Free One Potion in the Grave: A Magic Potion Mystery by Heather Blake

choices, but the healer in me, the fixer, didn’t want to see any casualties in this mess.
    Dylan came down the steps, the deputy on his heel. He made quick introductions of himself to the Calhouns. Even though he wasn’t in uniform, his stern voice told them all they needed to know about who was in charge.
    “I have a few questions,” he said. “If you can gather around, it’ll just take a minute.”
    Cassandra wheeled her chair closer to Landry, and their parents sat on the sofa near the hearth. My aunts sat across from them and Katie Sue and I stayed put.
    Dylan ran through a series of questions that quickly led nowhere. Everyone but Gabi had been here duringthe time frame of the break-in but no one had seen or heard anything. Hazel had been in the garden, Louisa and Warren had been lunching on the back deck (being watched over by the bodyguards), Landry had been in his room on the phone with someone from his record label, and Cassandra had been napping and didn’t know anything had happened until her mother had come in and woken her.
    Dylan glanced at Hazel. “We’ll dust for fingerprints and write up a report, but there’s not much else we can do.”
    She patted his arm. “That’ll do for now.”
    Outside, the sound of squealing tires and raised voices caught our attention. Cassandra wheeled to the front window. “The press have arrived.”
    Eulalie perked up. “Really?”
    Dylan nodded to the deputy and he slipped outside to corral the crowd.
    Cassandra turned her chair around. “We should give them a quick statement,” she said. “They’re not bound to leave until they get one.”
    She had a beautiful mellifluous voice, soothing yet strong at the same time. Probably the result of being raised by a Southern politician.
    Louisa positively glowed with pride as she looked at her daughter. “You should do it, Cassandra.”
    Warren nodded. “Good idea.”
    Excitement flashed in Cassandra’s eyes. “Do you think I’m ready?”
    Warren walked over to his daughter. “You were born ready, darlin’.”
    Landry glanced up from his feet long enough to roll his eyes. His shenanigans in law school had pretty muchruined his chance at public office for many years to come, but it was no secret that he’d always been first choice to run for Warren’s senate seat when the time came. Cassandra’s appeal had only become clear after the accident. When her popularity soared with voters, the family immediately took advantage. Never ones to let opportunity pass by, that’s when they began grooming her to take Landry’s branch on the family’s political tree.
    A better option, in my opinion. Except for being a male Calhoun, Landry had done nothing to deserve public office, but Cassandra had been quietly serving in political trenches since graduating from college. Volunteering, fund-raising, working tirelessly to fight injustices big and small . . . Given time I thought she had a fair chance at becoming more popular than her father.
    “Might as well wait until all the media outlets arrive,” Louisa said, rising. Her hand went to her pearls, and she tightly held a bead between two fingertips. “It’ll save you from repeating yourself.”
    Cassandra rolled to the front window to keep an eye on the crowd.
    Dylan walked over to where I sat with Katie Sue. “You’ll have to find another place to stay,” he said to her. “I’m sorry.”
    Hazel gasped. “But there are no other rooms, between the family and their security. . . .”
    I saw a smile flit across Louisa’s face before it disappeared into a mask of faux concern. It had me wondering if this consequence wasn’t the intended result of the break-in in the first place: To get Katie Sue out.
    Had Louisa really been lunching with Warren the entire time during the break-in? It seemed to me that anyof them could truly be to blame. Well, except Cassandra—there was no elevator in the house so she couldn’t have made it upstairs.
    “You can stay with