“You’re wondering if it really was Mark here.” Thomas sprinted to the front door, holding out his hands to check to see if any additional wards were in his way. He brought in a box that had been sitting out there for hours. “Whoever is doing this glamoured the FedEx guy. I bet his mind’s been wiped too.”
He set down the box on the table and scanned it with his mind. When he was done, he turned to Abigail. “Your spices have arrived.”
“I was wondering when they would show up.” Abigail pointed toward the box. “Leave them there, I’ll retrieve them on my way into the kitchen in the morning. I think we should break for the night. Levi? I’d make breakfast if you came home.”
“Tempting, but I like my privacy. Even from my parents.” He stood and pulled Christina to her feet. “I’m going to take Sleeping Beauty up to her room. Then I’ll head out.”
“Call me when you’re back in the condo,” Abigail said. “I’ll worry.”
“Darling, we’ve been empty nesters for years. Someday you’re going to have to trust that our sons can make it in the world without interference from their mother. Besides, that’s Christina’s job now.” Thomas pulled Abigail out of the chair and into his arms. “Society, we’ll see you in the morning. I’ll drop this one off on my way to work.”
“I’m not going to a day care, Thomas,” Abigail replied, kissing Grans on the cheek as she moved toward the door.
“Maybe with all that’s going on it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Who knew that you taking on a job cooking could be deadly?” Thomas shook hands with Damien, then slapped his son on the back. “Listen to your mother. Call.”
“I’m not just a cook, I’m a manager.” Abigail slipped on her coat as Thomas left the academy to warm up the car. “Men. Sometimes they’re infuriating.”
“You would know, you have three boys,” Mia said as she watched people leave. Damien followed Thomas out after walking Grans to the elevator. Levi and Christina were already on their way upstairs, which left her and Muffy watching Abigail waiting for Thomas to pull the car closer.
Muffy whined, and Mia put on her jacket and snapped a leash on Muffy’s collar. “I don’t think you’re going to like it out there, but let’s get this over with.”
Abigail followed them out. “You know if you need Trent, he’d stop the training and come here.”
Mia watched Muffy scout the grass for the perfect spot. “I know. I miss him, but I believe we need Cerby trained more than I need him here. Besides, I have things to do, including figuring out why someone wants me to react to all their games. Was tonight meant to make me leave town? Break up the Society? Or was it just a game to hurt me? And they had to know I’d talk to Mark.”
“Unless they aren’t local. I don’t think Sarah’s magical genealogy is known outside of town. And no one from the outside would know that your grandmother used to babysit Mark. Maybe they thought a visit from the local police chief would scare you.” Abigail waved as Thomas pulled up the car and reached over to open the door. She gave Mia a hug. “You’re one of us now, no matter how you got here. Same with Christina and Finn, and your grandmother and Damien. We’re a family, no matter what anyone else calls us.”
Mia watched them drive away, then heard Muffy barking from the door. Time to go inside before they froze. She waved at Buddy, who was perched in the tree with one eye open.
It was time to make a list of who might want Suzanne Parker dead, besides herself.
The next morning, she was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee when Grans and Christina came out of their respective bedrooms. She stepped away from the coffeepot when Christina stared at her with her eyes half open. “Get some go-go juice, sunshine. If you’re my shadow, we’re leaving in thirty minutes.”
“I went into catering because most events are held at decent hours, like in the evenings.” Christina poured herself coffee and sat next to Mia. “What are you working on?”
“A time line since my last testing. Abigail and I have a theory that the culprit may be from out of town. Whoever sent me the vision of Trent and Sonja last night didn’t know that Sarah was in the house with them.They missed blocking her phone. And they didn’t realize that Mark and Sarah were friends of mine. Fake Mark didn’t have the information real Mark did.” Mia tapped her pen on the paper. “It sounds more convoluted than it really is. Basically, the spell caster didn’t know the details. We need to be wary of anything we see because it might not be true.”
“I’m working on a truth elixir. It’s a complicated potion, but it should give the drinker the ability to see through the glamours. You’ll know when it’s happening, and hopefully you’ll be able to see the person casting it. You have to be close to cast that level of illusion. Dorian and I chatted on the phone for a while last night. He’s going to help me make the potions after he gets the workmen started on the remodel. I’ll do the library archive lookup later, once the potion is brewing, so he can watch for me while I’m in the library.”
“One, you need to call him Damien. What if someone from the coven sees him? And hears you call him by his real name?” That was the problem with lies; they could never be sustained. Especially when you were dealing with honest people.
“And two?” Grans didn’t look up from the book of potions she was reading.
“What?” Mia needed one more cup of coffee. Work would keep her busy so she couldn’t think about the murder and the things she didn’t know.
“You said, one. That tells me you have at least two points.” This time, her grandmother looked up.
“Oh, yeah. Two, your plan is really good. Ask the library ghosts if they know of any other books with relevant information.” It had worked the one time Miawent to the archives for the coven. She’d just written down what specifically she’d been looking for. “Oh, and see what we can find out about Suzanne Parker. If nothing else, it might give Mark some information on next of kin.”
“I’m sure the coven has already notified her relatives. When a witch dies, an alert goes off at Nationals and a memo is sent to the coven. Now we just need to see who comes to claim the body. If Mark is spelled to forget the murder ever happened, it’s a clear sign a witch was behind the murder—not a case for the humans to worry about.”
“Well, that’s nice to know. How many times have they wiped Mark’s memory?” This was one discussion Sarah could choose to have with her husband. Mia was not telling him that the coven decided what cases he could or couldn’t work on.
“Who knows the exact number,” Grans said too quickly, which meant she probably knew the exact number and thought the coven was overreaching. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. Most of the time it’s just harmless high school pranks. No need to go to jail over a spell gone wrong that turned all the snow bunnies in Magic Springs pink.”
“I thought that happened in Arco, near the nuclear site. And it was neon orange, if I remember.” Mia decided not to push it. They had too much to deal with without the shenanigans the coven pulled on local law enforcement.
“It happened there too. The kids told the local law enforcement that it was a protest against nuclear proliferation.” Grans grabbed two protein bars as they watchedDamien’s car come into the parking lot on the security monitor. “I better get started on that potion.”
