I stood outside the boutique with Beth and Carol, waiting for Katie near her car. The sun was bright overhead, casting playful shadows on the pavement that danced with the rustle of leaves in the breeze. I could hear the distant hum of car engines and snippets of conversation from passersby, their laughter like a melody weaving through the air.
"She should, hopefully, be out any minute," I said to the others, a bead of sweat trickling down the back of my neck. I brushed it away with my hand, cursing my tendency to burn easily.
Carol sighed. “We have to handle this delicately. Katie is human. She doesn’t know about the supernatural world, but she must have done something to attract a curse.”
“So we can’t directly ask about the curse?” I asked.
They both shook their heads.
“Darn. That would have made things a lot easier…”
“It also seems highly likely that what’s happening to Deva has something to do with Katie. I doubt they were both randomly cursed,” Beth said, looking thoughtful.
I rubbed my face. “I just wish I hadn’t just seen her almost naked in a changing room…”
Carol winced. “Yeah, it might be best to approach things more delicately with Katie this time.”
This was important, and none of us wanted to mess it up. As we waited, I glanced over at Beth. She seemed so tense. Her jaw was clenched and her hands were balled into fists. She was ready for a fight. In contrast, Carol appeared calm, her gaze focused on the store, watching for any sign of our quarry.
Finally, Katie emerged, her face flushed and her hair disheveled. She looked like she'd seen a ghost, or maybe just realized she was being followed by three very persistent women. I tried to keep my tone light as I called out to her. "Hey, Katie, hang on."
She stopped dead in her tracks and glared at us. "What do you want?" she asked warily, inching toward her car. “And don’t even pretend you’re just looking into my issues with Deva’s Delights, because I don’t believe you.”
“Actually,” Beth said, drawing herself up taller. “You’re right. I’m Beth. This is Emma, and that’s Carol. We all work for Private Psych, and we think that whatever caused Deva’s Delights to burn down has something to do with you.”
She froze, looking nervous. “I didn’t do it.”
“We’re not accusing you of that,” Carol said delicately. “We just think maybe you’ve had a bout of bad luck too lately. Are we right?”
Her face fell.
"Can we talk for a minute?" I asked, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible. "We just have a few questions."
"About what? Me or Deva?" Katie fumbled with her keys as she unlocked her car door.
"About both," Carol said, her voice soft but firm.
I couldn't blame Katie for being on edge. After all, we were basically stalking her.
"Look," Carol said, her tone gentle and soothing. "We understand that this is all very upsetting and confusing for you. We're just trying to help."
"Help?" Katie scoffed, her hands trembling as she fumbled with her keys. "You think harassing me is helping?"
"Okay, maybe we went about this the wrong way," I said. "We really do want to figure out what happened to Deva's Delights. If we figure that out, we might be able to figure out things with you too."
After a minute of silence, she released a slow breath. "Fine," she finally said, her voice low and shaky. "I'll tell you. Don't think this means I'm suddenly on board with your little investigation or whatever."
"Thank you," Beth said gently, her eyes softening with gratitude. "We understand how difficult this must be for you."
"Difficult?" Katie snorted, the bitterness in her tone catching me off guard. "You have no idea. I was so angry about my experience at her restaurant. It wasn’t enough that my boyfriend left me, or that I got fired from my job, but then I went into Deva’s and they treated me like garbage too. So, I was looking for a solution to make me feel better. And I thought I found it. Only, it made everything worse.”
So, Katie’s life was hard. Was that why she freaked out at Deva that day? Maybe. Unhappy people were often angry people.
Katie continued talking, almost embarrassed by what she was revealing. "The other things… had reasons, like maybe I cheated on my boyfriend, and I might not have been doing my job very well, but everything after that was random.” She hesitated before continuing. “Ever since Deva... well, my life has been a complete nightmare. I trip over everything. I’ve torn a dozen different pairs of pants and shorts. I’ve stubbed my toes over and over again. I keep breaking pencils. My car kept having issues. It’s just… constant."
We all exchanged a glance. That sounded like a curse.
“What changed your life from hard to… cursed?” Carol asked, smiling at the end like it was just an expression.
Her cheeks heated. “A few weeks before everything happened, I went to this tarot reader. I know it sounds stupid."
"Tarot readings aren't that unusual." I tried to make her less self-conscious about her admission. "People seek guidance from all sorts of places when they're going through tough times."
"Except this wasn't your average tarot reading," Katie said. "The woman who did it told me that she could curse Deva for me if I wanted. That it would give Deva what she deserved and also give me the better life I deserve."
"Did you believe her?" Beth asked, her face pale.
"Of course not," Katie said. "I figured it was just a scam, some stupid trick to get more money out of me. It was cheap, though, so I did it on a whim." She shuddered. "Ever since that day, it's like everything has gone wrong. My life has been in shambles, and now you three are hounding me at every turn."
"Katie, we're not trying to make things worse for you," I said softly. "We just want to help Deva and you both."
"Listen," Katie finally said, her voice low and dangerous. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but if I see any of you near me again, I won't hesitate to call the cops. Do you understand?"
"Katie, we're not—" Carol said, but Katie cut her off with a bitter laugh.
"Save it," she spat, her eyes flashing with frustration and sadness. "I don't need your pity, and I certainly don't need your help." With that, she stormed away from us, slamming her car door shut before peeling out of the parking lot.
"That went... well."
"She's hurting, and she's scared. We need to be patient with her," Carol said gently.
"Patient?" I huffed, my own frustration rising. "She just threatened to have us arrested. How much more patient can we be?"
Carol gave me a strange look. “From her human viewpoint, we’re just three women stalking her. I’d say she’d been a heck of a lot more patient than I would be.”
“Fair enough,” I said with a sigh.
Beth stared after Katie’s car. "We need to figure out who cursed Deva and Katie without making things worse for either of them."
"Which brings us back to that tarot reader. She seems to be where this all started." I tried to remember the details of Katie's story. "Do we have any idea who she is?"
"Isabel," Beth said, her voice suddenly sounding tense. She looked away from us, her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink.
"Isabel?" I asked, my curiosity piqued by Beth's reaction. "Do you know her or something?"
Beth hesitated for a moment, then sighed reluctantly. "Yes, I do. She's bad news."
“Well, too bad for Isabel.” I glared down the street where Katie's car had disappeared. "Karma may be a bitch, but so am I. If she’s involved in this, we’ll find her and make her regret it."