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All right. I told my brain that a tired and cranky witch wasn’t an effective witch, but those inner admonitions didn’t seem to help much. Letting out a sigh, I shifted onto my back again, figuring I usually fell asleep that way, so I might as well increase the odds.
And what was going on with Violet Clarke? I couldn’t imagine her as a cold-blooded killer — especially not one as powerful as the magical residue at the crash site seemed to indicate — but she wasn’t exactly acting like an innocent party, either. I wished I’d pressed Athene to tell me more about what Violet had said when she showed up in Globe. But since the subject had obviously been a sore one, I’d decided to let it go…and now I had very little to work with.
As I stared up at the ceiling, I tried to catalog the other magical practitioners in the greater Los Angeles area, doing my best to determine whether any of them might be behind this whole mess. None of them seemed powerful enough, though — or motivated enough. I wouldn’t say that any of us had really liked Lucien, but neither had we harbored the kind of animus that would result in murder. Pretty much everyone — myself included — had done what we could to stay out of his orbit.
You don’t have to solve this tonight,I told myself, my inner voice doing its best to sound reassuring.
I wasn’t reassured, though.
Who knew what might happen while I was asleep?
14
Stones and Spirits
As far asI could tell, no catastrophes had occurred overnight. Because it was Monday and the shop was technically supposed to open at eleven, I dutifully got out of bed and went through my morning routine — coffee and yogurt and yoga — then pulled my one card for the day from my crow Tarot deck.
Two of wands.
Clearly, I needed to make a plan of action. I just wasn’t sure what that plan was supposed to be.
Well, first things first.
After showering and getting dressed, I headed down to the store, even though it was only a little past ten and I had some time before my “official” opening. However, I’d already learned that people operated on their own schedules in Globe, and if I wanted to get an early start to my day, why not?
Just like the day before, the sun shone down brightly on that particular corner of Arizona. Probably on the whole state; Josie had told me how summers could often be cloudy and turbulent there, with spectacular monsoon thunderstorms, but those days were still months off.
It didn’t feel quite right that the day should look so cheerful when people appeared to be dying right and left, but I knew the weather often had very little to do with what was actually going on in people’s lives.
Or deaths.
I really wasn’t expecting many customers on a Monday, and so I was surprised when Fiona O’Neil, a crony of Josie’s, popped in almost as soon as I opened my doors. She was as slender as Josie was plump, with gorgeous thick white hair she always wore back in a smooth ponytail.
“Hi, Fiona,” I said politely. “Can I help you with something?”
“That citrine cluster,” she replied, pointing to the impressive chunk of rock that had a place of honor inside the locked glass case that contained my showiest — and most expensive — specimens.
“Sure,” I said. “Just let me get the key.”
I retrieved the key to the case from its place beneath the cash register, then opened the sliding door on the back of the display. The chunk of citrine was heavy, weighing almost eight pounds, and so I had to use both hands to extract it from its spot on the shelf and set it on top of the case.
“Is it all right if I touch it?” Fiona asked.
“Of course,” I told her. “You need to be able to feel its energy.”
An embarrassed little flush rose in her cheeks. “Is that — is thatreallya thing? Feeling vibrations off crystals, or whatever?”
“It’s definitely a thing,” I responded. “People react to different stones in different ways. But citrine is known for its positive energy. It also can help to attract financial success and wealth.”
“Oh, really?” She put her hands around the chunk, fingers lightly resting on its myriad points. “I suppose that can only be a good thing. I just know I saw it in the case at your opening on Friday night and thought it was beautiful. And then I kept thinking about it all weekend….”
“Well, if you couldn’t get it out of your mind, that means you connected with it,” I said. “I think stones know who they’re supposed to be with.”
Her expression turned half hopeful, half skeptical, as if she wanted to believe me but didn’t know whether she should. “Really?”
“Really,” I echoed. “I have this gorgeous — and huge — piece of quartz I got from a mineral show a year ago. The minute I touched it, I knew it needed to go home with me. I didn’t know if I could justify the expense, but I went ahead and bought it. And ever since then, I’ve had really good luck.”
Like having Lucien Dumond gunning for you?passed through my mind, although I squelched the thought as quickly as I could. Everything happened for a reason, even if we couldn’t always see the pattern at first. I had to believe that the universe wanted me in Globe. Whether that was so I could hook up with Calvin Standingbear, or so I’d be in the right place at the right time to solve Lucien’s murder…or even just so I could open my shop and dispense metaphysical advice to the town’s residents…I couldn’t say for sure.
