Chapter One Hundred Three - Detective Calls & Disco Balls
“Dear Ms. Fox,” I read slowly, focusing on each letter to pin it in place so it wouldn’t leap off the page. “Thank you for your application to the University of Georgia. Due to an error in the system, we received your application three times. We apologize for this and any inconveniences that might have caused.”
I chuckled despite myself, remembering my tingling, time-traveling finger I used to click the submit button on my college application all too clearly.
“Anyway,” I continued, “it is our pleasure to welcome you to the University OF GEORGIA!”
Yep, I was screaming at the end there. Yep, I also burst into happy tears right after.
“Yessssss,” Boxy sang. He let out a screech I’d never heard him make before and then threw both his arms and his cane around me in a hug.
“Yahoo!” Studmuffin’s magic went haywire. He popped in and out of existence all over the parking lot in different poses each time. Power pose. Liquid pose. Drunk spider pose. Contortionist pose. Hovercat pose.
The lunchtime traffic definitely noticed and slowed waylay down, gaping at my spectacle of a cat and me and Boxy jumping for joy.
Studmuffin ended up inside the mailbox with the biggest kitty grin I’d ever seen on him. “It’s time to start studying!”
“Hang on,” I said between fits of giggles. “Let me at least finish this letter.”
I blinked the happiness from my eyes. So did Boxy as he released me, both his real and his fake eye shining with pride.
“I knew you could do it, Vic,” he choked out.
“Oh, Boxy, thank you.” I hugged him again and then really focused on the rest of the letter. At this rate, we’d be here until my classes started in the spring.
The words on the page were just as excited as the rest of us, and it took a moment for them to stop spinning around and around.
“To apologize for this rare error in your application process and any resulting inconveniences,” I continued reading, “we would like to extend an offer to you to join us in the fall rather than the spring of next year. The fall semester begins August 17. We realize this offer is unusual. If you would rather wait until spring, that is perfectly acceptable. Either way, please let us know in writing as soon as possible.”
Studmuffin’s yellow-green stare grew even bigger with every word out of my mouth. He half dangled out of the mailbox to push me toward Sunray’s with both murder mittens. “Pet, go. There’s no time like the present to crack open those books.”
“August 17?” Boxy asked. “But that’s less than a month away!”
“Fall semester?” I swallowed thickly.
Way down deep, I had wished I’d applied sooner so I could start my new adventure earlier. I was resigned to wait, but now I wouldn’t have to. Finally, luck was on my side and giving me a proper shove.
I grinned at Boxy and nodded, my mind made up. “August 17.”
“Whoooo,” he cheered in a shockingly high-pitched voice. Then he did a dramatic twirl, wiggled his jazz hands, and let loose with his dancing for all Belle’s Cove to see.
Studmuffin joined him, perfectly synchronized like they’d practiced this routine for weeks.
I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe, but it was so worth it. Several cars honked their approval as they drove past.
Wow, we were a weird bunch. I wouldn’t have it any other way though.
I fished out my phone from my back pocket to call my dad. “Guess what?” I said as soon as he answered.
“Your elbows switched places with your knees again?” he deadpanned.
“No, Dad,” I wheezed. My laughter was turning my breaths into whistles. “I got a letter from the University of Georgia. An acceptance letter for this fall.”
Silence except for Boxy and Studmuffin’s flips through the air.
Just kidding…or am I?
“Sunray…” Dad breathed, and then much, much louder announced, “My sunray is going to college!”
On the other end of the line, Chloe screeched in delight.
Boxy and Studmuffin whooped and cheered, and the whole lunchtime party started again. I called Travis and Cass with my good news, and they gushed their congratulations too. Somehow yet another party was planned, because apparently that’s all we do anymore.
Not that I was complaining.
It was a wonder we got anything done, well, ever in our little slice of ninja crazy town. But as if by magic, luck, and Studmuffin’s zero-calorie desserts, we somehow did.
But the partying had to end sometime.
Later than evening, while decked out as a sweatpants goblin and my sleeping familiar on my lap, I called Detective Palmer. Yes, I should have done this in person, but…I…already had my sweatpants on? I had no good excuses, other than I just didn’t want to see any hurt I caused him up close and personal.
“Victoria. Congratulations,” he said after picking up on the first ring.
“Wait, you know already?”
“Word travels fast in little Belle’s Cove, sometimes even good news. I’m really happy for you.” The warmth in his voice made me smile.
“Thank you. I start classes August 17, and it feels both too far away and terrifyingly close at the same time.”
“You’ll do great. I’ve seen your brain work firsthand. When your classes begin, the university won’t know what hit them.”
“I just hope I won’t hit them with any explosions.”
“But…aren’t you majoring in business? There isn’t much risk in those classes, right?”
“Have you met me, Detective? I will find a way to create an explosion in any class. Usually accidental, but you just never know with me.”
“That might be the understatement of the year.”
I laughed. “Maybe so. Anyway, with classes starting soon, I… Well, I’ll be strapped for time between studying and Sunray’s and everything else I’m plotting, so I’m officially retiring my murder Bingo card.”
Wincing, I held my breath. That was breakup number one.
“You mean retiring from helping with murder investigations,” he clarified.
“And catnapping and meeting dead, shady circus men behind gas stations and running into traffic to steal back a mysterious floating ring.” I lovingly stroked Studmuffin who was snoring softly. “Yeah, all of it.”
“Of course. I understand. You’ve gone above and beyond every time I’ve asked for help and even more so when I didn’t. Belle’s Cove and I owe you a big thank you.”
“Well, you’re welcome. Some of it was kind of fun until it wasn’t.”
“Like the hospital stay and nearly being blown up, to name a few?”
“Those were definitely un-fun. All of this isn’t to say I will never help you again though. Because I will, just way, way in the background, far removed from any doors I might be tempted to fly through on my broom.”
“I promise not to take too much advantage of that offer.” He paused for a beat. “But can I tempt you into some details about Officer Joanie and Parker Lee?”
“Well, yes,” I blurted like it was obvious.
“They’re part of the Coven of the Keeping Hand, but they’re also part of a sub-coven within that coven that celebrates the night.”
“Including the Ring of Everlasting Night,” I guessed, unafraid to say it out loud now. It was properly hidden in the shadow library again, and the people who desperately wanted it were either dead or locked up. “So they celebrated the night, huh? Maybe that’s why Joanie worked nights.”
“Exactly. According to Joanie’s confession, she and Parker showed up at Gas, Guzzles, & Go to make the trade with you. Parker began having second thoughts though. Apparently he has a familiar named Midnight who lives at his shop with him and likes to hide inside mirrors.”
Ah, okay. That explained the cat fur, whiskers, and water bowl I found at Age Is Just a Number Antiques and Appraisals. And why I thought I saw a black tail within the room of mirrors there.
“Anyway,” the detective continued, “Parker’s quite fond of cats, which might be one reason for his second thoughts. Plus, Joanie said that he was muttering some nonsense about being visited by three Christmas ghost fingers and that they were after him.”
“So she killed him?”
“You guessed it. He was too much of a liability. Anyway, she panicked afterward and went back to work to pretend like everything was normal.”
“It wasn’t normal for too long because then I showed up.”
He laughed, such a warm, shiny sound. “You’re right about that.”
When he didn’t say anything more about the case, my stomach clenched. Time for breakup number two, the clincher, the one I’d been dreading for days. “So…about our date…”
“Yes?” he prompted.
“I don’t think we should,” I blurted. Better to rip off that bandage quickly so there was less of a sting.
“Oh. Of course. You have other things to focus on right now.”
He wasn’t making this easy, was he? Not while being so understanding and a perfect gentleman.
“That’s only part of it though. I take forever to make decisions, as you can plainly see with me going to college eighteen years after high school. But once I do make them, they feel…right.”
A pause, then, “We’re talking about Travis now, aren’t we?”
I sighed. Leave it to the detective to figure it all out before I finished my word salad.
“Yeah. I’m sorry, but Detective, you’re going to make some very lucky lady so happy someday soon. You’ll see.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Victoria.”
“I really do though, especially because I’m selfish enough to want to still be friends.”
He chuckled, and there wasn’t a hint of force or hurt behind it anywhere. “I couldn’t imagine not being friends with you.”
I wasn’t sure I deserved that, but okay. He’d just earned a bigger stamp of approval, one that read Ten Stars, Would Definitely Recommend.
“Thank you, Detective.”
“You’re welcome. Tell Studmuffin he’s welcome to treat my badge like a disco ball anytime.”
At that, Studmuffin cracked open one eye and swiveled it toward me.
“Apparently there’s an exception to Commandment Eleven: Thou Shall Not Wake the Cat,” I said with a laugh, “and that is the promise of disco balls.”