The Witches Three Cozy Mysteries 4-6

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I love coffee. In particular, I love the smell of coffee. Even after years of working in a diner that was thick with the aroma of brewing coffee and fried food, I never tired of it.

It wasn't even just from working there. I had grown up in that diner, sitting in the kitchen watching my mother as she washed dishes and unpacked boxes from the supplier and made pot after pot of coffee. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that smell permeated my entire childhood. I'm sure even when I was home I could still smell it on my clothes and my mother's.

Now that I lived at the charm school, the smell of that coffee had changed. Mr. Trevor favored a dark roast, with its richer aroma. But he only made a pot in the morning, and when that was gone, we all drank tea.

I hadn't realized how much my brain had adjusted to the smell of coffee meaning my meditation practice was done, but I hadn't yet started the real challenge of my work in the library.

In short, coffee meant mornings to me now. And I hadn't even noticed that shift until I stood looking down at the half-drunk cup sitting on the table in front of me as the clock inched closer to midnight. Coffee at night hadn't been odd before. It was definitely unsettling now.

Brianna touched my hand, and I looked up to see McConnell waving to catch our attention. A woman was standing next to him with her head down, her brown hair hanging loose and covering her face. I recognized the dress. It was Mary Taylor.

I rushed over to put an arm around her, and McConnell gave me a look of deep gratitude. Clearly, he had no clue what to do to calm a distraught young woman and was happy to hand her over to me.

"Do you want to go to the parlor where it's quiet?" I asked Mary. She wasn't crying at the moment, but her red-rimmed eyes said she had been doing plenty of it in the recent past.

"No," she said. "I just need to sit."

"Of course," I said. I guided her across the room to where Sophie had found a chair and Brianna had produced a cup of tea out of seemingly nowhere. Mary sat primly in the chair and took the tea from Brianna with a murmur of thanks.

"We lost track of you in all of the commotion," I said.

"Sorry. I just needed a moment to myself," Mary said. Then looked up at us, eyes widening. "Oh dear. I hope I didn't worry you all? That wasn't my intention."

"We just wanted to be sure you were all right," I said. "You seemed very upset when you left the hall."

"Did the police tell you about Ivy?" Sophie asked. "I hope they did it gently."

"They did, but I already knew," Mary said, looking down at the tea in her hands. "After I left the hall I went upstairs. I wanted to talk to… it doesn't matter. But I was there, coming down the corridor, when… it happened."

We three exchanged excited glances. This was news. "What did you see?" I asked.

"Nothing helpful," Mary said, pressing a trembling hand to her forehead. “I saw people on the balcony, but the light from the hall was too bright. The chandelier is level with the third floor. You can't really tell if you look up from below, but when you're up there, it's a bit blinding."

"Do you know who was there?" I asked.

"Ivy," Mary said. Her voice threatened to catch, and she paused for a moment until she had her emotions back under control. "Her parents. Thomas. Edward." I flinched. "And Coco and Charlotte."

"Coco and Charlotte?" I asked. It wasn't until she said their names that I realized I hadn't once thought of either of them since before the big announcement. I hadn't seen them with the other guests during the announcement or after.

"They weren't on the balcony," Sophie said.

"No," Mary said. She looked up at me. "At the end of the upstairs hall is a playroom. Just a tiny space too small for an adult to stand up in. You get in through a little door even a child has to crawl through. Sort of a hidden panel in the woodwork of the wall at the top of the steps. When I got far enough down the hall to see people as more than silhouettes against the light, Coco and Charlotte were there, by that door. I guess they had been hiding in the playroom and were drawn out by the noise."

"But where are they now?" I asked. I looked around the ballroom even though I was quite certain they were not there.

"I'm not sure," Mary said. "I haven't seen them since."

"What happened right after?" I asked. Brianna gave me a nudge, and I realized that my tone was probably pretty grilling, and Mary had just been grilled by actual police for the better part of an hour. "I'm sorry. It's just, no one will let us see Edward. You said he was there?”

"He was," Mary said. "I was walking down the hall towards the balcony when I heard Ivy cry out. But I couldn't see anything. Then everyone below was shouting, and I started to run. When I got to the balcony, Mrs. McTavet was collapsed on the floor. Thomas was standing there like he'd been turned to stone. He didn't even look at me when I called his name." She looked down at her tea again. A single tear splashed down into its milky depths.

"And Edward?" Sophie asked softly.

"Edward was actually coming towards me," Mary said. "I stopped short of the balcony, still in the corridor but close enough to see clearly. Edward was backing away, sort of reeling. He didn't turn until he collided with me. Then he sort of stumbled drunkenly down the corridor behind me. I don't know where he was going."

"He was drunk?" I asked, surprised.

"No, no," Mary said. "I just meant, he didn't seem to be all there. Shock, I imagine. Shock," she repeated, and her eyes were back on her tea. "He really did love Ivy very, very much. I can't imagine the shock he must be feeling. Twice in a day." The tea on her lap began to tremble, and Brianna hastened to remove it before Mary collapsed into tears. Sophie put an arm around her, turning her own body to block the view of anyone else in the room who might be inclined to gawk.

I caught Brianna's eye and tipped my head towards a corner of the room. She nodded, setting the cup on one of the tables, then joined me.

"We should find Coco and Charlotte," I said. "If they were there the entire time, they might have seen what happened."

"Maybe the police are questioning them right now," Brianna said. She didn't say the words, but by her tone, I knew she was reminding me that we had agreed to let the police solve this crime.

"We're Coco's guests," I said. "We should be sure she's all right."

"So you want to go back to the police guarding the door and tell them you have to get upstairs, this time to see yet a third person?" Brianna asked.

"What, you don't think they'd be up for that?" I asked sarcastically then sighed. "You're right. They'll only be more suspicious of us if I ask."

"And we're trying to avoid attention," she reminded me.

"So we don't ask the same police officers," I said. "There's a pair guarding the back stairs that don't even know who we are."

"Unless they've been warned we might try to get upstairs again," Brianna said.

"Can't they at least look for the girls themselves and send them down to us?" I asked. "Charlotte should be with her sister just now."

"Agreed," Brianna said, looking past me to where Mary was once more drying her eyes and nodding at whatever words Sophie was whispering to her. "But perhaps Coco isn't here because she's with her mother?"

"I hadn't thought of that," I admitted. "But I do really wish she were here. She's probably the only one besides the three of us who has any feeling for Edward. And maybe she saw enough to prove his innocence."

"She is fond of Edward," Brianna said. "If Mary told the police what she just told us, they're going to be talking to Coco at some point. And Coco won't let them say a bad thing about Edward; you know she won't."

"She is loyal," I said.

"And precocious," Brianna said. "She's not going to be talked out of what she believes, not even by a room full of grownups who are also police."

"I agree," I said, then took a breath. "Thanks, I feel better now. Hope is nice. Do you imagine she'll come in here when the police are done talking to her?"

"Or maybe sooner," Brianna said and nodded her head towards the back door to the ballroom, the one that led towards the parlor.

Coco was standing in the doorway looking around the room. When her sweeping gaze finally reached us, she rose up on tiptoe and waved. Then she turned back towards the darkened hall behind her, catching someone by the arm to drag them after her across the ballroom.

It was Charlotte, of course. Looking as surly as ever. But then she saw her older sister talking with Sophie, twisting a well-used handkerchief in her hands, and that surly look melted into one of genuine concern.

Coco made a beeline towards Brianna and me, but Charlotte went straight to her sister, who burst into fresh tears as she got up from the chair to gather her little sister into a tight embrace.

"How are you doing?" I asked as Coco stopped in front of Brianna and me.

"Oh," Coco said, blinking repeatedly and staring up into the light rather than looking at either of us. "Oh. Not good."

"And your mother?" Brianna asked.

"Really not good," Coco said, blinking more fiercely than ever.

"Why don't we get out of this room to somewhere more private," I said.

"I'm all right," Coco said. A bubble in her throat was making her voice sound unusually deep.

"You don't have to be," I said. "You've had a terrible shock. It's perfectly normal for you to be not all right."

Coco nodded but was still blinking back tears.

"Do you need anything?" Brianna asked. "Tea or something to eat? Maybe a chair?"

"Just one thing," Coco said. A fierceness was in her voice now, and the blinking had stopped. She gave us each a hard look, first Brianna and then me.

"What is it?" Brianna asked. She was half-opening her bag, as if she were about to pull out her wand and magic up whatever Coco asked for, there in front of the band and everyone.

Coco leaned forward, and it was like someone had just poured gasoline on the fire in her eyes, flaring it up to vicious life.

"Justice," she said.