Mis-Spelled

by Stacey Alabaster

  Somehow, she knew. Mother’s intuition must have been at work. The car came closer, and the headlights blinked at me as I sighed in relief.

  Her long blonde hair was swinging as she ran through the sand to get to me, and we embraced.

  “Ruby, everyone is so worried about you . . . I am so worried about you. Please come back home with me.”

  “Okay, Mum.”

  Maybe mother’s intuition did always know best. I glanced over at the driver’s seat as the car took the bumpy coastal roads back inland. She claimed to not be a real witch, but she still managed to find me with nothing but a tank of gas and some vague directions. By the time she’d arrived, I was feeling dehydrated and exhausted . . . not to mention a teeny bit silly. Well, a lot silly, actually.

  “You know, all that time spent essentially training in Peru didn’t count for nothing,” Mum said as we took a turn onto the freeway and the road under us become a lot smoother. “My instincts are pretty good these days.”

  I glanced over at her. “But do you actually want to be a witch?” I asked. Then I added softly, “Mum, you will always be my real mum, no matter what. And you don’t need to try and change yourself to . . . well, you don’t need to become any more witch-like. Or anything at all. I still take after you. You raised me.”

  She glanced at me, her hands still gripped on the steering wheel, and her eyes were misting up a little bit.

  “I just want to understand your world. That all I’ve ever wanted.”

  “You and me both,” I said quietly as I let out a big sigh.

  It was going to be a long drive back to Swift Valley. But I didn’t mind spending the time with Mum. It was long overdue.

  That night, we talked about everything. And by the time we got home, I was no longer feeling dehydrated. I was feeling refreshed.

  You know how they say that things happen in threes? That’s why when I got the phone call from Vicky the following night, I assumed the worst had happened. That the killer had struck again.

  “You’re not out on a date, are you?” I asked as I put down a tin of cat food for Indy, who was purring at my feet.

  Vicky’s voice was a little raised, but not totally panicked. “No. Well, yes, I guess I am. Mine and Matt’s fourth date, actually. He’s out of the hospital now, so we can actually have something other than hospital food to eat. But I’m still not sure that this counts as a fourth date, or is it really just a second . . .?”

  “Vicky, why were you ringing me?” It was often like this with Vicky when we had a conversation. I would have to remind her of the topic again and again while she got off track.

  She stopped and recalibrated.

  “Well, I have been doing a little digging while you were gone . . . wherever you went last night.”

  “I just went on a short joyride,” I said. “I’ll explain it all later. So, what did you find while you were digging?”

  She paused, almost like she was second-guessing herself. “I was researching everyone involved in the case, and I found something out. I don’t know if this means anything, but it’s pretty crazy, right? Stacey, the owner of The Dark Horse, is Roberta’s mother.”

  “No, she’s not,” I responded quickly.

  “Yes, she is,” Vicky responded just as quickly and with more force than I had used. “Why are you disagreeing with me? Stacey is Roberta’s mother.”

  “She can’t be. I was in The Dark Horse with Roberta twice. Both times, Stacey was there on duty and clearly saw that Roberta was with me. That went both ways. And there wasn’t any sort of acknowledgement between the two of them of each other.”

  Vicky’s voice was low and quiet. “Maybe they didn’t want you to know that there was a link between them.”

  My stomach dropped right to the bottom of my ankles.

  “Ruby, Matt told me that he dated a girl called Roberta a few months ago. He’d thought their dates went well and that they’d ended on good terms, but apparently, she thought otherwise.” She gulped. “And I bet if we could ask Eamon Barnes the same questions, he would give us the same answers.”

  “I think we need to find out if Roberta has the Activate app on her phone,” I said.

  12

  I waited until Roberta had gone to the bathroom to grab her phone from her desk and started to search, Vicky breathing right down my neck beside me.

  “Look!” Vicky gasped in a forceful whisper as she spotted the familiar app. She looked at me with worried eyes.

  “Poor Eamon was right—that thing really is not secure.” Vicky shook her head knowingly. “Sometimes, the conspiracy theorists really turn out to be right.”

  Well, Roberta had sure known where her ex-boyfriends were at all times, hadn’t she? Probably who they were matched with and what they were chatting about, as well.

  We only had a minute or so before Roberta returned, and so we put her phone back down and hurried back to our desks. “You can finish early today,” I said briskly to Roberta as I straightened up some paperwork, not meeting her eye. As soon as she was out the door, I turned to face Vicky so that we could come up with our plan.

  But Vicky already had the plan all under control.

  “We just need to find a third boyfriend of Roberta’s,” she said, as she pulled her own smart phone out. “And then set them up on date with me. We all know how that plays out. When I am on the date, we wait for her to strike—and catch her right in the act.”

  It was a good plan, only we couldn’t track down a third boyfriend of Roberta’s, no matter how hard we searched and asked around that afternoon. Matt didn’t know that Eamon had been one of Roberta’s exes, let alone about the existence of any others.

  I sighed and finally admitted, “We need a new plan of attack.”

  And I knew just who to bring in off the bench.

  Teddy was child-free when he met me in the park. He’d been excited to get my call, and he hurried over to me.

  “I need to come clean to you about something, buddy,” I said to him, stopping him in his tracks before he got close enough for a hug. I told him what I needed him to do for us. I saw a bit of the hope fade out of his eyes, but as I started to explain, he looked a little intrigued by the whole situation

  “So, are you willing to be our bait?” I asked him, clasping my hands together in hope.

  He thought about this and nodded. “If it means that I can make thing up to Eamon, even just a little bit, then I am willing to do what it takes. Tell me what I need to do, Ruby. I will be there.”

  Teddy was charming, but was he charming enough to get Roberta to fall for him after just one date?

  We were back at The Dark Horse. Vicky and I sat at a table up the front, and we were watching a first date take place in the middle of the restaurant, near the side exit. The exit that Roberta lured the other two out of when she attacked them, while her protective mother made sure that all the staff were out of the way and didn’t see anything. Didn’t say anything.

  “He knows all the right things to say,” I whispered to Vicky, reassuring her that my plan was watertight. “I mean, he almost had me convinced to have another six kids with him.”

  “I dunno. She might be put off by the six kids thing,” Vicky said as she glanced over her shoulder. Which was a good point. Teddy could be pretty full-on. But I had a feeling that Roberta would like that. When she fell, she fell hard.

  We waited until they were forty minutes into their date, and Roberta had leaned in over the table to grab Teddy’s hand. There it was—she was hooked.

  Now it was Vicky’s time to shine. The plan was that she would interrupt the date, and they would pretend to be long-lost lovers, entranced to see each other again.

  “You won’t be in any danger,” I reassured Vicky before she stood up. “Roberta’s game plan is that she goes for the men she feels have betrayed her . . . not the new women they are dating.” And Teddy knew what he was getting himself into. I wasn’t about to let either of them come to any harm. If I had to use magic to
protect anyone, then I would.

  Vicky waltzed on over to the table and stopped with an exaggerated gasp. “Teddy?” she asked breathlessly.

  Teddy looked up at her with glimmering eyes, like he was seeing an angel for the first time.

  Wow, these two were really good actors. I was completely buying them as long-lost lovers who had been apart and were being reunited for the first time.

  “Vicky,” Ted said, standing up and throwing his napkin on the table. “I can’t . . . I can’t believe it is really you.”

  Roberta had a seething look on her face as she watched the two “lovebirds” interact. Vicky chatted and laughed and told Teddy that she hoped that she would be seeing him again really soon—their hands brushed against each other and lingered just a second too long. It was perfect as far as making Roberta green with jealousy.

  And Stacey had been witnessing the whole thing from behind the bar. She knew I was there, but she didn’t know that I was onto her. I grinned as I took a sip of my drink and waited for the rest of the evening to pan out.

  Roberta stood up and made a move like she was going to the bathroom, but I saw her heading toward the staff exit. I saw Stacey give her the nod and leave along with the rest of the wait staff, so that there was no one guarding the restaurant. After a few moments, Teddy got a text from his phone. He read it and then glanced over at me with a worried look on his face. Then I looked down at my phone and saw a text from him.

  “She wants me to follow her outside. I’m gonna do it.”

  I almost stopped him, but I knew this was how it needed to play out. Vicky was already lurking outside the restaurant, and the police were on their way.

  I let him go in front of me by a few seconds, then I stood up and raced to the side of the restaurant outside the staff exit. Roberta had her arms raised in the air, about to bring a brick down on the back of Teddy’s head.

  “Stop!” I yelled and froze her arm in the air using witchcraft before Teddy got hit. She desperately tried to bring her arms down, but there was no way for her to move as the police sirens drew closer. When they arrived, I dropped the spell, and Roberta dropped the brick.

  Roberta stared at me accusingly—but even if she had suspected that magic had been used, there was no way for her to prove it on any level

  I just stared at her. And I thought I had found a really good employee! “I’d better screen CVs better next time,” I said. She was having a career in crime all right—just not the one we had first thought she would.

  Stacey, her mum, squeezed Roberta tightly, protecting her even when the police raced over to take her away.

  I spun around to see that Vicky was coming toward me, hand in hand with Teddy. Huh? He gave her a peck on the cheek and told her that he would be back once he had given his statement to the police.

  “This is it, Ruby,” Vicky said with her eyes shining. “I think that Teddy could really be the one.”

  “But what about Matt?” I asked her, my mouth dropping open.

  Vicky shrugged. “That felt more like I was just his nurse, rather than the girl dating him, you know? With Teddy it is . . . different.”

  “He has six kids!”

  “That’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  Mum was packing her bags by the time we got home. I asked her if she was moving into her own place, and she looked at me with a bittersweet expression and told me that she was going back to Peru. She still had more training to do.

  “I thought you were sticking around in Swift Valley for a little while,” I said, thrown somewhat by this news.

  She came over and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I will be back soon, Ruby. I want to give you your space for a little while, so that you can find out who you want to be.”

  Akiro was waiting for me at The Onyx. He looked a little apprehensive until I told him not to worry, that I wasn’t there to meet anyone. Just a triple shot latte, on my own.

  He looked relieved. More than relieved—he looked happy.

  “I don’t want to see you going on another first date . . .” he said, and then reached out for my hands after he greeted me by the door. “Unless it is with me. A real one, this time.” He smiled at me softly. “And I want more than just one date, Ruby. It was killing me to watch you with all those other guys.”

  I couldn’t wait to get home and delete my dating app. Once and for all.

  Epilogue

  There was an ending, but also a beginning.

  I didn’t think I would be back at the airport so soon. I was only allowed as far as the departure gate, and so I handed Mum her bag. “So, now I know why you don’t travel by broomstick.”

  Mum laughed gently. “No. Planes are much more convenient for a silly old human like me.”

  I squeezed her tightly and asked that she please stay in touch with me this time. “Even if you have to trek into town once a week to charge your phone and send a text,” I said firmly.

  She pulled back.

  “I am proud of you, Ruby.”

  I watched her walk through the security check and turn the corner. I let out a deep sigh. Now the only family I had left in Swift Valley was May. And I still wasn’t sure I ever wanted to speak to her again.

  Right then, though, I had brighter things to think about.

  I was wearing a light blue-and-white dress—not my usual colors—and ready to head out on the town for a Friday night date.

  Not The Dark Horse, that was for sure. We’d picked the Indian place next door with the floral wallpaper. Akiro was waiting for me out front.

  “Wow. You look stunning in that dress.”

  He’d promised there would be more than one date, and that this was just the beginning for us—but that didn’t stop me from being nervous. My hands shook as he reached out to take them and reassure me. We walked inside.

  “You will miss your mum,” Akiro commented as we sat down.

  “Hey, I want to take my mind off that for today.”

  He grinned at me. “I definitely can help you with that.”

  The best first date of all time.

  But as I stared across at the man in front of me, I knew that sooner or later, I was going to have to tell him the truth.

  About who I was.

  Thanks for reading Mis-Spelled. I hope you enjoyed this story, and all the stories in the Private Eye Witch Cozy Mystery series. If you could take a minute and leave a review for me, that would be really awesome.

  The next story in the series is called Cast a Spell and you can order it now on Amazon.

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