“If I can convince him to part with anything, I’ll let you know,” Winnie rolls her eyes.
“Dora and I are doing a routine,” Isis pipes up. “I think we have a shot at first place.”
“When did I agree to this?” Dora splutters.
“Last night. We were curled up on my sofa watchingPractical Magic.”
“I was asleep!”
“I didn’t say you were awake when you agreed.”
Dora glares at her sister. Her lip wobbles, and I know she’s thinking about how her husband will react.
Add that to my list of director duties – make sure Mike is aware of the consequences should he make a fuss.
Celeste frowns at her phone. I assume she’s looking at her calendar, but she has an astronomy app open. “I’m going to be at Mum’s the week of the variety show. I’m so sorry, team. I’ve been letting everyone down lately.”
“You haven’t,” Mina assures her. “Your mum needs you. Besides, we’ve got everything sorted.”
“But the killer is still at large, and Maisie’s on the brink of losing her job.” Celeste’s gaze falls to the floor. There’s no reason for her to feelguilty. None of this is her fault. But Celeste always takes responsibility for others’ pain. I’ve always said it’s her greatest weakness. “And who knows what the vampire world is going to do with Winnie and Alaric—”
I sigh, attempting to change the subject before she spirals. “Can we actually talk about the book this week?”
“Yes, let’s talk books! The first item of business – I have copies for all of us of next week’s book.” Mina holds up a paperback. She doesn’t realise she’s holding it backwards, but I recognise the design on the back cover as the choice I threw into the hat.Freestyleby Bea Paige.
“I finished the whole series,” I tell her. “For those who haven’t read it yet, i.e. every other member of this supposedbook club, it’s about adancer who ends up with not one but four beautiful dancing men. It has the most amazing descriptions of movement—”
“Now I know why you chose that series.” Mina’s eyes sparkle. “All the hot dancers.”
“Andit’s a second chance romance.” I fold my arms. “My favourite kind.”
“I’ll bet.” Winnie winks at me.
“Second chance is sooooo angsty.” Isis makes a face. “And there are always too many flashbacks. I want a fun fake-dating story.”
“No thanks.” Winnie makes a face. “I don’t want to read about my life. I’m still not over the trauma of trying to convince Alaric’s mother not to eat me.”
“Ilovethe flashbacks, and I could use a little angst.” Maisie grabs one of the paperback copies from the stack at Mina’s feet. “It’ll take my mind off the fact that I might not have a job in a month.”
“I can’t believe the council won’t fund the paper,” Celeste says.
Maisie slams her fist into a cushion. “Exactly. It’s ridiculous, but they say subscriber numbers are too low for the resources we’re allotted. People need local news! We inform the village about important things, except not a certain killer who’s still at large, since only vampires know about that.”
“Do we still think it’s Gideon?” Celeste asks.
“No,” Winnie and Dora say at the same time. I keep my lips firmly pursed because I’m not going to give Gideon a free pass on anything, even though I have to admit it’s unlikely that he’s the killer. For all his (considerable) faults, Gideon cares about Sanctus too much to risk putting it in the limelight by killing and husking ex-employees.
Winnie raises an eyebrow at me but doesn’t say anything.
“But Gideon is letting us lead the investigation, and wedothink the killer lives on Sanctus Estate,” Mina adds, then explains what we know about the Thralled staff and Danny O’Hare. Maisie writes all the information we have up on a whiteboard for everyone to see, and dictates it into Mina’s phone.
“So, what’s our next step in the investigation?” Celeste crunches down on a butterscotch tart.
“We need to talk to the staff.” Maisie is already back in investigative journalist mode now that she’s sweet-talked me into being her director. “Maybe one of them will know if anything untoward is happening behind the scenes.”
“Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way.” Isis glances over at the purple cloth covering the table in the corner. “We’re thinking like amateur detectives when we could use magic—”
The other original members of the Nevermore Murder Club and Smutty Book Coven exchange weary glances.
