Magic & Mystery Page 7

  I walked over to her and rubbed her belly. She only clawed me a little before finally starting to purr and then falling asleep. When the phone on the nightstand rang, it didn’t even wake Jezebel up from her cat nap.

  “There’s a gentleman in the lobby to see you,” Nick said. “He told me you have a dinner engagement.”

  “Tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes, please,” I responded.

  Nick’s only reply was to sigh loudly and then hang up the phone. My guess is that he was annoyed with me for going out on a dinner date while Aunt Kara was in jail.

  I really wanted to talk to her because there was always the possibility that she knew something that could help, but I doubted that Brad would let me speak to her tonight. Tomorrow I was going to the Sherriff’s station, and I would make a nuisance of myself until they let me see her.

  Since I needed to get ready to go in a hurry, I threw on a black shirt, jeans, and my boots. Nathan was probably going to think it’s my uniform, but that would have to be okay. I wanted to talk to him about the letters, and I also wanted to eat before the stress of Aunt Kara’s arrest caught up with me. I knew if I thought about it too much, I’d lose my appetite.

  Nathan took me one town over, and we ate sandwiches and chips at a deli. I told him about the letters, and he suggested that we go talk to Constance together.

  “Do you think it’s too late to drop in tonight?” I asked as I finished my chips.

  “It’s only seven. I know where she lives. If we drive by and the lights are off, we’ll just keep going. But, if they’re on, it won’t hurt to at least ask if she’s willing to talk to us.”

  “I want you to know that none of this is what I was expecting when I moved to Tree’s Hollow. I thought things would be quieter down here.” I said.

  “Yeah, the forest has a particular energy. It’s hard for me to put my finger on why it’s so different here, but I know there is something that makes this entire area a little left of normal.” He said with a shy smile.

  If you only knew.

  After we were done eating, Nathan drove us to Constance Piper’s house. I was happy to see the lights were still on, but I was apprehensive about knocking on her door.

  Nathan took my hand as we walked up the sidewalk to her wraparound porch. I felt a lot stronger with him at my side. My nerves were getting the better of me, and I couldn’t bring myself to reach out and ring her doorbell, but Nate had me covered.

  When Constance opened the door, Nathan introduced me and explained why we were there. It was then that I noticed her eyes were red like she’d been crying.

  “Yes, please come in. Would you two like some coffee?” Constance said quietly.

  Nathan and I sat down on the sofa, and I looked around the room while we waited for Constance to brew a pot of coffee. Almost the entire room looked like something straight out of the 1970’s. I ran my hand over the lime green fabric of the sofa and pushed the burnt orange shag carpeting around with my toe.

  There were wood shelves on the walls lined with kitschy knick knacks. The only thing that didn’t fit was the sixty-five-inch flat screen television. It made me chuckle because the modern television was sitting on top of an old console TV.

  I got up and went into the kitchen when I heard sobbing. Constance was standing in front of her coffee pot crying into a tissue. I ask her if she wanted us to go.

  “No dear. I’ll be okay. Besides, you’re probably Lester’s only chance for justice.

  We spoke with Constance for over an hour. She and Lester had both been widowed for years, and they’d had a flirtation going for at least the last two.

  Constance said the letters were never mailed because they passed them back and forth to each other. Apparently, Lester wrote them faster than he gave them to Connie. She went into another room and produced a box of similar letters that he’d given her over the last couple of years.

  The one thing that was odd was that Connie told me there should have been a box of letters from her in Lester’s house. Either he’d hidden them somewhere that I hadn’t found them, or whoever killed Mr. Crumbly went into his house and stole the box.

  “Do you have any idea who would want to kill Lester or steal your letters?” Nathan asked.

  Ten

  It turns out that while Connie was heartbroken, she was still a bit of a gossip. Nate asked her whom she thought killed Lester, and Constance had a long list of suspects. I picked up quickly that she understood how many people were annoyed with him for doing business the way he did, but Connie loved him anyway.

  Unfortunately, her extensive list of suspects didn’t put me any closer to knowing who killed Lester. I needed to find the box of letters that the killer stole, but how was I going to do that? I didn’t know this town, and I hardly knew anyone who lived here. I was completely ill-prepared to solve a murder mystery this soon into my investigative reporting career.

  I was about to have Nathan drive me home when my cell phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the screen. I didn’t recognize the number, but my gut made me answer it anyway.

  “Lenny? Lenny are you there?” Aunt Kara’s voice.

  “Aunt Kara, yeah, it’s me. The police are letting you call me? Are you alright?” I tried not to panic.

  “Brat, someone else was murdered. The killer used a knife from the same set that supposedly only I had access to, but I’ve been in jail. They’re letting me go. Can you come pick me up?” Kara sounded like she was close to tears.

  “Yes. I’m with Nathan Carter, but we’ll be right there. We’re going to come get you right now.”

  It felt like the drive to the county jail took forever. Aunt Kara was waiting out front for us when we pulled into the parking lot. She practically ran out to Nathan’s car and jumped in.

  He took us back to the inn and rented one of the vacant rooms. Nathan said there was no way he was leaving us alone while a killer was on the prowl. I have to admit that he was completely adorable when he tried to go alpha male on us.

  I made coffee and we sat around one of the tables in the breakfast room sipping it. Aunt Kara looked extremely tired, and while I was relieved that she was home, I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread.

  I’d had no idea she was going to be arrested the first time, and it scared me to death that Sherriff Brad might come back for her at any moment. There was also the little problem of us being right in the center of a murder investigation.

  As for me, I’d involved myself. Aunt Kara, on the other hand, didn’t ask for any of this. I had to figure out who’d framed her soon so that none of us had to worry about her being carted off to jail again.

  “I guess I should tell you who else died.” Aunt Kara said.

  Nathan and I leaned forward in anticipation. He grabbed my hand under the table and gave it a squeeze while I bit my bottom lip nervously.

  “Who was it?” I asked

  “They found David Fox in the bookstore bathroom with one of those knives in his back.”

  “That’s the retired newspaper columnist.” Nathan said, and I remembered Charles talking about him.

  That was two people close to Constance Piper dead. She seemed so sad about Lester’s death. Could it have been a ruse? It’s entirely possible that Connie stole the letters from Lester’s house to hide something in them.

  “I need to go to the Tribune’s office.” I said and stood up.

  “Why?” Nathan asked with wide eyes.

  “All of the letters are in the same boxes. The ones to Constance and all of the letters I took to answer for the columns are in the same white file boxes with a purple stripe running around the center. There are more of those boxes in the office. I have a hunch and, I just need to know for sure. I don’t think Charles had anything to do with this, but I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t at least check it out.”

  “I’ll take you. I don’t want you going alone.” Nathan said right before his phone rang.

  He picked it up and walked away from
us for a moment. His voice was hushed, and Nate kept running his hand through his thick hair nervously. “I’ll be right there.” I heard him say right before he disconnected.

  “What is it?” Aunt Kara asked before I could get the words out.

  “Lester Crumbly’s house is on fire. The flames are spreading across his back yard towards the forest. The firefighters are on scene, but they want me to come down there in case they have to start evacuating houses around the area. Hopefully, they’ll be able to contain the fire.”

  “I wonder if the killer…” I started to trail off as I thought about what evidence could have been in the house.

  “Lenny, promise me that you’ll stay here until I come back. We’ll go look for the box after the fire danger is over.” He said and kissed me on the forehead before rushing out.

  “He didn’t even wait for me to actually promise.” I said to Aunt Kara.

  “Brat, no. He didn’t wait for you to respond because he trusts you.”

  “Aunt Kara, I have to go. I need to know, and if the fire does get out of control, we could lose the newspaper office. That box of letters could be there, and it might be the only clues we have.” I fished her keys out of my purse. “Please, Aunt Kara, let me take your car.”

  “Fine, but I’m going with you.” She said and stood up from her chair.

  “Aunt Kara, no. You’re already too close to this, and you need to stay clear of all of it until we’ve exonerated you for sure.”

  “Then you can’t have my car.”

  “Fine.”

  We drove towards the newspaper office in silence. I could just see the smoke over the trees off in the distance where Lester’s house burned. It made me a little queasy, and I hoped that Nathan would be okay.

  “You did put a protection spell on him before he left, right?” Jezebel’s voice scared me half out of my skin.

  “Jezebel, what are you doing?” I screeched as I tried to turn the wheel and make the car go straight again.

  “Lady, you didn’t think I was going to let you two go solve this thing and steal all of the glory, did you?” Jez said and then stretched out on the back seat.

  I pulled into the Tribune’s parking area and killed the engine. Aunt Kara and I got out of the car quietly and left Jezebel sleeping in the back. She wanted to come in with us, but I wanted to keep her safe.

  Aunt Kara and I got inside the office and I looked quickly through the two boxes of letters I found by Charle’s desk. Neither of them were letters from Lester. There was another box of letters next to the empty desk, but it wasn’t what I needed either.

  I was about to give up when I remembered Charles bringing my laptop down from the attic. “Stay here. Make sure the door is locked. I’m going up to the attic to check. If it’s not there, we’ll go home.” I told Kara.

  Eleven

  My heart fell into my stomach when I got up to the storage space above the offices. There were several boxes just inside the door, and I could feel down in my bones that what I was looking for was inside of one of them.

  Lester’s letters to Connie were in the third box I opened. I had to get them to Sherriff Brad. It occurred to me that the killer could have just stashed them here, and the murderer was framing Charles. However, that didn’t change the fact that I had to get this evidence into the Sherriff’s hands. As far as I knew, Aunt Kara had no access to the newspaper offices, and that meant that these letters further exonerated her.

  My heart might have fallen into my stomach when I saw the boxes upstairs, but the scene when I got downstairs with the box made my blood run cold.

  Aunt Kara was duck taped to my office chair, and standing behind her with a gun to her head was none other than Constance Piper. I was really going to have to get better at this.

  “This is unexpected.” I said as coolly as I could manage.

  “You could have just left it alone. Your Aunt got out of the clinker, and ya’ll should have just went on with your lives. You had to meddle, though.” Connie said.

  All of the emotion I’d seen in her earlier was gone. I could now see that she was stone cold on the inside.

  “Why, Constance? Lester loved you.” I tried to swallow back the frog in my throat.

  “He didn’t want to get married again. It ticked me off. I put two years of my time into turning that moron into a proper husband, and then he had the nerve to ask me why love wasn’t enough.” Connie said and cackled like someone who was completely unhinged.

  “But, how did you get Aunt Kara’s knife set?”

  “That was too easy. Lester was changing lightbulbs in the bed and breakfast’s storage area, and I noticed the door to Kara’s personal store room was open just a crack. I was bored, so I popped in and looked around while Lester did his work. He didn’t even see me take the knives up through the cellar door. Lester was always kind of a dim wit. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to kill him until that day.” Constance said and held the gun closer to Kara’s head.

  “But what about David? Why did you kill him?” I asked. I had to keep her talking until I figured out what to do.

  “He got the good columns when we worked at the paper. He always got to cover the good stories too. I hated him. I was the better writer. I could never figure out why he was so successful when I was more creative. So, I killed him too. I figured I might as well get everybody that annoys me out of the way.”

  “You’re nuts.” Aunt Kara said.

  “And now you’re annoying me too.” Connie said as she cocked the gun.

  “No, please don’t. We can work this out.” I begged.

  “How are we supposed to work this out?” Constance laughed so hard that she snorted.

  “Hey, Lady, I’ve got a way we can work this out.” Jezebel’s voice came from behind Constance and Aunt Kara.

  Connie spun around and searched the room for the person speaking to her. Her eyes settled on the cat, and that’s the moment that Jezebel spoke again.

  “Hi, Lady. How’s it going?” Jezebel taunted.

  Constance was so shocked by the sight of my talking cat that she dropped the gun. I dove for it, but Connie tried to kick it across the room.

  Aunt Kara managed to catch the gun with her foot, and I scrambled on my hands and knees to get to it before Constance could reclaim the weapon. She lunged for me, but Jezebel jumped up on her shoulders and started clawing her sweater set and biting at her hair.

  Constance managed to get Jezebel off her shoulders, but I already had the gun. I raised it up and aimed it right at her chest. I’d watched enough cop shows and action movies to know it was better to aim at center mass than her head.

  “Okay crazy lady, you’re going to sit down and shut up.” I said triumphantly.

  Epilogue

  In case you’re wondering, Jezebel got in by climbing down the chimney. Sometimes curiosity kills the cat, and sometimes it saves your life.

  Constance was ranting and raving when they arrested her about my talking cat, but considering she’d killed two men, took us hostage at gunpoint, and had probably started a fire, Sherriff Brad just figured she was nutzo.

  The good news is that the firefighters got the blaze out before it spread to the surrounding forest. The bad news is that Nathan was less than pleased with me for going to the Tribune’s office without him.

  He forgave me right away. We took Kara and Jezebel home, and then he took me out for pie. If I’m going to get pie every time I upset him, I think he just might be the one.

  Pretty Hexed

  Blurb

  She’ll have to solve this crime one spell at a time.

  In the small town of Winterfield, almost everyone is a supernatural. So when stylist Belladonna Nightshade opens her door to see Elspeth Tory’s mansion in flames, her reclusive neighbor’s death is much more than a mystery.

  Detective Benjamin Carmichael isn’t sure what’s different about Winterfield. New in town, and with no powers to call his own, he’ll have to investigate the old-fashioned wa
y. Everyone seems to have a secret … and no one intrigues him more than the bewitching Belladonna.

  When the case proves resistant to modern science and solid police work, Bella sets out to help the handsome detective. With the aid of Sterling the cat, Granny Pepper, Aunt Sumac, and her best friend Murielle, she must uncover the truth of what happened to Elspeth -- before she meets the same fate.

  Prologue

  “I want my cat back,” Mrs. Tory said when Belladonna opened her door.

  “Oh, hello, Mrs. Tory. Let me grab Sterling for you. I was just about to head up the hill and bring her back to you,” Belladonna replied, and like magic, Sterling appeared at her feet.

  “Let’s go, you little scamp. You’ve cost me a half hour of my time. They’ll be no treats for you tonight,” There was a scowl on Mrs. Tory’s face, but Bella swore she could see a hint of mischievous happiness in the old woman’s eyes.

  Sterling walked out of Belladonna’s house and jumped into Elsbeth’s arms.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Belladonna asked.

  “Ah yes, my hair appointment. I’ll see you at ten a.m. sharp,” Mrs. Tory responded, and then turned on her heels and headed for her Rolls Royce.

  Mrs. Elsbeth Tory was Belladonna’s first and most regular customer at Bella Beauty Salon. The two women got along fine, despite the fact that not many people in town liked Elsbeth Tory, and many of them were a bit wary of Belladonna because she was one of the town’s more powerful witches.

  Sure, paranormal occurrences were a regular thing in Winterfield, but Belladonna Nightshade was the only person descended from a line of witches who could control magic. That made some people uncomfortable.

  But not Sterling the cat. Sterling the cat was quite fond of Ms. Nightshade indeed.