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

by Christy Murphy

  "What did I miss?"

  "Can you believe her son used to look like this?" Didi handed me a photo.

  "Is he wearing a track uniform?"

  "He used to run cross country until last year, but he met some other kid," Didi shuffled her notes, "named Wilder McGarr, and that's apparently when he started dressing all goth."

  "Is Wilder the guy whose name we haven't been able to figure out?" I asked.

  "From her description, it is. But we'll have to double check through social media or something to find out," Didi said.

  "His name sounds familiar."

  "His father might be in show business," Didi continued. "Alison mentioned that he was some kind of record producer."

  Didi opened her laptop, which was resting on the dining table. Her cell phone rang. "It's Evelyn."

  I completely forgot we were trying to get the name of the actor. "Maybe she's got that guy's name," I said.

  Didi picked up the phone, and I was tempted to use the spell to listen in, but it'd taken five different tries of random spells to finally get the other one to stop. I couldn't even be sure of what I'd done to make it stop, or if it just wore off on its own.

  Didi hung up.

  "That was fast," I commented.

  "She says she couldn't get a number," Didi said. "She checked on IMDb for his name, Benjamin Starr, and it's an actor, but the photo is nothing like the guy she dated, and that actor died. And her agent couldn't find anything either."

  "Any relation to Ringo?" I asked.

  "Very funny."

  "Maybe there's a magical solution," I said.

  "Like what? Hold a séance to lure back man who give out fake names and phone numbers? If we can do that, then I think we can make a lot more money in a different kind of business."

  "Maybe Evelyn can conjure up a picture?" I asked.

  Didi made a face like my idea wasn't half bad. "I'll text her and ask."

  "In the meantime, let's split up the research. I'll check the databases for info on Wilder and the two girls, and you can go through Damien's social media accounts." Didi took the index card that Alison had given her and put it on the table.

  Her phone dinged. She looked down.

  "Is that from Evelyn?" I asked.

  "Yup," Didi said, showing me her phone.

  I took it to get a closer look. "So is the whole goth thing back now?" I said, staring at Evelyn's date.

  "I don't know." Didi shook her head.

  I stared at the guy in the picture. He dark, blue-black curly hair. It was crazy thick like Evelyn's. "Is it a sign that I'm getting old when I look at this and think, he should get a haircut?"

  "Yup," Didi said, taking back her phone and looking at the photo. "He's cute, though. Nice eyes."

  I hadn't noticed because of the crazy hair and the inch of eyeliner. We'd get to him later.

  I took the index card off the table and grabbed my laptop. Time to get to private eyeing.

  Found Out About You

  Didi and I worked quietly trying to dig out more details. I hadn't really found anything concretely useful on Damien's social media accounts. Although, it was pretty darn interesting. From what I could tell, Damien and Poppy had been quite the item, and it had been his decision to dump her.

  Most photos of them as a couple were on her account. It looked like Poppy and Scarlet had been friends for a long time, from what I could see.

  "Have you found anything about Wilder?"

  "If he's the kid we think he is, I haven't seen much," I said.

  "Anything at all?" Didi asked.

  "Just a couple of group photos, but he isn't tagged," I replied. "As far as I can tell, he doesn't have an account that's a friend of any of their friends. So I can't confirm that the other goth dude whose name we don't know is Wilder."

  "Without a name to put with a face, it makes it tough. And I don't see much in the database for him either," Didi said.

  "It's like he doesn't exist?" I asked.

  "No, he exists. His parents are Caroline and Duncan McGarr, and they've been together for twenty years. Wilder's older than the other kids. He'll be twenty years old this summer."

  "That's old to be in high school. Was he held back or did he start school late?" I asked.

  Didi shrugged. "There's nothing here that indicates he has an arrest record or even any parking fines. He doesn't have a driver's license or a passport that I can find, which is kind of strange."

  "I don't know, maybe kids these days don't rush to get their driver's licenses."

  "There isn't even a learner's permit on file for him."

  "So who do you think drove the getaway car the night of the robbery?" I asked.

  "It had to be one of the girls," Didi said. "Both Scarlet and Poppy have driver's licenses. They got them when they turned 16."

  "Some things stay the same," I said.

  "What you mean?"

  "Girls always mature faster than boys. It used to be that the boys were in a hurry to get their driver's licenses, but I guess now with all the ride share apps, they're just not that into it."

  "I've never met a teenager that wasn't that into getting a driver's license," Didi said.

  "When was the last time you met a teenager?"

  Didi laughed. "About seventeen years ago."

  The wall slid open. "Knock knock," Jason said with his head peering around the wall.

  "We should get a doorbell or something," I said.

  "Hey, I tried to knock the regular way, but there was no answer," Jason said.

  "I didn't mean it like that," I said.

  "Anyway, Didi has a visitor," he said.

  "Is it related to the case?" Didi asked.

  "It's Mr. Dreamboat," Jason said. "He wants to see you again."

  Didi exhaled impatiently. "It's the middle of the day. Doesn't he have to work?"

  "It's five o'clock," Jason said.

  I hadn't realized we'd been working that long. "Deeds, he must've drove in traffic to see you. He really likes you."

  "He had to have been in the neighborhood," Didi said. "We normally don't get off until 6 o'clock." She shut her computer and stood up. Didi looked genuinely annoyed, which took me by surprise.

  "I can tell him you're busy," Jason said.

  "No, don't bother. It might have something to do with the next case, which would be good," she said. "I'm not in the mood to have to shoot some guy down right now. You think he could've taken a hint from the last time we talked."

  Jason I traded a look. What happened the last time?

  Didi trudged into the dining room, and Jason and I held back to gossip out of earshot.

  "What's gotten into her?" Jason asked.

  "I was going to ask you."

  "I was sure she liked him," he said.

  I nodded in agreement. I watched as Thomas tried to greet my sister with a hug, but upon seeing her expression, he stopped. This wasn't going to go well.

  "I wish I could hear what they're saying," Jason said as they took a seat at a table.

  I was about to do the exact wrong thing right then when I spotted a certain handsome cheese shop worker named Matt on the sidewalk. He hadn't been around in ages. If I couldn't live vicariously through my sister's love life, maybe I could get something going on my own.

  I dashed over to the door, hoping that Matt wasn't walking too fast.

  "Joy!" Mom called to me just before I got to the door.

  I stopped and turned to see what she wanted. "If you're going out, can you pick up some cat food?"

  "Sure," I said, even though I hadn't planned on going further than the sidewalk. I turned back to the door, and wham! The door smacked right into my two front teeth.

  I bent over, with my hands over my mouth. It amazed me just how hard a door could hit a person.

  When I was a kid, I used to have this reoccurring nightmare about losing my teeth. I'd feel them fall out into my hand, and I'd rush to the bathroom to gather them up and try and put them back in.


  "I'm so sorry," a familiar voice said to me. Through the pain, I recognized Matt's voice.

  I didn't dare look up. The reality of the looseness of my teeth, and the terrifying grit of what I hoped wasn't cracked parts of tooth dawned on me. I took one hand away from my mouth and looked down. Blood everywhere. This couldn't be good.

  "Use this," Jason said, handing me his apron. I was afraid to take my right hand away from my mouth, because I didn't want anyone to see, and I also didn't want to risk any teeth falling out onto the ground.

  "Come with me," Mom said, leading me to the kitchen by my right shoulder. I walked hunched over behind her.

  "Pal-o-mino, are you all right?" I heard my sister ask.

  More murmurs of people concerned with my well-being echoed throughout the room. But I could barely see or even think.

  My stomach rolled from swallowing blood. Too much.

  When we got to the kitchen, I finally looked up.

  From my sister's gasp, I could tell that it was pretty bad.

  "Open your mouth," Mom said.

  I took my hand away from my mouth and opened it.

  "Oh no! Palomino!" Didi said.

  "Is it that bad?" I asked. But as I spoke, I could tell it was really bad. I could hear the telltale lisp of missing teeth when I spoke.

  "Don't worry," Mom said.

  How could I do anything but worry? Dentists charge an arm and a leg, and I'd never have my own teeth again.

  "Rinse your mouth in the sink," Mom said, leading me to the sink.

  "I'm afraid my teeth will fall out and go in the drain," I said, feeling my teeth move as I talked. Then, what felt like a Tic-Tac dropped onto my tongue. I spit it out into my hand. Yup. A tooth.

  It surprised me that it was entirely smaller than I would've imagined in my dreams, but still, it was big for a tooth. I rubbed my finger along my first two front teeth, and felt the telltale jagged edges.

  I need a mirror," I said.

  "Rinse your mouth first," Mom commanded.

  And I did, careful to spit the water out slowly and away from the drain just in case.

  "Is she okay?" Jason asked. I looked over to him.

  "Oh no!" he said.

  "It's bad. Isn't it?"

  "No," Jason lied. "It just took me by surprise for a second, but now that I'm really looking at it, it's not that bad."

  I looked to my sister.

  "He's lying, isn't he?"

  "It's bad, pal."

  "Yeah, it's really bad," Jason confessed.

  "No, it's not," Mom said.

  "Do you think we could go to the dentist?" I asked, my speech back to normal.

  "Wow!" Jason said.

  "You fixed it," Didi said.

  "Of course I fixed it," Mom said. "I created an entire apartment in the back of this shop. You don't think I could put together a few teeth?" She almost seemed insulted.

  "Was it Matt, the guy from the cheese shop, who opened the door?" I asked.

  "I didn't see," Didi said.

  "I did, and it was," Jason said.

  "Mom, do you think you can magic my shirt so it doesn't have all this blood on it?" I asked.

  "I could, but it'll look weird when you go out there," Mom said. "Everybody already saw that you were all bloody."

  "Yeah, poor Alicia is mopping it up now," Jason said.

  "Oh," I said. I guess it was a really good thing that he hadn't seen my teeth, because then I'd have to wait a day or two to explain my new smile. "Do you think Matt is still out there?" I asked. "He must feel pretty bad."

  "I waved at him to go away, and he left," Mom said. "Sanitize the sink before you two leave," she added she headed back to the dining room. "

  "Di, I've got a loose filling. Do you think you can take a look at it?" Jason asked Mom as he followed her out.

  Jason hadn't noticed, but I could tell from my sister's expression that she caught it too.

  "Mom doesn't seem to be interested in Matt at all," I said. "Don't you think that's weird?"

  "I wish she was like that with Thomas."

  "Deeds, Thomas seems like a nice guy," I said.

  "It's not about what somebody seems like. It's what they are," she said. "I'm thinking, now that we're officially hired to investigate the murder, we can go interview the four suspects tomorrow. Maybe talk to them after school."

  "What about the mysterious man that ghosted Evelyn?"

  "Now that we have a photo, we can do a canvass of the area where she met him."

  "They met at an audition, didn't they?" I asked.

  "Yeah," she said.

  "You're right. Let's interview the kids first."

  I got out of bed at about ten in the morning. We'd stayed up late doing some general research. I'd found evidence to back up my idea that Poppy and Scarlet had been friends for a while. They'd attended the same private schools since first grade and had even been on the same middle school volleyball team that won a regional championship.

  It was so crazy that they all dressed dark and foreboding now. It made me wonder if something bad happened to the girls or if it was just the influence of Damien.

  Looking more at the few photos of who we thought was Wilder, I got the vibe that Wilder seemed interested in Poppy while she was still pining for Damien.

  We still hadn't been able to find out much about Wilder, which made me pretty suspicious. Poppy and Scarlet had only recently turned sixteen, and he was almost twenty. That age difference was a lot bigger when you were young.

  "When do we have to leave to question Damien's friends?" I asked Didi as I entered the kitchen. She was at the table again.

  "How's your teeth?"

  "I think they're straighter," I said, walking over to her to show her.

  Didi leaned in to look and then pulled back while making a face. "Dragon breath."

  "Coffee will fix it," I joked.

  My sister brushed her teeth first thing in the morning and then again after breakfast.

  "What Mom did got me to thinking," Didi said.

  "Sounds dangerous," I said, pouring my coffee. That was when I noticed that my sister had her wand out and was reading something on her telephone.

  "Are you actually reading the App of Spells?" I asked, taking my seat.

  "I don't think it's a good idea that we question those teenagers as ourselves. They might recognize us from that night when you tried to take Evelyn's spell book back."

  "I forgot all about that," I said. "But it was pretty dark. And do kids even pay attention to grown-ups at all these days?"

  "Are you saying you don't want to try magic?" Didi asked.

  "After the whole face full of pimples thing, I'm worried about altering my appearance," I said.

  "We have to start somewhere."

  I took a deep breath and stared at the spell that Didi had found. "It looks pretty cool," I said.

  "It says it'll help you take on an idealized appearance, so I thought that could be fun," Didi said.

  "Sort of like a magical makeover."

  "Exactly," Didi said. Fred came trotting in from the bathroom. I distinctly heard a flush.

  "You really trained him to do that," I said to my sister.

  "He seemed to figure it out on his own, and we never got around to buying a box," she said.

  "I'm a civilized gentleman," Fred said. His voice still made me laugh. He sounded so much like Simon Cowell.

  Fred hopped onto the table and sniffed at the wand. "What are you up to this morning, my love?" he said, staring at Didi.

  "We're going to do some magical makeovers," I said to Fred.

  "Don't change a thing," Fred said, putting his paw on Didi's cheek.

  "Fred," she said. "What are you doing?"

  "Do not fool with perfection," Fred said.

  Didi scooped him up and kissed him on the ear. "You're perfection, my goddess," he continued. "You are everything. Make no alterations."

  "What is he saying?" Didi asked. "His little meows are so ple
ading. It's pretty cute."

  "He doesn't want you to change. He thinks you're perfect like you are," I said.

  "Don't worry," Didi said, scratching his ear. "It's only temporary."

  "She says it's only temporary," I said to Fred.

  "I know what she says. She just doesn't know what I say," Fred said, his voice rife with indignity and coming across as even more old-school British than usual.

  Didi set Fred on the floor. He rubbed around her ankles for a while before deciding to go to his dish in the kitchen.

  "Okay, you go first," Didi said.

  "I don't even have my wand," I said. "Besides, this is your idea."

  "Go get your wand."

  "Only if you go first," I said, getting up and heading to the room. I hadn't even had time to finish my coffee yet.

  I returned and my sister's hair was platinum blonde, and I thought she looked a little thinner.

  "Did it work?" she asked.

  "Your ideal is to be platinum blonde?" I asked.

  "I always liked it in those old movies," she said.

  With my sister's success, I decided I'd try.

  "What's great about this particular spell," Didi said, "is that it fades over time on its own. So it won't be like that thing yesterday when you couldn't turn it off."

  I made a mental note to look up and see if the eavesdropping spell had actually worn off on its own or if I'd stopped it. I hadn't exactly read the full instructions. There were footnotes in the apps that required you to click on them. It would be just like Didi to read the whole thing.

  "So how did you do it?"

  "I think I did sort of a magic selfie thing," Didi said, demonstrating with her wand. "I just point the wand at myself, thought the words, and voilà!"

  A puff of smoke shot out of her wand.

  "Be careful with that thing, it's loaded."

  "Did anything happen?" she asked.

  We looked around the living room and didn't see anything.

  "Maybe it was some misfire," I said.

  "Stop stalling, it's your turn," Didi said.

  I pointed the wand at myself, and read over the spell while reciting in my head. "Did anything happen?"

  Didi shook her head. "You usually say the things out loud," Didi said.

  "You didn't have to say it out loud," I said.