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On Tuesday night, Maddie got ready for her date with Luke.
She and Suzanne had discussed who they should talk to next, but that was as far as they’d gotten – apart from agreeing they were glad they owned Brewed from the Bean, so they didn’t have to put up with anyone bossing them around. Maddie hadn’t been able to stop her slight smile during their conversation – sometimes Suzanne bossed her around, although she didn’t seem to realize – most of the time.
As she brushed her hair, Trixie watching intently, Maddie’s stomach tightened. Luke hadn’t seemed very impressed with meeting Ramon yesterday. Would he blame her for setting up the meeting?
She needn’t have worried.
Over dinner at the steakhouse in a neighboring town, Luke looked at her appreciatively over the blue checkered tablecloth.
“Thanks for letting me know Ramon was at the truck today,” he said.
“You’re welcome,” Maddie replied softly. The atmosphere was quiet, the lights low, and the soft country rock background music seemed the perfect choice.
“One thing is bothering me,” he continued. He looked around the room but the tables near them were unoccupied, although there were diners across the room.
“What is it?”
“Are his massages legit?” He kept his voice low as he leaned toward her.
Maddie bit her lip. It wasn’t funny. Not really.
“Yes,” she replied when she was able to do so without giggling. “Suzanne says they are.”
“Good.” He relaxed slightly.
“He is a qualified masseur.”
“Good,” he repeated. He hesitated. “And you haven’t ...?”
“No.” She realized what he was trying to say and didn’t think it fair to tease him.
“I’d understand if you needed to have a massage,” he said.
“I don’t need one at the moment,” Maddie replied. An impish thought struck her. “But sometimes my shoulders get a little tight at the end of the day.” True. “Maybe if you’re—”
“Happy to be of service.” His emerald gaze held hers for several beats and her cheeks heated.
They were interrupted by the server who delivered their entrees of rib eye steak for Luke and a petit filet for Maddie. Both dishes came with a baked potato and a garden salad full of colorful salad leaves with a honeyed pomegranate dressing.
While they ate, Maddie updated him on their investigation to date, not that there was much to tell him. Still, Luke asked her – and his sister – to be careful.
“Detective Edgewater said he visited your shop,” Maddie said as they started on their dessert of chocolate mousse.
“Yeah. There wasn’t much I could tell him, though. Apart from the name of my customer.” Luke grimaced. “I just hope Eddie understands.”
“If he’s innocent, then I’m sure he will,” Maddie tried to reassure him. “You don’t mind us telling Detective Edgewater about it?”
“I kind of expected that to happen,” Luke said. He offered her a half smile. “I guess it comes with the territory when my girlfriend is investigating a murder.”
After dinner, Luke drove Maddie home, accepting her offer of a latte, and sitting next to her on the sofa in the living room.
Trixie greeted him with an affectionate “Mrrow,” and joined them on the couch.
Wytchcraft for the Chosen was hidden in the bookshelf, out of sight.
After they told Trixie about dinner, Maddie and Luke chatted for a while, before Luke kissed her goodnight. After a few lingering kisses, Luke departed, leaving Maddie with a smile on her face.
***
THE NEXT MORNING, MADDIE woke to find Trixie sitting on her chest.
“Mrrow.” She blinked her turquoise eyes at Maddie, then jumped off.
Maddie staggered to the kitchen, still not fully awake. After giving Trixie beef in gravy, she walked past the living room on the way to her bedroom. Wytchcraft for the Chosen lay on the sofa.
She stopped and stared.
After Luke had departed last night, she and Trixie had gone to bed. How on earth had the book found its way onto the sofa?
“Trixie?” she called.
The feline sauntered out of the kitchen and looked up at her enquiringly.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” She gestured to the ancient tome, visible from the doorway.
“Mrrow.” Trixie looked coy.
“Well, unless the book is able to move itself—” was it able to? “— I think you did.” Maddie shook her head. Trixie constantly surprised her.
The sight of the book got Maddie thinking. Would she ever have a chance to use the new incantation she’d discovered on the night of the full moon? The spell to find a person and discover what they were up to at that very moment? Would it help them in some way discover who Veronica’s killer was?
Was the fact that Wytchcraft for the Chosen was out in plain sight a hint that she should page through the book to see if there was anything else that would help them investigate the murder? Or was it on the sofa because Trixie wanted to look at it while Maddie was at work?
She hadn’t found Trixie actually paging through the tome before, but she knew her familiar liked guarding it on the sofa, and she always seemed interested in looking at the pages when Maddie studied the book.
Maddie wasn’t surprised when Trixie curled up on the sofa after breakfast, one paw on the old volume.
“Want to stay home today?” she asked the Persian.
“Mrrow,” Trixie seemed to agree.
Maddie drove to the town square, not sure what to think about first. She was glad Luke accepted her curiosity about the murder, and her desire to help discover the killer. But there was also the fact that she and Suzanne needed to discuss who to question next. And, wondering if she could ever tell Luke that she was a witch. He really seemed to “get” her. Would he be able to accept her magical abilities as well?
Deciding to think about that difficult question another day, Maddie pulled up at the square, jumped out, and waved to Suzanne, who’d arrived before her.
“No Trixie?” Suzanne looked disappointed.
“She wanted to stay home and guard Wytchcraft for the Chosen,” Maddie explained. She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. After tapping a button, she showed Suzanne the live camera feed of the living room. The Persian was curled up on the sofa next to the old book, seemingly asleep.
“Ohhhh.” Suzanne smiled softly.
They set up the truck and waited for their first customer, a wiry jogger who’d forgotten his bottle of water. It had been Suzanne’s idea early on to sell bottles of water for the early morning exercisers, and it had proven to be a hit.
After he’d run back across the square, Suzanne drummed her fingertips on the counter.
“Who should we question today?” she asked.
“We still have Grace and Pamela on the list,” Maddie replied.
“Grace lives in that big old house on the edge of town,” Suzanne said. “You know, the gorgeous old Victorian with the big garden.”
“Yes, the pretty cream and yellow house,” Maddie said. “I’ve always wondered what it’s like inside.”
“We should go and find out.” Suzanne grinned.
“We’ll have to close up the truck,” Maddie warned.
“We’ve done that before,” Suzanne reminded her. “It’s a shame Trixie isn’t with us, though. Everyone seems to like her and she seems to put people at ease.”
“Apart from Claudine,” Maddie said darkly.
“Yeah.” Suzanne grimaced. “But it might do us good to have a little change of scene.”
“Okay,” Maddie agreed. “But we can’t just knock on Grace’s door and ask her pointed questions about Veronica’s death.”
“Can’t we?” Suzanne wrinkled her nose.
“No,” Maddie told her. “We need some sort of pretext.”
“Ooh, I know.” Suzanne snapped her fingers. “We could ask her questions about her garden. It worked in one of our other cases. People love talking about their garden. We could say we’re thinking of seriously getting into gardening and wanted to ask her advice on ... something.”
“Let’s decide on the prettiest flower she has out the front and ask her questions about that,” Maddie proposed.
“Yes! And then we’ll just slip in some questions about Veronica’s murder.”
“Like you did yesterday with Amy at the grocery?”
Suzanne wrinkled her brow. “I realize that wasn’t my finest questioning, but it worked, didn’t it?”
“Until her boss came along.”
“Ugh.” Suzanne frowned. “We didn’t learn much from Amy, anyway. Apart from knowing she definitely had a motive for murder. I don’t think I could stand to work with that guy for an hour, let alone weeks until her old boss gets back from vacation.”
“I know,” Maddie agreed. “But why would Amy kill Veronica now? Would that change her life for the better in any way?”
“Maybe not,” Suzanne said thoughtfully. “But I think it would have given her a great deal of personal satisfaction.”