I felt guilty for leaving work early. Charlene normally gets the familiars settled for the evening. Mason gets to snooze in the familiar room until I come and get him after work or when I pack up to leave. I do a lot of paperwork at home and sometimes I’d go up and start working on the books and Mason might have to wait an hour or so until I get him.
That evening, I took care of the cats. It gave me a chance to be sure none of them appeared upset about Flori. It took me longer to settle the cats than it did Charlene and she had locked up and gone home before I was finished. I tended to spend a bit more time obsessively making sure all the cats were in good health and not upset about anything that happened during the day. I talked to Mason about everyone, as I typically do. He’s always willing to give up details about the cats’ day.
Once done, I had to persuade Mason to get in the cat carrier. He is not a fan of the carrier. Mostly I let him walk outside and up the stairs but with the heat I worried about his paws getting burnt.
Naturally, he was displeased about the indignity, thinking I should have just picked him up and carried him from the door to the stairs. I’d have needed an extra arm to do it his way given that I had my purse, my laptop bag, and some paperwork from the café that I planned to work on after hours. My social life is currently limited, hence the brief fantasy about Tyson. Rather than dwelling on my crush, which wouldn’t come to anything, I figured it would be more productive to focus on my business.
I walked up the outside stairs to the landing in front of my door. When I felt generous, I called the area a little balcony. Once inside, the apartment opened up into something amazing with a large open great room with a living area, eating area, and an island kitchen. I had no doubt that from the shape of things, that the kitchen had once been a narrow galley kitchen. At some point in the recent past, the apartment had been remodeled and opened up and could now be a model for one-bedroom living.
A fireplace made of brick from the original building was the focal point of the living area. Another brick chimney went through the bedroom. I had no idea if that brick was from a fireplace that had once been downstairs or if there’d been a fireplace in the bedroom, or perhaps if it had even serviced a second little apartment.
Beyond the great room, I had a powder room that opened onto the hallway. A larger bathroom which included a big rounded bathtub and shower combination was off the bedroom, along with a walk-in closet. There was the largest linen closet I had ever seen next to the powder room. I had two closets near the entry as well. My mom was jealous of the storage in this little place, and I had to admit it was impressive.
I loved working in my kitchen. Mason had his own food in a dish near the island and was chowing away while I put on some noodles and started mixing up a sauce. I was going for a garlicky butter sauce and I’d add some mild sausage, shrimp, spinach, and carrots to go with it.
I paused when I noted Mason was slowing down on his food. I used a quick spell to amplify my connection to him so I didn’t have to be touching him to chat.
“Tyson had a premonition that a lot of his busy-ness was a distraction from something going to happen in town. Have you felt anything like that? We have been busy at the café.” I turned the heat down on the water just a bit. I didn’t want it boiling too quickly. The sauce needed to be nearly done first.
Mason raised a paw to wash his face. He paused a moment to savor something he’d found caught on a whisker and then went back to washing his face. It was soothing to watch his white paws with the pink pads moving quickly over his ginger and white face.
We’ve been busy with a lot of outsiders. I’m not sure how outsiders would make a difference, though, Mason said.
“Could they have been spelled to decide to come here, now?” I asked. Flori didn’t seem like she’d be easy to spell, but her friends might be. They’d probably be susceptible to anything she did accidentally which might make them easier prey for someone else.
Possible, but what’s the point? Mason asked.
“No one in town liked Eric. If we didn’t have a lot of visitors, then the police would look more closely at people in town. With others around, maybe they won’t.” I threw the sausage into a frying pan to cook that up first. I also added a bit of onion. I should have purchased mushrooms, but it was too late now.
You said they were looking at Trinity. She lives in town. If that was the plan, it didn’t work very well. Mason went on to wash his creamy white chest.
“Well, it does make it harder for Tyson to focus on her case. Maybe someone hates Trinity and they’re setting her up,” I said.
Mason paused and looked at me. His eyes were brilliant green, which was what made me ultimately fall in love with him. Then why have all the other people in town?
“Maybe as a back-up plan, in case their set-up of Trinity didn’t work?” I suggested. I wasn’t a criminal mastermind so I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.
Seems thin, Mason said. And I haven’t had any premonitions about busy-ness in town or otherwise. It seems normal to me. Except for that Flori, who is definitely a powerful untrained witch and needs to be reported.
“I already sent an email to the council,” I said.
The council wasn’t someone you contacted any other way. They had an email form you used to check off boxes about what the problem was. Different departments had different areas, including problems with other witches, suspicion of negative magics, and untrained witches. The council liked their mystery. They did everything they could to keep ordinary witches from knowing much about them, other than the WBI division, which they made sure had a visible presence in the magical community.
“You said Mrs. Ainsley had negative energy. Do you think she’s just sick or do you think something else is going on?” I asked him, remembering that.
Jelliane noticed, not me, so I couldn’t say. Flori, however, was bad news, Mason said. Or she could be if she knew how to use her powers. She seemed like a brat, but I’m not sure she’s all bad. Not yet.
“Opinions on Mrs. Ainsley,” I asked draining off the fat from the sausage. Next, I’d cook the shrimp and spinach which went fast. I turned the water back up and got the noodles ready to toss in.
I tend to think her negative energy may be because she’s not really the nice person she wants people to believe she is, Mason said. He went back to pulling at one of his toes.
I nodded. “Do you think Kitika would be okay going with her?” If Mason said no, then it was a no. Mrs. Ainsley could complain all she wanted but everyone would back me up. We didn’t adopt familiars if we didn’t think they’d be safe. There were other places to find a familiar. I hoped, suddenly, that she’d end up falling in love with someone else. Kitika deserved someone nice.
Jelliane isn’t much given to suggesting someone isn’t nice. She’s suspicious but mostly keeps that to herself. I think there are better options for Kitika. Besides, Mrs. Ainsley is old. Kitika has already lost one witch, Mason said.
The last part was as good an excuse as any for not adopting her to Mrs. Ainsley if she did come back to see about an adoption.
I finished making dinner and was just sitting down to eat when my phone rang. I looked at the number. Natalie.
It was a little strange that she’d just call and not text. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Trinity has been officially arrested. They said someone saw her kill Eric!” Natalie was practically in tears.
“What?” I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around it. I was thinking of spells that would make someone look like Trinity. I also thought about all the people in town, ordinary folks who might not understand what they were seeing. Maybe there was something to Tyson’s premonition. Maybe it went to him because it involved his sister. Of course, then her mom should have noticed it, too. I wondered if he was just stressed out by the success of the business.
“There’s this red-haired witch named Fiona McIvers, can you imagine, registered here even! She was the woman crying on the steps earlier as if she’d known Eric. I’ve never seen her name in the register before this.”
Knowing Natalie, she’d looked. Probably used a spell to make sure she didn’t miss the name. Better than a computer search any day because a computer could be modified, or a name misspelled, but magic would have shown her what she was looking for even if someone erased it. Of course, if someone were really good with a certain type of spell, they could fool Natalie’s magic, but that would take planning and talent.
“She said she saw Trinity?” I asked.
“No. There’s a boy with her, probably her son. I didn’t see him. He said he saw Trinity,” Natalie said. “And as a result, Trinity has been arrested. I just heard the gossip, but no one has called me.”
“Or me,” I said. “I went in and told them about Mason seeing a spirit. Trinity couldn’t have done it.”
“We know that,” Natalie said. “So we need to make sure the police do.”
“I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to do. I know Mason will talk with a familiar communicator about his experience,” I said.
“The police have decided on a perpetrator,” Natalie said, talking as if she actually knew anything about law enforcement. “We need to give them the real one.”
“I think Tyson said he was calling in an investigator from out of town,” I said. Probably a witch.
“Deborah Canton,” Natalie supplied. “She’s been in town before and I just got a reservation from her company. I’m not sure how good she is. I think she just likes spending time with Tyson. Rumor has it, he likes spending time with her, too, if you know what I mean.”
My heart sank. The one person I had to hope cleared my best friend was probably dating the man I had a crush on. I told myself to suck it up. This wasn’t about me. It was about Trinity.
“No matter why she’s here, she has to be good otherwise the Lyons wouldn’t use her services for their company. I mean, if Tyson likes her, he can just ask her out.”
Natalie made an annoyingly non-comital sound. “I wouldn’t count on it.” And with that, she clicked off.