Chapter 19 #2
I had a bounce in my step when we walked into the barn, but I quickly shoved Josh from my mind. I had so many better things to think about.
The interior of the building wasn’t what I expected.
With its large, clean space, white walls, and polished hardwood floors, there was no sign of the barn’s former use.
No animal stalls in sight. The massive barn doors at the far end of the building stood open, framing an idyllic view of a small pasture area and the woods and mountains beyond.
Even Roy’s brewery buildings, which were repurposed barns themselves, appeared wonderfully bucolic from here.
People were rolling out their yoga mats in tidy rows facing the view.
Licorice landed outside the door and peered into the room. Her head cocked one way, then the other, as if assessing the studio’s occupants.
“Oh, hello. You must be Declan,” a barefoot woman about my mother’s age said as she rushed over.
I was guessing her age based on the generous amount of white mixed in her blonde hair.
She was dressed in pale pink yoga pants and a shirt embroidered with the studio’s logo. “I’m Kim. Welcome to my studio.”
“You have a beautiful place,” I said.
“Thank you so much.” She grinned. Then she glanced toward the open doors. “You know, familiars are welcome inside. This afternoon’s session is for the magical community. The Sip and Stretch event for humans was this morning.”
“Oh, um, thank you. I’ll let her know.” I couldn't imagine why Licorice would want to be with me for this, but what did I know? She’d come all the way out here with me, so maybe she would.
I rubbed my nose. Whatever that smell was I’d caught outside, it was inside the barn too.
“Is that smell bothering you?” The sweet smiling face Kim had greeted me with was obliterated under an annoyed frown.
“I smell it, too. It’s like rotten eggs or something,” Avery said, hugging her yoga mat to her chest. “I thought the brewery was closed.”
“It is,” Kim muttered. “But the place doesn’t need to be open for fermentation to continue.
They must’ve started a new batch at the beginning of the festival.
It always reeks a few days in. You’d have thought they would’ve been too busy, but I guess not.
Roy should have at least waited until next week to stink the place up. But the man was insufferable.”
I swallowed. This was my chance to ask about Roy. Sure, you’d think I’d know better than to involve myself in other people's business after everything that’d happened during the magic festival a few weeks ago, but apparently not. My grandfather had always said I was too curious for my own good.
Instead, I opened my mouth and asked, “Was he always causing problems?”
“You could say that. The man was buying my land right out from under me.” Kim’s nostrils flared. Her cheeks flushed so quickly, I thought she might be having one of those hot flashes my mom had recently started complaining about.
“Oh, no!” Avery said, grabbing Kim’s hand to squeeze it. “But what about your lease?”
“It turns out that the agreement I signed says they can do whatever they want without consulting me. They all thought I’d just stay here like a trapped animal and ride out my lease with that…
that awful man as my landlord, while he ripped apart the field right in front of my window and built some monstrosity.
” Kim crossed her arms over her chest. “Bastards. All of them.”
It might be a stereotype, but when I pictured a yoga instructor, I’d pictured an ultra-calm and unflappable person, not someone who cursed their neighbors and seemed ready to throw punches.
“Well, now that Roy’s gone…” Avery started, but her words trailed off when Kim shook her head.
“The sale might still go through.”
“There, there, dear,” Hazel soothed. “I’m sure you’ll land on your feet. You’re a cat shifter after all.”
“Will you try to fight it?” Avery asked.
“Nope. When I first came here, I loved this place, but my dealings with Janis and Roy have soured it for me. I’m ready to move on.
I have my eye on a few places. And you can bet I won’t be leasing anything from Janis again.
” Kim smiled smugly. “I don’t care what it’ll take to break my lease.
I can’t wait to let her know she won’t see another penny from me.
I told the police the same thing when they came around to ask me about my relationship with Roy. May the asshole rest in peace.”
Considering my own plans to sign a lease with Janis, that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I really needed someone knowledgeable to review whatever contract she offered me.
“You would move?” I asked. “Just like that?”
“Absolutely. Besides, as lovely as it usually is out here, being in town would be better for business. People hate driving out here in the winter,” Kim said. Then she turned to Avery and whispered, “And after everything that’s happened, I’m so happy I didn’t commission those hexes from you.”
“Jinxes,” Avery corrected.
“Yes, yes, those. But, just think, with Roy dying like that, I might have been a suspect. Can you imagine?” She laughed.
“I wouldn’t have had you do anything too bad, but I’d come up with some great ideas after a few glasses of Chardonnay the other night.
Passing along my perimenopause symptoms was at the top of the list. Or giving him an itch he couldn’t reach might be fun. Oh, I had a whole page of ideas.”
I tried to laugh with her and the others; except she wasn’t wrong about being a suspect.
“But enough about that. Why don’t you find a spot?
We’ll be startin’ soon. And don’t forget to select your favorite brew.
” She waved toward a bar area that’d been set up along the back wall.
I’d missed it when we walked in, too distracted by the view.
Then Kim wandered off to greet some other new arrivals.
After I unrolled the yoga mat I’d borrowed from Avery, I snapped a couple of pictures of the view to post on social media. Wait… why were two people walking around outside at the brewery? I enlarged the picture I took, but I couldn’t make out who it was; they weren't wearing police uniforms.
Licorice cawed as she swooped toward the brewery.
My heart caught in my throat. What if those people were the murderers?
They had no reason to suspect Licorice wasn’t an ordinary raven, but they’d already shown a distinct lack of respect for someone else’s life. Who knew what they might be capable of?
"Come on, Licorice. Come back," I thought as I stared at her, willing her to listen to me. And, more importantly, begging her to be careful. "They might be dangerous."
Then something flickered over my eyes. It was like an old double-exposed photo where I was seeing what was in front of me, but I was also seeing something else superimposed over it.
Gradually, the second image became cleaner and… holy crap.
Was this an astral projection? Because I swore it was like I was looking down on two people: Fletcher and one of the other brewers–Donny, if I remembered correctly.
I couldn’t hear what was being said, but Fletcher’s face was bright red, making his nose appear even more prominent, and he was waving his arms around.
Donny was sneering. Like a viper, the younger, bigger man’s hand snapped out to grab Fletcher by the collar and hold him still.
Donny stabbed his finger into the other man’s chest.
“Declan?” Avery jostled my arm.
The vision broke, and it was like I snapped back to the yoga studio.
I wavered on my feet, disoriented for a moment.
A caw shot across the landscape as Licorice flew toward me.
That was when I understood what’d happened.
It hadn’t been an astral projection. Nope.
Licorice had somehow let me see what she was seeing.
That was… wow.
As much as I’d daydreamed about something like that, I hadn’t really believed it could happen. Things like that belonged in books and movies, not real life.
“Are you feeling okay? No one will think poorly of you if you skip the beer.” Hazel pressed the back of her hand to my forehead.
In the few minutes since I’d been connected with Licorice, Hazel had lost the puffy skirt she’d worn over her shorts to hide her spider legs while we’d been traveling here. I tried not to shudder as one of her gigantic spider legs brushed my knee.
Someday, I was sure, I’d be more comfortable with all the monstrous things about the misfit monsters, and Hazel in particular, but I was still a work in progress.
She was right. I probably shouldn’t drink, but this had been one hell of an afternoon. I wanted to celebrate my amazingly stellar interrogation skills, my connection with Licorice, blocking Josh, and the fact that I hadn’t screamed when Hazel’s leg touched mine.
“Let’s see what they have.”