Hexes and Homicide: The Witch Hunter by Lacey Flax

Author:Lacey Flax [Flax, Lacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2024-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

“Oh, my Goddess. Sylvia, you are becoming much too involved with this man. He is a norm!” Aunt Doris raged, as I had expected. We were talking in the kitchen while Auntie Edith cooked dinner.

Aunt Edith wasn’t thrilled I had invited the detective either, but her tone was more measured. “Doris is right, darling. Working with the detective to solve the case is one thing, but it’s important to maintain proper boundaries with normals, and inviting him to dinner wasn’t wise.”

“We regularly have tea with Mrs. Anderson, how is that different?”

“Simple. Malone is both a man and a police detective. If the Council finds out you are fraternizing,” Aunt Doris laid a delicate emphasis on the word, “with a norm policeman… they… well, they will not like it.” Aunt Doris seemed to struggle to define what exactly they would do.

I scoffed. “Really, you are trying to scare me with the Council?” I rolled my eyes. “When have they ever done anything other than throw a garden party? If they had realized that someone was killing witches, and done something about it, I would never have met Detective Malone.”

“You were always such a sweet girl; when did you get so sassy?” Aunt Edith scolded me. Whenever she perceived me to be misbehaving, she reminded me what a well-behaved child I had been. Truthfully, I did not recall being that well-behaved of a child, but I didn’t bring it up.

“Aunties, it’s just dinner, it’s not a big deal. We need to talk to Laura Lombardi’s daughter after her husband goes to work, and it seemed logical to invite him to dinner if he was going to be picking me up again.” I shrugged. “Her husband was a brute, and it was clear there was something she didn’t want to say in front of him.”

The bell rang. Thank the Goddess. He was here, and I was saved from further discussion of my supposed fraternizing. I moved toward the sitting room to let Detective Malone in, but from the doorway, I said, “Be nice.” I raised my brows and looked sternly at both of my aunts before leaving them in the kitchen.

I opened the door to see Detective Malone holding a bouquet of flowers, looking handsomely awkward. His hazel eyes were alert as he nervously flattened his hair over his ears in what I was realizing was a classic Malone gesture. “I wasn’t sure what to bring… I thought about a bottle of wine, but we’re conducting an interview later… do you like flowers?” I was tempted to ask him if he had never been invited to dinner before, but I felt a nervous tingle in my own stomach, and decided against it.

“The flowers are lovely, thank you.” I smiled, thinking the flowers were going to cause Aunt Doris to accuse me of fraternizing with a normal, again. “Please come in, and sit down. Dinner is almost ready.” I gestured to the sitting room. Malone walked in and perched somewhat awkwardly on the edge of the sofa.

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