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

by Susan Harper

  “Monica!” the girl said in a squeaky voice. “It’s me! Abs!”

  Monica stared at the girl in pilgrim attire, feeling incredibly confused. “Abigail?” Monica asked. “Um… What? Why are you… Why are you…”

  “I had my hearing,” Abigail said. “They put an end to my sentence.”

  “But…you were seventeen when you were turned into a cat?” Monica asked. “Why are you a little girl?”

  “Beatrice, the mermaid, argued in court that they should give me back the years I lost while I was on the run from the Sorcerer’s Council of my day,” Abigail said, grinning. “So, I’m the same age I was during the trials now. I’m free, Monica!”

  Monica nodded, still staring at her in confusion. “That’s really great, Abigail. I’m happy for you.”

  “What’s going on out here?” Grace asked. She had just opened the door and was standing with them on the porch. She stared at Abigail. “Lost time traveler?” she whispered.

  “No, this is my familiar. Or at least she was,” Monica said. “Came to tell me her sentence was concluded.”

  Only a moment later, Holly joined them on the porch as well and hurried to close the door behind her when she saw the pilgrim standing there. “What’s going on?” Holly demanded.

  “Apparently, the famous Abigail Williams has decided to make an appearance,” Grace said. “Freed at last, I see.”

  Abigail stuck her tongue out at Grace. “You must be Holly’s other half, then. The other Ibeji twin. You found her. I’m happy for you, Holly.”

  “Thanks,” Holly said, her arms crossed.

  “Okay, well…” Monica said, not really sure what else she should say to Abigail. “Congratulations and everything.”

  “Come on, Holly,” Grace said, grabbing her sister by the arm. “Let’s go back to the party. I think Monica needs a second with her.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Holly said, following Grace back inside with an unconvincing “Good to see you” muttered in Abigail’s direction.

  Monica turned back to face Abigail, who was staring at the door in deep concentration. “So that’s Grace, huh?”

  “Yeah. Her and her boyfriend are in town visiting,” Monica said. “How did you know I was here?”

  “I went by your cottage first, and the ghoul told me I could expect you here,” Abigail said, still staring toward the house. “Something’s off about her.”

  “Excuse me?” Monica asked.

  “How did she know who I was? You didn’t tell her, did you?” Abigail asked. “How did she know I was Abigail Williams when you said I was your familiar?”

  “Probably because you’re more than just a little famous in the mystic community,” Monica said. “I really wouldn’t recommend you being rude to Holly and her family.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be rude,” Abigail said. “I just thought it was a little weird is all.”

  “Uh-huh,” Monica said in an unconvinced tone. “Look, I’m going to go back inside to the party. I guess I’ll just see you around.”

  Abigail frowned. “Oh… I thought…”

  “What?” Monica snapped. “What did you think? I hope you didn’t think you and I were going to be buddies still.”

  Abigail’s cheeks turned red. “Well, no, I suppose not. Monica, I’m really sorry about what you saw when we went to Boston. I really am. I hope you know I’m not that person anymore.”

  “I hope not,” Monica said. “And obviously I don’t think you are. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have ever written that character witness letter for you. I think you’re rehabilitated. You haven’t given me a reason to think so otherwise.”

  “Then why don’t you want to be my friend anymore?”

  “You could have told me the truth,” Monica said, “a long time ago, Abigail. You could have told me about your involvement with Remembrance. It wasn’t like you didn’t have any opportunities. You helped start up a terrorist organization that was responsible for hunting down people like me. You could have told me. You chose not to, so I was caught off guard. I don’t know about the future, but right now, I don’t really want to be around you.”

  “I’m sorry,” Abigail said.

  “I know you are,” Monica said. “And I guess that’s a start. I have to go. I’ll just…see you around…”

  5

  Monica felt rather awful about sending Abigail away—particularly as a twelve-year-old. In reality, she knew that Abigail was nearly five hundred, but that didn’t make looking into those deceptively innocent eyes and telling her to just go back to the mystic world any easier. She still wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do about Abigail. What she had seen in Boston had really bothered her, and the fact that Abigail never really talked to her about any of it with absolute honesty bothered her. Abigail had been her familiar since she had been a little girl. Back in those days, it had been obvious that Abigail wasn’t a fan of mortals or even her as an unnatural. Things had changed in recent years, though. But had they really, and could Monica truly trust that they had? Even if they had, could she simply forget what she had seen in Boston? Monica wasn’t sure she could.

  She returned to the gathering that had rather rapidly started to wind down. Grace was chatting with George, asking him a million questions about what Holly was like growing up and laughing enthusiastically about some story involving Holly and Isaac as kids. Holly and Grace both admitted to being very awkward and easily distracted children. Monica imagined that, had they known one another, they would have been completely identical and impossible to tell apart in looks and personality. Anniston and her now deceased other body, Angel, had been the same and would have continued to be so until adulthood, had her other body not been accidentally killed. It was probably only in recent years that Holly and Grace had become their own persons, as they were still rather young adults. Even still, they were quite similar in nature, though Grace seemed a smidge more outgoing. She had to be, Monica supposed, to be able to handle meeting so many new people so flawlessly as she was doing today.

  “You okay?” Brian asked, pulling Monica aside in the kitchen. “Holly just told me that was Abigail out there.”

  “Yeah, it was,” Monica said, shoulders slumped. “Kind of weird seeing her like that. The Sorcerer’s Council granted her a few extra years back for her time spent on the run. She looked like a little twelve-year-old girl.”

  “That is weird,” Brian said. “What did you say to her?”

  “I just told her I’d reach out to her if I felt up to it,” Monica said. “But right now, I didn’t, so she decided to go back to the mystical world. She seemed pretty upset, but she didn’t argue. I feel bad, but I just need more time to process, I guess.”

  “I think we all do,” Brian said. “What we saw when we went back in time was not particularly flattering. She was borderline insane, and she worked right under that masked founder of Remembrance. It was kind of horrifying, really. I think she’s changed, and I think you can trust that, but it’s up to you whether or not you want to keep her in your life. She’s not your familiar anymore.”

  “No, she’s not,” Monica said, sighing.

  “What does that mean for you now?” Brian asked. “If you don’t have your familiar?”

  “Most witches only keep their familiars for a little while,” Monica said. “Normal familiars only live about as long as a regular mortal animal would. They appear to natural-born witches when their magic starts to develop and help them keep control as they go through adolescence. Eventually, usually long after their magic is completely controlled, the witch or wizard no longer needs one. You’ve probably noticed that Deimus doesn’t bring his familiar around anymore. His familiar is really old and probably won’t be around much longer. Lenore, Mona’s familiar, she’s still kicking pretty good.”

  “But you? You’re not a natural witch.”

  “No, I’m not,” Monica said. “Which means a familiar didn’t come to me. Abigail was assigned to me by the council. It’s kind of a moot point, a famili
ar for an unnatural. It’s really so when we’re kids, we don’t feel…wrong. I don’t have that much magic in me that I needed to learn to control it. Assigned familiars for unnaturals are really just like our version of a therapy pet.”

  “I’m sorry,” Brian said.

  “I’m not,” Monica said. “It was probably time for Abigail and I to move on anyway.”

  Brian started to say something, but he was interrupted by someone shouting. “Fire! Fire!” Isaac cried, bolting through the house. “Big fire! Everybody out!” He was grabbing Holly’s arm. Uncle Kyle was grabbing his kids, throwing the half-asleep little boy over his shoulder and bolting from the house. Monica had thought she smelled something earlier but had been distracted by Abigail’s sudden appearance. The flames were spreading fast, and the cabin was on fire.

  Brian was on the phone with 911 as they all ran out of the house—rightfully assuming the place didn’t have smoke detectors. Monica hadn’t thought about that when she had gotten her sister and aunts help to secure the building. George was the last one out, and his eyes darted across the lawn for a moment. “Bon? Bonnie!” he shouted when he realized she was not out on the lawn.

  Brian pulled the man back and threw the phone at him. “Give them directions. This place doesn’t have an address,” Brian snapped. “I’ll find her—get back!” Brian, always the hero, bolted into the house.

  Monica scurried to Grace with a look of panic. “Can you stop the fire without the mortals noticing?” she asked in a panicked whisper.

  Naven looked at Grace, who seemed to be contemplating how to do this. Holly, seeing what was taking place between them, hurried over. “Grace, please,” Holly said. “That’s my mom in there.”

  Grace nodded. She closed her eyes, breathed, and suddenly, rain started pouring down. She snapped her fingers, and a nearby tree crashed onto the cabin, busting open the roof and allowing the rain to pour freely into the building. George shrieked, and Jonathan held him back from running into the house. “Let Brian handle it!” Jonathan insisted.

  A moment later, just as they started to hear the distant sounds of firetrucks, Brian came hurrying out of the house with a limp woman in his arms.

  “Mom!” Holly shrieked.

  “Get back!” Brian ordered, laying the woman down. Her clothes were covered in ash and burned to her skin in several places. Monica looked at Grace.

  “Can you help?” Monica asked softly.

  Grace looked around. George, Kyle, and his kids, and a number of paramedics and firefighters were stretched across the lawn. “Not with all these people here…” she said. “Maybe later at the hospital.”

  “If she makes it to ze hospital,” Naven said, sounding worried.

  Bonnie was stable when the paramedics arrived, though unconscious. She was placed into the back of an ambulance, and Brian had George get in his patrol car with him so they could speed off to the hospital together. Everyone else made their own way. Monica had Holly get on the back of her broom-turned-motorcycle, and Isaac sat in the sidecar. Once Kyle and his kids were gone, the others whipped out broomsticks.

  “Let’s ride,” Monica said, cranking the engine to her purple-and-black racing bike and taking it to the sky.

  Grace flew with no help of a broom, a rather stunning and exciting sight despite the grim situation, and she elected to pull Anniston along with her while Norah brought Jonathan on the back of her broom. Naven too was traveling by broom, and Grace provided them with cover by manipulating the clouds around them—a very impressive trick.

  Kyle was rather stunned to find that they had all beaten him to the hospital, given that he had left first. George was alone in the waiting room, shaking, when they arrived. “Where’s Brian?” Monica asked.

  “Back talking with the doctors for me,” he said.

  They only had to wait a few minutes before Brian arrived, and he offered a pitiful smile to the crowd. “Bonnie is stable,” Brian assured all of them. “Got a few serious burns on her legs, but nothing the doctor seems too concerned about. A few minor burns on her arms. Main thing is she has smoke inhalation that is going to need to be monitored. But she’s going to be okay.”

  George breathed, and Holly put an arm around the man’s neck. “She’s going to be all right,” Holly said as though to make sure the man had heard Brian’s report.

  Brian cleared his throat. “That being said… George, I need to know whether or not Bonnie has any sort of addiction problem to your knowledge.”

  “I beg your pardon?” George asked.

  Brian nodded as though he had expected George to be offended by the question. “Bonnie nearly overdosed on sleeping pills of some sort. She was passed out when I found her. I thought it was from the smoke, but luckily, the doctor realized something else was going on and was able to start IV treatments. They avoided having to pump her stomach.”

  “Sleeping pills!” George exclaimed. “She’s never taken pills for anything. Doesn’t even like taking over-the-counter allergy supplements. Says she doesn’t want that crap in her body, and you’re telling me she nearly killed herself with sleeping pills!”

  Brian nervously rubbed his wrist. “I don’t think… I don’t think she was trying to kill herself. I just got word from the fire department that they have reason to believe the house fire was arson.”

  “Someone tried to burn my house down?” Holly exclaimed.

  “Someone nearly did,” Naven said.

  “And your mom was passed out in a back room,” Grace said. “Brian, do you think someone drugged Bonnie and set the house on fire?”

  “I think it’s more than just a hunch at this point, Grace,” Brian said and turned back to George and Holly. “You two are positive she wasn’t taking any medication for sleep aids?”

  “I swear she wasn’t,” Holly said. “My mom doesn’t even drink caffeine. She’s really big on pure body, pure mind kind of thinking. She used to give me honey and whiskey for my coughs as a kid because she didn’t want me putting a bunch of medications in my system. She hates that kind of stuff. She’s not going to be taking sleeping pills intentionally.”

  “Was your wife suicidal? Did she have depression?” Brian asked, and George looked quite bothered.

  “No,” he said firmly.

  “Are you sure?” Brian asked. “A lot of times, these sort of things go unnoticed even by the people closest to the person.”

  “I’m sure,” George said. “She is one of the happiest people I know, Brian. And I talk to my wife. A lot. If she was in that sort of mindset, I would have noticed, I swear it. Someone… Someone did this to her.”

  Brian nodded. “I’m afraid to say it, but I do believe someone tried to kill Bonnie tonight.”

  Holly covered her mouth, looking downright distraught.

  “I’m going to head back to the cabin and talk to the fire department. They’re going to walk me through the crime scene,” he said.

  “I’m going with you,” Monica said firmly. She turned to Holly and put her hands on her shoulders. “We’re going to find out what happened. I promise. You know that Brian and I’ve got this.”

  “I know you do,” Holly said and hugged her.

  Monica left the hospital with Brian, determined to help in any way that she could.

  6

  As they no longer had Grace with them to assist in cover, Monica elected to have her motorcycle turn back into its usual broom form for safekeeping in the back of Brian’s truck on their return to the cabin. She sat in the passenger’s seat of his car, tapping her fingers. She hated riding in mortal vehicles, though Brian was a good driver. She herself had never successfully driven one of these vehicles before. She always preferred her broom, which could change from broom to bike to motorcycle at her command thanks to a bit of transformative magic her sister had created for her.

  “The doctor said that Bonnie is going to be just fine,” Brian assured her.

  “I’m just anxious is all,” Monica said. “I mean, I don’t really know Bonnie
personally. I haven’t known Holly for too long either, though with everything we’ve been through together for the past year, it sure does seem like we’ve known one another forever. But it’s just a strange situation. It’s her mom—her adopted mom. Holly just found out a little over a week ago that her birth mom died before she ever got the chance to meet her, and now Bonnie gets hurt. I can’t imagine what must be going through Holly’s head right now.”

  “Me neither,” Brian admitted. “But the best thing for us to do is to just be there for Holly. Whatever she needs. And, I don’t know about you, but one thing I do know I’m good at is investigating. And if what the fire department suspects is true, that this is arson, then it sure does make it seem like someone was targeting either Holly or her mom.”

  “Holly?”

  “It was her house that went up in flames,” Brian said. “The sleeping medications leads me to believe that it was most likely Bonnie. But that’s the part that bothers me.”

  “It is a pretty messed up thing to do,” Monica said.

  “Yes, obviously, but that’s not the part that’s bothering me,” he said. “Think about it. If someone wanted to target Bonnie by doping her up on sleeping meds and then setting the place on fire, why do it at Holly’s? Why not do it one night while she’s at home alone? If someone was targeting Bonnie and bothered to go through the planning of obtaining sleeping medications and whatever was used to set the place on fire, it seems like a pretty slim window of opportunity to want to wait until she was away from home with all of those witnesses.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “That our suspect saw an opportunity,” Brian said. “Meaning that they were probably there in the house with all of us.”