Page 14 of Of Magic and Murder

“Barrel? Some ridiculous name like that. It doesn’t matter. I wasn’t going to let some mutt keep me in a cell. Not when I had work to do. And now look at me! Mauled in my prime.” She sniffs. “I’m a healer, for Hecate’s sake. What good was that gift if I couldn’t heal myself?”

I make a mental note to pass it on to the sheriff the identity of the wolf—Barrow, I’m pretty sure—who inadvertently helped Olivia. From talking to Honey, I know it bothers Max that the witch was able to waltz out of the sheriff station and disappear out of Moonburrow, and I’m hoping it’ll at least give him some closure about what happened.

I just really don’t want to help Olivia find hers.

Unfortunately for me, I’m beginning to understand that I don’t have any choice, though I’m hoping I might be able to pass her off to the real detectives in town…

“Okay. Why don’t you tell me where your body is. That’s the first step in solving a crime.”

“Come with me. I’ll show you. And we should make it snappy. I hate to think what the elements are doing to me. I was only murdered at midnight, and the wolf left me a mess. Still. No reason to attract any other predators.”

She has a point. I’ve watched enough true crime shows on mortal television to know that preserving the crime scene is essential—for the pros, not unwilling witches in their pjs.

“You can tell me where. You don’t have to show me.”

“No way. If I tell you where I am, you’ll call that Alpha, he’ll find my body, and you’ll decide your part is over. It isn’t. Sleep later. You have to solve my murder now.”

For Hecate’s sake. “I can’t solve your murder. I’m a witch, not a detective.”

“And that’s why you have to. You’re a fellow witch. A seer. It’s gotta be in the code⁠—”

I frown. “Witches don’t have codes.”

“Maybe not in Salem. In Moonburrow, we try to help each other out.”

“Because of you, I was put in a holding cell and accused of murder!”

Because of Olivia, Roxy had her shop broken into, Ash was shot, and Riordan ran away from Moonburrow.

She sniffs. “Are you really going to hold that against me?”

I goggle at her wordlessly.

“Anyway, I want to make one thing crystal clear, Penelope. You will solve my murder. And you know why? Because I won’t cross over until you do. Unless you figure out who killed me, I’ll be here whenever you least expect it, and I’ll nag you and nag you, and you won’t get a second’s peace until I do.”

Damn it, she can do it, too. As a newly dead with unfinished business, her vow right then is basically a geas. The magic will hold her to it. She’ll be stuck on Earth in purgatory until the condition is met—and, with the remnants of her magic clinging to her in death, she’s made it so that I can’t refuse.

Would I really have if I could? I don’t know, but one thing is clear: I have no idea what to do. Her body is somewhere out in the woods, supposedly there’s a killer wolf out there in the woods of Moonburrow, and, like I said, I’m no detective. I can’t investigate and solve a crime by myself.

But I know someone who can.

I reach for my phone.

“What are you doing?” Olivia asks, a suspicious note to her ghostly voice.

“If you think I’m going out to find your dead body by myself during the witching hour, you’re very wrong. I’ll go because you’re right: I have no choice.”Goddess damn it, it’s my duty, and her magic will insist that I go. “I’ll have to help you, and I will. But that doesn’t mean I won’t ask for any help myself. You were murdered, Olivia. This might be a supernatural town, but do you know what we do when there’s a crime? We call the police.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t⁠—”

Yes. I would.

She’s a ghost. A newly formed ghost. She has nowhere near enough spectral energy to stop me from grabbing my phone and making a call.

Honey answers after several rings, her voice so groggy that I almost want to apologize and call back in the morning. If I do that, though, I’m stuck with Olivia and… yeah. As much as it sucks to do this, I have to.

“Hello?”

“Honey? It’s Penelope. I’m so sorry. I know what time it is.”