“It is.” Tamara agreed, thinking.
“We are also forgetting that Isabella and Victoria got into it quite loudly at the pizza shoppe the night Isabella was killed.” Della said in a gossipy tone.
Celestial almost burned her mouth on her tea. “What?”
“After the coven meeting. Victoria stumbled across Isabella coming out of the shop and they had quite a verbal joust. I’m surprised you didn’t hear it from here, actually. Did you not know?”
“I might have heard...” Celestial let the words trail away. She hadn’t heard of direct conflict between Isabella and the dark coven. Not as direct as this, anyway.
“They are a dark coven, aren’t they? Black magic and evil deeds is kind of what they do.”
Celestial shook her head. “I never thought of them as dark. Just gray. Gray light is important. It holds the darkness from the light.”
“Really? Victoria seems to be ‘holding back the dark’ to you?”
Celestial grinned, taking a sip of tea.
“The fact remains.” Bella reached habitually for a cup and frowned at her own hand as it went straight through. “They had a public fight. Isabella was saying that Victoria and her coven were going to start up a whole new run of witch trials.”
Della nodded. “Isabella was warning people that Victoria could do this, to get rid of people that were in her way. When they ran into each other at the pizza place, a couple of the dark witches told Isabella to watch herself.”
Celestial pinched her lip between her teeth. Dakota immediately began to protest that the dark coven wasn’t afraid of anything, especially Isabella. Tamara agreed that Victoria was not easily intimidated, especially by the likes of Isabella.
But Celestial’s eyes met those of Athena, who blinked slowly. As usual, the dragonfly seemed to have far more wisdom than all the humans in the room.
Chapter 25
Celestial took a deep breath as she knocked on Joyce’s door. As a white witch, she was pretty good at looking through people. Even other witches. If she asked Joyce straight up, no matter what her answers were, they would help Celestial figure out the truth.
When Joyce opened the door, her face was not friendly. She crossed her arms and glared at Celestial.
“Joyce, I’ve come here to ask you straight out. Did you kill Isabella to get to Sergio?”
There was a moment of painful silence before it was broken by Joyce’s abundant laughter. She actually had to hold her belly.
“Oh, Celestial.” Joyce wiped at her eye. “Of all the things I thought I’d hear from your lips, that wasn’t even on the list.” She sighed, regaining her composure. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s always wanted me. He was only flirting with her.”
“So, you weren’t jealous at all?”
“Honey, we were at the Broken Broomstick together talking about our relationship the night she was killed.”
Celestial actually took a bit of a step back. She hadn’t realized those two had been each other's alibi. It didn’t change much.
“I heard that you’ve been making gris gris bags.” Celestial spoke through her tight chest. “I asked around, you know. Because Victoria always has so many.”
Joyce looked away, her eyes softening a bit.
“Yes. I’ve made some for her shop. But only white magic. Nothing dark. I don’t do dark.”
“Why not? Isn’t she your friend?”
“Yes, but I don’t play with the same forces that she does.” Joyce blinked hard, her eyes trailing away into the distance. “I have a good reason, okay?”
Celestial didn’t say anything, just kept looking at Joyce. Sometimes silence was the best motivator.
Joyce couldn’t look into Celestial’s eyes as she spoke. “My grandmother dabbled with black magic. At first it was just a few things, fun things. It's like that. It’s an addiction.” She shook her head, looking grief stricken all of a sudden.
“You can ask dark beings for all kinds of things. They come to you like eager little children. They love listening to you and they’ll do anything for you if you pay them attention. The problem is, when you give them attention, they grow.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.” Celestial crossed her arms. “You can skip the practical magic lesson.”
Joyce gave a lopsided smile. “The demon killed her, Celestial. He tore her apart.”
“What?” Celestial felt a cold streak through her chest. Joyce kept her head down, eyes blank.
“I was only little. She was working one of her conjuring spells with it. It fed off her and, in the beginning, it was such a small amount of energy. She was delighted by how much he would do for her when she paid him so little. But he got big... Or I should say, he grew to his full size under her tender care.”
Joyce took a step back to wipe her eyes and lines of grief crossed her face, making her look much older than she was.
“She was demanding he do her work for her and bring her more luxury. She told him he didn’t deserve any more energy from her, and he would do as commanded. She thought that she had him, because he needed her energy to survive in this world.”
Joyce looked up; her eyes haunted by the shadows of the past.
“Never give a demon an ultimatum. He killed her. He tore her to shreds. Her blood painted the walls. There was nothing left to bury. Her screams—”
She covered her mouth, stepping away and swallowing hard. When she looked back at Celestial, she was pale and shaken but determined.
“I would never meddle with black magic. Not after that. It started so small, Celestial. Such a tiny little seed. I will never, ever go down that path.”
Celestial didn’t think that anyone could fake that kind of emotion, but it was a fact she could certainly check. She couldn’t leave anything to chance. Not now.
Someone in this town was a very good liar, and if they had everyone bumping into each other like this, then they might be good enough to cry in front of you, too. As sincere as the story seemed, Celestial just couldn’t trust her.
As Celestial turned to go, Joyce snapped at her.
“Don’t come back.” Then slammed the door with a loud bang.
Joyce took two steps back, watching to make sure Celestial left her porch. The white witch must be getting desperate to save her tail if she was conducting personal interrogations. She probably couldn’t beat the rap, either.
Joyce realized that once Celestial had been removed, she could easily apply to be queen. The idea was so attractive Joyce let herself dwell on it as she moved back through the hallway.
Framing Celestial was certainly very clever. She went through the list of suspects in her mind again, as she—and no doubt many others—had done before.
Who had really killed Isabella?
All Joyce knew for sure was that she didn’t do it, and Celestial certainly wasn’t capable. The one problem with the frame up was that anyone who actually knew Celestial would also know she was incapable of murder.
Opal seemed to be in the center of everything. She had excellent motives. Joyce would have sworn to a fault that Opal didn’t have it in her, but what if she did? Her innocent manner could be the perfect disguise as she sat right in the middle of suspicion, surviving it only by hurling Celestial into the glare of suspicion.
Really, Opal could be capable of anything. Joyce thought this over as she wandered back to her kitchen, seeing the situation in a whole new light.
Now that she could use it for her own gain, the details were very important indeed.
Chapter 26
Celestial headed for the bar straight away to check on Joyce’s story. It would be hard to fake, just like her admission about her grandmother.
It was warm inside when she swept through the door and the bartender smiled and waved as she made her way over. She wished it was someone that she knew and considering that she knew almost everyone, this was an odd situation.
“Hey.” She said as she stopped at the counter. “I’m
Celestial.”
“Yeah, I know.” He smiled and tapped his name badge. “I’m Mark. I’ve seen you around. What can I get for you?”
She shook her head. “Oh, I’m not here for a drink. I was just wondering if you knew Joyce and Sergio?”
He frowned. “I know Serge. Is Joyce the one he’s dating?”
“That’s kind of what I’m here to find out.”
Mark rubbed his chin. I’ve seen him with two women, one a lot more than the other. Actually.” His face lit up in a lightbulb way. “He was here with Joyce. The night that another lady was killed. He was all pumped up, saying he got his girl back. Talking about her with a dreamy face. They had a nasty fight, but then settled right down. They got one of the best bottles of red we have and snuggled down in the corner at our quietest table.”
“Oh.” Celestial didn’t know if she should be disappointed or relieved. “Thanks. That’s kind of what I came to find out.”
“Snooping?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. She nodded.
“I don’t have much choice. I just want to find out where everyone was that night. Especially the ones that had more motive than me.”
He gave a slow nod. “Totally get that. I don’t know if Joyce or Sergio had the motive or the mettle to do this, but they were absolutely polluted when they left here, and it was late.”
“Really late?”
“Yeah, near closing time. They were falling all over each other giggling. They were totally blind drunk, and I was serving them their drinks so I knew they had a lot. They were gutted.”
Celestial nodded. “Okay. Thanks for your help. I guess I’ll keep at it.”
“Yeah, it must be rough having all the evidence pointed at you.”
“How did you know that?” She narrowed her eyes. He shrugged.
“Everyone knows. That’s how I knew who you were. Everyone talks in the bar.”
“Well that’s just great.” She muttered as she left the bar.
Her next stop was Opal. She didn’t want to accuse the sweet girl of murder, but what else could she do? Someone in this town was hiding the heart of a brutal killer behind a sweet-face and it was time to rip right into this situation rather than just sit back and wait for the ‘maybes’ to add up.
She went by Opal’s house and found her sitting outside by the pool. She was drinking coffee and had dark sunglasses on.
“You didn’t call.” She muttered.
Celestial smiled and sat down across from her. “Hello to you too.”
Opal shook her head. “I’m exhausted. The cops have so many questions for me. I think they are harassing me on purpose.”
“Do they think you killed Isabella?” Celestial tried to cover her shock. She might get her information without having to ask a single question.
Opal shook her head. “No, I couldn’t have. I was out of town that night. They are just hounding me about the punch incident.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you went out.” Celestial tried to keep her voice even. “Where did you go?”
“I went to the theatre up the north road. You know, the public performing arts center? It's usually full of students and the raw talent is amazing.”
“What did you see?” Celestial was determined to find out one way or the other if Opal was innocent or not.
“Phantom of the Opera. It was really good. A bit overdramatized, but that’s okay. It had a lot of character.”
“You went by yourself?” She tried to sound surprised instead of accusing. Opal shook her head. “No, I went with Carla, Dorian and Fern. You know my friends from the Shady Cove Theater group. Why?”
“Oh, I just thought it was a bit odd to go by yourself.”
“Well, I do sometimes. It was the first time I managed to convince them to come with me because I figured if they were aspiring theater folk they might as well see a real production. They had a great time, so it was worth doing.”
Celestial felt like this information was burning her from the inside out. She had to check it out.
“Well, sorry Opal.” She stood up. “I’ve got to get going. I was just stopping by to check on you.”
“No problem.” Opal sipped her coffee. “Thanks.”
Celestial felt that something was wrong, but Opal had not volunteered any information. She didn’t want to dig into her, especially when she had places to go. She just held her breath before she could sigh in exasperation and waved to Opal as she left.
The second she got to her car, she called Fern. As luck would have it, she was with Carla, the two of them laughing about something when they answered the phone.
“I don’t normally hear from you, Celestial.” Fern’s voice was high. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Oh, I was just talking to Opal. She mentioned some play you went to. I just wanted to know if the theatre is any good.”
“Oh, yeah it is.” Fern affirmed. “Hey Carla, send Celestial some pictures. Here’s the number.”
Celestial's phone pinged and buzzed by her ear. She pulled back to see picture after picture of happy girls and one boy, all gathered in various places around the theatre.
In the center of each pic, Opal smiled back at her. She really couldn’t have done it.
“Ooo, are you checking her out for murder?” Fern’s voice took on a mock serious tone. “Isabella was a tragic human being. She got what she deserved. But Opal’s too sweet. She’s an absolute marshmallow at heart.”
“Yeah.” Celestial had already come to the same conclusion. Opal couldn’t be the killer.
Chapter 27
Back home, lingering over a cup of tea Celestial went over all that she had uncovered. Athena sat on the table nearby, twitching her tail gently against her human’s arm as she purred. Celestial loved the sound. It always helped her think.
Even though there was evidence against Joyce—circumstantial, but still evidence—she had a rock-solid alibi. No one could argue with it and if they did, more people in the bar could also back up that story. Joyce couldn’t have done it.
She was having trouble accusing Opal, even if it was only in her own mind. She had been emotional lately, but she had also been through a lot of stress. Her motive was a good one, not just money but vengeance involved.
It was tricky. If someone was being bullied, they naturally don’t retaliate against their attacker because their weak will is why they were chosen as a target in the first place. In spite of this, Celestial knew that victims quite often fought back once they were pushed too far.
Could Isabella have pushed Opal too far? Opal seemed so sweet and giving a lot of the time, but in a moment of rage she could completely change. Isabella had been nasty to her and everyone knew it.
Her alibi wasn’t as solid as Joyce’s, either. The pictures could have been easily faked. The ticket stubs did not prove she was actually at the show.
Celestial sat back in her chair. Even though there was plenty of evidence about Opal, it just didn’t feel right. She couldn’t accuse her even in her own mind. Opal was innocent, she was sure of it.
She started to tap her finger on the table as she went through everything. Her cup, sitting right by the bed. The Belladonna mixed in with Isabella’s favorite tea. The gris gris bag under the bed.
It seemed like overkill to poison her and put a spell bag under the bed. Like cursing a dead person. The bag was obviously placed there to put more suspicion towards Celestial, but it didn’t make sense. Perhaps by trying so hard to frame her, they had revealed their hand.
When Isabella had first died, everyone had talked about how she was openly talking against black magic and Victoria’s coven. Fingers were pointed straight at them after that. It seemed logical, until evidence started to gather around Celestial and then Opal. The dark coven hadn’t been worried at all and that in and of itself took them away from suspicion, at least in Celestial’s opinion.
But back then, she hadn’t known about the fight at the pizza shop. She hadn’t known about Isabella’s proclamation
that Victoria was going to start persecuting people. Celestial went over a few of Victoria’s recent actions, seeing everything in a whole new light.
She wanted power. Dark beings always did. She stayed quietly out of notice most of the time, conducting herself in a very peaceful way. Celestial had always assumed that Victoria was a bit snobbish and that was why she kept out of social gatherings and didn’t draw attention to herself.
Maybe, she was only doing that so she could hide her dark deeds. Maybe, it was the perfect cover. If she always appeared calm and her actions beyond reproach, would that not be the perfect costume for a dark sorceress?
Victoria had broken this pattern by attending Opal’s party. Of course, Victoria had gone to certain events before, but a rocking housewarming party involving half the town was out of character for her.
“And the whole coven was there...” She whispered to herself. The poison punch was just as out of place as the gris gris bag under the bed. Someone trying too hard to point evidence away from themselves.
What if Victoria really did have a plan to remove other witches from her path? How had Isabella found out about it? Maybe she was just guessing, but it was enough of the truth to cause Victoria to verbally attack her in a public place.
Then one of the other dark witches had threatened Isabella. All of this added up to a pretty big motive. Emotional impulse, just like the reasoning behind Opal being the killer. If they had been noticed fighting, then it made sense that they would try to point fingers anywhere but themselves.
Celestial heard Dakota’s voice in her mind. ‘Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one.’
Occam’s razor. Even if it looks unlikely or too easy, the most basic explanation was often the right one.
Just as she had with all the other suspects, Celestial tried to imagine Victoria actually killing someone. Did she believe that Victoria had it in her to murder another human being?
She did.
Celestial pulled out her phone and called Nikoli.
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