Potions Eleven: A Paranormal Witch Cozy (Fair Witch Sisters Mysteries Book 2)

by Christy Murphy

  My clothes seemed to grow an extra layer of wrinkles just looking at Evelyn's outfit.

  "So I take it you have some good news," Evelyn said. "You're close to tracking down my missing book."

  "Better news than that," Didi said, reaching for the department store shopping bag we'd put the book in. "We got it."

  Didi walked over and handed Evelyn the bag.

  "We put it in the shopping bag," Jason said. "To camouflage it."

  Evelyn's expression wasn't as happy as I thought it would be. She actually looked confused.

  "The book is in the bag," Jason said.

  "We had Mom put a locking spell on it until you can put one of your own on it," I said, and in that moment, it occurred to me that Mom's spell would definitely be something I'd add to the bill.

  Evelyn reached into the bag and pulled out the spell book. "So maybe it wasn't because of my book after all."

  "What wasn't?" I asked.

  "All of the dark magic. I figured what was happening was because I left my book unguarded and it got stolen. But now it's here and locked by a master witch, and all that dark magic is still out there. Maybe it was you two all along," Evelyn said.

  I didn't like the sound of that.

  "We haven't done anything," Didi protested.

  "It couldn't be us," I added. "Otherwise, why would somebody try to unearth the remains of your relatives at the cemetery if they didn't want to use your magic?"

  "How did you know about that?" Evelyn asked.

  "It's our job. Why didn't you tell us about it?" Didi asked.

  "I only just found out today. As you know, I've been out of town," Evelyn said.

  I could tell from my sister's expression that Evelyn wasn't telling the truth.

  "Well, thank you for getting this to me," Evelyn said, putting the book back into the bag. "I'll be more careful with it in the future. I appreciate the speed at which you handled this for me. I'd say I'd recommend you, but as I said at the onset, my using you two is absolutely confidential."

  I didn't like the way Evelyn worded that. 'Using us' seemed a little too on the nose.

  "Yes," Didi said. "Of course."

  Evelyn got up, and the rest of us got to our feet as well. I guess it was time to say our goodbyes.

  "What's your hurry?" Mom asked from just inside the door.

  I hadn't heard Mom come in.

  "I've got to get back to the set," Evelyn said. "Thank you so much for all of your help. You were tremendously efficient and so discreet."

  "Yes, and we wouldn't want our discretion to be used against us," Mom said.

  Something was definitely up.

  "How could that be?" Evelyn asked. She was a better actress in the movies.

  "Let's say someone's irresponsibility with keeping their magic under wraps caused a bit of magic to get into the wrong hands. And let's say that person was looking to dodge responsibility for that, so they decided to hire my daughters, and use them as a scapegoat," Mom said.

  "I would never do that," Evelyn said.

  "I would never let you," Mom answered.

  Evelyn's pale face turned even whiter. She was almost clear. She shook off her momentary fear and said, "I can't control what other people think."

  "But you can tell us what you know," Mom said. "Because I know you're not telling us everything."

  "Of course I am."

  "You're lying," Didi said.

  Evelyn's expression turned bratty. "I will not be talked to like this."

  I knew Evelyn was getting ready to pop out the same way she'd popped in. She had that "storm off in a huff" expression on her face.

  The room went dark, and my stomach sank faster than it ever had before. The lights flashed back on again like lightning.

  "You'll be talked to however we want," Themis said as she appeared in the room.

  For the first time that I'd ever seen, she wasn't hovering in a seated position. She was standing in mid-air, looming over us.

  Whoa! I'd thought Themis looked intimidating when she was sitting down and in her normal mood. But standing and angry--she was terrifying.

  After Evelyn quaked in fear for a few moments, Mom motioned for all of us to take a seat.

  "Yes, sit down," Themis said as she took her invisible, hovering throne. Everyone rushed to a chair. Well, everyone but Jason, who was frozen again.

  "What are you doing here?" Evelyn asked.

  "She's my godmother," Didi said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  "And we're the ones asking the questions," Themis said.

  Evelyn's eyes grew wide. I could tell she was both impressed and frightened. I kind of liked that.

  "Now, my goddaughters have nothing to do with whatever this dark magic is that everyone is feeling around here. So let's clear our heads of that notion right here and now. Tell me, when did the book go missing?"

  "Just before everyone started feeling the dark magic," Evelyn said, looking at her hands.

  "Precisely. Now, it hasn't stopped because you've gotten back the book, which you should've kept guarded by the way, which could mean the thieves are still using your spells," Themis said.

  "But that would be very difficult for a mortal to pull off," Evelyn said. "Even with the magic of possessing the book combined with whatever they were able to scavenge from the graves."

  "Then we shall assume that who we are looking for is not entirely mortal," Themis said.

  "Does that mean someone in the magic community knows this book was missing?" Evelyn asked.

  "You can think of your own reputation's misfortune on your own time. I'm only concerned with my goddaughter's. Now, what is it that you are not telling us?" Themis asked.

  "Nothing that seems relevant," Evelyn said. "I left out the part where the dark magic was rising when I hired them, because I wasn't sure they would take my case if they knew. I'd hoped that if I got the book back all of it would stop. I hadn't anticipated they would go after my family's grave sites like that. I didn't even know that could help someone."

  "It's common knowledge," Themis said.

  "Well, I'm not very common," Evelyn snarked back.

  "Are you implying that I am?" Themis said.

  Evelyn's momentary bravery vanished. "No, your highness, no, of course not. I should have known that. I was--"

  Themis held up her hand, and Evelyn quit talking.

  "Is there anything else that happened just before the book was stolen?" Didi asked.

  "Nothing that I think has anything to do with this," Evelyn said.

  "We're not asking you to think. We're asking you to talk," Themis said.

  Evelyn paused to consider. "The pool guy came as normal on the day before. I've used the company for years. There's no history of him being anything but pool service." Evelyn stopped to think some more. "I'd had a few auditions the week prior, and I had a date the night before the break-in. It was a second date, actually. I thought it went rather well, but you know how actors can be. So flaky."

  "Your love life bores me. Continue," Themis said.

  "That's all," Evelyn said. "Nothing else happened before the book was stolen."

  "Well, I guess we could talk to the man with the pool service," I said. "Maybe he noticed something unusual."

  "You said you had a date the night before," Didi said.

  "Yes," Evelyn said. "It was a moment of weakness. He's not even famous, but I thought with a little help I could make him into something. But..." Her voice dwindled.

  "He didn't call," Didi said.

  Evelyn remained quiet.

  "Did he come to your house the night before?" Didi asked.

  "I beg your pardon," Evelyn said, adopting a fake air of propriety.

  "Answer!" Themis commanded.

  "Okay, fine. He did. It was so stupid of me. It's hard being famous, you know. But it wasn't him. When I woke up in the morning, he was gone. But the book was still at my house."

  "We're going to need to talk to him," Didi
said.

  "Good luck. His phone is disconnected," Evelyn said. "But if you do talk to him make sure you tell him I'm seeing someone else."

  "Do you know of a way we could get in touch with him besides his number?" Didi asked.

  "I'll have my agent call his agent."

  "Do that," Themis said. "Now, my goddaughters think there's some kind of nobility in not shifting the blame for this mounting darkness to you, where it belongs. But I assure you, if this isn't handled soon, I will not allow their reputations to be sullied by this. Understand?"

  Evelyn nodded.

  "Good," Themis said, and then she was gone.

  I Put a Spell on You

  Didi and I went back to The Cove after the meeting. Evelyn had promised to have her agent send her date's contact information from his agent. She'd met him when she'd gone on an audition a few weeks prior to her book going missing. Didi felt like that was too much of a coincidence. Although, an actor flaking after sleeping with someone on a date wasn't a coincidence--in this town, it was a probability. I updated our bill to add in Mom and Jason's man hours.

  I'd opted to work via laptop on the couch, and Didi was at the dining/work table we'd set up in the way-too-small space between the living room and the kitchenette. "Since we're still working on this case, we should continue billing, right?" I asked.

  "I knew there was something more to this case," Didi said.

  "We don't know how Damien's death figures into it. It could be a coincidence," I said.

  "But if there is a magical person or creature or whatever you call it responsible for this, he or she or it could be also responsible for Damien's death."

  "Or it still could've been a suicide," I said. Even though I knew my sister might be right, I kind of hoped she wasn't. I didn't want to think that whoever we were trying to find was someone who'd committed murder.

  Didi nodded, but I could tell she wasn't paying attention. She was absorbed by her computer screen. "Maybe, but look at this."

  I closed my laptop and got up from the couch to join her at the table.

  Peering over my sister's shoulder, I saw an article in The Hollywood Reporter with a photo of Dashiell March and a young woman. "Is that the new girlfriend?"

  "I think so. Take a look at her necklace."

  I leaned closer to get a better look. "It looks like a test tube or something."

  "Remember what Alison had yelled at him about his new girlfriend?"

  "The thing about being a wannabe Angelina Jolie?" I looked back at the picture. "She's a brunette, but she doesn't look like Angelina Jolie at all to me."

  "It might not be about looks. He's wearing a matching necklace." Didi zoomed in on the photo so that I could see.

  "Oh yeah," I said. The girlfriend's necklace had been on a dainty white gold chain, while his was on a more masculine black cord, but both had the little glass tube at the end. "What does matching necklaces have to do with Angelina Jolie?"

  "Do you remember when she dated Billy Bob Thornton?"

  "Was that before she married Lyle Lovett?" I asked.

  "That was Julia Roberts."

  "I didn't know you followed celebrity gossip."

  "I follow the news, and for some reason this kind of stuff is in the news these days," Didi said defensively.

  "Sure."

  "Anyway, when Angelina Jolie was dating Billy Bob Thornton, they both wore a vial of each other's blood around their neck."

  "Eww."

  "Yeah, maybe this is something like that, and it has to do with the dark magic."

  "Or it's just gross."

  "Remember what Mom said about coincidences."

  She had me there. Mom had told us that more coincidences would happen now that we had magic. Coincidences are sort of like mini-twists of fate. And fate is the working cousin to magic. "Okay, so what do we do now?"

  "I'd like to know who was on that date," Didi said. "But since we don't have anything on that front, we ought to follow up on some of her other leads." Didi started typing something into her computer.

  "Care to tell me what those leads are?" I asked.

  "I'm looking for the address to that house we were at in Culver City. I want to know who was in that van," she said.

  "Okay." I stood there doing nothing while my twin tapped on her keyboard like she was Chloe on 24. "What should I do?"

  "Pack some sandwiches. We're going on another stakeout."

  We sat in Didi's Toyota across from that house in Culver City that the kids had gone to after school that day. The panel van with the creepy dark windows wasn't in the driveway, and it looked like no one was home. We'd been there for forty-five minutes, and I'd already eaten three of the four sandwiches.

  "It looks like no one's home," I said.

  "You said that already."

  "Are you going to eat your sandwich?" I asked.

  "You asked me that already," Didi said.

  "I was just checking to see if you changed your mind." I could tell I was bugging her, but I had nothing else to do but bug her. This was worse than when we were kids stuck in the backseat on a family vacation. At least then the car was moving.

  I decided to look at my phone to pass the time. Maybe I could find a spell in the App of Spells that would make something happen. But I didn't really know what I wanted to happen.

  "Your friend with the dog's back," Didi said.

  I looked up to see what she was talking about, and the woman with the three-legged dog was walking him again.

  "Is it me or does he look better?" I asked.

  "It's dark, and I didn't really get a look at him beforehand."

  "Maybe the crystals are working," I said.

  Didi gave me a look.

  "I don't know. Maybe it's like magic or tea leaves or who knows. How could you still be cynical about stuff like that when our lives have changed like this?"

  "Because I'm not an idiot," Didi said.

  "But you are judgmental."

  "Having good judgment is not the same thing as being judgmental."

  I took another sip of the large diet soda that I'd packed from the tea shop. We hadn't had any sandwich meat or anything in the refrigerator, so I didn't make the sandwiches. I'd just taken them from the tea room. I made a mental note to tell Alicia. If I didn't, she'd go bonkers doing inventory.

  Two long, boring hours went by, and I had to pee.

  "Didi, I have to go to the bathroom."

  "I told you not to drink that soda."

  "I was thirsty. This stakeout stinks."

  "That's just your breath. Now just hold it until we're done."

  "You're not supposed to hold it. You get infections from that kind of thing."

  "We've been sitting here for hours, and the minute we go somewhere else something is going to happen. That's always how it works."

  "Then maybe we should go so that something will happen," I said.

  "That doesn't even make any sense."

  "It does to me, and I really have to go."

  "Then get out and squat behind those bushes over there," she said.

  "You can't be serious."

  "I don't know what to tell you, pal. There's no bathroom in here."

  "There's a McDonald's on Venice," I said. "It's not even four blocks from here."

  "Then get out and walk."

  "In the middle of the night?"

  "Do you really need me to drive you?"

  I did, but I didn't want to appear selfish. "What is it that we're looking for here anyway?" I asked.

  "This house was purchased recently," Didi said. "I can't help but think that something strange is going on."

  "That's because something strange is going on. Somebody died. A bunch of goths stole a spell book. It turns out Evelyn Carson Barber is a witch. Our whole lives have been strange for the last couple of months."

  "I'll tell you what. You take the car, and I'll just walk up and down the sidewalk until you get back."

  "I can't leave you here in the dar
k," I said. "Oh wait. I forgot. I packed these," I said as I pulled our wands out of the bag of sandwiches.

  "This is a loaded gun," Didi said, taking the wand from me.

  "Well, it does something. We might as well get some practice," I said.

  "No practicing," Didi said. "Only use it if it's an emergency. We can't blow our cover. He'll be home any minute now."

  "Who will be home?"

  "The home was sold to a man named," Didi looked at her notes on her phone, "Gerald Smith."

  "Smith?"

  "I know. The name is even more common than it sounds. Without any extra information about him, we don't know which Gerald Smith this is."

  "Do you want anything from McDonald's?" I asked.

  "Get me a cheeseburger Happy Meal."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, they're lower in calories than the other stuff, because they're so small. If I eat too much McDonald's I feel sick."

  "Everyone feels sick if they eat too much McDonald's. That's part of the fun."

  "I'll stick with the Happy Meal," Didi said.

  "Fine."

  I grabbed my wand and walked toward Venice. Los Angeles can be kind of creepy at night in some places, and Culver City had some good parts and some bad. I wasn't sure where this particular part fit in, but if the lady with the three-legged dog walked here at night, I reasoned I ought to be okay.

  Besides, I had my wand and could give anyone who messed with me a terrible bout of acne.

  The further I walked the more I had to pee, and the more I thought walking at night was a horrible idea.

  I'd thought when I reached Venice Boulevard, it would be busier. It was only 10 o'clock at night, but still there were enough stores closed that it made me feel a little weird. I passed by the laundromat, which was thankfully open. I debated using their bathroom, but since I could see McDonald's on the horizon, I figured it would be more fun to get something to eat. Maybe even hang out there for a little while before heading back.

  When I got to the McDonald's parking lot, I noticed what looked like that creepy panel van we'd followed to the house in Culver City. Was Gerald Smith here?