Pet Psychic Mysteries Boxset Books 5-8 (Magic Market Mysteries Book 2) Erin Johnson (good books for 8th graders .txt) 📖

She took a swig from the bottle and glared at Peter. “And I wanted Chaz to have a close-up view of what he was passing up for little miss mink!” She sneered.

I shook my head. “So Letty was a mink shifter?” We’d suspected as much, but my stomach still turned to hear it confirmed. “And Rachel wore a mink fur?”

Peter gaped, horrified. “That’s so wrong.” He looked down, frowning. “How horrible for her.”

I raised my brows at him. “See? People are awful to shifters.”

Mrs. Harrington sneered. “I, for one, applauded Rachel’s bold fashion choices.” She fluffed her hair. “Just like me—she’s quite the fashionista.”

I raised my brows. “Right.”

Peter leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Why did Chaz disinvite her in the first place?”

Mr. Harrington scoffed and pointed at his wife.

She rolled her eyes. “We may have staged a dinner a few nights before the wedding with Rachel in attendance, just to see if sparks could fly.”

Peter frowned. “You were trying to get Chaz to call off the wedding by tempting him with Rachel Whitmore?”

Mrs. Harrington lifted a shoulder. “I wanted him to be sure he was making the right choice.” Her expression soured, and she took another swig from the bottle. “It blew up in our faces.”

I opened my mouth in a round O and gasped in faux shock. “No!”

She shot me a dirty look. “He was furious once he figured out what we were up to.”

Mr. Harrington rolled his eyes, sarcasm dripping from every word. “But you were so subtle! How did he ever realize?” He took another swig of his drink.

I leaned over close to Peter and spoke out of the corner of my mouth. “At least Chaz had a healthy relationship to pattern after.”

Peter choked and had to cover his laugh by pretending to clear his throat.

Mrs. Harrington rolled a wrist. “Anyway, the night before the wedding, Rachel invited Chaz down to the river where they used to play as kids. He thought she wanted to apologize and make amends, but turns out she just made another pass at him.” She sighed wistfully. “Girl after my own heart. She’d be the perfect daughter-in-law.”

Something tugged at my mind. “The river—on your property?” I thought of the dense trees we’d seen at the edge of the grassy lawn.

She nodded. “There’s a path through the woods. It’s not a real river, just a canal, but they used to spend summers down there, and as kids they called it a river.”

I nodded, thinking of the letter Joe Santos had received, bribing him to put strawberries in the food. “Thank you.”

Peter instructed the tipsy couple to send writing samples to the station, and we took our leave. Once outside, Peter headed toward the gate, but I tugged his sleeve and tipped my head toward the tree line. “I’ve got a hunch about something.”

A few minutes later, we picked our way down the mossy banks among the trees to the dark canal. Peter lit his wand and held it up to give me light. I whined. Hey Days, you smell any?

A bush behind me rustled as the German shepherd sniffed her way through it. “Bark!” She lifted her head and barked again. Over here!

Peter and I backtracked and rejoined Daisy. Her big bushy tail wagged, and she pointed her black nose at a bush. Peter and I crouched beside her. A cluster of tiny red strawberries bobbed in the wind, just in front of her snout.

Peter and I exchanged grins.

“I bet Rachel picked a bunch of these on the pretense of having a picnic with Chaz and sent the berries to Joe Santos.”

Peter nodded. “Along with a note and a sack of money—bribing him to kill Letty.”

We rose and started back across the grounds, grasses and tree boughs swaying in the wind.

“We’ll wait for the writing samples to come back and confirm that Rachel wrote the note.”

I nodded—though in my gut, I had no doubt Rachel had sent the letter and berries to Joe. It seemed like just the kind of petty thing she’d go for.

“In the meantime, I say we go have a chat with Chaz.” Peter lit our way across the lawn with his wand.

20

Spin

Chaz’s penthouse, the top floor of an ancient-looking stone inn, wasn’t far away. While the exterior was all stone and thatched roofing, the open-plan interior had been remodeled in a starkly modern way. Chaz motioned us to sit on a sleek white couch and curled his lip as Peter ruffled Daisy’s fur, tawny hairs fluttering onto the upholstery.

Peter cleared his throat as Chaz settled onto the sofa across from us and tugged the belt of his robe a little looser. His ginger hair stuck out at all angles, and bags hung under his eyes as if he hadn’t been sleeping. I softened a little toward the guy—maybe he had genuinely cared about Letty.

“Why didn’t you tell us about your fight with your mom and Rachel Harrington?”

Chaz’s bloodshot eyes widened for a moment before he shook his head and looked out the wall of windows to my left. The thick plaster wall had been knocked out and replaced with glass so that the penthouse had a sweeping view of the island and the rough sea beyond. Swanky.

Chaz sighed heavily and shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was relevant.”

I scoffed. “Your wife’s murdered and you don’t think it’s relevant that your mother and the woman she wanted you to marry were conspiring together to get you to call off the wedding?”

Peter and I exchanged looks—mine disbelieving, his angry. A pink flush spread over his throat. “Now listen here, I’m getting tired of you and your family thinking you can withhold information. This is a police investigation of a murder.” Peter’s nostrils flared. “We will decide what is and is not relevant from now on.” He raised his brows. “Got it?”

Chaz’s expression darkened, but he gave a short nod. “Of course, Officer.”

I smirked, impressed with Peter. I mean, I was still