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

It was James, but at that point, I would have taken a call from the devil himself if it gave me an out from the current conversation.

“You’ve got Sage,” I said after I slid to answer.

“I’m glad you finally decided to answer,” he said, a trace of bitterness underlying the words, “because a girl just died, and whatever killed her isn’t normal. She’s ... well, she’s green, and she was acting weird before she died. I have to think it’s something hinky that you’re better equipped to deal with than I am.”

I huffed a breath out through my cheeks. He didn’t sound pleased, not that I expected him to since somebody was dead, but it went beyond that. He was pissed that somebody was dead without a logical, normal explanation, and that I hadn’t been taking his calls. A sliver of guilt shot through me, but I pushed it aside. Spilled milk.

“Have you already gone to the scene?” I asked. “If not, I’d like to go with you.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he replied. “Where are you? I’m checking on a couple of things before I head over, but that’ll only take ten or fifteen more minutes. I’ll pick you up.”

“We’re at The Clam,” I said.

He sighed. “Of course you’re both there; I don’t know why I expected any different. I’ll be there in twenty.”

He and Eli had always gotten along, but he’d had a hard time understanding our relationship sometimes. He also seemed to blame Eli for lying to him as much as he did me, though that wasn’t fair. It was also possible that he’d hoped to pin me down for a one-on-one on the drive. Chicken that I am, I was grateful for the buffer.

“Okay. We’ll be here.”

I glanced at Eli as I hung up. “You do want to go, right? It will be better if the two of us are there. I’m not even sure what we’ll be looking for, and he didn’t’ give any details, really.”

He thought for a second. “I do, but we also need to get the truck back and unloaded. The first buyer is going to be there in a couple hours, and I’m supposed to meet a guy about translating some texts he bought at an auction. I could call and see if we can reschedule, but I’ve already put him off twice.”

“Don’t do that, then.” Maris appeared at the end of our table carrying three plates. I leaned back as she slid them in front of us. “I’ll go and let you know what I find.”

“Excellent,” Luther said after waiting for Maris to leave the table. “I’ll go with you then.”

“That’s not necessary,” I dipped a blackened shrimp in the little cup of melted butter on my plate and almost groaned in pleasure when to rich, sweet taste washed across my tastebuds. Forget the buffer. I’d rather drive hot spikes through my eyes than deal with the tension that would create. Plus, I knew Luther would turn it into a game of cat and mouse, and it wasn’t fair to James.

“No, but I insist,” he said. “You’re right that two sets of eyes are better than one, and trust me when I say I’m confident that I’ve seen more hinky things than you have. I’m more likely to catch something you might miss just because this isn’t my first rodeo.”

“It’s not mine, either,” I said, scowling at him. “I’ve dealt with curses and dark magic since I was in my early teens. I’ve always had a knack.”

He raised a raven brow at me as he popped a french fry in his mouth. “So you’ve dealt with a lot of magical deaths? Or even one before the pendant?”

That irked the crap out of me, mostly because he had me, and we all knew it.

“He’s not wrong, Shmoo,” Eli said, using the term of affection he’d come up with when we were kids. “I’d feel better if you didn’t go alone.”

“I won’t be alone,” I replied, “James is going, and I’m sure there will be a whole team of people there investigating.”

Luther huffed a disdainful breath through his nose. “Humans. They don’t even know magic exists, let alone what to look for. If it’s like your boyfriend says, they’re all going to be shuffling around clueless, trying to figure out what face cream did it to her.”

I hated to admit it, but he was right. I sighed, resigning myself to that. “Fine. But no baiting James. He’s having a hard enough time with all this as it is, and he’s doing us a favor.”

Luther rolled his eyes—a rather undignified action that I hadn’t expected. He seemed so worldly, that such a petty action seemed beneath him. “He’s really not. We’re doing him one. We could just leave him to his own devices and work around him.”

I started to mention that he had access to resources that we didn’t, but somehow I didn’t think that was the truth. Instead, I said, “This way is easier. Plus, we can’t be everywhere. He’s already working with us, and he’ll call us anytime something unexplainable comes up. The goal here is to recover the artifacts, and if he doesn’t call, they’ll still be on the loose.”

Even though I knew I was taking the easy way out, I didn’t protest too hard that Luther was going. For one, he was right—he had experience I lacked, and despite my personal issues, recovering the artifact was more important than my own personal issues. I didn’t want to be alone with James because I didn’t have the answers I was sure he was looking for. I’d have to deal with it at some point, but today, I’d take a buffer, even if I was in the form of an unknown quantity who irritated the crap out of me.

Never let it be said I wasn’t the mistress of messes.

Chapter 3

We rushed through lunch and I took