Page 6 of Air Of Mystery
In response I shrugged and tried to look innocent. I wasn’t entirely sure if I had pulled it off.
Jason tried to catch his breath. “Well, at least you didn’t find a body this time.” He waited a beat. “Did you?”
“No officer,” I said meekly.
“Ha!” Jason clapped a hand to my shoulder. “Those were the days.”
Charlie simply stood there. But the way he was silently taking everything in had me swallowing nervously.
The fire department went across the street to check inside the house to search for the presence of carbon monoxide. I caught a glimpse of their equipment…some type of square gadget with a sensor on a cord to try and detect the deadly fumes. That could really come in handy formyteam in a future investigation. I made a mental note to try and price one out later.
Now that our statements were concluded we were free to go, and so Charlie and I walked back to his jeep. He opened the passenger door for me, and I climbed in.
Charlie joined me a moment later. After shutting his door he turned to look at me. “We need to talk, Skye.”
I folded my hands in my lap. “All right.”
Without another word, he pulled away from the curb. At that I knew we wouldn’t be going out to dinnerorgoing back to his place.
Instead, we ended up driving to a scenic overview at the banks of the river, right outside of Ames Crossing. To one side was the parking lot for folks who were waiting for the ferry to St. Charles County. On the opposite side of the lot there was a lovely spot in which to view the river. It was fairly quiet that evening and Charlie parked on the overlook side, where we would have some privacy.
Needing some air, I grabbed my purse, climbed out, and walked around to the front of his jeep. Facing the water, I leaned my hips back against the bumper.
Air was billowing off the river, and it seemed that a storm was beginning to roll in from the west. The west wind was associated with purification, and so I closed my eyes for a moment, visualizing that wind was stripping away any lingering negativity I had encountered while in the house. It was a discreet energetic cleansing, yet it was an effective one too.
Charlie joined me, and I pulled in a deep breath, steeling myself for the conversation that was about to take place. “I have always loved this spot,” I said, staring out over the river.
“When I saw what Cordelia did last year,” he began, “it took me days to wrap my mind around it. Gabriella explained some of it to me. Told me that Cordelia was an Elemental Witch...and still even after seeing it with my own eyes, it was hard for me to believe.”
“To be honest,” I said, shifting my body to face him, “I was impressed by how well you handled that. Most mundanes don’t believe in Witches or magick. They think it’s all pop culture and Harry Potter stuff.”
He nodded. “Living in Ames Crossing and working for the Marquettes you hear about the ghosts, the local wise women, and things like that.”
“That’s true. Also, you do work in one of the most famously haunted locations in the state,” I said, facing the river again. “Be hard for younotto hear about it, considering they offer ghost tours at the mansion every fall.”
“Yeah, I’ve got aMarquette Mansion Ghost ToursT-shirt and everything.”
I chuckled at how dryly he’d said that, but then I realized that I’d completely misjudged his tone. He wasn’t being sarcastic, he was serious. “Ask your questions Charlie,” I said, “and I’ll do my best to answer them as honestly as possible.”
“Ashonestlyas possible?” His eyebrows drew together. “Why would you feel the need to lie?”
“I won’t lie,” I countered. “But there are things I may not share. Because there are things that you simply don’t need to know.”
He tipped his head to one side considering my words.
“I would imagine,” I said, trying to keep a reasonable tone of voice, “there are plenty of things thatyoucan’t talk about during your time when you served in the Navy SEALs.”
“Point taken.”
“Go ahead,” I said. “Ask your questions.”
“There was a circle around Kenna and Tyler on the floor in that basement,” he said. “It was dying out when we arrived, but I saw green flames. What was that?”
“At first glance,” I said carefully, “it looked to me as if Kenna had thrown down a protective circle around herself and Tyler.”
“Why were the flamesgreen?”
I took a steadying breath before I spoke, ensuring that my voice would remain calm. “Because, Charlie, witch-fire manifests as green flames.”
