Chapter 11 #2
Mia wondered if Abigail was talking about someone besides the babies, but she let it go. The society was more than just a group of witches trying to survive in this world. They were a family.
The timer went off, and Abigail finished the last dregs in her glass. “Set the table out in the dining area and let’s get this party started.”
As they all gathered around the table, they made gratitude statements to the Goddess.
It hadn’t been Mia’s family’s tradition, but Abigail and Thomas did it every mealtime.
Mia liked the ritual. It reminded her that no matter what was going on in her life, she had reasons to be thankful.
They might be small in the scheme of things, but they were there.
When it was Levi’s turn, he looked at Christina first before speaking.
When she reached for his hand, he started talking.
“I’m thankful for this woman who has chosen to bond with me and the new lives we’re bringing into our world.” Levi leaned over and kissed Christina.
“If you didn’t get it from that convoluted announcement, let me be clearer. I’m thankful that Levi and I have been blessed with a pregnancy. Twins, I’m told.” Christina grinned. “I get to tell my mother tonight over the phone. She can’t kill me if she can’t touch me.”
No one at the table seemed to be surprised at the announcement, but everyone said the right things. As they transitioned into dinner, the group seemed just a little more upbeat than they had when the afternoon meeting had ended.
Saturday morning, Mia finished her reports, including the customer service surveys sent to the attendees of last night’s catered event.
Another one of Blake’s new processes. She didn’t mind evaluations, but the problem was that the complaints they received weren’t about the food or the service, but about the topic of the event.
Something she wasn’t in charge of and couldn’t fix for them.
Mia had proposed that they only send evaluation forms to the people who had planned the event to survey how the night turned out in their eyes, but Blake didn’t agree.
At least Mia was learning what not to do without experimenting on her own catering company.
She needed to go into the office, but Christina was still in bed. Levi had left around midnight to return to the Adams’s condo. If she waited a couple of hours, Mia and Christina could give Finn a ride to work as well. Everybody was a winner. Except Mia had done everything she could from the house.
She refilled her coffee and opened a new notebook to write down everything she knew about Suzanne Parker’s death.
Mia had some solid information and a lot of questions.
She also made a list of interviews she wanted to do.
Mark didn’t mind her getting involved in a case if her involvement kept him from acknowledging the fact that witches lived in Magic Springs.
Even though his wife and daughter fell into that genome, he thought if he didn’t say it, it wasn’t true.
Of course the fact that the baby’s new puppy was really a hellhound kind of ruined that mindset.
As she made a list of people to chat with, including Cleo from the testing facility and Marsha Fieldstone, she realized she hadn’t looked at the report from Matt at the front desk. She opened her email and scanned the invoice.
Suzanne Parker had checked in Sunday night on the National Office’s credit card.
She ate in the dining room Sunday evening, Monday morning, noon, and dinner, and Tuesday breakfast and dinner.
No lunch because she’d been busy tormenting Mia at the time.
Cleo had probably provided her food, although Mia barely remembered eating that day.
From the charges, the meals appeared to be for one person.
She wasn’t buying anyone dinner on the bosses’ dime.
Suzanne Parker seemed to be a stickler for the details.
No wonder Mia’s quick ascension to level three, then level five, had upset her.
It just wasn’t done. She almost closed the file before she found the reservation notes.
It showed Suzanne Parker’s airline details for coming and going, with a note about needing a ride to the airport.
The dates were off. She checked in on Sunday, but her plane landed on Friday night. She should have checked out on Wednesday morning, but the shuttle charge wasn’t till Thursday. And hadn’t Mark said her rental car was in the parking lot for the cross-country trailhead?
Mia reached for her phone and called him on his cell.
“What’s wrong? Is Sarah okay? Em?” He didn’t give her a chance to even say hello.
“Good morning, Mark. Do you have a little time for a chat? I’ll make you an omelet.” Mia stared out the window, wondering if Buddy was out in the tree or still at Trent’s.
“So they’re fine?” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m a little jumpy without them here. Sure, I’ll be right over with my files. Did you figure this out already?”
“No, but I have a question. Did you come by when I wasn’t home and tell Grans I was a suspect?”
“No. Why would you be a suspect? Yes, you spent time with the victim, but from what I know of that whole testing thing, you were probably surrounded by your entire group Tuesday at midnight when the scores came out. You couldn’t have been at the ski trail at the same time, right?”
“Exactly. Look, I’ll fill you in on the fun we’ve been having here. I haven’t gotten a lot of sleuthing done, but I’ve got some information on the victim that you probably don’t have.”
“All I know is that she worked for an educational organization and traveled all over, testing and certifying people, which we know isn’t the whole truth. Let me grab my coat and I’ll be over in a few minutes. Thanks, Mia.”
After Mark hung up, Grans came into the room. She poured coffee, then sat down. No “good morning.” Nothing.
“Are you okay?” Mia stared at her. She wasn’t wearing the engagement ring that Robert had given her.
“No, I’m a complete idiot who likes making her life harder than it needs to be.
How on earth did I allow Dorian to swoop in here again and fill my head with fairy tales?
I have no future with the man. He just needs to go back to Boston and live his life.
Not here, and not in your academy, where I have to run into him all the time. ” Grans sipped her coffee.
“What happened?”
Grans blinked and looked up at her. “What do you mean?”
“What happened? What did he do last night that has you this upset?” Mia was starting to worry about her grandmother’s memory.
“Oh, dear, he’s just being Dorian. You can change a man’s name, but not his nature.
I fell in love with him a few years ago for a good reason.
Now, I just need to forget that reason and go on with my life.
It won’t be with Robert—I’ve burned that bridge—but I’m sure I’ll find a perfectly acceptable substitute, if I can get Dorian to leave.
He did what he planned. He stopped my wedding. He should feel good.”
“I’m sure he didn’t want to ruin your wedding, just because. Damien loves you. Tell me you don’t have feelings for him and I’ll tell him to leave. But I think you’re in love with him as well.” Mia moved the plate of muffins that Abigail had made yesterday closer to her grandmother’s reach.
She took a muffin. Feeding Grans always meant just keeping her busy until she ate enough. She never even noticed food when she was in one of these moods.
“I packed all that up when we buried his first body.” Grans broke open the muffin and put butter on it.
“Speaking of bodies, do you think there’s any truth to what Christina saw at the house? Or was it just a way to scare people off?”
Her grandmother took a bite, then washed it down with coffee. “I’ve heard rumors about passing a soul from one body to another. But the body has to be someone willing, and nowadays people don’t seem as receptive to having another soul in their bodies.”
Mr. Darcy meowed from his place on the window seat.
“I think cats are less likely too, but Mr. Darcy doesn’t blame Dorian.
He knows it was an accident.” Mia smiled at her cat.
Now her grandmother had her asking where they got the young woman who was on the other table.
Mia shifted in her seat. If Christina hadn’t been imagining things, who was the girl in the bed?
Or was this entire scene just playacting for Christina’s benefit?
Mia was beginning to think that the scene her friend had seen was just a re-creation of part of a movie.
That neither Suzanne nor the girl were actually there.
Unless it was a past life transition. Was that how Suzanne had been able to live for three hundred years?