Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance by M. Leighton Page B

case.
    Walking through the kitchen and dialing
his number at the same time, I couldn’t help thinking how handy a
nifty little ability like this could be if it worked.
    As the phone rang, I thought of all the
benefits of being able to bend people to my will. The thrill of it,
the pleasure of it, the high of it! When my conscience rose to the
surface again, it barely made a peep before I easily squashed it
back down into silence.
    My stomach fluttered nervously when
Grayson answered his phone. I introduced myself much as I had each
time I’d talked to him.
    He sighed, one of the sounds that gave
the impression he felt incredibly put-upon. “What is it, Ms.
Holloway?”
    Though his reaction irritated me, I
kept myself in check, not wanting to blow my chance to learn
something. “I saw that they arrested Jake Wheeler today and I just
wanted to see if anything I told you was helpful.”
    That sounded weak, but it was the best
I could come up with. I hadn’t given much thought as to how I’d
start the conversation. I almost expected him to just start gushing
details as soon as he heard my voice. Obviously, Detective Grayson
wasn’t an easy target.
    “ Yes, you’ve been very
helpful,” he said, answering my question, but not in the way I
wanted.
    “ But you must’ve found
something else then, something concrete that gave you enough to
arrest him, right?”
    “ Yes, that’s usually the way
it works.”
    “ So, you must’ve determined
that Jake was one of the ones wearing a wig.”
    “ We did.”
    “ And you must’ve found it
then.”
    “ We did. And it was an exact
match to the hair we found on Lisa and beside the rock. They went
to the party dressed as Tony Stark and Black Widow, only with a
twist because she was Tony and he was Black Widow.”
    I thought about what he was saying.
Evidently they had enough proof to arrest Jake, which was pretty
compelling. But something just wasn’t quite right. I still couldn’t
picture Jake as the person I’d glimpsed choking Lisa.
    “ That’s great, Detective
Grayson, but—”
    “ Just Grayson,” he
interrupted.
    “ That’s great, Grayson, but I just don’t
think it was Jake Wheeler that killed Lisa. His hands are too big.
The killer’s were just…I don’t know. Finer, I guess.”
    “ Well, we have evidence that
says otherwise.”
    “ Did you find the gloves
with the rest of his costume?”
    There was a tiny pause, one that I took
as a bit of uncertainty. “No, no gloves were recovered from
Wheeler’s apartment. Why?”
    “ It’s just that the killer’s
gloves would probably have had some scratches from Lisa’s
fingernails. She was really clawing at them to break free of the
choke.”
    “ He could’ve ditched
them.”
    “ But not the wig? That makes
no sense. Why would he do that?”
    “ I don’t know. Who knows why
homicidal maniacs do the things they do. They just do.”
    “ I- I still don’t believe it
was Jake.”
    “ Look, Ms. Holloway, I know
you have an… interest in him, but—”
    I interrupted him, surprised. “He just
walked me to class a few times. He said it wasn’t safe for me to be
walking through the woods alone after what had happened. It was
nothing more than that.” And, though that hadn’t always been
entirely true, it certainly was now. My feelings for Jake were
truly nothing more than friendly at this point.
    “ Right,” Grayson said, his
voice dripping with sarcasm.
    I don’t know why, but suddenly I was
desperate to convince Grayson that I didn’t have feelings for
Jake.
    “ I’m telling you the truth.
I might’ve thought he was handsome and nice, but after—” I stopped
myself, not wanting to admit that my feelings for him had changed
after he’d blown me off at a party.
    “ After what?”
    “ I just saw him at a party
and he’s not my type. That’s all.”
    “ Right,” Grayson said
again.
    “ Look, I just don’t want for
you to imprison the wrong person and let the real killer go free.
Are you