Back Room Bookstore Cozy Mystery Boxed Set: Books 1 - 12

by Susan Harper

  Jasmine spun around in her seat, and upon seeing them, stood up. “I’m sorry, but we are in the middle of an audition.”

  “Yes, we see that,” Brian said, standing and showing her his badge.

  “Ah, Officer Brian,” Jasmine said, straightening herself up. “May I help you with something?”

  “Just wanted to ask you both some follow up questions,” Brian said.

  “Can it wait?” Kevin asked. “I am in the middle of an audition.”

  “Oh, there’s really no need, Kevin,” Jasmine said. “You’ve got the part.”

  Kevin smiled. “I hope I can do it justice.” He sat on the edge of the stage.

  “You seem to know the part pretty well,” Brian said. “That was the monologue from the court scene, wasn’t it?”

  “It was,” Kevin said.

  “Kevin here had helped Jeremiah run lines,” Jasmine said. “So, he knows a good portion of the play.”

  “Jeremiah was an incredible actor,” Kevin said. “But he always struggled with learning his lines, so he always needed someone to run them with him over and over again. I think I had half the play memorized by the time he nailed down the first act.”

  “Looks like you won’t have to delay your performances,” Brian said, eyeing Kevin. “How awfully convenient. Good. Looks like you have saved the play, isn’t that right?”

  “I hope so,” Kevin said. “I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but if we rehearse plenty this week, I do hope we can reopen the doors this weekend.”

  “That’s the goal,” Jasmine said, nodding approvingly at Kevin.

  Monica and Brian exchanged glances. It seemed pretty obvious now. Kevin had killed Jeremiah.

  13

  “Listen, Kevin,” Brian began. “I’m going to need you to step down off the stage.”

  Kevin stared blankly back at him. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  “I’d say so,” Monica grumbled under her breath.

  Jasmine crossed her arms, checking her phone for the time. “Officer, the rest of the troop will be getting here soon. We need to begin rehearsal to get Kevin caught up and ready for this upcoming weekend.”

  “I’m afraid that’s going to have to wait,” Brian said. “Kevin, get down off the stage.”

  Kevin frowned and slowly slid off the side of the stage. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m placing you under arrest,” Brian said, stepping forward.

  In surprise, Kevin took several steps away from him. “Arrest! For what?” he asked.

  “For murdering Jeremiah,” Brian stated, pulling at his cuffs at his side. “We know Enid left you for him and that you’ve been passed up multiple times for lead roles because of him. We also found the sawdust in your bedroom from your little side project, the gallows used to hang Jeremiah.”

  Kevin bucked up slightly, but he continued stepping back each time Brian took a step forward. “That doesn’t prove anything,” he argued. “And, even if it did, what were you doing in my room without a warrant?”

  “Don’t need a warrant if you were invited in,” Brian said. “Your roommate, Tommy, invited us in. Now, you need to come—”

  Kevin gripped the side of the stage and yanked himself up. “Kevin!” Jasmine shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m not going with him!” Kevin declared and sped off up stage.

  Brian pulled himself up onto the stage as well. Monica, on the other hand, decided against trying the climbing feat and ran toward the steps leading up to the stage. “Kevin! Stop running from them! What is the matter with you?” Jasmine was shrieking.

  Monica could hear the clanging sound of someone running up a metal flight of spiral steps. Looking up, she could see Kevin in the wings darting up the spiral stairs, Brian right on his tail. “Where do those lead?” Monica demanded of Jasmine.

  “The catwalk,” Jasmine said as she hurried up onto the stage after Monica. “But…the only way up there is that one flight of stairs. I don’t know where he thinks he’s going!”

  Standing on the stage, Monica could look up into the catwalk at the series of ramps leading from one side of the stage to the other where the stage crew could adjust lighting by hand and use flight cables to move set pieces to and from the stage. Kevin and Brian’s footsteps caused a repeated clanging as the one chased the other. At one point, Kevin jumped clear over a bar between some lighting, and Brian rammed right into it, falling back and causing a thunder-sounding rumble through the theater.

  “Oh! Wait…” Jasmine said under her breath. “There’s a fire escape!”

  Monica could tell by Kevin’s increasingly flustered movements that he was looking for a means of escape. Brian had gotten back up on his feet and was scurrying after him. Soon they met each other at the ramp that was right above center stage. Monica and Jasmine stood below, staring up and craning their necks to see as the two men collided—Kevin throwing punches and attempting to reach for Brian’s gun at his side.

  “Kevin! Kevin, stop!” Jasmine kept shouting. “Gracious, Kevin! What are you thinking? Stop! Stop!”

  Brian was rammed into the railing, and Monica could see clearly that Kevin now had Brian’s pistol in his hand. This, she was not going to stand for. Monica took a step back and out of Jasmine’s line of sight, reaching for her wand that was carefully hidden under her shawl. “Serpenti!” she said, flinging her wand in the direction of Brian and Kevin.

  There were ropes lying about on the catwalk, likely used with the flight cables for moving set pieces. The blast from her wand hit the ropes, and it coiled around one of Brian’s ankles just in time to jerk him back. The gun fired and bounced off some sort of metal, and when it came back through, it knocked a sandbag clear off the catwalk, pulling Brian with it by the ankle.

  This had certainly not been Monica’s intention, but thankfully, the rope snagged on some railing, and Brian was soon hanging upside-down by his ankle after flipping over with a jerk. “Heavens!” Jasmine shrieked, and Monica looked up to see that Kevin had ditched the gun and was now darting through the various ramps, clearly trying to use Brian’s slip-up to make a getaway.

  “Get me down!” Brian shouted, dangling close to seven feet in the air by his ankle.

  “Get him down,” Monica said to Jasmine, then darted through a back exit of the theater.

  “Monica! Don’t you dare run after him!” Brian shouted.

  Monica hurried out the back door and quickly found the fire escape, but Kevin had yet to exit. She started to climb up, expecting to see him come out at any moment. She reached the top of the fire escape in time to see Kevin peering out from behind a door. Just as Monica was about to cast a memory charm on him in order to take him down, another wand was pointed in her face. “Surprise,” Kevin snarled. “Impetum!” A blast erupted from the tip of Kevin’s wand, and Monica flew back off the fire escape.

  Thankfully, she landed in a dumpster, but that was hardly enough cushion to prevent her from harm. She felt the back of her head smack against something hard, and she was soon very dizzy. Her vision started to fade just in time for the top of the dumpster to close atop of her, and she blacked out.

  She wasn’t sure how long she was in the dumpster before she heard Brian calling her name, and he sounded mortified. “Brian!” she called out, moaning a bit.

  The lid of the dumpster opened, and she saw Brian and Jasmine staring back at her. “Monica, are you all right?!” Brian cried, helping to pull her out of the dumpster.

  She rubbed the back of her head. “I hit my head pretty hard,” she admitted. “He pushed me off the fire escape.” Her mind went back to the second before she had fallen. Kevin was a wizard!

  “Who pushed you?” Brian asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Jasmine asked.

  “What am I talking about? What are you talking about!” Monica yelped, brushing herself off. “Kevin pushed me!”

  “Kevin?” Brian asked. “The actor?”

  “Yes, the ac
tor!” Monica exclaimed.

  “Now, why would Kevin push you?” Jasmine asked.

  Monica felt as though she was losing her sanity. “Because I was chasing him, that’s why!”

  “Why were you chasing him?” Brian retorted.

  Monica felt as though she was the butt of some sort of joke. “Brian, I think your brain was scrambled after your fall from the catwalk.”

  “Fall?” Brian asked. “What fall? Monica, you’re acting really weird.”

  “I’m acting weird?” she shrieked.

  The back door to the theater opened and out stepped Kevin, calm as could be. “Hey! Are you all right!?” he shouted, coming over to them.

  Monica jumped back in surprise. Kevin seemed so calm and confident. “I saw you fall, are you okay?” Kevin asked.

  “Fall! You pushed me!” Monica yelped.

  “What are you talking about, Monica?” Brian asked. “Kevin has been inside with us the whole time. I think you might have hit your head pretty hard. How long were you out?”

  “I… I don’t know,” Monica said, staring at Kevin.

  “Maybe you should take her home?” Jasmine suggested. “Kevin, you got the part, by the way. Excellent audition.”

  Kevin smiled. “Thanks, Jasmine. I hope I can do the part justice. The rest of the cast should be getting here soon, right?”

  “That’s right,” Jasmine said. She turned to Brian. “If you have anything else you need to ask us about, you just let us know. Anything we can do to help find out what happened to Jeremiah.”

  “Yes, anything,” Kevin said in agreement, and he winked at Monica before he and Jasmine headed back into the theater.

  Monica stared, open-mouthed, as they left. “I don’t understand what just happened,” she said.

  “Well, you told me you were going to look for clues in the catwalk, right?” Brian asked.

  “No! I was chasing Kevin!” Monica exclaimed.

  Brian looked at her with a confused gaze. “I think I should probably take you back to the shop. Do you think you need to go to the hospital?”

  “No, we need to go to the station and have Kevin arrested!” Monica exclaimed.

  Brian’s phone started ringing. “Oh, hold on. It’s the chief. Give me just a second.” He answered the phone and stepped away.

  Monica, unable to fully comprehend what was going on, slipped into the passenger’s seat of Brian’s patrol car. “Unbelievable,” she said under her breath, shaking her head. She thought of those last moments before her fall once again. He had blasted her with a wand. Kevin was a wizard. There was no denying that. But what had he done? Erased Brian and Jasmine’s memories? That wasn’t going to help him get away with that. What was he doing in Bankstown?

  Brian sat down in the driver’s seat once he had finished his phone call with the chief. “You’re not going to believe this,” Brian said, “but Kevin’s roommate turned himself in. Said he was the one who switched out the gallows hoping that Jeremiah would trip and hang himself.”

  “What?” Monica cried. “No, that’s not right! Kevin did it!”

  “Monica, we’ve got a confession,” Brian said. “Tommy said he was trying to help Kevin get the part. The chief is probably going to bring Kevin in for questioning himself. Tommy is swearing that Kevin doesn’t know a thing.”

  “So, we are basing all of this off the idea that Kevin’s roommate wanted him to get the part and built the gallows and crossed his fingers hoping the guy would trip?” Monica asked. “Tell me that doesn’t make sense to you.”

  “I mean…not really, but it’s plausible, right?” Brian asked. “I’m going to take you back to the bookshop, and then I’m going to the station to interview Tommy. He swears Kevin didn’t have anything to do with this. He was just trying to help his friend, or at least that is what he is saying.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Monica yelped. “Brian, Kevin is guilty!”

  Brian pulled out of the parking lot, heading back toward the bookshop. “We’ll figure something out, Monica. Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this. We’ll find out the truth.”

  “I know the truth!” Monica declared.

  Soon they were back at the bookshop, and Brian was leaving her standing there feeling flustered as he drove off to meet up with the chief. “Ugh!” Monica stomped her feet and stormed inside. Holly stared back at her after Monica violently jerked the door open.

  “Everything all right?” Holly asked.

  “I need to write a letter to the Sorcerers’ Council,” Monica said.

  “A re-trial?” Abigail’s voice yelped hopefully from a corner. “Do you have additional evidence to—”

  “It’s not about you, Abigail,” Monica said. “But if you have additional evidence, let me know, and I’ll write them.”

  “What is this about, Monica?” Holly asked. “You seem pretty upset. What happened, Monica? And…eww, why do you smell like that?”

  “I was pushed into a dumpster,” Monica said, taking a sniff of her shirt only to realize that she really did stink.

  “Pushed into a dumpster?” Holly asked. “What do you mean? What’s going on?

  “There is a wizard in town,” Monica hissed, snatching some paper and a pen from behind the counter. “And I’m pretty sure he killed a man.”

  14

  Only a few hours went by before a member of the Sorcerers’ Council exited through the back entrance of the shop. It was the witch who had headed up Abigail’s hearing, so Abigail quickly went and hid away up in the loft in shame. “Thank you so much for coming on such short notice,” Monica said.

  “Your letter was awfully urgent, and it’s quite an accusation. You are telling me there is an unregistered wizard running amok in Bankstown and that he committed murder…over a part in a play?” the old witch asked, crossing her arms. Her robes swayed as she stepped out from behind the counter.

  “His name is Kevin, or at least, that is what he is going by,” Monica said. “He used his wand to knock me clear off a fire escape and into a dumpster, and he wiped the memories of an officer and his theater director. Then, to top it all off, I’m pretty sure he had something to do with the fact that his roommate confessed to the crime that he committed.”

  “Well, I will investigate this matter myself,” the witch said. “If you would just point me in the right direction.”

  “Are you sure you want to go it alone?” Holly asked, appearing from behind a bookshelf. “I mean… He sounds pretty violent. He did hurt Monica, after all.”

  The witch huffed. “I mean little offense to you, Miss Montoya, when I say to your friend that there is a grand difference between the capabilities of a witch of my classification and that of an unnatural.”

  “No offense taken… I think…” Monica said with a frown.

  “Some foolish wizard is about to be in a lot of trouble,” was all the witch had left to say before she departed.

  “Shouldn’t she, I don’t know…change clothes or something before walking around Bankstown like that?” Holly asked, watching the woman in the pointed witch’s hat and purple and green robes depart.

  “Probably,” Monica said. “But I’m not going to tell her that. Besides, how would you have reacted if you saw someone walking around like that in the summer?”

  “Avoid eye contact,” Holly admitted, then added an exclamatory, “Oh!”

  “Exactly,” Monica said. “People will leave her alone, and I’m pretty sure that’s what she wants.”

  Holly glanced up at the cuckoo clock that had just started to chime. “Looks like it’s time to start closing duties,” she said, and she began picking up books to reshelf and double-checking to make sure that no customer placed books back on the shelves in improper places. “What are the chances we could head to Wysteria tonight?” Holly asked hopefully. “I am kind of craving a witch’s brew stew from the Cookey Cauldron.”

  Monica laughed, but before she could answer, the door opened. Isaac entered the shop, and he entered sl
owly and hesitantly as though he thought someone was going to launch a book at him. Monica frowned. Her last run-in with Isaac had been far from pleasant. “Hey, Isaac,” she said somewhat bitterly.

  “Hey, Isaac!” Holly called from across the shop.

  “Hey,” he said, then looked directly at Monica. “Um, Monica… Can we talk?” he asked.

  Monica sighed, but she and Isaac stepped out in front of the shop to speak privately. “What’s going on?” Monica asked.

  “I came here to apologize,” he said. “I was kind of a jerk the other night.”

  “Kind of?” Monica asked, and his cheeks turned red.

  “Okay, I was a jerk,” he said. “I snapped at you because of something going on with me, and you didn’t deserve that. I’m sorry.”

  Monica relaxed a bit. She hadn’t really expected an apology, so this came as a nice surprise. “It’s okay, Isaac,” she said. “You want to talk about it?”

  He shrugged, but after a moment of uncomfortable silence, he seemed to feel the need to fill the void. “It’s just that…ugh, this is going to sound so stupid…”

  “Try me,” Monica said.

  “You’re a cool woman, Monica. I enjoy hanging out with you. It’s just that ever since Holly started working here…well, she and I haven’t really…hung out or anything…” His face was practically glowing it had turned so red. “Holly’s my best friend. I guess I got kind of jealous that she had a girlfriend to hang out with now.”

  Monica smiled. “That’s what your little snippy attitude the other night was about?”