down. He was right; it did taste like Christmas. Less than a minute later, my head went fuzzy.
“I should have warned you that it’s strong,” Demetrius said.
Ricardo shoved in beside me. “Do you like music? You must come out for karaoke one night.”
“Ricardo loves to sing,” Demetrius said. “Just don’t get up there on a night when Alison shows up. She blows everybody out of the water.”
“I’ll bet.”
“How are you liking my clothes?” Ricardo asked. His breath smelled like a pine forest. Considering his inebriated state, I could think of worse things it could smell like.
“I love them.” It was true. I did. “When I start making money, I will definitely be back.”
He clapped his hands giddily. “Wonderful. Demetrius, you must come in again soon. I have a new collection that will fit your body like a second skin.”
“I’d be happy to come by this week.”
“Excellent.” He leaned his head on my shoulder. “You come by again, too. I love my customers.”
Demetrius gently pushed his head off my shoulder. “Sometimes too much. Go home, Ricardo. It’s time for bed.”
Bed sounded pretty good to me right now. When my body decided it was time for sleep, I didn’t argue.
“I think I’m ready to call it a night,” I said groggily.
“Just one more round of shots,” Ricardo begged. “You will sleep like a ferret, I promise you.”
I wasn’t sure whether sleeping like a ferret was what I wanted, but I soldiered on for another hour before Demetrius drove us both home. Since it was Ricardo’s car, he dropped me off first.
“Seems that your unlucky day was a lucky one for me,” he said, helping me up the steps to the front door. “I’d like to do this again another time. When you’re not so busy cursing the sheriff.”
Oops. I must have confessed at some point during the evening.
“Thanks for a fun night,” I said.
His lips brushed lightly against mine. “The pleasure was all mine.”
I shivered happily before slipping inside.
Did he bite you? Sedgwick asked as I made my way up the stairs.
“Close enough,” I replied, and crawled into bed.
Chapter 15
The wine at the Horned Owl must have been fortified because I woke up with a killer hangover. Then again, maybe it was the third shot of Evergreen Blast that did me in. My head throbbed and the inside of my mouth was full of cotton. Not what I needed when I had to work on Mumford’s case.
I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. Sedgwick observed me from his post, staying quiet. Very considerate of him, since every sound in my head was like a drumbeat right now.
After getting dried and dressed, I had a sip of water. Slow rehydration was the key.
You have mail, Sedgwick said.
I went downstairs and opened the front door just in time to see an owl fly away. I glanced down to the porch and saw a small package. I brought it inside and unwrapped it.
There’s a note, Sedgwick said.
I unfolded the note. “To help with the hangover,” I read aloud. “It’s from Demetrius.”
I opened the package to reveal a small vial of green liquid.
It’s a tonic, Sedgwick told me.
“How thoughtful,” I said. The color reminded me of a kale smoothie. I popped off the lid and drank it down.
You’re very trusting, Sedgwick said disapprovingly.
“You don’t like Demetrius?”
He’s a vampire. I’m reserving judgment.
“Your choice.” I stretched my arms overhead. “I feel better already. That stuff is amazing.” I looked at Sedgwick. “So if I want to send a thank you note, I write it out and give it to you?”
If an owl could roll his eyes, I swear it totally just happened. If you wish. He titled his head at a ridiculous angle. This isn’t going to become a habit, is it?
“What?”
Passing notes between the two of you. I don’t want to be the intermediary in a love letter campaign.
“That’s your job, Sedgwick, remember? To deliver my mail. Never mind the content of the letters.” I scribbled a clever thank you note and placed it in Sedgwick’s beak. “Off you go.” I opened the front door and shooed him away. He nearly flew straight into Alison.
“Ack,” she cried, and ducked quickly as he skimmed the top of her head.
“Alison,” I exclaimed.
“Sorry to come without sending a message first,” she said
. “Can I come in?”
“Of course.” I stepped aside.
In the foyer, Alison looked me over. “You look pretty good for someone who closed down the Horned Owl with Demetrius Hunt.”
“You heard about that?”
“The gossipmongers here consider it their civic duty to pass along such information.” She heaved a sigh. “You’ll learn soon enough.”
“I wish they’d pass along more important information.” Like who stole the jewels from Deacon’s shop or who killed Gareth. “What brings you here?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since you came to see me.”
Oh? Was there a confession coming? I hoped not, because I’d already ruled her out as a suspect.
She chewed her lip, her gaze dropping to the hardwood floor. “I told you that we fought all the time, but I didn’t say why.”
“I thought you just didn’t get along.”
She hugged herself. “There was more to it than that. I thought maybe he was interested in someone else because he didn’t seem interested in me. I even tried to make him jealous by flirting with a hot werewolf at a wedding, but he didn’t bat an eye. It pissed me off.”
I hated to ask—“Were you sleeping together?”
“On occasion,” she admitted. “But it had become less frequent. That’s when I decided there might be another woman. I even followed Teena one night to see if she was feeding on him, draining him of his sexual energy.”
“And was she?”
Alison shook her head. “I had lunch with Althea to see if she knew anything. She was as clueless as me, which didn’t surprise me, but I was feeling increasingly desperate.”
“You don’t think he was involved with Althea, do you?” She was very attractive for a woman with snakes on her head.
“No, definitely not. Gareth hated snakes. Their relationship was very perfunctory. I don’t think they spoke about their personal lives to each other very often.”
Alison breathed in the aroma of the house. “It feels good to be back here. I kinda miss this musty old house.” She surveyed the foyer. “I guess you’ve been too busy to make any decorative changes.”
“It’s a work in progress.”
She gestured to the staircase. “What happened there? Did your owl take out the banister like he nearly took out my head?”
I glanced at the broken banister. “No, it was like that when I came.”
Alison looked thoughtful. “Really? It must have happened very recently. I was here the week he died and it was intact.”
We both reacted at the same time.
“The murder weapon,” I said. “We need to find the missing support post.”
“But Gareth was found in the forest.”
“I’ll bet you anything he was killed right here.”
Alison stared at the floor. “So the murderer must be someone strong enough to carry Gareth’s limp body all the way to the forest and smart enough to dispose of the murder weapon.”
In Spellbound, that didn’t rule out many residents.
I snapped my fingers. “The fireplace.” I rushed into the adjacent living room and Alison followed me.
“When I first arrived, the fireplace showed signs of use.” I dropped to my knees in front of the hearth. “I thought it was odd because the weather was so mild, but then I figured maybe a vampire was always chilly.”
Alison kneeled beside me and grabbed a nearby poker. “It’s the perfect place to destroy a piece of wood.”
“For once, I really wish I could communicate with cats. Magpie probably knows the whole story.”
Alison eyed me curiously. “You can’t speak to your cat? I thought that was a witch trait.”
“Apparently, it’s a witch trait for this coven.” I shrugged. “My coven is different, hence different abilities.” Some abilities I probably wasn’t even aware of yet. It was going to be an interesting year.
She pushed around the ashes. “Something was definitely burned here.”
And thank goodness Bernadette’s crew did a substandard job of cleaning this level of the house. I guess Kendra was going to be my chosen fairy cleaner from now on.
“But there’s no way of knowing if it was just kindling in here,” I said.
“This is Spellbound, Emma. There’s always a way.” She stood and dusted off her knees. “I’ll have Sheriff Hugo send someone around to collect the ashes. They’ll be able to analyze it for evidence of the support post from the banister.”
“Even if the remains are here, will we be able to show it was the murder weapon?” Would there be vampire DNA on it?
“If whatever is in these charred remains was used to kill Gareth, the sheriff’s office will be able to tell. Their forensics team includes a fairy and a witch.”
Huh. I didn’t know that.
“This is great, Alison,” I said. “We may have found the scene of the murder as well as the weapon.” Put that in your finger gun and smoke it, Sheriff Hugo.
It didn’t help me solve Mumford’s case, but at least we were one step closer to finding Gareth’s murderer. At this point, I’d take anything I could get.
Sheriff Hugo joined his forensics team at the house.
“I thought you were staying out of this,” the sheriff said, his arms folded across his human chest.
“I thought I was, too,” I said. “I can’t help that Alison noticed the staircase.” I fixed him with a disapproving stare. “Didn’t you search Gareth’s home after his body was discovered?”
“Of course we did,” the sheriff huffed. “How could we have known the breakage was recent? It wasn’t as though he had a roommate to ask.”
No, he didn’t. And Magpie wasn’t anyone’s familiar, so the forensics team witch couldn’t have interrogated him.
“What about the fireplace?” I asked. “No one thought it was odd that Gareth had used it? Other than the kitchen, it seems like he rarely used this floor at all. Why use the fireplace then?”
Sheriff Hugo’s expression was the epitome of annoyed.
“Listen up, Nancy Shrew,” he snapped. “I’m not interested in your critique of this investigation. You’re new here and I’ll give you a free pass. This time.”
“You’ve heard of Nancy Drew?” I asked.
“In case you haven’t noticed, we have a library and a bookstore in Spellbound. We’re not savages.”
“There are books from the human world?” I knew where I’d be heading as soon as Mumford’s case was finished.
“There are summoning spells that allow for books to be imported.” He wagged a finger at me. “Before you get any ideas, every spell like that has to go through the proper procedure.”
I turned my eyes skyward. Dear Daniel’s brothers in heaven. “You seriously love your red tape around here.”
“We can’t allow magic users to run roughshod over this town,” he said, and I suddenly pictured him wearing a gold star pin and a holster.
“I hardly think summoning a copy of Pride and Prejudice will wreak havoc on supernatural civilization.”
“Rules are rules, Miss Hart. You’ll learn.”
I kept hearing that I’d learn. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. Not when learning seemed to imply finding out about things that annoyed me.
I stood out of the way as the sheriff’s team removed the debris from the hearth. Sedgwick flew in during the bustling activity.
What happened?
I filled him in telepathically, so that Sheriff Hugo didn’t hear me refer to him as a jackass.
I leave for half an hour and all hell breaks loose.
What can I say, Sedgwick? Where I go, trouble follows.
Then perhaps you should stop courting it. He dropped a note into my hand. From your fanged paramour.
As I unfolded the note, I felt like I was back in school, passing notes in class with my ninth grade crush. I probably hadn’t held a guy’s interest since then.
I sighed as I read the saucy note and blushed. Demetrius wasn’t Da
niel, but he was one handsome distraction.
“Anything you care to share, Miss Hart?” Sheriff Hugo asked.
I crumpled the note and stuffed it into my pocket. “It’s personal. Nothing to do with the investigation.”
“From your new friend, Mr. Hunt?”
My expression hardened. “That’s none of your business.”
“Stay out of my business, and I’ll stay out of yours.”
“Gladly.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when the sheriff gathered his team and left. I needed to get back to the office and go through my notes one more time. I’d prepared a few questions for Mumford, and I wanted to make sure I’d covered every possible angle. Criminal law was still new to me, and I didn’t want my inexperience to show. Mumford deserved better than that.
Now that we were one step closer to finding Gareth’s killer, I felt a surge of optimism. I didn’t need to find the real thief in order to get Mumford acquitted. I just needed to prove that it wasn’t Mumford. For the first time since my arrival, I couldn’t wait to get to the office.
Chapter 16
“So how’s Demetrius Hunt?” Daniel asked. He was sitting on the front step of my porch when I arrived home from the office. I was going to need to look into a mode of transport soon because my feet were killing me. I wasn’t lucky enough—or unlucky enough—to have goblin feet.
“With everything going on in my life, that’s the question you want to ask me?” I brushed past him and pulled out my key to unlock the door.
He hopped up and joined me at the door. “Aren’t you going to ask me about Teena?”
“No need. Demetrius told me all about her.” I left it at that.
“She and I have been friends for a long time,” he said.
“Friends with benefits?”
He wore a blank expression. “All friends have benefits,” he said. “Otherwise, what would be the point of them?”
So that wasn’t an expression here. Another mental note to add to the ever-growing list.
“You came all the way over here to tell me that you and Teena have a historical friendship?” I pushed open the door and stepped into the foyer.
“And to find out whether Demetrius tried anything with you. You can’t trust him.”
Curse the Day (Spellbound Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 1) Page 14