Page 4 of Wicked Love
Lavinia popped her head back in. “You’ll need to let Delphine know. She prefers to be kept in the loop.”
Delphine was the current leader of our coven, and she lived in Magnolia House. She’d been the leader for years. While she looked to be in her forties, she was four times that, if not more. I didn’t know. I didn’t ask her such things. I might get turned into something I wouldn’t like.
“You sure you don’t want to tell her?” I asked. “Because she’s not going to appreciate updates from me, a junior librarian with bad news, when she’s in the middle of planning the ball.” Our annual ball, which would allow for a blessing for all those present, was tomorrow night.
“I hadn’t thought of that. Never mind, then. I’ll talk to her when I go over tonight. Let me know as soon as you talk with the Cormier girl. That’ll give me something to tell her.”
“I’m going to see her tomorrow morning before work. I’ll call you on my way in,” I promised. I’d taken my laptop home, going over the files once more so that I didn’t show up on Melasina Cormier’s doorstep without all the facts.
Which is why not only had I come here with questions about the grave disturbances, but a few more things. There had been a number of people adding to the file of Sariah Cormier, and not only was it interesting, but the information within was extremely contradictory. When I’d looked at the main investigator of the case, it was Talia Dumond, the former Head Librarian who had trained me. Talia had since retired, but she was second to none.
Or so I thought until I saw the handwritten notation on one of the last pieces of paper in the file. I had to read it again, and then I followed up with the online records—we still had too much paper, but it was hard to convince our older members that paper wasn’t the best thing.
This couldn’t be. I shook my head, and went to bed, the lines I’d read seared into my brain. I couldn’t shake them. When had I seen this file before? There was a hint of memory, but it was just out of reach.
And so, armed with all the questions that had come up for me, that was how I found myself sitting across from the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. She was tall, but not as tall as my 6’2 frame. She had long hair that was dark as the moonlit sky and wavy, falling down around her face and shoulders. Her skin had a creamy cast, and she had light green eyes. It was a striking look with her hair, and I couldn’t look away. A surge of lust came over me. I wanted to run my hands through her hair, pull her to me, bend her head back, exposing that creamy neck and—
The neighbor she’d mentioned yelled from the backyard again.
“Your neighbor is up early,” I said, smiling, trying to regain my bearings and calm myself.
Melasina whipped her head around so quickly I wondered if she’d hurt herself.
“Yes, she’s a pain sometimes,” she said. Her voice was tight as she gave me a thin smile.
Something was off here.
“Well, let’s get to this, and I’ll get out of your hair,” I said. Pulling out my laptop, I opened it. I also pulled out the file, setting it on the small table in front of me.
“What is this about?” Melasina asked. She looked nervous.
“This is rather awkward, so I’m just going to put it out there. There’s been some activity in the graveyards around here.”
Her eyebrows went up, and the anxious expression disappeared as though it had never been there. “So you thought you’d come and visit the nearest member of the Cormier family?” Her voice was harder, and there was none of the nervousness I’d thought I’d heard only a moment before. “The only member left in New Orleans?” She asked, sarcasm dripping from her words.
“It’s just a matter of covering our bases,” I said.
Melasina leaned forward. She was angry. “My mother was one person. She wasn’t our entire family. And after you lot kicked her out, she died! So thanks for that! But regardless of what she did, that has nothing to do with me! I’ve been a model citizen!”
“Um, well, yes.” I’d expected some pushback, but this was over the top. “ So you have no idea about who might have disturbed any local graves?”
“None,” Melasina said.
“And a few questions about your mother. Did you attend her funeral?”
“What?” She was taken aback at my question.
“Did you attend her funeral?”
Melasina looked down. “No. My dad went, but he didn’t feel I needed to go. He took me to her grave about a year after that, but I wasn’t there for the service.”
I nodded, making a note in the open file. That made sense with what I’d found. The funeral had been small, hasty, and secretive.
“Why do you ask?” Melasina was looking at me intently.
“Oh, I was checking some of the things in my notes,” I said, not wanting to give any of my suspicions away.
“I’m sure you have extensive notes. Talia Dumond was very thorough in her prosecution of my mother,” her face twisted.
