Magic Before Mischief (The Magic Before Mysteries Book 1) Page 5

  A huge shadow passed, blocking out the light before he sat down next to me. “Thank god. A face I know. Hank said he’d be here, but I don’t see him.”

  “Why Ulrich Bryant, I declare. Already in with the Crowes? Next thing you know Mama or Gramma will be showing up on your doorstep with a list of the single women in the family and all our best attributes.”

  “Um.” He blushed a little, and I elbowed Rowan.

  ‘This is my cousin, Rowan Crowe,” I told him. I looked at her and hissed loudly out of the side of my mouth so he could hear too, “Row, they’ve already gotten to him. Who do you think they’re throwing at him?”

  “Ophelia.” Rowan crossed her legs and sipped her mint julep before winking at Ulrich. “It’s Ophelia, isn’t it? It always is. Is this the one investigating you?”

  “Him and Hank both. Along with Mary Michelle, my biggest fan. But he’s the one who brought his massive dogs over and showed me the horrifying pictures.”

  Her look said she wasn’t impressed, but she didn’t do anything more than smile at him with her smooth, shark’s smile. She crossed her legs and glanced at me as I watched him realize she was sizing him up.

  Ulrich cleared his throat and changed the subject, “Is Ophelia the one that looks like a fairy crossed with a barbie doll?”

  “All Aunt Heather’s girls look that way,” Rowan told him, “But Ophelia’s the one who sounds like Snow White.”

  “She’s so sweet,” I told Ulrich the way Mama would say it. “Such a good cook. You know she won the peach jam contest at the fair last year. The state fair. That’s hard to do around these parts. We take our peaches seriously.”

  His lips twitched.

  “And she just loves children. Do you have any children? Do you love children? With a job like a policeman, so protective, you’re just made for being a daddy, aren’t you?”

  He leaned a little away at that, and Rowan’s shout of laughter had him blushing deeply.

  “Don’t worry,” Rowan said, “Ava’s channeling her Mama to poke fun. Which one of them got you?”

  “Uh…” Ulrich cleared his throat and then admitted, “Heather. She came into the police station. Something about a possibly stolen watch.” Rowan snorted while I pressed my lips together to keep from giggling, “And somehow I was promising to come to this tonight.”

  “Heather’s a powerful woman,” Rowan said. Then looking my way she asked, “Can you imagine if she was a witch, too.”

  I shuddered and sipped my drink.

  “Are all of these people related to you?”

  “Only half,” Rowan told him. “The rest are friends. Gramma is a popular woman. And she’s lived in Longfolk her whole life. Her parties are always like this.”

  “Already rubbing up on the new guy?” Emerson asked as she sat down with a mint julep that she, no doubt, didn’t need to steal from Uncle Freddie. “You know Ava is unemployed right? Babysits and washes dishes and other such…interesting things. You should meet Ophelia. She’s so sweet. And so good at so many things. I’d be happy to introduce you. Ophelia isn’t a murder suspect.”

  Ulrich cleared his throat looking a bit shocked. “I…”

  “Come,” she said. I was almost surprised she didn’t snap her fingers at him.

  “He’s met Ophelia,” Rowan told her sister. “He’s also a full-grown man who can make his own choices. As the cop looking into Ava, he’s pretty aware of her state as a murder suspect. After all, he’s the one hunting her down.”

  “I’m just trying to help. You two are dominating his attention….and no one really believes Ava killed anyone. Maybe if she ran them over with her bicycle or poisoned them accidentally with one of those little kitchen potions she makes, but shooting someone? She’d load the gun wrong.”

  “Actually,” Ulrich said, “I chose to sit with them. Ava is a friend of mine and though the investigation is ongoing, we’re pursuing a lot of avenues.”

  He smiled as Emerson’s jaw dropped. “Well don’t let her lie about having a job.”

  “That’s funny,” Ulrich said, as I leaned back and crossed my legs, “I’ve seen her working rather a lot. Just at Lavender Lane today when she set me up for my new place.”

  “Working for free rent isn’t the same as working a job,” Emerson told him. “Surely you agree.”

  “I saw the house of a woman who was clearly supporting herself well. I’m not sure it matters how she does that as long as she’s on this side of the law.”

  Emerson smiled smoothly and then said, “Assuming her parents don’t give her money.”

  “You know they don’t,” Rowan shot out.

  “Enough,” I said, rising. “Look it’s Jinx.”

  I left them and made my way to where Jinx stood. “There isn’t enough booze for an evening with Emerson.”

  “Cheers to that,” Jinx muttered and then wandered over to Gramma to press a kiss on her cheek and leave a gift. Jinx wasn’t related by blood, but she was one of us all the same. We left Rowan and Ulrich and kicked my brothers out of their chairs near the kegs.

  “Emerson, get to you?” Oaken demanded.

  My expression was answer enough.

  “Stupid wench,” Oaken said. “I don’t know why she cares so much what you do.”

  “You have a better place and more money than me,” Levi said.

  Oaken and I both shot him a look and then he shrugged.

  Jinx laughed and said, “Levi, you are hardly the same as your sister. A teenager makes more money than you, and you only have a place because of the mercy of your family.”

  Levi shrugged and tried a winning smile at Jinx.

  He could care less what people thought of him. Most of the time, I was the same, but it bothered me that they compared us. I loved my brother. I loved him a lot. But he didn’t work and he couch surfed. I had a truck, a house, and I never ever asked anyone for money. Why couldn’t they see the difference?

  “We’re both unemployed,” Levi said as Ulrich and Rowan joined us. We all glanced at Ulrich, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wondered if he’d come with Rowan to investigate while he ate my cupcakes?

  Rowan snorted and Jinx said, “Ava is self-employed. You, sir, are unemployed.”

  “I wash dishes for Theo sometimes. She did just the other night.”

  “But she did it as a favor, and you do it to turn your phone back on.”

  “We both get paid for it,” Levi said with another of those shrugs. “Me and Ava aren’t made for corporate America.”

  “The last time Ava slept on my couch,” Rowan told him, “We had a girl’s night and drank too much wine. You did last week. And the week before. And the week before.”

  “So?”

  “Can we stop,” I asked. “Please. I feel like crap.”

  “Speaking of, Ava, I need a place tonight.” Levi grinned and fluttered his lashes at me.

  “I’m working tonight,” I told him deciding just that second. I should probably want someone around even though the guy who had been taking pictures of me was dead. But who killed that guy? What if I was somehow, unwittingly, involved?

  “Well, I could…” Levi started.

  “No,” I shook my head. “Heck no.”

  Jinx and Rowan were giggling and poor Ulrich who wasn’t used to our ways examined us as though we were escapees from the mental hospital. I introduced my brothers to Ulrich without explaining Levi and his mooching ways and then leaned back watching as Gramma took one of my cupcakes.

  “Oh Gramma,” Emerson cooed, “Try one of mine. I think you’ll love them.”

  “Honey does make excellent cupcakes. But Ava knows my favorite. Dear,” Gramma said to Emerson, cupping her cheek. “Everything isn’t a competition. You have your talents. Ava has hers. Baking isn’t your forte, love, don’t try to force it.”

  “I’m not competing with Ava.” Emerson bit her lip to keep back the rest of what she was going to say, but we could all see her clenched fists held tightly against her side.

  “Ava,” Oaken whispered, “Geez, Em hates you.”

  “Of course, you aren’t dear,” Gramma told Emerson. “You’re so good at wheeling and dealing. Ava is magic at crafting the life she wants. The fact that you’re both doing what you want, and so well, is just delightful. This Grandmother couldn’t be more proud.”

  Emerson’s ears turned red as I snorted into my cup. Gramma had just equated Emerson the lawyer, and Ava the screw-up.

  “Well, this night just won’t get better,” I declared.

  The music started and I leaned back and closed my eyes. The achiness had faded in the last day and I wasn’t in constant high-level pain, more of an allover paper cut.

  “You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to sleep on your couch. You have an extra bed. Let me move in. I’ll do the maintenance.”

  “Hell no, bro,” I said. I kissed his cheek and said, “You’re right. I’m working now to avoid you. But I only lie to Mama and Emerson, so I’m gonna go do that work.”

  “What are you doing? Are you being safe?” Oaken demanded.

  I winked at my big brother, said goodbye to Gramma and Mama, and escaped before my brother, Levi, could follow.

  Chapter 7

  I didn’t really have specific work to do when I got home and if I were anyone else, I might have curled up on the couch. I was, however, being flooded with energy, so I decided it was time to clean my house from top to bottom. If you didn’t burn through the energy, muscles tightened into knots and low-level pain turned agonizing. I started with the far corner. I pulled all of the books off and started stacking them into piles by genre. My magic books I moved up to my loft area and then I made a big basket of things that belonged downstairs including a disturbing number of cups. On
the way back down, someone knocked on my door.

  I had locked it, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever not lock it again. I checked the peephole and found Jinx, Oaken, and Levi on the other side of the door.

  “I told you she’d be doing something weird,” Jinx said. “Who doesn’t deep clean her house at,” she glanced at her watch, “9:45pm?”

  She pushed past me and I scowled at her as my brothers followed her in. Levi gave me his charming grin while Oaken glanced me over as if looking for something. Hair out of place? Crazy eyes? A knife? Any of those were a possibility in my current mood.

  I scowled at my brothers, my face smoothing when my gaze hit Jinx and then I said, “If you’re going to be here, you have to order pizza.”

  “I’ll go get Theo’s,” Levi offered quickly. “If y’all pay.”

  I sniffed and then dug through my purse, tossing the cash from washing dishes his way. I wasn’t even attempting to be nice. “I want the Fiery Warlock and at least two Goats in the Garden.”

  Oaken placed his own order and Jinx added two beers for herself and spicy chicken wings. While Oaken called the order in, Levi disappeared with Oaken’s car keys.

  “Should you be combining your meds and beer?” Oaken asked.

  I threw a book at him in reply.

  “Move my couches,” I ordered.

  Oaken’s brows rose, but I wasn’t one of those nice people when I was in pain. You know the type, the ones who give you tight smiles and adjust their shoulders before they help you clean. Nope. I was the crazy person in pain. I just might claw someone by accident. Or intent. Or a combination of both intent and accident.

  I swept under the couch and then noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under the area rug. I grabbed it while Oaken moved the couch back. It was three of the pictures that Ulrich had brought by. They must have slid under the couch when I dropped them. With my heart in my throat, I found the one with me bending over the dresser, my…bounty…on display.

  The next two pictures were of two other women. One of a brunette in sunglasses getting into a little white Honda Civic. The one after that was of a black girl with hair cut tightly to her head. It set off the fine angels of her neck and chin. You could see the beauty in her. The way the light caught her skin, the way she had a dancer’s body to go with the fine lines of her neck, but there was nothing in the picture of her that was anything other than lovely. It wasn’t…nasty.

  The one of me was nasty. Or maybe I was just reading into the picture of me because it was a picture of me.

  I showed the pictures to Oaken and then asked, “Am I crazy? The one of me is worse right?”

  Oaken glanced at the picture and then slid the one of me in my bra and jeans under the other two and said, “You are crazy. You’re also mean when you’re like this. However, that picture of you is worse. If that had been me…”

  I scowled at him. I knew I was being crazy, but what did he know? He was a dude. If someone took a picture of him digging for a shirt everyone wouldn’t wonder why his second-floor curtains were open before he had a shirt on. No one would question why he didn’t anticipate someone being a dirtbag, but if my mom saw that picture, it would be partially my fault it happened.

  I worked quickly, nearly frenzied, but that was how the energy rode me on days like this. If I hadn’t this kind of energy, I wouldn’t have been able to have redone houses and put in gardens. I had started to see the energy surges as a superpower, but usually, I worked and ate and burned through the energy until I hit the wall of the torpor and slept for days. When I couldn’t burn through the energy, like when I was hiding in the woods from a murderer, my muscles tensed into knots and I rode the pain train.

  I wiped down the baseboards of my house and then scrubbed the stairs up to the loft. Levi would be back any minute, so instead of starting another project, I started sorting the herbs for potions and tonics. I couldn’t start anything that needed to be monitored in case the torpor hit.

  I was clinking the bottles around not really focusing on what I was doing because I’d set the pictures on the table next to me. The more I looked at them, the more I thought I recognized the chick with the sunglasses.

  But where did I know her from? Jinx came up the stairs and started wiping down my bottles and putting them away. She saw my gaze fixed on the photos and came around the side of me to stare down at them.

  “I hate this picture,” she said, taking the one of me, and crumpling it. I watched it fall into the trash can, but I couldn’t get it out of my head. I thought it might be the last thing I thought of on my deathbed.

  “Levi messaged. He just left Theo’s with the pizza and beer.”

  “Great,” I said, staring at sunglasses girl. I swear I could see her in my mind with shorter hair. She wore cherry chapstick every single day. She—dang it, where did I know her from?

  “Why are you staring at that picture? It’s creepy. ”

  “But not as creepy at the guy who followed me around and took pictures of me in my underwear.”

  “Not at that,” Jinx said. “What are you thinking?”

  “This girl…” It suddenly came back to me. “English literature, freshman year. You remember. She hated Wuthering Heights.”

  “We all hated that book. I love English literature and I’ve tried to read that book 9 times and never been able to finish.”

  “True.” I tapped the picture once and again, I could almost hear her name in my head.

  “Something with a B,” Jinx said. “You said the football guy had the hots for her and then you got sick. She left too. I never knew why.”

  “That was when I had those early bouts of HS that were so bad,” I said. “I didn’t bulk that time. It took forever to shake off the lethargy.”

  Jinx nodded and then said, “What are you thinking?”

  “I think Mary Michelle hates me.”

  “She doesn’t believe you killed that guy though. I know she doesn’t. Aunt Heather asked her about you today when she went and lassoed Ulrich.”

  My eye twitched a little. I could just see my southern princess aunt flouncing through the police station, ensuring Mary Michelle didn’t think I’d killed someone and then going onto make Ulrich come to the birthday party for Gramma and match him up with sweet, perfect Ophelia.

  “Everyone’s already judged me.” I let Jinx see my true feelings. “It’s not that they like me so much that they know I wouldn’t do it, that it would never even occurred to them.”

  “No one thinks you did it,” Jinx said again.

  “Because I’m too big of a screw-up. Me? Fight off some guy who was stalking me? Never. The way they look at me says—they aren’t even surprised he was stalking me. They’d have been more shocked that I knew versus not knowing. That’s obvious.”

  “Your family…” Jinx started then stopped. She was trying, I’d give her that. But I shook my head and continued.

  “They assume that Emerson would know.”

  Jinx’s gaze flicked over my face and she didn’t argue. She knew what I meant. She’d seen it herself. She took a slow breath in and said, “You embrace the screw-up persona.”

  “Maybe,” I admitted, “I’m just tired of trying to convince anyone otherwise. I just…it’s just…”.

  “Easier?” She asked and I nodded.

  It was easier. If my family assumed I was screwing up, they wouldn’t pay attention to what I was doing. When I was cleaning out a house, they thought I was doing some side job to pay for new shoes. Not that I was flipping it myself. Not that I could be capable of doing it. Maybe if someone else was monitoring or telling me what to do. So yeah, maybe their relentless doubt made me feel like sooner or later I was going to fail. Might as well keep both my successes and my failures to myself.

  “Except for you and Gramma—no one really thinks that I can do anything. In fact, they assume that I’ll eventually mess it up no matter what. Levi gets more credit than I do.”

  Speaking of, Levi slammed the door and shouted, “I got your pizza, witches!”

  I rolled my eyes and grabbed the pictures. As we descended the stairs I said “Oaken, did you know her? I swear she went to Savannah Supernatural Community College.”