Witch's Bell Book One

my store this morning without a single clue witches existed? Are you, or are you not, the man who has just found out about magic? Are you, or are you not, the man who has just walked into a crime scene he knows nothing about and yet thinks he can boss everyone else around?'
    Ebony's tone was loud, angry, and obvious. Everyone else was now looking at her as she publicly dressed down the new guy.
    The expression on Nate's face turned colder than a winter's night.
    Ebony shifted backwards. 'You want to know everything about this crime scene, hmm? You want to know all the background facts? Well let me take a guess,' Ebony's tone was officious, but underneath it was all too erratic and peaked in all the wrong places. 'Victim is a woman, lives alone, isn't married, has a cat, likes the color red.'
    Ebony played with the latex gloves Nate had given her, without once having the inclination to actually put them on. 'Oh, one other thing, she's a witch.'
    This little gem silenced the room.
    Ebony heard Ben swear from over near the doorway. 'You sure?' He called out.
    'Oh yes,' Ebony finally stopped playing with the gloves and put them down on the TV stand.
    To Detective Nathan Wall's credit, he kept the same stance, same expression, and the same righteous glint to his eye. She may have just been totally rude to him, but the man was like a dog after a bone. 'She was a witch,' he corrected.
    'No, she still is one.'
    'The body in the bedroom would like to disagree with you,' he cleared his throat, and flattened his tie. 'There's nothing wrong with admitting you're new to homicide scenes,' he added in a much quieter voice. 'But you can't bluster through them.'
    Ebony clenched her teeth. 'I'm the one in charge here,' she reminded him, feeling her authority slip all the more. What an infuriating man, she thought to herself. Only this morning she'd been playing with him, and now somehow, he was playing with her. Sheesh, she might have to break the Sacred Pact and throw a cursed rock through his window.
    'Right, of course you are,' his words were hollow with sarcasm.
    Stop saying that, she longed to scream at him. 'The witch,' she said clearly and loudly, 'isn't dead. This wasn't a murder at all.'
    Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up.
    'And how do you know that?' Nate crossed his arms. 'You're right, I'm new to magic crimes, but I imagine there's more to them than snapping your fingers and pulling the bad guy's name out of a hat.'
    'That would be a magician's crime, only magicians pull things out of hats,' she corrected him, 'and I'm not pulling anything out of anywhere, I'm just reading the writing on the wall.'
    'Arcane symbols, right?' said one of the forensics guys.
    'Yep, powerful spell too,’ Ebony nodded his way.
    Finally, Ebony realized with relish, that slightly lost look was returning to Detective Nate's eyes. Finally, he didn't look like he was riding the wave any more.
    'What?' Nate asked dumbly.
    'There's a spell on the wall,' Ben walked up to him, and pointed at the etchings in the plum paint. 'I thought it was a calling card, or something.'
    'No, it's a love spell,' Ebony tilted her head to the side. 'A fairly fiery one, I might add.'
    'Okay, I don't know anything about magic,' Nate conceded through gritted teeth. 'But there is still a dead body in that room,' he pointed out with desperation. 'Whether there are magic symbols on the wall or not, surely the fact there's a corpse on the bed is important?'
    'I told you,' she found her confidence returning as Nate's grip on the situation obviously waned, 'it's a love potion.'
    'Right, okay.... Dead body, huh? That's quite a love potion. Real attractive.'
    Ebony rolled her eyes, letting her mascara-clad lashes flutter. Now that she knew what she was dealing with, the horror had left her. This wasn't a murder at all. Even though there was certainly a heavy evil in the air, it was something Ebony could deal with, now that she knew what she was up against.
    And what exactly was she up against? A naughty witch, to be precise.
    'Is this sanctioned magic?' Ben trotted up beside her.
    'Oh no,' she laughed abruptly, 'definitely not. Someone will be getting in trouble with the Coven, I think.'
    'How do we find her?' Ben picked up the latex gloves Ebony had abandoned on the TV stand, and stuffed them into his pocket. 'What exactly are we looking for, and Eb,' Ben gave a small smile, 'what is with the dead body?'
    "Finally" Detective Nate mouthed.
    'It's a husk. The