Chapter 7 #2
“Meaning Jaxon wouldn’t have been able to poison Graham if they’d only seen each other in the morning.” I glanced at my watch. Half a minute had passed, and Riley was still fine.
“Yes.” He sighed. “It would’ve lost efficacy by then since they were both gone all day.”
“I told you so.” After another minute passed, I released my death grip on the hem of my sweater and let out a long breath.
“Disappointed?” he asked.
“That you’re not dead?”
“That you don’t have an excuse to kiss me.”
“I wouldn’t have done it mouth-to-mouth—” I cut myself off and shook my head. “Never mind, what’s important is that if the anti-malady charm on the cups works, it seems unlikely that Eve poisoned Graham, at least not while they were here.”
“But we should still see if we can locate her. Whether or not she’s our killer, she still might’ve been the last person to see Graham alive.”
The bell jangled again as more customers poured in, escaping the gloomy weather outside.
“Do you think this is the best spot to talk about this?” I asked in a low voice.
“Maybe not.” Riley studied me. “Is there any way we could talk at your place?”
“Maybe.” I chewed my lip. We could probably find a place to talk, but finding a place and finding privacy weren’t always the same thing in a house full of girls.
“I promise to behave. Mostly.” He flashed another grin that made my stomach swoop. “It’s just that my roommate has people over pretty much all the time. It’s not an ideal place for any sort of thinking.”
“I’m sure we can make it work.”
“Great.” Riley took another sip of his tea, then with a glance around to make sure Madam Rosa wasn’t watching, he poured the rest onto a large fern near our table.
Once I finished my cup, I stood, and Riley put a few bills on the table. “You don’t have to—”
“It’s my treat since you’re making my work so much more fun.
” He held my jacket out for me. I let him help me into it, trying not to notice the way Riley’s hands lingered on my shoulders a second too long.
A faint scar on his knuckle caught my eye, the skin a lighter brown than the rest of his hand.
I dropped my gaze to the laminated menu on the table to avoid looking at him. My magic stirred inside me again, and my attention fell on that same chai drink as before. Why did it keep standing out to me?
Madam Rosa bustled over. “Leaving already, Kitty?”
“Yeah, we’ve got to go.” I pointed to a drink on the menu. “Is the moonlight maple chai any good?”
Riley shot me a curious look.
“It’s delicious. A popular drink this season,” she said. “Now that you mention it, that young man you showed me a picture of ordered one to go. When I brought it to the table, I overheard him and his friend talking about a Halloween party.”
My heart leapt. Was that what my magic had been trying to tell me? That I needed to ask about it so we could get our next clue? “The party at Northanger Abbey tomorrow night?”
“That’s the one.” Her grin widened, adding a dimple to her cheek. “The girl mentioned that she’d be going as a pumpkin something or other. Hope that helps.”
“It does. Thank you!” I pulled my jacket on the rest of the way, then wrapped my scarf firmly around my neck. The Northanger Abbey Halloween party was an annual tradition that was always held the night before Halloween. It helped that most of the town believed Northanger Abbey was haunted.
Riley headed toward the door, and I started to follow him.
Madam Rosa leaned close, stopping me. “By the way, your boyfriend seems like a keeper.”
I flushed, cursing all the busybodies in this town. “Oh, he isn’t my boyfriend.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Well, if he isn’t your boyfriend yet, I think you should make him yours soon. Any man who finishes a cup of tea is a keeper in my book.”
I nodded and glanced at the freshly watered fern. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said before I joined Riley at the door.
Even though it wasn’t even 5:00 yet, it was getting dark, although that was partly because of the cloudy sky.
“How did you know to ask about that drink?”
“My magic sort of pointed it out.” And I was getting better at listening to it.
“You’re more impressive every time I see you,” Riley said.
My cheeks heated. “And you’re more ridiculous.”
Riley sniffed and looked at the cloudy sky. “A storm is coming, and it’s going to be a big one.”
“How can you tell?” I mirrored him. “It just looks like more rain to me.”
“I can smell it in the air.” He grinned but said nothing else.
The bakery was closed when we made it home, so I led him around back and we slipped into the house through the living room.
I resisted the urge to check on Dad, whom I hadn’t seen yet today since he was sleeping when I left for class this morning.
I hesitated at the base of the stairwell.
Lydia’s voice rang from upstairs, ruling that out as an option.
“Let’s go downstairs,” I whispered as we crept toward the basement.
“Why are we whispering?” Riley asked.
“Because if we’re caught—”
“Kitty.” Mom came out of Dad’s room. “Where have you been?”
I forced a smile. Maybe if I didn’t make a big deal out of Riley’s presence, she wouldn’t, either. “Hey, Mom. I was out working on things.”
Her gaze darted to Riley, then back to me. “Did you hear?”
My chest tightened. Mom must have finally heard about Graham’s death. He’d always been a favorite of hers. “Heard what?”
Mom stepped closer, her voice rising in pitch along with her frustration. “Priscilla Long already put out her jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween. If we don’t get ours out tonight, we’ll be at a severe disadvantage in the Spooktacular Showdown.”
“Oh…” Compared to everything else going on, Mom’s rivalry with Mrs. Long was infinitely unimportant.
She pointed toward the pumpkins on the floor. “I need you to carve those. Tonight.”
Riley turned to me. “Do you want to do that, Kitty?”
“I guess.” We could talk while we carved so it wouldn’t set us back.
“Then we’d be happy to.” Riley picked up a pumpkin and grinned at Mom.
Her tense expression melted into a syrupy smile. “And you are?”
“Riley Robinson from the Sanditon.”
“Oh, did you come to see Lizzy? I’m afraid she isn’t home right now.”
That was one way of putting it considering she didn’t live here anymore and was hardly ever “home.” But Mom struggled to come to terms with the fact that two of her daughters had moved out—especially since they hadn’t left because of marriage.
Riley tilted his head toward me. “Actually, I’m here with Kitty. She’s been helping me with an article. I hope it’s okay that I’m monopolizing her time.”
“Oh, monopolize away.” Mom waved a hand, although the airy gesture didn’t totally mask the surprise in her eyes. “Don’t let me stop you.”
I scowled at her. Why was it that whenever guys came to the house, no one ever assumed they were here to see me, even when they were literally with me?
“We’ll get started on the pumpkins.” I pulled Riley away before Mom could say anything else.
“There are more in the kitchen. Carve those too!” Mom called after me. “And dinner is on the stove, Kitty. Riley is more than welcome to have some.”
Instead of pulling him to the basement, I led him into the kitchen where a pumpkin risotto sat on the stove next to a few uncooked pumpkins sitting on the counter. “Are you sure you don’t mind carving these?”
“Not at all.” He flashed a grin at me.
“Okay, sorry my mom sometimes takes over like that.”
His dark gaze fell on me, reminding me of what he’d said earlier about making my own choices.
To hide my pink cheeks, I rummaged through the fridge, looking for the rest of the meal. “You hungry?”
“Always.”
“Then why don’t I dish this up while you carry two pumpkins to the table?”
“On it.”
The food filled the air with the faint smell of nutmeg and cinnamon, and I ladled it into two bowls before bringing everything to the table where a fire crackled in the dining room hearth.
“Did you light that?” I chose a spot near the fire, soaking in its warmth.
“I’m good at turning up the heat.” He claimed the seat next to mine with a wink. “Plus, you don’t seem to enjoy being cold.”
My cheeks heated, and I looked down at my soup.
I hadn’t expected him to notice… or care.
But Riley was just being thoughtful because of the potion.
That seemed to be my new mantra. I glanced at him a few times as we ate, taking advantage of the fact that his focus was on his food instead of me for once.
His features were strong and prominent, as if someone had carved him out of stone, from his straight nose and dark eyes to his full lips that were almost perpetually raised in a knowing smirk.
A hint of his tattoo peeked from his sleeve again—a serpentine tail, slender but powerful, like Riley.
Once we finished eating, we cleared the dishes, then sat to carve the pumpkins.
Riley held a knife in his hand as if testing the weight. “I haven’t carved a pumpkin in years.”
“Really?” I raised both eyebrows and started sketching, not even totally sure what shape I was going for yet. “We do it every year. Mom can’t stand the idea of losing to Mrs. Long so she always goes all out with decorating.”
“And Mrs. Long is…?”
“The woman who owns a boutique a few shops down. She’s my mom’s long-time enemy and even longer-time friend,” I said.
“I think they were besties back in the day, but apparently Mrs. Long tried to steal my mom’s pumpkin chocolate chip cheesecake recipe for the annual bake-off, and they’ve been rivals ever since. ”
“And that’s your friend Elaine’s aunt, right?”
“Yeah.” Rain lashed against the windows, and I jumped. “I guess you were right about the weather.”
“I usually am about these things.” Riley smiled an I-told-you-so grin. “So I take it your family has never lost the Spooktacular Showdown then?”
“Oh, no. We’ve lost plenty of times. Mom just hates it every time.” I added a few wings to the shape on my pumpkin, drawing from the memory of his tattoo and letting it take shape from there.
Riley laughed, a comforting sound as smooth as melted chocolate, and switched his knife for a permanent marker. “I see. Well, I guess I better do a good job with this then. I’d hate to disappoint your mother.”
“Join the club,” I muttered softly enough that the relentless drumming of the rain covered it.
Riley finished his sketch with a flourish. “What do you think?”
I studied the crooked smile with a few gaping teeth and the triangle eyes, then shrugged. “It’s okay for a beginner.”
“And what are you working on?” He looked over my shoulder at the dragon shape that had blossomed to life, and his smile widened. “Excellent choice.”
“Thanks.” Although most anything might seem like a good choice when compared to Riley’s simple design.
Between the rain’s steady beat on the roof and the crackle of the fire, it almost felt like a normal night carving pumpkins—except that Riley was here to talk about a murder investigation. And I didn’t usually carve pumpkins with a hot guy.
Riley went back to work. “Was Graham a big tea drinker?”
“Not particularly.”
“Which makes me wonder who that to-go drink was for.”
“Maybe Jaxon.” I chewed on my lip, thinking through the details. “It would make sense since it sounds like Graham went straight home after leaving the Tea and Tarot.”
“Or maybe Graham was planning on meeting someone else at his place after his date with Eve.”
“If he had plans to meet someone else, he hadn’t written them down.”
Riley cut out a chunk of his pumpkin in silence. “We need to find Eve. As one of the last people to see Graham alive, she has to have more answers.”
“Don’t forget Caleb.”
“Your friend’s boyfriend?”
“Yeah. Neither he nor Graham had ever mentioned that they used to be friends, and if we find out what the mayor was talking about, maybe we’ll know why.
” I cut open the top of my pumpkin and started scooping out the pulp, squishing it between my fingers while I separated the seeds to roast later.
“Plus, he works at the apothecary shop on the edge of town,” I added.
One of Riley’s eyebrows shot up. “The one run by those two sisters near the forest?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Then it wouldn’t be hard for him to get access to ingredients.” He rubbed his scruffy chin. “Why don’t you see what you can find out from your friend, and I’ll look into Caleb with some of my sources.”
“And then we can check out tomorrow’s Halloween party to see if we can find Eve.”
He flashed a grin at me. “It’s like you read my mind. That will be our chance to get her to spill the truth.”