The Girl and the Clock Tower Murder: Pandemonium Cozy Mystery #2

Chapter 10

The pain in Mahogany's head blazed like a hammer on hot steal. She opened her sandy eyes and pressed herself into her pillow, a small yelp escaping her lips.

"Morning, sunshine," Evelina said, her face inches from Mahogany's. "How did you sleep?"

Mahogany moaned and rolled away from the chipper Fae, invading her space bubble. "What time is it?"

"Ten, and I've made an 11 o'clock appointment at Gothmother's." Evelina went to the postage-stamp-sized kitchen and brought back a steaming cup of coffee. "I took the liberty of using cream instead of milk."

"Thank you," Mahogany said, sitting up to take the mug. "It'll be a while before I drink milk again."

Evelina smiled sadly and eyed Mahogany. Her smile faded into a grimace, and she reached for a beanie. "Here. Put this on."

Mahogany picked up the knit hat. "Why? Is my hair that bad?"

"Worse. It looks like you're auditioning for the Bride of Frankenstein. After the salon, I thought we could question some suspects." Evelina pointed to a section of wall in her studio. Sometime during the night, she'd made a murder wall. Index cards covered in Evelina's perfect handwriting listed their current suspects with motives– Saree Fenquoth: hated her husband, and R. Whitebait: hated Matt because of the clock chime. Beside their cards was the murder weapon and cause of death– strangulation by wrench. Not much to go on.

A tightness balled itself in Mahogany's ribcage as she ran her gaze over their meager clues. Memories drifted into view of her, Evelina, and Tony creating a similar wall at Tony's over the summer. The tightness transformed into an ache. She wondered if they'd ever be friends again.

The stabbing pain behind Mahogany's eyes lessened a modicum of a degree as she sipped her coffee. She eyed the murder wall. "It's pretty thin."

Evelina shrugged. "It's a work in progress."

"How are you so chipper? I remember you drinking as much as Euryale and I did."

"Oh, you forgot the shots before we left the bar. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times,"

"Don't do shots from Leprechauns," Mahogany said, finishing Evelina's sentence. "I know, but I was so mad."

"And you've every right to be. What Neema did is inexcusable, but," Evelina held up a finger, and Mahogany squinted at it through throbbing eyes, "not unforgivable."

"That's easy for you. She didn't lie to you about your whole life and then drugged you to keep your powers hidden." Mahogany threw her feet over the side of the queen-sized bed she'd shared with Evelina. "By the way, where is our snaky friend?"

"Euryale left early this morning. She had like a million missed calls from her sister."

Mahogany thought about Euryale's older sister, Stheno. That was one Gorgon she didn't want to make angry. She placed the coffee mug between her knees and squeezed her unruly Afro into the beanie. "I'm starving, but I don't know if my stomach can handle food."

"We'll grab something at Hot Brews on our way to the salon. A blueberry muffin will set you right."

"Gods, I hope so." Mahogany stood, and the tempo in her throbbing head picked up the pace, sending her stomach reeling, and she ran to the bathroom and lost her proverbial cookies.

"Feeling any better?"

Mahogany had switched from coffee to ginger tea, and instead of a blueberry muffin, she munched on a slice of buttered toast.

"A little." Her mouth felt too dry to chew the toast properly, and the tea was too hot to drink. "Leprechaun whiskey is bad."

"The worst."