Pet Psychic Mysteries Boxset Books 5-8 (Magic Market Mysteries Book 2) by Erin Johnson (reading diary .TXT) 📗

The dog’s ears tucked back. But… you told him the truth.

I nodded and snuck a glance at Peter, who kept his eyes straight ahead. I could tell he was listening but pretending not to. I let out a quiet huff. Sometimes, the truth hurts.

Daisy didn’t say another word, but with her furry brow pinched and ears back, she seemed to ponder this as we headed toward the island’s newspaper headquarters.

26

Madeline L’Orange

We didn’t have far to go, as the Conch headquarters sat on one of the lower tiers of Bijou Mer in a dilapidated warehouse made of crumbling bricks and cloudy windows. The inside wasn’t any fancier and smelled faintly of mildew.

We climbed a dark stairwell past the magical machinery on the ground floor that actually made the papers to the offices on the second story. A receptionist pointed Madeline’s desk out to us, then returned immediately to his station, littered with papers and ringing bells sounding various alerts.

Peter, Daisy, and I threaded through a maze of brown filing cabinets and scratched metal desks. I ducked as a stack of papers zoomed overhead. To my right, an enchanted paper cutter manically chopped flyers and dozens of spelled typewriters clacked away.

I curled my lip—how did anyone think in here? Then again, someone could probably say the same thing about the flashing neon lights that shone through the front window of my apartment and the thumping bass beat from the bar below me. You just got used to it.

The place buzzed with energy as people bustled around, stacks of scrolls piled high in their arms or one finger pressed to the magical communication devices in their ears, shouting to be heard by the person on the other end.

Madeline brightened as she caught sight of us, then held up a finger. “No, Harold. I told you, this one’s big. I won’t take less than the front page.” She leaned one hip against a desk and crossed her arms as she listened to the buzzing voice coming from her earpiece. “Well, you better get back to me soon. This piece is breaking fast.”

She popped the little gumball device out of her ear and tucked it into the pocket of her pencil skirt. “Officers.” She nodded at Peter, then ruffled Daisy’s head. The dog recoiled but not before Madeline got some pets in. She gave me a gentle elbow. “Hey, honey. Always good to see a fellow snoop again. What brings you by?”

She turned to the desk in front of us and arranged a few typed sheets of paper.

“We’re investigating Pearl Litt’s death.”

Madeline sucked in a breath and gave a little shimmy of her shoulders. “Ooh, juicy isn’t it?” She fanned her hands apart. “This exposé I’m writing about Potent Potions is going to be one of the top stories of my career.” She put a fist to her hip. “And you may not have heard, but I did earn a few prestigious awards for my work on the whole Carclaustra Prison scandal.”

I gave her a flat look. “Yeah, you may have mentioned it.”

She chuckled.

Peter pointed at the desk. “Is this the piece you’re writing?”

She nodded, her long black hair tied back in a bun. “I’m still negotiating the details, but once I get my way, this is going to be front page news—hopefully tomorrow night.”

Peter cleared his throat. “We understand you spoke with Maria Wu? Can you confirm you were with her the night Pearl Litt was murdered?”

“Oh, you put that together, did you?” She gave an appreciative nod. “Nice work. Yep, we were together all night. I interviewed her and her lizard husband.” She sighed. “I begged her to let me take photographs and use her real name, but she was already risking a lot breaking the gag order.” Her gaze grew wistful. “Can you imagine, though? A picture of that lizard on the front page? We’d have sold out like that.” She snapped her fingers.

I frowned. “Why did she risk it?”

Madeline nodded hello at a passing coworker, then shrugged. “She wanted justice for her husband.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Though if you ask me, the potions actually did her a favor from the way she describes him before.”

I’d spoken to the guy and had to agree.

“How’d you hear about her then?” Peter folded his arms. “Did she contact you?”

“Heh. Nice try.” Madeline pointed a finger at Peter, her dark eyes twinkling. “Can’t reveal my contacts.”

Peter leveled her a hard look. “You know how this works. I can come back with a court order for your records and contacts—it may even delay publication.” He raised his brows. “Who knows? Someone else may even swoop in and cover the story before you do.”

Her expression fell. “Fine.” She beckoned us closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Peyton Thornsbury, a top consultant at Potent Potions, tipped me off about Maria Wu.”

Peter and I exchanged looks. We’d interviewed Peyton at the summit the night Pearl died.

Madeline’s lip curled with delight. “Here I am, already wading into this story about Potent Potions committing fraud and all their scandals, when their founder turns up murdered.” She scoffed, eyes dancing. “This just keeps getting juicier.”

“Fraud?” Peter narrowed his eyes.

Madeline rolled a wrist. “Oh, these people are a mess.” She ticked the facts off on her fingers. “First, they don’t pay their manufacturer, who’s now suing them. Then they go with a third-rate manufacturer and their potions are contaminated, leading to things like men turning into lizards. Add to that, pressuring consultants to make bogus claims about what their little vials can do, lying about income opportunities, being a pyramid scheme, and I just discovered that they’ve filed paperwork for bankruptcy.” She wiggled her brows.

Wow. It was even worse than I’d guessed. “So Peyton tipped you off to all this?”

Madeline shook her head. “I got an anonymous tip that told me to contact Peyton.”

Peter and I exchanged looks again. More anonymous tips?

We thanked