The Deadly Diadem: A Paranormal Artifacts Cozy Mystery (Paranormal Artifacts Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by Tegan Maher (paper ebook reader txt) 📗

“The diadem,” I said. “Jaime was wearing it at the shower.”

She curled her sculpted nose. “Oh. Those are so out of style. I can’t believe she even wore it, but she and that Allison girl kept making princess references.” She lowered her voice. “You know, she’s ... not well off. They were friends back in middle school, but then Jaime learned who she really was.”

I bit back my knee-jerk retort because I knew exactly what she was going to say. “You mean because she doesn’t have money?”

Surprise flitted across her expression. “No, because she resented Jaime for being pretty and popular.”

Again, she believed she was telling the truth, but that didn’t mean she was. Opinions were hard to gauge on a truth meter because people believed what they were saying. The sky is blue is a hard truth. Anybody arguing that it’s green is wrong, and they know it. What she’d just said, though, was an opinion that she thought was the truth. I could say with the same level of truthfulness that I thought Allison was nice.

James leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “Can you think of anybody else? Maybe somebody just likes to take things, not because they like them but because of the charge they get from stealing.”

She shook her head. “I do know people like that, but none of them were at the shower. We’re a solid group. We may have our internal squabbles sometimes, but that’s normal. I’ll stand by any one of the women you saw today, though.”

“Thanks for your time, then,” I said, then pushed to my feet.

James shot me a questioning glance but followed my lead. “I gave you my card this morning. Please don’t hesitate to use it if you can think of anything that might help us.”

She nodded, then led us back to the front door. “I will, and good luck.” She paused as she opened the door. “Do you have any idea why she turned green? That’s so odd.”

“Allergy, we think,” he said. “One in a million thing.”

“Huh,” she replied. “I’ve never heard of such a thing, but since I saw it with my own eyes, I guess that is the thing that makes the most sense.”

And so the rumor started. I had no doubt it would make the rounds before cocktail hour.

Chapter 12

James drove me back to my car, and I found myself at loose ends. I could go to the shop and get some work done, but I’d worked twelve hours the day before, so my shelves were clear. Since Eli was busy and Jake was working on one of his own projects at the shop, I decided to go home and take a nap. We’d gotten up early that morning, and a lot had happened. If I didn’t give my brain a rest, I felt like it was going to go on a walkabout all by itself.

Two hours later, I felt like a new woman. Yes, the diadem was still out there, but at least I wasn’t about to fall over dead from exhaustion. It was in James’s hands now, and the best I could hope for was that he found the thief. I didn’t like doing it that way, but I didn’t see another option. It wasn’t like I could just march up to the Swanson’s front door and ask to search their house.

I jumped into the shower to wake up and to wash the grime of the day off me before we went out. Sometimes the best ideas came to me there, so maybe I’d have an epiphany. Ten minutes and zero epiphanies later, I climbed out and dried off, then wrapped the towel around myself.

“What are you doing?”

I about jumped out of my skin when Axel’s head popped out from under my covers.

“I was just getting dressed, if you don’t mind,” I gasped, my heart still racing.

“I don’t mind,” he said, turning his back to give me some privacy. “I saw you in here when I got home, and a nap looked like a great idea. Did you have any luck with the diadem?”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t figure, but I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should go talk to Sybil. I think we’re going to need more help than what you think with some of these.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling a green tee-shirt on over my head. “We haven’t even really found them yet.”

“What I mean is that Romani curses are tricky. Their magic is, just in general. It’s not like the magic you learned, and I’m afraid you’re going to need their help removing some of those curses.”

“I’m perfectly capable,” I said. “Why would you think Sybil would be able to help with that, anyway?”

He rolled his beady little black eyes at me. “How many Romani do you know?”

He had a point. Exactly zero.

“That’s right. And Sybil knows everybody. I bet she can hook you up with somebody, and I’ll feel better knowing you’re not risking them backfiring on you every time you cleanse one.”

He wasn’t wrong. I had every confidence in my magic and knew I was good at what I did. Better than just about anybody I knew, in fact. That didn’t mean that I believed I knew everything. Magic’s unique both to individuals and to tribes, clans, or covens, and I wasn’t going to purport to know all there was to know. Nobody did.

“Fine. We’ll go in the morning. Tonight, though, I’m going to go have a beer and shoot a couple games of pool before the tourists set in and take over the town this weekend.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “I’m gonna do the same, though I’m gonna hang around for the after-hours game. I haven’t been down in almost a week. I won big last time, so I figured I’d give them a few days to lick their wounds and heal their wallets before I go down and put another beatin’ on them.”

I