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“OF COURSE I DO! HOW could you ask me that?” Maddie stared fiercely at her best friend, as if willing Suzanne to believe her.
After a long moment, Suzanne shook her head, a rueful smile on her face. “I’m sorry.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “I still can’t believe what’s happened.”
“Me neither.” Maddie pulled her in for a hug.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
“You know I’ve got your back, right?” Maddie asked.
“I know.” Suzanne smiled at her. “Thank you. And I’ve got yours.”
“Let’s get Trixie and talk about this in the car.” Maddie glanced at her. “If you want to.”
“Oh, I want to.” Suzanne’s ponytail did a little bounce, and Maddie knew her friend was getting back to her usual self.
Trixie blinked sleepily at them as they approached the kennel.
“Time to go home, Trix.” Maddie spoke softly. She was so glad both animals didn’t seem to know what had happened. Was it strange that her familiar hadn’t sensed something out of the ordinary happening?
“Mrrow,” Trixie said softly, tapping her paw on Boyd’s. He opened one eye and looked at them.
“It’s time for Trixie to go home, Boyd.” Maddie spoke to the dog as if he could understand her – and why not? Maybe he could.
The dog’s shaggy black face settled into a pout.
“Maybe Trixie can come again another time,” Suzanne suggested.
“Maybe,” Maddie echoed, wondering if Jill and Bob would welcome them back – even if it was only for a playdate for their animals.
“Mrrow.” Trixie patted Boyd’s paw again, as if reassuring him he’d see her again.
Maddie clipped on the Persian’s harness and petted Boyd goodbye. The trio set off toward the street, making sure to skirt the cordoned off area where Vanessa’s body had been found.
Once they were inside Maddie’s car, Suzanne let out a sigh.
“I can’t believe any of this has happened, Mads. And to think Kevin accused me of murder! If I hadn’t been so shaken, I would have given him a piece of my mind.”
“I know you would have,” Maddie said, relieved that her friend appeared to be snapping out of her fugue.
“Mrrow!” Trixie agreed.
“Thank goodness Luke isn’t here.” Suzanne turned a worried face to Maddie, who focused on the road ahead. “I know I’ve joked to him before that I might need him to bail me out of jail one day – but what if it comes true? What if I’m arrested for murder?”
“You won’t be,” Maddie replied with a calm she didn’t feel. Ever since Kevin had pointed his finger at Suzanne, Maddie had worried that someone – maybe not Detective Edgewater – but another law enforcement officer – might take his accusation at face value.
“We’ve got to find out what happened, Mads. Prove my innocence. And find out who the real killer is.”
“Mrrow!” Trixie joined in.
“Thanks, Trixie.” Suzanne turned around in her seat to smile at the Persian. “I’m glad I’ve got your support.”
“Mrrow.” Trixie settled back in her seat, looking pleased at the praise.
Maddie concentrated on her driving. Had Trixie known what had happened before they put her in the car to go home? She hadn’t seemed distressed when they’d picked her up after ... after what had happened.
Or had the Persian only picked up on the events that had taken place once Maddie and Suzanne started talking about it in the car?
“You know what?” Maddie said slowly. “Jill described Bob as her business partner to Detective Edgewater. She didn’t tell him they were dating as well.”
“Hmm.” Suzanne sounded thoughtful. “I wonder why? Maybe the dating thing is too new for her to instantly introduce Bob as her boyfriend? Maybe “business partner” just sprang into her mind and then later when she realized she should have said he was her boyfriend as well, it was too late?”
“Those are good points,” Maddie replied. “I thought it was strange, though.”
“Definitely.” Suzanne nodded. “As soon as we get home, we should write down everything that happened over there. And draw up a list of suspects. Tomorrow we can start investigating.”
“Yes.” Normally, Maddie might protest about having to close down Brewed from the Bean and disappoint their customers as well as lose revenue – but proving Suzanne’s innocence was the most important thing in her world right now.
“And when we get back to your place, you can do a Coffee Vision spell to give us a clue as to what might happen tomorrow,” Suzanne continued. “And when it’s the full moon tomorrow night, I’ll come over and we can look at Wytchcraft for the Chosen and see which new spell is revealed to you. Maybe it will help us find the real murderer.”
“Mrrow,” Trixie agreed.
A smile rose to Maddie’s lips. It sounded like Suzanne was practically back to her old self already.
***
WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT Maddie’s house, she made them both a soothing cup of tea. Suzanne made a face, but drank it, anyway.
Once Trixie had been fed, the three of them sat at the pine kitchen table.
Maddie pulled out a large notepad from a kitchen drawer.
“Let’s write down everything that happened.” She tore off a couple of sheets and gave them to Suzanne along with a pen. “Start from—”
“From when you had a break and went outside to check on Trixie,” Suzanne jumped in.
“Exactly.” They smiled at each other.
For a few minutes the only sound in the kitchen was the scratching sound of two pens striking the note paper.
“Finished.” Suzanne put down her pen with a little clatter.
Maddie wrote a few more words. “Me too.”
“I’ll read yours and you read mine.” Suzanne held out her pages to Maddie.
They swapped their accounts, Trixie peering from one to the other, as if trying to divine what they had written through the sheets of paper. And maybe she could. After all, she was Maddie’s familiar.
“Okay.” Maddie set down Suzanne’s pages. “Genevieve gave you an order for an espresso that was for Vanessa. You made it, and took it out to Vanessa, who was having a cigarette. She took the coffee from you and thanked you, not very nicely—”
“Ha!”
“And then you came back inside, put the tray down on the table outside the bathroom, went to the bathroom, and when you came back out—”
“The bloody knife was on the tray.” Suzanne nodded.
“I wonder who gave Genevieve Vanessa’s order,” Maddie said slowly. “Did Genevieve go outside and ask Vanessa if she wanted another coffee? If so, how did Genevieve know Vanessa was outside?”
“And what was Genevieve doing there in the first place?” Suzanne said. “At the party, I mean. From the way she was behaving, you’d think she was the hired caterer, and we were her minions.”
“Yes,” Maddie agreed. “She did have that sort of managing way about her.” She was about to say bossy but stopped herself. Sometimes Suzanne could be a little bossy but Maddie didn’t think her friend realized it.
“Jill said they were friends.” Suzanne made a notation on her page. “We should ask her about Genevieve.”
“Good idea.”
“We can go first thing tomorrow,” Suzanne declared.
“After the morning rush,” Maddie negotiated. “You know it’s busy on a Friday.”
“Okay,” Suzanne acquiesced. “And now we should draw up a list of suspects.”
“Surely the murderer must be someone who was at the party,” Maddie said. “Let’s start with the people we met. Like Kevin.” The way he had accused Suzanne without any hard evidence still annoyed her.
“He will be suspect number one.” Suzanne grandly wrote down Kevin’s name, as if the memory of his accusation irked her to infinity – and beyond. “Then Genevieve.”
“Grandma Pat,” Maddie added, hating to think that the elderly lady had anything to do with Vanessa’s murder.
“You think?” Suzanne frowned.
“She was there.”
“Okay.” Suzanne added Bob’s grandmother to their list.
“And Jill and Bob,” Maddie said in a rush, as if saying it quicker would make it less painful.
Suzanne chewed the end of her pen for a moment, then nodded.
“You know it wasn’t me, right?” she asked Maddie once more, laying down her pen.
“I know you’re innocent,” Maddie told her, steadily holding her friend’s blue-eyed gaze.
“Mrrow!” Trixie put in.
“Thanks, guys.” Suzanne smiled at both of them. “I have to say, finding that bloody knife on my tray was a huge shock but ...” she pulled in a deep breath “... I’m feeling more myself now.”
“I can tell.” Maddie smiled in relief.
“Mrrow!” Trixie nodded her head – that was what it looked like.
“Who else?” Suzanne tapped her pen on the table.
Maddie furrowed her brow.
“I didn’t meet the other guests, did you?” she finally spoke. “I was so busy with those espresso orders, at times I barely had time to look up from the machine.”
“I know what you mean,” Suzanne said ruefully. “I think I was carrying a tray the whole time – either with coffee on it or health balls and brownies – and by the way, everyone seemed to love my health balls.”
“That’s good to know.” Maddie smiled at her friend. Just like coffee was Maddie’s thing, health balls had become Suzanne’s specialty. Their customers loved them.
“I remember some names, because I checked I was giving them the right order – after the way Vanessa acted after you gave her a light espresso instead of a dark roast, I didn’t want anyone else to complain, but most of the guests had left by the time the – the murder happened.”
“Hmm.” Maddie stroked Trixie, who sat next to her. “I wonder where he – or she—” she suddenly looked at Suzanne to reassure her – “not you, of course – got the knife from.”
“Yeah!” Suzanne scribbled something on her note paper. “Good point, Mads. Did the killer grab it from the kitchen?”
“I suppose if a woman did it, she could hide the knife in her purse? Do you think?”
“It was a big knife – and it looked sharp.” Suzanne shivered. “I really didn’t take that much in about it – apart from the blood.” She screwed up her face.
Maddie regretted mentioning the knife. Just the memory of the coppery tang assaulting her nostrils was enough to make her feel queasy.
“Maybe we better not think about that aspect any more tonight.” She reached over and patted Suzanne’s hand.
“Sounds like a plan.” Suzanne attempted a smile.
They chatted a while longer about the people they’d met that evening, but agreed not to add anyone else to their suspect list – at least not until tomorrow.
Suzanne went home, giving Maddie and Trixie a hug goodbye. She refused Maddie’s offer to stay the night, saying she would be fine.
As Maddie waved goodbye from the porch, she wondered if Suzanne would tell her brother Luke about tonight. Should Maddie tell him first? After all, she and Luke were dating. What would his reaction be? This was the fourth murder she and Suzanne had been involved with – she just hoped he didn’t think it was more than a coincidence.
