“Merry meet, friends.” A middle-aged woman with startling green eyes and a messy bun of curly red hair emerged from the back of the house, carrying a tray of pastries and tea. I got the distinct sense she’d been expecting us. “I’m Verona Braden. Please, make yourselves at home.”
She gestured toward a small room off to the side, set up like a regular living room with two small couches and an armchair surrounding a coffee table made out of a massive tree stump.
It was seven in the morning, and Elena and I had just knocked on the door after staking the place out overnight. Jael was keeping an eye on things outside. At the moment, Darkwinter’s focus seemed to be on the Bay, but there were still dark fae here in Raven’s Cape, and we couldn’t take any chances.
Elena and I thanked her and took a seat on one of the couches. When Verona set down the tea tray and sat across from us, I noticed she wasn’t meeting my eyes, but staring at a spot just above my shoulder, her own eyes slightly unfocused.
She was blind, I realized.
“Have you met Roscoe yet?” she asked.
At the sound of his name, a russet-colored golden retriever padded out from the back of the house and joined us, sitting on the floor at my feet. I leaned forward and held out my hand, which he happily sniffed. Seconds later, he leaped up on the couch, curling up between me and Elena and promptly falling asleep.
“He likes you,” Verona said with a kind laugh. “Okay. Now that I know you’re good people, we can relax. Please, help yourselves to tea.”
She remained amicably silent while Elena poured three cups from a teapot shaped like a cat.
Reaching for a pastry, Verona said, “So what brings you to my little corner of the woods? I don’t get many drop-in visitors these days.”
Elena introduced us and handed over our badges for the woman to inspect by touch.
“We’re looking for information on a customer who came through here late last night,” Elena said. “A witch by the name of Norah Hanson. Mid-fifties, highly knowledgable. She’s a coven leader from Blackmoon Bay.”
The woman’s eyebrow twitched—so slight a human wouldn’t have noticed, but my shifter instincts picked up on it immediately. She’d recognized the name—if not from a personal acquaintanceship, then probably from the raised lettering on Norah’s credit card.
“We don’t believe she’s a regular customer of yours,” I said. “Just passing through town. She paid with a credit card and made a fairly large purchase—just over five hundred dollars.”
The woman nodded, concern tightening her warm features. “Yes, that name and purchase amount sounds about right. But the woman I helped felt much younger to me—in her early twenties at best.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Obviously I can’t see people the way sighted folk can, but I do have different sort of sight. I get a sense for people, detective. Everything from the way you speak, the words you choose, your scent, the feel of your skin when I shake your hand, the sound of your shoes against the floor, the swish of your clothing when you walk—all of those things reveal a lot about a person. If that customer was in her fifties, then Roscoe here is a toy poodle.”
Roscoe let out a whimper of discontent.
“Do you think the credit card was stolen?” Elena asked me.
“Possibly,” I said. “Or Norah has an accomplice.”
“Would you like to see her?” The woman gestured toward the checkout counter in the center room. Next to the cash register sat a pale, milky-green orb about the size of a grapefruit.
“Is that a… crystal ball?” Elena asked.
“Indeed. But not just any crystal ball. Green aventurine is an excellent stone for attracting luck, money, and success.” Verona winked at us, her smile sly. “Also, that one’s got a hidden camera.”
She headed out to the register and grabbed her tablet from beneath the counter, her steps quick and sure.
“Security footage,” she said, then used voice commands to queue up the video. “I don’t like to judge my customers, of course, but I have to tell you… There was something quite odd about her.”
“How so?”
“For starters, Roscoe refused to go anywhere near her, which is very unusual for him.”
“Do you think he sensed something sinister?” I asked.
“Not sinister, exactly,” she said. “He would’ve warned me if he thought I was in danger. No, this was more like… confusion? Like he didn’t quite know what to make of her. And then there was… Well, see for yourself.” She handed over the tablet.
Elena and I leaned in together over Roscoe, peering down at the screen. A young woman approached the register with a basket full of supplies. She was blonde, with chin-length wavy hair, brown eyes, and a heart-shaped mole above her left eyebrow. Her right brow was pierced with a tiny silver ring.
