Where Devils go to Party (Winterwood Witches #1)

Chapter 5: Lecture

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid Winterwood Cafe will be undergoing a temporary closure. Please conclude your meals and return at a later date," Bianca declared, making her way through the stunned mob of gathered onlookers gathered around the entrance.

She leant over the body and ran a finger along his greying cheek. Snapping her head up, she glanced around the growing activity on the street with a grimace. A dark look crossed her face. There was no way of containing this. Already I could hear sirens in the distance.

I sucked in a breath as I pushed my way through the stunned crowd. As I approached the body, I could see something was off about the whole situation. More than just the fact there was a body thrown through our front door. There was no blood other than what was on him and the door. The body looked more than a few days old. How had someone brought it here with no one noticing?

The symbol of an eye tattooed over my heart started throbbing in time with my quickening pulse. There was an unseen buzz around the corpse and my lodger was reacting to it. Reaching for my crystal, I crouched down to take a closer look and immediately felt eyes on my back. A shudder rushed up my spine as I sensed someone's eager attention wash over me. A cane snapped down against the pavement beside me and I raised my sight to see Bianca's cat-like eyes narrowed on me.

"Back inside." She raised her cane and pointed towards the other door.

"But—"

"Back inside. Now," she cut me off with the same icy voice. "This has nothing to do with you."

I forced a small nod as I jumped to my feet and dashed back into the cafe. The longer I stayed out there, the more Bianca would think giving me a missing person's case was still too good for me. I didn't really want to go back to tracking down missing pets again.

"What's going on?" Shauna asked as I slid into a seat at the table Kat was using to play nurse.

"Someone dumped a body on our porch," I said doing my best to sit still and ignore the growing commotion back at the entrance. "How's your hand?"

"Huh?" Shauna frowned.

"A b-body?" Kat paled, suddenly trembling.

Shauna put her arm around the shoulders of the smaller blonde girl and pulled her close. "It wasn't Silas. He can't find us here. We're fine. Try to calm down." Giving Kat time to regain her nerves, Shauna shot me a look and whispered, "It wasn't Silas, right?"

"No. From what you've told me he'd be a lot more messy about it. This was someone else," I hushed back.

Eventually, the doll-like girl in her black Winterwood uniform reclaimed her composure and blushed as Shauna remained with an arm around her shoulders. The faintly tanned face beneath her short blonde pixie bob grew increasingly red, but she didn't move to break the contact. I did my best not to draw attention to it.

"So, what exactly happened?" Shauna asked.

"Someone just up and delivered a dead body to our doorstep. Not a fresh one either from what I could see. At least a day or two old. It wasn't a natural death." I cast my eyes around the quickly emptying cafe where other Winterwood employees were quickly tidying up unfinished meals. I watched them scurry about, trying hard to stifle the urge to head back over and see what was happening outside. "Someone has to take up the case."

"And you're in here because?" Shauna arched one eyebrow as she stared at me.

"Bianca kicked me out." I slunk down in my chair.

"Wouldn't it be in your best interest to do as she says then?" Kat asked, tilting her head.

"I know, but wouldn't you be curious to get to the bottom of this?"