Inconvenient Murder: An Inept Witches Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

three hours from now, uncertain of how he’d gotten there.
    “Please let me investigate this,” he said calmly as he met Hazel’s gaze. The sheriff of the island and the witches of the coven had always gotten along. It was why one of the reasons witches could live so openly on Sage Island.
    “I have no intention of interfering in any way. However, you will leave my niece to her sleep and get the rest of your gossip later. If you imagine these two knew anything about the herbs used to kill that, that…man, you are mistaken. They’re idiots.”
    “Hey!” Ingrid and Emily said in unison with the exact same whine to their voice.
    “It hasn’t been determined how he was killed,” Gabe said.
    “Of course,” Hazel said idly.
    “Are you making yourself look like a suspect, Aunt Hazel?” Ingrid asked. She examined the woman. She was older, in her sixties, but she was healthy and lithe with thick gray hair and bright, intelligent eyes masked by square glasses. She was a beautiful woman, and the frown she shot Ingrid would have been scary if Ingrid wasn’t sure that Hazel had accepted that Ingrid came with Emily. That for the two of them--they might as well be sisters. Hazel would protect Ingrid as aggressively as the elder of the coven would protect Emily.
    “Stating the obvious doesn’t make me look like a suspect. Unless the accusation is common sense. Now,” she said as she turned to the sheriff. “Out. My niece needs her rest.”
    Hazel routed Gabe so quickly, Ingrid didn’t even get to flirt with him on the way out. That was okay though. She wasn’t at her best and didn’t want to scare him off.
    Hazel took Emily’s coffee and dumped a serum into it.
    “What is that?” Ingrid asked, glancing between Emily and the coffee.
    “Just a little something to help her sleep.” It was so evenly said that Emily’s and Ingrid’s gazes met. It was far more than that.
    The liar.
    Emily got a rebellious look on her face, but she took a drink of the coffee, the too-big gulp of someone who had taken a dare.
    “You didn’t kill him, of course.” Hazel said.
    It was a question.
    “No,” Emily said. Her gaze got a funny look. “The sky is gr...blue.”
    “You truth-serumed her,” Ingrid accused. She laughed. “You didn’t have to do that. Em isn’t a poisoner. She’s someone who’d shove you off a roof. Where did you get the serum? Did you whip some up? Do you carry it when you have to deal with us?”
    “Danna sold it through the shop. There are three bottles left.”
    “Awesome,” Ingrid said. “I’d have bought that so many times to use on Daniella and Harrison Jr. if only I’d known.”
    “I want some right now,” Emily said. “I’m going to carry some in my purse and randomly dose strangers. Like a truth roofie.”
    Ingrid and Emily laughed. Hazel did not.
    Ingrid took a drink of Emily’s coffee, and then said, “I didn’t kill dickhead either. Though I expect I’d have a lot of visceral satisfaction if I had and also that I’ll always regret not kneeing him in the junk now. You know? His death means so many opportunities lost.”
    “Are you done with me?” Emily asked. “I’m tired.”
    “The truth serum will help you sleep. Go to bed. Things will look better in the morning,” Hazel told Emily.
    “No, they won’t,” Ingrid said after Emily had gone to her room. “Things are crap. They might be semi-suspecting you, but Em is the only real suspect so far. Since I have a pretty awesome alibi, they’re going to focus on her.”
    “That’s true,” Hazel said.
    “Is there anything you can do?”
    “Do you mean a spell?” Hazel shook her head. “You should know this, you silly child. But no, that is beyond this coven. Too many facts to alter, too many memories to adjust. We could get her out of jail, but she’d be on the run. It’s better if the crime is solved and the murderer found.”
    “But what if it is not?”
    “They have to have evidence to convict her. If she