by Amy Boyles
I finished what I was doing and threw the jar in my purse. I dashed into the living room. “We know who Arnold is. Betty, we need you to get on the horn and reach Garrick and Axel. Tell them we’ll be at the inn capturing a vampire for them.”
Betty placed a finger on her nostril and exhaled. Sparks of magic flew from her nose and surrounded us. “It’s a spell of protection. You’ll need it.”
I grabbed my skillet and opened the front door. “One more thing. Be sure to tell Officer Young that he can find Eva’s body in the trees lining the backside of the park.”
“Eva?” Betty said, looking worried.
“That’s the one.” I glanced at my cousins. “Come on.”
I didn’t wait to see what Betty did. I hopped on the skillet and rose high over Magnolia Cove. Wind whipped my hair into a thick frenzy that would be a mess by the time I landed. I really needed to come up with a spell that would keep my hair silky while I traveled.
We touched down outside the inn and stashed our skillets in the rack outside the building. It was sort of like a bike rack, but for riding skillets, brooms, whatever.
I waited for my cousins to finish roping their rides and cinched my purse tightly over my chest. “Y’all ready?”
Amelia grabbed my arm with a cold hand. “What’s the plan? Because I’m assuming you have a plan, but I don’t know what it is and I’m scared.”
I smiled widely at her and Cordelia. “Okay. Here’s the plan.”
“It’s pretty late,” Johnny said when he answered the door.
The three of us floated in. “I know,” I said. “I’m so sorry about this, but we thought we’d help Eva and Princess do some girl bonding.”
Johnny scrubbed the back of his hand over the scruff on his cheeks. It was thick and dark, jutting up to an inch or so below his eyes. Poor guy. Probably had to shave his whole body. That was the problem with being a werewolf, I suppose—hair, hair and more hair.
Johnny stared at me, obviously perturbed.
I shrugged innocently. “It’s still early and we brought face masks.”
“Face masks?” he said, mouth gaping.
Cordelia clamped his mouth shut. “It’s a girl thing. Trust us. They’re going to love it.”
He thumbed toward a door. “They’re in there.”
I shot my cousins a look that said we’re on and turned the knob. I entered to find Eva stroking Princess on the head. The sight sent a shudder straight down my back.
“Hey, y’all,” I said, raising my purse high. “We brought face masks.”
Eva as Arnold shot us a look full of daggers before recovering quickly. “Oh, well that sounds great, but we’re exhausted.”
I unscrewed the cap. “This is bonding time. And don’t you love bonding time, Princess?”
She fluttered up onto one of the drapes. “Yes, it’s my favorite. I love bonding. And Eva, you’ll love the face mask.”
“That’s what I think, too,” I said, putting on my fakest, most excited voice. “I thought this would be the most awesome thing to do ever. We maybe do some face masks, then our nails. I mean, especially after what happened to Eva the other night, I figured you could use some real relaxation.”
“I don’t know,” Eva said. “I’m pretty tired.”
Cordelia grabbed Eva’s shoulders. “Oh, well I know you’ve got energy for this.”
Amelia pulled up a chair, and Cordelia pushed Eva into it. “I’m so excited about this mask,” Amelia said. “You simply won’t believe what it’ll do to your skin.”
Eva blinked like a doe-eyed ingenue in a black-and-white film. “Well, if you think it’ll be good.”
“Girl,” I said, raising the jar. “This is going to be absolutely the best facial you’ve ever had in your life.”
“I’m so excited,” Princess said. “I can’t wait to be able to have facials again. It’s been so long.”
“It’ll probably be sooner than you think,” I murmured.
Eva glanced up at me, trying to look all innocent. “What’d you say?”
“Nothing,” I said, keeping a tight grip on her shoulder. “Okay, are you ready to experience the wonder of this?”
Eva closed her eyes. “Sure.”
I sneaked a glance at Cordelia and Amelia. They each gave a quick nod. I scooped out a glop of the goo. “Now this may sting a little. That’s normal. It will tingle and maybe burn, but that’s just the ingredients working to clean out those pores and make you beautiful. Well, more beautiful because Eva, you are lovely already.”
Sweat sprinkled my brow. Nerves jumbled in my belly. If this didn’t work, I was dead. Well, if it worked right, it would do exactly what I wanted. But I might still be dead either way.
“You ready?” I said to Eva.
“I’m ready,” Amelia said.
I shot her a scathing look.
“What?” she said. “I love facials.”
“This,” I said to Eva, “might just change your life.” I slapped the goop onto her cheek.
“Hmm,” she said.
“You feel the tingle?”
“Mmm yeah, but it more than tingles.”
I worked the cream in. “Trust me. It’ll keep tingling. Just breathe through it.”
“I think she needs more,” Cordelia said. She scooped up a handful and slapped it on Eva’s other cheek. “There. Let’s really rub it in.”
“Oh, but even more,” Amelia said. She threw some on Eva’s forehead. And in the end that’s what did it. I mean, you can’t chop up an entire head of garlic, mix it with a soothing face mask and expect it to do anything other than burn the skin off an evil vampire.
Well, I guess you could, but you’d be so wrong you’d think Mississippi was on the other side of Texas—and I mean, not the right side.
As I was saying, a face covered in garlic mashed potatoes would be enough to bring a grown woman to tears, much less a male vampire pretending to be a woman.
So when Eva screamed bloody freakin’ murder Southern fried style, I wondered what had taken her so long.
“What’s wrong?” Princess said, flying up into the air.
“It burns,” Eva yelled. “Get it off.”
I grabbed a rag that was lying nearby and swiped it across her cheek. I gasped when her flesh swiped away with the cream.
“Oh my gosh,” Cordelia said. “It looks like your skin is coming off.”
Then everything happened at once.
Eva’s flesh peeled off her like a banana. Amelia grabbed a bottle of water and threw it on Eva. “This should help.”
Eva just screamed more. Smoke rose from her skin as she continued to yell.
She shifted and morphed. Eva grabbed a cloth and wiped the mask from her face, all the while her body changed. Her boobs vanished and so did her twenty-eight-inch waist. She went from a svelte gorgeous woman with legs up to her neck to an average-looking chubby man with receding black hair and a crooked nose. A man who was still missing a chunk of flesh from his cheek.
Johnny Utah must’ve been asleep because it took him way longer to rush into the room than I expected. I mean, I expected he would’ve burst in on the first scream. The fact that he waited so long made our jobs just a little bit easier.
But anyway, Johnny appeared, gun in hand. He took one look at Eva—or Arnold—and screamed, firing his gun at the vampire.
Arnold sprouted fangs and hissed.
“Where’s Eva?” Johnny yelled. “What in the world is this ugly piece of crap in here? Somebody better tell me right now what happened to Eva!”
“Dead,” Arnold spat. “And you will be too in just a moment.”
Arnold leaped toward Johnny.
The vampire would tear him apart. I knew that. Well, I mean, Johnny was a werewolf, but he wasn’t right now. He was human and vampires killed humans.
Magic flared in me. I wanted Arnold back, away. He flew across the room. At the same time I wanted Johnny gone so I thought him off to the side. The werewolf mafia man hit the
wall with a thump. I didn’t know if he was knocked out. I didn’t have time to look.
That left me and my cousins facing down the vampire. “Ladies,” I said.
“Move, Pepper,” came Garrick’s voice from behind me.
I didn’t flinch. I jumped to the left in time to see a great big wooden stake sail through the air at shotgun speed and slam into Arnold. The vampire fell back. He wheezed out a breath and took one last look at Princess.
“I did love you,” he said before he died.
Fat chance of that, I thought.
“Good,” Princess said. “Now will one of y’all free me from this stupid body?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, a snap, crackle, pop filled the room. Magic flashed and flared, light poured from Princess and less than a minute later there stood the woman who had started this whole mess.
Her brown wavy hair fell to her shoulders. She was tall, a little round in the hips, and utterly beautiful. She crossed to Arnold and took a long look at him.
“Not one inch of fur on that body,” she said. “What a liar.”
She glanced from him to her uncle, who was still slumped on the floor. Princess crossed to Johnny and grabbed him by the arms. “Uncle, are you okay?”
He was a little woozy. I guess I’d whacked him pretty hard against the wall. Oops. Well, I was trying to save his life. I can’t always be nice when I’m trying to help people out.
Princess fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a rock. “Uncle?”
“Hmmm?” he said.
“You want me to make some of that cobalt tea for you? That’ll help you feel better. Or do you just want to shoot cobalt at some targets with that special gun you had made?”
Axel stepped into the doorframe. Our gazes met. He squeezed Garrick’s shoulder. “Got your handcuffs with you? I think we know who our killer is.”
Garrick slowly lowered the stake gun he’d used to skewer Arnold. He pulled out his cuffs, crossed to Johnny and said, “You’re under arrest for the murder of Carl Carlsburg.”
TWENTY-TWO
“Why did Johnny kill Carl?” I said.
It was the next day. Axel and I sat on a bench downtown. The wind had kicked up, and it blew my hair into my mouth. Axel brushed it away.
He smirked. “Johnny said he did it because Carl was disobeying orders and insisted on killing Donovan.”
I clicked my tongue. “Johnny did say that folks didn’t cross him. He is werewolf mafia, after all.”
Axel nodded. “At first he thought Carl would back down, but he didn’t. When Johnny saw that Carl was going to kill Donovan, Johnny decided to kill him in order to keep his promise to Eva.”
“At least it was the real Eva.”
He nodded. “Her body was recovered late last night. There was enough evidence to place Arnold at the scene and to have charged him with the murder if he’d lived.”
I shook my head. “So what about the cobalt?”
Axel threaded his fingers through mine and studied my hand before letting them both drop to his thigh. “Johnny had been buying up cobalt for years from Rock, who was his dealer, and using it to charge his power. It wasn’t a secret since Princess knew all about it.”
I leaned back and tipped my face toward the sunshine. Warm beams alighted on me. I inhaled deeply. “The only thing we still don’t know is why Carl wanted to kill Donovan so badly. I don’t get it. Why kill a familiar shop owner? All he ever did was put witches and their matches together. It wasn’t like he was out there in the world messin’ with people’s lives.”
Axel raked his fingers down my arm, sending a tingle straight to my stomach. “Some things we may never know.” He rose and tugged me with him.
“Now. How about you and I go out on a date?”
I quirked my brow. “A date? Sir, you must be mistaken. I’m stuck here in little old Magnolia Cove until the day I die.”
Axel laughed. He slipped a hand around my waist and pulled me to him. “Come on. I know this great little place to eat not far from here. It’s got the best peach cobbler you’ve ever tasted.”
I shook my head. “I’m giving up sweets.”
His jaw dropped. “Since when?”
“Since I ran out of jelly beans yesterday.”
Axel laughed. He brushed his lips over mine. “Don’t worry.”
“Why’s that?” I murmured between kisses.
“’Cause I’ve got a bag of jelly beans in my vehicle. I’m not about to let my girl run out.”
I pulled away and cocked a brow. “Your girl?”
Heat flushed his cheeks. He nodded. “My girl. What do you think about that?”
“Sounds like I should be wearing daisy dukes and a cowboy hat.”
“We can make that happen.”
I laughed. “How about we start with peach cobbler first.”
“You changed your mind? I knew the ‘my girl’ thing would work.”
I laughed again as Axel pulled me into a kiss. I guess this whole being his girl thing wasn’t that bad after all.
I got home late. By the time we’d finished supper, I was so full of food I was surprised the seams of my clothes still held.
Elastic is a beautiful thing, y’all.
I found Betty and Donovan in the living room. They stopped talking when I walked in, so I must’ve interrupted something good.
Betty rose and shuffled over to the fire, where she stoked the flames and spat into the hearth.
“That’s attractive,” I said.
“When you get to be my age, you don’t care what’s attractive and what’s not. You do what you want.”
“Apparently,” I said.
Donovan cleared his throat. “So Johnny Utah had the cobalt and killed Carl all along.”
I sat and kicked my feet up on the coffee table. “Sure did. I didn’t see that one at all. I thought the guy was innocent. I mean, I know he’s werewolf mafia and all, but I still figured he hadn’t killed Carl. But in the end he’s the one who lost the most. He lost Eva to that horrible Arnold.”
“And you almost got yourself killed,” Betty said.
I shrugged. “I had to keep Princess safe, and if Arnold had one night with her, she’d have been stuck as a bat for the rest of her life thanks to him.”
Donovan rose. “Well, I’ve got to get packed. I’ve got a train to catch in the morning.”
I shot him a look full of surprise. “You’re leaving so soon?”
Donovan pushed his glasses up his nose. “There’s no point in staying. The shop is yours now, Pepper. To do with as you wish. My time there, though it was wonderful, is now done.”
I drummed my fingers on the armrest. “Well, that makes sense.” I met his gaze. My uncle seemed sad. I smiled. “I’ll be happy to take you to the station tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ll see you then.”
I said my good nights and padded upstairs. I heard Cordelia and Amelia chatting in Amelia’s room. I knocked softly.
“Come in,” came my cousin’s voice.
I stepped inside to find Amelia draped across her bed and Cordelia sitting in the desk chair painting her toenails.
“I didn’t get a chance to thank y’all for your help last night. If it hadn’t been for y’all, Arnold probably would’ve finished what he started on Princess.”
Cordelia swatted the air. “That’s what family’s for. To help one another.”
Amelia nodded. “That’s right. We’re here for each other. Through thick and thin. I’ll say right now that was one of the thin parts.”
I laughed. “Sure. One of the thin parts. I’d hate to see the thick parts.”
“Oh, that was when Zach came and asked Cordelia for her hand in marriage.”
Cordelia scowled. “You’re lucky I don’t throw Cajun Shrimp at you.”
Amelia wiggled her brows. “Take your best shot. But I warn you, I’m a sweet tea witch. I’ve got backup.” She eyed me.
I nodded. “Sure. I’ll be all the
backup y’all need.” There was silence until I broke it. “Donovan’s leaving.”
Cordelia waved a hand over her nails. Magic trickled from her fingers, drying the polish. “Yeah, it’s time for him to go. Says he’s got places to see.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can understand that. I guess I’m surprised that he isn’t staying any longer.”
“I don’t know why he would,” Cordelia said. “The store’s yours. Him staying only causes confusion.”
I sat on a corner of the bed. “What do you mean?”
Amelia shrugged. “People wonder if he’s going to run the store. Stay and take over.”
“I didn’t realize that.”
“That’s one reason he’s stayed out of things,” Cordelia said. “He wants the town’s loyalty to be to you. Not to him. That’s why he stayed here, out of the spotlight.”
“I didn’t see any spotlights,” Amelia said.
“Figure of speech,” Cordelia replied, rolling her eyes. “But yeah. The shop’s yours, Pepper. Donovan’s part in it is done.”
I tapped a finger against my lips. “I suppose I should thank him. I knew he wasn’t staying, of course. But I hadn’t realized it was partly because he wants the town to be behind me.”
“Well, that and if he stayed too long, people would start asking questions,” Amelia said.
I saw Cordelia flash our cousin a scathing look.
“What?” I said.
Cordelia sighed. “You might as well tell her since now the cat’s out of the bag.”
“Oh,” Amelia said. She sat up on the bed and wedged her back against the headboard. “Well, the thing is, he doesn’t want people to find out about his cobalt use, either. You saw that Johnny Utah used it. Some people abuse the stuff. They think it makes them more powerful.”
“It doesn’t do that,” Cordelia said. “It just helps them hold on to the magic they have.”
I sighed. “So he’s afraid of what people will think. I can understand that.”
We spoke for a few more minutes; then I went to my room. I found Mattie on the window seat and Hugo was lying on my bed. I gave them each small hugs and opened my phone.
I pulled up the town newspaper and looked up the details of Carl’s death.