Pretty Witches All in a Row Read Online Free PDF Page A

distinction without much apparent concern.  “You’ll let me know what you find out, right?”
    “As much as I can,” Nick answered vaguely, which wouldn’t be much until after they made an arrest, no matter how cute her bare toes were.  Pausing before a display of little cauldrons ranging in size from three to six inches in diameter, he picked one up.  “Somehow I thought these would be bigger.  What are these, cauldrons for mice?” 
    “Come now Sergeant, you should know better than I do, size doesn’t matter.”  A wry twist of the lips was given. 
    “Only too well,” he replied with a self deprecating laugh.  “Thanks again for the help, Miss Cross.  I’ll give you a call if I think of any more questions.”
    “Stop by anytime.” 
    Nick turned and left the shop, already pulling out his cell phone and dialing Brady.  “So, what have you got for me so far?”
    “Not too much yet.  Our victim wasn’t exactly tidy with her records.  I found a spreadsheet that logged payments but she didn’t use full names on it.  We’re cross referencing with her bank records, but the list is a little on the light side right now.” 
    “Okay, what do you have?”  Gibson tried not to let the frustration into his voice; he knew Brady was doing his best. 
    “I have records of direct deposits from a company called Naturelle Organics up until about three months ago.  They have an office on 2 nd and Davis downtown.”
    “Okay, I’ll check that out, I’m not too far from there.  I have two names to add to your list.  Meiliyn Xiang and Ellie Wentworth.”  Nick spelled each of their names out and gave their phone numbers.  “Find out what you can, I’ll check in with you before I head out to see them.  They were both witches from Skye’s circle of friends.” 
    Crap … as soon as he’d said it, he realized what he’d done.  It was one of his little rules; try not to refer to the victim by name when possible.  It was too easy to get caught up in the vic’s life and run the risk of getting personally involved.  With as many deaths as he investigated, it wasn’t healthy to let himself care on that level; too emotionally devastating when the sordid details eventually surfaced.  And they always did.
    If Brady noticed the slip up, he gave no evidence of it as he replied.  “Will do.  Oh and Park was able to reach the parents, not a whole lot of helpful info there, she wasn’t in regular contact with them.”
    “Let’s plan on regrouping for lunch unless we get a break.  Send me what you get on the two witches though.”
              “You got it.  Might want to be careful what you say to ‘em though, you might get the evil eye or a curse on you or something,” Brady added a playful warning.
    “It’ll never happen; I lead an honest and virtuous life, that protects me from all evil hoodoo,” Gibson quipped.  “Well, an honest one anyway.” 
    “Okay, but the line is on you to end up with boils or at least a rash by the day’s end.”
    “I’ll take that action,” Nick grinned, pulling out into traffic as he switched on his blue tooth.  “Twenty dollars says I last at least until the end of the week until I’m stricken down by some unspeakable malady that defies explanation.”
    “If it’s unspeakable, how are we gonna know you’re stricken down?”
    “I’ll leave you to figure out the details, I gotta go do cop stuff now.”  Gibson disconnected before he got drawn into it any further, knowing Brady could easily spend the next twenty minutes hammering out all contingencies for the bet.
    * * *
    The corporate offices for Naturelle Organics were pleasantly decorated in cool tones of sea foam blue and green, very modern with frosted glass and brushed nickel in the construction.  The massive reception desk dwarfed the thin bespectacled girl behind it in comparison. 
    Nick approached with a friendly smile, drawing out his badge; he held it up for the