Witchcraft and nasty little murders

Chapter Ten Rest

Ophelia was sitting in the middle of her living room on a packed suitcase. Lyra had made her coffee for a change, but she hadn't forgotten the herbal teas too. She handed Lia a long wooden box with small bottles in it.

"I've increased your dosage, just in case..." the redheaded woman said, making Lia frown.

"So I'm getting an increased dose for sleeping with the same man?!" she grinned cheekily. Her friend blushed. With her silk scarf over her jeans and her pretty brown top, she slapped her.

"The emphasis was not on the same thing, but on regularity. And I know what you'll be doing in the mountains for a whole week... I'm not that naive."

"Yes, you are! But I love you," she pulled her friend closer to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. Lyra shook her head but said nothing as there was a knock on Ophelia's door.

"It's open!" she called out, causing the handle to push down, and Detective Harper entered the apartment. He even forgot to say hello as he looked at the woman sitting on the suitcase and cleared his throat.

"Detective, would you like a coffee?" Lyra asked, but she was already pouring him a portion, which she soon placed in his hand and turned to Lia. "Shall I leave you alone?"

"No need," he said coolly. "I thought I'd inform you that Claire Hopkins was not at her flat, she's emptied her accounts, she's apparently on the run, which is tantamount to a confession. And I haven't even mentioned the many abracadabra items we found in her apartment. We've got an APB out on her, so get moving early because we're watching the highways."

"Thank you," she smiled, and there was a long moment of silence between them.

"And the other murders? You already know when they will happen," Lyra broke the silence. "I try to meditate to clear my head and make the visions come more easily."

"Great!" said the detective, but Ophelia could see he was having trouble with the information. "If your friend Jeremy's calculations are correct, we'll call in a special unit for those days, watch the cemeteries, the churches, every consecrated place in town."

"I'm not planning to die, Detective. I'm only going for a week," Ophelia smiled as he nodded uncertainly.

"I'll be fine without you, but I need to know if you'll be fine..."

"Chris is a good man, don't worry! I'll be fine, but if you miss me too much, you know my phone number," she tilted her head to the side to immerse herself in the detective's icy stare.

"I'll go, Kendra Smith is waiting with another autopsy report," he turned to leave her apartment. He looked at Lia at the door, as if he wanted to say something, then said goodbye and left.

"Very thoughtful of him!" Lyra pressed her red shawl to her chest as she gazed after the detective with a wistful look.

"Yes, it's nice of him to inform me about the case," the host stood up from her suitcase to collect her bag.

"Come on! You can't be that blind! You're important to him."

"Because I'm his partner and his stats are bad," she rolled her eyes.

"Or because while you're the Lady, he's the Lord incarnate. The connection between you two is more than magical..."

"If you only knew!" Ophelia gave up the argument, wondering whether to tell Lyra that their minds were linked, and she heard the detective's voice in her head. Then she heard the entry phone ring and opened the front door.

Soon Chris's kind, smiling figure appeared. He was wearing a shirt, dark blue slacks and gold-rimmed glasses.

"Shall we go?" he asked Ophelia with an ear-to-ear smile after he and Lyra had introduced themselves.