Meg’s time had run out. The cold look in the detective’s eyes had returned. He’d already given her more time than he’d ever planned to.
She knew he was about to give her the boot. At the same time, she didn’t want to leave without getting a final word in.
“I understand you’re busy, but I’m telling you, I think you shut this case too quickly. If you’d just look at it over again--”
Despite Meg’s urging, she was completely out of luck.
The detective shut her down. “Goodbye.”
Like that, he went back to eating his sandwich while showing her the door.
Chapter Eight
So much for closure. The door was still wide open on Meg’s theory that Paige’s death may have been a murder, and not suicide. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be getting any help from the police department on this one. She was on her own, but not completely alone. Meg had her instincts; not to mention her witch powers. She had a feeling they’d come in handy as she started digging deeper.
There were leads that begged to be followed up on, and if the detective wasn’t going to do it, she would. If this truly was a murder like she believed it to be, she wasn’t going to rest until it was solved. Paige deserved as much. Justice would be served.
The question was, where to start? There were a great many loose ends that needed tying up. Considering the detective thought this was just a simple suicide, there was sure a lot of mystery surrounding the days leading up to Paige’s death, no less the people around her.
The more she thought about this whole situation, the more she felt her mind being pulled in so many different directions. Being scattershot wouldn’t get her anywhere. What she needed right now was to calm down and take the time to try and piece things together. Just then, hunger struck.
As her stomach began rumbling out of control, she knew it would only get harder to focus. She had no choice but to grab some food before her blood sugar crashed completely.
***
There was nothing like a delicious meal to get Meg’s mind back on track. Luckily, one of the things L.A. had no shortage of were good places to eat. She grabbed a meal at a local Mexican restaurant. Not much attention was given to the décor. The restaurant poured all their energy into preparing the best meals possible, and her taste buds thanked them for it.
An hour later, with her belly full of wonderful cheesy quesadillas, tangy rice, and a healthy serving of chips and salsa, she had just the brain food she needed. From there, she mulled over what she knew about Paige’s final days.
In her mind, it was a work of complete fiction to even consider Paige’s death a suicide. Which meant, someone had murdered her, and the killer staged the scene to look like a suicide. That begged the question, who would want her dead in the first place?
As she thought about it, a surprising number of people came to mind, all with obvious motives.
First on the list was Paige’s boyfriend, Tyler Watson. His behavior had been wildly erratic, he was evasive about answering questions and had allegedly gotten into a fight with Paige the night she died. Even more, he was suddenly hanging out with his ex-girlfriend.
Next on the list was Tyler’s ex-girlfriend, Phoebe Cooper. Tyler told Meg she was just a friend, but Scott Bailey pointed out she was his ex. In Meg’s mind, it was odd for ex’s to be hanging around as friends, but partially, that was because Meg didn’t stay in contact with any of her exes. The timing of Tyler and Phoebe becoming friendly so soon after Paige’s death did arouse a clear suspicion.
Paige’s former neighbor, Ben Howard, was on the list as well. Ben was upset about Paige’s complaints that he had a dog in his unit when they weren’t allowed in the building. Things escalated from there to Paige trying to get Ben removed from the complex. Yet, mysteriously, after Ben fought so hard to keep from being evicted, a few days after Paige’s death, he was suddenly quick to move out of his apartment.
Also on the list was Paige’s ex-boyfriend, Isaac Reed. He’d shown up unexpectedly at the funeral, much to Tyler Watson’s chagrin. From there, they’d gotten into a fight, although over what, Meg didn’t know. She had a good reason to find out now.
Those were four possible suspects just off the top of her head. At the moment, there was no telling how many more suspects were out there that she didn’t know about yet. No doubt others would emerge as she dug into this case.
After all, Paige was an investigative reporter. Ruffling feathers was practically in her job description. Had she run afoul of the wrong person at work? That was a question Meg had to answer, but in the meantime, there were more pressing matters at hand.
Before approaching any of the suspects, Meg wanted to have as much information as possible at her disposal. That started with getting another look at Paige’s apartment. Meg was so in shock the first time she entered the place that she didn’t give the apartment a thorough look over. It was time to do that now. The question became, what would she find there?
Chapter Nine
As Meg returned to Paige’s apartment building, she was curious to see if Hillary Martin would be there. It would be easier if she wasn’t. Meg planned on casting a spell to give the apartment the most thorough sweep she could. It would be hard to do that with Paige’s mother curiously looking over her shoulder.
Thankfully, Hillary was nowhere to be found. That made Meg wonder if Ms. Martin had cleaned the place out already. There was one way to find out. First, Meg gave Paige’s front door a knock, just to make sure no one was inside. When no one answered, she looked around the hallway to make sure she wasn’t being watched, then went to work.
Meg closed her eyes and used her witch powers to cast a spell that unlocked the door. From there, she entered the apartment to find that Ms. Martin hadn’t cleared out the whole place yet. Still, not knowing where Hillary was put a timer on the whole proceedings. She could be back at any moment.
That meant Meg had to work fast. Now that she was alone in the apartment, Meg could safely cast a spell that gave her eagle-eyed vision. Once the spell took effect, Meg methodically went through every room of the apartment, searching for any clues that pointed to her friend’s death being anything but a suicide. Meg had lifted up in the air, and she floated above everything slowly as she scanned the room. The room lit up with an eerie glow, and laser points of light tipped off of everything Meg cast a glance at.
Room by room, Meg spun slowly around as the magic carried her above everything. Her eagle-eyed vision took in every slightest detail. However, she became more and more disappointed, as she turned up nothing suspicious. The apartment was in exactly the same shape as when Meg had last seen it. Just as she began getting discouraged, she noticed something out the corner of her eye. Once again, she found herself drawn to the bottle of Trim Metrics 4000 diet supplement. Only, there was one difference from the last time she’d spotted it. Unlike when the bottle caught her eye before, on this occasion, she noticed that the bottle had been moved.
Someone had thrown the diet pills in the trash. She could see it, buried under wads of paper. The question became, who, and why? It could have been as simple as Hillary Martin chucking the bottle, but what if it wasn’t? Either way, with Trim Metrics on her mind, Meg found herself considering a new possibility. There were a number of people in Paige’s personal life that wanted her dead, but what if there were people at the newspaper with a motive as well? She said a few words and drifted slowly to the floor. She calmed herself and went back into “normal” mode. The room lost its transcendent glow and looked just the same as before.
She suddenly knew where her next stop would be, and she didn’t delay on heading over there.
***
Meg hopped in her car and started making her way over to the newspaper that Paige had worked at. The traffic in Los Angeles was just as brutal as the locals complained about. The crazy part was that it wasn’t even rush hour.
Frustration set in as Meg found herself moving along at a snail’s pace. She’d rarely missed her
small town of Enchanted Bay more than in that moment. Speaking of her hometown, with traffic crawling along, she had plenty of time to call her boyfriend to check in.
As a detective, Connor could lend a serious hand with this case. At the same time, she was leery of telling him she was investigating another possible murder. Connor always preferred that Meg stayed out of the fray. He’d no doubt be troubled by the fact that she was an eight-hour drive away, so if she got into any trouble, it would be hard for him to drive right over and get her back.
The point soon became moot as Connor picked up the phone with a frantic tone in his voice.
“Honey, can I call you back later? Things are a little hectic right here at the moment,” he said.
Meg was surprised. “In Enchanted Bay?”
“I know. I’m just as surprised as you are. How are things going in the City Of Angels?”
If Connor was too busy to even talk to her for even a few minutes, he definitely wouldn’t be able to do any behind-the-scenes research for her. Since he seemed to have his hands full already, she saw no reason to trouble his mind with her current predicament.
“I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Ok. I’ll give you a call tonight. Take care,” he said.
“You too.”
Connor hung up the phone.
Unfortunately, it looked like Meg was completely on her own at the moment with this one.
Chapter Ten
An hour after leaving Paige’s apartment, Meg finally broke through the traffic and made it the two whole miles to the newspaper offices. It took all the restraint Meg had not to complain about her sluggish commute to the receptionist in the lobby, but there were more pressing matters at hand, and Meg had to focus.
Kristina Kendrick was a brunette in her early thirties with an athletic body, a head-to-toe red ensemble, and a big city attitude. Meg was used to the chatty hospitality of Enchanted Bay, where most conversations began with a warm smile. Kristina was as cold and detached as could be, showing no interest in anything Meg had to say until Meg mentioned she was an old friend of Paige Martin.
Suddenly, Kristina did an abrupt about face. Meg couldn’t believe how quickly the receptionist warmed up to her all of a sudden. It was like being invited into a secret club, where Paige Martin was the magic password to get in. While Kristina was flush with newfound interest, Meg was still trying to reconcile how a person could go from being so cold to so warm in a split second.
“I’m really going to miss Paige,” Kristina said.
“She was a good woman, and a great friend,” Meg replied.
“I know. That’s why I can hardly believe what happened to her.”
“I can’t really believe it myself. That’s why I’m here actually.”
Kristina looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been trying to retrace her steps to try and get a better idea of how things could have gone so terribly wrong. Seeing as how this job was such a source of both pride and frustration in her life, I figured her boss might have some insight as to how she got so depressed so quickly.”
Kristina pulled up a screen on her computer and grimaced at Meg.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Cox has a pretty full schedule today. I could try to squeeze you in, but you might be waiting a while.”
“I’m willing to wait as long as it takes. This is important.”
Kristina couldn’t deny the resolve in Meg’s face. “Ok.”
“In the meantime, could you point me to Paige’s desk?”
“I could, but it wouldn’t do you any good. The powers that be cleared it out.”
Meg was in disbelief. “Already? But she just died a few days ago.”
“Let me tell you something. The business world doesn’t stop for anyone or anything.”
Kristina’s blunt assessment didn’t do anything to improve Meg’s mood. If anything, it just made her more upset.
Kristina hated to see Meg so frustrated. She tried to change the subject. “What were you hoping to find?”
“I don’t know exactly. Just, a clue as to why Paige did something like this.”
Kristina extended her sympathies. “I know it’s a hard thing for us to come to terms with, but there’s nothing either of us could have done.”
“I wish I could believe that. I just have this nagging suspicion at the back of my mind. For example, you said you two were friends, did she mention anyone giving her any problems recently?”
“I wish I had some magic insight for you, but the fact was, we were just work friends. She was so busy writing her stories and spending time with her boyfriend; we didn’t see each other outside of work.”
“Kristina, please think. No detail is too minor. Did she have any enemies? Work rivals? Or how about a sudden depression when she started taking those diet pills?”
Kristina furrowed her brow. “Diet pills?”
“Yeah. A bottle of Trim Medics 4000 was found at her apartment.”
Kristina got shifty and paranoid all of a sudden. She tensed up, then looked to her left and right, before opening her mouth to answer.
Just as she was about to speak up, the door behind her opened and the editor of the paper, Grant Cox, came out. Grant was a heavyset, bespectacled man in his mid-fifties with a huge bald spot and a bright green pair of suspenders on.
“Kristina, push back my next meeting, will ya?” Grant said.
Kristina turned around and nodded to him. “Will do, Sir.”
Grant then stepped back and moved to the close the door to his office.
Kristina stopped him. “Um, Mr. Cox--”
Grant poked his head out of his office again.
Meg knew this would be her only opportunity to catch Grant before he was deluged by a barrage of newspaper meetings. She wanted to see if she could sneak in a few questions first. “Hi, Sir. I’m Meg Walton.”
Grant looked Meg up and done, blank-faced. “So?”
Talk about a brusque reply. It would be a lot tougher warming him up than Kristina. Still, Meg had to try.
“I’m Paige Martin’s old friend from Enchanted Bay.”
Grant averted his eyes and looked down. “Oh. I’m very sorry about what happened to her.”
Meg knew playing off his sympathies would be the best course of action. She tried to look as heartbroken as could be, which wasn’t difficult, considering what an emotional wreck she was. “Me too. This has really rocked me to my core. I can’t seem to make any sense of it all. That’s why I was hoping I could ask you a few questions.”
Grant was very reticent. “I’m very busy.”
Meg could feel her chance slipping away. She had to look as desperate as she could. “Please, Mr. Cox. I just drove eight hours down from Northern California for her funeral. It has been a really emotional time for me. I just have a few questions. It won’t take long.”
Grant clearly had no interest in saying yes but found it hard to say no given Meg’s sad face. Finally, he sighed and gave in. “Ok. Make it quick.”
Chapter Eleven
Grant led Meg into his office and extended his sympathies.
“I’m really sorry about what happened with Paige. It was a terrible loss. She was one of our best writers,” Grant said.
“She was more than just a great writer, she was one of my best friends,” Meg explained.
“I can’t imagine how hard this is for you.” Grant then switched gears. Getting back to business was clearly on his mind, which meant finding a way to get Meg out of his office. “I’m just not sure what I can do for you.”
“You were her boss. You talked to her every day. Did you notice any signs of stress or depression?”
“Ms. Walton, this is the newspaper industry. We’re always under the pressure of deadlines. The job is nothing but stress, all day, and every day. It’s actually a wonder that more of our reporters don’t have breakdowns.”
Meg exhaled. “I guess you’re right.” She tried a different approach. “What story
was she working on just before she died?”
Grant was slow to answer. Meg could see the gears spinning in his head.
“Uh, a piece about the drought in California,” he finally answered.
“Ah. Do you know if she was planning on doing a story about Trim Metrics 4000?” Meg asked.
If Grant was wary before, he was completely stiff now. He shook his head. “No. Not that I’m aware of.”
Meg readied another question but was interrupted before she could ask it.
Grant looked at his watch. “Anyway, I wish I could talk to you longer, but I have a lot of meetings.”
He looked like he couldn’t wait to get her out of his office. That seemed highly peculiar to her, especially given that he’d been very sympathetic just earlier.
“But I thought you told Kristina to push back your meeting,” Meg said.
She had him on his heels now.
Grant was very deliberate with his answer. “I did. Because I have work to do to prepare for it. Now, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Chapter Twelve
Meg didn’t like being whisked away. There was something Grant wasn’t telling her. She didn’t know what it was, nor why he was being so secretive. It turned out closure was impossible to come by today.
Meg figured she might be able to get some more information out of Kristina. Unfortunately, as Meg left Grant’s office, Kristina wasn’t at her desk. As a matter of fact, Meg didn’t see any sign of her anywhere.
Meg sighed, then headed towards the exit. That’s when she got a stroke of luck. Just as Meg made her way out of the building, she noticed Kristina taking a smoke break outside.
“Did you get the answers you were looking for?” Kristina asked.
Witch Cozy Mystery Nine Book Set Page 20