“Would you like the prospectus?” Reina asked her.
Linda picked it up. Her sleeve moved and revealed a lace-like pattern on her wrist. She’d gotten herself a henna tattoo.
As she strutted off, to a candle-lit table where her husband already waited, I exhaled deeply until I’d released my tension. “She really gets under my skin.”
“No kidding.” Harper grimaced. “I got goosebumps when you were baring your teeth at her like a vampire ready to bite.”
“I can’t help it.”
“Yes, you can,” Ange said. “You’re the bigger person. You have so many things she’ll never have.”
“Like what?” I shot Linda’s table a quick glance. She and her husband Garth had been a little rocky for a while but considering that he was now pouring her a glass of the most expensive wine theBlue Moonoffered, and seemed to genuinely smile at something she’d said, they appeared to have patched up their differences.
“You’ve got us, and Cosmo, and the power to make a difference to Willowmere,” Reina said. “Would you rather swap that for being shallow and unfulfilled, despite being married to a decent guy with heaps of money?”
“You’re right.” I put my hand on the table. Ange put hers on top, and Harper and Reina followed suit. “I hereby declare that I’ll sort out this toxic relationship, as soon as I have the mental space for it. Good enough?”
“It’ll do,” Harper said. “One, two, three!”
We raised our hands together and clasped them. A warm, fuzzy sensation spread from my stomach, all the way to my fingertips.
Chapter 11
“I’m proud of you,” Cosmo said when I informed him over breakfast about everything that had happened the night before.
“You are?” The fuzzy sensation returned. Cosmo didn’t stoop to over-the-top flattery. As such, a compliment from my feline mentor was a moment to be savored.
“You’ve stood up to Rick – overdue, but it counts. You’ve decided to move on from that weird relationship with that stupid woman. And, crucially, you kept your witchy radar tuned in through it all.”
“I did? I mean, yeah, I did.”
“It’s okay, no need to pretend you noticed. Just think back to what you told me about Linda and her?” He blinked at me.
In my head, I replayed my monologue. “The henna tattoo!”
“Exactly. If our latest murder victim just dumped his henna artist girlfriend, as you told me, she should be able to tell you a lot about him.”
“True, but please, don’t call Tim ‘our’ murder victim. It’s nothing to do with us per se that we keep on becoming involved in these cases.” Another thought hit me. “That’s probably what Linda was doing in Cannon Hill, getting her skin beautified there instead of using the local tattoo parlor slash henna studio. The question is, how do I interrogate the ex-girlfriend?”
“That shouldn’t be too hard. Humans love to talk about themselves.”
“As opposed to a cat like you?”
His ear flicked. “Do you want my advice, or would you rather attempt unfunny jokes?”
I sighed. “You’re right. It sounded better in my head.”
“Most things do. It sometimes happens even to me,” he admitted magnanimously.
I accepted his words in the spirit he’d said them. “What is your advice?”
“Visit the parlor, mention that you were the one who found the body, and ask her for a temporary tattoo to bring you good luck.”
“That might actually work.”
“After you’ve interviewed the detective. Paws crossed you won’t need to go to all that trouble.” He stretched out his front legs and crossed them. “But first, a quick spell work training, then the library, and after that, the police.”
I hurried through my spells, starting with levitation. I no longer panted like a marathon runner after lifting one of Cosmo’s soft balls off the floor. Today, I felt strong enough to add a second ball.
