The young witch’s words stayed with me as I tried to fit pieces together. I kept thinking about what she said while I was pulling drinks, cleaning up the main café area, and restocking the cooler in the front. Faintly, I smelled the fresh cloves that now lined the walls.
I noticed that Jelliane and Ned, a tiny black tuxedo cat, were particularly interested in the most recent visitors. I wasn’t sure how serious they were about adoption but I appreciated that they gave all the cats some time. Kitika had gone to the back, probably having tired herself out while charming her new owner.
I shuddered at the thought of Mrs. Ainsley. At least the building was protected. I hoped I wouldn’t hear any more from the elderly woman. I had alerted the police. Any number of other witches had probably picked up my distress call. The grapevine was likely going wild about her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was asked to leave most of the places she wanted to visit. Waverton is a small town in that respect.
Charlene arrived. Greg got to leave. I closed on Fridays. Friday afternoons were usually slow and I probably could have handled it myself, but Charlene needed hours and I needed help just often enough that it made it worthwhile to have another person in the shop. I let Charlene start cleaning litterboxes and filling food dishes even though there was still a group in the room. Charlene could work from the back and not disturb them too much. When the last group of visitors left, I went in and had Mason get the cats to settle in their spaces.
The wards feel strong, Mason said. You and Greg put a lot of good effort into them. It would be an unusual witch who could cause problems now.
Unusual was a good way to put it. Either very powerful or very negative, in other words. Fortunately, we didn’t see that kind of thing very often.
“At least the last groups seemed nice enough. What did you think of the dark-haired girl? The one that came out to talk to me during her visit,” I asked. I figured Mason would have a take and it might give me a clue about how far to trust her.
She’s not very powerful, Mason said. But I sensed a good heart. And much hurt. Is that what she wanted to talk to you about?
I told him what she had told me.
I believe her. What part of you ‘have it wrong and right’ do you think she meant? Mason asked.
“I don’t know. I mean, her words weren’t really helpful, although I guess I am on the right track. I’ve been focused on Fiona and Isaac, so maybe I am right about them but not the way I think?”
Think about your conversation so I can hear exactly what she said, Mason ordered.
I thought about our conversation, trying not to put words in the girl’s mouth. Mason could sort through the memories of what was correct and what I might have added to the conversation or changed to suit my understanding.
You are right about one of the people you think did it, but also wrong, Mason said. She describes the situation as that of a magician. What aren’t you seeing? Where is the trick?
It probably went back to Fiona and Isaac, but again, I didn’t know what I was missing about them. I wondered if perhaps Isaac’s bad behavior was a trick to keep people from noticing something else. I thought about the older woman who seemed to blend into the background but whenever I’d seen them, she’d been there. I just didn’t notice her. I didn’t even know her name. When I thought about her, I realized I had a hard time picturing her. I wondered if she’d done a spell to keep people from paying attention to her.
I left the feline room. Charlene continued the evening cleaning while Mason supervised from his perch. She’d wipe down the perches and make sure all the toys were picked up and then vacuum the floor. We’d run a mop around the room after.
I went to find my cell phone but a couple of late afternoon coffee drinkers came in. I wasn’t surprised when one ordered herbal tea and the other ordered a decaf latte. When they had their drinks, they went to the back of the café to sit at a table. I wondered if it was a first date meeting or perhaps a work meeting. I recognized the man, though I didn’t know him personally, but not the woman.
I watched their chat, noting the body language for a few moments, and decided it was a job interview. Having satisfied my curiosity about the couple, I called Natalie.
“What’s up?” Natalie said when she answered. I heard people talking in the background and the slight echo of words. She was probably at the front desk.
“You’re working,” I said. “I can call back.”
“I’m good,” Natalie replied. “The front desk person has it in hand now. They needed some help with a little situation.”
“Oh?”
“The grapevine says that you had to call for help and it had to do with Mrs. Ainsley. I may have accidentally booked someone else in her room after tonight. We just had to apologize to her and let her know her visit was cut short,” Natalie said. I heard the glee in her voice.
“Was she as nasty to your worker as she was to me?” I asked.
“She acted like a hurt old woman and slightly confused. The other two women were rather angry at us. It was only when nothing came of their interventions that Mrs. Ainsley went all multiple personality change on us and became some horrible entitled creature.” The sounds around Natalie had changed and I now heard the soft music that she had playing around the public areas of her hotel.
“Did she threaten the hotel?” I asked.
“Nope,” Natalie said. “She just said we were all stupid and she couldn’t believe such a mistake had been made. I think she really believes we are just that stupid and made a mistake. For right now, it doesn’t seem to have occurred to her that we’d have heard and made note of your call for help to the police. Quite the piece of work there. I did comp her tonight’s room for her trouble, which I’m sure will help.”
“I hate that you did that,” I said. Mrs. Ainsley was no one’s friend.
“I’m fine with it. It’s worth it if it gets rid of her sooner. Imagine what she could do to a guest. Not all our guests are witches and if she let fly a curse, someone could get really hurt, not to mention she’d break council rules and there’d be a huge investigation.” Natalie sighed. An investigation would be a pain because the hotel would be under scrutiny to be sure that they weren’t at fault somehow. As if they were forcing a customer to use magic in front of others. It sounded ridiculous to me, but Natalie said it had happened.
“I had a weird encounter,” I said. I told Nat about what the dark-haired girl had told me.
“So basically we’re on the right track but we’re off on the hows and whys,” Natalie summarized.
“Or something like that. I kind of think that this revolves around Fiona and Isaac,” I said.
“The question is, do they even know how it revolves around them?” Natalie asked. “If the girl is right, we’re wrong about something. We just don’t know what. I wish people like that witch had better clues when you need to know something.”
“I’m sure she’s wished that more than once. Can you imagine having that talent? I’d hate it,” I said.
“My mother’s great aunt had it,” Natalie said. “I know Mom worried that one of us kids would be stuck with it. It’s not fun. And it’s certainly not fun when we have a clue from someone like that, but don’t know how to use it.”
“Well, we should probably continue to find out what we can about Fiona and Isaac,” I said.
“I’m off soon. I’ll come by. Stay at the café until then so I can find you,” Natalie said.
“Mason is going to want to go upstairs. He gets lonely down in the café. It’s only sort of his space, you know.”
“Then take Mason home and come back down. There’s always more parking in the front when it gets late,” Natalie said. “We’re going out again.”
I hung up the phone wondering what sorts of adventures Natalie had in mind.