“Her description was so vague, it would fit any number of middle-aged men.”
“True, but how many of them were married to Karmen?” I shifted in my seat. “Besides, I can’t give my bridesmaids these creams now. What if they’re laced with arsenic? But there were some very pretty bracelets in Herrick’s Crystal.”
“Fine.” Rafe found a place to park, and we walked up to the crystal shop.
Fortunately, Patrick Herrick was alone in his shop with a newspaper spread out on the top of his display counter. If he recognized me, he gave no sign. I was so happy he didn’t say, ‘So, did those moonstone buttons work out for your wedding dress?’ as I wanted every piece of my dress to be a surprise to Rafe. “Afternoon. Looking for anything special?”
“Yes.” I went to a lovely sterling silver bracelet with an aquamarine set into it. “I want to buy four of these but each with a different stone. Could I have them within a week?”
“If I’ve got the stones, I don’t see a problem.”
“Wonderful. I had planned to give my bridesmaids gifts from Wallingford Botanicals, but now that Karmen’s dead…” I petered out, watching him carefully. His gray eyes sharpened, but he only said, “Very sad business.”
“You were married to her, I understand.”
“Not for years.” He picked the bracelet out of the display case. “What stones were you thinking of?”
“Serpentine for a woman who loves to garden. It’s a stone that connects to nature.” Even though Olivia wasn’t a bridesmaid, I wanted to get her one of the bracelets.
He nodded, found me some, and I chose a piece that was the color of moss with streaks of yellow through it.
“For my friend who’s expecting her first child, I thought red jasper.”
He nodded. “The nurturer. Excellent choice.”
Then, with great casualness, while I perused the stones, I said, “I really like the Wallingford Botanicals creams. Will you keep the company going?”
“Don’t know yet.”
For Violet, I thought jet, good for scrying and intuition, and it was grounding. Plus, she wore a lot of black.
My eye kept going back to the aquamarine bracelet. I’d been undecided about what to get Jennifer amid a huge life transition. Jade for good luck? Opal for magic and visions? But really aquamarine was a go-with-the-flow kind of stone. Good for clarity, which would be perfect for someone going through a transition. And it was so pretty. I could see the aquamarine bracelet on Jen’s wrist.
Having made my choices, I took out my card to pay. “When will Karmen’s funeral be held? I’d like to attend. I didn’t know her well, but we were friendly.”
As he rang up my purchase, he said, “Police haven’t released her body yet. I’ll warn you now, she specified a woodland burial. Never mind that she’s got a ruddy great mausoleum in her back garden.” The irritable way he discussed her final arrangements very much sounded like an ex-husband.
A woodland burial was a popular choice for a witch, easing her earthly body back into nature. As above, so below.
He said he’d let me know when he had a date for the ceremony, though I rather thought I’d find out through the coven. I was to come back in four days, and he’d have the bracelets ready.
Once we were back in the car, I asked Rafe, “Do you think he killed his ex-wife?”
“Not ex, apparently. It sounds like they never bothered to get divorced.”
“That old pub and the cottage and land it’s on must be worth quite a bit,” I said.
“Enough to murder a former wife over?”
And wasn’t that the question?
Chapter 16
As we drove back to Oxford, I said, “If Patrick Herrick killed Karmen, he didn’t do it for her youth formula, based on how old he looks.”
“I agree. If the killer’s got hold of the elixir of youth, I imagine they’re using it.”
“So we’re looking for somebody with unnatural, youthful good looks and very nice skin tone.” I glanced at him. “Who doesn’t happen to be a vampire.”
“I would say so.”
“Where are we going to find them? People who are actually, genuinely young are going to look like that.”
“Nobody said it would be easy. And Karmen, like many an alchemist before her, did everything she could to obscure her path.”
“You don’t think she obscured it completely?”
“It would be unusual. She had to be able to recreate her recipe. Possibly pass it on. No, I expect it’s well hidden. No doubt she has a workshop, too, also well hidden.” After a while he said, “We need to search her house and property.”
I’d known we would get here, but still I shied away. “Rafe, what if we get caught? We’re getting married in a week. I don’t want to postpone the wedding because one or both of us is in jail.”
“It won’t come to that,” he said with confidence.
I wasn’t so sure. Besides, I actually wanted to plan my wedding, not spend the next week digging around for musty old alchemy secrets. I had Jennifer to entertain and our shared discovery that we were both witches to explore further.
I’d have gone back home with Rafe, but of course I had a house guest. So I got him to drop me off at my flat. “Try not to worry,” he said, kissing me goodnight.
I’d try, but I doubted I’d succeed. I went upstairs feeling tired and unsettled, but at least I had the bridesmaids’ gifts sorted out.
As I walked into my flat, my nose picked up a mingling of scents that immediately transported me back to my childhood. The nose can be as good as a wand at casting a spell and sending you back into the past.
Immediately, my mood lightened. Yes, Karmen was still dead. And yes, something very strange was going on and I might even be in danger. But Jennifer was here, and I smelled popcorn and hot chocolate. I ran the rest of the way up the stairs and found
