Cupcakes, Crystals, and Chaos

by Jessica Lancaster

  I pushed the diamond back inside to inspect the suitcase. There wasn’t much else inside other than a notebook which I pulled out. The room fell into darkness and the door slammed shut.

  “Quick!” a voice rasped against my neck. “Leave.” A luminous blue hue broke through the darkness as the little girl appeared.

  “Oh, Goddess,” I grumbled.

  My setting transformed around me as I found myself kneeling in the living room of my home. I settled on the carpet with the notebook and handbag clutched close.

  “You rang?” my mother said in a sing-song voice. “I’m always on standby.”

  “Mother, what are you doing?” I asked, pushing from my knees to stand.

  “Looking out for my only daughter who decided midnight was primetime to go playing with ghosties, obviously.” And before I could react, she spotted the notebook. “What’s that?”

  “I found it,” I said. “It was inside Victor’s suitcase. He was at the hotel. And he had a diamond with him.”

  “Not the heirloom?” She gasped.

  “Huh?”

  “His family had this obnoxiously large diamond in their possession forever, Victor wouldn’t sell it. I’d asked if we could buy one of those small islands, you know one of those in the Americas.”

  “Mother, focus,” I said. “This was his, and they have that diamond. The energy was so pure.”

  “It’s what pulled me in Victor’s arms,” she said.

  A slip of paper fell as I opened the notebook. It was a yellow page, a colour I knew well, a similar colour to my book of shadows. “Mother, is this yours?” I asked, unfolding the paper to see the title at the top of the page, ‘To Give a Human Magic’.

  She snatched it away. “Oh, I was missing a sheet or two,” she replied.

  “Victor knew?”

  “We didn’t keep secrets, we swore to that on our wedding day.”

  I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand. There was nothing more endangering than giving humans access to the abilities of witches. “And he happened to have this piece of paper as well?”

  “Darling, I said we didn’t keep secrets,” she replied, glancing at the paper. “Besides, it’s not like he could get his hands on these ingredients anyway, and the process is much too complicated, he’d end up killing himself.”

  We both stopped in that moment. “Mother,” I said softly. “Killing himself?”

  “Well yes, this calls for ingesting energy from a witch’s crystal, if done incorrectly, the poor man would explode from the inside.”

  The dots connected as we both looked each other in the eye. “So, he killed himself,” I said. “We can’t go to the police with that, do you have any proof?”

  “Unless magic is proof, then—” I stopped her before she could start.

  “I think it’s best if I go back and find out from the Cook’s exactly what it was that happened to him,” I replied.

  “In the morning,” she said. “I don’t want you waking everyone in the village to tell them you’ve been breaking into the hotel and stealing.”

  I nodded. “I should go in with a clear head.” I swung my bag around and reached in for my phone to text Allegra and tell her I was home. “I saw the girl again, just before you pulled me out of it.”

  “I’m surprised they showed at all, the jet stone would’ve repelled them,” she said.

  That night, I didn’t know what time I found myself asleep, I wandered around my bedroom, reasoning facts with myself, but nothing made much sense. I was perhaps overthinking everything all along. My instinct told me the Cook’s found Victor dead in his room and dumped his body in the sea once they found out about the diamond.

  The following morning, my mother prepared a breakfast of fruit and porridge oats, she sang ‘I’ll Be There’ by The Jackson 5 alone in the kitchen as I approached her.

  “Why are you so happy?” I asked.

  “I’m happy to have such a persistent daughter,” she said. “Eat up, you have a big day.”

  “I do?”

  “Well, I’d hope so, pacing around your room until god knows what hours this morning. I hope you’ll be going to the police with the information you know.”

  I shook my head. “Not a chance, I’m going straight to the source. I’ll record everything, then once I’m done, I’ll call it in for Detective Hodge.”

  The only information I had to go on was the diamond in the suitcase with his name, and uncut diamonds in the way Victor had been travelling with his would’ve been catalogued; there can’t have been many like it.

  I settled onto a stool as my mother handed me a mug of tea.

  “Drink up,” she said. “Tell me more about this diamond you found.”

  “Oh?” I glanced up at her face smiling back at me. “Maybe if you stopped ignoring his advances you’d know all about it.” I paused to take a sip of tea. “And you were married to the man, you should know all about it.”

  “True,” she said with a nod. “Shall I come along with you?”

  Her intentions were obvious. “I’ll go alone.”

  CHAPTER 12

  “Hello? Detective Hodge?” I said, speaking into my phone. “I’d like to inform you I’ll have some very important information for you later this afternoon.”

  “Oh, you will, Gwen, what will it be pertaining to?” he responded.

  “The on-going murder case, of course.”

  He scoffed. “I’d rather you didn’t meddle in this business, Ms. Waterhouse. As this is an important investigation we don’t need you putting your hat in the ring.”

  “All I’m saying is, I’ll have information,” I said, without much certainty that I’d have much of anything, John and Mary could completely deny the allegations. “But, if you don’t choose to acknowledge it, I’ll be happy to call the area police, you know, the ones threatening to take over.”

  At the sound of a beep, the call was cut.

  “I take it the call went well,” my mother said.

  “Went well,” Julian mocked.

  I slipped my phone into my handbag and smiled. “Absolutely.”

  “You’ve got this,” August said, weaving between my legs.

  I wasn’t sure if he knew with his catlike instincts, or whether he was being a supportive familiar. But I’d like to think he knew.

  “If you could transport me to my car outside the café,” I asked my mother. “I have a investigation to be underway.”

  Once I was back in my car, staring dead ahead at the café in daylight. It didn’t look normal for it to be shut during the day, least of all with two large wooden planks of woods covering the windows, almost like some abandoned building.

  I watched people walk by examining the damage. Once this week was over with, I’d only have window fitters to deal with, and an apology from the entire village for how they’ve acted. I also made a mental note to install CCTV cameras.

  My phone rang. It was Allegra.

  I hadn’t told any of the witches about what I’d found or even what I was about to do. The only person who knew was my mother.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “What happened last night?” she asked. “I got your text and left, but I was still a little worried. Did you get caught?”

  “Oh, no,” I replied.

  “Well, did you find anything?”

  “I’ll see,” I said. “I’m about to go back and talk to them.”

  Allegra oohed. “So, you did find something.”

  “It could be nothing.” I started the car engine. “Hopefully we can put this thing to rest today.”

  The plan was simple. Record Mary and John on my phone. I wasn’t well-versed in everything on my phone, I knew how to voice memo, but only due to my lack of being able to write fast enough when I was coming up with new cake recipes.

  A sign on the front of Fisherman’s Inn read, ‘closed’. The door closing last night wasn’t a freak incident. They had to have thought I was going to be trapped inside forever. I combed m
y hair back with a hand, glancing at myself in the rear-view mirror. “You’ve done this once before, just tell them you know.”

  Leaving my car, the brisk wind whipped my hair around my face. I approached the hotel clutching my bag close with the recorder active. “Here goes,” I said. “I’m about to question Mary and John Cook,” I said, my head close to my bag.

  The door was locked. Unusual for a hotel, but usual for people who kept secrets. I knocked on the glass panel. “Hello?” I called out. “It’s me, Gwen.” I knocked again, this time harder. “Mary? John? Are you in there?”

  A hunched shadow passed the reception area. There was someone inside. I clicked my fingers and unlocked the door, pushing forward to enter.

  I shuffled from my right, to see the lounge empty, then to my left toward the dining room. Their whispers were barely audible, but they were here. Poking my head inside my bag to double check my phone was still recording, I pursued the voices into the kitchen.

  “A-ha,” I said.

  Mary and John both stood around a countertop with the uncut diamond out on the open velvet pouch. They stammered and stuttered to speak, but nothing came. They stayed otherwise silent.

  “Gwen,” Mary gasped, “it’s not what it looks like.”

  “Then, tell me what it is,” I said.

  “You know we’re struggling, Gwen, then when this,” John spoke breathlessly, pointing with his elbow in a sling toward the diamond. “Seemed like all our prayers had been answered.”

  I held my bag closer. “So, you killed Victor?” I asked.

  “No, we didn’t. He was already dead when we found him,” Mary said, trying to reach out for my hand. “You know we wouldn’t have done anything like that, especially if we knew it meant you or the others would go down for it.”

  “You didn’t call the police or an ambulance?” I asked.

  “Once we saw the diamond,” Mary sobbed. “He seemed like he didn’t have anyone. Nobody was going to come looking for him. We—we—we—we thought he’d get swept off with the current out to sea.”

  Their reasoning was selfish. “A man with that in his possession, you didn’t think people would come looking for him?”

  Although John didn’t sob, I watched his face contort and crease glancing from his wife to me. “You shouldn’t have come snooping around here, Gwen.”

  “Well, I found more than just Victor’s suitcase in your basement, care to explain?” I asked, clearing my throat. “I don’t want to think it was true, but you leave me no room to think otherwise.”

  John grabbed the diamond with his able hand as Mary dropped to her knees in a giant sob. “I didn’t mean to,” she cried, while John ran, shouting. “You’ll have to catch me first.”

  “Get him, boys!” a brash unforgiving voice called, recognisably the voice of Detective Hodge, storming the hotel.

  A thud came in what sounded like John falling hard against the floorboards. Heavy footsteps followed as police officers barged in.

  “Detective,” I said, stomping my foot as he approached me in the kitchen. “I told you I knew what I was doing.”

  “Lucky for us, we had our own leads,” he said, glancing at Mary on the ground.

  I scoffed and rooted through my bag. “I have their confession recorded,” I said, grabbing my phone and waving it around in Detective Hodge’s face. “Oh, and while we’re at it,” I said, taking the piece of green card from the bottom of my bag. “Care to explain why you’re using a detective agency to do your dirty work for you?”

  “Give that back!” he grumbled, snatching the card. “That is private, how did you get it?”

  Mary stood, wiping at her sobbing eyes. “What will happen to us?”

  Detective Hodge pushed a finger in the air at my face. “One minute,” he said. “Mrs. Cook, one of the officers will be in here momentarily.” A police man followed Hodge’s orders, walking in with handcuffs and ready to read Mary her Miranda rights.

  I paused before they took Mary away.

  “I saw a little boy and girl playing earlier,” I said. “When you were younger, they died, right?”

  She dried her tears momentarily while listening to me. “Uh-huh.”

  “They led me into the cellar,” I said. “They wanted me to find whatever it was that was going on, and I’m sure I just scratched the surface by finding Victor’s suitcase. But the room was full, and I sincerely hope they all belong to you.”

  Mary sobbed once again, reaching out to grab my arm, holding herself steady. “You wouldn’t understand, Gwen. Your life is perfect.”

  There was real pain and anger in her touch. A lot of misplaced feelings. “I’m sure your siblings have found their peace now,” I said.

  “This was a family business,” she spat. “We should’ve gone when we found that thing, I made a mistake in coming to you the other morning. I thought my future was going to look bright. My future will be—”

  “Behind bars,” Detective Hodge finished. “Now, please take her away.”

  The officer pulled her away, asking her to comply as he put handcuffs on her.

  I had to look away, forcing my view to my feet.

  Once Mary had been taken from the kitchen, I glanced to the detective. “Derick, are you going to tell me why you were using detectives to do you work for you?”

  “If you must know, Gwen, I’ve been trying to find my estranged father,” he said. “Not like it’s any of your business, but I’m glad you found my card anyway.”

  “It’s better than what I was thinking,” I said. “But aren’t you going to give me credit for solving this?”

  “You didn’t solve this,” he said, “but I will be asking you to comply and submit the voice recording as evidence.”

  “Given my part in all of this, I’ll gladly assist you,” I replied. “As long as you admit to following me to the hotel.”

  He grumbled, stomping off out of the kitchen.

  Before leaving the hotel, one of police officers took my arm and smiled. “You’ve done it again, Mrs. Waterhouse,” he said, tipping his hat to me.

  “Thank you, Officer,” I said, blushing. “If it wasn’t for the café, I’d have given Hodge a run for his money.”

  The officer laughed.

  Cold air nipped at my cheeks and nibbled the tip of my nose, but I took a giant breath and smiled. It was all over now. We were free to go on with our lives once again, and what a relief from my shoulders that was.

  One Week Later

  I’d prepared throughout the night for the grand re-opening of the café. I powdered sugar on cakes to make sure they were presentable. It was like opening the Crystal Café for the first time, my nerves were shot.

  First at the door, bashing it down with their walking sticks were Ethel and Margery. Almost like they’d camped outside since the windows were repaired and a fresh Crystal Café decal was displayed.

  The entire village appeared to have turned up, after rallying around to fix the place, most of them were excited to have their senses tantalised with the delights I’d been spending my life perfect.

  “I think they’re ready,” Abi said.

  “Are you ready?” I asked Ralph as he tied a bandana around his hand.

  Ralph chuckled. “Of course.”

  Rosie stood behind the counter at my side, she gently massaged my shoulder. “They all know it wasn’t you now, just go out there and welcome them in.”

  My mother had joined, but wasn’t making any appearances. She stayed in the backroom, hopefully admiring my collection of crystals and not stealing anything for her new home.

  An outpour of people came as I opened the front door. Many offered ‘congratulations’ and apologies from those who’d suspected I or anyone else in my coven was responsible for the murder of Victor Harrison.

  “Mother,” I said, walking into the backroom after everyone was inside the café eating up a supply of cakes I’d placed on taster trays.

  At the table in the centre of the room, my mother sat
with her parrot. “Gwendolyn, come in, darling.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Isn’t it just divine?” she said, presenting the uncut diamond atop a velvet blue bag.

  “Mother!” My face dropped as did most of my body at the sight of it. I held myself steady on the back of a chair. “What? How? Why? Oh, Goddess, what have you done?”

  “Relax, sweetie,” she replied, running a finger alongside a ridge. “I got a call from that Detective fellow. They got a hold of Victor’s will and it stated I now own this.”

  My throat and mouth couldn’t voice the wonder with which I stared at it. “I guess you can buy that island now,” I said.

  “That would be nice, wouldn’t it, dear. But it came with a clause. I can’t sell it.”

  A soft chuckle came out of nowhere. It was my mother’s luck she’d be given something so valuable and yet wouldn’t see a spendable penny of it. “By the looks of things, you don’t seem upset.”

  “Upset?” she chuckled. “Oh gosh, never. Diamond energy is pure, a single strand of it is like a shot of espresso.”

  “Espresso,” Julian harped.

  “Well, are you going to come out? The village has come to apologise,” I said.

  “To me?” she asked, “good heavens, what on Earth for?”

  Again, true to herself, my mother was living in a world all on her own, almost like the week gone by was nothing but an episode of her favourite TV show.

  THE END

  Keep reading for an excerpt from book three in the Crystal Café Cozy Mystery series.

  A Note from Jessica

  Dear Reader,

  I wanted to give some background on why I am re-releasing and rebranding my past books. It’s due to changing publishers. It does mean you will be getting my re-releases, as well as some new material in the upcoming months.

  In the time I spent away from these worlds while I figured things out, I have penned several stories that I’ll be releasing soon.

  Reviews are appreciated, they let me know you love these characters as much as I do. And don’t forget to share them with fellow cozy lovers.