Moons and Magic (A Hocus Pocus Cozy Witch Mystery Series Book 6) by Constance Barker & J. D. Sullivan

Author:Constance Barker & J. D. Sullivan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2020-08-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Feeling frustrated and dejected, Celestial walked all the way back to her shop. The evidence she had just encountered in the priest’s office wasn’t what she had been hoping to find.

It wasn’t that she had been hoping Father Sikes would turn out to be the killer--at least, not exactly. But she felt strongly that Rosamund was innocent, and considering the hostility of so many of the townspeople toward her, she also felt a strong sense of urgency toward establishing the real culprit.

Actually, Celestial really liked Father Sikes. He seemed like a kind, peaceful man, one who believed the things he preached and did his best to live by them. She only felt a little embarrassed that this perspective on the man was informed by her snooping through his private files.

At any rate, her personal feelings about Father Sikes didn’t matter anymore, not now that the evidence had clearly exonerated him. Between his busy schedule and the severity of his arthritic condition, there was no way now that he could have been the one to do the job.

Just as she was walking up to Herbal Heaven’s door, Nikoli’s car pulled up in front. She lingered on the front step of the shop and waited for him to get out of the car and join her.

If she had worried things might be awkward with him in the wake of their brief disagreement the day before, she realized she need not have worried. Nikoli waved and smiled as soon as he saw her, then trotted up to her from his car so she wouldn’t be waiting.

“Back from the church?” he asked her. “I know Mass ended fifteen minutes ago. I was hoping to catch you and hear how it went.”

“Come right on in,” she said, opening the door and waving him through.

Tamara looked positively delighted when Celestial and Nikoli walked in together. She smirked cheekily and raised an eyebrow at Celestial, who tried to communicate silently, No, we weren’t investigating together, or getting up to anything else. Still, Tamara’s smirk didn’t fade, even as they all converged at the counter and Celestial started to narrate what she’d found.

“That’s good work, Celestial,” Nikoli said. Celestial thought the praise sounded a little more deliberate than usual, so perhaps Nikoli was putting an extra effort into validating Celestial’s investigative efforts in response to yesterday’s misunderstanding. She appreciated the affirmation and the intention behind it, even if it did make her feel a little bashful, knowing she would hear all about it from Tamara and Athena once Nikoli left. “We’ve been following up on a few different lines of inquiry at the station, but we don’t have any new leads.”

“It’s frustrating to be doing all of this work looking into Father Sikes only to find out he certainly wasn’t the one to do it,” Celestial confessed anxiously. “I want to find the real suspect, not just eliminate maybes.”

“Elimination is nine tenths of the job,” Nikoli said. “But there’s still a possibility Father Sikes could be involved.”

“How?” Tamara asked.

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