Pretty Witches All in a Row by Lisa Olsen

what happened to you,” Anna replied matter of factly.
    “The preferred term is minions.”
    “Again with the labels…  Two visits in one day Sergeant , have I graduated to suspect or is this a social call?” Her tone was light as she started to move the clean cups off of the tray onto the counter. 
    “Hmmm, that’s a tough decision…” he pretended to consider.  “If you’re a suspect, then I have an excuse to spend lots of time shadowing you, but if it’s a social call you’ll probably be a lot happier to see me.”
    “What makes you think I’m happy to see you?”
    “You’re smiling; I’d call that a good start.”
    “That’s just because you keep saying boneheaded things,” she laughed before trying to appear serious.  “I’m amused… not happy.”
    “Boneheaded.  Ouch,” he winced.  “Alright, I’ll have to work on it,” Nick promised, drawing out the envelope of pictures.  “Actually, I was hoping you might take a look at some pictures for me, from Skye’s place.
    Annaliese hesitated, her eyes going to the envelope.  “Of the body?” she breathed, clearly disturbed by the idea.
    “No, no nothing like that,” he assured her quickly.  “It’s pictures from her house; some things we’re having trouble identifying.  You know; witchy stuff.”
    “Oh.  Of course, if I can,” she nodded, easing as she understood what it was he wanted of her.  Tucking the hair behind her ears as he withdrew the sheaf of pictures, she came around to the same side of the counter, leaning close as she studied them.  
    As she leaned close, Nick got a whiff of lilacs and something he couldn’t identify, almost kind of spicy.  Not perfume exactly, maybe it was her shampoo, but it was nice, and he didn’t move away as she leaned close.  “What can you tell me about this star thing on the floor?”  
    “The five pointed star is called a pentagram, pentacle when it’s in the circle.  They’re typically used for protection, though it’s unusual to see one drawn out like this unless they’re undertaking some major spellwork.  Normally you see them in jewelry, like these.”  She pointed to the glass counter top to his right that held a wide array of pentacles worked in silver. 
    “Major spellwork?  Like what?” Nick asked, his imagination kicking into overdrive.
    “I don’t know… I don’t go through this much trouble unless I need to work some serious mojo.  It’s kind of hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like it might be drawn with black salt, that would be used for protection or to keep away negative influences.”
    “Black salt?  Where do you even get black salt?” 
    “It’s not really black salt, it’s regular white salt mixed with ash or charcoal,” she explained.  “For her to have drawn this out, she must have been afraid of something fairly serious,” Anna frowned, instantly sobering. 
    “Or someone.”  Nick’s frown matched hers. 
    More laughter sounded from the back of the shop and two women appeared from the direction of the kitchen.  One looked about Annaliese’s age or maybe a year or two older, with shoulder length dark, wavy hair and bright blue eyes.  Her cheeks were ruddy, possibly from the laughter or some other kind of exertion and she studied him with undisguised interest.  The other girl watched him as well; younger than the other two, she was painfully thin and very pale, her bleached hair styled into a short spiky cut, shot with streaks of bright blue color. 
    “Ladies, this is the detective I was telling you about.  Sergeant Gibson.”  Annaliese smiled over her shoulder at him. 
    “Oh, you were right.”  The younger one gave him a speculative smile.
    “This is Feather; she’s one of the part time employees I told you about this morning,” Anna introduced the girl.
    “Feather… is it?”  Nick offered a hand, and the girl shook it, a wide grin on her face before she continued on to unpack a large cardboard box