Of Murders and Mages Read online

  “Glad you asked. Watch this.” Olivia flipped open a tablet, pressed a few buttons, then turned it toward me.

  A video started playing on the screen. It was shot from a high angle, probably by a security camera, and was of this floor unless there was another floor under construction with the exact same hammers and tool belt in the exact same pile. A few seconds into the footage, a middle-aged couple exited the same elevator I had just left. There was no sound, but it appeared that in the dim light of nighttime, they spoke to each other, then the woman turned toward a window and raced over to it. She then stepped out. The man ran after her, looked out the window, then collapsed on the floor. On that, the video ended.

  “What you do think?” Olivia looked at me expectantly.

  I was shaking slightly. I felt as if snippets of the video were familiar, but I couldn’t remember ever seeing it. “She jumped?”

  Olivia nodded. “Yes, she’s the suicide you mentioned yesterday. What do you think happened?”

  “Why are you asking me? That’s awful. That poor woman.” A brush of fur rubbed against my leg, and I jumped.

  Patagonia meowed and rubbed against me again.

  Olivia looked over my shoulder. “Glad you could join us, Vinny.”

  I couldn’t see him yet, but I could feel his presence behind me. Cold prickles moved across the back of my neck, and I fought against my urge to turn and look at him.

  “I ran into a little holdup.” He came to my side and glowered at me.

  I turned and tried to plaster a nonchalant smile on my face. “Oh, you made it, and you brought Patagonia.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t. You did.”

  I opened my mouth to question him, but Olivia interrupted.

  “Please, Ella, focus. What happened?” Olivia gestured at her tablet.

  “Olivia.” Auntie Ann placed her hand on Olivia’s arm. “We need to tell her about her ability first. She doesn’t understand.”

  I looked between them. “Tell me what?”

  Auntie Ann turned to me. “Honey, your father had a special ability. He could tell people’s motives, what their character was, what they were feeling, that kind of thing. That’s a hereditary ability, and you inherited it.”

  “Like psychic? No, no, he was always good at reading people and predicting their behavior, but that’s just being observant. He taught me how to do a lot of that, but it wasn’t something I inherited.”

  Olivia stepped in front of her aunt. “It’s a special ability. A magical ability. He was a mage. You’re a mage. We’re all mages. And you have your father’s ability to know things about people. Now tell me what you know.” She shoved the tablet at me.

  Auntie Ann pulled Olivia back with a shushing noise. “Sweetie, calm down. You should have slept last night. Give her some time to understand.” She looked at Vin and cut her eyes over to me.

  Vin sighed. “I know it is a lot to take in.” Anger still tinged his voice.

  Questions bounced around in my head. Not the least of which was if I was alone with a bunch of lunatics. “Mage? Like a magician? Like abracadabra?”

  Vin rolled his eyes. “Not the kind of magician that pulls a rabbit out of a hat or a fairytale. Mage or witch or magic practitioner. What term you prefer. You inherit the ability to work magic from either parent, and when a parent dies, their children inherit additional abilities. It used to be just the oldest son, but times change, and now we realize that if parents spent time and loved their children, it would go to all of them. For whatever reason, your father didn’t want us or the rest of the community to know about you. That’s why he always said he only had a son.”

  “This…” It was unbelievable what he was saying, except for the weird note last night. And the fact that Dad did seem to always know about people’s character better than anyone else should have ever known. When we had traveled, he had spotted every conman, pickpocket, or other undesirable. But this was too much to believe. “I think you have me confused with someone. I’ll just go.”

  Olivia grabbed my arm as I turned to leave. “Tell us about the fire.”

  I shivered and slowly turned around. “You read about it on the internet, didn’t you?”

  She nodded. “Do you still have nightmares?”

  I broke out in a cold sweat as a wave of nausea passed briefly over me. “Yes. That’s when I started having problems sleeping.”

  “Tell us about it.” Vin’s voice had lost its anger. Even with his rough, rumbly voice, it was almost gentle.

  “One of my coworkers tried to shoot me at the office, but there was a fluke fire, and he died instead.” It sounded so mild in comparison to what happened.

  Vin stepped fully in front of me so he was the only one I could see. “Your coworker had been embezzling, right? And you knew?”

  I frowned. “Frank was such a snake. I knew he was up to something.”

  “And your boss didn’t believe you, did he?”

  “No! No one believed me. I never had a good feeling about Frank from the moment he moved to our office, but then I started to think it was more than just him being a douche. He was crooked.”

  “That was right after your dad passed, wasn’t it?”

  I looked at Vin in surprise. I had taken several weeks off to handle Dad’s affairs. “You’re right. I returned to work, and Frank was handling one of my accounts. Something was off.”

  “How did you know? We called your old boss, and he said that Frank’s plan had been perfect and to this day he doesn’t know how you spotted it. In fact, he seemed a bit suspicious.” Vin arched an eyebrow at me.

  Frustration welled up in me. “Frank was so slimy. The way he said stuff, how he acted, even how he handled work showed he was crooked.”

  Vin leaned in a little. “Tell me how.”

  All my frustration erupted. “I just knew! I knew.” My mouth was running away from me. Even all these years later, I was still furious that no one had believed me, and it almost cost me my life. I was practically screaming. “He was a crook, and I knew it from the second I saw him. And I was right. I told them he was up to something, but no one believed me, then someone said something to him. They didn’t believe me, but Frank knew I was right, and he came after me with a gun! He waited until I was working late and snuck in. He was going to shoot me—” With a gasp, I cut myself off. Tears started rolling down my face.

  Auntie Ann stepped around Vin. “It’s okay. You can tell us.”

  I choked back a sob. “He had the gun pointed right at me, then… then there was fire everywhere. He was engulfed in flames and screaming. The screaming was awful.” I dabbed at my eyes. “Frank died, and the office building was mostly destroyed. I told the police that he had pulled a gun, and all of Frank’s lies quickly unraveled. They ended up giving me quite a severance package so I wouldn’t sue.”

  Auntie Ann handed me a tissue. “You did the right thing. He would have killed you.”

  “I didn’t… What do you mean?” I looked between Auntie Ann and Vin.

  “Sweetheart.” She kept her voice calm and gentle. “You started the fire the same way you knew he was a criminal. It is part of being a mage.”

  Vin nodded. “Creating fire spontaneously is a sign of a mage that doesn’t have a handle on their abilities.”

  The idea that I had burned a man to death was too much. “I never would have done that.”

  “Shhh.” Auntie Ann stroked my shoulder. “It wasn’t on purpose. You don’t have training. The only way you could have produced that much magic was because you feared for your life.”

  It was so much to take in. I dreamed of the fire often, the flames licking across my skin but not burning me. The firemen that had arrived said it was a miracle that I had made it out alive. My clothes had burned, but my hair didn’t even smell of smoke.

  “I don’t understand.” I had a million questions in my head that all fought to get out at once, but I remembered my resolution in the elevator. “Tell me about my dad.”
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  Olivia hopped in front of Vin and Auntie Ann. “We will. That’s part of the deal. You help us, and we’ll help you. Now it’s your turn.” She extended the tablet.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing. Can’t you get a mage that knows what they’re doing to help you?”

  Vin snorted. “Why didn’t we think of that? There are plenty of them just sitting around everywhere.” His voice was heavy with sarcasm.

  I glared at him. “How about a little less attitude, especially when you’re asking me for help.”

  “Dear, your type of ability isn’t particularly common, and we don’t even know if you can read an emotional hologram. When there are strong emotions combined with magic, they get imprinted on the location, at least for a time. Mages like your family who can read emotions of people usually can read emotional holograms as well.”

  “So you can’t do it?” I looked between the three of them.

  Vin’s face turned slightly red. “Our family has different abilities.” He bit off the words. “Useful ones.”

  “Vincent!” Auntie Ann snapped then dragged him over to the elevator. She lowered her voice, but it carried back to us. “I don’t know what has gotten into you. You are acting below your station.”

  The muscles in his jaw flexed. “You’re coddling her. You should—”

  “Do not speak to me in that tone.” She was no longer a soft motherly figure. Instead, she radiated cold power.

  Vin fought with himself but eventually said, “Why don’t I go downstairs and help Vanessa gather up the information?”

  “Thank you, Vincent.” Auntie Ann took a deep breath while Vin got into the elevator before she returned. “Ella, are you ready to try this?”

  My head was spinning. “I’m not sure if…” Could Dad’s note from last night have to do with being a mage? “I think I need to go home.” I felt overwhelmed until Patagonia rubbed up against my leg.

  Patagonia stood on her back legs and, with a mighty leap, jumped at my chest. I wrapped my arms around her furry body as she dug her claws into my belly and pushed her head against my face. Her soft fur pressed into my neck soothed me. The gentle purring emanating from her gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling all over. I felt loved and supported, though I struggled under her weight until she jumped down.

  Olivia sighed. “You need to help us. The ides is only a few days away, and someone else will die.”

  “What?”

  “You noticed the pattern on the ides of each month, and we spent all yesterday researching, and the dates lined up with suicides or accidental deaths that have occurred at the casino and payouts we gave to the surviving family. Dad must have noticed or felt that something was off. We went back five months and found the pattern. There is clearly something happening, but we don’t know what or how.”

  Before I could reply, Auntie Ann spoke. “We don’t expect you to solve this alone. We just need a direction to look. Olivia didn’t even know what the numbers on her father’s desk meant until you gave us a pattern to look for, then we found it. That is all we are asking, to give us a direction to look toward. And we will give you something in return. We can help you learn about your gifts and how to use them. Plus, we can tell you about your father.”

  “What can you tell me?” I leaned forward in anticipation. This was what I wanted.

  Olivia shook a finger. “No, you help us solve the deaths first, then we will help you.”

  “My father was murdered. If you have information—”

  Tears welled up in Olivia’s eyes. “You’re not the only one who lost a father. My father had information about this situation on his desk when he was found. Maybe it is unconnected to his murder, but if it is…”

  “Murder? I thought your father took his own life.”

  “That is what the police thought because there was no evidence of another person, but we think it was another mage, someone who could use magic to hide their tracks.” She looked away and quickly ran a hand across her eyes.

  She might be the CEO of the largest and best casino in Rambler, but she was also a daughter missing her father. That was something I could relate to. “I understand. And if I do my best to help you, then you will give me information about my father? You promise? I’m not convinced I can do what you think I can do, but if I try, that’s enough?”

  She nodded. “Yes, we can tell you what we know about him, and right now I have a secretary pulling information together on all the situations your father helped with at the casino. I am sure you will find a lot of information in there.”

  I would prefer to get all the information first, but this seemed like a fair deal. “Okay, I agree. I will do my best to help you, and you will give me the information I want. What do I do?”

  Olivia shoved the tablet at me. “Perfect. Watch this.”

  “Hold up, Olivia.” Auntie Ann took the tablet from Olivia’s hand. “First, let me help Ella.” She turned to me. “Do you have your channeling key on you? That’s the stone egg Olivia gave you.”

  “Yes.” I turned away and grabbed it from my cleavage then held it out in my hand.

  Auntie Ann chuckled. “Good. Keep that on you. It collects spare energy from you, then you can use it later when you need it. And keep Patagonia with you. She will help you as well.”

  “Patagonia? What do you—”

  Olivia snorted. “We’ll explain later.”

  Auntie Ann raised an eyebrow at Olivia then turned back to me. “Yes, we will get to all this later. You have a lot to learn. Close your eyes, and try to push away all your questions for now. Take a deep, slow breath in, hold it, then let it out.”

  I did what she asked, including pushing away the questions that were assaulting my mind. I struggled until Patagonia pressed up against my leg, then I felt everything but that exact moment in time fading away.

  “Good. Now watch the video and observe. Don’t try too hard. Just watch, and whatever you observe, say out loud. The fact that we are here, where it happened, should help you.”

  I opened my eyes and felt strangely confident. Memories of travelling with my father flooded my head. No matter where we were, even if we didn’t speak the language, we played the same game. We would sit on a bench and people watch. He would point out body language such as how close or far people stood, how they looked at each other or orientated their feet and body toward another person, and make guesses as to who they were, how they felt about each other, and such. Dad would point out little things until I felt I practically knew these people and who they were.

  Perhaps he had been training me to use my gift even then. Those observation skills had served me well through school and in my job. I had always been good at unraveling puzzles involving people, and it was part of what drove me into auditing. I had considered forensic accounting, but the state auditors of Nevada had a surprisingly fun department and recruiting program. I had been good at my job, especially when I went on-site to observe the department I was auditing. What Olivia and Auntie Ann told me made sense in light of my skill set.

  I took the tablet, and the video started to play. I watched the man and woman interact and paused the video. “They were disagreeing about something. Look at how she whips around when he talks. She’s annoyed with him for what he said.”

  “Good, dear.” Auntie Ann nodded with approval. “Now go stand where they stood and just quietly stand there and tell me if you feel anything.”

  I walked over ten feet to the entrance of the elevator and rewatched the start of the video. Emotions started to tickle the back of my mind. They felt real but weren’t connected to me. “She was already annoyed with him when they arrived. Then he said something, and…”

  I played the video. The woman was snapping at him when suddenly her face changed and her head whipped toward the window that was covered with plastic. I walked over to that spot and closed my eyes. “Something scared her… no, surprised her. It surprised her, then…”

  Olivia was watching me and nodding.

 
Auntie Ann smiled. “You’re doing great. Just relax and let it come to you.”

  I watched the video a few times to the end then walked to the window. Emotions rolled over me. A great loss that brought tears to my eyes and at the same time, incredible joy. The sensation of recovery of someone. I let the tears flow down my face for a bit and let the feeling of reuniting fill me. “She heard something from this window. It was a person she desperately wanted to see. She didn’t jump to her death. She… I don’t know how to say this. I guess she felt she was going toward someone out there. See how she is reaching out?” I flipped the tablet to show Auntie Ann and Olivia, who had followed me as I moved around the floor. “She was reaching out to someone who was there. Or she thought was there?”

  Auntie Ann smiled. “Do you feel love?”

  I closed my eyes, and there it was. Love. “Yes.”

  “Then it was real. A lot of emotions can be faked with magic but not real genuine love. If she was drawn by love, then whoever it was really existed in some form.”

  I closed my eyes again and swayed slightly. Nothing else came to me. “I think that’s it.”

  “You did wonderfully. You will need to eat, and we can talk more. Olivia, call down and arrange for us to take a private dining room. We’ll eat and talk about what to do next.”

  Olivia pulled out her phone. “Which restaurant?”

  Auntie Ann gasped. “There is only one thing to eat after big magic. Italian, of course!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I dragged a half of a pumpkin ravioli through the sauce and stuffed it into my mouth. As I chewed, I leaned back in the chair and moaned. “This is amazing!”

  Auntie Ann passed over a plate of stuffed mushrooms. “The food here is excellent, but it is also because you just performed magic. Nothing whets the appetite like a good magical workout.”

  We were in a private room at the casino’s nicest restaurant, Isadora’s Ristorante. Vin and Vanessa had joined us to eat. In addition to the food that kept appearing, red wine filled all our glasses. The conversation had been sparse as we dug into our meal.

  “If I keep doing magic and eating like this, I’m going to be too big to fit through the doorway.” I spooned more food onto my plate and drained my wine glass.