“I know you are, but I also know that with my help you would’ve caught the killer already.” Celestial stated pompously.
“Oh is that so?” Nikoli rolled his eyes. “And what more would you have done, would it involve breaking into the home of an innocent bystander?”
Celestial began to grow frustrated. “You told me to report what I’ve heard so you can investigate it, so how about I do that now and you focus on finding the real killer?”
“Go ahead.” Nikoli sighed, pulling out his notepad.
“I started making my own suspect list, and Opal and Joyce were at the top of it based on the conversation I overheard.”
“When you broke into their house?” Nikoli chided.
It was Celestial’s turn to cross her arms and huff at the detective. “Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?” After he ushered for her to continue, she spoke again. “I found some papers stating that Isabella was trying to prevent Opal from receiving the inheritance.”
Nikoli’s brows knit together as he began to scribble on his paper. “That’s actually an important piece of information. Keep talking.”
“Isabella claimed that her sister wasn’t competent enough to take care of her own business so that Isabella could keep everything for herself.”
Still writing furiously, Nikoli nodded. “And what about Joyce, why is she on the list?”
“Because Joyce had eyes for the man Isabella was talking to, his name is Sergio. She was angry at Isabella because Joyce wanted Sergio for herself.”
“I’m sensing this is a common theme.” Nikoli said as he finished recording the new information. “Thank you for telling me what you’ve found. I’ll look into it, and I’ll make sure to do it legally without breaking and entering.”
Celestial’s cheeks turned pink. “Tease me about that again and this will be the last time I’ll give you any information.” She turned away from the detective as he stuffed his notes back into his pocket.
“Okay, okay. As long as you don’t get into any more trouble everything will be fine.” He turned towards the door again and began to leave. “I’ll give you a call if I get any more updates.”
“And I’ll do the same.” She watched him leave before trudging to the back room again and picking up her list once more.
In her heart, she truly believed that the detective was skilled enough to crack the case. He would find the answers eventually on his own, but perhaps eventually wasn’t fast enough. With the pen slowly levitating in the air, she held herself back from writing her own name on the list.
She gave up for the night, waving her hand before watching the paper and pen float down towards the desk. With her head in her hands, she feared that Nikoli wouldn’t be able to find the answers before she was found guilty in the court of public opinion. Her business would be ruined, and her life as she knew it would be over.
“It’s going to be alright.” She tried to convince herself that she was simply worrying herself sick for no reason. Instead of continuing her suspect list, she decided to make a mental list of all the reasons that she would come out of this unscathed.
Most of the witches she knew were on her side anyways, they knew she wasn’t responsible. These kind friends were also her best customers, and if they had her back, her store would be alright. The rest of her customers were made up of tourists, and as long as she didn’t end up on a national suspect list, the tourists wouldn’t know a thing about the situation.
She rubbed her eyes and tried to rub the exhaustion away. As much support as she had, it was also true that she currently couldn’t walk around town without at least one person throwing her an odd glance. If she could have one thing, it would be to walk around town with her held high, without anyone looking at her and seeing a killer.
Chapter 13
Celestial was in the workshop in the back of her gift store. Usually she loved the various smells of dried herbs and flowers but today they seemed to make her head spin a little. Or maybe that was the fact that she didn’t have many other ideas of where to investigate or even who to investigate regarding Isabella’s death.
As she gathered together some essentials to make up some lotion, Celestial settled on the one hard fact that she knew. She hadn’t killed Isabella, regardless of the fact that her cup had been found in the bedroom. With poisonous berries at the bottom. While she and Isabella had certainly butted heads over the years, she never would have considered them enemies. Maybe Isabella hadn’t really been a friend, but she had been a cousin. Celestial had always placed Isabella in the annoying but neutral family space. Someone to smile at in passing, maybe stop and catch up, but not exactly the person to call up to hang out. Of course, after her announcement to the coven, Isabella had dived straight into the annoying and problematic family space. The space reserved for those who always want to borrow money or have a tendency to tell inappropriate jokes regardless of who might be around.
But whoever had done this to Isabella had really disliked her. Maybe even hated her. Celestial wasn’t certain at what level a person resorted to murder. There seemed to be several people who were happy to see Isabella gone. And a few that had something to gain, whether it was money or love or...stability as leader of the coven.
She sighed heavily as she softened and kneaded the shea butter into something she could work with more easily. Perhaps the better question was had someone intentionally framed Celestial for the murder or was it just a coincidence? She didn’t think anyone really disliked her enough to frame her for murder. Sure, there were some people who didn’t particularly like the way she ran the coven, but there were easier ways to get someone else in charge. Maybe Isabella had taken the cup and it was simply right there to be used. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that Isabella had swiped the cup for her own use. She never exactly dallied over the possible problems of taking whatever she wanted. That attitude served her well for a while, but it also left a lot of stepped on toes in her wake. Honestly, that sort of thing was probably what got her killed.
Letting out a low groan, Celestial took a moment to settle her mind. This was supposed to be a work day and if she was going to get stuck thinking about Isabella, nothing was going to come out right. Even simple cleansing spells needed focused intent. Maybe today was more of a bath bomb day.
She gathered up her ingredients and mixed them together in a large bowl...dried lavender blossoms were crushed together with vanilla bean seeds along with the other essentials. This was one of her best sellers and a recipe she could put together in her sleep.
When it came to filling the molds, however, things went a little sideways. The first few came together nicely but as she was finishing the spell on the fourth one, the tea cup slipped into her mind with all the problems and implications it brought. As she set down the mold, it exploded into an impressive spray of dust and flower shrapnel, blowing two other pots off the counter and shattering to the floor.
Celestial blinked and rubbed the powder off her face with the back of her hand. She muttered quietly as she picked up the broken pots. “I said bath bomb. Bath bomb.” Maybe it was better to spend today on something less complicated. Like pacing around the store stressing about her future.
Out in the store, around one of the small tables, Tamara and Dakota were drinking tea and Bella and Della sat across from them. They had come together to brainstorm about Isabella’s murder. Everyone collectively flinched at the sound of breaking pots from the back room.
“You okay back there?” Dakota raised his voice in worry.
“It’s fine!” came the shouted reply.
Tamara made a face at Celestial’s irritated tone and caught Dakota’s arm. “I think she’s got it handled. Stay here with us.”
Dakota sighed and sat back down, looking over the twins. “It looks bad, doesn’t it? She looks guilty. I’m worried about her.”
They looked between themselves, then nodded simultaneously. “It doesn’t look good.” Bella replied.
“N
ot good at all,” Della added. “But who would want to set her up?”
There was silence from around the table for a moment before Dakota spoke up again. “I mean, we all have to be thinking it, right? The dark witches. That’s what they do! Murder and mayhem. And, well, weird touristy things, but mostly mayhem.”
Tamara tapped the table with her delicate nails and hummed. “I don’t know. I don’t disagree with that line of thought but even the dark witches seem to show her some respect. At least I’ve never seen or heard any of them talking badly or angrily about her.” She huffed a quiet laugh. “They’re certainly not friends, they don’t go out for drinks together. They don’t even visit each other’s shops. But...no one from the dark coven comes to mind for something like this.”
Della sank a little into her chair, her face showing her disappointment. “We could still keep an eye out. Maybe there was more going on than we know? There was the gris-gris bag too, that’s a trademark dark witch token, isn’t it?”
Dakota perked up at the possible defense but Bella clicked her tongue. “Not necessarily. Most witches could put together a bag and a spell if they knew what they were doing. And not all gris-gris bags are, as Dakota put it, ‘murder and mayhem’. There are plenty of white witches who make their living with gris-gris bags.”
Tamara checked for stray leaves at the bottom of her tea cup as she finished the last of it. “I don’t think it was supposed to frame her. It must have been a matter of convenience. The cup was there already. Surely that’s the simplest answer? Especially as we can’t come up with anyone who would want to hurt her.”
Finishing his own cup, Dakota leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He was clearly disappointed they were going for the simplest answer rather than the intriguing one. “I suppose. But I’m still going to watch for anyone who’s upset at Celestial.”
Nodding, Tamara set her cup back down. “I think that’s a great idea. At the moment, I believe she needs all the help she can get.” She stood and adjusted her dress and smiled. “Take my cup to the back, would you?” She winked at Dakota with one dark brown eye and vanished into a small butterfly which headed sedately toward the open window.
Chapter 14
Against her better judgment, Celestial decided to pay a visit to Joyce. She felt a little bit better after her friends convinced her that Isabella may have taken the tea cup herself before her death. However, that hypothesis didn’t explain the belladonna berries, and she thought that Joyce and her garden may be that explanation.
She knocked confidently on Joyce’s door, knowing that the other woman would not be pleased to see her. Once the door swung open, the annoyed look on Joyce’s face proved her right.
“Can I help you?” Joyce asked, slipping in between the door and Celestial so that the latter wouldn’t come in. “I don’t have time to answer any questions.”
Was she hiding something? Celestial couldn’t tell right away, but she did know that Joyce was one of the witches who thought that everyone should be able to use magic for their own benefit. It was a dangerous mindset, and one that may have led Joyce to cast a death spell on Isabella.
“I’m not going to question you. I’m just making my rounds to make sure everybody is okay.” Celestial moved one of her feet closer to the door, but Joyce stepped away.
“I’m fine. See you around.” The other said abruptly before moving to shut the door.
Celestial saw her preparing to close her out, but politely put a hand against the wood. “Trust me, I mean no harm. I just want to make sure nobody else is hurt since we don’t really know who the killer is yet. Would you mind if I came inside for a moment to talk?”
The other studied her face for a moment, and when she was sure that Celestial wasn’t up to anything shady, Joyce finally stood aside to let her in. “Fine, but I’m not going to answer millions of questions about Isabella.”
The deal was good enough for Celestial, and it seemed that her story about checking up on all the town’s residents put Joyce at ease.
“So, now that you’re here, would you like a cup of tea?” Joyce offered nonchalantly as they settled into the dining room and sat across from each other at the table.
Given what she knew and what she thought she knew about the case, tea was the last thing Celestial wanted from Joyce. The thought of being poisoned like her cousin sent shivers up her spine. “No thank you, I’m fine.”
Joyce shrugged. However, she seemed to easily pick up on Celestial’s discomfort. “Look, I know it was frightening to see Isabella go the way she did, but honestly not a single person was sad to see her go.”
The words seemed extremely insensitive, but Celestial couldn’t help but agree. Still, she wouldn’t be caught discussing how her life had improved since Isabella’s death just in case someone overheard their conversation. “I thought you weren’t going to talk about her?”
“Oh hush dear, I said I wasn’t going to answer a million questions about her. But I figured the real reason you came was to talk about your cousin, am I right?” Joyce puttered around the room, levitating tea cups and small dessert dishes from the shelves before disappearing into the kitchen.
“Not exactly. I honestly just want to see how you’ve been doing.” She attempted to shift the subject to something she knew Joyce would like talking about. “How are things going between you and Sergio?”
That seemed to do the trick, and when Joyce came back into the room with a hot tea kettle and a tray of snacks, she was blushing. “Oh, Sergio is such a gentleman. He took me on the most romantic date the other day, you know.”
“Is that right?” Celestial encouraged, making a mental note about how quickly Joyce’s demeanor changed at the mention of Isabella’s old love interest. “What did you two do?”
For the next 20 minutes, Joyce spoke on and on about their picnic in the park, and how lovely it was to spend time with a handsome man like Sergio. “His eyes were so dazzling, and he didn’t even have to use magic to make them sparkle.”
Celestial had almost fallen asleep at that point, but she forced herself to listen to each insignificant detail in hopes that Joyce would slip up and reveal something incriminating. “Do you think he’s as smitten with you as you are with him?” She challenged.
Joyce gave the other witch an irritated glance. “Have you been listening to anything I said? Of course he likes me. Now that Isabella is out of the picture, Sergio has finally realized that I am his true love.”
Celestial’s ears perked up at the words, but it didn’t seem that Joyce noticed. She tried hard to keep her face neutral as the other woman kept blabbering on and on about how in love he was with her, but Joyce soon caught on to Celestial’s discomfort.
“I didn’t kill Isabella, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Joyce snapped suddenly. “Wipe that look off your face, you haven’t found me out.”
Embarrassed, Celestial sat up straight against the chair and began to apologize profusely. “I didn’t say you did.”
“You didn’t have to say anything, I could see it all over your face. No man is worth killing for. Besides, he would have realized eventually that he loved me after dealing with Isabella’s nasty attitude.”
Celestial sighed, picking at one of the cookies on her plate. “But what if he never realized it, or he realized it too late?”
“Oh please. Stop sticking up for your cousin, we all know you didn’t like her either. Perhaps you should start investigating yourself instead of pointing the finger at me. It was your tea cup after all.”
Anger built up in Celestial’s stomach, but she refrained from losing her cool. “It was a cup that Isabella borrowed from me a while ago. I had just as much to do with killing her as you say you do.”
Joyce snatched the dessert plate from under Celestial’s nose as she began to clear the table. “That cousin of yours, such a pretty face but such an ugly soul. You’re beginning to follow in her footsteps.”
“Is that a warning?” Celestial bit back, r
ising from her seat.
“Goodbye, thanks for the visit.” Joyce said cooly, pointing towards the door.
Realizing that she wouldn’t get any more information out of Joyce, Celestial agreed that it was time to leave. She would be back, and next time, she would collect some real evidence.
Chapter 15
Celestial was left outside Joyce’s door in a bit of a daze. She couldn’t exactly say that it had been a productive meeting. Just moments of antagonisms punctuating a long rambling rendition of the woman’s blossoming love life. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and turned away from the door. Maybe that would have gone better if she’d just taken the offered tea. ...Or maybe not.
Joyce had a pleasant flower garden with a low wooden bench and Celestial set herself on it to take a moment. It seemed like every time she tried to get a moment to work on items for the shop, she couldn’t focus but then when she went to actually act on her suspicions, there wasn’t anything there either. The hum of bees was the background of her thoughts and she watched a couple of the fuzzy insects creep inside some cylindrical dark purple flowers on a bush beside her. They disappeared in the bloom, just a shadow within the petals and her eyes were drawn to the small black berries that hung from the branches.
The thought took a moment to process but it hit her suddenly and she whispered under her breath. She cast a small warding spell to shoo the bees away from the flowers and hopefully keep them away. Celestial glanced back to Joyce’s door and at the window beside it but the woman was nowhere to be seen and it seemed as though she was alone for the time being.
Apologizing to the bees, Celestial took a closer look at the bush beside her which she had only seconds before identified as deadly nightshade or Belladonna. The insects would have been fine collecting the pollen of the flowers, but any honey made from that pollen could have been poisonous to the poor sap who collected it.
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