“This doesn’t look good for Emma,” he said in a nasally voice, his little brown nose bobbing up and down as he spoke.
I closed my eyes and tried to respond without sounding as irritated as I felt. “I don’t know if there’s a connection between your ex and the notes,” I said. Even I recognized my voice was super tight.
Not that it shouldn’t have been. Someone had been murdered on my porch. I tried to swallow past the tightness in my throat to loosen it but couldn’t get it to go away.
Beth’s store phone rang, and she snatched it up before the second ring. “Private Psych, how can I help?” She listened a moment before her eyes widened. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry to hear that. Yes, I’ll take the case.” She turned away, checking her books, and I didn’t hear the remainder of the conversation.
The little hedgehog tutted and muttered again, probably something about how I’d be spending my life in jail. Actually, that was what he said. I didn’t even want to look at whatever news he’d found online about the dead body and me. Because he was right, it probably wasn’t good.
“Sorry,” Beth said as she joined me again. “Someone’s pet was mauled to death. I agreed to take the case. I want to keep busy.” She stared off into the distance. “The news about Roger has thrown me for a loop.”
She had to be so conflicted. She’d never wish someone dead, but then again, he was a real jerk who cheated on her for years before marrying her little sister, who was really more like a daughter to her. “It’s okay to not be sad,” I whispered.
Beth started and looked at me as though she couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t be upset. “I am sad. But, confused about how I feel. He’s gone. Gone. No more stress for me. But then, he was with my sister, and I feel really bad for her. I don’t know if it would be appropriate for me to call her or try to comfort her.” She shook her head and stood. “I don’t know. I’ve got to go investigate that death.”
I reached out my hand and squeezed her arm as she passed. “It’s okay to feel however you feel. Even if it’s relieved.”
“Every emotion is valid,” Carol added as she set her cup down on the table so she could watch Beth more closely. “It doesn’t matter what it is, if you’re feeling it, then it’s okay. There’s nothing to feel guilty about one way or the other. We are all allowed to react to different things in our own way.”
Beth put her hand over mine and patted it and glanced between me and Carol as she said, “Thank you, ladies. You’re good friends.”
She pulled away and went to jot a few more notes down. I just studied her. Beth always had a cheery disposition. No matter what she went through, her blonde hair was always brushed straight and fell around her shoulders in waves. And she always wore light makeup that perfectly emphasized her big blue eyes and round face shape. But today, underneath that makeup, I swore I saw shadows. And her mouth, that always seemed to be ready to smile, looked forced. Almost plastic. There was too much going on inside her head for it not to be displayed on her face as well, at least to those who knew her well.
I sighed. As hard as it had been for me to find a dead body, and possibly to be the prime suspect in a murder, she must feel like her world had been turned upside down. The much younger sister, Tiffany, who Beth had helped raise, who Beth had sacrificed for over and over again, had just lost her partner. A partner who had been with Beth for years and had two kids with her.
After knowing Beth all her life, I knew her instinct would be to be there for her sister. Everyone in the town hated Tiffany for cheating with her own brother-in-law. The only person she had was Roger and now he was gone. But I hoped Beth had enough self-respect to fight her instinct and take care of herself.
Her sister had thrown her love and support away like trash. She certainly didn’t deserve it now. Sometimes family was an obligation that people couldn’t walk away from. Tiffany had walked away without glancing back once, as much as I wished Beth could do the same it also wasn’t her nature.
Beth looked up, her eyes meeting mine. “I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
She nodded, but her eyes shimmered. “Just going to work on this case. And I’ll help clear your name. I promise.”
I smiled at her. “I can always count on you.”
With friends like her at my back, my enemies better be worried. Karma plus a group of witches? We weren’t to be trifled with, and soon the murderer would know that too.
5
Emma
When Beth left, Carol excused herself as well, saying she needed to get back to the shop. So now it was just me. And the menagerie.
I drank my coffee and looked at Buster as he slowly walked into the room. The mangy-looking tabby cat gave the white fluff of fur known as Pickle a dirty look, then stopped in the center of the room, glancing around as if he hadn’t planned to snag the sunlit spot by the window. When his gaze looked back at me,
