The bell on the door tinkled softly and a young couple entered. Their eyes skittered over my booth without stopping before they picked a booth halfway between the door and me. A dumpy-looking waitress in a salmon-colored uniform took her time waddling up to the couple. I watched as she took their drink orders before heading toward the kitchen and I gave a mental groan. There was nothing sinister or suspicious about this place or the people in it.
Not yet, at least.
The dinner rush started a little before six. No Bull filled quickly, a line forming at the front. No one questioned the empty—looking—back booth. With the crowd came a second waitress. Unlike the one who’d been on the clock since I arrived, this girl was all energy and smiles. She danced from table to table as she took orders and delivered food. I was rather surprised considering she was wearing totally impractical footwear for a waitress. I hated the term “do-me heels” but I couldn’t think of any other description. They were bright red with four-inch, pencil-thin heels, and they didn’t match her uniform.
As I was looking for anything unusual or out of place, the shoes were suspicious. And they were the only unusual thing I’d seen so far today.
This seriously can’t come down to a pair of stilettos? I’d been hunting shadow creatures for half a week and they were somehow tied up with a giddy waitress who liked heels? It didn’t seem credible, and yet, I had to find a way to confirm or eliminate her as the unknown witch culprit. Which means I need to get my hands on those shoes.
The bell on the door chimed again, and I tore my gaze off the waitress. I’d intended to study the new patron, but I already knew this one.
Derrick.
He didn’t bother looking at the patrons, but, if I judged his studying gaze correctly, he evaluated the room as a whole. He turned in my direction and headed past first one, then two, three booths until he stood at the final booth. He slipped into the seat across from me and then twisted so he could rest his back against the wall with his feet in the aisle.
Without looking in my direction he said, “With the wall behind it and with this being the only booth without a panel window, this is probably the most defensible place in the room. It also has the best vantage point.” He ran a hand through his short hair, further mussing it, and then shot a smile in my direction. “So, drop the charms and tell me how brilliant I am, Darque.”
I deactivated my charms and spells.
“Eh,” I said, swiping a hand casually through the air, “I guess you’ve learned a thing or two working with me the last few years. What are you doing here, Knight?”
He shrugged and picked up a menu, his hands already gloved. “I thought I’d come help you with your surveillance.”
“In our five years as partners you’ve never once joined me on a case.” That earned another shrug from him, and apprehension gathered like a winding spring in my chest. “What else did you see in that premonition?”
Whatever he was going to say was cut short by the appearance of our waitress—and not the happy one as her section was the opposite half of the diner. I ordered a strawberry milk shake but Derrick passed on both food and drink. That didn’t improve our waitress’s mood.
Once she’d gone, I turned toward my partner. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Did you see the other waitress’s heels?”
“I’m guessing you haven’t suddenly become interested in fashion, so are you asking because you think they might be pertinent to our case or because you know they are?”
“If I’d seen anything else that would help you, I’d tell you.” He frowned. Then he swiveled back around in his seat and rose. “This was a mistake. Enjoy your hunt.”
“See you back at the hotel.”
He stared at me, shaking his head. “Here, take this.” He handed me a small disk on a chain. It was the materials he used for healing charms. Was I going to get hurt or was someone I was with going to be? He’d never given me a healing charm before I was injured before.
I lifted an eyebrow but the waitress returned with my shake before anything else could be said. I thanked her dismissively and then thought better of it.
“Hey, what’s her story?” I asked our waitress as I nodded toward her coworker.
“Who, Vicky?” She scowled at the other woman and Derrick sank back into his seat. “You’d never know she took a bottle of pills and washed them down with vodka just a couple weeks ago. Had to have her stomach pumped. Then she gets released and she comes back here and flutters around.” She wiped her hand on her apron before turning back to me and leaning closer, as if we were discussing some conspiracy. “I tell you what—I don’t know what they gave her at that hospital, but I want some.”
“Is she a witch?”
The waitress stepped back, giving me a stunned look. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”
I shrugged and picked up my milk shake. She took the hint and waddled away from the table. As I sipped silently, Derrick nodded at me.
“What, you thought you were the only one who could gather intel?” I asked as I set down the shake.
He ignored that, twisting to look over his shoulder at Vicky, the perky waitress. “She really is very happy. How sad is it that happiness is part of what makes her suspicious?”
I couldn’t disagree. I also had a hard time imagining her being responsible for more than a dozen hospitalizations and for releasing shadow creatures. Every patron she served seemed happier for having interacted with her.
Derrick ran his hand through his hair again, making more clumps stand on end. “What do you plan to do?”
“Short of walking up and plugging her with a sleeping charm, I can’t think of any way to check the shoes for spells.”
“Yeah, that would be about as discreet as dropping a house on her.”
He said it while I was in the middle of sipping my shake and I barely choked down the half-frozen liquid around my laugh. I covered my mouth to cover my half laugh, half cough. Once I’d recovered I steered the conversation away from movie references and back on topic.
“I need a spell checker with more range,” I said, but they didn’t exist.
Actually they did, and I had access to one. He just happened to have two legs and walked around.
“Let me borrow your phone.”
My partner lifted an eyebrow but didn’t question or argue as he handed me the phone. I pulled out the slip where Russell had written his number and punched it into the phone.
I didn’t need a spell detector if I had a sensitive.
Officer Russell Lancaster arrived in record time. He wore a goofy smile as he crossed the diner, but it fell from his face when he noticed Derrick.
“Inspector,” he said, nodding at me and giving the word a chilly formality. He stood at the edge of the table, his features caught in a tide shifting between embarrassment and confusion.
Derrick was sitting sideways on his bench, taking up the entire thing, so I scooted over to allow the young officer to join us. He did, but his movements were disconnected, uncertain.
“Officer Lancaster, this is my partner, Inspector Knight. And vice versa.”
Russell held out his hand but, no big surprise, Derrick didn’t take it. Even with his gloves on he never shook hands. Instead he gave the young officer a sharp half wave. I could all but hear Russell’s teeth grinding from the perceived insult, but it wasn’t my place to reveal that my partner was wyrd.
“Anyway, here’s the issue,” I said and then laid out a very brief explanation of why we wanted to know about Vicky the waitress’s heels.