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

by Susan Harper

  “Chip’s hotel room,” Brian said. “We know you stole something from the safe in his room.”

  “I most certainly did not!” Zora exclaimed.

  “Save it, Zora, we know you were there and that you stole some sort of book from the safe,” Monica said. “So why don’t you just tell us what is really going on? Why did you really run?”

  Zora hesitated. Brian crossed his arms, looking quite frustrated. “Try me, Zora. I know how you feel about me, and frankly, I’d love an excuse to show you just what I’m capable of.”

  “Big talk,” Zora hissed, but she did seem somewhat stirred. She sighed and pulled her satchel around to her front and opened it up. She pulled out a red, leather-bound notebook. “This is what I took from his room at the inn. I was trying to protect him.”

  “Protect him,” Brian huffed, snatching the book from her and opening it up. “It’s a ledger…” He continued turning pages for a bit. “Oh, I may not be extremely familiar with wizarding laws, but I suspect this is highly illegal!”

  “What is it?” Monica asked.

  “Information on bets on Romp-A-Roo games,” Brian said. “I assume it’s illegal for officials to participate in gambling of games you oversee?”

  “Of course it is,” Zora said. “It’s very illegal. Chip has been doing it for years.”

  “He was being nitpicky with who could and couldn’t play to try to sway the odds on which teams would make it to finals,” Monica said. “And you wanted to keep this quiet?”

  “Yes,” Zora said. “I didn’t want people finding out what Chip was up to. It would break his mom’s heart to have her son’s name dragged through the mud. Believe it or not, I liked his family.”

  “You’re full of it,” Monica said suddenly. “What’s the real reason? You don’t care about Chip’s family. And you know what I think? I think you lied to us about leaving Chip over his gambling. People are already talking about how Chip left you. I think you’re hiding something.”

  Zora glared at her. “I left Chip.”

  “No, I don’t think you did,” Monica said. “I think he dumped your butt, so why are you covering all this up?”

  Zora stomped her foot. “You’re irritating, you know that?”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t make me wrong,” Monica said. “You’ve been lying to us since day one. So why don’t you tell us what’s really going on here?”

  Brian suddenly smirked. “Ah, I think I found something…” he said, looking at a new page in the ledger. “Looks like Bowman was in on the gambling too. And, look here… Last game they bet on was the Mort City Monsters game. Bowman bet that the Mort City Monsters would make it to semi-finals against Chip, who thought they’d lose out. Bet a lot of money, it looks like. Monica, what’s this symbol right here mean?”

  Monica leaned over the ledger to see a large X with a circle underneath. “That means they were betting in goblin gold!” she exclaimed. “It’s like the dollar symbol.”

  Brian glared up at Zora. “You knew this was in here, didn’t you? Chip owed Bowman a bunch of money. Why were you covering for him?”

  Monica watched Zora carefully. She looked worried, like she had been cornered. “Ah!” Monica exclaimed. “Chip did dump you, didn’t he? But only because he knew about you and Bowman.”

  Zora’s face went bloodred. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Makes sense,” Brian said. “You cheat on Chip with Bowman. Chip dumps you. You dated Chip, so you knew he kept a record of all of his gambling activities. If you knew about the bet between your ex and your current fling, you would want to protect Bowman from looking guilty.”

  Zora was quiet for a moment. “Fine,” she said again. “I stole the ledger because I was going to destroy it. I didn’t want you people thinking that Bowman had anything to do with what happened to Chip.”

  “Yes, and what a ridiculous idea that would have been,” Brian said sarcastically. “Bowman kills his girlfriend’s ex-fiancé over an enormous financial dispute. Not a serious motive at all!”

  “Bowman isn’t a killer,” Zora hissed.

  “Look at the last bet in here, too,” Brian said. “Chip was betting Wysteria would win their next game against Bowman, who felt they would lose.”

  “Yes, well, why else do you think Bowman wanted to let a mortal and troll play for Wysteria?” Zora snapped. “He figured if you did, you’d lose your next game for sure. He and Chip got into it about their bet a while back.”

  “So now you’re telling me straight out that they had had an altercation recently?” Brian asked, and Zora’s face became even redder. “Yes, it’s not looking too good for your boyfriend right now, Zora. I’m placing you under arrest for tampering with evidence.”

  “I’d like to see you try, mortal,” Zora said, reaching into her cloak for her wand, but by her surprised expression, she very clearly realized she had lost it during her fall.

  “Were you seriously going to try something again?” Brian exclaimed, and Zora held up both hands defensively. Brian, who kept his handcuffs on him from his work on the mortal side, slapped them on her wrists.

  “Wait, I need to find my wand!” Zora exclaimed.

  “I’ll find it,” Monica said. “But I’m definitely not giving it to you when I do!”

  13

  Monica and Brian arrived back in downtown Wysteria and booked Zora for attempting to steal and hide evidence. Head Authority Mueller stood with them in the breakroom of the precinct. “So you really think Bowman is behind this?” he asked, his arms crossed and looking very serious.

  “We think so,” Brian said, handing Mueller the ledger they had confiscated from Zora.

  “That’s pretty big, trying to go after a couple of Romp-A-Roo officials, you know?” he said. “I hope this is more than a hunch you’re going on here…” Mueller began sifting through the ledger. “I see that Chip owed Bowman a lot of goblin gold over the last few games… I wonder why they were betting in goblin gold?”

  “We are guessing he had a bunch of it stashed up,” Brian said. “He was gambling pretty hard on some goblin games with a crowd at Goblin’s Gallows.”

  Mueller’s nose wrinkled. “Goblin’s Gallows. Those are some rough crowds to be hanging around, even for goblins. Chip sure did run with a risky crowd. Looks like he had cleared all his debts with them for the most part, according to the ledger. Only one he was really in the red with was Bowman.”

  “And it was a pretty hefty lot,” Brian said. “You’ll see if you look at the dates how Chip would always collect his winnings from Bowman in record time. Looks like Chip wasn’t so great at returning the favor with those he owed money to. He’s got some debts that would go on for months before he would pay out. Looks like he counted on winnings to pay off his debts. From the looks of things, they had a bet going about the Wysteria Werewolves. Bowman was hoping for us to lose our next game. Looks to me like Bowman must have tried to call off the bet since Chip still hadn’t paid him for his previous losses, but Chip was wanting to try to erase some of his debt by making a big win rooting for us to take home the gold.”

  “Bowman didn’t want to wait from what Zora has hinted,” Monica said. “I’m betting that Chip was supposed to meet Bowman at the Romp-A-Roo fields to pay him, but he hid his goblin gold because he wanted to try to talk Bowman into betting on the next game. Bowman didn’t want to, and he figured that Chip must not have had the gold, but really Chip was just taking another stupid gamble. Bowman killed him and probably went looking for the gold, but we showed up before he found it.”

  “Then we just need to find Bowman,” Mueller said. “I’ll have my men out on the hunt for him. He is probably still in Wysteria.”

  “Already checked the inn. He left a few hours ago, but I don’t think he left town just yet,” Brian said.

  “Then let’s hit the streets before he realizes we’re onto him,” Mueller said. “Good work, Detective.”

  Brian and Monica left the building, and almo
st as soon as they did, they were greeted by some rather frantic friends. Holly and Abigail had apparently been looking for them since the hearing. “You had us worried,” Holly yelled.

  “Seriously,” Abigail grunted. “You just ditched your familiar at a crowded city building.”

  “Sorry, Abs,” Monica said. “But it was sort of urgent. We think we know who killed Chip.”

  “We know who killed Chip,” Brian corrected. “We have a pretty solid list of evidence, including his girlfriend’s statement about his and Chip’s gambling tendencies.”

  “Well, dang,” Abigail said. “Who is it?”

  “Bowman,” Monica said. “We busted Zora. She was trying to dispose of evidence that proved Chip and Bowman were doing some illegal gambling on Romp-A-Roo. Chip owed Bowman big time, and they were supposed to meet up to do a money exchange, according to Zora. But Chip decided to hide the gold, we assume, to try to talk Bowman into making another bet. Things must have turned sour.”

  “Very sour, apparently,” Abigail said.

  “Where is the rest of the team?” Brian asked.

  “Still out celebrating,” Abigail said. “Those Romp-A-Roo players really know how to party.”

  “Well, we’ll have to wait a bit before we join them,” Brian said. “Because right now we need to find Bowman.”

  “Then let’s fly,” Holly said excitedly, summoning her training broom.

  “How come Holly can fly a broom? I tried to fly Zora’s and it beat the living daylights out of me,” Brian said.

  “It’s a training broom,” Monica said. “We should think about getting you one.” Brian looked a little befuddled, so she explained. “Regular broomsticks usually only work for witches and warlocks, but these days, a lot of non-wizards have been using training brooms to fly because the brooms aren’t as picky about who flies them.”

  This intrigued Brian enough to seemingly forget that they were in the middle of starting a citywide manhunt. “Do you think, well, I could try your broom, Holly?” he asked.

  Holly grinned and handed it to him. “I am technically part-witch since I’m an Ibeji, but regular brooms still won’t do it for me,” Holly said. “So don’t be surprised if my training broom takes you a minute. It ascends and descends really slowly, but I got a pretty quick broom for a training broom. It can travel distances well.”

  “Okay, I think I got this,” he said, throwing his leg over the broom. “This would be an easier way to search for Bowman, wouldn’t it?”

  “Go for it,” Holly said with a smirk. “You guys can search from the skies, and I’ll recruit some Romp-A-Roo players to help out with the ground search.”

  “Thanks, Holly,” Monica said. “You coming, Abs?” she asked.

  “Sure thing,” Abigail said, hopping onto the back of Monica’s broom.

  Monica and Brian took off, each on their own broom. Abigail sat on the back of Monica’s, and they could see Holly hurrying off below to recruit a ground search party. Wysteria authorities were already sweeping through the town, but additional help could be beneficial. “Easy, keep steady,” Monica warned Brian as she swooped around him several times, waiting for the broom to reach a decent flying altitude.

  “She wasn’t kidding about this thing ascending really slowly,” he complained.

  “Yeah, but it gets around distance wise,” Monica said, and almost as soon as she said it, Brian took off in one direction with a surprised yelp at how quickly the broom was moving.

  She could hear him laughing with excitement as they searched the skies for Bowman alongside a handful of other authorities parading the skies that evening. Just when they were beginning to think that Bowman might have already skipped town, an authority witch went flying past them without her broomstick, having been shot out of the sky by a blast from a wand. “I got her!” Monica yelped, diving to save the woman from splatting hard on the ground.

  “Thanks,” the witch said breathlessly as Monica dropped her gingerly on the ground below. “Now, get that creep!”

  “On it!” Monica said, zipping back up into the sky where Brian was already chasing after Bowman. “Watch out!” Monica shouted. “He’s got a wand!”

  The two of them performed a sort of figure eight around Bowman, who was clearly trying to make a break for it. “You know, you’re not making this any easier on yourself!” Brian called. “Running makes you look pretty guilty!”

  Bowman shot a blast from his wand at Brian, who just barely got out of the way in time. “Hey, watch it! You’re going to kill someone!” Abigail called from the back of Monica’s broom.

  “I’m not about to be bested by a mortal, an unnatural, and a fake familiar!” Bowman roared, flinging his wand out in front of him again. Monica had to dive to avoid the blast, and Abigail didn’t seem to care for that. As Monica looped around, Abigail threw herself from the back of the broom and landed right on the man’s shoulders, clawing at his face.

  He yelped and tried to pull her off, dropping his wand in the process. While he was distracted, Brian went full speed toward him, and they collided hard. Their brooms somehow latched together by the straw ends, and they were flailing through the air in a rapid descent. “Crap, crap, crap!” Monica exclaimed, realizing very quickly there was no way she was going to reach the ground in time. She pulled out her wand, knowing what a bad shot she usually was, and performed the only spell she could think of that would prevent them from crashing into the pavement below. “Flexilis!” she called, and Brian, Bowman, and Abigail all bounced off the ground like one giant rubber call. They bounced three more times before coming to a final crashing halt.

  When Brian stood up, his legs wobbled like Jell-o. “What did you do?” he asked and fell over completely, still jiggling terribly.

  “Sorry! I know a counter-spell for it,” Monica said. “I basically, well, turned you all to rubber.” She laughed to see Abigail trying to stand up, then fall right on her face. She performed the counter-spell, and Brian quickly jumped on Bowman and held him down until a group of other authorities arrived.

  “Good job, Detective!” one of them said, slapping Brian in the back. “Your girlfriend ought to consider a career as a safety witch. Nice spell, girl! Nice spell!”

  “Thanks,” Brian said just as Head Authority Mueller arrived on scene to take over. The man smiled approvingly at Brian, which according to some of the others was practically the Mueller equivalent of a hug.

  Bowman was carted off, and Monica went with Brian back to the station for booking. Now that he was being taken in, Bowman suddenly seemed to be very anti-mortal and troll, loudly boasting that he had only wanted them to be permitted to play on the Wysteria Werewolves team because it would have hurt the team’s chances. “Ouch, my pride,” Brian said rather sarcastically as Bowman was taken back.

  Brian smiled at Monica. “Thanks for the save there, Monica,” he said and glanced down at Abigail. “You too, Abigail. Got to say, I loved the way you catapulted yourself on him like that. You helped me take him down.”

  “Noted,” a familiar voice said from behind, and they turned to see that it was Beatrice—the mermaid of the Sorcerer’s Council—being pushed about in her famous oversized fishbowl. “Just came down here to speak with Head Authority Mueller,” Beatrice said. “To find out who the award money should be going to. I explained to Chip’s family that it was the authorities who took down Bowman, but they are insisting still that the money be given to those who took down his killer.”

  Abigail puffed up quickly in front of Beatrice. Of all the members of the Sorcerer’s Council, it was Beatrice who often spoke in favor of reducing Abigail’s sentence.

  “Well,” Mueller said as he entered the room. “Good job today, Brian. I’m really impressed with the way you handled yourself. First time flying a broom on your own as well?”

  “Ah, Mueller, just the man I was looking for,” Beatrice said, nodding to the young elf helping her with her fishbowl, a silent way of letting the woman know to turn her bowl a bit. �
��I’m here about the reward money. It needs to be distributed.”

  “Oh, that would be these three, then,” Mueller said. “But of course, Brian will not be able to accept it. He was working the case.”

  “Then it will go to Monica and Abigail,” Beatrice said. “And what is it exactly that you did, Abigail?”

  “She jumped off my broom onto Bowman’s face,” Monica said proudly. “It was incredible. We had to be three hundred feet in the air at least. She made him drop his wand and distracted him long enough for Brian to take him down. I just did a spell to keep them all from going splat because they were falling.”

  “Excellent work,” Beatrice said. “I’ll keep this in mind next time I meet with the council.” She spun around to face the elf woman and held out her hand. The elf handed a small bag up to Beatrice, who spun back around and handed the bag to Monica. “The reward money. All paid in goblin gold.”

  “Of course it is,” Brian said. “Chip’s father gambled with the same goblins his son did. I bet most of the family fortune is in goblin gold.”

  “It does appear that way,” Beatrice said. “Spend it wisely.”

  14

  The aftermath of Chip’s murder investigation and the various hearings that had taken place involving Romp-A-Roo officials—not to mention the fact that three new officials had to be voted in—happened so quickly that Monica’s head felt like it was spinning. She and Abigail didn’t even have an opportunity to count their gold by the time the first game in the semi-finals arrived.

  Monica, Mona, Holly, Abigail, and Lenore all packed their bags to head to the grand city of Kabat, a mostly wizard community with a handful of vampires. The Wysteria Werewolves would be playing the Kabat Clovers in the first match. They rented a hotel room together a floor above the players, who were terribly rowdy. “I guarantee that Brian is getting broken in by the team,” Mona said the morning of the match. “I could hear Urrgah shouting and running around in the middle of the night.”