“Bee didn’t attack her,” I said. “She just jumped up on her and peed on her. And to be fair, the lady had just insulted her.”
Jason grinned. “That’s true. In fact, it’s strange how Bee picked just the right moment to… surprise the woman. That’s some remarkable timing.”
“Bee’s pretty talented that way,” I replied. “I swear, she has this magical ability to know when you’re talking about her. I think it’s a cat thing.”
I felt a pang of guilt lying to Jason like that, but I also knew the rules: unless I married him, he was absolutely, not ever supposed to know about my magical powers. Those were the rules of the witch life.
“I’ve never had a cat,” Jason replied. “But all the memes I’ve ever seen on Facebook certainly back up that theory. Cats are weird.”
I grinned. “Cats are weird. They’re also a lot of fun. Are you more of a dog person?”
Jason shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. We never had any pets growing up.”
“Pets are awesome. They’re like small, affectionate children that never grow up,” I replied.
“Of course you’d love all animals, being a vet.”
“It’s true, I do.” Whenever I walked along the sidewalk in the spring and saw caterpillars making their way along the sidewalk, I’d always pick them up with a leaf and take them back to the grass.
“So you’re trying to solve this new murder, too?”
“I so didn’t say that,” I replied.
“Yeah, but I know you. You’re obviously trying to solve it. And your sister and Sophie too. I swear, you guys are the least subtle fake Sherlock Holmes crew that I’ve ever met.”
“Please. We’re a fake Nancy Drew crew, thank you very much. But if you must know, Charlotte has a mutual friend with Jessica—we were just trying to figure out what kind of person she was.”
“And who might have had the motive to kill her,” Jason finished.
“Maybe,” I replied, grinning at him, and he smiled.
“Well, I bet you you’re doing exactly the same thing!”
“What? Of course not. I’m leaving that to the police.”
“That’s so not true. You’re way too much of a journalist for that. You’re totally investigating Jessica Oliver and finding out whatever you can about her, even if you’re not openly trying to find a murderer.”
“Fine,” he grinned. “I admit it; I’m looking into her life.”
“So here’s an idea,” I said in a conspiratorial whisper. “Why don’t we team up? Try and find out all we can together. After all, I’ve already got some pretty juicy information.”
“Who says I don’t have the same information?” Jason asked.
“I have my methods, which I doubt you have,” I replied confidently. To be totally honest, though, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Jason already had figured out the same stuff as us. He was legitimately a very good investigative reporter. Honestly, he was probably too good for Willow Bay, where last week the second biggest story—behind the upcoming festival—was the news that Antonia deLucca had reportedly seen a cougar in the forest behind the town.
And speak of the devil, at that very moment, the woman herself walked through the door. She was old; a retired schoolteacher in her seventies who now had nothing to do with her life except start rumors and gossip about things. I wasn’t her biggest fan in town, as many of her rumors were cruel. As soon as she saw that Jason and I were here in the café, she made a beeline toward us.
“Angela Martin and Jason Black. Is it true what my eyes see? Are the two of you a couple?”
“We are, Antonia,” Jason said, smiling politely at her.
“Well isn’t that just scandalous!”
“How is it a scandal?” I asked. “It’s not the 1800s anymore; we can date whoever we want, whenever we want nowadays.”
Antonia smiled. “Yes, of course dear. I’m well aware of the moral corruption of today’s youth. I was more surprised to see the town’s local esteemed journalist in the company of a woman who was attacked yesterday, and whose attacker was found dead this morning.”
“Ah,” I said, understanding. “So you’re implying that I had something to do with the murder now. Again.”
Antonia looked shocked. “Why of course I would never do something like that! I simply find it interesting that so soon after you had a confrontation with the woman, she shows up dead.”
“Do you?” Jason asked, grabbing a pen. “Would you be willing to put those words on the record, and have them published in next week’s paper? Because as you can imagine I’m doing a number of articles on the fair, and on the murder, and it certainly would liven it up if I had your exact words essentially accusing Angela here of murder on the record.”
Antonia’s face fell at Jason’s words. “No, no, of course not,” she said. “I’m simply an old lady, what do my words matter? All the same, I must be going,” she said, turning and making her way past the throngs of tourists and out the door.
Jason shook his head. “That woman, I swear.”
I grinned. “Don’t worry. No one really ever takes anything she says seriously. I’m sure she’s been going around town all morning accusing me of being the murderer.”
“Still, that kind of thing can be damaging,” he said.
“It can be, but Antonia’s never been that bad. Remember Andrea Dottory? I don’t really think you knew her; she was murdered right around when you actually moved here for good. She was super vindictive with her rumors. She actually drove a few people out of town.”
“Maybe. Call it the journalist in me, but I don’t like people spreading lies about, no matter how little they’re taken seriously. Especially when the rumors are about you.”
I smiled. “My knight in shining armour.”
“At your service, m’lady,” Jason laughed, grabbing the other fork and helping himself to a spoonful of cheesecake. “So, you want to know what I’ve found out about Jessica Oliver.”
“I do.”
“Well,” he said thoughtfully, taking another bite of cheesecake, “I have done a little bit of research. I’ve found out that she wasn’t doing very well in her law school classes, but then no one’s ever been murdered because they had bad grades.”
“Yeah, we know that as well.”
“Did you know she was sleeping with one of her professors?”
I choked on the sip of coffee I was drinking. Super sexy, Angela. Good work. My coughing fit went on for about fifteen seconds, and when I finally came back up for air, Jason was gently laughing at me.
“I guess that’s a no, then,” he said.
“I definitely did not know that. Did you know she was also sleeping with her boss?”
This time it was Jason’s turn to look surprised, but he was decidedly more graceful about it. No coughing fit from him, his eyebrows just rose a little bit.
“Was she really? I knew she was working as an intern at a law firm, but hadn’t gotten to the details yet.”
I nodded. “Forrester, Forrester and Cork. Let’s just say that Smith was giving her some… extra experience,” I clarified.
“Do you have proof?” Jason asked, and I shook my head. “No, just info from a friend of hers. And some other people at the office. It’s probably not good enough to publish in a paper, but as far as we’re concerned it’s good enough.”
Jason nodded. “Interesting.”
“Which professor was she having an affair with?”
“Ethics,” Jason said with a grin.
“No way!” I replied, incredulous. “Really?”
“Yup. Turns out she’s not the first one, either. Though he hasn’t been her professor for a semester or so, so he’s not sleeping with a current student. But all the same…”