After they talked Celestial tried to think of something to calm herself down. She was too restless to get in a nice hot bath and she certainly didn’t feel like treating herself with food. After the previous issues she had with people trying to poison her, she wondered if she would ever feel safe eating something she didn’t make herself.
Even though she was upset and frightened, she was also very angry. The fact that Samantha had come into the shop, looking bright and happy, then tried to feed her poison burned her up.
She didn’t understand how anyone could walk around with a smile on their face when they had dark deeds to hide. Walking up to someone and smiling as you handed them poison took it to a whole new level.
Finally, her frustration reached a fever pitch. Nikoli had told her to keep out of it both for the sake of the case and her safety. Celestial understood his reasoning, but she couldn’t just sit here and do nothing.
She had to confront Samantha.
Athena had flitted off, so there was no one to talk her out of it. She hurried out to her car and headed for Samantha’s house, hoping that she would be in. She certainly wasn’t going to confront her at the bar or anywhere else public.
She thought about the fact that they could all be in it together. If she found Samantha would she also find Jenna, Morgana and Helen? If she saw even two of them together, she felt like she might start running and never stop.
But Celestial wasn’t the type who ran. She turned to face her fears. She didn’t let anything stop her.
She pulled up in front of Samantha’s house and took a deep breath. She went up the drive quickly, knocking on the door before she could stop herself.
Samantha opened the door quickly and burst into a big smile. It was very natural. Celestial thought that if Samantha really did try to poison her, surely, she wouldn’t be so happy to see her.
“Hey, Celestial!” Samantha’s voice was even and her tone light. “Did you like the tamales?”
“Stop playing games!” Celestial had every intention of negotiating calmly but the pent-up frustration of the last few days came screaming out of her.
“What?” Samantha’s eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t play dumb with me.” Celestial tried hard to keep her voice down. “You tried to kill me!”
“What?” A smile played on Samantha’s face. “Have you gone off the deep end? I think I’d remember something like that.”
“In the tamales. There was heroin. Enough to kill me!” Celestial shook her head, willing her tongue to come untied so she could speak her mind without sounding like a scratched CD.
“What are you talking about!” Samantha yelled, face turning red.
Celestial took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
“The tamales you brought me. They were full of heroin.”
Samantha shook her head. “How did you know that? Did you get sick?”
“No. I didn’t eat any. I got them to Nikoli and he had it tested. It was the same type of heroin that was used to kill Martin.”
“Celestial, I don’t even know where to get heroin! Are you crazy? Seriously, I wouldn’t have the faintest clue where to start looking for hard drugs.”
“You say that, but you’re the one who delivered poison tamales to me in person.”
“That would be a stupid way to commit murder,” Samantha said sarcastically.
“I agree, but maybe you were desperate.”
“Shut up!” Samantha screamed. “Stop accusing me of trying to kill you! I didn’t! Why isn’t Nikoli here arresting me if you have so much evidence, huh?”
Celestial thought about the testing that still had to be done on the box the tamales came in. He might have more evidence to come yet.
“He might be soon.” Celestial said, with just a hint of threat.
Samantha suddenly stepped back, color draining out of her face.
“Wait. The only reason you would think I’m after you is because you thought that I killed Martin!”
Celestial looked at her evenly, finally getting her emotions in check.
“Well, did you?”
“No! I wanted to, the jerk. But I wasn’t even in town that night.”
“What do you mean?” Celestial frowned.
“I met a guy online and we met at the movies at a nearby town. The movie went pretty late and then we went to a dessert bar.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
Samantha sighed with exasperation. “It’s not like we’re besties, Celestial. You're not the first person I would tell about my personal life.”
“I’m sorry.” Celestial backed up a step, realizing the truth of the words. “If you weren’t here, then you weren’t here.”
“Hold on.” Samantha said, reaching for her purse. “I remember the movie theatre. You can have your pet detective check it out for you.”
“Samantha that’s not—”
“No, no. It’s necessary. To think I tried to do something nice for you!”
“That ‘something nice’ almost killed me, Samantha.”
The two women stared at each other for a second before Samantha resumed her search, remembering the places that her and her new friend had visited on that night. Celestial accepted the information grudgingly, knowing that Nikoli would most likely be here soon with the exact same questions.
As she left, one question that had been just out of reach until now surfaced clearly.
Who actually made the tamales?
Chapter 26
After a truly terrible night's sleep, Celestial headed out to the nearby town. She had considered calling Nikoli and asking him to check it out but she knew it might take him days to get this far. He was probably still waiting for the results on the tamales to come back before he even spoke to Samantha.
The movie theatre was open and very quiet. Only a few patrons milled around. She tapped on the ticket window and peered in.
“Hello?”
“There’s only one movie on right now, so if you want to complain take it up with management.”
“I’m sorry?’ Celestial smiled.
“I’m sorry.” An old heavy woman brought her attention to Celestial. “Force of habit. You want a ticket, honey?”
“No, that’s okay. I just wanted to ask someone if my friend was here a little while ago.” She pulled out a photo and the old woman waved her off.
“Go see Harry. He’s the ticket taker. He should be near the concession stand.”
“Thank you.” Celestial gave the old woman a smile and headed behind the ticket booth to the counter. She approached a young man who was sharply dressed but leaning casually on the counter talking to the girl making popcorn.
“Hi, Harry?”
“Oh crap. What did I do now? Are you management?” He stood up straight and tucked in his shirt.
“No, no. I’m just wondering if you have seen this woman recently?” Celestial held up her photo.
“Yeah!” Harry relaxed visibly. “She’s hot stuff! Of course, I remember her. Absolutely gorgeous. And she was with this little skinny nerd guy. Glasses and all. I tell you, how something like that can happen when I can’t get a date is beyond me.”
“Thanks Harry.” Celestial smiled and hurried away.
Even though it was looking like Samantha’s alibi was solid, Celestial decided to check it all out before going home. She drove to the restaurant next.
The place was barely open, just like the movie theatre. Celestial was glad she had come out so early though. If she had come later when the places were busy, she might not have gotten anyone to answer her questions.
The maître de remembered Samantha. He said that the young man was very sweet to her and pulled out her chair for her.
“It convinced me that romance isn’t dead yet.” he practically sighed. “Remember these two, Roberta?”
A nearby waitress paused, holding her drink tray on her hip.
“Oh, yeah! I got a picture of them for our social m
edia. They just looked so happy, so in love. They couldn’t take their eyes off each other.”
“Thank you.” Celestial said, politely. As she left, she felt grateful for the fact that no one ever asked her why she was asking these questions. It wasn’t like she could pull out a badge.
“I could probably call Nikoli and he would deputize me on the spot.” she muttered.
She walked around to the dessert bar which was just a tiny shop with a long counter and a few outside tables. The woman who ran the shop exclaimed over the photograph.
“He ordered my triple chocolate red velvet heart.” She put a hand over her heart theatrically. “So romantic. I could never forget a gesture like that.”
Celestial smiled at the woman, leaving the store. She wanted to go home right now. This was looking like a wild goose chase. Everything pointed towards Samantha’s alibi being solid.
Still, Celestial drove out to the hotel they had stayed in. It was possible if Samantha got home late at night, she still could have murdered Martin in the early hours of the morning. She had to know if Samantha spent the night here.
The woman at the hotel watched her hurrying towards the counter with a bored expression.
“We’re all out. Couldn’t you read the sign?”
“Oh, no. I’m not after a room, sorry. I just wanted to know if you remembered this woman?”
She held out the photograph on her phone and the woman scratched her head.
“You know, I do remember her. She was with a little skinny guy. He was quoting poetry to her. Let me just check the ledger.”
She pulled out the massive book and plopped it down in front of Celestial. She pointed out the curling letters of Samantha’s signature.
“There we are. I remembered them coming in and I noticed how her ‘S’ had too many curls. What’s up, is she in trouble?”
“No,” Celestial smiled. “Not anymore.”
She thanked the woman and hurried back to her car, trying to feel like she had achieved something. She really didn’t. She was more lost than she had been before and the day of running around had unsettled her terribly.
Samantha couldn’t have done it. Celestial wasn’t sure that ‘innocent’ was the right word, but she couldn’t have been in town that night to kill Martin. That also meant that there was no chance of all of them being in it together.
If there was a plot, Samantha wasn’t in on it.
Celestial began her drive home, hoping that the long, sloping roads would calm her. She didn’t want to go home without any clues. Tonight, she would be restless and anxious, even worse than she had been before.
The harder she searched, the quicker the leads dried up. Finding out that she could eliminate Samantha as a suspect should have given her some sense of triumph or at least satisfaction, but all it brought her was more worry and a heavy dose of fear.
Chapter 27
Celestial headed back to her store and her head full of clues that didn’t make sense. Not just her own safety but that of her friends was in her hands.
The long, smooth roads did nothing to soothe her. She tried to calm her mind and lose herself in the repetitive actions but it was no use. Her thoughts kept turning a wide circle that always brought her back to accusations and blame.
She had to figure this out.
She arrived back at her store in the late morning hours, surprised that there were not many people there. Her shop had been popular for a while now and she had to wonder why today was any different. She had left Tamara in charge and hurried inside to talk to her.
“It would be just my luck if all this murder business kept people away from my store!” she muttered to herself.
When she came in there were no customers at all. She felt a stab of true fear go through her. Something had happened here.
“Celestial!” A buzzy voice whispered from the ceiling. Celestial held out her hand for her little dragonfly friend. Athena alighted but her wings kept flicking with anxiety.
“What’s wrong, Athena?”
“Tamara’s gone!”
“Gone? What do you mean, gone?”
“She was watching the shop. A few customers came in, nothing too busy. There was this person in a hooded jacket that came in. Let me tell you, you want to call a costume like that strange, but this is a witch’s shop!”
“Get on with it, Athena!” Celestial almost yelled, nearly dropping the dragonfly.
“The hooded person snuck through the shop into your office. Tamara realized what was going on and surprised them. Before either of us could see their face, they just grabbed Tamara and took her.”
“What do you mean? Took her where?”
“I don’t know!” Athena wailed. “I couldn’t go along with her to find out, because if you got back and we were both gone you wouldn’t even know what happened to us! We would have both been in danger without hope of rescue.”
“What about the customers? Surely they noticed something.”
“No.” Athena shook her whole body instead of just her head. “A couple of them called out but when no one answered they just went on their way, typical of humans. They just assumed she left or was in the bathroom or something. It’s not like I could talk to them.”
“No, of course not.” Celestial said softly. “I better call Nikoli.”
Celestial pulled out her phone and tapped on Nikoli’s number. He was always at the top of her recent list and she wished it had less to do with murder investigations and more to do with personal matters.
“Hey, Celestial. We got those lab reports back—”
“It doesn’t matter now. I checked Samantha out. We have a situation here. I left Tamara in charge of my shop and she’s gone.”
“Gone, gone? Or flitted off in butterfly form?”
“Gone. Athena says a hooded person kidnapped her after they tried to steal some files from my office.”
“Don’t touch anything!” Nikoli snapped. “I need that crime scene to stay fresh. This criminal is capable of murder but there is a lot that doesn’t make sense in Martin’s business records. You could have valuable evidence there, Celestial.”
“Then hurry,” she whispered. He heard the worry in her voice.
“I’ll be right there, Celestial. We’ll find her.”
“Uh-huh.” she murmured. She hoped Tamara would be okay. It was difficult to convince herself, given the amount of danger that was currently stalking her town.
“At least they didn’t kill her on the spot,” Athena chirruped helpfully.
“Thank you, Athena, for that mental image.”
“I’m sorry. But at least we have hope.”
“Yeah.” Celestial sat down on one of her wicker chairs. Her mind was still going over all the facts from Samantha’s alibi. The only strange thing about it was her hooking up with someone so close to Martin’s death. If she hadn’t checked out those leads herself, she would never have believed it.
Celestial thought of rose petals, and of Helen. Jealousy and revenge. The twisted expressions of angry people floated through her mind. People angry with Martin or angry at each other.
Sad and broken people who had almost broken under the strain. Morgana, getting hammered by strangers for murder when all she wanted was to help her injured and abused sister.
“You got something?” Athena said softly.
“I might.” Celestial replied.
The heroin. That was the key. The white powder was turning up all over the place. It was either very sloppy work by the killer or the trail had been scattered to throw her and Nikoli off the scent.
Her mind kept returning to the account books in Martin’s office. It was so strange to have so many, especially when they appeared to cover the same dates.
What was being hidden?
“You do have an idea!” Athena buzzed. “I can see it on your face.”
Celestial allowed herself a small smile. “You know me, Athena. I don’t count my criminals until they’re caught.”
She
pulled out her phone and called Nikoli.
“Heads up, I’ve got a new plan.”
“Celestial, don’t go running off by yourself—”
It was too late to try and convince her. Celestial told Nikoli where to meet her and headed straight for her car.
Chapter 28
Nikoli pulled up into the parking lot of George and Martin’s office building. There were definite sounds of movement inside but the blinds were drawn and it was impossible to see in.
“Stay here, Celestial.” Nikoli said firmly.
“But—”
“No buts! Do it.”
He pulled his gun and held it up near his face as he burst through the door. He moved inside quickly, leaving Celestial and Athena in the parking lot.
Celestial tried to wait. She had every intention of doing so because she didn’t want to upset Nikoli. She also couldn’t just stand still and wait for the gunshots.
“What the hell,” she muttered. “One of the best ways to avoid conflict is to nod and smile and then just do whatever you were going to do anyway.”
“This is not how you avoid conflict.” Athena said disapprovingly. Celestial shrugged and slowly pushed open the door.
She couldn’t see or hear anything. There was a shuffling noise nearby and Celestial headed towards it. She was relieved when she came upon Tamara, twisted on the ground and trying to call out through her gag.
Celestial bent down and untied her. Tamara stretched out, moaning a little and taking deep breaths.
“Are you okay?” Celestial asked.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just give me a minute. I was tied pretty tight. My arms and legs are still tingling. Whatever solvent was in those gags kept me from being able to concentrate and apparating into a butterfly. I was trapped!”
“Do you want to wait outside with Athena?”
“Athena is not outside.” Athena announced from above them. Celestial looked up in exasperation.
“When did you get here?”
“I followed you. Couldn’t take the suspense.”
Crooks and Crystals (A Hocus Pocus Cozy Witch Mystery Series Book 3) Page 9