Hexes and Holly: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery Holiday Anthology

by Tegan Maher

  I didn’t want to be in charge of anything. The holidays were the busiest time of year for me. I wrote a weekly relationship column—In Bed with Bea—that had gone into syndication and led to the creation of a podcast. My work was all-consuming. Love never took a vacation, and now neither did I.

  “What is that?” Daisy Delgado, my best friend since I was a toddler, former college roommate, and the only person outside of my family I loved more than chocolate asked. “That’s not a… a foot, is it? It can’t be. Please tell me I’m seeing things. It’s a figment of my imagination, right? It’s not real. How could it be? How would a foot get in there by itself?”

  I gave her a pointed look. “I don’t know for sure, but I bet we can figure it out.” I looked at my feet. “Most people don’t volunteer to chop off a foot and use it as a Christmas decoration.”

  She squinted to see as she walked over and lifted the bag. Someone had taken the time to wrap the foot in plastic, then placed it inside a sandwich bag. How nice of them.

  “Gross!” She held her arm out straight. The bag dangled between her thumb and forefinger. “That’s disgusting!” Her face blanched. She dropped it on my foot.

  I screamed like the thing had attacked me.

  She jumped up and down as if she was standing on hot coals while someone shot her with a taser and threw tornado funnels in for good measure. “I’m going to be sick.” She bent forward, making noises I’d never heard come out of a human being.

  Sick didn’t even begin to describe the ache I felt in my stomach. I wasn’t sure I could hold my stomach contents. Thank goodness, I hadn’t stopped to grab a muffin from the bakery downtown. That was the plan, but per usual, I was behind schedule and too frazzled to think.

  “No. Nope. Won’t do it. You can’t make me. No way,” I said as I raced across the warehouse and slammed into the exit door, forgetting it pulled in, not pushed out. “I don’t know what to do here. You figure it out and let me know.”

  Daisy spun on her heels, still in a squat position, her eyes wide. “Hope we don’t find the rest of the body in these boxes.” She swept an arm around like she was showing a prize on the Price is Right and gestured to the sea of boxes and bins we’d collected as part of a holiday decorations drive. “Imagine how horrible that would be. I hope I’m not the one who finds the head. I couldn’t handle that. I’d lose my mind.”

  “Don’t say that.” I couldn’t catch my breath. My hands shook. My knees wobbled. My heart lodged in my throat and throbbed like I’d run a marathon. I’ve never run a marathon, but if I had, this is what I imagined it would feel like. I wanted to sink into the ground and come back up when it was safe.

  It was nowhere near it now. It may have been five minutes ago, but now, with a stray foot in a plastic bag, it was scarier than a haunted cemetery on Halloween.

  “Come here,” Daisy said as she stood and waved me over.

  I pressed my back up against the door. “No way.”

  She sighed and pulled her long, ringlet curls up and swirled them around and tied them into a ballet bun at the nape of her neck. “Don’t act like that. We did nothing wrong.” She chuckled. “I know I didn’t. I don’t know about you.”

  “What? You think I had something to do with this? What, did I carry extra body parts around with me in L.A. and forgot to tell myself about it?” I pulled away from the door and took one, small step forward. “I don’t think so. If you’re insinuating, I had something to do with this, you’re mistaken. I’m not the one.”

  “The one what?” she asked as she peeked in the offending box of wreaths. She shook her head and sighed.

  “What else is in there?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Feet grossed me out on a normal day. Finding other body parts would throw me over the edge. I had to get myself together, but how?

  “Beatrice?” Daisy used her kindergarten teacher’s voice with me. “It’s okay. Come here. I don’t see anything else that’s not supposed to be in here.” She rummaged through the box with an air of confidence, I knew she didn’t have. She was more squeamish than I was. This had to make her stomach turn.

  “You don’t have to do that,” I said as I noticed my cellphone lying on a nearby box. “We shouldn’t touch anything else. The police will dust the place for prints when they get here. We don’t want them to think we had anything to do with it.”

  She stopped and looked at me with venom in her eyes. “Are you nuts? You can’t call the police.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

  She explained, so I didn’t have to tell her she’d lost her mind. “Not yet. Don’t you want to know if there are any more body parts in these boxes and bins?”

  I looked around the room. At last count, there were one-hundred and eighty bags, boxes, and bins. They couldn’t all have body parts in them. Could they?

  “Bea,” Daisy said. “I don’t want to say not to call the police. All I want you to do is consider the options before you make such a big decision. Take a minute to gather your bearings and enjoy your last few minutes of normalcy, because after you call them, nothing will ever be the same again. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.” She stared at the foot. “All I’m saying is we should prepare ourselves. We have to look through all the boxes that way we’re the first to find them, not the police. If they find them first, it will look like we were hiding something.”

  “No, it won’t. That’s not how investigations work,” I said.

  She jerked her head back, cracking her neck at the same time. “Oh, so now you’re the authority on murder investigations. Is that what life in Mystic Meadow has done to you? It made you a private investigator. I thought you told me you didn’t want any part of your sister’s new business venture.”

  There was genuine anger in her eyes.

  “What do you mean? We can’t pretend like this didn’t happen. What if someone is looking for that foot or the body it was removed from? Don’t you think they deserve answers?”

  Daisy was tough in so many ways, but she was also the kindest person I knew. I could tell by the worry lines splashed against her otherwise flawless face that something was wrong. I wasn’t convinced she’d tell me, but it was worth a shot. “What’s really bothering you?”

  She nudged the foot with hers. “Looks like a man’s foot. Do you know any one-legged guys in town?”

  I reached out and tapped the back of her head. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Ouch!” She rubbed the spot. “It was a joke. Did you forget how to laugh?”

  I showed her my phone. “See this. This is a cellphone. Here on planet Earth, we call the police when we find stray body parts.” I scrolled through my contacts.

  She chuckled. “The number is 9-1-1. Do you need me to dial it for you?”

  I showed her the photo that went with Detective Anderson’s phone number. “He’s a cop. A detective. And he’s my friend. I’m calling him.”

  “He’s hot,” Daisy said. “Is he single? If not, does he want to be? What’s his name?”

  “Down, girl, down. He doesn’t need a girlfriend,” I said as I pressed the call button. “He’ll come to investigate, not go on a date with someone he’s never met.” I rolled my eyes. “What is wrong with you? We found a foot mixed in with holiday decorations. Don’t you see that as a problem?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. You found a foot.” She let her hair fall loose around her shoulders. “If he’s as good looking as his picture, then I will have met my future ex-husband. Why would I pass up a chance like that?”

  This was typical of her. She could have any man she wanted, and she knew it. But there was something about the chase she couldn’t get enough of. It’s not like she’d ever take things too far. Mostly, she lived for the idea of love and marriage, and apparently, divorce, but had never given any indication she wanted those things for herself.

  She was the most confident person I knew. She was also the vainest person I knew.

  “Don’t hate me because I’
m beautiful.” She winked.

  I opened my mouth to respond, but a noise distracted me.

  The door swung open. A man in a black ski mask and a thick puffy winter coat stormed in, saw us, and ran back out the door.

  “Who was that?” Daisy asked.

  As I moved to follow the man, the door slammed shut and the lights went out.

  “No! No! Nope! Get back here. Don’t make me chase you.” I reached for the nearest light switch. Nothing happened. “He cut the power.” A cold chill ran up and down my spine. I knew how this story would end for us. I’d seen enough horror movies. “Turn the lights back on.” I realized I still had my phone in my hand. I pushed the emergency button and waited for the dispatcher to answer.

  “Wait!” Daisy said. “We should secure the building. What if he comes in through the back?”

  It was a good thing we couldn’t see each other because the look I gave her wasn’t friendly. “Do you want me to be more scared than I already am?”

  She used the flashlight feature on her phone to shine light into my eyes. “No, grouchy. I’m trying to not die.”

  I shielded my eyes with my arm. “Get that thing out of my face.”

  Something moved behind her.

  “What was that?” Daisy asked as she pointed the flashlight around the room. “Who’s there?”

  My whole body trembled. “I don’t see anyone.”

  Another noise, this time on the far side of the room, caught our attention.

  “Who is that?” Daisy’s voice was firmer that time. “We know you’re in here. I don’t know what you want, but I can assure you, you won’t find it here. Why don’t you go home? We’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”

  I don’t know what possessed me, but I took two steps forward and scared the daylights out of myself when I knocked over a bag of Christmas bell ornaments. “No!” I ran without thinking.

  “Stop!” Daisy said. “Stop running, Bea.”

  I stopped cold, out of breath and sure I’d need a hip replacement. “Why? Do you see him?”

  She shined the light on me. “No. I don’t know what happened to him. I think he left.”

  I bent forward, hoping to get some oxygen into my lungs, but all it did was make me woozy. “I need to sit.” I didn’t wait for her to protest or tell me to do something else. I plopped myself on the floor. “What if he’s still here?”

  2

  “What do we do now? Talk to him? Yes, let’s try that. All the books say to de-escalate the situation.” Daisy’s tune changed after the masked man left. A foot in a plastic sandwich bag didn’t bother her, but a masked man shutting the lights off on her, was a bridge too far for her. She wanted to confront the man in black by having a pleasant conversation with him.”

  I shushed her while I searched for the electrical box. “Where is that thing?” I used my phone’s flashlight feature to navigate the large space. Even with the light, the expansive space had a creepy vibe. Or that could have been the man’s foot in the bag. Either way, I didn’t like the situation one bit. “Where is everyone? Thirty-six people volunteered to help and none of them showed up. Why not? Did they know?” It occurred to me that maybe one of them knew about the foot and the creepy man in black. “What if one of the committee members knew we’d find a foot? Maybe they wanted us to find it.”

  Daisy gasped. “Wait a minute.” She used her phone’s flashlight feature to shine light on the box in front of her. “Where did these boxes come from?”

  “Donations,” I said. “We put a call out for holiday decorations.”

  She nodded. “Do you know who donated? Did you keep a list of the people?”

  “No. I don’t know if anyone else did. That wasn’t my job,” I said. “Huntington handled that part of it.”

  The truth was Huntington handled a lot in town. He sat at the helm of many organizations. He volunteered or commandeered every cause. He carried around a briefcase full of files and notes for every event in town.

  “Who’s that? What does he look like?”

  I blinked. “How is that relevant? He looks like himself.”

  She picked up the bag and held it up to the light. “It’s an important question. Could this be his foot?”

  I shook my head. “I saw him this morning. He had both feet. I would have noticed if one was missing.”

  The lights came on and scared the daylights out of us.

  We froze in place.

  Heavy footsteps outside the building shook me to my core.

  “Do you think that’s the guy with the mask?” Daisy whispered, fear evident in her voice. “What if he’s here to take our feet or worse?”

  The footsteps grew louder. A bright light from a flashlight flashed under the door.

  “I wouldn’t do that. The police are on the way,” I shouted.

  The doorknob rattled as the person on the other side turned it.

  My breath caught in my throat.

  The door creaked open.

  “Hello? Bea? Are you here?” Detective Anderson poked his head around the door. “Oh, there you are.” He noticed Daisy. “And you.” He looked back at me, concern in his eyes. “What’s going on? The dispatcher said you called about an emergency.”

  The distinct sound of cars pulling into the lot outside drowned out my response.

  “Jonah?” I wanted to run to him and wrap my arms around him, then choke him for scaring the life out of me.

  He held the door open, careful to keep his guard up. “Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay?”

  Daisy and I exchanged glances. She still had the foot in her hand.

  His gaze landed on the bag. “What’s that?”

  “That? That’s a foot. The person holding the foot is Daisy. She’s my friend from Los Angeles.” I don’t know what possessed me to make introductions.

  He forced a smile, keeping his gaze on the foot. “What do you have there, Daisy?” There was something off about his tone. It was monotone. “Why don’t you put that down on top of the box in front of you?”

  It hit me. He thought she’d had something to do with the foot’s presence.

  I followed his gaze as it landed on my feet. “That’s not mine,” I said.

  A look of relief came over him. “Who does it belong to then?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s why I called you.”

  He furrowed his brows. “Where did you get it?”

  “We found it,” I said.

  He took a deep breath. “Where, Bea? Where’s the rest of the body?” He waved someone over and pointed inside. “Bea, why don’t you and your friend walk toward me? Leave the foot there and let these officers deal with it.”

  “Why do you sound like that?” I asked.

  He lifted a brow. “Like what?”

  “Like I did something wrong,” I said.

  He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Beatrice Montoya.”

  “Jonah Anderson.”

  He lowered his voice. “Detective.”

  Daisy cleared her throat.

  Jonah and I looked at her.

  She smiled and waved. “Can you do this later? There’s a footless man out there somewhere. Let’s focus on him.”

  One of the officers lifted the bag with a gloved hand. “It’s human.”

  Daisy and I giggled. That fact was obvious.

  “I assumed as much. Now all we have to do is figure out who it belongs to.”

  Daisy giggled like a schoolgirl.

  I shot a glare at her.

  “What? It’s like Cinderella. Don’t you think that’s romantic?” She winked at Jonah. “You and Detective Delicioso could be famous if you figure this one out.”

  I felt my face flush. I glanced at Jonah. He’d looked away, but the back of his neck was red.

  “What do you want us to do, Detective?” one of the officers asked.

  Jonah scanned the room. “We need to get people in here to help us search for the rest of the body.”

  Daisy and I took tha
t as our cue to leave, but we hadn’t taken more than two steps before he stopped us.

  “Not so fast.” We stopped cold. He changed his tone. “Looks like you two are in for a long night.”

  “Why?” I asked. “I don’t have time to waste. All I wanted to do was let you know about the foot and the guy in the ski mask, so I could get on with my day.” I glanced over my shoulder at the boxes. “Not here, though. My days of volunteering are over. From now on, only paid gigs.”

  Jonah walked away to speak with the officers. When he returned, his serious tone returned with him. “What did you say about a man in a ski mask?”

  Daisy and I glanced at each other and shrugged.

  “We don’t know anything about him. Never saw his face. I can guess as to why he was here, though. I mean, isn’t it obvious?”

  Jonah lifted a brow. “Fill me in.”

  “He wanted that foot. I bet he’s holed up somewhere nearby in a room full of amputated limbs. Can you imagine?”

  He shook his head. “No, I can’t.” He signaled for one of the officers to join us. “Let me see that.”

  The officer handed it to him. “Do you see what I see?”

  Daisy and I grabbed each other’s hand and squeezed as they passed the bag ‘o foot back and forth.

  “That’s so gross. I can smell it,” Daisy said as she pinched her nostrils shut.

  “Why did you say that? Now I can smell it,” I said as I turned away.

  Jonah and the officer laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  Jonah waved the bag in front of my face.

  I jumped out of his reach, ready to scream bloody murder.

  He stifled his laugh. “Stop that. Did you even look at this foot?”

  I nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  “Did you touch it?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  He yanked the bag open and shoved it toward my face.

  “What is wrong with you?” I screamed.

  He and the officers laughed so hard, they had tears in their eyes.

  Daisy locked eyes with me. “What did I miss?” Something behind me caught her eye. “Wait a minute. What is that?” She walked over to an open box and pulled out another baggie. This one had a hand in it, but it wasn’t human. It looked like a hand that belonged to a store mannequin.