Authors: Rose Pressey
“Be serious,” I said, then paused. “Do you know Nancy Richards?”
His face turned white. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”
Tom explained how he knew Nancy Richards and the pieces of the puzzle all came together.
As we walked toward the car, my phone rang.
“I have the information you wanted. You are so lucky, do you know that?” Alexia asked around a chuckle.
“You could have fooled me. What makes you say that?”
“My friend sold only one of those scarves and she remembers a lot about the woman who bought it.”
I sucked in a breath. When I looked at Tom, he mouthed, “What? Is it good news?”
It only confirmed the news that Tom had just shared with me.
Chapter Thirty-Three
When Tom neared the park, we spotted Sydney’s car parked next to the curb. My anxiety had reached an all-time high.
“She must be here somewhere,” Tom said as he hopped out of his car.
I followed his lead as he moved across the park. It was eerily silent. Picnic tables sat empty and no children played on the playground equipment. Someone cleared their throat from behind us and Tom and I spun around at the same time.
“Sydney. Um, how are you?” I eyed her up and down.
Her normally neat hair was disheveled and her face fire-red. Her eyebrows lowered, a line forming between them. She looked as if she’d break me like a twig if I made one wrong move.
“Your magic days are over.” She stepped closer.
“What is the problem, Sydney? Tell me what’s wrong and we can solve this,” Tom said in a calm tone.
“You know exactly what the problem is.” She glared at him and waved her hand in his direction.
Her other hand remained hidden behind her back. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what she concealed back there. We were at a standoff. If I moved, she might lunge for us. Although I doubted Tom would allow her to do that.
“Why don’t you tell us what you’re talking about?” Tom asked.
Sydney pulled a gun from behind her back. Her eyes were vacant as she pointed it toward us. My eyes widened with alarm and my face must have drained of color. My heart thumped until I thought it would pop out of my chest. How did I get myself into these situations?
Sydney stepped a few feet forward. “So, Tom, we’re together again, but this time I’m in charge.”
“Sydney, you can’t get away with this,” Tom said calmly, as if he’d been in this exact situation a million times before. My suspicions about Sydney had been correct. It figured, the one time my instincts had been correct, it was bad news. For once, I’d like to have a gut feeling about something good happening.
“You had to bring Ms. Blair as your backup?” She scoffed. “What a joke. I really don’t think she’ll be able to help you out of this situation."
“You’d be surprised.” Tom’s voice was full of ice and steel.
“I’m not really concerned. Seeing you hit rock bottom has been most pleasant for me,” Sydney snapped.
She was so damn confident in her abilities. I’d love to take her down. The first opportunity I got, I’d sure give it my best shot. I remained quiet, trying to think of a way to get the gun away from her. It was better if I let Tom attempt to talk to this crazy woman.
“What made you think you had to get me out of the picture? You were already on your way to being an investigator,” Tom said.
“You don’t get it, do you? I never wanted your job. I want you out of the Organization for good.”
“What’s wrong, was I too much competition for you?”
“Hardly.” She snorted. “I want to get rid of anyone who misuses their power in the Organization.”
“Misuse of power? Care to explain what you’re talking about?” Tom replied. “I’ve never used my magic for personal gain. I follow the rules, clearly not something that you’re doing at the moment. Why did you kill Mr. Wibble?”
She fixed her evil glare on Tom. “He was in my way to get to you.”
“So this is all about me?” Tom stood taller, not backing down.
What had Tom done to make her so angry?
“I never intended on following any ridiculous rules that the incompetent Organization implemented.”
“I guessed that by the murder and the gun currently in your hand,” Tom said dryly. “Do you plan on telling us why you’re pointing that gun, or do we have to guess? I have some place I need to be in an hour.” He glanced at his watch.
Sydney’s face turned an even darker shade of red if that was possible. Her hand shook, but she steadied her aim. Her cell rang and she pulled it out of her pocket with one hand while holding the gun with the other. Why was she answering a call at a time like this?
I took advantage of the time she was on the phone to talk with Tom. “Why didn’t you recognize Nancy Richards before? She was right here in Mystic Hollow and we spoke with her.”
“She’s changed. She had brown hair back then and she weighed a lot more. But I thought I recognized her eyes as soon as I looked into them. Not to mention she’s using a different name now.”
“Isn’t there some form of magic we can use to stop Sydney?” I whispered to Tom.
Energy hummed through my body and it felt as if my hair was standing on end. Magic vibrated through the air, bouncing and weaving around us. I didn’t know if it was from Tom or Sydney. I prayed it was the former. I didn’t want to be hit by any magic spell she might have flying around.
“I performed a protection spell earlier. I’m sure that’s what you’re feeling now.”
“Is Sydney using anything?” I whispered.
“Probably. I feel the pull from it.”
“So what do we do?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “My cell phone isn’t working. We need to distract her. How about if I step out in front of her?”
“I’m pretty sure she’d shoot you.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Okay. What I need to do is slip around behind her,” Tom said.
“Yeah, I guess that could work.” I didn’t want to let Tom do this, but something about the look in his eyes told me that he wouldn’t listen if I told him not to. He was as stubborn as me.
“I’m going to move around to the other side.”
There wasn’t much that I could offer to do. I felt helpless. Sydney had us right where she wanted us. It was hard to fight off a crazed woman with a gun. Her behavior was beyond unreasonable.
Sydney didn’t give us time to implement our plan. “You two stop your chitchatting. There’s no plan you can come up with to save yourselves now.”
All of a sudden, we were in some kind of weird magical battle. I felt magic traveling from Sydney to Tom, then back to Sydney as Tom shielded her spells. I had no idea how they did it, but that was a question for another day. The feeling moving between them was more of a magic showdown than anything, no spectacular magical fireworks, and no sound. Something told me the gun would win this magical battle.
“If you think you can continue to operate that café, you’ve got another think coming.” She pointed the gun at me.
So much for Tom foiling her attempts at killing us. We were in the middle of the park and she pulled out a gun? Where was everyone? Only a few white clouds dotted the cobalt-blue sky. The day would have been picture-perfect if only we weren’t being threatened at gunpoint. Talk about a bad day. A beautiful summer day had turned into a dreadful mess and quite possibly deadly.
“I don’t understand, Sydney. Why wouldn’t you want me to run the café?” I asked.
“If my mother can’t perform magic, then you can’t, either. And neither can he.” She waved the gun at Tom. “Mr. Owenton thought he’d gotten by with stopping me, but I showed him. I set him up for the spell mishap. Unfortunately, Mr. Wibble caught on to me, so I had to get rid of him,” Sydney said with not so much as a twitch of the lip.
Sydney’s menacing expression sent a chill down my spine. Dark circles ringed her eyes and her mouth twisted into an evil grin. The zombie-like look on her face was more evil than I’d ever seen. I had no idea Sydney could be this vile. She’d killed Mr. Wibble.
Tom eased his hand up in a pleading gesture. “Sydney, I’m not sure what you mean, but can we discuss this? Put the gun down, okay?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Tom, please step closer to your girlfriend. I don’t want one of you running off,” Sydney ordered with the gun still aimed at me.
“Sydney, why don’t you tell me who your mother is? Let Elly go. She has nothing to do with this,” Tom said.
“You stopped my mother from doing magic and you don’t even know who she is?” Sydney snapped.
It was strange to hear such harsh demands from a sweet little voice. And to think I’d felt sorry for her. I exchanged glances with Tom. The scorching sun beat down on my already hot skin and I longed for relief. My heart pounded in my ears. I scanned the park, but not another living soul was in sight.
Sydney gestured at me with the gun again. “Move it. Both of you are coming with me.”
Once inside her car, I knew we’d be done for. Surely Tom could knock the gun from her hand, right? He was a muscular guy, although no match for a gun, I guess. Sydney’s blue sedan rental car sat about twenty feet from us. It was the longest walk I’d ever taken—as if taking a trip down Death Row toward my execution.
“You go first,” I said and motioned with a nod of my head.
“I’m not stupid. You walk in front.” She gestured toward Tom with a tilt of her head.
Tom hesitated. The wheels were probably spinning in his head. If he thought he could knock the gun from her hands, he had another think coming. Now was not the time for that plan. She’d shoot him first. I prayed he didn’t make a stupid move. After a long pause, he moved toward her car and she prodded me with the gun. We fell into a synchronized pace.
Knowing we were in the middle of town kept me somewhat sane. At least we weren’t isolated and miles away from civilization, although location didn’t seem to stop her from a little thing like murder. My only hope was that someone would notice and call the police.
“My mother was good at performing magic until one little slip up…” She gestured at Tom with a tilt of her head. “When she couldn’t reverse the spell, he took her magic away.”
By the expression on Tom’s face, this was news to him. Did they not share any info at this magic joint? I needed a word with the head boss. Obviously, they were in need of some restructuring.
As we moved toward her car, I asked, “So you killed Mr. Wibble because Tom stopped your mother from performing magic?”
“You catch on quick. No wonder you messed up your grandmother’s café in less than twenty-four hours. She must be so proud,” she said with a sneer.
She was one to talk. Apparently, her family wasn’t exactly perfect at this magic business. I didn’t remind her though, no point in pushing my luck.
“Tom was the one who turned my mother in for making a mistake with her magic spell.”