Spell Booked (Retired Witches Mysteries Series Book 1) (14 page)

That which was liquid, turn to solid.

As water becomes ice, so shall it be.

There was a reasonable explanation for how the brooch got to be in the flour canister. Joe, Lisbet and Lieutenant Smith wouldn’t understand it. I knew whoever had broken into the house must have left it there to make me look even worse, if that was possible.

It was probably the sole purpose for breaking into my house. The brooch had been taken from Olivia’s house and hidden at mine.

I couldn’t explain that to Joe because it would imply that I had some idea of who’d done it. The risk to Joe and Mike was greater than ever. I couldn’t let them get involved, even if it meant becoming a real suspect in Olivia’s murder.

I sat at the police station
again
, waiting for them to talk to me. This time I was actually in an interrogation room. It was very small and a terrible shade of brown. There was a table and three chairs. That was about it.

“This whole thing is crazy.” Olivia fluttered around me.

Elsie and Dorothy were waiting outside. I’d tried to get Dorothy to drive Elsie home and then go to work in my car. There was no telling how long this would take.

Instead, Olivia had persuaded Dorothy to stay at the station with the staff so she could hear everything that was said.

“You’ll just have to tell them that I lent you the brooch but insisted that you keep it in the flour canister for insurance purposes. That should do the trick,” Olivia said. “They can’t prove a thing, Molly. I have the name of a good lawyer too, if you need it. He’s handling my estate. Very discreet—and fluent in both the magic and the mundane world.”

I couldn’t answer her. There were cameras in the room. I didn’t want Joe to think I was crazy too.

I wish I could have told her that this was so much worse than them finding her brooch in my house. It was all I could do not to cry at the way Joe had looked at me. It all seemed to fit together, and yet it was all a terrible mistake.

One that I couldn’t explain.

Joe had barely spared me a glance when we’d left the house. Lisbet had apologized for taking me to the station in the police car. Joe hadn’t said a word.

“I overestimated how much that old brooch was worth for the insurance company anyway.” Olivia laughed. “It’s better to get too much than not enough, right?”

I closed my eyes and tried to find my center. It wasn’t easy. There was too much noise going on in my mind. I needed some calm. I whispered a little spell for calm and quiet while I held my mother’s amulet.

The door opened and Lisbet came in. “I’m so sorry about this, Molly.”

“So am I.” I opened my eyes and faced her. “Does Joe
really
think I’m capable of doing something like this?”

“It’s out of his hands right now.” She shrugged. “Lieutenant Smith is only letting us sit in as a courtesy.”

Lieutenant Smith joined us. He put a file on the table and sat down. “Everything okay in here?”

“I’m not sure what your definition of ‘okay’ is,” I snipped. “But this probably isn’t it, at least not for me.”

Joe came in, nodded at Lieutenant Smith and sat down. His handsome face that I loved so well was set in grim lines.

“Mrs. Renard.” Lieutenant Smith smiled at me. “May I call you Molly? We should’ve known each other better by now. I apologize for that. I’m new in town.”

“Yes, I know.” I didn’t respond to his request. Let him say what he wanted. That was what he was going to do anyway.

Joe reached across the table and held my hand. “Just answer the questions, Molly. Everything will be fine.”

Lieutenant Smith shrugged and opened the file, starting again. “There have been some odd circumstances surrounding your friend’s death. Detectives Renard and Hernandez have had no luck with anything involving this case. The Dunst home was broken into after the murder, and then
your
home was broken into. I’m wondering what the key is to all of this.”

“I have no idea.”

“I think it might be
you
, Molly.”

“And you think the brooch you found at my house ties it all together. Is that right?”

He nodded. “Do you have another explanation for it?”

I was really good and mad by this time. My husband was sitting across the table from me, his eyes beseeching me to tell the truth. Lisbet looked like she was going to cry. I’d had enough.

I looked up at the camera that was in front of me. “I have a very good explanation for it. My friend lent me that brooch. I’m sure if you look carefully enough through the rest of my things, you’ll find other items that belonged to her too. In fact, you can probably find some of
my
belongings at
her
house as well. And don’t forget my fingerprints—they’re everywhere at her place. But then hers are everywhere at my house too!”

“Molly.” Joe frowned and shook his head.

“No. Let me finish. You’re blaming
me
because your efforts haven’t worked out yet. May I suggest, Lieutenant, that you try to find someone who
is
guilty?”

“You go, girl!” Olivia was laughing. “Give it to ’em.”

I got to my feet. “Unless you plan to arrest me for something, I’m leaving. I’ll see you later, Joe.”

With as much dignity as I could muster, I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. Dorothy and Elsie jumped to their feet and started asking questions.

“I’ll fill you in on the way to Smuggler’s Arcane.”

“Oh no. I get to give them the lowdown. You’ve never been very good at driving and talking at the same time, Molly,” Olivia said. “I don’t want the three of you joining me over here. There’s not much to do.”

Until we actually got out of the police station, I thought someone might stop me. My heart was pounding. I could barely breathe. I really hoped it wouldn’t be Joe.

I had to find some way to get through to him. I didn’t want to endanger him, but we couldn’t go on this way.

But no one tried to stop me. We got out to the car and I looked back at the police station. I realized I might have no choice but to go it on my own.

I sat behind the steering wheel for a long time, trying not to fall apart. My hands were shaking as Olivia regaled Elsie and Dorothy with our “success.”

It didn’t feel much like success. I was pretty sure Joe suspected me of terrible things. Lieutenant Smith thought I’d somehow been part of Olivia’s murder. What was I going to do?

We got back to the shop in record time. Dorothy sprinted up the stairs while Elsie and I came slower.

Cassandra was lounging on the counter. She’d eaten our entire stash of chocolate cream cakes. The floor was littered with wrappers where she’d dropped them.

“Good news.” She sat up. “Nothing happened. The bad news is that I’m bored. I’m glad you finally got back.”

“Don’t leave!” Dorothy grabbed her arm. “You have to help us find my mother’s killer before the police arrest Molly.”

“Why is she touching me?” Cassandra asked. “You should teach her the rules, Molly. I’d hate to do something that she’d regret.”

“Just let go of her, Dorothy,” Olivia coaxed. “She could hurt you.”

Dorothy let go and took a step back.

“Smart girl,” Cassandra purred. “Wait! The newbie is the ghost’s daughter? How is that possible?”

“We’re more interested in what you know about the witch that killed Olivia. We know that witch is working with someone who has no magic.” I put my hands on my hips. “Tell us what you know, Cassandra.”

“I’ve told you what I can,” she insisted. “You people can’t know
everything
!”

“I know what to do.” Elsie put down her bag.

“No, don’t do it!” I didn’t know what she had in mind, but I knew anything she tried might turn out badly.

It took only a moment. Cassandra didn’t even react, as though she were smugly sure Elsie’s spell wouldn’t work.

“Too late.” Dorothy went over and poked Cassandra. “I guess the spell worked. She’s not moving.”

“Of course it worked.” Elsie sat down at the table. “But I’m exhausted now. Has anyone thought about lunch?”

Cassandra was a statue on our counter, right beside the cash register.

I knew the spell Elsie had used. It was strong enough to keep a herald of the Grand Council of Witches here for as long as we needed.

But there would be a hefty price to pay afterward.

“Now what are we going to do?” Dorothy stared at Cassandra’s face. “She’s gonna be angry.”

“That’s for sure.” I took a deep breath. “What’s done is done. Maybe we can get some straight answers this way.

“How?” Dorothy knocked on Cassandra’s solid form.

Elsie nodded. “We’ll have to get the seer. She should be able to tell us what Cassandra knows about Brian—and the rest of it. She might even be able to tell us where we can find our book.”

“We’ve talked to her before.” Olivia scrunched up her face. “I didn’t like her. She was kind of scary. I don’t know if my daughter should be exposed to her.”

“I’ll be fine.” Dorothy smiled at her. “May I call you Mom? I know Mama or Mommy is out of the question. I’m not a little kid.”

Olivia wasn’t sure. “You know, I was only your mother for a few minutes, actually, although I have kept tabs on you since you were born. I suppose Mother would be okay.”

“Thanks, Mother. This is really awesome that I still get to know you, even though you’re dead. I really like being a witch.”

“Do we have anything to pay the seer if we can get her to come?” I asked.

“We could have that very nice silver teapot from Olivia’s house,” Elsie offered. “You know she only takes the old silver. The new stuff isn’t pure.”

“Now wait a minute,” Olivia protested. “You can’t give away my belongings because I’m dead. That tea service belonged to Maria Theresa of Austria. It’s worth a lot of money.”

“Which doesn’t mean anything to you anymore,” Elsie reminded her. “How do you feel about it, Dorothy?”

“I guess it’s okay, if we can figure out what’s going on.” Dorothy shrugged. “There are lots of nice things in the house, Mother.”

“Only because I
put
them there,” Olivia whined. “If you give everything away, there won’t
be
any nice stuff.”

“It’s only this one time,” Elsie said. “It’s been at least twenty years since we had to get something from you to pay the seer. I can’t even recall why we had to have her here.”

“It was that stupid box we found by the ocean when we went on vacation in Greece together,” Olivia remembered. “It wasn’t worth anything, but it cost me one of Queen Victoria’s silver goblets.”

“Well, let’s get this done.” I tried to end the debate. “I don’t know any other way to pay the seer. Do you, Olivia?”

“No,” she admitted. “But I wish the two of you would start collecting some antique silver so we wouldn’t always have to raid
my
things.”

“You mean
Dorothy’s
things, right?” Elsie giggled.

Olivia didn’t reply.

“While we’re at the house, maybe we should try to do a spell to repair the damage that was done,” Elsie suggested. “We’ve done that before. I think it was after that last hurricane came through town.”

“We can’t do that, at least not yet,” I disagreed. “There are already crime scene photos from the house. We could do it later after the investigation is over.”

“I’m staying here with Cassandra.” Elsie waved her hand in the air. “Bring back a pizza, please. I’m famished.”

“I’m staying with you.” Olivia hovered above the table. “I can’t bear to look at my things again unless we can repair them.”

“You two take care of Cassandra until we get back. For goodness’ sake, don’t let anything happen to her until the seer gets here.”

“Don’t worry,” Elsie promised. “I won’t let
anything
happen to her.”

The gift of sight, a precious thing,

Open my eyes, show me the way.

Light of moon. Water and wing.

Let me see, clear as day.

“How do you find a seer?” Dorothy asked as we drove toward Olivia’s house.

I was going to have to start thinking of it as
Dorothy’s
house. “You have to call a seer. Not on the phone. You have to do a spell to reach out to her. I hope that’s possible.”

“What exactly does the seer do?”

“She’s able to see through deception of any kind. There is no spell or magic that she can’t see. She sees the truth of everything.

“So then what?”

“I suppose it all depends what we learn from her. We could try to summon the council.” I turned the car in to the drive. “I’ve never done that. It might be worth the risk of calling them to be done with this.”

“Are they evil?” Dorothy’s voice was filled with excitement. “Are they like Darth Vader evil?”

I turned off the car and rubbed my eyes. I was tired and frustrated. Explaining every little detail of a witch’s life to Dorothy was taxing. I was trying to be patient. We needed each other. But this was why girls were raised by their mothers to be witches.

“No. They aren’t evil. They’re more like uncaring bureaucrats. They want everything to run smoothly, no bumps in the road. Unfortunately, life isn’t like that.”

“And part of their responsibilities is making sure people without magic don’t know about magic, right?” Dorothy got out of the car. “Because really, I didn’t have a clue. I thought it was all fairy tales and poison apples. My eyes have really been opened.”

“How do you feel about that?” I asked before we went in.

“I’m charged up about it. I can’t wait to do something amazing with my magic.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever done something I’d consider to be amazing.” I walked inside to the kitchen to find the silver teapot. “I guess I’ve always been happy that I was a witch, but my spells have been mediocre. I haven’t needed anything more.”

“Do you think that’s why your magic is fading?”

It was an honest question, and one I’d asked myself. “I’ve known witches who were much older, even older than Elsie, and their magic was still strong. Not using magic to its full potential might be what causes it to go away. I don’t know. Maybe it’s like everything else that falls apart while you age. Maybe it’s genetic.”

She shrugged. “You know how they say if you don’t use it, you lose it? That’s what I was thinking.”

“If we have to summon the council, you could ask them.” I spied the silver teapot in the cupboard and took it down.

“I don’t think so.” She backed away from the idea. “They don’t sound like witches I’d like to learn from.”

“That’s probably wise.”

I repeated the spell for summoning a seer to us. It required both of us to put our hands into the teapot so she would know we had the silver. I added water to the silver to help things along.

We said the spell several times. I reminded Dorothy that concentration was everything. “If you lose focus in the middle of a spell, even for a moment, there could be disastrous results.”

“I’ll try to stay focused, Molly.”

“I think that’s done it,” I told her finally. “She’ll go to the shop. We should go there too. The seer doesn’t like waiting.”

“How can you tell when you’ve done the spell right?”

“You can’t always.” I gazed around the kitchen. Almost everything was on the floor, including food from the cabinets and the refrigerator. “You do the best you can with your choice of spell and your mental focus. Most of the time, it works.”

As we walked out of the house, Dorothy asked, “Do you think we can put everything back the way it was?”

“I don’t know. If we can find the right spell and get the focus correct, we should be able to do some of it. It could take a while. There are no guarantees.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I can see that already. I think it’s worth a shot though, don’t you? I know it would make my mother happy.”

“I’m sure you’re right. I wish we could simply take it out of our book. Personalized spells that you’ve already done once or twice are the strongest.”

“Thanks, Molly—for that—and for your patience with me. I know I must sound like a baby to you. It would’ve been great knowing all of this when I was growing up.”

I hugged her briefly. “I was a schoolteacher for many years. Your questions don’t bother me. Let’s go get that pizza.”

I called in the order at a small restaurant close by the Cotton Exchange. My plan was to pick up the pizza and take it with us. Usually we had it delivered to Smuggler’s Arcane. Today I was afraid of who might deliver it and accidentally become involved.

Dorothy went in for the pie, and we drove to the shop with the wonderful aromas of herbs, cheese and crust filling the car.

“There seem to be a lot of cars, considering the shop is closed.” I had to hunt for a parking space. At least twenty cars were parked outside.

“I hope it’s safe,” Dorothy said. “I don’t have the staff to hit anyone.”

I laughed. “You’d better not let Olivia hear you say you’re going to hit anyone with her staff. We need to find the right tool for you, being an earth witch. Probably your best bet would be a good, solid rock.”

“A rock? You have a cauldron. Elsie has that cool sword. My mother has a runed staff. I get a
rock
?”

“Each according to their own,” I told her. “It won’t be just any rock. It will be something special.”

“You mean like a big diamond?”

“Maybe. Or a flat, brown river rock. You’ll know when you find it.”

We took the pizza inside. I could see through the windows that a large group of people was jammed into the shop. What was going on?

As Dorothy and I entered Smuggler’s Arcane, I realized that all the people were witches. I didn’t recognize all of them, but I felt their magic. Music was blaring and the smell of incense filled the air.

I looked for Elsie in the crowd—it was easy to see Cassandra. As I watched, I saw a witch named Phoebe, who lived out at Atlantic Beach, give Elsie a dollar bill. Elsie stowed it in a pouch we kept for change and then moved aside to allow Phoebe access to Cassandra.

“
No!
” I called out as Phoebe poked Cassandra in the ribs several times. “What in the world are you doing? When she comes out of this spell, she’ll know everything that happened to her.”

Phoebe had a big grin on her swarthy face. “Yeah, well, at least we had this chance to get back at her. She’s such a
princess
. Do you know what she did to my turtles last year? She deserves a lot more than a poke.”

I pulled Elsie away from the crowd. Olivia, who’d been hovering around Cassandra, joined us in the supply room.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m making some money because we have to stay closed. I don’t think that’s a crime,” Elsie said. “Where’s the pizza?”

“Dorothy’s got it. You’d better hope Cassandra can’t remember this. She’ll have your head.”

“Oh, she’s a lot of hot air.” Elsie ignored my warning. “Where did you say the pizza was?”

“No pizza until we clear this crowd out,” I told her. “If the seer shows up with the shop looking like there’s a party going on, she’ll leave.”

Reluctantly, Elsie told everyone they had to go. She managed to make a couple more dollars from last-minute witches who poked Cassandra a few more times.

“I wish I’d known this was going on earlier.” Kay lived in Wrightsville Beach and was a water witch like me. “She caused my marriage to break up. I would’ve brought something a lot stronger than a
poke
.”

I nodded and smiled, escorted her to the door and locked it behind her. “I hope everyone who was here realizes that we probably can’t do a spell strong enough to wipe Cassandra’s memory of this.”

I glanced into the parking lot. The last car had gone. I pulled down the shade.

“Oh, you’re taking it too seriously, Molly.” Elsie slid a piece of pizza out of the box.

Dorothy was already working on her second slice.

“That smells heavenly.” Olivia inhaled slowly, closing her eyes. “It’s not much fun being a ghost. Why am I here anyway?”

“Unfinished business,” Elsie said around the pizza in her mouth. “You were always good at starting projects and not finishing them.”

“That’s not fair. I didn’t
ask
to be murdered. It ruined my whole life.”

Dorothy laughed as she took a big gulp of soda. It came out of her nose before she could hold a napkin to it. “Sorry. It was just—you know—the whole murder-ruining-her-life thing.”

“My own daughter, turned against me,” Olivia said dramatically.

“If it would help, Mother, you don’t have to stay for me.” Dorothy smiled at her. “I release you from my training as a witch. Is that better?”

Olivia raised her brows. “We have to get this girl
trained
. She thinks everything is a spell.”

A gray haze slowly fell over the shop. The lights were still on. The sun was still shining through the windows, but it was as though a shadow had darkened everything.

The shade was not only something that could be seen. It was also something that could be felt—like a terrible sadness or loss.

“She’s here,” I said unnecessarily. “Don’t say anything, Dorothy. Let us do the talking.”

She nodded, her eyes large and frightened in her face.

The door to the shop squeaked open slowly, but the chime didn’t ring. The seer was suddenly there with us, the door closing behind her.

“You have summoned me.”

It’s difficult to describe the seer’s voice. It was like a dry wind blowing through fall leaves in the trees. It’s something you hear and feel in your soul. Even the most uninitiated know that they are standing in the presence of vast knowledge.

The seer, according to legends, had once been a Greek pythoness, one of the divine priestesses who sat at Delphi and interpreted the will of the gods for travelers who went there seeking answers.

Since that was thousands of years ago, most witches assumed she was immortal. No one had ever seen her face. She always appeared in a gray hooded robe that obscured everything about her but her stature. She was tall, and one of her hands was a skeletal claw that held a staff.

“Yes, seer.” I bowed my head to show respect. “We have need of your service.”

“And you have payment?”

“Yes.” I brought out the old teapot. “We hope it pleases you.”

She nodded and put the teapot inside her robe. “What is it you want of me?”

I turned to face Cassandra. “We need to know if the herald Cassandra has the answers we seek.”

The seer didn’t move. “I am curious what you seek.”

“We seek to know who killed our friend.” Elsie curtsied. She’d always been terrified of the seer. She thought she seemed more like the angel of death. “And took our spell book.”

“And you believe the herald knows these answers?” The seer seemed to be ruminating over the task. “Why would she keep them from you?”

“Because that’s what she does,” Olivia had to add. “You know Cassandra thinks she’s better than any of the rest of us.”

“
Silence!
I do not speak with the undead.”

The seer tipped her staff toward where Olivia was hovering above the pizza. After that, I could see Olivia’s mouth moving, but I couldn’t hear her.

“Cassandra is not in the form you have captured,” the seer said. “There is nothing there now.” She pointed her staff at the herald, still on the counter. “But there
is
something of what you seek. The thief does the witch’s bidding. The witch protects the thief. Both are obscure and dangerous. Beware. Hold tight that which is yours.”

As I watched, Cassandra began to crumble. It took only a few moments for her to be nothing but powder that covered everything beneath her.

“Oh my,” Elsie muttered. “We killed Cassandra. This is very bad.”