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  “I wish I understood any of this, Molly. I’d like to know why Olivia called out Dorothy’s name as she was dying too. I know she really liked the girl and wanted her to take one of our places, but surely her dying thoughts wouldn’t have been of her.”

  “I know what you mean. There are too many things that don’t make sense.” I parked the car outside the police station. Joe was waiting on the sidewalk for us.

  I felt the faintest prickle of distrust in his attitude, as though he had waited because he was afraid that we wouldn’t come inside. Where did that come from?

  It unsettled me and made me wonder exactly what was wrong. It felt like something more than him just being angry because we were trying to find Olivia’s killer without his help.

  Joe led us into the conference room rather than an interrogation room. That was sweet of him. I wouldn’t say it changed my feelings about the way lunch had gone, but being guilty of not being able to tell him the truth had put me in a forgiving mood.

  “Can I get you some coffee or soda?” His tone was pleasant.

  Elsie nodded as she sat down. “I’d like a coffee, please. A double espresso would be nice. Do you have any aspirin? My head is starting to hurt.”

  “I’ll see what I can find,” he promised. “Molly?”

  “Nothing, thanks.”

  He left us, closing the door behind him. The bigger room, where I’d attended birthday and retirement parties in the past, didn’t put me more at ease.

  Especially when Lisbet came in to question us.

  “Ladies.” She tossed a thin file on the table and adjusted her duty belt that held her gun, badge, handcuffs and pepper spray as she sat down. “I only have a few questions for you about the death of your friend. I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sure we all want to find her killer.”

  Lisbet’s long black hair was held back in a ponytail holder, the only way I had ever seen her wear it. She was totally dressed in black—the good black that hasn’t been washed too much and become gray. She wore knee-high boots with at least three-inch heels all year long, regardless of the hot summer weather. She was thin and short, even shorter than Elsie’s five feet, but she was tough.

  “We’ll do what we can to help,” I assured her.

  She opened the file and rifled through the papers in it. “Olivia had no family, is that right? No one to inherit her property.”

  “That’s right.” I wondered where Joe was. Maybe he’d sent Lisbet in because of our argument during lunch.

  “What about an ex-husband or a live-in lover?”

  “No. She always lived alone.” I glanced up when Joe returned with Elsie’s plain coffee and aspirin.

  “Sorry.” He apologized as he set down the paper cup. “We were fresh out of espresso.”

  “Oh, that’s fine.” Elsie smiled at him. “Thank you so much, Joe.”

  He took a seat at the far end of the table beside Lisbet. Elsie and I were together at the other end.

  No doubt this was their normal procedure when they worked together, I assured myself. It wasn’t a personal slight.

  “What about the two of you?” Lisbet continued her questioning. “Has Olivia left her property to one, or both, of you?”

  What is she getting at? “The only thing she left us was her part of our shop, Smuggler’s Arcane. I don’t know who she would’ve left her personal possessions to.”

  Lisbet nodded and continued to peruse the files. “Joe tells me she’d gone out on a date with someone before she died.”

  “We don’t know that for certain,” Elsie corrected her. “All we said was that she may have been dating someone. It may not have been that night.”

  I knew she was trying to throw off the questions to protect Joe and Lisbet. I didn’t think it was going to work.

  “And you said his name is?”

  “We don’t know,” I quickly answered. “She never introduced us.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled at me.

  Elsie glanced at me, frowned and took her aspirin.

  “And you encountered this same man again on the riverboat today.” Lisbet looked at me and Elsie. “Tell us exactly what happened.”

  Two hours later, Elsie and I swept out of the police station, thoroughly disgusted. We’d been mentally poked and prodded by Joe and Lisbet. We’d looked through books containing pictures of felons—of course Brian wasn’t in them. And we’d helped draw a sketch of Brian that looked nothing at all like him.

  But we’d also managed to learn the name of the man at the dock the night Olivia was killed, the one who’d heard her scream. His name was Colt Manning. He was a commercial fisherman.

  “I am not happy about this, Molly.” Elsie clutched her green bag to her.

  “I’m not either. I’m sorry I said anything to Joe. If I weren’t so worried about him going after Brian, I wouldn’t have.”

  But we didn’t know the half of it yet.

  Aleese was waiting outside by my car. As soon as she saw us, she ran to her mother’s side. “What in the world were you two thinking? First you get attacked on the riverboat, and then the police bring you here for questioning. What have you been doing?”

  “The police didn’t arrest us, dear,” Elsie assured her. “No need for any drama.”

  “No need to worry about my seventy-year-old mother falling into the river and coming home soaking wet? You could have died. This has got to stop. It’s bad enough the three of you sit around that depressing, dusty old shop all the time. No telling how many viruses are spread in there.”

  “Sat around,” I corrected. “Olivia is dead.”

  “Did you tell her about Joe catching us at the crime scene?” Elsie ignored her daughter’s tirade.

  “No. Did you?”

  “No way. You see how hysterical she gets over the least little thing.” Elsie fumed. “Joe probably called her for my own good.”

  “I’m talking to both of you.” Aleese focused on us. “Neither one of you should be at the shop anymore, like Joe said. You should sell it and move on.”

  That made me furious again. Joe had not only called her about us being in the police station, he’d said something to her about us selling the shop. I couldn’t imagine what was wrong with him.

  “I’m taking you home, Mom.” Aleese grabbed her mother’s arm and started pulling her toward her car. “I’m beginning to think Molly is a bad influence on you.”

  “I’ll talk to you later, after we’ve settled this.” Elsie went along with her daughter.

  “All right. I’m going to see Dorothy at the library. I hope she isn’t completely put off by everything that’s happened.”

  “Give her my best.” Elsie waved as Aleese closed the car door.

  “Okay.”

  Aleese’s eyes were riveted on me as she went around to the driver’s side. She seemed genuinely afraid I might snatch Elsie out of the car before she could spirit her away.

  I got in my car after Aleese and Elsie were gone and drove to the downtown branch of the library. I pulled into the parking deck, grabbed my bag, and locked the car doors.

  “There you are, Molly.” Cassandra appeared on the hood of my car, lying across it like a fashion model. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  CHAPTER 10

  This circle I draw.

  Evil dismayed.

  Light the way.

  Heed my call.

  “The leopard skin suits you.” I remarked on her outfit. It was skintight from neck to feet. I felt sure it was faux skin, but it didn’t really matter.

  “Thanks.” She slid from the car, her long black hair swishing as she moved. “You seem to be having a few problems. I’ll be glad to help.”

  In my experience, Cassandra, and the Grand Council in general, were never much help. I had known of cases where’d they made things much worse.r />
  The problem with Sylvia and her husband, for instance. Cassandra had recommended Walter’s memory wipe to the council. She was relentless in persecuting them. Once it was over, we were able to help Sylvia some small amount. We hadn’t dared before because we didn’t want to face the council.

  “I’m fine, thanks. Just going into the library to speak with our new witch.”

  “What about the witch on the boat? It looked like you could’ve used a hand with that.”

  I faced her curiously. I was at a disadvantage in stature, magic and fashion.

  “What do you know about that witch?” I asked her with the strict, no-nonsense tones of the schoolteacher I’d been for thirty years.

  She shrugged. “Nothing much—except that you should be careful if you plan on retiring someday. Word on the ether is that there’s a witch killing other witches and stealing magical items of power.”

  “And who is that?”

  “We aren’t sure yet.”

  “Why isn’t the council doing something about it?”

  “We’re working on it. We don’t want to persecute one of our own without being sure the witch is doing something wrong. It’s not against the rules to ‘inherit’ another witch’s spell book.”

  “But it is against the rules to kill another witch and steal her spell book, isn’t it? We believe Olivia is dead by Brian Fuller’s hand. She went out with him right before she died. We traced him back to his room at the community college. It shouldn’t be that hard for you to do the same.”

  “You have no real proof that Brian Fuller killed Olivia, just like your husband isn’t sure what’s going on. You haven’t told him about being a witch, have you?”

  “No. I made up a story after we fell in the river. He’s nowhere near thinking that magic exists or that I could be involved with it.”

  “That’s good. What about your spell book? Is that still safe?”

  “Yes.” I lied with a straight face. Joe didn’t realize just how good I was at lying.

  “Well, keep your wits about you. You and Elsie aren’t strong enough to handle whatever is going on. I’m going to give you something to summon me if you get backed into a corner. I can’t keep my eye on you all the time, you know.”

  In an instant, she was gone. In her place, rolling on the concrete, was a ring. I put it on my finger. It sized itself perfectly to fit me.

  I wished that it made me feel better. I knew I wouldn’t use it unless I was truly afraid this rogue witch was going to kill me. I didn’t need the council’s help that badly.

  Thinking about everything Cassandra had told me—and not told me—I went into the library. Was it just my imagination or was there a touch of fear in her voice when she spoke of the rogue witch? She also wasn’t in any hurry to help us find him either.

  I found Dorothy sitting on the floor stacking books in the children’s section of the library. I could tell she wasn’t happy to see me.

  “Hi, Molly.”

  “Hello, Dorothy.” I sat on one of the small wood chairs. “I see you decided to work today after all.”

  She smiled at the books that surrounded us. “You know, my whole life, every time things happened that didn’t make sense to me, I could come here and bury my nose in a book, and it was better. I still feel like that. I feel like nothing can hurt me here. None of it is real.”

  “Unlike finding out that there are witches and magic in the world, right?”

  “Yes. I thought it was bad finding out that I’d been adopted when I was a kid. Finding out that I was a witch was much worse. I could always imagine that my parents were killed trying to save me from something terrible. How do I explain witchcraft? I don’t know how we made those flowers grow today. I thought that thing on the boat was going to kill me. I’m not ready to die. Magic isn’t fun like I thought it would be.”

  I looked at all the decorative items in the children’s section and remembered all the times that Mike and I had come here to read books on rainy days when we couldn’t play outside.

  Dorothy was a little older than my son, but she still felt like a child to me. She was a child who’d been abandoned, a witch left on her own to figure out the mystery of who she was and what she could do.

  I was glad Olivia had found her so we had a chance to correct that slight in her childhood. Being a witch meant being unique and seeing the world in a different way than most people. It didn’t matter if Dorothy knew she was a witch or not, that feeling was still there.

  “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you this is an easy road to follow,” I finally said. “But being a witch with no idea of who you are and what you can do is even worse. Magic, earth magic, courses through you like your life’s blood. You can’t stop it, and it will be hard now to ignore it. You need me and Elsie as much we need you.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. Her smile faltered when she looked back at me. “I don’t think I can do this, Molly. I’m scared. This is too weird, you know? I don’t think I’m cut out to be a witch. Is that okay?”

  I patted her hand. “It’s your choice. You have to do what’s right for you. You know where we are if you change your mind.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think I will.”

  On the verge of crying myself, I walked out of the library with my back straight and my head high. Though it had been a difficult day and everything seemed to be falling apart, I had to believe things would get better.

  If Dorothy wasn’t the right witch for us, there would be another. Elsie and I would find Olivia’s killer and our spell book. Joe would get back to normal.

  I’d always been a bit of an optimist. Olivia had teased me about it. She didn’t have my sense of the world mostly being in balance.

  Her view was darker and sometimes scarier. That was why she’d never committed to another person and had refused to bear a child to take her place. She believed the world was essentially bad. I could never agree with her, even though it would’ve been impossible for two women to be any closer than we were.

  I went home and dropped down into a chair, leaning my head back as Isabelle came to sit on my lap. My hand stroked her without thinking, her soft fur and calming presence making me feel a little better.

  I closed my eyes and thought about Olivia. There was no time to mourn her properly, not right now. Too much was going on that threatened the foundation of my entire life. I had to focus on moving forward, working my plan as I saw it.

  Isabelle’s hiss alerted me to something in the house that wasn’t right. I opened my eyes, and there was the ghost ball I had followed before finding out about Olivia’s death.

  I stared at the glowing presence right in front of my face. I knew this was Olivia. Ghosts weren’t my specialty, but I could feel her presence—I could almost smell her perfume.

  She’d wanted to let me know what had happened to her in the alley, and she had something she wanted to tell me.

  Isabelle jumped down with another hiss at the ghost ball. She didn’t care if it was Olivia or not, ghosts didn’t belong in her house.

  “Olivia? Is that you?” I stuck my hand forward with the intention of touching the ball of energy.

  The front door opened quickly and slammed shut. “Mom? Are you here?”

  It was Mike, home unexpectedly, probably with six loads of dirty clothes.

  I glanced away for an instant, and when I looked back, the ghost ball was gone. I was disappointed. I guess I’d hoped Olivia had some answers for me. Instead, I was left with the same bitter feeling of frustration. This day just needed to end.

  “Michael!” I rushed to his side, almost tripping over his duffel bags. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  I hugged him. He let me hug him, with a small pat on the back. It used to be much better when he was ten. Those years were long gone. I was looking forward to grandchildren who wouldn’t mind being cuddled. />
  “This is a surprise,” I told him. “You’re home a few weeks early.”

  My son looked more like his father—tall and lanky but with my blue eyes. He had a quick sense of humor and more curiosity than most people about how things worked. That was why he’d decided to become an engineer.

  I’d long ago released any lingering disappointment that he hadn’t inherited my abilities. I didn’t love him any less for it. It was my choice to marry someone with no magic. I knew it was a good chance that my children wouldn’t have magic either.

  “I know!” He didn’t seem happy to be there. “I left school. I’m done, Mom. I don’t need it anymore. I hope you and Dad aren’t too disappointed.”

  “Has the whole world gone insane?” Joe asked that night as we were getting dressed to take our son out for dinner at his favorite restaurant. “Are we supposed to be happy that Mike isn’t going to be an engineer after that’s all he wanted to be from the time he was five years old?”

  I was looking in the mirror, trying to make my fine brown hair do something besides lie there limply. “I don’t know what to tell you. He’s an adult. There’s not much we can do about it.”

  Joe’s frown in the mirror behind me was like a thundercloud. “There’s plenty we can do about it. Instead, we’re going out to celebrate this stupid idea. We should tell him to go back to school right now!”

  “Don’t you think we should hear him out before we pass judgment? He’s dealing with some problem, Joe. We can still talk him around once we understand what’s wrong.”

  “It doesn’t matter what’s wrong, Molly. Whatever made him drop out of college is a bad idea.”

  I got up and put my arms around his neck, looking deep into his troubled eyes. “He’s here. Let’s have dinner and find out what’s going on. Let’s not alienate him when he needs us.”

  He kissed me quickly and turned away. “I guess we don’t have any choice.”

  Where was my wildly romantic husband who would never have kissed my cheek and left me in the bedroom by myself? Maybe he was right and the world had gone insane. It certainly felt that way.