“The terms of your agreement have changed,” Gregor said, his voice so low I almost didn’t hear him.
“Let me guess, more interest,” I sneered. Why did I ever borrow money off a loan shark? Oh I know, because I’m an idiot and it was the only way I could get this place off the ground. I sold some items I brought with me to this world, literally the family jewels, but I still fell short of my target. I considered working somewhere to make up the rest, but then this place came on the market and I couldn’t turn down the chance of such prime real estate. I thought I would be raking it in with all the foot traffic. New Orleans was full of tourists looking for kitschy items and plenty of supernaturals needed actual help with remedies that weren’t easy to come by.
Gregor moved to the counter, resting his meaty fists on it. I could see tattoos on his knuckles, a heart, spade, diamond and a club. Someone liked to play poker. “No, Mr. Lewicki wants all his money back now.”
I paused in placing more bottles on the shelf behind the counter, trying to decide if he was cracking a joke, but I seriously doubted it. I don’t think Gregor is the joking type.
“I don’t have thirty grand.” How did he think I would be able to pay it back? If I had that kind of money, I wouldn’t have gone to him in the first place.
“Not my problem. Mr. Lewicki says you have until the end of the week, or I make a mess of your shop.” He reached out a finger and nudged a bottle of hand lotion onto the ground to emphasize his point. It smashed when it landed, the thick white liquid spilling out onto the hardwood floor, the smell of lavender filling the air.
“You have got to be kidding me! Why the hell is he doing this now?” Did he do this to all his customers?
“You missed too many payments. Get the money.” Gregor left the shop. I lashed out with my foot, kicking a delivery box. Unfortunately, it was full of bars of soap and it hurt.
Hopping into the back, I poured myself a stiff drink. How the fuck am I going to get out of this one?
I never thought there would be so many obstacles when it came to running this place. I guess palace life and living in a school where everything was provided for me, didn’t exactly prepare me for the real world. I thought I could make the money back quickly and everything would be fine, but as it turned out, the shop wasn’t doing as well as I hoped. There was too much competition and a new store with no reputation meant I mostly attracted a few tourists, and distain from the locals. Some of them had been here for years, I didn’t blame them for being angry, but this was a busy city, surely there was room for all of us. One woman, Madam Lauralei ran a store down the street. She seemed to be the one in charge. The other store owners followed her lead. I’m fairly certain she’s a witch or practitioner of some kind, but it didn’t take magic to make people avoid my store, just one word from her.
Maybe I should give up and go somewhere else.
Doing a moonlight flit sounded like a good idea, but I hadn’t exhausted every option yet. Besides, my Shifter roommate might be unhappy if I disappeared and left her homeless. Then again, she didn’t pay me any rent yet, so…I shoved that thought aside. I ran away once, I couldn’t do it again when I had everything I wanted. Or at least what I thought I wanted. I knew that I opened this place partly to get back at my father and stepmother for hating my potion making skills. A way to say, ‘look at me now, I made it!’ I don’t know why that was still important to me, I imagine they didn’t really care what I was up to or where I was. If my father ever came for me, it would only be to punish me for making him look bad by running away. I abandoned our kingdom at the worst possible time. For all I knew, Rex might be in charge now. If he found me, he wouldn’t punish me, he would have me executed. Having this store may be a big fuck you to them, but its also my future, my livelihood and I need to fix this.
I had been in contact with a few suppliers about some rare herbs. Translation – illegal, but the potions I could make with them could clear my debt with a few sales. Unfortunately, they ghosted me in the last few days. It looked like my next step would involve robbing a bank. Don’t think I haven’t been tempted. I mean, technically, with my powers, all I would have to do is ask the teller to hand over the money and they would do exactly as I said. It may sound easy, but I knew I could never do something like that.
The bell rang again. I trudged from the back to find a defeated looking Jade coming my way.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She slumped against the counter. “We’ve been trying to find a way to get Regine off my back, but nothing so far.”
“Well I’m sure something will come up. Everyone wants something.” Like thirty grand in a matter of days.
“Tell me about it. Real life is hard.”
“I think we both need a night in front of the TV with a pint of ice cream. What do you say?” I suggested. There was nothing ice cream couldn’t solve, or at least that’s what I told myself.
“Sounds good.”
“Well, head up and I’ll lock up.”
She stepped away from the counter, then pulled a face. “Oh, something spilled.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it,” I said. I could clean up my own messes. And Gregor’s too, it seemed.
I picked up the broken glass and mopped up the hand lotion. That smell would be here for a while. At least lavender might stop me from freaking out so much.
As I went to lock the door, I heard something thump against it. Worried Gregor had returned, I snatched up the broom and yanked the door open. There was no one on the other side.
I glanced down to see a brown paper package on the step with my name scrawled on the front. Lifting it up, I noticed a man watching from the crowd. Tall with a beard, he didn’t look familiar. He gave me a nod, then seemed to vanish.
Curious, I took the package inside and ripped it open. Inside, I found the herbs I had been wating for. A grin spread over my face. It looked like I would be able to save this place after all.
***
Jade
After a restless night, spent trying to come up with a solution to the Regine problem – most of which would never work or ended in her tearing off my head, I headed for work.
I reached the office, in serious need of a caffeine fix, even though I rarely touch the stuff myself, but today was an exception. I sneaked a cup of Harry’s special blend, hoping he wouldn’t notice. The wolf would just have to take it, although I felt so tired right now, she had fallen silent.
“Good morning, Jade,” Harry said, appearing behind me. I jumped, almost spilling the coffee.
“Morning,” I replied, trying to hide the cup.
“I thought perhaps we could…is that my coffee?” he asked.
“No, I made it for you,” I said, handing the cup over.
He looked suspicious but took a sip. “Needs milk.” He moved to the mini fridge to grab some.
Sighing, I grabbed a cup of the crappy stuff instead. Maybe I could sneak some later when he wasn’t looking.
“Any luck on the Regine front?” I asked. He had been making phone calls about her, but I imagined that if he had found something he would have told me by now.
“No, I’m afraid not. She’s into a lot of things but no one wants to cross her. Apparently, anyone who does has a habit of disappearing.”
“Great. T minus twenty-seven hours and counting.” That was another thing I did last night. Watched the clock, counting down the time in my head, making myself more crazy by the minute.
I sat at my desk, feeling defeated. I knew this was too good to be true.
Would anything ever change? I could really use a miracle right now. I really feel that I’m overdue one.
The door opened and Regine marched into the office, this time dressed in black. She wore her blonde hair in a chignon. Where was this fashion show that this woman seemed to think she was in?
What the hell is she doing here?
“I still have time left,” I said, gettin
g to my feet. She couldn’t keep coming here and changing the rules.
“I’m not here about that,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. She sighed and faced me, a look of distain on her face. “I need your help.”
5
Jade
“You need our help?” I asked, certain I heard her wrong. I still had time, I didn’t agree to work for her yet, so what was she playing at? Or was this how she planned to lure me in?
“One of my girls was murdered and I need your help figuring out who did it.”
A murder? Is this for real?
I chanced a glance at Harry, who stood by my desk. She wanted our services as PIs? For an actual murder? “Um, can’t the police help you?” I asked.
“I don’t trust the police, they deal with humans and Kandy wasn’t human.”
“Wait, Kandy? The Chupacabra?”
Can’t understand why anyone would want her dead. She did seem pretty popular when she was up on stage.
“Yes, we discovered her in the dressing room, her throat had been cut almost to the point of decapitation.”
Gross.
She seemed genuinely upset. I didn’t believe it was because of Kandy though, it probably had something to do with the loss of money from being one dancer short. Whoever did it must have a big set of balls to kill a girl in her business. If she had caught them, I imagine they would end up skinned alive.
“And you want us to figure out who did it?” I said, still trying to work out her angle.
“Is she slow?” Regine asked Harry. “Yes, I want you to figure out who did it.”
Her little dig aside, this could be a good thing.
“Okay, we’ll do it. But if we do, then you leave me alone. I get to stay here and avoid working for you.” I needed to take advantage of this while I had the chance.
Regine scowled at me. “I’ll think about it, if you solve the case.”
I would have liked it in writing but, it looked like that would be the best offer we could get from her.
Harry nodded. “Agreed. We’ll need access to the crime scene and we’ll need to speak to any of your employees working when it happened.”
“Fine, we open in an hour.” She left the office. I let out a breath, stunned at this turn of events.
“She’s going to open up after someone was murdered?” I asked. That seemed somewhat disrespectful.
“I’m sure she wouldn’t want it getting around that someone targeted her,” Harry said. “Another reason not to involve the police, they would close the whole place down.”
I grabbed my coffee and took a long drink. I would need it. “Okay, so what’s the plan?” Despite the job being for Regine, I actually felt a little excited to finally be doing something. To have an actual mystery to solve.
“We go over, interview everyone, take some pictures of the crime scene and try to figure this out.”
I nodded, unlocking the cupboard in the desk to grab the camera. We hadn’t used it yet, so I double checked that the battery was fully charged. I placed a notebook into my purse too, going over the questions I would need to ask in my mind. Harry and I went over a checklist to make sure we had everything before we headed out.
Harry and I didn’t say much on the walk over, I guess we were both nervous about this job. I didn’t expect our first case to be a murder, maybe a disappearance or something, but not a murder. I guess my education at Crestwood would come in handy after all, given how many dead bodies I’ve stumbled across. I got the blame for at least one of them. Two if you counted Brett. That’s why I knew how important it was to try and stay objective. I would hate to blame an innocent person for a murder they didn’t commit.
We arrived just before opening and Bobby the bartender let us inside. Another girl, wispy, with long brown hair and a thin frame, led us into the back where the dressing room lay. She didn’t speak and looked ready to bolt at any moment.
I braced myself for the sight of the body, but the room lay empty. Three vanity tables were set up around the room, with a railing in the corner holding some of the brightly colored, bedazzled outfits for the stage. One table had blood sprayed across it and a pool of it on the floor too. At least I assumed it was blood, it was lime green in color. I guess Chupacabras don’t bleed red. Something else I didn’t know.
“Is that the spot?” I asked the girl, even though it clearly was. I just wanted to see what she had to say.
She nodded gravely, then hurried from the room. I didn’t peg her as a dancer, she must be a waitress or something.
I started taking pictures while Harry took a look around for clues. I glanced up to see Regine in the doorway, staring at us.
“The same staff who were on last night are here today. I want to keep this as quiet as possible, so I switched their shifts.”
No compassionate leave either? I bet she doesn’t even offer dental.
Sarcasm aside, I knew we needed to pay attention and get the job done.
“So what can you tell us about Kandy?” Harry asked.
“She started working for me five months ago. Brought in a lot of money.”
“Any issues with anyone?” he asked.
“She was a Chupacabra. They have short tempers. Especially when they don’t eat regularly.”
I pulled a face. Somehow, I didn’t think she meant a burger and fries, but something disgusting.
“Do you have any pull with the coroner? Do you think they will share what they find?” I asked. By coroner, I meant the one appointed by the SPA. Kandy could never end up in a regular morgue or there would be serious questions. Especially with green blood. They might think she’s an alien.
Regine snorted. “Coroner? When I said no police, I meant on either side. We can’t let this get out.”
“Then where is the body?” Did she bury her somewhere? Dump her in the river?
Rolling her eyes, Regine motioned for us to follow her. She led the way down the hall to an exit, which opened out onto an alley. She waved a hand at the nearby overflowing dumpster.
“You just dumped her in the trash!” I exclaimed.
What a callous bitch. Yet somehow, I’m not surprised. It seemed to sum her and her whole attitude up. Everyone was expendable and could be thrown away at any moment.
Harry cleared his throat. “I think what Jade means is that if the body is found, it won’t be difficult to tie it back to this club and to you.”
Regine gave him a withering look. “Oh no, why didn’t I think of that?” she said sarcastically. She clicked her fingers and two heavies in black t-shirts came out of the club. “Lift it out for them to take a look at.”
They did as she ordered, opening the dumpster and removing a rolled up blue and white rug. They set it on the ground and unrolled it, revealing Kandy’s body, dressed in a navy blue bikini, her hair matted with green blood. A gaping wound lay where her neck used to be.
“There won’t be a body for long. Their bodies break down after about eighteen hours. There will be nothing for the police to find but a pile of goo. And lucky for me, trash day isn’t until the end of the week,” Regine said.
How convenient.
She left us to take some pictures of the body which wasn’t a pretty sight. She wasn’t lying when she said her head was almost taken off. The blade had cut right through. Whoever did it had to be incredibly strong. We worked in silence and when we were done, the men rolled her back up and tossed her into the dumpster. I hoped I didn’t end up like that.
As I headed back to the door, I spotted a symbol etched into the side of the dumpster, which I didn’t recognize. It showed a circle with a line through it. It could be nothing, but I snapped a quick picture of it just in case. We had to assume everything was a clue.
“Now what?” I asked Harry as we headed back into the main room.
“We start interviews.”
The sooner we got through them the better. I didn’t want to stay here a moment longer than I
had to.
We split up to make things go faster. I took the bartender, while Harry spoke to a waitress. He agreed to speak to Regine too, which I did not argue about.
Bobby stood behind the bar, unpacking supplies. The bar may be open, but it was empty at the moment, which would make it easier to talk. I took a seat on one of the stools and opened a notebook to record the interview. I also switched on the voice recorder on my phone, in case I needed a backup, but I didn’t let on. I’m not sure how he would feel about it and it was just for my own reference.
“So, Bobby, how well did you know Kandy?” I asked.
He smirked at me. “Pretty well.”
“I take it you mean that you were sleeping with her?”
“Slept, past tense. And there wasn’t a lot of sleeping involved.” He chuckled like had made a joke.
“Did you see or hear anything suspicious before she was killed?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really pay attention to what’s going on in the back, I had drinks to serve.”
“Do you know anyone who has a grudge against her?”
“Nah, although I saw her arguing with some guy, but that was weeks ago.”
“Did you catch a name or what he looked like?” I asked hopefully.
“No, it was too far away and he had his back to me. I haven’t seen him since though.”
I sighed. It would never be that easy. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you?”
“I’m a Bacchae. I’m into wine, women and song and I get all three here.”
I had never heard of a Bacchae. “Oh. Do you have any powers?”
He waved his hand in front of his face. “Well…”
“You’re…supernaturally pretty?”
He laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am. I can also do this.” He touched my hand and I felt desire fill me. I quickly jerked my hand away.
“Don’t do that,” I said.
“Why? Scared you might like it?” he said, leaning across the bar.
“No, I’m a Shifter, I might lose control and wreck this place.”
The Werewolf Queen of Bourbon Street: City For Lost Souls Series Book 1 Page 3