Presto! Abracadabra or whatever. I was back in Kevin’s foyer. Woo-hoo!
The package looked completely normal. U.S. Priority Mail medium-sized box, just like my mom used whenever mailing us gifts. Not Mom’s handwriting, though. Duh.
Maybe Amira could run some tests on it. Too bad I’ll Put a Spell on You was on Main Street. Someone might see my car and head over. But Kevin had his office on Second Street. Maybe I could park in his lot and slink through the back alleys. As long as the lot had been plowed this morning, that might work.
Getting to my car didn’t take long. This time, I turned right at the corner, moving away from the cat. While driving, I reviewed the known facts in my mind. There had to be a logical explanation for all of this—even if that logical explanation involved magic. I needed a hypothesis. My first thought was that to get out of this loop, I needed to figure out who killed Tony. At the moment, all I knew was it wasn’t me.
Could someone have wiped my memory? Doug said there wasn’t time for anyone else to have entered the bakery between when I left and Sheriff Matthews entered. What I didn’t know was if Sheriff Matthews had been in sight of the door the entire time he was on the phone. If so, the only other likely suspect was the Sheriff of Shady Grove. Either he did it, or he was covering for someone who did.
But since our local law enforcement didn’t have any magical powers that I was aware of, that didn’t explain the time loop. If the sheriff or one of his friends killed Tony and framed me, how would magic come into the equation?
My gut told me Mary was behind this day. She certainly had the power. But if she could somehow control me to make me kill Tony—and I wasn’t sure that was possible—wouldn’t she want me to remember it? Surely I’d be more tortured by having actually killed someone than being falsely arrested. Could she have slipped into the bakery without anyone seeing her, killed Tony, slipped out, and dropped his hat at my house?
Maybe I should skip the magic shop and head for campus instead. We had a science lab where I could dust the box for fingerprints, run the hat to confirm Tony’s DNA, and look for any traces of Mary.
This day seemed one hundred percent like a magical creation, though. Time didn’t normally repeat itself endlessly. For once, I needed a witch before examining the science.
By the time I turned onto Second Street, I felt a little better. Yelling at the sheriff and poking him in the nose had improved my spirits. Sure, time kept repeating, but I could say or do anything I wanted. Until I got arrested.
Because it was late on a Friday afternoon, Kevin’s parking lot was empty. I pulled into the space nearest his office and turned the car off, hardly daring to breathe. I could do this. Too bad I hadn’t had time to come up with a disguise. Other than the baker’s hat, there wasn’t anything handy, and putting that on was a terrible idea.
Sirens wailed.
Uh-oh.
Two police cars tore into the parking lot. Immediately, I hit the start button. Maybe I could—
—get penned in.
Clearly I needed to give the police more credit. They’d had no problem tracking me down.
With a sigh, I rolled down my window. Sheriff Matthews approached, gun drawn.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
I lifted my hands, eyes desperately seeking an escape. Since I didn’t want to get shot, there didn’t seem to be many options.
“Proton,” I muttered.
If he heard me, he ignored the insult. “I’m going to open the door. I want you to get out of the car very, very slowly. Do you understand me?”
“You’re a lousy sheriff, and the mayor is evil,” I said. “Someday, I hope you both get what you deserve.”
He chuckled and reached for my door handle. “Maybe we will, but not today. Aluminum Reynolds, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right—”