Pretty Witches All in a Row (9 page)

“Laudanum… do they even sell that anymore?” Nick wondered, flipping through the inventory.  No sign of any laudanum in her medicine cabinet or otherwise.

“I don’t think so, wasn’t that the drug of choice for rich married ladies in the Victorian age?” Brady asked. 

“Find out.  See how hard it is to get your hands on some, and check with all of the local pharmacies, see how many prescriptions have been given out in the past six months.  Where are we on exhuming the other body?”

“We’re having trouble getting permission to have the body exhumed.  It seems her family is less than eager at the idea of disturbing her rest.” 

“You tried explaining that her death might not have been an accident?”

The younger detectives traded glances.  “Yeah… ah, they weren’t too happy to hear about that.  Blistered my ear for twenty minutes on the incompetence of the original investigation, and for putting them through this again when they were starting to put it behind them.”  Brady winced as he recalled the conversation. 

“Okay, forget them for the moment; let’s see if we can find a friendly judge.  Push the angle that it’s critical information in an ongoing murder investigation; hint at a possible serial killer if you have to.”

“Do you think that’s what we have, Sir?” Park asked, her face registering shock at hearing the S word.

“No, there’s no reason to make that assumption at this point, but if it helps us get our body, I’m willing to play that card at this point.  Have either of you had time to review the investigation report from the first fire?”  Nick looked between them and Park nodded.

“There wasn’t much to review.  No sign of arson, not much left of the house or the body, it was ruled accidental before a proper investigation could be completed.  They didn’t interview her friends or family, no search of her bank records.  It seemed like everyone was eager to sign off on that one.”

“Okay, we’re going to have to go over it all again, treat it like it’s a fresh investigation.  Also keep trying to talk to the Xiang woman, I wasn’t able to reach her yesterday, I want to talk to everyone in that coven, nail down their movements for both deaths.  Let’s dig a little deeper, find out what skeletons these ladies might be hiding.”

“Where are you going?” Brady asked, hastily scribbling in his notepad.

“I’m going to pay another visit to Ms. Rose Spencer.  See what she can tell me about our first victim.”

* * *

The Spencer house was large enough to be considered a mansion by modern standards.  Overlooking the river, its warm yellow stones gave the place a welcoming feel as he drove past the well manicured hedges and into the large circular driveway.  Rose clearly came from money; a piece of prime real estate like that, right on the water would set her back three or four mil at least by his estimation.

He half expected to see a liveried servant answer the door after he rang the bell, but after a brief pause it was Rose herself who came to the door.   

“Is there something I can do for you, Sergeant Gibson?” she asked, shielding her eyes from the early morning sunlight. 

“I have a few more questions, if I can have a moment of your time.”  She hesitated, and for a fleeting moment Nick started to think she might actually refuse to talk to him, but then she stepped back to allow him to pass. 

Nick let out a low whistle as he stepped over the threshold.  The interior had that posh, coordinated look, as though it had been put together by an interior decorator.  “Nice place you have here.  Do you live here all by yourself?” 

“For the moment.”  Her reply was brief as she shut the door behind him. 

“A lot of space.  How many bedrooms?”

“Is that important?” she replied, leading him to a sitting room that looked like it saw little use.  The furniture was very formal and not too comfortable; he wondered if it was that way on purpose to discourage repeat visitors. 

“Just making conversation.”  Nick tried for a charming smile, but it didn’t have much effect on her.  “Right, well, I’ll get to it then, shall I?  As I understand it, you were… involved with the first victim, Zoe Phillips.”  Her expression didn’t change and she made no move to comment.  “Is that the case or have I been misinformed?”

“Yes, it’s true.  Zoe and I were lovers, sort of an off again, on again thing, nothing too serious.”

“Do you have many lovers you’re not serious about?”

“Do you?”

Nick shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  “Alright, were you on again or off again at the time of her death?”

“Off.  We had been for a few months; she was starting to get too… clingy.”  Her nose wrinkled with distaste.  “So, apart from the occasional booty call, I cooled things off.”

‘Booty call’ was the last thing he expected to hear from the moneyed woman, and it took him a moment to formulate his next question.  “What kind of person was Zoe?”

Rose paused, appearing to give this question some actual thought instead of answering off the cuff as she had the other questions.  “Zoe was a free spirit, definitely marched to the beat of her own drum.  Generous, loving, kind of an odd sense of humor,” she smiled faintly.  “Smart, kind of spooky smart, you’d think she wasn’t even listening sometimes and then she’d pop up with something so profound…”

“I understand she worked for an environmental science company, do you know what she did there?”

“Yes, she was working on a biodiesel project, making the world a greener place, you know?  It was all over my head, but she… she could see a future where we would be completely free from the oil companies.”  A smile softened Rose’s features.  “Not that my family would have been completely thrilled with that idea, a good chunk of our money comes from oil in Texas,” she chuckled. 

“She sounds like a smart lady,” Nick smiled back.  “Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt her?”

“Apart from OPEC putting a hit on her, not really, no,” Rose replied with a wry twist of the lips. 

“When was the last time you saw her before she died?”

“It was a few days before.  We had our monthly gathering, I hosted here at my place.  I was still trying to keep some distance between us.  I barely said two words to her outside of the circle.”  Her tone sounded bitter to him, perhaps with self reproach.

“Well, if foresight was twenty-twenty…” 

“Annaliese would make a killing.” 

Nick blinked, not following her train of thought on that one.  “I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh nothing, inside joke, it’s not important.”  She waved away the question.

“So the women in your coven, you’re all pretty tight?”

“To varying degrees yes.  We all have to have an affinity for each other, or we wouldn’t be very successful.  But like any group of friends, you care about some more than others.”

“What do you think of Annaliese?”  He wasn’t sure why he asked the question, it popped into his mind. 

Her eyes flicked up to his, and he could tell he’d startled her with the question, but an amused light came into them moments later.  “She’s beautiful isn’t she?  Inside and out,” she commented, watching him just as carefully as he watched her.

“I suppose she is; I don’t know her very well though.”  He hadn’t thought of Annaliese as beautiful per se, not in the same way someone like Seraphine captured his attention with her striking beauty.  Thinking back to the gentle smile on her face as she’d offered him the pendant, he could see Rose’s point; Annaliese was beautiful in her own right.  “She’s very thoughtful though, she gave me this.”  Nick fished the pendant out of his pocket and let it dangle from the chain. 

“Tiger’s eye.  And the Eye of Horus too, she must think you need protecting, Sergeant.”  She studied the pendant speculatively. 

“Kind of comes with the territory,” he shrugged, well used to the idea.

“You like her, don’t you?”

“Don’t you?” 

Rose regarded him, an inscrutable look on her face.  “Do you think the same person killed both of them?”

“I don’t know yet, we’re still assembling all the facts,” Gibson answered honestly.  “What about you?  Do you think their deaths are linked?”

“I don’t know, it sounds a little farfetched.  What would anyone possibly have to gain?”  She shook her head.  “On the other hand, I don’t believe in coincidence.  The Lady always has a plan for us; we just don’t always know what it is.”

“The lady?”

“The Goddess, by whatever name she’s called.”

“And you think it’s part of her plan that they both died?”

Rose gave a shrug.  “Who knows, She doesn’t send out a newsletter or anything.”

“Right.”  Gibson wasn’t quite sure how to take the turn in conversation, was she being serious or messing with him?  “I think you’ve answered all of my questions, thanks for your time, Ms. Spencer.”  He rose to his feet.  “Oh ah, can you tell me where you were the night that Zoe died?”

“I was with Annaliese, you can ask her yourself.”

“All night?”  Did she mean that she had a relationship with her as well?  Booty call or otherwise?

“All night.”  A little smile played on the edges of her lips.

“Okay, well… thanks,” Nick nodded, beating a hasty retreat.  Another interview down and he had more questions than he’d started out with. 

Chapter Six

Veronica wasn’t breaking the vow of trust. 

Not exactly.

While her father hadn’t sounded thrilled she’d been spending time at Argent Flame, he hadn’t actually forbidden her to go there.  Okay, so it was a technicality since she was pretty sure he didn’t want her hanging around a place that was actively involved in one of his cases, but she’d been far too tempted to go back and check things out. 

Veronica boldly ascended the front steps and entered the store.  “Hey Feather,” she greeted the gangly girl with a little wave. 

“Hey V, how’s it going?” Feather asked with a smile of recognition.

“Oh you know, same old.  How about you?” 

“The same.  We got some new candles in by the way, you might want to check them out, there’s one called love machine.”  Feather waggled her eyebrows at her. 

“Yeah, Daddy wouldn’t go too ballistic over that one,” Veronica snorted. 

“You could take the label off; he’d never know what it was for… until you get stampeded by studs of course,” she gave her a wicked grin.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”  Veronica plopped down into a chair, tucking her feet up under.  “So, how do you like working here?  I love the stuff you guys sell, but is your boss cool?”

“Annaliese?  Yeah, she’s way cool to work for.  Much better than that douche I used to work for at the Gap.”

“The one at Lloyd Center?”

“Uh huh.”

“Yeah, that guy is a tool,” Veronica agreed, surreptitiously trying to keep the conversation going without sounding like she was interrogating her friend.  “Do you guys ever, you know, do spells together?”

“Naw, I’m not on her level, I’m just starting out.  You’ve gotta know what you’re fucking with before you jump right in, you know?  You never know what you could be messing with.”

“I never thought of it that way.” 

“I keep telling you, there’s a whole world out there you don’t know anything about, V.  All it takes is for you to open your eyes and take a look around.” 

Veronica was about to reply when Annaliese herself approached them, winding a light blue scarf around her neck.  She gave a pleasant to smile to Veronica and her employee.  “You’re on register duty for now, Feather.  I’ve got to go and run some errands.  Felice will be here in about a half hour and I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“You got it, boss; later V.”  Feather gave her a two fingered salute and with a lopsided smile she sashayed back to the counter.  

It took Veronica a moment to bring up the courage to say something, but she spoke up as Annaliese started to move away.  “You’re Annaliese right?  The owner?  I’m Veronica, I love your shop.”  She gave her a genuine smile.

“Thank you, Veronica.  Yes, I am the owner, and it’s always nice to hear when people like our place.”  Annaliese smiled back at the compliment.  “That’s a beautiful amethyst pendant you have on.” 

“Thanks, it was a present from my father; I love amethysts.”

“You know amethysts are very calming and soothing, great for healing, I use them all the time.  They’re also used for opening up the spiritual and psychic centers.”

“You do?”  Veronica’s eyes widened a little.  “And here I just thought it was something pretty,” she murmured.  “What kind of healing do you do?” 

“I can’t make the blind see, or the crippled walk, but I do have some talents with minor ailments.  Headaches, cramps, colds, things like that.  I use amethysts as a way to promote the body’s ability to heal itself, give it a little bit of help aligning the energies.  Are you interested in healing?”

“Yeah kinda, all this stuff is still pretty new to me,” she answered honestly enough.  Though she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to believe that amethysts could get rid of headaches any better than over the counter pain meds.  It was obvious Annaliese believed it though, without a doubt.

“It can be a little overwhelming at first, there’s so much information out there.  If I may…”  Anna withdrew for a moment, scanning the bookshelves before she found the title she was searching for and selected it.  “This one might be a good place to begin.”

So much for free advice… had the entire conversation been a prelude to the sales pitch?  Veronica didn’t want to think so, but couldn’t help the uncharitable thought from slipping in.  “Thanks…” she accepted the book and turned it over in her hands.  “Only I’m not sure my dad would be cool with me coming home with a book like this.” 

Annaliese nodded with understanding.  “It’s important to respect your parents’ wishes.  But at the same time, there’s never anything wrong with learning more about a subject that interests you, at least that’s how I’ve always felt.  Have you been to our online store?”

Here it comes, the pitch to order more of her stuff…
  “Um yeah, I’ve seen it before.  You have a lot of nice things.”

“Under the resources tab there are all kinds of links to websites where you can learn more for free.  Find out what interests you; you never know what path you’ll end up on,” she suggested with an easy smile.