The Deadly Diadem: A Paranormal Artifacts Cozy Mystery (Paranormal Artifacts Cozy Mysteries Book 2), Tegan Maher [read this if .txt] 📗

“That’s just it. I always do a count and reconciliation with the system after the lunch rush, but I don’t take the money out or change registers. That’s a pain to do if we’re busy. Instead, I just count it, then write the total on a slip of paper and put it under the drawer. Then since I count it at lunch, I only do the supper numbers at night.”

“Okay, so what are you saying? The numbers aren’t matching?” I wasn’t following what she was trying to say.

“No, the numbers match just fine. The problem is that they’re not the numbers I know I wrote down. The first time I noticed, we had four-hundred twenty-nine dollars in there after lunch. I remember because Larry’s birthday is April twenty-ninth. Four-two-nine. Well when I counted that night, the slip said four oh four. That means twenty-five bucks went missin’ somewhere.”

“Is it your handwriting on the slip?” I didn’t know how much help that would be though. Numbers were numbers. If they were written on the same piece of paper with the same pen, I don’t know that I’d give it too much thought unless the style was drastically different from mine.

She shrugged. “I guess so. I mean, it looks like mine, but obviously, it’s not.” Her plump face crumpled. “I don’t even know how long it’s been going on. I wouldn’t have even noticed, probably, if it hadn’t been those exact numbers.”

“Aw, Maris. I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do. That’s just terrible.” I sighed, wondering which one of the people I thought of as friends was stealing from one of the most awesome people I knew.

“Could you ... you know”—she leaned over toward me and whispered so nobody else could hear—“use your witchy powers to bust ’em? Like, listen in on their thoughts or something?”

I leaned back in my chair, not sure what to say. She was asking me to do to her employees—people I knew and liked—something I’d just turned a man into a stuffed pig for doing to me. The problem was that she knew all about me, so she knew it was within my power.

“Maris,” I said, keeping my tone kind, “that would mean that I would have to invade everybody’s privacy on the off chance that the one guilty girl would just happen to be thinking about it when I read her mind. Do you really want me to do that?”

“No, I suppose not,” she said with a troubled sigh. “I’m just at a loss right now. My heart is broken. Everybody here knows that if they need somethin’ bad enough, all they gotta do is ask me for it. They ain’t gotta steal from me. Never in all my years of runnin’ this place have I had this happen.”

“Have you talked to Ezra?” I asked. “Maybe he knows something about it.”

She shook her head, causing her gray bun to wobble. “No, I don’t wanna trouble him with it. It’ll kill him the same as it does me. I’ll start keepin’ an eye out. Pay more attention to when it’s happening. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out then.” She patted her hair and wiped her eyes. “Now, enough about me. Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” I said, but my mind was troubled. Maris and Ezra were good people, and I wanted to try to figure out a way to help them without invading everybody’s privacy.

I ordered a grouper sandwich basket, and while I was waiting for it, one of the girls came on shift. I was glad I’d decided to sit front and center of the register because there was no time like the present.

“Hey Katie,” I said when she went to clock in.

“Oh, hey, Sage,” she said, smiling. “I haven’t seen you in a week or so. How you been?”

“Good.”

We made small talk for a few minutes as I decided how to play it. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a way to get her to the register, and after a few minutes, a family came in and she left to wait on them.

My sandwich came, and I forgot all about everything while I ate. Instead, I played Pokemon on my phone and scrolled through my social media. Nothing like puppies doing zoomies to make a girl smile.

Once I was finished, I pushed the basket away from me. Katie returned to fill a tea, and I asked for my check. Maris had disappeared after she’d put in my order, and I wondered if she was avoiding one of her favorite staff because of her suspicions. That made me feel terrible for her because all the employees there were like family.

“Can I get my check please, Katie?” I asked, a little grateful Maris wasn’t around. I was going to get a chance to test somebody, and I hoped I found nothing. Not that I didn’t want to solve Maris’s problem, but I didn’t want Katie to be a thief, either.

“Sure thing, sweetie,” she said, smiling.

I had my cash ready when she handed it to me, but I waited for her to open the register before I said anything. As soon and the door dinged open, I took the plunge and opened my senses.

“How’s everything going for you?”

“Great!” she said, grinning. “I finally found a great little house to rent. The kids love it, and it’s way cheaper than that tiny apartment we were renting. Kevin got a promotion at work, so we finally took the plunge and traded in the old rust bucket we were driving. Overall, things are really looking up.”

No money problems, then.

“That’s great! I’m happy for you.” I leaned across the counter so I could keep my voice low. “Maris is really struggling with something. She was almost in tears earlier. Are you guys doing okay here? I mean, you always seem busy, but that doesn’t always mean anything. Or are you having staffing problems? Not