“Thank you,” his mother repeated.
“My pleasure.”
The sour-faced woman had disappeared while I was outside. Reina waved at me from a corner where she stood with a tween and an older man. I took him to be the grandparent. Strange. I hadn’t expected the place to be humming, given the short notice and lack of advertising. But surely news had spread enough for people to drop by, if only to check out what I had or hadn’t done to the place?
When I closed the door behind them, Reina flopped onto the sofa. “We’re in deep trouble.”
I’d fiddled with the old-fashioned date stamp on the counter. Now I dropped it, only to catch it in the last second. Cosmo winked at me in slow-motion.
“Care to explain?” I parked my backside next to her.
“Did you notice your lack of customers? It seems, people are talking about a big fight your aunt had with Jake, just before he died.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish. In some minds, Violet has gone from being a much-loved, much-missed stalwart to being suspect number one. Others are defending her, for now.”
“How convenient, seeing that she’s also dead. Anger rose in me. “How can anyone believe this –” I stopped myself andthought of the swear jar. “This load of manure. If she had anything to do with his death, why would she have written to the police at all and started the whole investigation?”
“I’m not saying that I believe a word of it, I’m only telling you what I heard.”
I buried my head in my hands.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You’ll get to the bottom of this. We’ll all help you.” She gave me an affectionate hug before she rose. “Blue Moon, eight o’clock?”
“I’ll see you then.” I locked the door behind her and hung up the “Closed”-sign.
“Deep trouble sounds about right,” I said aloud. “What on earth is going on?”
Cosmo stretched. He carefully climbed off the counter and sauntered upstairs. I followed him, thinking furiously. The next thing I knew, I missed a step and landed on my backside. Again.
Cosmo turned around.
“It’s okay,” I said. I grabbed the handrail and pulled myself upright.
Upstairs, he danced around me, as if to inspect every inch of me. “You’re not usually that clumsy.”
“I was distracted.”
“No. I think you’re running low on energy.”
“I’m not ancient, thank you very much.”
“Magical energy. The more you use it without proper training, the harder bad thoughts in the vicinity hit you. That’s why most witches learn to shield themselves a little.” He appeared a little worried.
“You’re the one who insists on me practicing,” I protested.
“I know. It’s the only thing that can protect you, but we need to figure out how to do it without draining you.” He sighed.
“Can’t we postpone the whole witchcraft thing until Jake’s killer is under lock and key?”
“I wish it were so easy.”
“Because it’s all connected.”
“Yes.”
For a moment, I’d have given everything to turn back the clock, so my aunt would be alive, I had no idea witches were real, and hey, turns out there’s a lot worse things than a crumbling marriage.
