Page 54 of Seven Secret Spellcasters
Marsha shook her head. “I didn’t ask him to do that. When I filed the report, he called me and asked my professional opinion of Cerby’s arrival. Well, my unofficial opinion. He already had my report.”
“Brandon initiated the contact?”
“I didn’t know that Alfred Howard was here until my book showed him arriving on Tuesday.” She smiled at Mia’s confused look. “I also monitor the book that shows every magical creature and their arrival and departure from Magic Springs. Like your friend, Christina. I knew she’d come back for her engagement parties before anyone else even knew she was coming. Besides you, that is.”
Another piece of magic that Mia had known nothing about. Or maybe it was only a need-to-know type of thing. She stood and adjusted her purse over her shoulder. “Thanks for the coffee. I need to get home and start baking for the party. You should come. We’re going to have a lot of fun.”
“Thanks, but I’m running the coffee shop on Wednesday. It’s nice to be invited, though.” Marsha stood and walked back to the counter. As soon as she did, the door opened, and a customer stepped inside.
The woman had an uncanny ability to see when she was going to get traffic in the shop.
Mia was almost home when she realized that Marsha Fieldstone had said that Alfred Howard had arrived on Tuesday. But the flight records had said Wednesday. Where had he been for a night, and how did he get here on Tuesday? Or was Marsha remembering wrong?
It happened—people get dates mixed up all the time.
Mia wondered if Howard’s early arrival said more than they’d thought. She decided she needed to find out if Howard had stayed the night in Los Angeles or if Marsha’s book was right.
She decided to check the Lodge records again, this time without Carol’s help. She put it on her to-do list for tomorrow. She had access to hotel records, check-ins, and check-outs, which allowed her to credit clients with room stays and give them a discount on their events. Maybe Howard had had more than one off-the-books meeting in Magic Springs.
It was beginning to look like Alfred Howard was a bit of a mystery himself. This could be why the coven didn’t want anyone snooping into his death.
When she got home, she took out the notebook she’d used during her meetings with Mark. There had to be someone they were overlooking. She found the note about Howard’s unknown lunch partner and wrote in Steve’s name.
Mark had taken him off the suspect list because he had been with most of the Majors family during the time Howard was killed. But what if Howard was given a poison and he consumed it later? She saw she still had questions on what substance had actually killed Howard. She texted Mark regarding the new toxicology report.
Abigail would never forgive her if she was the one to find evidence that her firstborn was a killer. Besides, unless one of the restricted ingredients showed up in Howard’s toxicology report, the mixture that killed Howard wasn’t a magical potion. Or at least not one tracked by the coven. So why wouldn’t Steve use his powers to get rid of a problem?
The short answer was, he wouldn’t.
So now she was back to looking for someone who was a human or had a human motive to kill someone. She sighed and wrote down several more items. Why did people kill? The big four reasons were love, money, revenge, and fear.
If she looked at fear, that motive would point to Trent and his need to keep Cerby and Buddy off the coven’s books. But she knew he didn’t kill Howard. And Howard’s death had made it more apparent that the coven actually already knew about the hellhound and the dragon.
Money? She didn’t see anything that brought up that idea. She wondered if the legends were true about leprechauns and pots of gold. Maybe there was a treasure hidden near the river where he was supposed to go rafting? That would put Thomas Majors in the spotlight as a potential suspect. But Thomas had been down that river way too many times before. If there was a treasure, he would have found it.
Treasure. Rafting trip. If someone had told Howard there was a treasure to find, he might have been more willing to spend more time here in remote Idaho than to talk to Trent about Cerby.
Love didn’t seem to be a factor, so Mia checked it off her list. But revenge. That could be something.
Mia looked up Edmund Pevensie and found two hits. One, as expected, was the fictional character in the CHRONICLES OFNARNIAbooks. But the second one made her blink.
There was a land deed registered in that name right here in Magic Springs, and the plot was near Trent’s place. She wrote down the address and called Trent. Maybe there would be a clue on the property.
If not, she’d still have a nice visit with her boyfriend and his menagerie of creatures. Maybe he’d even cook dinner.
She finished reading through her notes about Howard’s death, made a new plan, then tucked the notebook back away in the apartment. As she was making her way downstairs, she looked guiltily at the kitchen. She’d planned on getting a start on the baking for Christina’s party tonight.
There never seemed to be enough time. She’d come home early tomorrow after making sure the decorating was going well and everything was in place. Then she could start baking. The fact that it would limit her time around Jeani and her sister was an unforeseen bonus in her eyes.
At least she knew that no one had gotten into her potions lab and used the foxglove to kill Howard.
She’d told Trent she’d be at the house at six, so that gave her time to stop by the address for the Pevensie property. When she got there, a dirt driveway was marked by an old mailbox that looked like it hadn’t been used for years. She hated lying, especially to Trent, so she made a quick decision and texted him. She said she was stopping to check out the property—and she even gave him the address.
Mia had seen too many movies where she’d yelled at the too-stupid-to-live character for not leaving bread crumbs so they could at least find her body later. “Wow, that turned dark,” she said to herself as she tucked her phone away and turned the car to go up the drive.
Worst-case scenario, she would find a pot farm where a group of armed men would send her on her way. Or at least she hoped they would. She felt for the amethyst necklace under her shirt. Grans had infused it with a protection spell, but she didn’t know if it shielded her from human bad guys or only magical ones. She probably needed to find out before her next nosy adventure.
It was a little too late for this one.
