to be here. The last time I was in a morgue was to ID Clay’s body. The cold white tiled walls and the stainless-steel tables were too clinical for how I remembered Betty.
As I crossed the room to the wall of drawers where the bodies were stored, I hugged my waist, thankful that there weren't bodies out in the open. I’d seen my fair share in the last week.
Sam pulled open a silver door and rolled a body out on the big silver slab like on TV. I recoiled in horror. Owen waved his hand and the smell disappeared, but there wasn’t anything he could do about the sight. The body was bloated like someone had inflated it with air. From what I understood, corpses dumped in the ocean would fill up with the body’s natural gases. What I hadn’t expected was her flesh torn back in places. Other spots of her skin had holes in it like the scavengers of the ocean had been nibbling at her.
Sam stared at Owen in shock. “That’s a handy trick.”
Owen shrugged. “I do what I can. Not my first dead body.”
But through the repulsion and their conversation, I looked at Betty. It was a sad day, indeed.
“Well, she was definitely killed with magic,” Owen said as he peered at her witch sigil.
I didn’t see it at first. then I found it at the base of her throat on the left side. My insides froze from dread and anger.
“How can you tell?” Olivia asked.
“You can’t see her witch mark, but Ava, look here.” He pointed to her sigil. “It’s jet black.”
I shuttered. “I figured that just had something to do with death.”
He grimaced. “Only magical murder, usually. It’s possible to get it for other reasons, like if a spell she did went wrong, but that doesn’t happen often. The most likely culprit is that she was blasted with a spell or energy ball or something.”
My vision narrowed, and my mind ricocheted back to my childhood. To the day my mother died.
When it was all said and done, her witch sigil had been black. I hadn’t known it meant anything, and neither had my aunt or grandmother, apparently. If they had, they took it to their own graves.
My mother had been killed by magical means. I fisted my hands into the sides of my shirt because I was still hugging my waist. My mom’s death wasn’t an accident.
“Ava?” Owen asked. “Are you okay?”
I shook off my shock and logged the information away. I had no way of knowing who had caused the bolt of lightning to hit my mother, but now I knew it hadn’t been a freak accident. Until I figured out more, I wasn’t about to tell anyone.
“Yep, just a little overwhelmed with this.” I indicated Betty’s body.
“I’d say based on the darkness around her mouth, though, that this was a ghoul attack.” Owen pointed to black streaks around Betty’s lips. “That’s where they suck out the soul.”
Olivia and Sam looked at me.
“Alfred?” Sam whispered. “I’ve never in my life seen another ghoul.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think it could be.”
“I agree with Ava,” Olivia said. “He’s wonderful with Sammie.”
Sam gaped at her. “You let our son play with a ghoul?”
Olivia shrugged. “They were within our sight, and they had fun.”
Sam glowered and cut his wife a scathing look. “Well, at the very least, we need to question him, pronto.”
“Why don’t we ask Betty?” Owen asked. “She could tell us.”
I looked at him in horror. “Like, ask her who killed her?”
He raised his eyebrows. “We are necromancers.”
I waved my hands. “By all means.”
He rolled up his long, black sleeves. “I’m not as strong as you are, but I think I can manage this.” Leaning forward, he put his fingers on Betty’s shoulders. “Betty,” he whispered. “Who killed you?”
A squelching sound came from her mouth. Olivia stumbled backward, gagging. “Oh, no,” she said. “I’m not here for this.”
“Try again,” I whispered.
Owen touched her shoulder again. “Betty, tell us who killed you.”
Her mouth opened but didn’t really move other than that. She gurgled. Oh, ew, ew, ew.
“Who killed you?” he repeated.
Betty said something without moving her lips. “Harmon?” I asked.
“Marlin.” Sam said. “That sounded like Marlin.”
“Try one more time, please, we hate to bother you, but it’s important.” Owen focused on Betty’s bloated face and we all leaned in close.
“Carmen!” she nearly shouted. Water and other fluids shot out of her mouth and splashed me in the cheek. I’d been leaning the closest.
Olivia ran for