"Where have you been?" Evelina stood, hands on hips, a glare in her violet eyes. "We just finished hanging the prints so they could dry and develop."
"I had some items to tick off my to-do list." Mahogany kicked off her boots. "Where's Neema?"
"She nipped upstairs to take a shower," Evelina said. She held her hand out to Bazgul, and he hopped into her open palm.
"The librarian, Priscilla Wembley, she's been murdered." Mahogany rubbed her hands over her face. "Or at least she's dead, but I'm pretty sure she's been poisoned."
"What? When? How?" Tony said, getting to his feet from the kitchen table.
"This evening. I just found her in the library," Mahogany said. She placed her backpack on the kitchen island and sat at one of the bar stools.
"How do you know all this?" Evelina said, rubbing the back of Bazgul's head, who purred happily.
"I was there," Mahogany said. "Priscilla left me a message about something she was helping me research." Mahogany pulled the manila envelope from her bag and laid it on the island.
Evelina frowned and grabbed the envelope. "Why kind of research? And what do you mean you were there. This isn't like the brownstone is it?"
Mahogany shook her head. "No. She was lying there, dead." She hopped off the barstool, her mouth having gone dry. She opened the fridge and grabbed the bottle of milk.
"Jeez!" Evelina said. "What if the murderer were still there? You need to be more careful."
"Says the Fae who interviewed a potential murderer alone," Mahogany gave a dry laugh, tipped the bottle to her lips, and drank deeply. "Oh, and Nancy has an alibi for the night of the murder."
"What? How do you know that?" Tony said, moving to stand next to Evelina.
"I stopped by the stones to call the police about Priscilla, I didn't want to call from my cell, and there she was, festooned like a Hot Topic reject with some guy. Ted said they were there last Wednesday when the murders occurred."
"So we're back to no viable suspects," Evelina dropped the envelope and sighed. "This sucks."
"Also, when Guy and I first searched Mike's evidence box, we found a photo." Mahogany took another swig of milk
"What kind of photo?" Tony pulled open the envelope and examined the contents, his face pinched in concentration.
"This photo," Mahogany tapped the printout in Tony's hand, "was found at the murder scene. The murderer placed it in Magic Mike's hand, except someone altered it."
"Altered?" Tony said, meeting Mahogany's gaze.
She nodded and retrieved the image on her phone.
"Oh, that's dark," Evelina said, her eyes growing wide.
"So, who are these people?" Tony pointed to the x'd out faces. "And why are they important?"
"That's Magic Mike, and that's Kassandra Frost." Mahogany pointed to the two figures with the x's over their faces. "The one with the circle is Dorcia Frost."
A creak on the stairs took their attention from the photo. Neema stood frozen, her foot hovering above the next step.
Mahogany's gaze ran up Neema, taking in every inch of the woman she knew and didn't at the same time. "Hello, Dorcia," Mahogany said.
The color drained from Neema's face. "How?"
"You better sit," Mahogany said and motioned to the kitchen table.
Neema nodded and sat at the kitchen table. Her shower-wet hair fell over her shoulder, leaving a damp spot on her t-shirt. On the left side of her head, a tuft of white hair announced it was time to touch up her roots.
"The hair," murmured Evelina, comparing the photo to the woman sitting hunched before them. "It is her." She leaned toward Tony, pointing to Dorcia. "Same white patch."
"It's called poliosis. I've had it since childhood," Neema said. Her gaze locked on Mahogany. "I guess it's time to dye it again." Her mouth pulled up at the corners in a sad smile.
"You need to start at the beginning. What happened to Aurora Kingsley?" Mahogany sat across from Neema at the kitchen table, the milk bottle still in her hand.
Neema sighed. "We were all friends." She nodded to the color printout in Evelina's hand. "Inseparable. Then we graduated and attended different colleges to hone our magical crafts. That's when everything changed."
"What changed?" Tony asked, moving around the kitchen island to sit next to Mahogany at the table. He gave her a slight smile, but she didn't have the energy to return it.
"Aurora started dabbling with demon magic," Neema said. "She got it into her head that she could summon a greater demon and control it."
Evelina gasped. "That's impossible. No one can control a greater demon."
Neema smiled her sad smile again. "We tried to talk her out of her insane idea, but she was convinced the reason no one had ever succeeded before was that they weren't her."
"So, what happened?" Tony asked.
"She summoned a greater demon, and it possessed her." Neema shook her head. Her wet hair slipped from her shoulder and trailed down her back. "Thad, Mike, Kassandra, and I tried to save her. To banish the beast, but in the end, it killed her. We couldn't separate them without harming Aurora in the process."
"That's what demons do," Evelina said, scratching Bazgul's head again. She walked him to his cat tree and placed him on the top platform. Bazgul peered out the window, interested in the goings-on outside.
Neema nodded. "To save Aurora and her family's reputations, we staged her death to appear like an accident."
Tony looked around, puzzled. "I don't get it. Why would she and her family's reputations be in jeopardy?"
"Demon magic is prohibited because demons, especially greater demons, are hard to get rid of, and they go around causing all sorts of trouble," Mahogany said. "Anyone caught playing around in demon magic gets their powers taken by the Guild."
"It's not a pleasant outcome for magical Folk," Neema said, "so we tried to cover it up. We were just kids, so we didn't do the best job, and there was an investigation from the local police. We were almost convicted of murder."
"Was that why you moved across the country and changed your name?" Mahogany asked.
"I needed a fresh start," Neema said. She picked at one of her fingernails, not looking at Mahogany.
"What about your sister and her husband? Were their deaths related to the demon?" Mahogany asked.
"The investigation concluded someone had tampered with their breaks, but the police never arrested anyone," Neema said.
"So, where do I fit into all of this?" Mahogany sat back, crossing her arms over the chest.
Neema sighed. "I've already told you. I saw you and fell in love. Open and shut."
"That's it?" Mahogany said.
"That's it." Neema's blue eyes burned into Mahogany's.
A strained silence fell over the kitchen.
"Well, the photo ties this group to the murders," Evelina said, shattering the tension. "The x's over Mike and Kassandra show those who have already died. The murder circled Dorcia's face, indicating she may be a target," Evelina motioned to Neema. "And Aurora, the last person in the photo, is already dead."
"What about Thad?" Tony asked.
"He took the photo," Mahogany said.
"So that ties him in too," Tony said. "What about the letters he sent." He turned his gaze on Neema. "What was Thad trying to warn you about?"
Neema's face wore an unreadable expression. "I knew you'd taken a letter from my desk, but I couldn't believe it."
"I did, but it was stolen from Tony's before we had a chance to read it properly," Mahogany said. "Then yesterday, I intercepted one as Cheryl delivered it."
Neema sighed. "I had been hiding for nearly twenty-two years. Then, Thad wrote to me out of the blue that Mike was on his way to blow my cover. Mike said his guilt was too much, and he wanted to come clean." She shook her head. "I have no idea how they found me."
"The murderer must have followed them," Tony said. "Which means someone has incredible patience to wait all this time."
Evelina shivered. "The whole thing gives me the creeps."
The room fell silent, each person lost in a tangle of thoughts. Then, the timer over the oven chimed, bringing them back to the present.
"The photos are ready. Let's see what we have," Neema said, getting to her feet and heading into the living room.
Similar to how Thaddeus had strung photos around his room at Tipsy O'Lush's, Neema, with the help of Tony and Evelina, had fastened yarn in a zig-zagging pattern across the cozy living room. Photo paper dangled from the string using chip clips, close pins, and paper clips.
"Wow, there must be nearly fifty images here." Mahogany said, appraising their handiwork.
Evelina began inspecting the images. "It looks like most are duplicates from Thad's room."
"You were in Thad's room?" Neema swung around to peer at Evelina, her eyes wide.
"It wasn't like that. He's not my type," Evelina said. "Mahogany and I broke in."
"Oh, well, in that case, I can relax." Neema rolled her eyes and returned to inspecting the swaying images.
"Didn't we hang the photos in the order we developed them?" Tony said, moving across the room to the far wall.
"Yes!" Neema nodded. "That means these photos are older." Neema motioned to the sheets nearest the kitchen. "We started over there and worked our way over here."
Tony peered at the images at the far side of the room as Mahogany, Evelina, and Neema navigated under the strands of yarn. Guy walked through them, his face screwed into a grim expression.
Tony's gaze landed on one image held to the yarn at the corner by a safety pin. "This might be what we're looking for," he said.
Everyone gathered around and peered at the image. A figure cloaked in a black hoodie held the jeweled anelace over their head in their right hand, ready to strike. Magic Mike stood in the brownstone's study facing the fireplace, unaware of his fate.
"Poor Mike," Guy said. "He had no idea."
Mahogany muttered, "Let's hope he didn't suffer." She gave Guy a wain smile, knowing he had lingered on the brink of death for an hour or more before dying with her hand on his chest.
"I can't believe we're looking at an almost murder." Evelina shivered, and Tony put his arm around her, pulling her close to him.
Mahogany frowned as an all too familiar lump caught in her throat. Guy and Neema glanced from Tony and Evelina to Mahogany, a single eyebrow raised. "So, now we have the murderer caught in the act, but we still don't know who they are," Mahogany said.
"But we know for sure that Thad didn't do it," Neema said, her voice filled with relief.