“With a curse?” Bronwyn folded her arms beneath her perfect boobs. “That’s the silliest thing I ever heard!”
“Mama?” Either Tiffany or Briana gave her mother a frightened look.
“That’s so idiotic, it would never fly in court. I’d demand my money back from these shysters,” Lola said. She put her arm around her daughter. “Don’t listen to the crazy lady, baby.”
“Maybe I couldn’t prove it in a court of law, but I bet I could erase any shadow of a doubt.” Ivy reached into her purse. Morning sun reflected hard off the pinkish gem, the gold and silver, reflections lighting up the pool patio. She stood up and offered it to Bronwyn.
The woman’s reptilian stillness shattered. Her coffee cup clattered to the deck as she jumped up so fiercely that the chair tipped over. “Get that thing away from me!”
“What’s the problem, Bronwyn?” Ivy moved it closer.
Bronwyn hunkered down like an angry cat. “Bitch!” she hissed. Then she ran off into the house.
Ivy turned and started toward Lola. She held the beautiful jewelry out in front of her. “How about you, Lola?”
The ex-wife leaped from her chair and threw her arms around her daughters. “Get it away from me! Get it away from my babies! Gus, make her stop! My babies! My girls! Augustus, please!”
Ivy felt a little bad when they all started sobbing. But not too much. She flipped the thing onto Gus’ chest. The man looked a little startled. He picked it up and turned it over. Calm swept his angry features into a thoughtful look. After a moment, he thrust it in Tanner’s direction.
“Tanner, get this in the vault. When you’re done, get my attorney out here.”
Tanner put it on the tray. “Is there anything else, sir?”
Gus eyed his butler for a few heartbeats. “You might want to help Bronwyn pack her things.”
“Very good, sir.” The butler, the tray, and the Queen’s Dowry Tiara disappeared into the big house.
Everett, who had been silent through her whole explanation, pocketed his hands. “You’ll get my report and bill by this afternoon, Gus. See you around.”
Ivy followed him down the pool deck stairs. They walked around the outside of the house toward the car. “What now?” Ivy said.
“Up to Gus.”
“But the conspiracy, the murder plot, the theft, all that stuff—shouldn’t we call the cops?”
Everett shrugged and continued toward the car. “Up to Gus.”
“Isn’t someone going to jail?”
He beeped open the Viper’s doors. Before he opened hers, he gave her a long look.
“Up to Gus?” Ivy asked.
“Mostly.” He opened the door. “All those breakfasts made me hungry. Let’s go grab something to eat.”
Chapter 15
August Botanica opened a little late that day. Ivy sat behind the register, sleepy with the heat and the diner breakfast sitting in her stomach. She had no time to change, so she worked all day in heels and her blue hounstooth suit. Even with the main part of the botanica being a steamy greenhouse, she found she didn’t mind the fancy clothes too much. Maybe she was getting used to being a girlier girl. It helped that she’d abandoned the pantyhose for the day.
Customers were few, but she wasn’t worried. She did most of her business on the weekend, anyway, and it was coming up. It gave her a lot of time to think—and worry.
When Everett dropped her off, he asked her to come by the office after the shop closed. They had some accounting to do. Ivy didn’t know if that meant the case, or the fact that it was now over, and he had some questions about what she’d done to make his reception office a rainforest.
She drove her truck into the sunset hours later, heading for the bad part of town. Her stomach felt nervous over the meeting. As Everett had requested, she’d kept track of her hours. Ivy even had a receipt for a tank of boat fuel.
As she arrived at the West King office, she saw lights coming through the front window. That was weird. Last time she’d been here, the plants had completely taken over. Ivy grabbed her purse and walked up to the house. The door was open, the screen door shut to keep out the bugs. She rapped on it.
“C’mon in.”
Ivy stared around the reception office. While the plants were thriving, they were back to normal size in their urns and pots. The mass cane no longer shoved against the ceiling. The fern no longer blocked the door. She could see out the window. She gave the philodendron a quick inspection. She couldn’t see any sign that it had been cut back.
“Mama always said those plants would protect me.”
She whirled to find Everett leaning against the office door.
“Your mama?”
“They were a gift from her. Mama, well, she always claimed she had a magical dominion over foliage.” Everett shrugged. “She came by today and took care of the, uh, overabundance.”
Dominion over foliage? Ivy felt a shiver. “Did she say anything about how much they’d grown?”
“Only that whoever did it was probably trouble.” He angled his head toward the inner office.
He knew! She thought. Everett knew she was a witch! Sheepishly, she followed him in. Ivy plopped down in the visitor chair.
Everett shifted the laptop. “You kept track of your hours.”
“I did.” She handed over a sheet of paper and the receipt.
He paused to wave her up and down. “And the suits? A good private eye always keeps track of expenses,” he said, and typed for a few minutes.
Ivy dug in her purse, and came up with the receipt from the dress shop. “Does that mean I’m a good detective?”
“Well, you solved the case, probably saved Gus Beranger’s life.”
Ivy sat back. “You knew the whole time what was going on, didn’t you?”
Everett didn’t look up from his work. “What I know, and what I can prove to a client or the cops are two distinct things.”
She felt a hot stir. “You wanted me to bring up the whole curse thing, didn’t you? Just so you wouldn’t look stupid if it didn’t pan out. ‘Pardon my assistant. She may be crazy.’ Right?”
Everett looked up at her. “Yep.”
“Dang your brutal honesty!” Ivy folded her arms. “I’ll bet it’s a good deal to have a partner you can blame for messing everything up, just in case.”
His printer clattered and buzzed and he handed her the printout. It was a check. The numbers made Ivy forget to breathe.
“I don’t know about having a partner,” Everett said. “But I do know I like working with you, Ivy.”
She finally got her eyes off the check and met his. “You do?”
He nodded. “A lot.”
Ivy stood up. She felt her face about to catch fire. “I gotta get home. Don’t wanna be late for dinner.”
She quickly crossed the living room reception, despite her heels. Before she could push open the screen door, she heard him say, “I’ll be calling you.”
***
“He knows?” Mama handed Ivy a plate of shark and chips. Roby had caught a small blacknose, and as was his norm, cut it up and deep fried it. This was a little weird, as shark had a more beefy taste. Ivy didn’t care. She was hungry.