spies and spells 01 - spies and spells (21 page)

“I still feel something isn’t right with your two worlds.” Mom’s fear was dark and stark in her eyes. It chilled my bones. “Until I feel at peace, we are going to be doing protection spells.”

Mom scrunched down over the table. There were catnip stalks used for happiness, lavender stalks used for healing, prairie sage used for protection neatly piled in bundles across the top. The cut pieces of thread were longer than each bundle. Mom gestured for everyone to grab a stack of the herbs and tie them up.

Like I had done many times before, I ran the burgundy thread the length of the bundled herb and wrapped it around tightly. The tighter the better because as the herbs dried the bundles became more dense. Mom didn’t pick the thread color by accident either. Picking the comfort color meant power and she was telling the world that we were in power. Not the other way around.

That was something hard to swallow for me. If I couldn’t use my witchy powers on Mick, he was in control of the situation.
Give me power
, I continued to say with each wrap about the bundle.

“Is everyone at the end?” Mom asked holding the bundle between her knees and the two ends of the string in her fingers.

Everyone nodded and got into the same position as Mom.

“Power of the maiden.” Everyone closed their eyes as Mom’s voice soothed us. “Power of the mother. Power of the crow.”

With a deep inhale through the nose and exhale out of the mouth, we all opened our eyes and piled our bundles on top of each other in the middle of the table. Mom ran her open fingered hands, palm down, over the bundle and an inaudible whisper escaped her lips instantly making the bundles dry.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I’m not sure if Mom had us on high alert from her little ritual or if it was the full moon, but no one was sleeping. Every little nighttime noise, whether it was inside or outside, seemed to be electrified. The uneasy feeling everyone was getting from my two worlds colliding rested on all our minds while the idea of it coming to an end soon clung to mine.

If I could get a look at Drea’s shipment going out, maybe we could find the answers there. It all made sense. If she was able to by-pass the airport security by going straight to the tarmac, maybe that was where our answer was. Our, meaning SKUL. Then I would ask Auntie Meme to erase any memory of me from Mick and the two worlds would be copasetic again. No more SKUL. No more undercover work. No more Mick.

It had to be that simple. The life of my family and future of our family depended on it. Depended on me.

Like the day before, I got up and headed to The Brew.

“I have to leave the diner a little early because I have a meeting at three p.m.” I let Auntie Meme know so she wouldn’t be surprised when I up and left after I got the diner cleaned up.

Most days I would hang behind and talk with her about the funny things customers would do or say after they got a little dose of the daily special. Not today. Today my mind was preoccupied with having calm between the two worlds.

I found myself a little clumsier today in anticipation of meeting with Drea and wondering if Mick would show up. I hadn’t heard from him and it was just like him to show up without me knowing, like he had done over the past few days.

Auntie Meme kept a watchful eye on me. Every time I turned around, I would catch her looking through the pass through. Lilith felt it too. She wasn’t her playful self. She kept to herself and her side of the counter.

Like most days, the diner was packed the entire time. I cleaned as the day went on so it would be much easier to get out of there. When Vinnie pulled up to the curb, I knew it was time to go. I gave Auntie Meme a quick kiss after I put my apron back on the hook and left.

“It seems everyone is on edge around here.” Vinnie’s doors locked. “I know where I need to go.”

I didn’t bother telling him Drea’s address. It was already pulled up on his screen when I got in, along with Drea and Dan’s status read out. They lived in one of the up and coming middle class neighborhoods on the east side of the city, Crescent Hill. It was a community that was beginning to host local events like historic Old Louisville. Crescent Hill had a downtown street lined with eateries and shops where historic Old Louisville didn’t. The homes in Crescent Hill were bungalow homes. They were very cute and inviting.

“Dan is a retired Army officer. He was stationed in Iraq for the war. Drea worked for Tawny Fawn to get extra money for them and their children while Dan was away. Dan was hurt in the line of duty and forced to be retired. He had enough years in but he was a lifer in the military. When he came home, Drea continued to make money for Mystic Couture, making her the highest paid consultant for the beauty empire year after year. Their children are grown and out of the house,” Vinnie read as I followed along on the screen. “There is no criminal background on either of them.”

“I didn’t think there would be.” Drea and Dan were as American as you could get, obviously I couldn’t say that for the rest of the group. “I need to see how the interworking of the international side of Mystic Couture works in order to put Mick and SKUL behind me.”

“That will make two of us happy to get rid of him.” Vinnie’s voice spoke matter-of-factly. I couldn’t help but find a little humor. “Speaking of the pain in my bumper.”

I turned around in the seat and looked at the FedEx truck behind me. Mick was driving and disguised, ready to follow me wherever I was going. 

“Do me a favor and get me a list of all the people who were at the Mystic Couture party. Maybe one of them has a record or something sketchy in their past.” I didn’t know if it was a good way to get a lead or not, but that was how a lot of crime TV shows I watched did it.

“If Agent Jasper was such a good agent, he’d already done that.” Vinnie took a left off of Brownsboro Road, heading toward Crescent Hill.

“I’m sure SKUL and Mick are doing all they can.” I took notice of the cute neighborhood. I rarely left the boundaries of my own neighborhood.

Drea and Dan’s yellow clapboard bungalow-style home was positioned on a hill with a concrete walkway up to the southern style front porch. The lush green landscape had little color, but the yellow home made the yard pop, making it very charming.

The front door had a screen door and country blue colored shabby chic shutters on each side giving it a down home welcomed country feel. Of course there were two white rockers on the wooden porch.

The door swung open. The welcoming wreath batted the door a couple times. Drea smacked her hand over top of it to make it stop.

“I’m so glad you are a little early.” She took a step back to leave me room to walk in.

If I didn’t hear her voice, I’d have sworn it wasn’t her. Thank God for the magic of Mystic Couture.

“I’ve got to still get my face on.” She rushed up the steps that were built right inside of the foyer as soon as you walked in. “I’ll be right back. With the step-by-step Mystic Couture Kit, I’m able to get my face on within minutes. You can go in the family room.”

I had seen the kits and all the other accessories Mystic Couture had in their product line but with the swipe of a few fingers, I didn’t have to worry about trying to learn how to put on
a face.

I tried not to be too nosy as I waited in the family room but my eyes didn’t get the memo. I sat down on the cream leather loveseat that was positioned near the fireplace. The walls were painted a country white and the room was accented with red. There were two red leather chairs that looked like I would sink down if I sat in one.

The two oriental rugs had all different hues of red threads and looked to be very expensive. It wasn’t like Tawny’s home. When you walked in her mansion, you could tell everything in her home was expensive. In the Phipot’s home, things were practical and some pieces looked expensive.

I would have figured her and Dan as the extravagant type, especially since she was the top Platinum member and making all the money she said she was making, but they didn’t.

The family room opened up into a dining room where the wood floor was covered with an oriental rug matching the two in the family room. Her dark wood stained table was set as though she was about to throw a dinner party. This wasn’t unusual. Most southerners kept a set table for unexpected company. Her bungalow didn’t have built in stained glass like the homes at historic Old Louisville, so she had hung one in front of the large window.

I found myself in the kitchen. It wasn’t as large as I had pictured Drea cooking in. The country white continued on the cabinets and matched the walls. She didn’t have the stainless steel appliances but nice black ones. The cabinets didn’t go all the way to the ceiling, leaving just enough space for back lighting above them making the kitchen very cozy. Drea definitely embraced the cozy side.

I continued my nosy journey and popped into the office. There were boxes piled to the ceiling, each with a packaging sticker and Drea Philpot printed in Sharpie marker on the side. The floor to ceiling built-in shelf behind the desk was filled with Mystic Couture products, photos of Drea and Dan at Mystic Couture events, and trophies from all the awards Drea had received. The photo with Drea and Dan smiling caught my attention. They were holding the plaque that was hanging on the wall.

I walked closer to read the plaque. They had received The Spirit of Crescent Hills award where they were recognized for their involvement in the community.

The fully stocked liquor cabinet and bar sent my witchy senses on high alert. There were two cocktail glasses with a little drop of Maker’s Mark stained on the bottom. Like I said, I could smell out the fine bourbon anywhere without using my witch skills.

I heard her footsteps upstairs and rushed back into the family room. Being caught snooping around wasn’t a good sign of a SKUL employee. Not that I was a spy or anything, but they were relying on me to get details about the international sales.

“Ready?” she asked with rosy cheeks, the new Jockey Red lipstick stained on her lips, and the gold shimmery eye shadow smeared on her eyelids. She looked in the mirror behind the loveseat and ran her fingers through her hair, and then along her lips. She smacked them together. “There.”

“You look great.” I wondered why she spent so much time dressing up and putting on all that makeup. I was lucky to get a swipe of lip gloss on.

“You should always dress the part.” She snapped. “That was one thing I will miss about Tawny.” She did that whole sign of the cross thing again while looking up in the air and whispering some sort of prayer. “God rest her soul. I sure do hope they figure out what happened to her.”

“Me too.”

“Or who happened to her.” She gestured me to follow her to the office.

“Who happened to her?” I asked trying to dig some information out of her.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said the other day.” She did the ole finger across the neck move I had done when she was at the diner.

“Oh, that.” I brushed it off, hoping she’d let it go. “I told you I have no idea how she died. I mean when I found her she was just,” I paused, cringing inside.

“
You
found her?” Drea threw her perfectly manicured hand over her mouth. Her brown nail color had to be from the latest Mystic Couture nail collection. “You were in her bedroom? No one was ever allowed in her bedroom.”

“No. I mean.” I stopped talking, my mouth twitched, and I sucked in a deep breath. No magic. No magic. I did some fast talking. “I went in to use the bathroom because I just couldn’t do the port-a-potty thing she had going next to the tent, and I just sort of nosed around.”

“You didn’t,” Drea gasped. The unwritten number one rule of being a true southern belle was if you snooped, you didn’t breathe a word of it. I had just broken the number one rule. “Do tell.” She drew closer, tilting her head to the side, her bob flung along. She brought her hands up to her ears and clipped on the biggest diamond earring to her earlobe. Then doing the same thing to the other side.

“There really isn’t much to tell.” I played it off as best as I could. “It was gorgeous but when I saw the police in the bathroom, I tiptoed my way over to take a look and there she was. I didn’t have time to look around after that. They ushered me out so fast, it was all a blur.” I was pretty pleased with my lie and how I didn’t use magic to erase her mind or cover up my boo-boo.

“Still,” Drea continued with her “idea” of what happened to Tawny Fawn. “I told you she and Tessa didn’t get along. In fact, the other night was the first time I had seen Tessa since she was a little girl.” Drea’s head shot side to side in a sassy kind of way. “Then Tawny ends up dead. Not a coincidence to me. Not to mention Tessa is now taking over?” Her brows cocked in a curious sort of way.

“Who said Tessa was taking over?” I asked acting as though I didn’t already know this, but I wanted to see what some of the inside people knew, like Drea.

“I had to pick up some of my supplies to send to my international clients, which they box for you making it so much easier for you to get the stuff where it needs to go.” She muttered a couple words under her breath and got back on track. “Anyway, the asshole at the warehouse was complaining to the receptionist in the office about how Tessa was a real ball buster, a stickler for rules. And she was going to keep her office at the main warehouse down there on the docks.”

“Didn’t Tawny have her office there?” I recalled the red and black office and didn’t remember seeing an office with Tawny’s name on it. How on earth did I miss that? I made a mental note to ask Mick about why Tawny didn’t have her nose there when she clearly had her finger on the pulse everywhere else.

“Not that I was eavesdropping.” Drea took another look in the mirror, shaking her bob to fluff it a little. After she used her hands to fluff it more, she tucked each side behind her ear. She must’ve been happy with her appearance because she gestured, again, for me to follow her to the office. “I mean, we
all
can go in there anytime since we technically work there too. So I’m not spreading gossip.”