Spell Booked (Retired Witches Mysteries Series Book 1) (6 page)

“We’ve got him!” Elsie sneaked a peek. “Now we have to make it last for a while.”

I broke the circle and took out a vial of Everlast. The name was misleading since it only made an image last until it was committed to memory. There was no way to capture it with a camera or any other device.

The steam began to evaporate, but it left behind all the places Brian had been as well as the full image of him. Elsie walked around and around, trying to be sure she’d know him if she saw him again.

Together we muttered a spell that would show us some personal details about him. It took only another twenty minutes before we had his address and last name.

“Brian Fuller,” Elsie said. “He lives near Cape Fear Community College.”

“He’s a full-time student,” I added. “Not a very good one either.”

“And he smells like pizza.” Dorothy sniffed. “Old pizza at that.”

Elsie smiled. “She’s good. Exactly what I’d expect an earth witch to pick up.”

“Yeah?” Dorothy was obviously pleased. “High five!”

We gazed at her serenely.

“Fist bump? Come on, you two. Celebrate a little. This is what you needed, right?”

Elsie timidly bumped her fist into Dorothy’s. I did the same.

“All right. That’s what I’m talking about!” Dorothy was satisfied. “Now what?”

I now invoke the law of three,

What once was lost return to me.

The community college wasn’t very far. We took my car since neither Elsie nor I could imagine trying to get into the backseat of Dorothy’s Beetle.

Using our knowledge of Brian, it was easy to locate him in a small apartment complex. It was an older building with rooms leased by college students.

Dorothy was able to pinpoint the apartment Brian shared with some other young men by the smell.

“I am rather impressed with our new witch.” Elsie was smug as we followed Dorothy upstairs.

“She’s surprising,” I agreed. “She’s had no training at all. Her family must be very powerful. When there’s a strong bloodline—”

“There’s a strong witch.” Elsie finished the quote.

We reached the floor where Brian lived. Dorothy knocked on his door.

A different young man answered—this one wasn’t a witch. He said that Brian wasn’t there. “He’s got some classes this morning. You’re welcome to come in and wait for him if you like.”

We agreed—it would be good to have a look at Brian’s possessions—but we couldn’t step foot into the apartment. Brian had thoroughly spelled the entrance so that no witch could enter without him.

I hastily told the young man that we’d be back. One glance into the apartment behind him sent us all quickly back down the stairs.

“How can anyone live that way?” Dorothy held her nose. “The stench was enough to gag me.”

“I have a son at East Carolina. I know what you mean. My husband, Joe, and I never visit his dorm room. We always meet somewhere else.”

Elsie cleared her throat and adjusted her purple hat on her fading red curls. “You know, it’s only a matter of them growing up. They don’t smell nearly so bad once they’re adults.”

Dorothy laughed loudly. “That’s a good one.”

“It was clever for him to spell the apartment,” Elsie said. “We’ll have to find another way to get to him.”

“Who is he anyway?” Dorothy asked.

“He’s our best suspect in our friend’s death since we know he left the shop with Olivia yesterday. We may need to spell those binoculars again and go back to the crime scene.”

“Really?” Dorothy sounded excited about the idea. “You know where Olivia was killed?”

“Molly’s husband is a homicide detective,” Elsie explained. “We went with him to see her this morning. It was extremely unpleasant. I’m not happy about going there again.”

“You can stay in the car, Elsie,” I told her. “But we need to take another look at the alley. There could be something that we missed. If we can find some real proof of Brian’s involvement in Olivia’s death, we could ask the council to take over.”

“What about the police?” Elsie asked. “What are you going to tell Joe?”

“As little as possible,” I replied. “I don’t want him involved.”

“Not much you can do about that
now
,” Elsie reminded me.

“So you have magic binoculars?” Dorothy asked as we headed back to Smuggler’s Arcane.

“We used them to watch you from the shop,” Elsie said. “Olivia loved to watch you going in and out of the library. She was a little selfish about holding on to them, but we worked it out.”

Dorothy frowned. “How could you see the library from Smuggler’s Arcane? There are buildings between your shop and the library.”

“That’s why we spelled the binoculars.” I turned in to the parking lot at the Cotton Exchange.

“I can’t wait to see them!”

We went inside the shop, but Elsie couldn’t remember what she’d done with the binoculars. In the meantime, two customers came in.

“I hope your monkshood is fresh.” Adriana, a witch from Kure Beach, stuck her face into the paper bag and drew back quickly. “Yeah. That’s
fresh
.”

“Anything else with that?” I was eager for her to leave so we could take another look at the alley. There was no reason to be impatient though—Elsie was conjuring a spell to find the missing binoculars. It wasn’t working very well.

“I’m looking for a new boline,” a woman with blue hair told me. “Someone broke into my house last week and stole mine.”

“Really?” I thought about the ritual white-handled knife. “Are you looking for a curved blade on that?”

“That would be okay.” She looked at our selection and chose one. “If I ever find out who took mine, look out. That boline belonged to my family from several generations past. My granny is gonna kill me when she finds out it’s gone.”

“You could put up a notice on the bulletin board by the door. We have lost-and-found items that end up here.”

“This wasn’t lost, it was stolen,” she assured me. “But I’ll try it. Thanks.”

The next customer wasn’t a witch. We tried not to discriminate—so long as the person wasn’t doing something that could hurt them or someone else.

“I have several nice cauldrons over here.” I pointed them out. “What size are you looking for?”

“I’m not really sure,” the woman admitted. “I’m trying to bring forth a werewolf. Maybe it should be extra large, huh?”

“Bring forth a werewolf?” Elsie overheard our conversation. “Why ever would you want to do such a thing?”

“I was hoping he could be the father of my child. You know, sire a wolf puppy.” She giggled.

“That is
completely
ridiculous,” Elsie declared. “Where did you get such an odd idea?”

The woman shrugged, a little less confident about her “odd” idea. “I read a lot of werewolf and shape-shifter romances. I thought it sounded cool.”

“I guess I’ve heard everything now.” Elsie went back to trying to find the missing binoculars.

“Do you have a werewolf-sized cauldron?” the woman whispered, keeping an eye on Elsie.

I smiled and remained professional. “I think you might have to order that online. I appreciate your business. Good luck with your project.”

Nora came in as the other customer was leaving. She was a practicing witch who came by regularly to refill her supplies. She knew of our dilemma and picked up on Dorothy’s emanations right away.

“You finally found a witch to take one of your places,” she said. “Too bad you lost Olivia. What was that about anyway?”

“We don’t know yet,” I admitted. “We’re looking into her death.”

“You know the
real
way to get power quickly is to kill a witch,” she carelessly suggested. “You can mess around collecting magic tools all you want, but it takes forever and the magic doesn’t last.”

I didn’t ask how she knew. “If witches start killing each other for their power, that could be the end of us all.”

“That’s right.” She nodded, tight-lipped. “Armageddon.”

We were all quiet for a moment after that. I bagged her supplies and handed them to her. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“Will you hold a memorial for her—for witches to attend?”

“I’m not sure yet. The Grand Council wants this kept quiet. I suppose we’ll wait, and find out if she was really killed by another witch.”

“Spooky times we live in.” She shuddered. “Magic artifacts disappearing and witches being killed.” She walked out of the shop with her bag.

“
Eureka!
” Elsie called out a moment later. She held the binoculars above her head. “I found them.”

Dorothy, who had been reading through an old, generic spell book, shot to her feet. “Are we going to the crime scene now?”

“I don’t see why we should wait any longer.” I came around the counter. “The longer we wait, the weaker the impressions will become.”

We closed the shop again and got back into my car.

“Don’t you have to work today?” Elsie asked our new witch.

“I took the day off. I could take
weeks
off, if I need to. I’ve never taken any vacation or sick leave, so I have a lot of time accumulated.”

We approached the alley where Olivia had been killed. The yellow crime scene tape at each end of the old street flapped forlornly in the breeze from the river. There were no police officers working, but it appeared to be safe.

Still, the evil deed that had been done had left its shadow. There was a gray pall over the entire area that only witches could see and feel. Going into that alley wasn’t a task any of us did without reservation.

“Maybe we should talk to the man who heard Olivia scream,” Elsie suggested. “We might be able to pick up something more from him than he thinks he can remember.”

“Is that like hypnosis?” Dorothy poked her head between the front seats.

“Something like that.” I parked the car at one end of the alley. There was no point in letting Dorothy get too far ahead of herself. It would be confusing. “We should also consider trying to find out which bar or restaurant Olivia came out of before she was killed. Joe is looking for videotapes. We should be able to follow her energy signature.”

Elsie shook her head. “There are only a few places around here that Olivia
would
have walked into. You know how particular she was. That narrows the search considerably.”

She was right. This was an old part of town. There were unpleasant memories embedded in the broken and dirty cobblestones. Not many people with finer awareness would want to be there for long.

I took a deep, cleansing breath and gathered my thoughts around me. I felt the power of the river close to where we stood.

Elsie did the same, except I knew she had to banish the water influence from her thoughts. We were standing next to a spot that advertised flame-grilled food. I hoped she could tap into some of that fire.

Dorothy closed her eyes and tried to emulate us. She opened them quickly and stood off to one side, looking a little forlorn and embarrassed.

“You gave up,” I said. “Did you try to feel the earth and the power of living things around you?”

“Kind of hard standing here between these buildings.”

I noticed a small patch of velvety green moss with several tendrils of climbing weeds struggling up into the watery sunshine.

“Close your eyes,” I said. “Lean down and put your hand here on the moss. Let yourself feel the strength and power of the earth. Strip away the brick and cobblestones—though they’re also made of earth. The living earth fills you, Dorothy. Draw it into you and let it go.”

She did as I suggested and then stood up quickly and looked at her hand.

“What was
that
? It felt like an electric shock, only different.”

“That is power you can draw from the earth to help balance nature. You can call it inside you whenever you need it.”

I covered her hand with mine and felt the earth magic surge inside her. The water magic had once been strong like this in me. I could still call on it, but it was weak. I knew someday it wouldn’t be there at all.

“All right.” I tried to keep myself from trembling. “We have to go into the alley now. Hold hands. Elsie and I will focus on Olivia. Dorothy, you focus on us.”

We walked timidly under the yellow tape and proceeded to the area where the police had found Olivia’s body.

There was nothing there except for a few dark stains on the wet ground that could’ve been blood—or grime that had been tracked around during the night.

“I can see her.” Elsie’s eyes were closed, but tears slipped from them. “I can
feel
her. She was so afraid. She panicked and forgot who she was, what she could do. She called out, but it wasn’t a scream for help.”

I saw Olivia too. She was fighting someone much stronger than she was. She knew she had no chance of winning. At the end, she was calm, and had left a message for us.

“Dorothy Lane.”
Dorothy was first to say it. “She called my name!”

We opened our eyes, sniffling a little from the experience. It was a sobering moment, watching helplessly as our friend was struck down.

“Why did she call for Dorothy?” Elsie pulled out her lacy purple handkerchief.

“I don’t know. Maybe that was what she was thinking about. Maybe she was using her last bit of power to call Dorothy to us.”

“Maybe.” Elsie blew her nose loudly. “She knew we were going to need her more than ever. Trust Olivia to look after us even as she was dying.”

“Was she that sure I’d want to be a witch with you all?” Dorothy shook her head. “This is very strange and scary. I didn’t even know her, but I felt—
something
. I couldn’t see her, but it was like I knew her. Whatever it was broke my heart.”

Dorothy started sobbing. I knew it was time for us to get out of the alley. I put my arm around her and turned to leave.

Joe was standing behind us. “You shouldn’t be here, Molly.”