"I am, in the afternoons." I would have stopped longer to have a chat with Kyle, except that I noticed Detective Stone driving past.
In the passenger seat of his car was a woman I hoped was the elusive Pamela. Now, wasn’t that interesting?
"I'll see you around," I said. "Feel free to drop in and check out the books."
What a shame there was no way I could listen in on the conversation at the police station. On the other hand, it didn’t really matter, as long as everything was right again.
On our way to the car, there were a few other people who stopped us to fuss over Cosmo, including a couple of toddlers. Which meanthe had to show all the patience in the world to put up with grabbing little fingers and childish shrieks that might have hurt his ears.
Above him, in the trees, birds fluttered and sang.
Which was interesting.
Not a single person mentioned anything about my aunt having had a fight about Cosmo, and the birds all ignored him. Which kind of confirmed what he’d said. He’d never touched a bird on Jake’s property or anywhere else.
That was another good thing.
This day shaped up to be the best I’d had in a long, long time.
Back home, I treated myself to a hot chocolate.
I hadn’t bought the slab of pie that I had promised myself, but the sweet drink should do the trick.
Cosmo stretched himself on the counter and rolled over to have his belly massaged. "That's the spot," he said. “What was that about the tree incident?”
“I couldn't resist, and they didn’t hurt her much. They only dinged her pride."
"Well, still impressive. Three chestnuts."
I preened a little. “You don’t want to tell me off for using witchcraft to indulge myself?"
"If you promise not to do it again. It’s a slippery slope."
"Good. Honestly, I shouldn’t have given in to temptation, yet it felt so right to do that. I’d been wanting to do something like that for ages."
"You and about half the town," he said.
"She is pretty obnoxious, right?"
"Hmm. She’s probably just bored. Also, she’s not smart enough to be obnoxious."
"That is very true. At least now I got my frustration with her out of my system. I mean, who was she to talk about my hair, my weight, andmy private life? That woman is botoxed and liposuctioned within an inch of her life. I’ve seen Barbie dolls with a lot more expression.”
"True," he said when I ran out of steam.
"And now? More baking?" I asked. “Or spell work?”
I had to admit, I was starting to look forward to it. Since I’d spotted Pamela next to the detective, I was on top of the world. My patience, and my sleuthing with the aid of my sidekicks, had produced results.
Bex, Cosmo, and the rest of the coven: 1.
Vile, murderous forces: 0.
"Lunch would be acceptable," Cosmo said. "I think you’ve done enough for today."
He devoured the last morsels of his cat food when the crunch of tires outside and the ringing of my phone made me jump. I shouldn’t still be this nervous.
On the other hand, I hadn’t quite settled in completely. And it had been a stressful period. I answered. "Yes?"
