“Another suspect,” Mr. Bixby said, brightly. “Prepare to interview a couple of world-class warlocks.”
A shiver ran over me and I moved away from Blaine. Cassie gave my arm a squeeze as I passed, sending a fresh torrent of misery into me from her own wedding ring. Her father—always angry, it seemed—featured in many images, and I had to swallow hard to avoid moaning. There were images of Cassie’s mother, too, her curls now mostly gray. The woman’s face had softened since Angus’s conflicts with her and there was great love between mother and daughter. I was glad she was coming home to help.
“Break it off,” Bixby said. “You need to conserve your strength, too.” When he issued a direct order, I usually obeyed. “As it should be,” he added, with a chuckle, as I slipped out of Cassie’s grasp.
I was nearly around the counter when Brianna nailed me with a hug. “Thank you so much for Atticus,” she murmured in my ear. “You changed my life.”
“My pleasure,” I choked out, pushing away as soon as I could without offending her. Brianna’s hug came with its own package of memories of hard times and hard people. But at least she was content now, tending to the magnificent greenhouse her grandmother’s passing bequeathed. She puttered around there all day with the beautiful setter, who came to brush against my legs.
“Happy,” Atticus said. He was the least chatty of all the dogs I’d rescued, with the exception of Tiffin, who’d barely said a word, yet. Nonetheless, the pup came over to nuzzle my ankle, perhaps warming up to a bite. Bixby ended that with a little too much verve, and I moved on, breathing a huge sigh of relief.
But the torment wasn’t over.
Not by a long shot.
Marli hopped off her stool and laid a hug on me, too. “Everyone’s doing it,” she said. “You must be a good luck charm, Janelle.”
“Hardly. Probably the opposite.” This time I had no compunction about breaking the hold. Marli and I had no history, and I preferred it to stay that way. Anyone so tactless and indiscreet would get herself—and potentially the rest of us—into trouble. But I didn’t emerge from the hug unscathed. This young woman had her own share of painful memories. A critical father and her only parent. Was it like that for all of us? Is that how we ended up with a lifetime of repressed magic that needed to be teased out by experts?
“And the love of a good dog,” Bixby said. “Don’t forget that.”
“Like I’d ever forget,” I said, on our inside line. “But I think I need to hold you for the rest of this visit to deter unwanted PDAs.”
I stooped to pick up my canine barrier and he lifted his lip at Marli.
“Oh my,” she said, stepping back. “He’s a nasty one.”
“You have no idea.” I laughed lightly and escaped to Renata. Although I was more than done with physical contact, Bijou actually pushed Ren against me and squished me from the other side.
“Back off, poodle,” Bixby said, aloud this time. It sounded like a growl and Marli’s eyes widened.
“Shut your trap, wiener boy,” Bijou said. “I know what I’m doing. Do you?”
Bixby stared down at her. “My job, that’s what.”
“Yeah, so am I.” Bijou’s eyes were defiant. “I love Witchy, too.”
I was missing something, but I trusted Bijou. All of the pieces would likely fall into place eventually.
Sinda’s touch was the only welcome one as she put down her phone. As suspected, her healing power was running low, so I didn’t take any more. Instead, I turned and walked to the sink for a glass of water. “Did you find Liberty?”
“On her way.” Raising her voice, she said, “Dig in, everyone. And no shop talk.”
“Can’t we brainstorm our crosswords together?” Cassie asked. “I’m barely half done.”
Marli’s mouth opened but I gave her a look to silence bragging. Instead, she said, “How is this a lesson in anything? Do you people trust the old man? He seemed addled.”
I didn’t like her speaking disrespectfully of Norris, even though I questioned everyone’s credibility on principle. “Norris is far from addled. He’s very clever and helped me out of a bind last month.”
“Let me guess. He’s a whiz at crossword puzzles.”
“Hello, Witch Obvious,” Bijou said. “Can I bite her?”
“Me first,” Bixby said.
I ignored the dogs. “Norris does like a good word game. I’m sure there are important lessons to be gained from our assignment.”
Marli rolled her eyes. “Complete waste of time. Meanwhile, we could be figuring out what happened to Cassie’s dad. That’s the assignment they should have given us.”
“There are experts for that job, dear,” Sinda said. “I, for one, am happy to be out of the fray.”
Turning to stare at Sinda, Marli frowned. “Is that what the mayor and Norris are doing? Sidelining us?”
“Would you blame them? When someone passes away abruptly it’s a very serious matter.”
“You mean got murdered abruptly.” Marli flicked her eyes back at Cassie. “Sorry. But it’s true.”
“And you know that how, young lady?” The curt voice came not from Sinda, but Cousin Liberty. She had sacrificed her usual grand entrance for the element of surprise. And instead of her usual aging screen siren attire, she was wearing a ski jacket, hat, pants and sneakers. All in black.
Someone had been sleuthing.
“This is going to be great,” Mr. Bixby said. “I can feel it.”
Perhaps Liberty was less intimidating without brocade and fur, because Marli looked unimpressed. “Who are you?”
My cousin stood a little straighter. “I’m Liberty Brighton, family matriarch. Who are you?”
“Marli Seagrave. I’m in witch school with Janelle and the others.”
