When I woke up, I was tied to a wheelchair. It must have been the wheelchair they used to move me out of Gareth's room. The killer had drugged me and then taken me out of the room. Probably so they could get to Gareth and finish him off. At least, that's what I assumed.
I didn't know for sure what was going on, so I knew I needed to figure that out. It took a minute for me to start to feel the cold. The room I was in was as chilly as a refrigerator.
And... that's because it was.
I'd been left in the morgue. When I turned my head, I could see the wall of metal drawers behind me.
While the binds tying me to the wheelchair were tight, they were easy to remove with a little magic. The fact that there were no magical binds told me I wasn't dealing with another witch.
I'd just done away with the binds when the door to the morgue opened. Scarlet stepped inside, and the overhead light reflected in her eyes and off the scalpel in her hand.
"This will be far less painful for you if you don't fight back,” she said.
"What, like I'm just supposed to stand here and let you kill me?" I asked incredulously.
"You're awfully cocky for someone who is about to die,” she said and took a step in my direction.
I looked at the scalpel. It was clean. "You haven't gone back up to hurt Gareth again,” I said.
"I did, but there was a nurse and doctor in his room. They were amazed and said he was some sort of medical miracle. I guess I didn't hurt him as badly as I thought,” she said and took another step. "So, I came down here to take care of you. They were talking about possibly discharging Gareth, so I'll just wait for him."
Without further warning, Scarlet lunged at me. Instinctively, I put my hand out and commanded her to "Stop!"
Every part of Scarlet, aside from her eyes and her mouth, froze in place. I knew she could still move her eyes because when she realized the rest of her body was stuck, they went as wide as saucers.
"What did you do to me?" she hissed.
"Stopped you from killing me,” I said. "What? Did you really think I was just going to stand still and let you stab me?"
"I wasn't going to stab you. This is a scalpel. I was going to cut you to ribbons, though,” she said.
"Well, you messed with stuff you had no business messing with,” I said. "I don't blame you. It's not like you could have known." I took out my phone and tried to call out, but I couldn't get a signal.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to call the sheriff,” I said. "To have you arrested for murder. There's no signal, though. I've got to figure out something. I can't just leave you here..."
"I'm going to kill you,” Scarlet said.
"No. You're not. I think we've already established that, but I do have an idea."
I walked over and plucked the scalpel from her frozen hand. My intention was to tie her to the wheelchair the same way she'd done to me. I could just wheel her upstairs and call security followed by Bethany.
"You can't do this," she protested as I dragged her over to the wheelchair and shoved her into it.
"Instead of all this nonsense, why don't you tell me why you killed Rosaline and tried to kill Gareth?” I said.
I thought there'd be some resistance, but Scarlet just spilled it. As she talked, the anger spilled out of her voice and just left her sounding whiny and pathetic.
"She got everything,” Scarlet said. "Rosaline got everything she wanted. Her house is better than mine. He car is better than mine. She had Gareth, but she didn't appreciate him. I loved him in a way she couldn't even understand, but he never noticed me. I could have made him so happy, but he was going to marry her. Then that day at your shop, she got the last of the sprinkles. I couldn't take it anymore. So, I killed her. Ripped that stupid necklace right off her dumb neck. I left her body where Gareth would find it. I just hoped he'd get over her quickly and then I'd be there waiting for him with open arms."
"Then why did you try to kill him?" I asked as I tied her arms to the armrests of the wheelchair.
"Because I was right. He did move on quickly,” she said and took a deep, shuttering breath. "To you. When I saw him cozying up to you at Rosaline's funeral, of all places, I just snapped again. If I can't have him, no one can. I can't bear to watch him cycle through another woman who doesn't deserve him."
"You're messed up in the head,” I said and began wheeling her toward the door.
Just then, Athan and Voodoo burst into the morgue. When they saw me with Scarlet tied to the wheelchair, they both looked a little shocked.
"Guess she doesn't need saving,” Voodoo said.
"Nope, I caught the killer. We're all good here,” I said.
"I brought Voodoo in and we waited for you in Gareth's room,” Athan said. "I thought perhaps you'd just excused yourself to the lady's room or to get a can of soda, but when you didn't come back, we started to worry."
"She drugged me and brought me down here,” I said, "before she went back up to kill Gareth. She snuck up behind me. That's how she got me, but crazy pants here didn't anticipate that I'd be harder to kill than her other two victims."
"I shouldn't have left you,” Athan said.
"I'm fine. I had to freeze her, though. She was coming at me with a scalpel."
"And I'm going to tell everyone that you're some sort of... witch," Scarlet spat.
"Go ahead. They're already going to think you're nuts. I'm not too worried. Could you get the door?" I asked Athan.
"We should just take care of her now,” he said.
"No, we're not doing that. It's fine. No one is going to believe her,” I said. "Now, let's get her upstairs and delivered into the hands of justice. I want to go check on Gareth."
Epilogue
Fortunately, I was already at the hospital, and they could draw my blood to prove that Scarlet had drugged me. They also had her on camera wheeling me out of Gareth's room.
The nurse who let us back there would have been fired, but Athan went upstairs and smoothed things over with the hospital administrator. Fortunately, she was just as smitten with him as every other woman he crossed paths with. At least, that's how he told it, but I believed him. I watched everyone swoon for him with just a glance. It was hard to believe Voodoo that he wasn't using any magic to have that effect on me because he was certainly using it on everyone else.
Gareth was discharged from the hospital that night. Questions were murmured and I heard whispers about miracles, but a car crash victim came in as we were leaving. I sent them as much healing as I could, but I was pretty tapped out. They would live, though, and the distraction stopped tongues from wagging about Gareth.
"I don't want to go home,” Gareth said as I helped him into Athan's car. "Could you maybe take me to the garage instead?"
We drove him to the garage, and I helped him upstairs to the sofa and retrieved a can of Coke from the mini fridge. "Are you going to be all right?" I asked.
"I'd be better if you could stay with me for a while,” he said. "But, I understand if you can't."
"I can,” I said. "Let me go down and tell Athan I don't need a ride home."
"Is he going to be upset?" Gareth asked.
"About what?" I asked the question innocently enough, but I got what he was saying.
"He's your boyfriend, right? I'm sorry. I didn't know you were involved with anyone after Alex. I shouldn't ask you to stay. I don't want to do anything to drive a wedge in anyone's relationship."
"Athan isn't my boyfriend. We're friends. Let me just go tell him I don't need a ride home,” I said. "Voodoo, you wait with Gareth. Stay."
I added the stay part so Gareth wouldn't pick up on the fact that I'd spoken regular words to Voodoo, and he was going to listen. Voodoo jumped up onto the sofa and settled in next to Gareth, who scratched behind my familiar's ear.
"Where's the dog?" Athan asked when I walked back outside.
"We're going to stay here for a while,” I said. "Gareth doesn't want to be alone, and I want
to stay. So I won't need a ride home."
Athan's eyes darkened as his brow furrowed. "Is there more going on between you?" he asked. "Because his fiancée just died, Allegra. He's just reaching out to any port in the storm."
"That's rude,” I said. "All I came out here to tell you was that I didn't need a ride home. I've done that, so goodbye, Athan. I thank you for everything that you did, but you should go before we say things we don't mean."
"I didn't mean it like that,” he said. "I didn't mean that you're just any port."
"That's certainly how it came out,” I said, but I didn't turn to leave.
"He doesn't deserve you, Allegra. He's just a human and a mechanic."
"Okay, now you're getting rude again. Please don't be such a snob,” I said. "Gareth's a good man with a kind heart, but he's just a friend."
Jeez, this is a conversion I keep having, I thought to myself.
"That's really all?" Athan asked.
"Yeah, but why do you care?" I asked. "Obviously, if you think I can do better than Gareth, you must think that you can do better than me. Wait, I don't even know why we're talking about this. Gareth's not in a place to even be thinking about a relationship. I'm not in a place to even be thinking about having a relationship. You, I don't know, but you're an elder. You can worry about yourself."
"And yet, you're standing before me having this argument basically with yourself,” Athan said.
"I..."
But before I could say anything more, Athan pulled me close to him. He kissed me, and white stars exploded behind my eyes. Fire burned through me, but there was no pain. For the briefest moment, I could see galaxies so far out into the universe that no human even knew they existed. Those pink and purple clusters of planets and stars danced just for me.
And then he let me go. I found myself both bereft and infuriated.
"I'm not yours,” I said.
"But you will be."
I wanted to argue with him, but I had no defense. For all I knew, based on what I'd just felt, he was completely right. I would not let him win so easily, though. I'd made that mistake too many times already. As much as I wanted to get back in Athan's car and go wherever he took me, I resisted.
"I'm going upstairs to comfort my friend,” I said firmly. "I'll deal with you later."
"I'm looking forward to it, Allegra. Now, go inside and lock the door behind you. I'm not leaving until I know you're safe."
So I did. I went back inside the garage and locked the door. Only then did Athan get in his car and drive away. When he was gone, I climbed the stairs to find Voodoo asleep, and Gareth trying to get up without disturbing him.
"I wanted to get another Coke and maybe order a pizza, but he's so content,” Gareth said with a smile. "Everything okay?"
"Everything is fine. I'll get you a soda and order the pizza. What movie do you want to watch?" I asked.
"You're going to stay long enough for a movie?" he asked.
"Maybe even two, but you have to pick,” I said. "I just want to veg out."
"Sounds good to me,” Gareth said.
Thank you for reading!
Make sure you grab the next book in the series:
Bad to the Cone
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© Sara Bourgeois 2020
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is a coincidence.
Sprinkles, Spelled, and Slayed Page 11