by Esme Addison
“The Wesleys won’t risk it,” Kamila said. “Don’t worry.”
The heaviness in Alex’s chest lightened. “Perfect. Thank you.”
Then she told them about Jenna, and finally about her discovery that Stephanie and Edwin were very much a romantic item.
Minka fussed with some pillow tassels she worked out the possibilities. “Why would Stephanie want to reunite with Randy if she’s seeing Edwin?” she asked aloud.
“She was going to lose a lot of money in the divorce,” Kamila replied. “Randy owned sixty percent of Bay Realty. It could come down to money, not love.”
“Maybe she really did love Randy and had regrets about the affair,” Alex suggested. “But if I’m being cynical, she may have wanted to slow down the divorce proceedings for some reason, and talking about reuniting could do that. We know Edwin wants to sell the company. What if she was trying to influence Randy to sell so that she and Edwin could make a new life together?”
“So you think she might have tried to work out their marriage only as a favor to her boyfriend?” Minka frowned. “Man, that’s cold.”
Lidia set down the hat she was knitting and leaned forward in her chair. “How do we know they were trying to work things out? Stephanie could have been lying to throw suspicion elsewhere.”
“We know because Jenna said the same thing as Stephanie,” Alex explained. “They both said that Stephanie wanted to remain married to Randy, but ultimately he wouldn’t leave Jenna.” She jabbed her index finger into her palm for emphasis. “Stephanie had every reason to kill Randy. Now she has his sixty percent of the company and Edwin has the other forty. If they get married, they’re each much wealthier than they were before Randy died.”
“So Edwin had motive, too,” Kamila noted.
“But it couldn’t be Edwin,” Minka said. “The guidance spell revealed that a Magical killed Randy.”
“But we’ve already established that someone we know could be masquerading as a Mundane. Edwin is still a suspect,” Alex pointed out.
Lidia snorted out a laugh. “That boring little man doesn’t have a magical bone in his body. I’d wager the shop on that.”
“But we can’t discount him just yet, right?”
“I suppose,” Lidia finally said.
“What about Stephanie Bennett as a Magical?” Alex turned to Lidia. “She has more motive than anyone else.”
“If she is, she’s not registered.” A serious look crossed Lidia’s face as she considered the discussion. “All Magicals are required to register with the Council. Is it possible some don’t? Yes. Unfortunately, we don’t have a litmus test. Unless she’s shown her powers, no one would be able to tell.”
“I never practice,” Kamila explained to Alex. “If I moved somewhere else and didn’t register with the local council, they would never know.”
Alex laughed drily. “Yeah, that’s what I did. Except unintentionally.”
“Unregistered Magicals are a real threat,” Lidia continued somberly. “If they don’t comply with registration requirements, then they are probably not complying with Council safety regulations, either.”
“And there’s no … witch radar?” She laughed at the term. “No way to just know someone is a Magical without them saying anything?”
Kamila rolled her eyes. “Yeah, there is, kind of. If someone has recently practiced magic, you can smell it on them.”
Magic had a smell? Alex almost laughed at the idea. “What does it smell like?” She chuckled. “Rainbows and unicorns?”
Lidia gave her a serious look. “No. Ozone mostly, the smell of electricity in the air. You’ll recognize it as the scent in the air after a good rain. But the smell of magic has terroir, just like wine or coffee. It takes on the smell of its environment. If you’re in the mountains, it may smell like pine trees, if you’re at the beach … sea salt, for example.”
“Yeah,” Minka chimed in. “ The scent can be masked, though. Anything stronger can hide it—perfume, car exhaust, cooking food … On the other hand, if you decide to really embrace … our heritage, your sense of smell will rival Athena’s.”
Kamila laughed. “Yeah, it’s not common knowledge, but fish—and mermaids—have highly developed taste and olfactory systems, so once you begin practicing magic, you’ll see your ability to smell increase.”
“All true,” Lidia interjected. “However, a very experienced witch can completely hide the scent if they’re willing to use black magic to mask it.” Lidia shook her head. “But it takes a toll on the health.”
Alex took a moment to process all the information. It was a lot, and she still wasn’t sure she understood everything. “Considering all of our suspects, the person who benefits most from his death is Stephanie.”
“She must be an unregistered Magical,” Minka said. “It makes sense. Would she have a reason to frame you, Mom?”
The silence stretched for so long that Alex wondered if Lidia had heard Minka’s question. Lidia’s face darkened, and she folded her arms into her chest. Finally, she spoke. “Yes, I believe she would.”
The three women waited quietly for Lidia to continue. Alex held her breath, not wanting to miss a word. “I have done some things I’m not proud of,” Lidia began. “I’ve kept it to myself for years, but it’s time to come clean.
“Randy, Stephanie, and I all went to Bellamy College together, and we were very friendly. Stephanie and I were sorority sisters. Randy and Stephanie were an item, but Randy and I were always flirting. He was much cuter then.” She smiled at the memory. “And then in senior year, Randy and Stephanie broke up. I kissed him one night, one thing led to another … we started dating. We didn’t even hide it from Stephanie. I didn’t care. I thought I was in love.” She tucked her long hair behind one ear, suddenly looking much younger as she thought back to that time. “But we weren’t in love, not really. And then when I was tired of him, I dumped him.”
“Holy cow.” Minka’s jaw dropped. “That’s cold.”
Lidia winced. “That’s not even the half of it. Randy and Stephanie reunited immediately, but she never forgave me. Our friendship was over. I never understood why she blamed me but not Randy. It takes two.” She shook her head. “But I take responsibility for my actions. We were both wrong.”
“Is that why you and Randy didn’t get along? Because of bad blood between you and Stephanie?” Kamila asked.
“Not exactly. Randy was furious with me for breaking up with him. He went around telling everyone that I was a witch.” Lidia reached up a hand to rub the tension from her temples. “I must have said some things to him. I don’t actually remember. But I do know it didn’t take long for the witch hunter to come.”
Nausea roiled in Alex’s stomach, and she wondered what type of witch hunter had come calling. She recalled her aunt telling her there were two kinds, the Puritanicals and the Traders.
Her aunt looked at her with despondent eyes. He was a Puritanical. He only wanted to destroy our kind.
Alex realized her aunt had heard her thoughts and telepathed her response. She looked around the room, realizing her cousins had heard the answer too. They locked eyes, and a feeling of sadness, heavy and dark, wrapped around them.
The three women waited intently while Lidia struggled to continue. Her eyes brimmed with tears and her chin quivered. “The witch hunter caught wind of the rumors that Randy had been spreading. But he got the name wrong, because he went after my aunt. Lilianna Sobieski, not Lidia.” A tear streaked down one cheek. “He murdered her. Brutally. A jury said he was insane, and he’ll be in an institution for the rest of his life, but all of us in the family knew he was a witch hunter. He knew exactly what he was doing.”
“Oh, Mom.” Minka sat on the arm of the sofa beside her and rubbed her back. “That’s so terrible.”
“My uncle and cousins moved far away. I hated myself for a long, long time. I couldn’t eat or sleep, I was sick with guilt. Then I realized something.” Lidia’s face changed as she relived the
memories, taking on a tortured appearance. “My cousins lost their mother, but it should have been me. By spreading those rumors, Randy sent the witch hunter. He’s the one who said my name. He’d put us all in danger, and he knew it.”
“Had you shown him your magic?” Kamila asked softly. “Did he know for certain that you were a Magical?”
“Oh yes, he knew,” Lidia said, her face growing red as she continued. “He had become fond of my teas during college. Randy used to be an athlete, believe it or not. He’d get injured playing rugby, and then I’d give him a tea so he’d be back to perfect for the next game, just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “I gave him teas to help retain information before exams, to heal colds, for good luck. But after my aunt died, I vowed that he would pay. I thought for years about what I would do to punish him for causing her death. And when I decided on the perfect revenge, I took action.”
Alex’s breath stuck in her lungs, but Minka voiced her question. “Did you kill him?”
“No,” Lidia replied. Alex and her cousins released a collective breath. “But only because that would’ve been too quick.”
Alex sneaked a look at Kamila. She’d been right about the ethical morass of practicing magic. She stared at her aunt, trying to hide her horror. God complex, much?
Lidia gave her a reassuring smile that didn’t quite do the job for Alex, continuing her story. “Randy was fascinated with the idea of having the perfect life. He wanted the beautiful wife and the big house, but most of all, he wanted children. Maybe it had something to do with him being an only child, but he wanted a huge family. Lots of sons to carry on his name and legacy and business.” Lidia lowered her voice to a whisper. “I made sure he never had them.”
Kamila glared at her mother. “You made him sterile, didn’t you?”
“That was one aspect, yes,” she confessed. “I cast one dark-magic spell. That’s all it took. If he and Stephanie tried fertility treatments, those would fail. And if they ever applied to adopt, they would be turned away.”
Alex set her head in her hands and stared at her own feet. She recalled Randy’s desperate words to her aunt in the shop. Haven’t you punished me enough? “He knew, didn’t he?”
Lidia nodded, slowly. “He came to me for help once, and I told him that what was happening was his own fault. I reasoned that if I was going to be tortured for the rest of my life, he should be, too.”
“And Stephanie?” Alex said. “Did she know?”
“If she did, that would give her a good reason to take her own revenge, wouldn’t it?” Lidia smiled painfully. “But she may not have known anything until recently. If she is a Magical, then she could have counteracted my magic at some point. She didn’t.” Lidia absently stroked the knot of soft yarn in her basket. “I’m not proud of any of this. I’d give anything to take it all back. But I can’t. So I look at this”—she gestured to her ankle monitor—“as a form of punishment for my bad conduct. I may not be guilty of Randy’s murder, but I’m not innocent, girls. Not by a long shot.”
The air in the room had grown heavy and warm, almost stifling. The four women sat quietly, each of them lost in her own thoughts. Alex stroked Athena’s soft ears and watched them twitch at the contact. Dogs were so much simpler than people.
“I’ve got to talk with Detective Frazier about Stephanie,” Kamila finally said. “He needs to know that you two have a history.”
“I thought you said that you weren’t allowed to talk about this at work,” Minka said.
“Let me speak with him,” Alex said. When the women looked at her in surprise, she explained, “You don’t want anyone at work to call your ethics into question, Kamila. And you said it yourself: you can’t touch this case.”
Kamila hesitated for a moment but then nodded. “Okay. You’re right. But someone needs to say something.” She pointed to Lidia. “Stephanie must’ve recently discovered what Mom did.” Her jaw clenched as she gazed at her mother. “She had every reason to frame Mom.”
“But you can’t say that Mom prevented Randy and Stephanie from having children,” Minka said. “No Mundane will understand that.”
“I’ll just encourage him to take a closer look,” Alex said. “If she’s guilty, he’ll find something.”
Minka grew quiet. She had wrapped her arms around herself tightly and was staring at the floor.
“Minka?” Alex asked. “Are you okay?”
She glanced up, her expressional uncharacteristically somber. “Just whatever you do, be careful, Alex.”
She didn’t need to say anything more. Alex understood. If Stephanie Bennett had killed her husband, that meant she was an unregistered Magical. And if she was a Magical, one that didn’t adhere to the rules of the Council, she was a deadly one.
Chapter Nineteen
The next morning, Pepper burst through the doors of Botanika in a cloud of grapefruit, basil, and vanilla. “Girl.” She dashed over to Alex’s side. “Have I got a scoop for you.”
Alex was stacking soaps into a pyramid, and she grinned at Pepper’s enthusiasm. “What’s going on?”
“Tegan Wesley, that’s what.” Pepper stuck out her hip. “I went to visit her yesterday after our talk, remember?”
Alex nodded.
“Well, that woman is something else. She was so rude to me.” She picked up a bar of soap and held it to her nose. “Yum. Smells like coconut.” She took another deeper breath. “Makes me think of the beach, for sure.”
“That’s the idea,” Alex grinned, knowing the soap was enchanted with the essence of the beach: the warmth of the sun, relaxing breezes, and clean fresh vibrations. It would also conjure happy memories of the beach if the customer had any.
“What does it do?”
“It’s made with coconut oil, so it’s moisturizing, but it also has sand from our very own Bellamy Bay beach to help with exfoliation and sea salt for a detoxification effect.”
Pepper’s eyes widened in interest. “I’ll buy a few. Makes me think of going to the beach with my parents when I was little. Funny, I haven’t thought of those trips in ages.” Pepper grabbed a couple more. “So anyway, I asked her where she was the night of Bennett’s murder, and she wouldn’t tell me.”
Of course not, Alex thought. Because Tegan was at the Council meeting the night Randy was killed, and that’s top secret. But she listened intently as Pepper continued.
“Then I asked her about this land dispute with him, and she was furious.”
Alex winced just imagining the conversation. “Yikes.”
“Her face turned red, and I thought for sure she was going to start foaming at the mouth. Then she told me—get this—that I should keep my nose out of her family affairs and stick to writing fluff pieces.” Pepper’s eyes flashed. “Can you imagine? I don’t write fluff. I’m an investigative reporter.”
Alex set a hand reassuringly on Pepper’s wrist. “You’re a heck of a reporter, Pepper. Don’t listen to her.”
“I won’t,” she replied, and lifted her chin. “In fact, I’m more suspicious than ever. She’s covering something, I swear it. Oh, wait. She had a message for you.”
“Me?”
“Hold on, I want to get it right.” She pulled her notebook out of her bag and flipped through it. “She said, ‘Next time Alex wants to borrow a book from our library, tell her it’s polite to ask first.’”
Alex’s face went hot. “Noted,” she said.
“I assume that’s between you two.” Pepper set the notebook back in her bag. “I’m just the messenger.”
Minka had been right: Pepper was relentless once she sunk her teeth into a story. Alex liked having Pepper on her side, but even if Kamila was going to be watching her, she couldn’t stand by idly and allow Pepper to put herself in harm’s way. The Wesleys were like hornets: dangerous when provoked. “You know, I think it’s a shame that no one has investigated Stephanie Bennett,” she began. “She had more reason than anyone to kill Randy.”
“She’s going to b
e a very wealthy woman,” Pepper said solemnly. “A source tells me the ink is drying on a lucrative deal to sell Bellamy Bay Realty.”
“Already?” Alex gasped. If that didn’t reveal a crystal-clear motive for murder, she didn’t know what did.
“Yes,” Pepper continued. “The whole company and the building, too. It’s going to some company named Neptune Investments. I checked the secretary of state’s website, but I can’t find much. It’s a company within a company within a company. Legit shady,” she concluded with a flick of her hair.
“What about your family’s company?”
Pepper paused. “What about them?”
“Weren’t they the highest bidder before Bennett died?” Alex carefully placed a thick bar of soap at the top of the display pyramid. “Would they set up a shell company for the purchase?”
Pepper tipped her head to one side as she considered this. “Funny you mention it. My father is very tight-lipped about business, but he cares about public perception.” Lines formed between her arched brows. “He might worry about what it would look like if CSC bought the company so soon after Bennett’s death.”
“That’s understandable,” Alex said. “Even if Edwin Kenley is eager to sell, people might talk about the timing.” Despite his polite talk at the party, Bronson Bellamy had made it clear to the press that Randy Bennett had stood in the way of the sale to CSC. Swooping in to close the deal mere days after Bennett’s murder seemed tacky.
Alex could practically see Pepper wrestling with that idea as she stared down at her designer heels. But to Alex, Bronson Bellamy’s decision to set up a difficult-to-trace company in an effort to avoid public scrutiny was natural. Bronson was a politician, after all.
Alex realized that this might be a way to get Pepper out of harm’s way. If she was researching Neptune Investments, she wouldn’t be bothering the Wesleys. “We should find out who Neptune Investments is, don’t you think?”
The bell on the door chimed. Jenna entered and waved excitedly to Alex. She was dressed in skinny jeans, espadrilles, and a frilly apricot-colored blouse with capped sleeves . “I took you up on your invitation,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”