Chapter 7
Aunt Penny strode across the formal lobby in her long camel-colored overcoat.
She’d pulled her wild strawberry blonde curls into an unruly bun atop her head, and wore an oversized pink, purple, and lime scarf draped over her shoulders.
The soft, huggable woman stood out among the rigid professionals attending the conference in their black and gray suits.
“Oh, Jane. There you are!” She waved across the room. Her cheery voice rose above the crowd as I rushed toward her. “What a fancy place this is.”
Heat rose in my cheeks. Though I loved her like my mother, Aunt Penny drew attention to herself without even trying. I sped over to her, closing the space between us before she shouted anything about solving a murder.
“Oh, you poor girl!” She pulled me into a tight embrace, and I breathed in the scents of cinnamon and nutmeg. “What you must have been through.”
I hugged her back and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for coming, truly. Hardly anyone knows what happened. So we’re keeping it quiet.”
“Naturally.” Aunt Penny nodded and touched her finger to her lips. “We’re certainly not going to announce to the murderer we’re trying to find them.”
Charles’s eyes widened as he approached. He must’ve heard her from a few yards away. “Thank you so much for coming. I’m Charles Bingley. Pleasure to meet you.”
Aunt Penny whirled around to look Charles over. She grinned and nodded, then reached out her hand. “Penny Phillips.”
Charles shook her hand, offering his broad smile, perfect dimples and all. “Jane told me how you might help. It sounds incredible. I’ve been working on something that will try to replicate what you can do with the potion—but with science rather than magic.”
“Hmm.” Aunt Penny’s eyes twinkled. “Protecting the innocent. Very noble.”
“Well, it’s still new.” Charles shrugged, gesturing toward the elevators at the end of the lobby. “Should we head upstairs?”
We caught an elevator with just the three of us. Aunt Penny blinked. “You two have had quite the interesting day, haven’t you?”
Charles’s cheeks puffed as he released a pressured breath. “Well, it certainly isn’t the day I’d planned with Jane here.”
“Wait, you planned things for us to do?” My hopes soared for a split second.
“I wanted to do more.” He wrapped his arm around me and gave me a brief squeeze. But then he dropped his hand back to his side. “Your willingness to help is beautiful.”
Aunt Penny snorted with glee. “All of Jane is beautiful, wouldn’t you say?”
It might have been my imagination, but I swear Charles’s cheeks flushed. “Indeed.”
Aunt Penny hadn’t only come to help with the investigation. She wanted to meet Charles and steer things in the “right” direction.
My merry-go-round of emotions made me dizzy. The surprise at running into Charles, doubting if he cared for me, then suspecting he maybe did just in time to learn of two murders. The wall spun as we stepped off the elevator.
“Jane, are you all right?” My aunt stared at me and caught me by the elbow.
“Just a bit overwhelmed. Sometimes my blood pressure drops a bit.” I needed a chance to chat with Lizzy and process everything. She had some explaining to do, after all.
Charles furrowed his brow and patted my shoulder. “Would you like to rest in your room for a while?”
Aunt Penny’s grin showed me she had caught on to Charles’s concerned expression. I shook my head as we entered our suite, hoping she wouldn't reveal anything about our conversation the night before.
“No, no, let’s figure this out. I just need a glass of water.” I waved his comment aside and pulled out my keycard to open the suite.
Aunt Penny let out a soft whistle as we crossed the marble foyer. “Look at this… I mean, these rooms!”
“I had the same reaction when I first saw the place. Our bedrooms are upstairs,” I said.
“Your bedrooms?” Aunt Penny raised an eyebrow.
My face must have turned as red as a tomato. “Well, yes. There are a few bedrooms. My room is on the right and Charles’s is on the left. The suite is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“I see.” My aunt winked at me. “But really, this place is something else.”
She was right. Velvet cobalt drapes complemented the room’s polished brass accents. A crisp blue and white Delftware vase of fresh pink peonies adorned the gold and glass art-deco coffee table. Polished marble floors stopped only when covered by plush Persian carpets.
“This place looks like it came out of one of those fancy architecture magazines or something. I could get comfortable here, all right. Thanks for taking such good care of our Jane.” Aunt Penny looked between me and Charles.
Her grin told me she was enjoying this a bit too much.
She’d be texting my mom within the hour, telling her how well Charles and I got along.
They’d be looking for wedding venues by the end of the week if I didn’t put a stop to it.
Wondering whether bringing her to the hotel was my brightest idea, I attempted to intervene. "Shall we get started?"
"If you're up to it." Charles nodded.
“I think we’d better. Charles, did you find anything that belonged to Armond?” I asked.
Aunt Penny clapped her palm to her forehead. “Oh, yes. I almost forgot. The objects work kind of like mirrors, so the closer they were physically when he died, the better. Jane, to make this work, you’ll need to funnel your power into them.”
Charles pulled a watch and an engraved pen from a travel bag, then handed them to Aunt Penny. “Armond left these on the desk in the room where he worked. I think I’ve seen him wearing this watch. They weren’t in the same room where he died. Sorry, it’s not much.”
“Better than nothing,” Aunt Penny accepted the objects and narrowed her eyes, looking them over. “It’s a good thing our Jane has seeing power.”
“It’s not very strong. Usually it just means I can sense emotions,” I muttered.
I’d always tried to keep that part of myself hidden because I figured it might upset people if they knew I had an immediate insight into their character.
But my mom told our entire extended family everything, and Aunt Penny wasn’t one for secrets.
She would likely share anything she knew about me with Charles within the hour.
Aunt Penny set the items on a side table and turned on the lamp next to them.
“Now this will work sort of like an old movie projector. We’ll need all the blinds drawn and lights off except for this lamp.
Jane, coat your hands with the potion and touch the objects.
Funnel your sight power into them, and they will start a projection to show us what happened near them recently. ”
A slight tingle went down my spine. The potions my family mixed up in our little shop weren’t usually so strong, since selling very powerful magic could have ethical and sometimes even legal consequences.
We concocted truth serums, love potions, healing tonics or salves, and occasionally something to enhance memory, which helped in school.
But I’d never used anything this powerful.
“We need to secure the room first.” I locked the deadbolt and latched the door so we wouldn’t have any unexpected guests. In the dark room, Aunt Penny pulled a glowing aqua vial from her pocket and dropped a little bit of liquid into my hands.
I picked up the pen and the watch, trying to pour as much magic as I could into them. At first, they fizzled, tickling my palms.
I nudged Aunt Penny with my elbow. “Am I doing something wrong?”
“No, no.” She shrugged me off as smoky streams of gold, viridian, and blue light burst from the items. The blue and gold swirled together to form a screen of sorts, and dark green shadows took shape, moving across it like characters in an old black and white movie.
The lights flickered, and Armond’s form appeared, pacing back and forth in front of us. He drooped his shoulders and held his palms to his face, shaking his head. The projection produced no sound.
Kyle, the dark-haired engineer, stepped onto the scene holding what looked like blueprints.
They looked over some papers together, and Kyle wiped some sweat from his brow, then went to open the balcony doors.
The two women from lunch, Catalina and Ashley, appeared next.
Catalina looked around the room and scribbled something onto her clipboard.
Ashley said something to Armond, who handed her a file from the desk.
Then their forms disappeared into swirls of smoke.
The green mist moved across the screen, again taking the shape of Armond at the desk. This time, Mr. Hedwer and David, the concierge, walked together across the smoky stage. The manager looked at his watch and frowned. Then he delivered an envelope to Armond before they continued beyond our view.
Within a moment, Lance entered the scene.
His hands were on his hips, and he appeared to be shouting at someone.
Armond stood up from his desk, shaking his head and raising his hands as if to tell Lance he had no answer for him.
Lance puffed out his chest and strode toward Armond. But they moved beyond our view.
Next to me, Charles started. “Oh, no.”
“Is that all?” I whispered to Aunt Penny.
“No, no. Not until all the mist clears.” She patted my shoulder as she’d done when I was a child. “Patience.”
I took a slow breath, sending as much power as I could through my hands.
A few more people came into view. Armond returned, still very much alive, and got back to work at his desk.
A housekeeper marched by carrying a pile of folded white towels, and a porter followed her with a package wrapped in paper.
The blond engineer, Owen, emerged with an envelope and set it on a table before disappearing.
“Do we know what time this happened?” I asked.
Aunt Penny squinted at the clock on the misty screen. “If I’m reading that correctly, the manager left the room at about 2:00.”