The Girl with the Uninvited Ghost: Pandemonium Cozy Mystery #1

Chapter 30

Mahogany burst into the Haughty Hemlock, followed by Tony and Evelina, startling Neema as she closed the shop.

"Where did you put the port-o-hole?" Mahogany said as she dashed to the kitchen and rifled through a pile of mail on the table, searching for the envelope holding the black scrap of magical fabric.

"I put it back in the envelope, as you should have. Twenty-three years, and I'm still cleaning up after you." Neema slipped a white envelope from one of the kitchen drawers and cleared her throat. Mahogany turned and snatched it from Neema.

"What's happened?" Neema checked the clock over the oven. "It's nearly 7:00."

"The police just arrested Thaddeus Spike on suspicion of murder. The police picked him up while we were questioning him at Tipsy O'Lush's." Mahogany tore open the envelope and withdrew the port-o-hole. She swiped a section of the kitchen table clear of stray papers and slapped the black circle onto the polished wood. She reached her arm into the portal, where it disappeared from view, and examined the area with the palm of her hand.

"Thad's been arrested?" Neema blanched and grabbed hold of the table to steady herself. "But there's no way he could have killed Mike. They were best friends once."

Mahogany's fingers fumbled along the dusty metal shelving unit in the evidence locker for a long second before her fingertips grazed the edge of a cardboard box. Mahogany's disembodied arm skimmed across the box's lid until it found the handle. She hooked her fingers through the handhold and pulled it through the port-o-hole. Tony grabbed hold and helped Mahogany maneuver the evidence box onto the kitchen table. Magoris's name appeared on the lid in black sharpie.

"It has to do with the camera he dropped at the murder scene," Evelina said, eying the box with rising excitement.

Mahogany ran to the writing desk in the living room and returned with the spectare. She slid the blade along the red tape, sealing the lid, slicing cleanly, and yanked off the top. A black camera in a clear plastic bag sat on top of the other items collected from the crime scene. The bag's date told that Detective Sawyer submitted the camera to evidence the day after the murders, only minutes after Mahogany had replaced the box after retrieving the anelace.

"So, what's the plan?" Tony asked, peering at the bagged camera.

Mahogany cut open the evidence bag with the spectare and reached into the bag when Evelina stopped her. "Shouldn't you wear some sort of protection?"

Neema threw a set of dish gloves at Mahogany. She moved to the large kitchen hutch, housing part of her spell collection. Neema ran a finger along the gold-labeled spines, searching for the one covering mirror incantations.

Mahogany shoved her hands into the gloves, pulled the camera from the evidence bag, and popped open the back. "There's no film." Mahogany stared into the empty camera, her stomach tightening.

"Now what?" Tony asked. "Without the film, how are we supposed to know if Thad's telling the truth?"

"Like this." Neema tossed a heavy tome onto the kitchen counter and tapped the front cover: 27 Ways to Make Mirrors Work for You.

"Mirrors?" Tony questioned. "Oh, the camera mirror." His face brightened as he nodded to the mirror in the back of the camera, then frowned. "Wait, I still don't get it."

Neema leafed through the book until she found the right chapter. "Retrieving images and other reflective surfaces," she read aloud.

"Oh, that is handy." Tony moved to the counter and read the chapter's first paragraph to the room, "Mirrors and other reflective surfaces can record images witnessed within a single moon cycle. The process of retrieving images is a time-honored piece of magic any witch worth her salt needs to know."