Which Mage Moved the Cheese?

by Nikki Haverstock

  I stabbed another bite of waffle and dragged it through the thick, dark maple syrup before stuffing it into my mouth. “It’s complicated.”

  Auntie Ann buried her face in her hands. “I have travelled the world over to train young mages. Rich families. Royal families. Important people. Now I am stuck here, and the two of you are going to kill me with your antics. I need to go help Olivia, but you two have to stay out of trouble.”

  “Sure thing, Mom,” Vanessa said as she leaned across the table to grab some more bacon.

  “I’m serious, Vanessa. I know you guys were trying to find that killer, but maybe just ramp it down a bit. Look. Listen. Help Granner pack up her booth. Michael’s widow is here, and I heard that she wasn’t too happy with how the investigation was going. So just drop it.”

  “But we can’t just let a murderer go.”

  “I would rather they get away than any of my family get hurt. Or worse. That includes you, Ella. Speaking of which…” She pulled out the chair next to me and looked deep into my eyes. “You know that we are here for you and support whatever decision you make, but are you sure that you want to follow the narrow way? Do you understand what this means?”

  I nodded and swallowed some bacon, which scratched all the way down my throat. “I have a lot to learn, but I know enough.”

  “And it’s what you want? I had thought that you wanted to… I thought you wanted something else.”

  I looked away as my heart twisted in my chest. I had long suspected that she knew about my crush on Vin and possibly even encouraged it. I could never prove that she had been behind it, but I had often gone to lunch at the same time as him or ended up seated next to him, to the surprise of both of us. Maybe she didn’t mean that, but even the thought of what I was giving up made it hard to swallow around the lump in my throat.

  I put down my fork and threw my napkin onto the plate. “It is what needs to be done.”

  “Duty before desire. You have been listening.” She stood up and rushed to the door, opening it right as Vin was reaching for the knob. “Morning, Vin.”

  “Mother,” he greeted her formally, his eyes not straying from her face even as I tried to catch his attention. “Tell Ella and Vanessa to stop their investigation. Michael’s widow, Bethenny Peteman, has declared that it was a suicide and would like the ruling to be made final.”

  “What?” Vanessa stood. “Suicide? That’s ridiculous.”

  “Of course it is, but it’s her right. So why don’t you go home. Mother, I assume you will handle this.” He stepped away, allowing the door to slam shut behind him.

  “Wait, Vin.” I raced out the door after him. “Wait. I want to talk to you.”

  He continued walking away. “Nothing to talk about.”

  I jumped in front of him. “About what I announced last night. You have to understand—”

  “I understand just fine.” He stepped around me.

  I ground my teeth. “You’re sulking.”

  That stopped him. He turned on his heel to face me. He had his emotional guard up. It made sense that he, as a security professional, could shield his feelings, but even so, I could sense his anger bubbling behind the mask. Even if he couldn’t shield his feelings completely. His facial expression gave him away.

  “Ella, we have nothing to discuss.”

  “You’re being ridiculous. We’re going to work together and might as well talk about what happened. I didn’t know—”

  “Didn’t know what, Ella? I thought you knew everything. I’ll tell you what you don’t know. We’re not going to be working together anymore.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve always been freelance, working security with whatever casino or business needed me. I’ve only stayed here so long because Olivia wanted help after Uncle Edward was killed last year. But she has things in order, so today is my last day.”

  I was speechless.

  Vin smirked, having gotten the last word, and stormed off. I turned away and started to leave when I caught a reflection of Vin in a framed poster for DJ Wiz’s going-away party. Vin had stopped and turned to watch me go. His face was pained, and he took a single step to follow, even raising an arm and opening his mouth. Then he saw my reflection. We stared at each other for a long time. I spun to race back to him, but by the time I was moving in his direction, he was gone.

  I dragged myself back to the training room. What had I expected? That he would beg me to reconsider? That he would fight for me? That he would profess that we would find a way?

  His naturally prickly and frankly annoying behavior since I had known him should have prepared me for the fact that even the smallest hiccup in his life would lead him to cut off the dead weight—me.

  With each step, I got angrier. His life wasn’t at risk. He hadn’t grown up with no idea he was a mage. He hadn’t spent the last year trying to learn a lifetime’s worth of knowledge. He hadn’t just pledged himself to a life of celibacy.

  That was me. I had done all those things, and all I had asked for was a few minutes to explain why. Or at least to try to explain why without mentioning the seer’s prophecy.

  I threw open the door and stomped inside. Auntie Ann was gone, and Vanessa looked up in surprise. The red filling from the jelly donut in her hand dripped onto her shirt. Actually, my shirt, since she had borrowed my clothes.

  I grabbed a napkin and tossed it at her. “Clean yourself up. I want to wear that again someday without a huge stain.” My voice was harder than I meant it to be, but I was in a bad mood and let it stand.

  “We have magic, Ella.” She muttered a few words of a spell and used the napkin to wipe the shirt clean, leaving not even a slight smear on the white fabric. “What did he say?”

  “He’s being a big fat baby. Wouldn’t even talk to me. He’s quitting working here after today. He’s going back to being freelance.” I wiped my eyes with a napkin and muttered, “Must be something in the air.”

  “Do you think Raymond is leaving too? He works for Vin.”

  “That’s not very high on my list of things I give a flying hoot about.” I flopped into a chair, grabbed the biggest, sugariest donut off the platter, and jammed it into my mouth. Sugar and carbs were the best medicine.

  “You okay?”

  “No, I’m pissed.” I didn’t know what I was feeling bubbling in my chest, but combined with the massive breakfast, I was starting to get a sour stomach. “Plus he thinks we should quit investigating just because he says so.”

  “The marshal says so too.”

  “I don’t care. We are not giving in just because they are buying this suicide theory. They can’t seriously believe that, can they?”

  “No, no one really believes it, but as his next of kin, she can ask for it to be ruled that way.” Vanessa pushed her plate over to Patagonia, who was eyeing the rest of the sunny-side-up egg.

  “And the marshal will just accept that?”

  “He might not care, or maybe she bribed him. Mage justice is not very just.”

  “Why would she not care about finding the murderer?” I bit into the donut again as I spun in the chair. “Maybe she is in on it?”

  “Does this mean you still want to investigate?”

  “Of course! Someone tried to kill us last night. You think we should just give up?” I was shouting, my voice having risen along with my emotions.

  Vanessa held up her hands. “Easy. I’m on your side.”

  “Sorry.” I tried for a more civil tone. “We know that whoever did it was still around as of last night. And they likely knew we were investigating. We probably even spoke to the killer.”

  “I wish we could have found whatever Michael was looking for. I really thought that spell would be more exact, like a giant neon arrow. And why was it in Granner’s new booth? That is really far away from the murder site.”

  “Not when the murder happened. I bet it got knocked under something, and when the guys packed up everything, they grabbed it and stuck it in a cabinet.” I l
eaped to my feet. “That’s it. We have to search all the cabinets in the booth. It’s in there somewhere.”

  “But we don’t know what we’re looking for.”

  “Just look for anything out of place. And can we talk to the widow? I’m suspicious of this whole suicide angle.”

  “We can deliver a mourning gift to her.”

  I had a plan, and no one, especially Vin, was going to stop us.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I slammed the cabinet doors in Granner’s booth open and shut, looking for anything out of place. So far, I had found a few things, such as a plastic mirror, an empty beaded purse, and a small clipboard with a pad of paper. The items were all roughly the same size as the item I had seen, and Granner didn’t recognize them as anything she had packed. But none of the items seemed to be important enough to lure Michael to fly in to try to retrieve it.

  Granner and Vanessa were putting together a basket of treats to give to the grieving widow. They collected various items around the booth that were still in stock. Granner had been thrilled when Vanessa and I insisted that we would be the ones to deliver the basket and give the families’ condolences.

  She had patted me on the back. “Only been following the old ways one day, and look at how mature you are getting.”

  They were finishing up the basket as I dug into the last cabinet. Even before I saw it, I knew when I had found the object I was searching for. The surface was hard and slick. I recognized the magical aura from the night before. It was faint, nothing like it had been when I was a spectral rat, but the aura was still there, like a mix of freshly cut grass and limes. I had never experienced this before, but I didn’t have time to contemplate it as I pulled out the item to inspect it.

  It was a glass ashtray. Carved into the bottom was a female figure with large breasts, flowing hair, and a tail. A mermaid or… a siren. If this was Bethenny’s family crest, the ashtray was likely an item from her family. They lived in Europe, so how had someone here gotten it?

  I carried it over to show Vanessa.

  Granner was grabbing one last item to stuff into the basket—little orange puff balls inside a clear plastic bag. She was practically screaming, as the magic ban in the room had caused her hearing aids to malfunction. “My specialty. Cheese balls. They are sprinkled with sea salt. Everyone loves my salty balls.”

  Vanessa turned red. “Granner!”

  “Nothing cures a broken heart like some salty balls in your mouth.”

  Martha at the booth next to us gasped and turned away. A couple of customers raised eyebrows. Keri and Ellen Morgan a few booths over didn’t even bother to hide their laughter as they packed up their wares.

  I waited until everyone had lost interest in the salty balls before I showed Granner and Vanessa the ashtray. “I found it.”

  Granner adjusted her thick bifocals. “Where was that? Is that a siren? Dead Michael’s widow’s family has that crest. You know, in Estonia.”

  “Yes, Granner. We know.” Vanessa took it from my hands and turned it over. “What does it mean?”

  I shrugged.

  “That’s what I asked, girl. Can you guys not hear me?” Granner spoke more loudly.

  “We hear you, Granner. We better take the basket to the widow Bethenny.”

  “Are you going to give her back the ashtray?”

  “Not yet, Granner. Why don’t you hold onto it for now?” Vanessa slipped it into Granner’s oversized bag festooned with bunnies and picked up the basket overflowing with condolence cheeses.

  Granner grumbled and started packing up some cheese. With the light crowds, there was no point in waiting until the last second when the booth was still half full of unsold merchandise.

  Once we were out of earshot, I formulated a plan with Vanessa. “Since I don’t know her, maybe I should lead with a lot of innocent questions.”

  “Then I can hit her with the hard ones. Like good cop, bad cop. You feeling lucky, punk?”

  “No, Vanessa. Not like that. We just want to lay the groundwork. Now was it the left door or the right one?”

  Bethenny was in one of the two storage rooms attached to the convention hall, the same rooms we had run through last night as spectral rats. Apparently she insisted on having a place to meet people but refused to do so within the bounds of the magical ban.

  Vanessa went up to the door on the right and knocked.

  A lilting voice carried out. “Please come in.”

  I stepped inside, and the shimmer of magic passed over me as I exited the magical ban. The hairs on my arms rose in response, and a tickle shot down my limbs. Everything looked brighter and smelled crisper and sounded clearer. Magic seemed to make everything just a bit better.

  Bethenny was thin and pale in every aspect except her clothing, which was solid black. Her eyes, hair, and skin were all the same dull straw color, blending together and giving the unsettling appearance that she had no eyebrows. Her face was thin, with a large forehead and long nose and chin. Her head rested on a long neck connected to a thin body. She had the overall appearance of a pale-yellow snake that had been converted into a human with only a slight attempt to hide the transformation.

  Vanessa placed the basket on the table next to her. “From the Santini and Russo families and all our members that are not present. We are sorry for your loss and offer our services during your time of grieving.” She curtseyed.

  For once, I could see Vanessa’s background and training. She displayed the perfect level of emotion without being overwhelming. She seemed sincere without fawning. It was impressive and a side of her I had not seen.

  Bethenny dipped her head. “Thank you. I would have expected Olivia and some of the more elder members of your family to visit during my time of distress.”

  “They will, of course. But I couldn’t imagine waiting even a moment longer to see you and offer my assistance.”

  Bethenny accepted. “Then I will thank you. Your urgency is a comfort, especially with your gift. At a time like this, I have been craving salty balls on my tongue.” Her command of English was perfect, but the tinge of an accent showed it was not her first language.

  I coughed to cover a snicker then rushed to greet her as well. “I’m Ella. I train with Vanessa.”

  She looked me up and down and didn’t seem impressed. She eyed Patagonia and sniffed loudly. That was even more insulting than any slight against me. Sure, Patagonia was cleaning her nether regions, but familiars will be familiars.

  “I’m really sorry about your husband. I am sure they will find the person responsible soon.”

  “I’m afraid my husband took his own life. He was a weak man, prone to rash emotions, and I am quite sure he took his own life. I am here to receive respects from those that served under him and make arrangements for his body. Then I will make final plans for the house in California and head home. I had really hoped my first trip to the United States of America would be more pleasant.”

  She was cold as she spoke of him. I had expected to tread lightly to respect her emotions, but she appeared to have none. She might as well have spoken of a car that had been totaled. She seemed more upset about the unpleasant trip than about her dead husband.

  She spoke with such confidence that I was tempted to believe her, except I could sense the emotions churning under the surface. Little hints of frustration, deceit, and disgust milled around.

  She pulled out the bag of salty cheesy balls and popped one into her mouth. “These are so good. Michael used to send some home for me. They have a special meaning to me. Do you have more? Perhaps I can buy some.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “I wouldn’t dream of it. We will bring you more.”

  Bethenny nodded, and a swell of pleasure wafted off her as she popped another into her mouth.

  I wanted to poke at her more but didn’t seem to have a clear opening, so I created one. “Michael was well loved. I am sure he will be greatly missed.”

  She couldn’t hide her surprise this time. Her eyeb
rows shot up before she could settle them back down. She opened her mouth several times before she could find her words. “I am sure he will be missed by… someone.”

  There was a knock at the door, and she stood. “You’ll have to excuse me.”

  I bit my lip. I should have asked more questions. “We will be back with more of the cheese snacks you like.”

  “Thank you, Ellen.”

  As if her disinterest in me wasn’t apparent enough, I didn’t even rate having her learn my name.

  Opening the door, I drew back. The marshal and his cronies were waiting to enter. I nodded at them in greeting.

  “Ah, Monza Ella. I see you managed to get all the cheese out of your hair.”

  It appeared to be “pick on Ella” hour. “It took a while.”

  “I assume you will be visiting me soon so we can get to know each other.”

  “First free days I have.” And I certainly wouldn’t have any this century.

  I brushed past, checking that Patagonia was still with me. Once Vanessa caught up, I turned to her and whispered, “I don’t trust her. She clearly didn’t even like him. And she’s hiding something.”

  “So you are thinking she lured him here and had him killed?”

  We rounded a corner. “Could be. It’s the best guess so far. But how did she lure him here? And why here? And how do we prove—urf!”

  I cut off when I ran into something hard. I had been turned to Vanessa to talk quietly without being overheard, and as we rounded a corner near Granner’s booth, I had run into something. Or rather someone.

  Martha stepped back and glared at me. A dark-brown liquid was dripping down her apron and pooling on the carpeting around her. “You idiot! Why don’t you look where you are going?”

  Vanessa rolled her eyes. “You ran into her as much as she ran into you. You should look where you’re going.”

  “I was looking down so I didn’t spill the chocolate milkshake. I didn’t expect anyone to come barreling around the corner.”

  “We didn’t barrel. We were walking.”