“Mom!” Kelley cried, jumping to her feet. “Enough!”
Ms. Carmine silently sipped at her tea. To her credit, she was in a much better mood for the remainder of our meal after she’d gotten whatever that was off her chest.
And the whole time we ate and made small talk, I kept on wondering: Had Kelley’s mom just confessed to Harold’s murder?
And if so, what should I do next?
19
When I returned home from my lunch outing, I found my cat waiting for me by the front door.
“Where were you?” he demanded with an angry flick of his tail.
“Something came up, and I had to help a friend,” I explained as I crossed the room and flopped down on the couch.
“You smell like barbecue sauce,” Merlin accused. His nose twitched unhappily.
“That help involved taking her out to lunch. But that’s not what’s important here.” I leaned forward and steepled my fingers. “I think I know who killed Harold.”
Merlin jumped up onto the sofa beside me and allowed me to run my fingers through his thick double coat.“So you’ve got it all figured out, do you? Enlighten me, then.”
“It was Ms. Carmine. She’s the mother of one of the other baristas, Kelley. And Harold was Kelley’s father. There was no love lost between them, let me tell you. Add in the fact that Harold was poisoned with gas line antifreeze and that Officer Dash is convinced someone from out of state did the deed, and the fact she all but confessed over lunch, and there you have it.”
“Interesting,” Merlin said from his place beside me. “One hundred percent wrong, but interesting, nonetheless.”
“Wrong?” My heart sank, and I pulled my hand away. “Why do you think that? I’ve already thought really long and hard about this, and Ms. Carmine definitely did it.”
“I don’t merelythink you’re wrong. I know it.” He sat up and puffed his furry chest with pride. “I just paid a visit to our old friend Harold, and I can say with absolute certainty that he was poisoned by a magical potion. Not… what was it you said? Antifreeze?” He chuckled quietly and shook his head.
“But Officer Dash said—”
“Officer Dash lied,” he said flatly.
No, this didn’t make sense, and I’d tell him that if he would just let me finish a sentence. “Why would a police officer lie?”
Merlin hung his head, his ears thrust back in consternation.“That’s a good question. You can’t exactly ask her. She’ll just lie again.”
“I’m going to the station,” I said, shifting back toward the door. “Something’s not right here.”
“I’m coming with you,” he insisted.
“Are we going to teleport? Because the station is on a pretty busy street. Someone will see.”
Merlin jumped off the couch and then turned to face me.“You drive. I’ll meet you there. First I have some business with my cauldron.”
“What are you going to do? Can’t we just drive together? I’d feel safer if I had you with me.” I was in a sad state considering I felt that I needed my cat’s company in order to stay safe.
He didn’t budge despite my pleas. “I’m a cat, Gracie. Cats don’t do cars. Besides, I’ll already be at the station and waiting by the time you get there. I just need a few minutes to mix a truth potion. Since I’m a sky witch, I can deliver it by air. All your officer… what was it? Nash?”
“Dash,” I corrected. “She’s the one with the bad attitude and permanent scowl, remember?”
He grimaced then, showing off one pearly white fang.“Dash, okay. But how could I remember when I have yet to meet her?”
“She’s already been here two times in less than twenty-four hours. How is it you haven’t been here for any of her little visits?”
“Dunno, but don’t worry about it too much. My truth potion will be a gas rather than a liquid. I only need to breathe it out and she to breathe it in for her to fall under its spell. We’ll know everything within a matter of minutes.”
“Great, because I am already so sick of this investigation.”
Merlin shook his head.“We still need to toughen you up. You’ll deal with much worse than this serving your role as my familiar.”
I rolled my eyes hard.“Oh, goody. I can hardly wait.”
Merlin clearly didn’t appreciate my attitude, but that didn’t stop me from feeling exhausted, afraid, and in a foul mood.
“Stop with the sarcasm. It’s not very becoming for a familiar,” he hissed.
“I’m more than just a familiar. I’m a person, too,” I reminded him, not exactly sure where this was coming from. I guess I just had things to say, questions that had gone unanswered for too long, even though it hadn’t been long at all.
“Why did you choose me?” I blurted out.
Merlin turned to stare at me head on. He blinked slowly, then stopped.“I didn’t choose you, Gracie. I chose your grandmother. Remember, I was already here when you showed up.”
“So you wanted her but got me. Right, I’m just one big mistake,” I pouted. His confession hurt far more than I’d have expected it to.
“An accident, yes. Mistake, no. I watched you for months before revealing myself. I had to make absolutely sure,” he confessed softly. “I hadn’t planned for it to be you, but I’m glad it is.”
I chanced a smile.“Really?”
“Really. Now enough with the mushy stuff.” He moved toward the door and stopped in front of the pet flap. “We need to focus on the task ahead. I want you to drive straight to the police station. No pit stops or detours. Straight there, and I’ll be waiting with the truth potion ready to go. We’ll go in together.”
“Yes, boss,” I said with a nod. Our short chat just now had given me a renewed sense of purpose. Merlin hadn’t chosen me initially, but he chose me now.
As it turned out, that mattered a lot.
With his support and encouragement, I would be okay. And thanks to the plan he’d concocted, we could scrub my name from the suspect list within mere minutes.
I was going to be okay…
In part, because I didn’t really have any other options.
20
Merlin and I both marched outside. He headed to the yard to do some work with his bird bath cauldron, and I climbed into my car and backed out of the driveway. It would take me about five minutes to reach the police station, which meant I had precious little time to sort through my latest thoughts.
According to Merlin, Officer Dash had lied to me about the poison that killed Harold. But why? The simple answer would be that the medical examiner couldn’t trace the presence of magic and truly thought gas line antifreeze was to blame.
But something in my gut told me that wasn’t quite right.
Had Officer Dash knowingly lied to me to see how I responded? But if she’d intentionally lied, did that mean she knew magic was to blame? Or had she yet to hear anything conclusive from the medical team?
Once again, I wound up lost in the churning sea of my thoughts. So lost, in fact, that I forgot to pay attention to the road signs. I blew right through a stop sign at a quiet intersection that led out of my neighborhood, only realizing it once it was too late to brake.
Crud. I really needed to stop getting consumed by my thoughts and start paying better attention to traffic. I would be better after this quick trip to the police station. Maybe I’d start pulling to the side of the road when the urge to overthink became too great.
Yeah, that would make me less of a hazard to myself and others. And yet…
It seemed I’d made this vow too late, because a police cruiser pulled out after me and turned on its siren.
No, no, no!
Yes, I’d been caught and deserved to be punished for it. I’d find some way to pay the ticket. Right now, I was more worried about the delay in joining Merlin at the police station. Hopefully this routine traffic stop wouldn’t add too much time to my trip. And, yeah, maybe Merlin would be mad about having to wait a few extra minutes, but it wasn’t like running from the police was a viable option here, especially since I was heading straight toward their HQ, anyway.