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KATY CALLED EVE AND asked if she had time to stop by later. Eve said she’d make it over by ten or eleven. When Eve showed up, Katy looked frazzled. Not a good sign, being this early in the day.
“Jessi, can you watch the front? I need to talk to Eve for a bit.”
“Yeah, no problem,” she answered.
Katy paced in the back. “Do you remember that spell that shows footprints? I can’t for the life of me remember it. I mean, do you know how many years it’s been since we were in school? I rarely use the stuff anymore.”
“Let me think. Was it something like, ‘Show the path of your feet, from the door and to the street?’ No. Wait. Show the prints of your feet, out the door and toward the street?”
“I don’t remember it like that.”
“This is embarrassing. Yeah, I haven’t used that one in years. Geez, it’s like algebra, you don’t think you’ll actually ever need to use it until you need to, twenty years later. I mean, I remember next to none of the Latin I had to memorize. Okay, we can figure this out. Let me check my phone and see if there’s an app.”
“Really?” Katy threw her hands on her hips. “A witch app for spell casting. I’m sure they’re going to have that on the app store.”
“Oh, here’s one.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“It says it’s for entertainment purposes, but it’s not like spells work for just anyone.”
“An app?” Katy shook her head. “Man, that would have made life easier.”
“Yeah, subtle, when a cell phone was like a stack of bricks. At least they’ve gotten smaller, then larger, then smaller.”
“Okay, what does it say?” Katy asked.
Eve sighed. “It doesn’t. This is some game thing. It’s not a real witch spell-caster.”
“Okay, let’s think. What spells do you remember?”
“Honestly? I mostly use magic to whip up a Pina Colada time to time, but my day to day life doesn’t really demand it. I mean with Ed, he had that complex for a while, so I was trying not to use it in the house too much. I think I just got lazy. Oh my gosh, I’m a lazy witch. That’s so sad. Did you ever think it would come to this?”
Katy nodded in agreement. “I use it to slice lunch meat here at the deli, but honestly, other than that and a few other things, my spell-casting abilities are rusty. Maybe it’s time to brush up on them. Do you want to go back to night school with me?”
“Not unless it calls for drinks at the bar after night school. A little adult happy hour might lull me into it.”
“Deal. You go with me to school, I’ll go to the Cozy Cauldron with you after.”
“Ooh, my favorite pub. It’s a deal.” They shook on it and laughed. Two women in their forties, going back to school. It was time to brush up on their skills they’d taken for granted for way too long. Being a witch was second nature, but there were some things you couldn’t do halfway, and spell-casting was one of them.
Katy snapped her fingers. “Deidre has the memory of an elephant. I’ll bet she’d remember the spell. Let me give her a ring.”
She dialed her friend, but instead of her picking up, Jessi came through to the back. “Here, I’m on with her now.” She handed her phone to Katy.
“Hey Katy-girl. What’s going on?” Deidre asked.
“Deidre, do you remember the spell about retracing footprints?”
“Yeah sure.” In a sing-song voice, she recited it. “Two feet walking to the door, show your tracks upon the floor.”
“Oh! That’s it! Thank you so much. I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you tonight.”
“Sure thing.”
Katy passed the phone back to Jessi. The younger girl pushed back through the swinging door that led to the front.
There was a strict no phone policy once they opened and if customers were in the store. Otherwise, Katy wasn’t too strict about it. As long as work was finished and clients came first. She tried to be stricter, but she was always texting herself, so it was harder to enforce.
Katy went back to Eve and recited the spell. “Okay, I need to figure something out. You and me, we’ve graduated into pseudo-detective mode. We need to solve Crystal’s murder, before one of us is pegged for the wrong reason. Tonight, we go snoop over at Crystal’s place. Let’s see if we can dig up a couple of clues.”
“Do you think that’s smart? What if somebody sees us?” Eve asked.
Katy winked. “I’ve got that covered.”
She recited the spell about the footprints with intention, then focused on the floor. She remembered she either had to focus on a person or something very pinpointed, otherwise the spell wouldn’t work correctly.
A dusting of white showed footprints coming inside. Only, then they went all over the place. Darn. Not what she was thinking. So, if the path wasn’t a single, tight path, it didn’t help. Katy shook her head. It was time to dust up on her skills, relearn some of the spells she’d learned in school ages ago, and find better information.
Eve suggested she’d dig up the night school registration stuff, while Katy worked on listing the things she wanted to check for at Crystal’s. They’d meet up after dark and try to find some answers.
When Chip stopped by, his shoulders were slumped. The autopsy revealed the toxin. The poison was found in the marshmallow. Oleander. Somebody, somehow put Oleander in with the spread.
Katy was bummed hearing the proof, but was ready to tackle the problem. “Chip, the marshmallow spread is gone. Somebody took it. Did you take it to get analyzed?”
“Me? No. What do you mean that it’s gone?”
“I went in the cabinet, and there’s a space where the jar was, but no jar. Somebody moved it or took it. Obviously, not an accident, but it’s not like many people had access to it, and those that did had no reason or desire to kill Crystal Priss. It doesn’t make sense.”
He nodded. “Right. Okay, let’s figure out who had access to it. But not only that, who would know Oleander was poison, and where would they get it? Also, can’t you do something witchy and figure it out?”
“Something witchy. Funny you should mention that. Eve and I are going to go back to night school and brush up on our spell casting. Quite honestly, it’s been more than twenty years since I went to school. I’m a little bit...rusty. Use it or lose it, they say. Goes for spell-casting as much as anything.”
“Great, so I’m married to a witch with no craft?” he teased.
“Aren’t you funny? Better watch out. I’ll need to practice my spells on somebody. I sure hope I don’t turn you into a frog accidentally.”
“Come here, you,” he said, pulling her into a hug.
“It doesn’t look good.” Katy was worried that it kept pointing her way.
“You’re no killer,” he reminded. “We’ll find the answers.”
“I sure hope so, babe, because orange is not my color.”
“You’re not going to prison. You can count on me,” he said.
“I’m going to poke around—”
He frowned. “You better leave this to the professionals. Don’t end up leaving prints where there were none. Stay away from them and trust that I’ve got your back.”
“I can’t make any promises.”
“Katy, what are you up to?”
“About five feet and five inches tall. You?”
“You’re a riot,” he answered sarcastically. “Eve is expected down at the station this afternoon. I sure hope she doesn’t forget.”
“How could she forget something that big or important?”
“I know, I know. I just...Eve can be flighty at times,” he said. “Okay, I need to get out of here.”
