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It was too late for that, I supposed. I was a part of this now, whether I liked it or not.
And so, I raised my hand in greeting and shouted, “Hello there!”
The other woman startled so badly, she somehow managed to dislodge her hat, which th
e wind immediately swept up in a sudden playful gust.
We both ran after it, but a high up tree branch claimed it before either of us even had a chance.
The stranger bit her lip and turned toward me. “That was my favorite hat.”
“That was my favorite landlady,” I said, deciding just to jump into it as I motioned toward the now vacant house. “Did you know her well?”
“Not really,” the woman said with one last lingering glance toward her lost hat. Now that her face was fully exposed, I could tell she was even younger than I’d originally guessed. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d only just finished high school in the last year or two.
“I’m Tawny,” I offered with a warm smile. “And you are?”
“Nobody important,” she mumbled with another glance toward her lost sun hat. Her long black tresses blew in the breeze, giving her an almost ghastly appearance. “I really should be on my way.”
“Wait,” I cried, not entirely sure how I meant to follow that up. But I couldn’t just let her get away. What if she was the murderer? I owed it to my former landlady to find out.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded when she turned back to me with a resigned sigh. “Did you know Mrs. Haberdash was murdered?”
Her eyes bore into mine, direct and determined but also giving nothing away. I suddenly became very aware that I had confronted someone who could be lethally dangerous. Was this the killer? Did she have the magic that belonged to the town?
When she didn’t answer, I took a guess. “You did. Didn’t you? Know she was killed, I mean. But do you know why someone would want her dead?”
“It was a mistake coming here,” she spat, then turned on her heel and strode off so quickly I didn’t have a prayer of catching her despite having donned my running shoes.
“Wait,” I called after her again, but that nameless girl didn’t acknowledge me and didn’t turn back.
Well, shoot.
I’d had the suspect right here but hadn’t been able to get anything useful out of her. If she’d been a friend or family member, she’d have said something, right? Her sudden departure screamed of a guilty conscience—but could she be guilty of murder?
Whatever the case, I had a feeling this strange visitor would turn up again sooner rather than later. Hopefully, though, it wouldn’t be with murderous intent, especially now that she knew I suspected her.
Gah!
What was wrong with me? I hadn’t merely tiptoed around danger, I’d dived headfirst in after it.
7
I spent the rest of that day trying and failing to write some pages to make my agent happy. Of course I had way too much on my mind to focus, which meant my agent would just have to get used to being unhappy with me for a while.
Parker turned up outside my cottage at fifteen minutes to eleven that night. Apparently he was my official keeper when it came to all things Paranormal Temp Agency.
And even though I didn’t feel I needed a constant chaperone, I was grateful that at least it was him. I mean, he had less sass than the cat. And he wasn’t so bad on the eyes, either.
The old me would have leaned into that attraction a little, flirted whenever the moment felt right. But this was the new me, a woman who I was quite frankly still getting to know.
Ever since I stumbled over Mrs. Haberdash’s dead body and straight into this brave new world full of strange magic, I’d been changed. Sure, it had happened just this morning, but both of these once-in-a-lifetime occurrences together made for a monumental shift in what I knew about myself and the greater world around me.
I strode out to Parker’s car, wearing a confidence I didn’t quite feel. I also wore a flowy black floor-length skirt with a tight black leather bustier, old boots which were mostly hidden beneath the skirt, and my favorite statement piece of jewelry—a shiny black metal necklace with a series of interesting shapes that kind of looked like an eagle if you squinted a bit.
Apparently I’d also shown up with more cleavage than my escort had anticipated. He turned beet red under that beard of his the moment his eyes locked onto said cleavage.
“You didn’t have to get dressed up for this,” he muttered, clenching his hands even tighter around the steering wheel.
