Page 22 of Charlotte's Story
“Done what before?”
“Solved a murder.”
She rolled her eyes. “Hardly. Most of that was just me trying to write my story, and even then I was wrong half the time.”
“Still, you know what questions to ask. Just for tonight—come with us. I could use backup.”
“What about Mr. Collins?”
I sighed and ladled the cocoa into the mugs for us. “I’m not sure how much help he’ll be. He’ll probably be too busy fawning over Lady Catherine to do anything else.”
Lizzy’s lips twitched. “Are you jealous?” She pulled out a small vial that sparkled with golden flecks and gave me a questioninglook. At my nod, she poured a drop into each of our cups. I never turned down her offer of her starroot elixir, which reminded the consumer of their favorite memory.
“What? No. Of course not. I just feel like he isn’t as worried as he should be about the fact that someone took his memories and is still trying to take his life.”
“So you’re sure that there was someone else there and that Mr. Collins is innocent?”
“What are you saying?”
“Are you sure that Mr. Collins isn’t guilty?” She gave me a piercing look, her blue eyes narrowing.
I hesitated, not because I doubted him, but because that kind of certainty scared me. He’d gone from a convenient stranger to someone I wanted to protect, and that made everything feel a lot more complicated. “Of course he’s innocent. The police found evidence that there was someone else at the scene, a third magic, and we think William is the target.”
Lizzy put up her hands. “Okay, okay. Just thought it was worth asking,” she said before taking a small sip of her cocoa, then sighing happily. “So do you have any suspects? The timing seems awfully suspicious. Do you think this could have anything to do with your wedding? Have you found out anything about the victim yet?”
“Slow down and give me a chance to answer some of those.” I laughed and took a sip of my own, smiling at the potion-inspired memory of Christmas morning in Tokyo with my family when I was a kid. I gave her a summary of everything we’d learned that day, including the fact that we believed William to be the intended victim. As I spoke, curiosity lit a fire in her blue eyes.
“Hmm. There’s definitely something fishy going on here.” She drummed her fingers on the counter.
I didn’t say anything, giving her a moment to process everything.
“Maybe Lady Catherine was angry with Mr. Collins,” Lizzy said.
“I also wondered if she might be involved, but I couldn’t figure out a motive.”
“Well, think about it. She told him to marry a witch, but then he went and married an Unmarked instead. Maybe he thought he was going above and beyond what she asked, but maybe she viewed it as him disobeying.”
My grip tightened around my ceramic cup, though I was careful not to break my favorite mug. “It’s more of a motive than I could come up with, but I feel like we need to talk to her tonight to know for sure.”
She sighed. “All right. Fine. I’ll come. But you owe me.”
“Nah, you can just consider this payback for that time you ruined my favorite pair of mittens with that anti-warmth charm.”
“That was an accident!”
I laughed and poured an extra cup of cocoa for William. “I’ll be right back.”
Lizzy gave me a knowing smirk but said nothing as I carried the cup to the living room where I found him poring over a huge book. “Would you like some cocoa?”
He glanced up briefly. “Thank you, but no. I prefer tea. Earl Grey. Ideally loose leaf, but the bags are fine if steeped properly.” He offered a brief smile, then returned to his book without missing a beat.
“I’ll remember that,” I said, then immediately cursed myself. Why had I said that? Shaking my head, I returned to the kitchen and spent the next hour chatting with Lizzy. For a little while, it was easy to pretend things were normal. But soon the three of us were on our way to Lady Catherine’s house.
Even though the attack had just happened in the woods, there was something about the protection of the trees mixed with thesnow and the overhead lights twinkling in the growing darkness that made it feel like nothing could ever happen here, like we were trapped inside a snow globe.
“Do you always walk to Lady Catherine’s?” Lizzy asked as we trudged along the path under snow-dusted trees.
“She doesn’t approve of many of the modern advances,” William said, “so I avoid them as much as possible when visiting her.”
