Lead on.
Chapter 4
Andromeda led me back to the alley where I had found Thomas. I was headed that way on my own, but it felt good to have Andromeda on the same wavelength. I entered the alley and walked around the dumpster.
The police had left a chalk outline of the body, and I pictured it in my mind. The arrow, the blood, the bizarre kisses. I looked around, trying to remember if there was anything else at the scene, something I had glimpsed and forgotten. A footprint, a cigarette butt, someone moving away from me. No, the killer was long gone. The body was cold and blue. I hadn’t interrupted anything. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember any more than I already knew. I stared at the chalk and wondered when the next rain would wash it all away. I supposed that as long as the chalk was there, Thomas would still be around, in a sense. Once the chalk disappeared, so did Thomas.
I looked up and found Andromeda sitting further down the alley. He stared at me, his tail twitching. It was a familiar pose. I moved toward him. In some sense, Andromeda was part bloodhound. He could find more lost things than any cat I had heard of. And the things always seemed germane to what I needed. He wasn’t the kind of cat that brought home a dead bird or mouse as a prize. No, his gifts were decidedly more useful.
As I moved closer, he got up and walked away. He wasn’t such a bloodhound that he would point to something. Next to where he was sitting was a mound of trash, the flotsam and jetsam of the good ship New Orleans and its people. I knew that in time, the trucks would arrive and clean up the alley. But for now, it was my mound of trash.
I kicked aside an empty water bottle and a hamburger wrapper to reveal the feather.
It wasn’t a bird feather, or even a normal feather. It was a silver feather, the kind found only on magical beings. That made it odd. I couldn’t see what a magical being would be doing in the alley. And how did it lose a feather. Magical beings weren’t in the habit of leaving behind part of themselves.
I picked up the feather and looked at Andromeda, who had stopped to watch.
What do you think? Cupid? A seraph?
Either or both.
And were they involved in the death?
That is not possible to know from just a feather.
Feathers, even magical feathers are not like fingerprints, are they?
Even if they were, what would it mean?
You’re right, the feather could have been left behind at any time. Not necessarily the night of the murder.
Or, it might be something.
I laughed. Andromeda had a way of pointing out the obvious without being snooty about it.
We can only take it and see what it brings.
With that Andromeda moved away. Likely to head out to 'cat around' I suppose. I turned, feather in hand, and walked back to the dumpster. Certainly, a good bowman could have hit Thomas from the site of the feather. It wasn’t that long a shot. And Cupid was known to possess the power and accuracy needed. Many people could testify to that. But why would Cupid shoot Thomas? And to kill? I didn’t have an answer for that. I needed to dig deeper—if I was going to dig at all.
At the mouth of the alley, I walked into two police officers. The man and woman looked at me, even as they sipped their coffee, a bag of beignets between them. I could tell from their faces that they were wondering what I was doing in the alley.
“Shortcut,” I said quickly.
“Aren’t you the one who found the body?” the female officer asked.
I nodded.
“Why did you come back?” the male officer asked.
“Like I said, it was just a shortcut.”
Their faces said they didn’t believe me. So, I smiled, my best smile.
“Most people would avoid the place where they found a murder victim,” the female officer said.
“Most people wouldn’t want to remember,” the male officer said.
“I was in the alley before I recognized it,” I offered. “That’s why I was hurrying away.”
I had half a feeling that they were going to run me in and question me, but I nodded and started off before they could decide.
“I have to get back to the store,” I said. “Have a nice day.”
I tried not to walk too fast. I didn’t want them to think I was running away, although I was. But I could feel their suspicion chasing me. I guessed that if I had waited another two minutes, they would be escorting me back to the station to talk to Detective Brody. That was not something I wanted to do.
Even as I walked, I felt the anger bubbling up inside. I had done nothing wrong. Not when I tossed Thomas from my store. Not when I discovered the body. In a way, I wished I had never found the body. Now, that I had, I had become the object of the investigation. I was the person everyone else thought had committed murder. There was only one way to get around the accusations. I had to solve the mystery. I had to bring a murderer to justice. Because if the murder went unsolved, I would be the person eyed with suspicion everywhere I went. No one would turn their back on me.
That would be a very ugly existence.
Back in the store, Gwen was trying to talk an elderly couple into buying a mirror. It wasn’t a very good mirror, as it was old, but it had a unique heart shape, and the frame was decorated with cupids. I thought perhaps that it had been a young girl’s mirror at one time, but I had not used a spell to discover the secrets of its origin. I could tell that Gwen was about to use a spell and nudge the couple into buying the mirror, and I shook my head at her. That was when Gwen laughed, excused herself from the couple and came to me.
“I should probably thank you,” Gwen said. “That couple was very close to taking home a heart-shaped mirror.”
“I know,” I said. “But we agreed. No nudging.”
“And I remembered...in time.” Gwen headed for the door. “I have a patient to prepare for, and you know how patients are. They can be an hour late, but the therapist has to be there on time, every time.”
I watched her leave, and I felt a pang of regret. I needed someone to listen to my ideas, perhaps give me a bit of help. Andromeda was still away. Roxanne was nowhere to be seen, although Orchid and Zephyr were not far away. That made me wonder about Gwen. I had the feeling she had banished Roxanne for a while. That would be just like Gwen. And it was another reason she had hurried away. She knew I tolerated Roxanne, and I expected Gwen to tolerate the ghost also. Yet, I knew Gwen was not patient with ghosts, which was odd. Gwen was more than patient with her clients. Before I could talk myself out of it, I called the police station. There was someone there I needed to talk to.
Chapter 5
I was with a mother and daughter when Jacob came through the door. They were trying to find that “something old” item needed for a wedding. I didn’t believe in the old saw, but then, it wasn’t my wedding. Yet, while I didn’t believe, I was pretty sure I would be wearing “something old” when I walked down the aisle. It didn’t pay to take chances. I nodded to Jacob who started roaming, as if shopping, while I settled with the mother and daughter. They decided on a gold bracelet that dated from the civil war.
I knew the history of the bracelet. It belonged to a Charleston debutante whose mother commissioned the bracelet for the daughter’s coming out. In those days, the debutante ball was a huge deal. The girls who attended the ball were the cream of the Charleston elite. They were on display for the local young men to view and choose. In some ways, it was that simple. And if the girl liked the young man, so much the better. But marriages were unions of convenience and power in those days. Love was a factor, but not the only consideration. And couples were expected to stay together. Long engagements were the rule, as getting along with each other was a major consideration.