Celestial noted the wrinkled paper with more understanding. Opal must have been enraged. Not only had her sister tried to run her life through childhood but was now attempting to do the same into their adult lives.
As bad as that would have been for Opal, the opposite was true now. As the sole heir to the money, Opal would be set to do whatever she liked for the rest of her natural life. And that was quite the motive.
Her consideration was interrupted by the sound of voices outside and the scrape of a key in the lock. Celestial quickly ducked into the bedroom, letting the door shut behind her and dove under the bed. If she disappeared now, there would be a tell-tale trace. Best to wait it out and hope Opal left soon.
She bit her lip as she heard Joyce laughing from the front of the house, echoed by Opal. Their footsteps moved across the small living room to the hallway and toward the bedroom. Celestial tried to keep her breathing steady and quiet as their conversation came closer.
“ –I totally agree, they couldn’t have had anything too important between them. Not the way he jumped at the chance to go out with me. Hardly the actions of a grieving lover.” Joyce was saying as she paused in the doorway of the bedroom while Opal’s short black heels stepped into view.
“Exactly. Sergio’s a great guy and I think he’s perfect for you, if I’m being completely honest,” Opal laughed, “but he’s still a man, and Isabella knew how to work men.” She opened the closet and started going through it. “What do you think, is it a red dress date or a black dress date? Or, ooo, maybe a sparkly blue dress date?”
“Hmm,” Joyce appeared to consider before stepping into the room to get a closer look.
Celestial let her head drop to the carpeted floor under the bed to keep from groaning.
“Black is for mourning, right? Well,” Joyce laughed again, “probably not with that hemline, but best not to remind him. I think red is the way to go. Thanks for this, Opal. Just trying to make an impression, you know? Need something new.”
From under the bed, Celestial watched the dress hang barely to her knees as Joyce swirled it around her.
Opal seemed to agree. “Nothing to mourn here. New starts all around.” She sighed and Celestial wished she could see her face. “I can’t seem to be sad. I tried a little. But I just really hated her. She made me miserable for so long.”
Joyce closed the distance between them and comforted her. “Opal, you don’t have to feel bad. And you certainly don’t have to feel sad. Isabella...Isabella was a witch with a capital B. She swept back in here like she owned the place, tried to con you out of your money, made a move on my man and even tried to overthrow the whole coven! I wouldn’t say it if there was anyone else around, but I think she got what she deserved.” This last part was whispered and even from her proximity, Celestial had to strain to hear it.
Opal laughed at this declaration, but the sound was a little more manic than genuine. “I think she did too.” She agreed softly.
Joyce cleared her throat and started toward the bedroom door, “Okay, what do you say we stop by the perfumery and find something extra special for me?”
Opal followed her out and Celestial listened carefully as the sound of their footsteps started to grow distant. At the sound of the outer door shutting, Celestial let out a deep breath and relaxed. She started awkwardly crawling out from her hiding place.
The sound of the door opening again made her jolt upright, slamming her head on the bottom of the bed. Rapid footsteps headed her way and she shimmied back under the bed as quickly as she could, barely disappearing behind the bed skirt as Opal’s heels dashed across the room. She seemed to rummage through a drawer for a moment then made a quiet noise of triumph and left the room hurriedly.
“Found it! You simply have to wear this necklace with that dress. I can’t believe I almost forgot!”
Celestial groaned and rubbed the small lump on her head, trying to ease the sting. The outer door shut again, but she waited a few more minutes this time before sliding out from under the bed. With this new information to consider, Celestial muttered a few quiet words and let herself vanish back to her own bedroom. Now all she had to do was share the info with someone who could actually use it.
Chapter 10
Celestial could barely process what she had just heard. All of that valuable information, the petition, Joyce’s bragging about dating Isabella’s love interest, and Opal agreeing that her sister had it coming, pushed both women to the top of the suspect list.
As she ran down the street, she whipped out her phone and placed a call to Nikoli. She was sure that she had enough info to further the case, but she hoped he would believe her.
The other line crackled before Celestial finally got an answer. “Hello, Detective Brewer speaking.”
“Nikoli, I have some information on the Lark case that I think you’ll be interested in hearing.” She had a smug smile on her face, but her heart was pounding through her chest.
“Is this another speculation call? We’ve had too many of those, it’s best to leave the detective work to the actual police.” A heavy sigh rang out across the phone.
Still, Celestial pressed further. “No, it’s not. But now that you mention detective work, has the force discovered anything that’s instrumental to the case lately?”
He seemed to smirk as she challenged him. “Well, I can’t tell you that I’ve heard much news myself. However, we were extremely interested in that gris-gris bag that was placed under Isabella’s bed.”
Celestial’s nose wrinkled. Again, everyone seemed to be pointing towards the coven of dark witches, but she had a feeling that the real suspects were right under everyone’s noses. “And that bag made you suspect Victoria’s cult, right?”
Nikoli surprised her by disagreeing strongly. “Actually, no. Good witches are also well versed in dark magic, so it doesn’t point us to a particular set of suspects. Good witches simply choose not to practice it, so it could be anyone.”
The information neither helped nor hindered her goals, but she figured that telling the detective what she had just overheard would help her own case. “Right, speaking of which, I’ve just overheard something crucial from Opal and Joyce.”
“Overheard?” He released an audible sigh. “Celestial, you really should stop snooping around other people’s places. I would hate to have to take you into police custody for breaking and entering.”
“No, you have the wrong idea. I didn’t break anything when I went over there.”
She could hear the beginnings of a genuine laugh before he stopped himself. “That’s not what I meant. Anyway, I shouldn’t have to tell you it’s not right to be on someone’s property without a proper welcome.”
“Yeah, yeah. I simply appeared and disappeared, and it was all for a good cause. This information may be vital to the case.”
“I’m not sure I want stolen information.” Nikoli challenged. “There is never a good cause for snooping, and any evidence you would have gathered while breaking the law would be considered inadmissible in court.”
Getting more and more irritated by the second, Celestial was simply bursting to reveal her information. She wished that the detective would just listen to her and stop reciting formalities. “Do you want to hear what I discovered or not?”
“Again, I don’t believe that would be the best move given the circumstances. However, if you were to hypothetically keep the information to yourself and call the police to investigate suspicious happenings, that may be a different story.”
Just as she thought about hanging up and abandoning her useless efforts, his words enticed her. “So, if I just happened to find something, I could report it to you, and then you could figure out a way to obtain that evidence legally.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Hypothetically, of course.”
Though she couldn’t see his face, Celestial knew that they were both sharing a smile at that exact moment. “Okay then, it seems like this is what I have to do in order to clear my own
name.” She had to do something, she couldn’t just sit still and wait for herself to be found guilty of crimes she didn’t commit.
“I know you didn’t do it Celestial. As far as I’m concerned, your name is cleared with me.”
His words gave her comfort, but she was still unsure if the rest of the police force would agree. “You might say that, but that doesn’t mean I’m cleared globally.”
He made an effort to calm her frayed nerves. “Look, there’s nothing that can be done to you, there’s no evidence against you.”
Her mind strayed to the tea cup, but she refrained from reminding him about that very real piece of evidence. “We just have to find the real killer, and we can’t waste any more time doing it.”
“I’ll do everything I can to find the true culprit.” He assured. “However, without figuring out who owned the gris-gris bag, there’s not much we can do.”
“Okay, well I should work on figuring out how to report this information I stumbled across today. Hopefully by the time I do you will have figured out who it belongs to so I can be off the hook.”
Nikoli clicked his tongue. “As I said, unless your fingerprints show up on that bag, we can’t arrest you. Just relax and stay out of other people’s living quarters.”
Again, the tea cup invaded her mind to torture her. “And what if someone decided to frame me somehow? What would you do then?”
The question seemed to stump the detective, and he gave a long pause to think it over. Eventually, he let out a laugh and dismissed her question as innocent. “And why would anyone want to do that? Perhaps because you popped up in their house unannounced one too many times?”
For the first time during the call, Celestial let herself laugh too. “Okay, okay. I’ll stop snooping around in people’s houses. But only if you promise to find the real killer as soon as you can.”
“Now that’s a deal I would be more than happy to agree to. Today you’ve snooped your last snoop.” Nikoli gave his word and said his goodbyes.
“The last snoop.” She agreed. Though Celestial smiled and nodded, she crossed her fingers playfully behind her back. After she hung up, she laughed to herself. “The heck it is.”
Chapter 11
Victoria was sitting with her coven in a meeting regarding the death of one of Celestial Meadow’s witches.
As the leader of the coven of witches that practiced dark magic, Victoria was considered by many a pillar of the community.
While not everyone agreed with the type of magic Victoria practiced, or the things she sold in her store, they knew that magic was a balance. There was no light without darkness.
The police force had been sparse with information surrounding Isabella’s death but that had hardly stopped word from spreading. While speculation abounded around the table, Victoria simply sat and listened, carefully. She had laid down a small cloth and was separating a collection of polished stones into piles for her shop’s gris-gris bags. They were, of course, a very popular tourist item and bound to sell well.
One of the loudest of her coven, Aster, a squat woman with many, many opinions made her thoughts known through the babble. “Well, I say good riddance. That Isabella was a pain in my rear end. She was always going on about how they should banish practitioners of dark magic. I mean really, what did we ever do to her? It’s not like we pick a street corner and start talking about how white magic is a waste of energy!”
Another picked up the thread and nodded. “And she really did do that! I heard that even some mortals heard about her ridiculous campaigning. Really, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone in her own coven, just to get her to shut up for once. Blow our entire cover and it’ll be Salem all over again.”
A scarred woman, Lazule, tapped at the table and glanced at Victoria to make certain she had everyone’s attention. She sighed loudly and relaxed back in her chair, “I think it’s sad. Another witch gone. With our dwindling numbers.” She let a smirk crawl across her face. “Why the only thing more devastating than our present situation would be if something happened to Celestial as well.”
The sentence hung heavy in the air and silence followed. Victoria slid another couple of stones into their piles. Jade rumbled quietly across the table. Red jasper. Smoky quartz left a slight scratch in the varnish as she set it aside.
Victoria brought a hand to her head and pressed at her temple gently. “Yes,” she agreed firmly. “It would be quite sad indeed if something untoward happened to Celestial.” She paused, catching each individual’s eye before settling on Lazule. “That witch, while she does not condone our work, has never impugned on my territory. Of course, she doesn’t allow such powerful magics from her own coven but that is none of our concern. Celestial has always left our coven alone and I would be utterly beside myself if some idiot did something to harm her.”
Lazule frowned and huffed in disappointment but nodded at Victoria’s implied direction. “Like I said, sad.”
The rest of the witches murmured agreement and slowly dispersed until she was alone in the room. When she had nearly finished sorting her stones, another witch knocked lightly on the door and entered.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Victoria but there’s been more news.”
Without turning around, she waved a hand for the other to continue.
“Apparently a gris-gris bag was found underneath Isabella’s bed. With belladonna, blood and bones. Either someone knew what they were doing, or they’re trying to make it look like it was one of our witches.”
“Thank you for the update, my dear. Don’t worry yourself. I’m certain the police have the matter very well in hand.” Victoria scooped each pile of stones into its own container and stood, smiling at the young witch. “Take these to my shop, would you? I’m going to go out for a bit.”
Victoria made her way to The Broken Broom and sat at a small table in the corner. She ordered a whiskey, neat and considered what this information meant for her coven. It certainly wasn’t a good sign. Any hint of dark magic would point a neon sign their way. She would have to come up with some way to allay her coven’s fears.
Smiling into her drink, Victoria considered that she might have to talk with Celestial. While they had different ways of running their covens and different opinions on what could be considered ‘gray’ magic, she was a smart woman and certainly a good ally to have if the town’s witches were going to fall on difficult times.
Perhaps Victoria could talk some sense into the white witch. Show her the possibilities that magic really had to offer. She knocked back the rest of the glass and raised a hand to order another. Being friends was probably off the table, but colleagues maybe. They could compare notes. Victoria could pick her brain to see what she thought of the whole situation. Find out what Celestial was worried about. It was worth a visit to the herbal shop, that much was certain.
Victoria watched the door open as Opal and Joyce entered and seated themselves at the bar. Joyce was stunning in a red dress and a necklace that was definitely out of her paygrade. She and Opal giggled and flirted with the bartender while they ordered their drinks. Without trying very hard, Victoria could catch pieces of their conversation. Getting ready for a big date. Getting loose and ready for dancing. Ready to have a crazy fun night.
The dark witch leaned back in her chair and sipped her drink with a slight smirk on her face. Apparently even Isabella’s own sister was happy about the unfortunate development. She watched them for a while until she finished her drink and her hint of a headache had disappeared. She would spend the rest of the evening preparing gris-gris bags for the various tourists or witches who chose to buy them. Some to attract riches, some to win lovers, some to ease worries or aches. And maybe just a few in dark bags with dark seeds; to interest those morbid tourists who couldn’t get enough of voodoo dolls full of pins and spirits from beyond.
Chapter 12
Back at the shop, Celestial busied herself in the back room of her shop by writing down a list of suspects. At the top of
her list were Opal and Joyce.
“They must have had something to do with it.” She muttered to herself while using magic to scribble names across her levitating paper. Thoughts about the gris-gris bag plagued her mind though, and she didn’t believe that those two were capable of putting such a thing together.
Perhaps Nikoli and Tamara were right to be suspicious of the dark witches. She could easily imagine that one of them could make a bag that held a Voodoo curse. Before she could decide which dark witch was the most suspicious, she heard the bell at the front of the store jingle.
Celestial hurried to the front desk to greet the customer, but was surprised to see Detective Nikoli Brewer standing at the entrance instead. After their last conversation where the detective tried to convince Celestial to stay out of the investigation, she wondered what he could possibly want. “Did you change your mind about wanting me to help narrow down suspects?”
Nikoli laughed gruffly. “No, not quite.” His smirk dropped, and he looked sternly at Celestial after observing the empty shop. “I do have information for you, though.”
“So you found out who made the gris-gris bag?” Celestial’s eyes grew wide and she moved closer to the detective in anticipation of learning what he had to say. “Was it a dark witch?”
“Calm down.” Nikoli held his hands up between them and pulled out his notepad. He skimmed his messy notes before settling on the words he had been searching for. “We haven’t found out who made the bag, but we discovered that the bones and dry blood belonged to a chicken.”
Celestial’s face fell at the information. “Is that all?”
“Were you expecting more?” The detective returned the pad to his pocket and crossed his arms. “We’re all working very hard, you know.”
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