A Bottle Full of Djinn by Paula Lester

Author:Paula Lester [Lester, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: magic cozy mystery, witch cozy mystery
Publisher: Paula Lester
Published: 2019-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

It took about an hour to get everyone calmed down as much as possible. Jerry wanted to firebomb everything in the vicinity until Howie was back. Even though the two seemed to be as opposite as could be, they both insisted they were best friends.

Ashley made a quick lunch and got everyone into the dining room with Kelli’s help while Steve and Zoey met in her office.

“So, this is new,” Zoey said, hugging herself tightly. Kelli had calmed down enough to allow the temperature to go back to normal in the building, but Zoey couldn’t seem to shake the chill that had settled on her when she’d realized one of her residents was missing.

“What should we do?” Steve adjusted his rectangular, black-rimmed glasses and sat at the small round table. Zoey was impressed at how well he was controlling himself. If he was as unnerved as she was, he wasn’t showing it.

She took a deep breath. This was it—one of those situations when she needed to step up and be a leader. Uncrossing her arms and straightening her spine, she asked, “Should we call the police? Get a search party lined up?”

Steve ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. “Maybe both. But I wonder if we can narrow down what could have happened.”

Zoey paced across the room to look out the window. “He just disappeared, right? Popped out of sight?”

Steve nodded. “I didn’t see it, but that’s the story I got from everyone who did.”

“Okay, so what could cause that? Magically speaking. Because it had to be magic. A spell?”

Steve pursed his lips and a line appeared between his eyebrows as he thought. “It would take a powerful spell with quite a bit of preparation to accomplish that.”

Zoey nodded. “And who here could do something like that? Jerry?”

“Maybe. But he sure seemed to be distraught about the disappearance. And he was right there when it happened—not off in some circle reciting an incantation.”

Zoey spun around to face her friend. “I know who could have done it.”

Steve raised his eyebrows, inviting her to continue.

“Howie’s a great guy, but his constant pecking at everyone about fitness classes gets to some people. I think it’s possible someone might have wished him away, never thinking that wish could be granted.”

Steve’s face smoothed out and his head bobbed slowly. “The djinni,” he breathed.

“The djinni,” Zoey agreed. “We need to figure out what its container is.” Crossing to her desk, she pulled out the bag containing the Devil’s Shoestring and dug the dried squid ink out of her purse. “Let’s go see what we can find around the complex that might house a djinni and bring it back here. Then we can make the mixture and test each thing.”

Steve jumped up and moved toward the door. “That sounds like a good plan.”

They started in the dining room because it was closest. Everyone was eating, and they moved surreptitiously around them. There wasn’t much in there that looked like it could be a djinni’s home besides a couple decorative vases that sat on the buffet.

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