A Southern Charms Cozy Potluck Box Set

by Bella Falls

  I went to fetch Matt and pulled him aside from the rest of the group. “I think there might be something going on.” My brother rushed into the foyer to find Mason.

  The detective held up a hand to make both of us wait. “I understand. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

  “What’s going on?” Matt asked. “Do we need to go to the station?”

  Mason shook his head. “I need to get to the station, but I have to take Charli there.”

  My brother moved his body in front of mine in defense. “Why?”

  Mason’s eyes rested on mine, all the warmth in them gone. “Because Tucker’s just turned himself in for the murder of Duke Aikens, and he won’t talk to anyone but her.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Matt drove me to the station, following behind Mason. When we got there, we found a distraught Clementine pacing at the front desk.

  She rushed to me, grabbing my hands. “He doesn’t want to see me at all and told me not to tell our parents. I don’t know what to do.” Breaking down into tears, she hugged me.

  Taken off guard, I patted her back. Matt’s mouth dropped open, and I mouthed my surprise to him. When Clementine sobbed, I remembered that she was family and truly embraced her.

  “He wants to talk to you,” my cousin managed through hiccuped breaths.

  I flinched at her revelation. “I’m sorry.”

  She pushed away from me and pulled out a lace handkerchief from her purse, wiping under her eyes. “No, that’s a good thing. You can go in there and convince him that he’s being silly. There’s no way he’s guilty, so he doesn’t need to stay in jail.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that her fiancé might be right. Matt offered to look after our cousin while Mason escorted me to the back of the station.

  “I don’t like it,” he growled. “I’m coming in there with you.”

  I stopped walking and waited for the detective to notice my absence. He turned around and came back, frowning.

  “Tucker asked to talk to me. You have to see this as an opportunity to maybe find out the truth. If you go barging in there, he might clam up.” The last thing I needed was to play referee between an upset warden and a broken man.

  Mason noticed another young warden watching us. He pursed his lips and motioned for me to follow him into his office. Shutting the door behind us, he leaned against the edge of his desk and crossed his arms. “It’s incredibly risky, having you go in to hear his confession. What if he did hurt Duke? Then you’re putting yourself directly in harm’s way. Again.”

  Not willing to let the detective dictate my choices in life, I closed the distance and squared off with him. “And I’ll be fine. You’ve gotta let me in there to at least try.”

  Mason huffed and thought about it for a second. “What if he attempts to hurt you?”

  “Isn’t he locked up? What could possibly happen?” I countered. “Once he’s in the cell, doesn’t it negate his ability to cast spells?”

  “It does.” Defeated, the detective chewed on his lip.

  I reached out to touch his arm. “I promise to tell you everything he tells me, but let me try to help. Besides, my gut says that something’s off.”

  Mason placed his hand over mine. “And what exactly is your gut going to do if you’re wrong?”

  I slipped my hand out from under his. “I thought you trusted me and my gut? Has that changed?”

  “No—”

  “Then I’m going in there.” Opening the door, I stomped down the hall to the room with the cell.

  Mason caught up and held me back. “Okay, fine. I do trust you. But him…listen, I’ll let you go in there, but I’m casting a surveillance spell so I can hear everything. It’s either that or you don’t go in.” His hand extended to touch my cheek, but he stopped mid-air, remembering where we were. “Be careful in there.”

  He opened the door into a room with two jail cells separated by bars. Tucker lay on the rickety old cot in one of them, his arm over his eyes. When he heard us, he bolted upright.

  “You’ve asked to speak to her so here she is. She will tell me everything you say, so keep that in mind. I’ll give you fifteen minutes alone with her, and then I’ll come back.” Mason shot me a look of caution. Before he left, he flourished his hands by his side, casting the surveillance spell.

  I waited in silence for Tucker to take the lead. He pushed himself up, the cot creaking under him. His head hung low, his disheveled hair drooping over his brow.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you know why I turned myself in?”

  I stepped closer to the floor-to-ceiling metal bars separating us. “Because you think you committed a crime.”

  He glanced at me through his hair. “But not just any crime.”

  Panic gripped my stomach. If Tucker continued talking, he would definitely incriminate himself. I wanted the details behind the murder, but having him confess while sitting in the jail cell at a warden’s station was a very bad idea.

  “You know, maybe you do want a warden in here and not me.” My eyes roamed over every inch of the place, trying to figure out how Mason’s surveillance spell worked.

  Tucker groaned and pushed his hair back with his fingers. “I should probably have Jed Farnsworth here. That’s what my dad would require. But I’m tired, Charli. Tired of trying to live up to the family name. Trying to be the man my father expects me to be. Tired of trying to live the life everyone thinks I have. Exhausted from playing the prince when I’m more of the fool.”

  I grasped one of the iron bars, its cold metal a sharp reminder of what stood between Tucker and freedom. “I can understand that. But what I don’t get is why you voluntarily came to the station and turned yourself in for the murder.”

  He stood and walked over to me, placing his fingers over mine. “Because I did it. I took a man’s life.”

  Pixie poop. If Tucker kept talking, there wasn’t anything I could do to keep him from being formally arrested and rotting in a cell for the rest of his life.

  Knowing Mason could hear me, I spoke up in a clear voice. “You have to trust me.”

  “I do,” replied Tucker. His thumb brushed the back of my hand.

  I pulled out of his touch. “Not quite what I meant, but good. Stay right where you are.” Gathering the energy inside me, I focused it. “Against the wishes of a friend whose listening has to come to an end. Give us space, a silent bubble, where we can talk without more trouble.”

  Power flowed through my fingers, and I willed a protective layer of magic around us, shutting the rest of the world out. It wouldn’t last long between my lack of food in my stomach to fuel the spell and the likelihood that Mason might come in at any second. I hoped he’d heard what I’d said and gave me the benefit of the doubt.

  “You’ve got to tell me what happened that night as fast as you can, Tucker. And then I’ll help you decide what steps to take next, okay?”

  He nodded. “I already told you that I wasn’t doing okay, and there were…things that had happened in Charleston that caused me problems. One of those problems was Duke. He had this book that he recorded things in and used to blackmail others.”

  “He was blackmailing you,” I clarified.

  “Yes,” Tucker confirmed. “I paid him off for a while, but was running out of money. I thought I’d be safe in Honeysuckle, but then he showed up. He pressured dad and me to hire his company to cater Clem’s and my wedding events. That’s why he was here for the bridal shower. At least he had someone on his team who could actually cook.”

  “Had you ever seen her before? That girl, Shelby.” Perhaps some of what my ex told me could shed more light on her role in Duke’s life.

  “I don’t think so, although there are big blocks of time that I can’t account for.” He gazed at me through the bars. “I’m pretty sure someone either spellcast something on me or slipped something in my drinks. Because what Duke had on me…”

  Knowing the seconds ticked by faster and faster, I
waved him off. “You can tell me the specifics later. Right now, I need to know about the night of the murder and why you think you’re the reason Duke’s dead.”

  Tucker leaned his forehead against the bars, his face framed by them. “I fought with him at Lucky’s. We were playing cards, and I wanted to win back some of my money he’d taken from me. But he kept taunting me with my misdeeds, almost telling everyone in the room the exact details. I couldn’t take it anymore, and, I’m ashamed to say, I attacked him. I haven’t been back to The End yet, but I’m pretty sure I owe Lucky some money to repair his place.”

  Muffled shouting echoed around our bubble, and I stepped closer to the bars until only the metal separated Tucker and me. “What happened after you fought him at the bar?”

  “Lucky kicked us out. I was already drunk and woozy, so my memory is patchy at best. Duke kept verbally attacking me and I took a couple of swings at him. He must have made contact with his fist at some point because I woke up with this.” Tucker pointed at the purple and green healing black eye.

  The voices grew louder on the other side of the door. “A fight doesn’t get a guy killed, Tuck.”

  “But it all goes a little blank after that. I know I followed him, but not sure where. I can remember more of his taunts and me yelling at him. And then…”

  Hollis’ voice shouted on the other side of door. “You will not arrest my son.”

  “Then what, Tucker?” I pushed.

  He reached through the bars and grabbed my arms. “The only thing I can remember is looking down and seeing something in my hands. It was something hefty. And I remember seeing blood. It has to be his. I have to have used whatever I held to kill him.” His eyes widened in desperation and fear. “I killed him.”

  Hollis burst into the the room, and my spell popped and fizzled. “I don’t know what you think you’re doin’ but you will step away from my son.” He pulled me out of Tucker’s grip and pushed me hard enough that I stumbled.

  Mason caught me. “That’s enough of that, Mr. Hawthorne. She was here at Tucker’s request and I allowed it.”

  Hollis glared at Mason. “Then I’ll have your badge when all of this is done. He will not be speaking to anybody without our advocate present, which is what should have happened in the first place. And she,” he pointed at me, “has no business being here or having anything to do with my son or this case.”

  “Father, I didn’t want an advocate. I asked to speak to Charli.” Tucker did his best to calm his dad down.

  “No,” Hollis bellowed, his voice rough and cracking a little. “It’s enough.”

  For the first time, I studied the angry father. He and his son wore the same run down expressions with furrowed brows and frowns. Dark circles rimmed Hollis’ eyes. Although stubble didn’t cover his chin, he tied with Tucker for his haggard appearance.

  Mason placed his hand at the small of my back and escorted me out of the room. He instructed Zeke to watch Hollis and Tucker, and took me back into his office.

  Once the door clicked shut, I whipped around to face Mason. “I’m more than pretty sure he didn’t kill Duke.”

  The detective either didn’t hear me or didn’t care. He stalked forward, until his face hovered next to mine and my back touched the door. “What do you think you were doing?” he seethed.

  “Did you hear me? Tucker didn’t kill Duke. You gotta get him out of there,” I insisted, placing my hands on Mason’s chest to back him off.

  He covered them with his. “You knew the deal was that I listened in, and then you deliberately made a choice that went against that.” Pulling my hands off his chest, he stepped away and turned his back to me.

  “I made a quick decision in the moment, and it paid off. Based on what Tucker told me, he couldn’t have killed Duke.” I softened my voice. “I wasn’t trying to make you angry.”

  Mason’s shoulders stiffened. “But you were trying to protect him. Your ex.”

  Realization dawned on me. “Is that what your problem is? This is some sort of man jealousy thing? You think I chose him over you?”

  “No,” he replied a little too fast. “I mean…yeah, maybe a little.” He blew out a breath and turned to face me again. “I wanted to watch out for you and you took that option away. It made me feel…helpless.”

  “I asked you to trust me. Didn’t you hear me? When I said it, I meant it for you, not him.” Disappointment settled over me like a wet blanket.

  Mason looked at the floor. “I heard you. It’s why I didn’t break down the door and come in there.”

  “But you still don’t trust me. Not really. Otherwise, you’d want to hear what Tucker said and try to add that to the evidence to figure out the case.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “The same could be said about you. You don’t trust me to listen to my instincts and follow the rules I create to keep you safe.”

  I reached for the door handle. “Then I guess we’re done here.” A part of me paused, hoping his rational side would kick in and he’d stop me from leaving.

  “I guess we are.” Mason’s cold tone sent chills down my back.

  Pulling the door open, I checked to make sure I wouldn’t run into either Hawthorne man on my way out. Although my stubbornness demanded that I leave without saying anything else, I couldn’t help but contribute the little I’d learned to help with the case.

  “Oh, and Mason?” I waited until his eyes met mine. “Tucker confirmed the fight at Lucky’s bar. And then he said he thought he was holding something heavy in his hand that had blood on it. That’s why he turned himself in. He thinks he hit Duke on the head and killed him. But you already know from the doc that he didn’t die that way. If you put those two elements together, it means that it’s most likely Tucker didn’t kill Duke. There, now you know everything he told me.”

  Ignoring the commotion coming from Big Willie’s office and shaking my head at my brother not to talk to me, I stormed out of the warden station, perhaps for the last time.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mason's final words affected me more than talking to Tucker. I went home defeated, not wanting to talk to anybody. Beau bounded down the steps once he was awake and ready to take on another night of wooing, but he took one look at me and poofed into a bat, flying out of an open window.

  I picked at the leftovers from Nana’s cooking, but nothing tasted good. At any moment, Matt would be bounding up my porch steps to tell me how I’d screwed up at the station. If Mason dared to step foot on my property, he’d better be ready to leave in a real hurry because I was prepared to bless his heart and hex his hiney into the next county over.

  The inevitable knock echoed through my house. Ready to defend myself to my brother, I opened the screen door and tramped onto the porch. Big Willie waited for me at the foot of the stairs, holding his hat in his hand.

  The surprise of his presence stopped me from making my prepared speech. “Oh.”

  “Charli Goodwin, what did I tell you? No, don’t answer that, just listen.” The sasquatch rested his right foot on the bottom step and sighed. “I tolerate when you get yourself mixed up in things as long as you’re being appropriately monitored.”

  “You knew I was working with Mason?” I asked.

  “Does a unicorn crap wherever it wants to? Of course, I knew you were workin’ with the detective. If it weren’t for me bein’ his boss, I would know because it’s a small town and you aren’t exactly invisible when you go questionin’ suspects.” He scratched his shaggy head.

  I offered him a seat in a rocker and some sweet tea, but he refused both. “I guess you want me to lay low.”

  Big Willie scoffed. “That’s the understatement of the year. You cannot be involved in the case anymore. Don’t talk to anyone who might be involved. And especially stay away from anyone with the last name of Hawthorne. Or anyone about to marry someone with the last name of Hawthorne.”

  I hung my head, studying a cracked board on my porch and tracing it with my big toe. “Hollis was pre
tty mad, was he?”

  “Let’s just say that I’m under strict orders to arrest you if you interfere again. And as many times as I threaten you with puttin’ you in our tank, this is the first time that it might happen for real.” The sheriff placed his hat on his head. “Take my advice. You Goodwins already have enough trouble comin’ your way from what I’ve heard. Best to keep your nose clean by keepin’ it to yourself.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What have you heard about my family?”

  He held up his hands to stop me from getting upset. “Nothin’ your grandmother didn’t want me to know.”

  If Nana was bringing Big Willie into her inner circle, then chances were that he knew about the attempted Charleston takeover. The sasquatch might have let more information slip than he should have. I filed away more questions about the Hawthornes to ask Nana later.

  “I don’t want to cause problems, only to help solve the murder and get the right person behind bars. I told Mason I’m pretty sure it’s not Tucker.” When the detective’s name rolled off my tongue, all kinds of emotions swirled in my stomach.

  Big Willie placed one hairy hand on his hip. “I hope it isn’t. We had to release him into his father’s custody.”

  I whistled long and low. “Hollis really is throwin’ around his authority.”

  “You can say that again,” muttered the sheriff. He tipped his hat to me. “Please, for your own good, stay out of things and let us wardens handle the case.” He walked through the field to the road where he’d parked his car. I listened for him to drive down the road, too many questions crowding my brain.

  What exactly was going on in Honeysuckle? Between Duke’s death, the Hawthorne’s involvement, and the outside threat, the storm clouds of trouble were brewing overhead. If the wardens were the only ones who could bring an end to it all, then they needed to do it fast.

  In such a short amount of time, my entire world went from bright beautiful colors to dull drab grace. The only thing that got me out of the house was teaching my young students. I pedaled through the back roads to the school, avoiding Main Street at all costs.