A Hillcrest Witch Mystery Collection

by Amorette Anderson

  I don’t wait for him to respond. Instead, I spin on my heel and hightail it away from him.

  What if Azure and Silas worked together to kill Hiroku?

  Silas has motive for killing Hiroku. He had Azure’s address in his notebook. He lied when he said that he didn’t know her. He also won’t reveal where he was last night. What is he hiding?

  I’m not sure. As I get on my bike and speed down the hill away from the worksite, I vow that I’m going to find out—for Cora’s sake. There’s no way I’m going to be the maid of honor in a wedding between my friend and a killer. No freaking way.

  Chapter Eight

  At five o’clock on the dot, I pull up to the Death Cafe. My friend Annie owns it, and it is the place where we’ve gathered to knit and chat for the past five years. As we knit, we like to discuss books. Lately, our discussion has been focused on one book in particular.

  A book that, at the moment, I can’t exactly locate.

  I’m hoping that my coven sisters have some insight to offer in the department of missing books. Maybe we can use their copies of ASBW to do some magic that will help us figure out where my copy of ASBW is.

  Heck, maybe if we can track down my missing book, we could even solve the case. Who knows?

  I’m feeling optimistic as I enter the cafe, and my hopeful mood gets even cheerier as I inhale the scent of freshly baked brownies.

  My friends are seated around a table. Everyone is here: Annie, Cora, and Marley. I’m the last to arrive. Knitting projects, pattern books, needles, and yarn are scattered around the table in addition to several platters of baked goods, a steaming pot of tea, and four china teacups on saucers. I see that Cora has Blueberry Muffin, the Chihuahua, situated on her lap.

  “Oh... Annie... did you make your double fudge caramel delights?” I ask.

  I flop down into the chair that’s waiting for me and pull my knitting tote bag off of my shoulder.

  “To celebrate your success!” Annie says. “And Cora’s engagement, of course. We have so much to celebrate this week!” She lifts the tea pot and begins pouring tea into a dainty tea cup.

  “Oh, that’s right,” Cora says. “I’m sorry, Penny. I was so tied up with my own troubles this morning to even congratulate you on passing your exam. How did it go?”

  “It was alright,” I say. “I’ve been pretty tied up with Hiroku’s death too... I haven’t had much time to even think about that exam.”

  As I accept the cup of tea from Annie, I begin speaking my thoughts aloud. “It wasn’t what I expected,” I say. “Speedy’s Online Licensure Program is one of the worst PI programs in the country. I expected kind of a second rate exam.”

  “Oh, you’re being too critical, dear,” Annie says. “It’s a fine program.”

  “No,” I say. “It’s really not. The instructors were all washed up investigators who didn’t give a crap about what they were teaching. I mean, I’m glad that I have my PI license, so I’m thankful for the program and all, but it’s really poorly put together. So I was surprised at how the exam went.”

  “What do you mean?” Cora asks. She pulls a bag of veggie sticks out of her purse and sets them out on the table top. As the bag rustles, Blueberry wakes from her nap. She pokes her head up over the table top and gives a little yip of interest in the snacks. “Everyone, help yourself to carrots or raw zucchini sticks,” Cora says.

  I reach for a brownie. “Thanks,” I say. “I’ll have some of those right after this.”

  “Right,” Marley says sarcastically, with a little laugh.

  I giggle, too. Then, I answer Cora’s question. “Well, I expected that the person they sent to do the exam was going to be kind of second rate, like the rest of the instructors were. You know, I expected that they might just go through the motions, and act like they wanted to get the whole thing over with. Instead, this lady showed up who was completely on-point. I mean, I couldn’t blink without her taking notice. She was sharp, and alert, and...” I think back to the way Nadia looked around my apartment. “Interested in everything,” I say. “The way my apartment looked—”

  “I hope you cleaned it,” Cora interjects, as she feeds Blueberry a doggie treat.

  “I didn’t,” I say. “She was interested in what I was wearing—”

  “I hope you wore something nice,” Annie says.

  “Just a minor stain.” I report. “She was interested in everything I said.”

  “Hopefully you didn’t stick your foot in your mouth,” Marley says.

  “I tried not to,” I say. “I did mention how I shot Chris in the arm.”

  There are groans all around the table.

  “Why!” Exclaims Marley, hitting her palm to her forehead.

  “I don't know how it came up,” I say. “But in general, I tried to display the knowledge that I have about investigating. Only... it didn’t go very well. I don't think I really have book smarts, when it comes to investigating. I’m more of an action girl.”

  Annie speaks up. “But you passed, didn’t you?”

  “I really don’t know how,” I say with a frown. “I’m almost one hundred percent sure that I answered every single question wrong. Seriously. Every single one of them.”

  “Well, maybe you're wrong about being wrong,” Cora says. She snaps the end off of a carrot stick and starts chewing primly, while Blueberry licks her chin.

  “Touché!” Marley says with a laugh.

  “The important thing is that you passed the test,” Annie says. She reaches over and gives my forearm a little pat. “We know what a good detective you are. Maybe your instructor could sense it, too.”

  “Maybe... “I say, doubtfully.

  “Speaking of detecting,” Annie says. “I hear that you and Marley ran right into the middle of a case last night. Why don’t you tell us about it?”

  “Oh, man...” I say, thinking about Hiroku’s dead body. “Did we ever run into a case? Okay, here’s what happened.”

  As I speak, I begin taking out my knitting supplies. First, I pull out the front panel of my Icelandic sweater. It’s only half done, and if you didn’t know it was a sweater, you wouldn’t guess it. “Last night, Marley and I were walking past Itsu Law Offices and we saw the lights on. We wanted to go in to see if Cora was working.”

  I glance over at Cora. “You weren’t,” I say.

  Cora nods.

  “But while we were in there, we saw Hiroku’s body.”

  “Where?” Annie asks.

  Marley speaks up. “On the floor. Kind of over by the filing cabinet behind Cora’s desk.”

  “I wonder what she was doing over by the filing cabinet...” Cora says. “We don’t use that filing cabinet very often. All of our important documents are stored on the computer. The few that we printed out were kept in our desk drawers. Hiroku tried to save paper whenever possible.”

  “She did love trees, didn’t she?” I ask.

  “A lot,” Cora agrees, sadly. She pets Blueberry’s head.

  I take the opportunity to ask Cora about the little pup. “How’s it going with your new charge?” I ask, motioning with my needle to the Chihuahua. “She looks like she’s doing well.”

  “I didn’t think I’d like having a dog around—too messy,” Cora says. She pats Blueberry’s head. “But she’s great. Barely sheds at all, and she’s very well behaved. After she plays with her toys, she puts them back in their bin. It’s going to be sad to give her up.”

  “Give her up?” I ask.

  Cora nods, while still stroking Blueberry’s head. Blueberry’s little bugged out eyes look around the table while we talk, as though she wants to hear the answer. “I’m guessing Hiroku’s daughter will take her. I’ve never met Hiroku’s daughter, but she’ll arrive in town on Friday.”

  “How do you think she died?” Annie asks, steering the conversation back to the crime scene.

  I pick up a brownie. It’s still warm. It must have just come out of the oven. Yum! “There was a bump on her head,” I say.
“And a paperweight on the floor next to her. The paperweight had blood on it.”

  Cora gasps. “I didn’t know it was a paperweight that killed her! That is so gruesome.”

  “Oh yeah,” Marley says. “The medics said it was probably a pretty forceful blow. It was clear to them that she’d died because of it.”

  All eyes are on Marley. I’m happy to let her take the spotlight for a minute. I bite into the warm brownie as Marley continues. “Maybe Hiroku was working in her back office and heard someone out in the lobby... maybe she went to investigate. Whoever was out there used the paperweight to attack Hiroku. Then, they escaped.”

  “Who would do such a thing?” Annie wonders aloud.

  I swallow my bite of brownie. “I’ve been thinking about that,” I say. “Who would want to go into the Itsu Law Offices? Whoever it was probably wasn’t supposed to be there. That’s why they reacted so violently when Hiroku approached.”

  “Makes sense,” Annie says.

  I continue. “Whoever was in there didn’t go in with the intention of killing Hiroku. At least, that’s what the murder weapon suggests.”

  “You’re losing me,” Marley says.

  “Explain yourself, Detective Banks,” Annie says.

  “Okay,” I say. Now that I’ve polished off my brownie, I pick up my knitting needles. It feels good to start up the rhythmic movement of knitting as I speak. “Think about it, ladies. If you were going into an office to kill someone, what would you bring with you?”

  Cora bites into her carrot stick. “I can’t think like a murderer,” she says. “I would never kill anyone.”

  “I’m not saying you would kill, Cora. I’m saying use your imagination.”

  Our knitting needles click and clack.

  Annie clears her throat. “Well... it’s a dark subject matter to consider, but if I was going in there to kill someone, I’d bring a knife. It would be quiet but would get the job done.”

  Marley speaks up. “I’d bring a gun,” she says.

  I nod. “Right,” I say. “A knife, a gun, a rope... some kind of murder weapon—so that you could ‘get the job done,’ like Annie says. But our killer used a paperweight.”

  “He didn’t have a weapon with him,” Marley says, nodding along with me.

  “Exactly,” I say. “He—or she—was in the office for another reason altogether.”

  “Like what?” Annie asks.

  “Well... “ I hesitate and look over at Cora. I don’t want to upset her. I need to proceed carefully. “The killer had a reason to be in that office, last night. They were there on purpose. It’s not like Hiroku was in the ‘wrong place at the wrong time.’ No—the killer walked into her law office after normal business hours.”

  Cora begins knitting faster. She looks intently at the row she’s working on, instead of meeting my eye.

  “I can think of two possibilities,” I say. “The first is that the person was in that office because of something Hiroku was working on. Her case at the moment had to do with Silas Switchback’s building permits, which needed—”

  “Silas did not kill my boss,” Cora says, putting down her knitting and glaring at me. Blueberry Muffin’s buggy little eyes stare me down as well. If I didn’t like the little pooch so much, I’d swear he was glaring at me, too. Cora shakes her head. “I swear, Penny, if you—”

  “Cora! I’m not saying for sure that he did it. I’m saying it’s a possibility that we have to—”

  “It is not a possibility!” Cora says, hugging Blueberry to her and standing up. Her chair legs squeak against the cafe’s hardwood floors as she stands. Blueberry barks, punctuating Cora’s statement.

  “It is!” I shoot back, standing too. My chair also makes an angry squawking sound.

  “Girls!” Annie stands up too. “Now is not the time to argue. Penny, Cora, we have work to do. As a knitting circle. As members of this community. As a coven. We cannot become divided. We have to stand together.”

  “I don’t want to help Penny investigate my fiancé!” Cora says to Annie.

  “And I don’t want my friend to marry a killer!” I say, also to Annie.

  “He’s not a killer!” Cora says, turning to me.

  “How do you know?” I ask. “How long have you known him, Cora? A month? Oh, wow! A whole month. And you think you know him well enough to marry him?”

  “I love him!” Cora says. “This is how true love works, Penny. I don’t need to date the guy and then break up with him, and then date him again, and then break up with him again—”

  “Alright!” I say. “So I don’t have the best track record with relationships. But I’m not—”

  Tweeet! The shrill tone of a penny whistle cuts through our bickering. I look over at Annie and see that she’s standing on her chair, holding the whistle in her hand.

  Is that really necessary?

  The silence that fills the room lets me know just how loud Cora and I had become. That little conversation sure did escalate quickly.

  Now that silence fills the cafe, Annie steps off of her chair. “Are we done with that?” She says. She takes a seat, and Cora and I do the same.

  I hang my head low as I mumble, “Yes. Sorry, Annie. Sorry, Marley. Sorry, Cora.”

  “I’m sorry, Penny,” Cora says, softly.

  Annie’s voice is gentle as she speaks again. “I think we’d better put possible suspects aside, for just a moment. Maybe if we focus on our studies, we can make progress with the case from another angle. Who is in favor?”

  “Me!” Says Marley, sounding relieved at the suggestion.

  “I am,” Cora says.

  “Me too,” I say. “I’d love to study magic. The problem is, I can’t seem to find my book.”

  “Oh, really?” Annie says. “That’s strange. I can’t find mine, either. I thought maybe one of my nephews took it home by accident. They were at the house a few days ago, helping me get the back porch ready for snow.”

  “Mine’s missing too,” says Marley. I looked for it this morning, and couldn’t find it anywhere.”

  “Uh-oh,” I say.

  I look over at Cora. Marley and Annie do, too.

  “I’m sure mine’s still at the office,” Cora says.

  I’m not so sure.

  “Um... Cora?” I say. “Where, exactly, in your office do you keep your copy of ASBW?”

  “In the—oh, no!” A look of understanding crosses Cora’s face. “I keep it in the tall metal filing cabinet behind my desk.”

  I frown. “Shoot,” I say. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  “Is that the second possibility you were talking about?” Marley says. “You said there were two reasons someone might break into the office. One was that it was related to the case that Hiroku was working on.”

  I nod. “Right. This is the other one. They wanted something that was in the office.”

  “Like my copy of ‘The Art and Science of Becoming a Witch,’” Cora says.

  We all sit in silence for a moment. Once again, it’s Annie who gets us back on track.

  “Well,” she says. “We don’t know for sure that it’s missing. The photocopied pages could still be in the filing cabinet.”

  “And finding out whether the pages are there or not will give us a clue about the killer’s motive,” I say.

  Annie nods. “So this could be helpful. But for now, since we’re all here together, I say that we carry on with our studies without the book.”

  I pick up my knitting and begin working again. It feels soothing to move the needles rhythmically.

  Needles click around the table as others resume work, too. It’s helping us all calm down and get centered, I can tell.

  Marley speaks up. “How are we supposed to keep studying, without the book?” She asks.

  Cora answers. “We’ve all read the book. We could just try to remember what we read. We’re on cycle three... it’s all about the Desire Spell.”

  “Yes,” Annie says. “Does anyone
remember how it begins?”

  “Well,” I say. “There was that bit about how desire is a good thing. How it can be enjoyable. And how witchcraft is all about aiming desire. It talked about water a lot, but I can’t remember why.”

  “Oh, yeah!” Says Marley. She bounces a little bit in her seat, excitedly like a little kid. “There was the whole thing about becoming clean. That was part of the spell, wasn’t it?”

  “The Desire Spell was really complicated,” I say. “There’s no way we’re going to get it all right.”

  “But we can try,” Annie says. “At least we’ll be moving in the right direction. It’s better than arguing, I’d say.”

  I have to agree. I glance over at Cora. Her cheeks are flushed. I feel like we are both young school girls being admonished by Annie.

  Our wise, grandmotherly Annie is right. “Let’s see...” I say, slowly. “I remember something about water. The spell starts with taking a bath.”

  “But not just in a bathtub,” Marley says. “The book says it has to be a natural source of water. Like the ocean.”

  “Or a river,” Cora chimes in.

  “Or lake,” I say. “Right. And I think it has to be at night?”

  “Yes. Under starlight. That’s what it said,” says Cora.

  It feels good to be back on the same team with Cora. Together, we’re trying to piece the spell back together, and Annie’s right—our united efforts feel so much better than being in opposition.

  “One of us should write this stuff down,” I say, smiling.

  Cora grins too. “I can do it!” She says.

  Annie gives a happy nod. “This is much better,” she says, voicing the sentiment that I believe all of us are feeling.

  Soon we’ve created a list of all of the steps involved in the Desire Spell that we can remember. After checking that none of us have anything else to add, Cora holds up the planner in which she’s been writing. “Well, I think we’ve done a very good job,” she says.

  “Can you read it out to us?” I ask.

  Cora clears her throat. “How to cast the Desire Spell,” she reads.

  “Number one: Water—The witch must bathe in a natural water source. Ocean, river, lake, etc. Number two: The witch must be alone. Unlike the other spells we’ve studied, this spell is designed to be used in solitude. Number three: The witch must be clear about his or her desires. Number four: The witch must practice intentional amnesia.”