Cat-astrophic Spells (2 page)

T
he café was
dark when I got there. I knocked on the glass door, and within a few seconds, Bea hustled up from the basement. She flipped the bolt then yanked open the door.

“Thank goodness you’re here. Come on.” Taking my hand, she pulled me into the shadowy restaurant and around the counter to the concrete basement steps. The little bunker was sort of like our clubhouse, where we could meet and talk freely about… well, in this case, murder.

Aunt Astrid handed me a cup of tea she’d heated on her little hotplate. Bea could barely contain herself, and I saw she had a cup of tea she hadn’t even touched. For her to let an all-natural herbal remedy sit untouched meant she must have something big on her mind.

“When Jake came home, I just casually mentioned that you’d said you ran into him. I thought I was going to have to do a lot of tip-toeing around the topic, but as it turned out, he was ready to talk.”

I took a seat on the soft imitation Oriental rug that covered the concrete floor, folding my legs underneath me. “What did he say?” I carefully set my teacup down in front of me. It wouldn’t be long before the tea became cold. I was so shocked, I didn’t sip a drop as she told me everything.

The call had come into the Wonder Falls Police Station almost the minute after Levi had left the Brew-Ha-Ha Café. A frantic woman screamed and cried into the phone that she had found her father on the floor of his home, and he was not responding.

When the paramedics arrived, they found Brit Clegg near hysterics next to her father Marvin Clegg who lay in the middle of the living room floor. From what the EMTs could see, the first level of the house was torn apart. It hadn’t just been ransacked by a junkie looking for drugs or money. The place looked violated, purposefully vandalized.

Some pictures had been ripped in half while others remained untouched. The seat cushions looked as though they had been clawed open. Weird graffiti was scribbled on the walls with both marker and spray paint. A grimace on the dead man’s face made it obvious he’d been in great pain or fear when he died. The paramedics had estimated he’d been dead for a couple of hours.

“Jake said it broke his heart to see the ambulance drivers wheel that sheet-covered body out of the house with the daughter still sobbing on the floor. She kept crying ‘Daddy, oh Daddy,’” Bea said. “It took him almost twenty minutes to get her to stand and step out onto the porch for questioning.”

“Did he think she had something to do with it?” I cleared my throat as I pushed the image of my own mother out of my mind. Days went by in which I didn’t consciously think of her on that terrible night. But as sure as the sun rose in the east, I would see those giant monster hands pulling her underneath my bed and hear her voice at least once every day. I’d be back on top of my bed in my pink nightgown, eleven years old, screaming for help that didn’t come in time. I assumed my mother was dead. Whatever it was she’d fought off had wanted me, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t to play dolls. Instead, it took my mom, and I was left all alone.

Sure, I had Bea and Aunt Astrid, and I loved them with all my heart. They were my family. They believed my story about a monster under the bed dragging my mother away. But no matter who you were, when your parents passed, you’d prefer they simply fell asleep peacefully in the house where you grew up, surrounded by family and friends. Anything other than that was… unnatural. And all too real.

My eye stung as a single tear tried to surface, but I blinked it back.

Bea’s voice shifted from factual to sympathetic. “Jake said they weren’t ruling anything out. They were going to wait a couple of days and call her back into the station. He was going to let Blake question her.”

I finally took a sip of my tea and cringed a little at the ice-cold flavor of “green.” “Well, that ought to scare a confession out of her. Was it for money?”

Aunt Astrid looked down at me from the soft, green chair she had moved into the basement for herself. “Aren’t you being a little judgmental?”

I defiantly sipped more of the cold tea. “I don’t know. Am I? Levi did say
she,
didn’t he? And the chocolate business was making a pretty penny, right? I mean, I know what they were charging us for a couple dozen boxes of chocolate-covered toffee. They certainly couldn’t have been starving.”

Aunt Astrid looked past me to the highlights and shadows only she could see. “It doesn’t look good for the girl, but something is telling me it isn’t that easy. I can’t put my finger on it.”

“Well, they guessed the cause of death was a heart attack. A real bad one,” Bea said. “But they’ll know for sure after the autopsy.”

“So I guess we just wait and see. We might be able to sit this one out and let the cops handle it. Let Blake work his own special brand of magic.” I chuckled at my own clever play on words.

“I wish we could. But Jake gave me this.” Bea took a crumpled piece of paper from her front blouse pocket and handed it to Aunt Astrid, who gasped.

“What?” I mumbled, narrowing my eyes. “What is it?” Aunt Astrid handed me the paper, and it was my turn to gasp. “I know what these are. Not all of them, but I know what some of them are. Where did Jake get these?”

She swallowed hard. “He said they were all over the walls. He quickly drew them as best he could because he thought I might know what they meant. He couldn’t very well get us the crime scene photos.”

Scrawled in thin, blue ballpoint lines were bizarre symbols and letters from a long forgotten alphabet. The markings were crude, and some weren’t even correct, making nonsensical commands if translated literally.

“This is… it looks like a third-grader did this,” I said. “Am I looking at this right? A cessation summons?”

Bea shrugged. “Taking Jake’s artistic abilities into account, I thought that same thing myself.”

“Are we sure he drew them right? If you don’t know this stuff and leave out a line here or there, it looks close enough, to a non-witch. But to us witches, it can read totally different.”

“I asked him, and he said he drew them exactly the way they were.”

Aunt Astrid chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. “The problem with this assumption is that we are reading this with witches’ eyes and a little bit of information the police do not know… Levi’s tip. Those scrawlings could be a summons, or they could be a random act of vandalism. The difference between the two is negligible.”

“I hate to say this,” Bea said. “But I need to see the body.”

“Did you ask Jake?” I was surprised Bea was even making such a suggestion. It was a little on the morbid side for her.

“I didn’t.” She bit her lower lip. “I know the body is at the coroner’s office right now.”

Aunt Astrid looked seriously at Bea. “Are you sure you want to see it? You and Jake have been working so hard on things together. You don’t want to start with any secrets again, do you?”

“No, but… I have a feeling in my gut,” Bea said.

“You could blame me,” I offered. “Lord knows it wouldn’t be the first time I got you in trouble.”

Bea chuckled. “I couldn’t do that.”

“Sure you could.”

Aunt Astrid stood and began to sift through a small stack of books she’d brought from her house. “You guys are talking like walking into the coroner’s office at this hour of the night is the easy part. Even if Jake knew about it, he can’t just take you in there to see a body.”

“I don’t know, Mom. Something isn’t right with those symbols that Jake wrote down. If he or Blake gets any closer and we do nothing, it could turn out badly.”

Picking up what looked like a child’s cardboard book, Aunt Astrid cleared her throat. “I might be able to help. But the sooner we get this over with, the better.” She studied the thick pages without looking at us. “We have some time. Levi gave us that. This hasn’t made the news yet, so any traces of a cessation summons, or of any witchcraft, may still be left behind.”

“Unless we are dealing with a
diabolist
.” A shiver ran up my spine.

“You don’t really think it could be that?” Bea asked, shaking her head. “Do you?”

When Aunt Astrid didn’t say “Oh, no. Stop being silly,” I wished I hadn’t mentioned it.

“Let’s get our facts straight before we start guessing. Bea, do you have any idea how you might get into the coroner’s office?” I would follow my family to the ends of the earth, but the idea of seeing a dead body brought back memories of the ones haphazardly exhumed at the cemetery not so long ago.

Poor Marvin. Instead of thinking of his wonderful candies, I would be waiting for his eyes to pop open, for him to pull himself clumsily off the table and stagger toward us, arms outstretched, gurgling horrifically.

“Well, what do you say?” Bea asked, looking at me.

“To what?”

“To going to the coroner’s office and causing a distraction?”

“What?”

“I thought I could pretend to bring Jake a late-night snack.”

“Is Jake going to be there?”

“No. He’s at the station. I already know that.”

“If he’s not there, then why would you bring him a snack?”

“When they say he isn’t there, I’ll just ask to use the bathroom, slip into the autopsy room, and get a quick peek.”

“And what am I supposed to do?”

“Keep the guard talking. Flirt, or ask a lot of questions.” Bea was smiling and nodding. “Dazzle whoever it is with your sparkling personality.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I’m in. It’ll give me a chance to keep an eye out for Treacle, too.”

“He still hasn’t come home?” Aunt Astrid’s voice was a little worried.

I shook my head.

“He’s a smart cat. He’ll be back,” she soothed.

I hoped she was right. Even though he had disappeared for longer periods of time before, I was staring to worry.

Bea reached down, took my hands, and hoisted me up. “Grab a paper bag on your way up, and I’ll grab some snacks.”

“For what?” I asked.

“We can’t say we’re bringing Jake a snack and not have a snack.”

I slapped my head. I was glad Bea was taking the lead because my mind didn’t seem to be in it. Thoughts of Treacle distracted me. I didn’t want to admit how worried I was, and my unease was affecting my concentration.

I confided my fears to Bea. “I just have a different feeling this time, Bea. Usually, I can call to Treacle and get a couple of clicks or squeaks to let me know he’s heard me and is okay. This time, it’s like shouting into a cave and hearing my own voice echo back to me.”

“Did he tell you anything when he left?”

“No. He just wanted out for the night like usual.”

Bea gently patted my back. “We’ll keep an eye out for him. I’m sure he’s okay.”

As we slipped out the front door of the café, we didn’t see a soul on our side of the street. Across the way, a boy rode his bike in wobbly patterns then began pumping his legs faster as he sped away. Down the block, we heard a couple talking as they climbed into a car. The chirp-chirp of the car doors being unlocked echoed down the street, followed by the car doors slamming as the couple got in and drove off.

“Are you scared?” I asked Bea.

“I’ll be a lot more scared if I don’t find out what we’re dealing with.”

“I hope they don’t close down Sweetie’s. Where would we get our chocolates?”

Bea rolled her eyes at me. “Really? You’re worried about the chocolates?”

“I’m not trying to be disrespectful. It’s just that those were some darn good chocolates.”

“They were.”

“Do you think there’s an angle there? Someone after the business?”

“That’s what Jake was saying. But he didn’t elaborate very much.”

At this time of night, the streets were quiet. We made it to the coroner’s office in a little over fifteen minutes. The building was a friendly-looking place. Considering most people went there under painful circumstances, the city did its best to give it a positive and peaceful appearance.

I especially liked the colorful flowers flanking each side of the entrance. I could never get anything to grow like that. I had two cacti in my kitchen window that reached about four inches in height then decided that was enough.

Quickly, we went over our plan.

“Got it?” Bea asked, her eyes serious.

“Yeah, I guess. Let’s do it.”

B
ea
and I walked up to the building, and the automatic sliding glass doors swooshed open. We probably looked like a couple of kooks strolling in there, and I made a mental note of the cameras recording us. We hadn’t thought of those.

Closing my eyes, I mumbled a vision spell that might, just might, cause a temporary camera malfunction long enough to keep us out of view. It was sort of like pulling a little extra electricity from the air into one concentrated spot. Bea glanced at me, and I knew she could smell it. The act of the vision spell gave off a slight odor as if a storm were coming. That smell would probably be what the front desk clerk would remember, too.

“Can I help you ladies?” the man at the reception desk asked. He was wearing the uniform of Wonder Falls’ finest, and the name on the desk plate read Stephen Ferdeck. His name was familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

“Hi, Officer. I’m Bea Williams, Detective Jake Williams’s wife. Is he here?”

Officer Ferdeck looked at us as if we had suddenly turned green. “No, Mrs. Williams. He isn’t here. He’s at the station. Do you want me to ring him there?” His eyes shifted back and forth from me to Bea suspiciously.

“Oh no, I’m sorry. He had mentioned something he had to deal with today, and it seemed to bother him, so I brought him a little treat to keep his spirits up.”

Again, Officer Ferdeck didn’t budge an inch.

“Well, we’re sorry to bother you. I hate to ask this, but… would it be possible to use the ladies’ room? I should have gone before I left. You were right, Cath.” She looked at me then rolled her eyes back at the officer. “Too much green tea.” She giggled uncomfortably.

“Sure,” Officer Ferdeck said. “Restrooms are right over there.” He nodded toward the restrooms behind us. They were nowhere near the autopsy room.

I cocked my right hip and folded my arms across my chest. “Yeah, you should have gone at the café, Bea.”

Bea shrugged. Just as we turned toward the restroom, a car pulled up in front of the building. The high beams poured through the glass, and Bea cleared her throat. We had both seen the familiar unmarked vehicle a million times. The lights shut off, and the car door slammed.

Blake Samberg came through the sliding doors. Then
he
looked at us suspiciously. I don’t think a plan had ever gone more wrong. “Evening, Stephen,” he grumbled in his typical brooding voice. “Bea? Cath? What brings you two here?”

“Is Jake with you?” Bea asked, her voice masking her nervousness. She was a much better actor than me. I’d have liked to tell the detective to mind his own business, even though I knew I had “guilty of something” written all over my face.

“No, Bea. He’s wrapping up some paperwork at the office. Do you need him?”

“No, no. I must have heard him wrong and thought he was going to be here tonight. I brought him a little treat from the café.” Bea stepped up to Blake and in a hushed voice said, “I heard about the man you brought in today. I’m so sorry.”

Blake, whose features never changed when he spoke to me, seemed to soften slightly. “Yeah. It was disturbing. It looked like some kind of witchcraft, hoodoo-voodoo nonsense in that house. I’m actually here to pick up some of the paperwork on that very case.”

“Witchcraft?” I asked as my eyes darted from Bea to Blake. “Do you have any knowledge of that? I mean, any formal training or anything that would make you think that? It’s kind of jumping the gun, don’t you think?” I couldn’t help myself. The words just came out. So many misconceptions existed about witches and witchcraft. I sometimes had a hard time controlling my tongue.

“No, I don’t. But thankfully, it won’t be hard to find out. It was a very rough scene, as I’m sure Jake mentioned.” He blew me off as if I were an annoying fly to be swatted away.

“No, he didn’t go into detail. He usually doesn’t.” Bea glared at me. “Blake, I’m wondering if I can ask a very big favor?” She placed her hand gently on Blake’s shoulder and turned him away from Stephen and me.

They whispered to each other then Blake nodded. He walked over to Stephen and said something quietly so I couldn’t hear. Apparently, I was being left out of this particular game of telephone. I was annoyed.

Stephen reached underneath his desk and pressed a button. The doors leading to the autopsy room opened.

“Where you going?” I asked Bea innocently.

“I’ll be right back,” she said in a quiet voice. I looked at Blake, who was staring at me oddly. I couldn’t say how it was odd, just that it was. I wondered what Bea had said to him.

Stephen looked at me as Bea and Blake headed toward the autopsy room. A few awkward moments passed, and I walked a couple of paces back and forth, trying to casually escape the gaze of Stephen, whose name was familiar even though I couldn’t place his face.

He kept staring at me.

“So, what’s your problem?” I asked. “You’ve been looking at me like you’ve seen my face up at the post office. What’s the matter?”

“You’re Cath Greenstone, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. Have we met before?”

“Not formally. But I know
of
you.”

My eyebrows shot up. Did I have some kind of torrid reputation I was blissfully unaware of?

“And truthfully, I don’t like you,” he said. The statement from a stranger felt like a punch in the gut.

“You don’t like me? You don’t even know me!”

“Oh, I know you. You were never nice in high school, and from the looks of things, you are still a grade-A grump.” His body never moved. He didn’t shift in his seat. Only his lips moved as he spoke, and his eyes followed me.

Raising my hand to my chest, I couldn’t contain my awkward giggle. “High school? A grump?”

“Well, another word comes to mind, but out of respect for my deceased mother, I won’t say it… but it rhymes with ditch.”

For a second, I thought this mystery man from my youth knew my secret until I realized there was a word that might fit the bill besides witch. I felt a little stupid. “Can you tell me what I did? I’m not trying to be rude or anything. It’s just that high school was a long time ago. I didn’t have a very good go of it myself.”

Stephen took a deep breath then looked up at me. “You ran for class president our sophomore year.”

“Yeah, and I lost… by a lot.”

“If you hadn’t run, there would have only been two candidates—me against Paula Lipinski.”

“So what? I was doing it just to see what would happen. I didn’t expect to really win. I just wanted to conduct a social experiment of sorts. Have a little fun stirring things up.”

“You were like the Ralph Nader of our sophomore class. Because of you, I lost the election. Who knows how much differently my life would have turned out if it weren’t for you?”

I stood there in shock. A high school election has bothered this guy all this time? Was he just sitting around hoping someday I’d stroll into the coroner’s office so he could give me a hard time? “Stephen Ferdeck for President: Not Your Mama’s Candidate.” That was his slogan. The memory came rushing back to me, and I smiled. “You had the best slogan!”

He looked at me oddly. “What are you talking about?”

“‘Not Your Mama’s Candidate’? That was you, right?”

He thought for a moment, then his eyes brightened.

“It was more creative than mine.” I rolled my eyes. “‘Cath Greenstone: Why Not?’”

I laughed. My high school days were not fun. I ran for class president my sophomore year on a dare from my best friend Min. If it weren’t for him, high school would have been unbearable. As Stephen Ferdeck had said, who knew how much differently my life would have turned out if it weren’t for Min. But the memory of our slogans sneaked up on me, and I had to laugh.

Stephen was also beginning to laugh. “I had forgotten that.”

“Yeah, you were so caught up in me throwing a wrench into your candidacy, you forgot the best part of your campaign. What did Paula Lipinski use? See, I don’t even remember. I had totally forgotten about her until you brought her up.”

A smile started to form on Officer Stephen Ferdeck’s face. I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Officer Ferdeck, I’m sorry. If you have been holding that in all these years and feel I ruined your future, I am truly sorry. You look to be doing pretty good from where I’m standing right now.”

“I do love my job,” he said reluctantly.

“Well, let me make it up to you.” I folded my arms over my chest and pretended to think hard. “Do you know the Brew-Ha-Ha Café across town?”

He thought for a moment then nodded. “That place burned down, didn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah.” It was common knowledge the café had experienced a bad fire.

“I didn’t realize it had reopened.”

Nodding, I shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, I own the café with Bea and my Aunt Astrid. How about you come in and visit? We can reminisce about high school, and lunch and coffee will be on me. We just hired a fantastic new baker, and he makes everything from scratch.”

He smiled and blinked. “I’m vegan. Does that make a difference?”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? Well, no, it doesn’t make a difference. Bea is very educated when it comes to feeding the body and soul, so I’m pretty confident we can accommodate.”

He stuck out his hand to shake. I walked up and obliged. “Thanks, Cath. I’m sorry I called you grumpy, and… you know.”

“Hey, I’ve been called worse. I can’t say you’re that far off the mark.”

Just then, Bea emerged from the autopsy room with Blake following her. They were talking in hushed voices, and when I looked at Bea’s pale face, I instantly became worried.

“Thank you, Detective. I am grateful,” she said, shaking Blake’s hand. She took a wobbly step toward me and slipped her arm through mine, gently urging me toward the front sliding doors.

“What is the matter with you?” I asked urgently. “Are you all right?”

“Just get me to the car. We’ve got to get home.”