As they went out the apartment door, the elevator doors opened and Grans stepped out, her purse by her side. “Oh, I thought you’d be at work by now.”
“Just heading there.” Mia stopped in front of her. “I thought you were still sleeping. Where did you go this morning?”
“None of your business.” Grans brushed by her. “Has Muffy been fed?”
“I left you a note, but yes. Fed and out already.” Mia paused and watched her walk to the apartment. She wanted to ask if she’d come home last night, but she’d already been told it was none of her business, so she let it go.
At least until after she and Christina got into the car and headed out of the parking lot. “Did we just see my grandmother do the walk of shame?” Mia let out a breath.
“I wasn’t going to mention it, but I think so.” Christina started to giggle. “I guess her date last night went well.”
“She’d probably say they were working on some spell or potion at her house.” Mia leaned back in her seat after turning on the heater. “Grans says you don’t have a spell perfect until you’ve done it at least eight times. I’ll stay in my bubble and think they were working on potions.”
“Okay, live in your G-rated fairy-tale world. I like my romance steamy.” Christina went on to talk about her latest favorite author find.
Mia tuned out the chatter and thought about Suzanne Parker and potions. Maybe she wasn’t drugged but put under a potion spell. Was there one that would make you more pliable to suggestions? And what about the water? In order for her to have that much water on her, the killer would have had to bring a bucket or more to pour over her. How did they get that on the trail-head? The cross-country ski trail was an old logging road, so they might have brought a vehicle. Did the police find tracks?
She pulled out her phone and texted Mark her questions. Something about this whole thing didn’t add up. It was looking more and more like magic had been a part of Suzanne Parker’s death. Mia wasn’t liking that theory at all. She might just be a kitchen witch, but inher opinion, magic should be used only with good intentions.
Maybe she was too much of a Pollyanna for this life.
When Mark didn’t answer right away, she put the phone away.
“I know you didn’t just order the book I’ve been talking about since we left the house. Were you listening at all?” Christina asked as she parked the Land Rover at the Lodge. As they got out, she looked up at the sun shining in the clear blue sky. “I’m glad I didn’t move my clothes to Portland. I would be without a jacket for today and would have had to wear my puffer or gone without. You know it’s going to be cold when we drive home.”
“The weather has been strange,” Mia agreed. She’d ignored the question about the book because Christina was right, she hadn’t been listening at all. The guy at the front desk waved her over. “Ms. Malone, you have a visitor waiting to talk to you.”
Mia glanced over to where the man pointed, and Brandon Maxwell sat on a couch, looking at his phone. As she walked over, he stood, smiling.
“Brandon, how can I help you today?” Mia asked. “Do you need to plan an event?”
“Not unless you’re agreeing to join the coven. Then we’ll throw a huge bash, but we probably should wait until the solstice or at least a full moon. so more power will be available for us. Miss Adams, how are you feeling?” Brandon turned his cat-that-ate-the-canary smile on Christina.
“Fine, thanks. Mia, I’m going to grab some breakfast. I’ll meet you in your office,” Christina added as she narrowed her eyes at Brandon. “Unless you need me to stay.”
“I’ll be fine.” Mia sat on the couch across from where Brandon had been sitting. “I’m sure we can deal with this out here, in the open.”
Brandon blinked, realizing that he wasn’t in charge of the meeting, and sat back down. “I’ll be quick and you’re perfectly safe with me. I can’t believe you would even think otherwise.”
“Brandon, a woman is dead and we don’t know why. I’ve heard that maybe she and you were an item, so forgive me if I don’t think meeting you in a private, secluded spot is a great idea. Speaking of that, I wanted to ask you who assigns hellhound training slots. Is it you?”
The change of subject surprised him, forcing him, as Mia had hoped, to give a true answer before he could think about it. “No. I don’t deal with the animals. Familiar issues are handled by Aaron Harding, but hellhound training runs through Marsha Fieldstone. She’s amazing at keeping the scheduling and records, and since she had an incident with one many years ago, she has a vested interest in making sure the animals pass their certification. I thought you knew that because she was part of Cerby’s original discovery.”
“Marsha schedules the training too?” Now Mia was confused. If her theory was right, the hellhound training was specifically scheduled to keep Trent out of Mia’s life for six weeks.
“For the last twenty years. Although Cerby and Tempest are the first hellhounds we’ve had arrive inMagic Springs for more than ten years. Because the McManns’ training program is in our area of concern, the coven uses Marsha to coordinate with the other covens who send animals to be trained. We like to have a heads up on hellhounds coming into the area. Just in case they get loose. Why are you concerned about the training? Isn’t it going well?” Brandon asked. It was obvious that he hadn’t expected to be chatting about hellhound training.
“It’s fine. I was just wondering who coordinated all that. Do you handle the witch testing? Or is that someone else, like Sabrina?” Mia continued to pepper him with questions, hoping she’d continue to get honest answers.
“Sabrina does the recruitment, but someone else schedules tests. Sabrina isn’t keen on completing tasks or following through unless it’s to go out to eat or coordinate a party. No, the scheduler is someone on her staff. It used to be a woman, but she was promoted to National. All our strong witches are, which is why I believe you’ll be leaving the coven for a better position as soon as you decide to join.”
“If I decide to join. Is Cleo the test scheduler?” Mia tried to steer him away from talking about her possible commitment.
“No, Cleo’s too busy for that. Let’s see. When Karen left, who took her spot? Oh, Jullian Barnes. I’m not sure you’ve met. He doesn’t much care for the parties or meetings. He mostly just works. He’s a favorite of the old guard, though. Between you and me, I think he has a benefactor in the coven.”
“A benefactor?” Mia leaned forward. “Who?”
“Now, listen to me spilling all the coven secrets to an outsider. Of course if you joined, I wouldn’t have to worry about what I said.” He met my gaze. “Would I? I’m just here checking in to see if I can answer any more questions about joining. Your first level five payment should be in your account by now. Have you looked?”