Nice Day for a Mage Wedding: Casino Witch Mysteries 4

by Nikki Haverstock

  The room was cold, even with my jacket. “Is your heat okay? I noticed your daughter’s hands were pretty cold. If you have any problems with the apartment, please let me know. I’ll make them fix everything.” I handed her my card. I certainly wasn’t going to work for a slum lord without exerting some pressure.

  She gave me the first smile I had seen and seemed to relax. “Actually, it just broke yesterday. I was going to talk to Ned about it, but… you know.”

  I grabbed a pen from my purse and jotted down the apartment number and wrote the word HEAT in all capital letters. “I’ll let them know right away.”

  She wrote up a new check and handed it to me. She was clearly waiting for me to leave.

  I hesitated, looking for an angle to continue the conversation, and settled for a direct approach. “Your daughter said he was a bad man. Do you know why?”

  I felt her unease ratchet up immediately, but she kept her face smooth. If it weren’t for my ability to read strangers’ emotions, I never would have guessed. “You know how kids are. He yelled at her a few times over stupid stuff.”

  I watched her without responding. Perhaps she worried I could read her, as I felt her shield her emotions.

  She let out a sigh. “And he was just kinda sketchy. I told Sally to stay away from him and that he was a bad man, but I don’t really know that he was bad. Sometimes you just feel something in your gut. It is only the two of us, Sally and I, and sometimes she doesn’t listen to me like she did her father.”

  I nodded. It was a reasonable explanation, even to someone like me who didn’t have kids. There was nothing in her words that was suspicious, and yet I still was. Maybe I was having a gut feeling of my own, but I was sure there was more to her story than just a mother warning her daughter.

  “Do you know why he was killed?” It was a stab in the dark and one she was ready for.

  “No. Poor man. I do hope they catch the killer.” She blinked her wide, innocent eyes at me.

  There was nothing else to say right then, but I would have to try again later. Maybe when I learned more, I would have some leverage. I thanked her for the check and left.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I pulled out of the parking lot, amazed that my car was clean after the horror of the crow invasion. Patagonia was nibbling on a long black feather that she found on the ground outside the car.

  Vanessa fidgeted in her seat. “Is Bear going to be mad that we didn’t finish all the interviews?”

  I turned the car toward the far side of town, where the hospital was located. “He’ll understand. Dr. Trout called with news on Legacy. That takes priority. Plus, I want to think a bit. We got some good information, but it doesn’t mean much yet.”

  After I had returned from Linda and Sally’s apartment, I had hit the rest of the stores to give out my cards while Vanessa called around, looking for a location for the bachelorette party. I had had better luck than she did.

  While no one had anything direct to say about Ned’s death, I did find out some things. What those things meant, I wasn’t sure. I was at the last store when I received a call from Dr. Trout asking when I could come over. I had scooped up Vanessa and gotten into the car.

  “Can you take some notes while I tell you what I found out? And did you find somewhere for us to have this stupid party tonight? And why did she put this off until the last minute?”

  Vanessa dug into her purse. “Sure thing. And no, I didn’t. And apparently she vetoed every idea the previous bridesmaid had so we are stuck. Lucky us! Everyplace is booked up. I even pressured Olivia for someplace at the Golden Pyramid Casino, but she said, short of the broom closet, they are full. I hate to even suggest this, but… do you know anyone at the Magia Casino you can ask? Not Thomas obviously… but maybe Emily?”

  I had gotten Emily a job with Thomas as his personal assistant. He had told me on many occasions since then that she had been a lifesaver and just as often had complained about her. She had the ability to know things ahead of time but didn’t seem to have the tact to know how to use the gift. And she wasn’t intimidated by Thomas in the least bit, which he found unusual and a bit unsettling.

  We chatted every once in a while. I would send over some homemade potions—a hobby we both shared—to her work, which would forward it to wherever in the world she was working for Thomas. She would text me to say thank you and complain about Thomas. They bickered like siblings, but I think she loved it. She had come from a big family that was torn apart when her parents died. She found the dynamic comfortable.

  I didn’t like asking for favors, but really it wasn’t that big a deal. And Tiffany was going to have a royal fit if we didn’t find someplace soon. “Can you dial Emily for me?”

  She grabbed my phone. “You have, like, no one in your phone. It’s pathetic. Here.” She put it on speakerphone and held it up near my head. My own personal hands-free setup.

  Emily answered the phone in a distracted voice. I could barely hear her over a cacophony of noises. “Hey, Ella. Just a heads up, I’m probably going to lose you in a second.”

  “Oh well. It’s no big deal. I’ll check you later.”

  She gasped in surprise. “This is about the Snakebite Room, isn’t it? I can’t even tell you how relieved I am to figure that out.”

  Talking to her was always a case of conversational gymnastics. She tended to know the future in bits and pieces that suddenly appeared. It was most often a few seconds before I actually vocalized what I needed.

  “The Snakebite Room or anywhere else that could host a bachelorette party tonight. Vanessa and I were last-minute conscripted into a bridal party.”

  “Hey, Emily!” Vanessa shouted.

  “Hi, Vanessa. You are in Tiffany’s bridal party? You have my sympathies. The Snakebite Room is all yours. I booked it a month ago but had no idea why until now. I was actually starting to freak out, thinking that I had screwed up the date or something. I’ll text the events office to add your name to the reservation. Who’s going to pay?”

  “You are a lifesaver. And tell them that Tiffany’s parents will foot the bill. I owe you.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll pay me back in no time. Hey, I got to jet.” She hung up before I could respond.

  Vanessa tossed the phone into my lap and grabbed her own to pass on the information.

  “We’re almost to the hospital. Can you take those notes before I forget?”

  “Oh, sure, of course. Let me just finish this up and… sent. That should cool her britches for a bit. Can I admit I am a little excited? Do you think there will be strippers?”

  I choked at the thought. “Not if we’re in charge of them. Do you really want to watch a naked man dance?”

  “No! Not totally naked.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

  “I’ll pass.”

  Vanessa tapped the pen on the pad. “Do you want me to take notes or not?”

  “Sorry. The thought of a stripper sent all the thoughts from my head. So I gave everyone my card, but only about half of the stores had a manager or owner in. But for the ones where someone in charge was in, they all confirmed that they carried at least one item that they claimed was unique. The florist had a rare orchid. She gave the scientific name, which I would never remember, but also called it a monkbird orchid. The stationary store had some gold-ink potion. The health food store had free-range, cage-free gryphon eggs. Does she mean the bird lion thingy?”

  “Yep.”

  “Huh, I would have thought that since they have the back end of a lion, they would have live birth.”

  “Then you would have thought wrong. Did you talk to Mary?”

  “I stopped in, and she had gone for the day, but they said we could swing by tomorrow. Her husband, Dave, was there and did not seem happy about us talking to her, but he didn’t literally throw me out the door though he is strong enough to. Dang it. I didn’t think to ask him if they had any special imports. Though a martial arts studio isn’t really the kind of place to import anythin
g.”

  “Who knows? I’ll start a page of all the questions you forgot to ask.” She flipped to the back of her notebook and, in an exaggerated voice, sounded out what she wrote. “Ella’s screwups.”

  “You’re just so smart, aren’t you? I was the one who got us a place for the bachelorette party.” I pulled into the parking lot and scanned for an open spot but didn’t immediately see anything. Why did hospitals never have enough parking?

  “No, your psychic friend saved your butt. You were lucky.”

  “I’d rather be lucky than good any day. Speaking of luck.” I pulled into a spot in the front row right by the entrance. “There were two more items. I remember because there were a dozen stores, and we talked to two, and half of the rest had owners out of the store, so that’s five, and I told you three. Give me a second to think.”

  “How is that complicated math any easier to remember than just remembering the items?”

  “I’m an accountant at heart. Numbers are my jam. Now hush.” I screwed my eyes shut, hoping that would help me focus. “The ink, an egg, and the orchid. Then the next two places didn’t have an owner in then…”

  My eyes flew open as I remembered. I unbuckled my seatbelt and grabbed my purse. Patagonia leaped into the front seat and wedged herself between me and the steering wheel. She rubbed her tail across my lips, leaving cat hairs stuck to my lip gloss. I managed to get her out the car door then turned to Vanessa. “There was a game store that had some special dice carved from living rock that she said can change your future and a pet store that sold a fire salamander. It was made from actual fire. Weird that I could possibly forget that.”

  Vanessa and I went through the lengthy check-in process. Even though Dr. Trout had left our names at the front desk, they still had to check our IDs then print out an enormous sticker that covered my entire right breast when I adhered it to my shirt. It was bright orange with inch-high letters indicating that we were high-security visitors.

  Being that this was a mage-only hospital that only took in humans in life-and-death situations, Patagonia was mostly left alone. Familiars were impossible to control, with their ability to appear and disappear according to their will, but Patagonia still pushed the nurse to the limits of her patience.

  Patagonia walked across the desk and started pushing file folders onto the floor then knocked over a cup of coffee. The final straw was when she flicked her tail into the nurse’s ear. The nurse tossed a stuffed bear with a sign the said “I love you beary much.” The bear hit Patagonia right in the shoulder, and both of them disappeared off the counter top with a fantastic yowl of disapproval. A few moments later, she sauntered back to me casually, as though nothing had happened, though she cast angry glances back at the nurse.

  The nurse was more than a little curt as she said we could go on to Dr. Trout’s research center. When I had previously visited, they had insisted on escorting me, but Patagonia was probably responsible for our trek through the hospital alone. Normally I wouldn’t mind except this hospital, being that it was primarily for mages and specialized in magic, was different.

  With the white walls and identical doors, it would be easy to get lost without the paranormal elements. Making four left turns a hundred yards apart would not return me to the same spot but rather a totally unique location. After visiting with Dr. Trout, I had become hopelessly lost, ending up at the morgue no matter which way we turned. A literal dead end.

  That was until I followed the signs. I was sure I made the same turns, but as long as I paid attention to the signs, I ended up in the right location. The mythical labyrinth had nothing on this place.

  Dr. Trout’s research center had additional security, and when we arrived, I buzzed at the door to be let in.

  A beautiful, plump brunette threw open the door and, with a gigantic smile, sprang at Vanessa and me, wrapping us in a hug.

  Vanessa squealed. “Beth, you look great.”

  Beth? Last time I had seen her, she had been nothing more than skin stretched tight over a skeleton, deep in an addiction to Legacy. She had apparently been using Legacy the whole time I had known her, and I had never seen her more filled out.

  She was soft in a way that made it easy to hug her, and the weight on her face made her look younger than she had when I dropped her off for drug treatment six months earlier.

  I looked her up and down. “You look amazing! What are you doing here?”

  “I’m a research assistant. I finished up my in-house treatment last week, but I’ve been working here for months. It’s actually not that different than my baking, as you’ll see.”

  Vanessa lifted her nose and sniffed the air. “Do I smell cake?”

  “You can’t possibly be hungry again. If you make yourself sick, I’m not helping you this time.” I followed Beth back through the lab to a conference table, where Dr. Trout was eating a rich chocolate cake.

  “Glad you guys could come right over. Grab some cake while I explain.”

  Vanessa leaped to fill a plate with a generous slice of the thick, gooey dessert. She cut her eyes to me. “We haven’t even had lunch yet.”

  I rolled my eyes at her but got my own plate and sat down. I probably didn’t need more sugar, but Vanessa was right. We hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and I needed my strength to deal with the party later. I bit into it and closed my eyes for the full effect.

  The cake was moist and the texture perfect. The chocolate flavor flowed over me, and I could imagine an ocean of chocolate carrying me on its waves. The frosting was a sweet addition, and I licked my lips to get every molecule that was left.

  “This is great, Beth. Is this the same recipe as what you used to make at Isadora’s Ristorante?”

  “Yes, without the spell this time. But the spell was the clue to breaking open the whole Legacy situation.”

  Vanessa looked ready to speak with her mouth overflowing, so I cut in. “What do you mean?”

  Beth looked to Dr. Trout, who signaled for her to continue the story, which she did. “How much do you know about the mage medical community?”

  “Let’s just assume I know nothing.” It was true because I grew up as a human, and though I had been in the hospital more times than I preferred in the past eighteen months, I still didn’t know very much. And an even bigger deal was that I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

  “That is one area that I really envy humans. They publish papers and share knowledge. We don’t have that. I mean, here in the hospital there is some sharing, but mostly it is the wild west, each doctor for themselves. Each hospital does its own thing, each doctor, each sickness. I feel like I am constantly reinventing the wheel. Now magic makes up for a lot of what we lack but not always. All of this is what is making this Legacy problem so difficult.”

  I picked at my cake. Each bite should have been my last. Even a mage’s metabolism couldn’t fight against an endless supply of calories, but it was too tempting to stop. Plus, it gave my mouth something to do instead of interrupting with a million questions.

  “I used to go out with the ambulance but not recently. I’ve had to focus all my attention on Legacy. I was unable to break Beth’s addiction to the drug despite trying all the methods that had worked for my patients in the past. And I wasn’t making any headway on figuring out what Legacy did and why. I had those three tablets you gave me, and I started experimenting on capturing the activated spell to figure out what it did, how, and possibly who made it.”

  I had managed to get three tablets of Legacy during an investigation at the Magia Casino. One from a dealer and two during a fight to the death, luckily not mine. Dr. Trout had explained her goal when I handed them over. Based on Bear’s comment that he didn’t understand the process, I felt safe in asking. “How do you capture the magic?”

  She blew out a long sigh. “That’s the problem. You have to devise a new spell for each spell you intend to capture. Okay, when a spell is cast or activated, depending on the spell, it creates an aura and action. You can make anot
her spell that just records the spell. It won’t replicate the spell, but it will let you watch over the spell and deconstruct it. Generic spell makers do that all the time. Buy a popular spell, deconstruct it, and make their own version.”

  “So like a videotape of the spell?”

  “Yes, but instead of getting the visual of the something, you get the magic that happened.”

  I rolled it over in my head. It reminded me a bit of Auntie Ann’s natural ability to create spells that she had seen or needed, the reason why she was a great teacher. But it also reminded me of my own gift. It wasn’t something I shared freely with everyone though. “I’ve heard about people that can read the death scene of someone murdered by magic. Is that similar?”

  She gave me a sharp look, and for a moment, I wondered if I had tipped my hand, but a moment later she nodded. “Good thought. It is similar. They don’t need a spell though. From what I’ve heard, the death magic leaves an imprint that they can read as long as they get there soon enough. Would be a very useful gift around here.”

  She gave me a lot of eye contact but didn’t seem to push the issue if she had any suspicions. Perhaps I was projecting my own fears onto the conversation. “So you’re putting together a spell to capture what happens with Legacy. Is it different from other spells because it’s a drug?”

  She waved a hand in the air. “Not really. Saying that Legacy is an addictive drug is more a description of what we think of its effect rather than how it is made. Magic is magic. But this spell has some nasty effects. I did try twice to capture it and failed horribly. With only one tablet left and the supply seemingly gone, I started working with Beth more.”

  She looked at Beth, who picked up the story. “I was not getting better. The withdrawal symptoms seemed to ebb and flow. One week I would think I was practically back to normal, then suddenly I would be crazy to get more. It was… hard.”

  The weight of the understatement hit me, and I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “I wish you had told me.”

  “What could you have done? I was in good hands. Dr. Trout figured out why the Legacy withdrawals were so bad, and I helped her crack the spell.”