Chapter Sixteen

Drama about a Drama

RILEY

If the concept of eating Chinese take-out on Christmas evening after having spent half the day working wasn’t at all extraneous to Riley, doing it at his place with a gorgeous witch he had an undeniable attraction to was definitely new.

He observed Mila Bennet as she enthusiastically removed all the containers from the take-out bags and lined them on his coffee table.

They were in his living room, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace that he had magically lit the moment they’d stepped into the house.

And the scene was starting to look a little too cozy. Better to remind everyone—himself included—that they were here to work.

But seeing how Mila was clearly famished, he let her have a few bites before discussing the case. Meanwhile, Riley did his best to ignore the little noises of appreciation that escaped her mouth as she chewed, or how her plush lips contorted in pleasure. But golems be dammed, he couldn’t help wondering how all those little sounds would translate between the sheets.

His only saving grace was the beanie still firmly stuck over his head. He would never remove it, not indoors, and not even to go to bed.

Once Mila had scarfed down two entire containers of food, he finally broached the subject they were here to discuss. “What was it you discovered last night?”

Her tongue darted between her lips to lick the sauce out the corner of her mouth in a way that was too distracting for anyone’s good, then she wiped herself with a napkin and finally responded. “Oh, right, so you know I had to administer the antidote to all the people who’d eaten my loved-up cupcakes.”

He nodded.

“Well, I had to stay with each of my…” Mila paused, probably searching for the right word.

“Victims?” Riley offered with a smirk.

She threw a fortune cookie at him. “I was going to say patients for at least twenty minutes afterward, listening to all their woes. And while most of it was lovesick gibberish, I also gleaned some interesting facts.”

Riley raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”

Even if they were alone in the house, Mila spoke in hushed tones next, “The mom of one of Willow’s schoolmates told me that before the recital started, Mrs. Blackwell got into a heated argument with another mom.”

Riley dropped his chopstick and focused all his attention on Mila. “Whose mom and about what?”

“The altercation was with Macie Princeton. From what my sister has told me about Willow’s classmates and their families, she’s one of those hyper soccer moms whose entire life revolves around proving her child is better than anyone else’s. And she was mad at Mrs. Blackwell because her daughter hadn’t gotten the principal role in the recital.”

Riley waited for the rest. “And?”

“And nothing, that’s it.”

“You think a kid not getting the principal role in an elementary school recital is reason enough to murder the drama teacher?”

Mila shrugged. “I don’t know. Is there ever a good reason to kill someone? And at least we know of a suspect who had a clear grudge against the victim.”

Riley shoved the empty take-out containers aside and replaced them with the case files, quickly shuffling through them. “Yeah, several people reported the fight between Mrs. Blackwell and Mrs. Princeton, so at least it was loud enough that many people heard it.”

“Did Macie Princeton give a justification in her statement?” Mila asked.

“Let’s check.” Riley shuffled through all the depositions, once, twice, and then looked up at Mila. “That’s odd.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a statement from Mrs. Princeton.”

“Oh, I thought all people present had been deposed.”

“They have, which means either Mrs. Princeton had already left or…”

“She didn’t want to be deposed,” Mila finished the sentence for him.

Look at them already finishing each other’s sentences. Riley ground his teeth. No, nope, not going there, back to the case.

“Would that even have been possible with all the magical law enforcers around for her to have escaped?” Mila continued.

Riley shrugged. “The school is big. If someone really wanted to avoid detection, they could’ve easily found a hiding spot.”

He took the file with the name and address of Macie Princeton and set it aside. “I think Mrs. Princeton has earned a visit from us. Good job. What else have you got, Bennet?”