by Zoe Arden
My mind kept drifting back to Melbourne. He'd come in through my bedroom window when I was getting ready for my date with Colt, scaring me half to death. Vampires had the lightest footfall of any paranormal, as far as I knew. I'd never even heard him approach until he spoke.
"Ava, I need your help."
I'd thought I was staring at a ghost for a minute.
"You're dead. We found your ashes," I told him.
"I know. I needed certain people to believe I was gone."
"But where have you been? Who are you running from? Let me get Colt."
"No!" Melbourne hissed.
"Why not?"
"Because it concerns his father."
As far as I knew, Colt's father had died when he was twelve. Colt had grown up both admiring and resenting him. I still hadn't gotten the full story. Maybe now was a good time to ask some questions. Then I remembered that this was a date, not one of the interrogations Colt and I sometimes worked together on.
"Ava!"
I blinked and looked up from my plate.
"Yes?"
Colt set his fork down and leaned back in his chair, clearly frustrated.
"Are you gonna eat your food or play with it all night?"
I looked back down and realized I'd turned my clams into little flying saucers that had crashed into the bed of rice they came with.
"Oh! I'm sorry." I quickly scooped a clam up with my fork and bit into it. "Ow!"
Colt burst out laughing. "You're supposed to take them out of the shell first."
"Now you tell me," I said and spit it into my napkin. I tried another one, this time scooping it out of the shell as Colt suggested, and thought I was going to vomit when it hit my tongue.
"Are you okay?" His face was etched with concern but his voice was fighting back laughter.
"Yeah." I grabbed my water glass and downed half of it in three giant swallows.
"Do you wanna get out of here?" Colt asked.
"Oh, my roses, yes." I set my fork down and Colt grabbed my hand, leading me outside. He left a big tip for the waiter even though neither of us touched our food.
Twenty minutes later, we were sitting outside Bert's Burgers, a bacon cheeseburger in my hand and a pile of onion rings between us.
"This is so much better," I said.
"We should have come here first. I guess I was trying to impress you."
"Not necessary," I assured him. "You won me over when you caught Polly Peacock." I'd never forget Colt bursting through the doors of The Mystic Cupcake and saving me just before Polly could steal my soul. It had been a close call. One I didn't want to repeat.
"Well, I hate to admit it, but Sheriff Knoxx helped quite a bit on that one."
"Just Sheriff Knoxx?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Sheriff Knoxx and someone else," Colt teased.
"Someone else? Who might this 'someone else' be? She wouldn't happen to have blond hair and a name that rhymes with 'save a,' would she?" I teased back.
Somehow, between the grease and the onions and the bench we were sitting on, Colt had managed to come within an inch of my face.
"You have onion breath," I said.
"So do you." The fact that neither of us cared made it all the more perfect.
Colt kissed me. I knew it was wrong to compare his kiss to Damon's, but I couldn't help myself. I hadn't kissed that many men in my life. With Damon and Colt, I was at a grand total of three. Four, if you counted Todd Murphy in third grade when he cornered me in the lunchroom.
Colt's kiss was better than any of them, onion breath and all. His lips were soft and warm. It was like kissing a sun-drenched cloud.
"Wow," he said when he pulled away.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Wow."
A dark shadow cut across the night just behind Colt's back. Melbourne landed on top of a roof and stood there. Watching us.
"Um," I said. My stomach was suddenly churning. "Can we go?"
"Go?" Colt asked uncertainly. "Yeah. Sure. No problem."
He opened his car door for me as I kept my eyes glued to the shadow. Was it Melbourne? I'd thought so at first, but the longer I stared at it, the less it seemed to fit his build.
"Is anything wrong?" Colt asked as he started the car. He was one of the only locals on Heavenly Haven who drove everywhere. Most people just walked. Of course, he wasn't exactly a local. He was stationed here. For now. Living in Sweetland Cove for a month hardly made you local.
"Nothing's wrong," I said as my stomach did backflips. "Actually, I think that clam's not sitting so well with me. Sorry."
"It's okay."
He dropped me off at home, walking me to the door. Just before I went inside, I saw the shadow again. It had followed me. It watched as Colt kissed me goodnight. When I got up to my bedroom, I looked out the window. It was still there. I opened the window and leaned out, calling tentatively to it.
"Melbourne?"
Instead of responding, it retreated deeper into the shadows until it was either gone or so well hidden I could no longer see it. I hoped it stayed that way.
* * *
CHAPTER TWO
The Mystic Cupcake opened its doors bright and early. The line had already begun to form. I was grateful for it. The busier we were, the less time it gave me to think, and I had a lot to think about. For starters, what should I tell Trixie about Melbourne? Should I tell her anything at all?
For weeks, Trixie had been crying over Melbourne's loss. The two of them had grown close after Pennyweather Kelso's death at the hands of the draugr months before. Aunt Trixie had been a life support system for Melbourne, slowly pulling him back from the depths of despair. She had helped him to live again.
It was funny to think of the word "live" in connection with Melbourne, since technically vampires weren't alive. I sighed and tried to focus on the box of cupcakes I was getting together for Lottie Mudget. She'd finally started going out again since her sister's death. Paisley Mudget had been the first in the long series of murders that had gripped Heavenly Haven not long ago. I had almost been the last.
The murders had chased Damon Tellinger out of Sweetland Cove. Heck, off Heavenly Haven altogether. For a while, I had hoped our relationship could work, but when you're a human living in a paranormal world, it was hard to deal with things like soul-sucking witches and blood-sucking vampires. I still missed him, but not as much as I'd initially thought. I was sure that if Colt wasn't here, it would be a different story.
Lottie snapped her fingers in front of me. "Earth to Ava."
My cheeks went pink. "Was I daydreaming again?"
"I'd say so," she replied.
"Sorry. I'll have your order right up."
"Oh, that's fine. I'm not in any rush. I thought I might head over to Mistmoor Point this afternoon and pay Tazzie Singer a visit. See how she's holding up and all since... you know."
Poor Tazzie. Her husband, Mayor Singer, had been one of the last victims in Polly Peacock's series of murders. All of Mistmoor Point had grieved when they'd found out their mayor was dead. Much of Sweetland had grieved with them. Unlike our own Mayor Thomas, Mayor Singer was liked by everyone.
"Have they found anyone to fill Mayor Singer's vacancy yet?" I asked Lottie. "Or is his secretary still in charge?" Hadley Miner had done the best job she could running the mayor's affairs after his death, but she just didn't have the expertise to keep things running smoothly.
Lottie's eyes lit up. I realized now that her coming into the bakery had little to do with wanting pastries and more to do with wanting someone to gossip with. Now that Paisley and Margaret were both gone, her go-to gossipmongers were gone as well.
"As a matter of fact, they have." Lottie’s eyes shined brightly as she wet her lips in anticipation of spilling the beans. "Tazzie Singer."
I blinked. "Mayor Singer's wife is taking over?"
Lottie nodded happily. "Can you believe it? I mean, she's a fabulous woman but she doesn't have any experience in politics at all."
"She runs those charities," I said uncertainly, looking around the bakery for Eleanor or Trixie to confirm this news.
"Witches for a Wart-Free World is a fine charity to host," Lottie said, "but it hardly equates to being mayor."
I bit my bottom lip, not sure how to respond.
"She's only acting mayor," a woman's voice said from behind Lottie. We both turned in the owner's direction and saw Rachel Sessler standing with her hands on her hips. Her lips were pursed and her taut skin looked ten shades of pink. If I didn't know better, I'd think she'd overdone her makeup this morning, but Rachel always looked like that.
"Oh?" Lottie said, trying not to sound too much like she cared. "That wasn't what I heard."
"I can assure you that Tazzie Singer is only acting mayor of Mistmoor. The town has sort of rallied around her since Herbert's death."
"I see," Lottie said, feeling outdone in the gossip department. She didn't try to contradict Rachel a second time. Rachel worked in Mayor Thomas's office. She was his right-hand woman, so if anyone ought to know what was going on with Tazzie, it was her.
"Well," Lottie said, "I bet you haven't heard the other rumors circulating around town."
"You mean about those break-ins?" Rachel asked. "They're nothing. Just one of those things."
"Not those. I'm talking about The Alchemic Stone."
Our blank expressions told Lottie all she needed to know.
"Aha, I thought as much. Apparently, the owner of the Alchemic Stone has decided to rent the place out to the first bidder. And they've had a lot of interest. From what I hear, a woman from the mainland is interested in buying it outright. Not even renting."
"They're selling Anastasia's store?" I asked, shocked. "Who would want it?"
"It's not Anastasia's store anymore," Lottie reminded me. "Anastasia's dead, and Polly's in prison."
"Yeah, but it just seems... wrong."
"It's a smart business plan," Rachel interjected. "Why would you keep a perfectly good store closed up just because the previous owner was murdered and her daughter was a serial killer?"
"It just seems like the new owners would be inviting trouble," I said.
"Oh, Ava, for witch's sake, the place isn't cursed," Lottie said. "The woman interested in buying it knows that."
I frowned. "I guess, but still... with Polly practicing dark magic in there and the draugr Anastasia had locked up in her basement, I just don't know if the place should be reopened."
"It would be nice to have a stone and gem shop in town again," Rachel said, ignoring my concerns. Maybe she was right. Maybe they were silly. "Can we hurry this along? I'm meeting Mayor Thomas in a half hour."
I finished Lottie and Rachel's orders and had just enough time to check my phone. I'd hoped to hear from Colt this morning, but there wasn't so much as a "hey." I bit my bottom lip, hoping I hadn't blown things by ending our date so abruptly. Why had I let that shadow get to me? It was probably just Melbourne. I'm sure he was waiting for the right time to finish telling me what he was up to.
"Ava, can you get some more calming caramel from the back, please?" Eleanor called to me from the register.
"Sure." I sent Colt a quick text, Sorry things ended so early last night. I had fun, and grabbed the caramel. When I came back out front, my dad was just walking through the front door.
"Now he shows up," Eleanor chided playfully. "Just late enough to miss the morning rush."
There were still several people milling about the shop, but we had some breathing room.
Eli looked at Eleanor apologetically.
"Sorry, I know I'm running a little late."
"A little?" Eleanor said, screwing her face up into a tight little pinch of skin.
My dad looked at her with exaggerated confusion. "What's the matter? Swallow a newt?"
Eleanor's jaw dropped open, and Trixie started laughing. "You do look like you swallowed a newt," Trixie said. Eleanor shot her a look, and Trixie had the good sense to look chastened.
My father got to work in back, rolling out dough and filling the ovens. I went to help him. We rolled out cinnamon rolls in silence for a while, then he remembered my date with Colt.
"So, how'd it go?" he asked. Like my Aunt Trixie and Eleanor, he had really warmed up to Colt when he'd stayed with us during the Polly Peacock fiasco.
"Okay," I said. "I mean, I think it went okay."
I sprinkled some happiness extract in the middle of the cinnamon and rolled the dough tighter.
"You think?" my dad asked.
"I don't know. I ended things a little abruptly."
Suddenly my dad's face turned red. "Why? Did he make a move on you? I'll turn him into a goat, just give me the word."
I laughed, "No, Dad. I just... I don't know."
My father nodded knowingly. "It's Damon, isn't it? It's hard getting over your first love."
"It's not Damon," I said, snapping at him. "Why does everyone think that?" I slapped the dough on the counter now instead of rolling it. It was therapeutic.
"Sorry, don't take it out on the dough."
I forced myself to relax and changed the subject. "What about you? Why were you late this morning?"
My father's face turned slightly pale. "I was just... I thought I saw someone I knew."
I scrunched my brow together. "Saw someone? Like who?"
He shook his head. "It's impossible. I know that, but for just a second, I thought I saw Melbourne."
My heart froze. "You did?"
He laughed it off. "I was daydreaming, of course, but still... it was strange."
"What happened?"
My father's cheeks turned pink. "I called out to him, and he disappeared."
I decided to play it off like it was nothing. "You're right. You were probably imagining things."
"Yeah, I know." But his brow was still furrowed.
"Is there something else?" I asked.
He shook his head. I put the dough down for a minute. "Dad, you can't fool me."
He looked up. "It's just that on the way here... I could swear I was being followed. Just my imagination again, I know, but there was this shadow..." His eyes drifted off.
"Was it Melbourne?" I gasped.
He shrugged. "It was no one. Just a shadow."
>>> Find Out Now To See How The Story Ends <<<
Order of Book List
ALSO BY ZOE ARDEN
. . . . . . .
Standalone Novella : Cake Spell Disaster
LINK: Standalone Novella : Cake Spell Disaster
<< Sweetland Witch Women Sleuths Series >>
Book 1 : LINK >> #1 Witch Cake Murders
Book 2 : LINK >> #2 The Witching Flavor
Book 3 : LINK >> #3 A Drop of Witch
Book 4 : LINK >> #4 Sweet Murder Hex
Book 5 : LINK >> #5 Batter and Spells
Book 6 : LINK >> #6 Portion Disaster
Book 7 : LINK >> #7 Frosting Disaster
Book 8 : LINK >> #8 Witch Way To The Bakery
Book 9 : LINK >> #9 Royal Witch Curse
Book 10 : LINK >> #10 Witches, Recipes and Murder
Book 11 : LINK >> #11 Sugar Magic Murder
Book 12 : LINK >> #12 Espresso, Cake, and Murder
Book 13 : LINK >> #13 The Bakery Murder
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Publisher Notes
Copyright © 2019 by
ZOE ARDEN
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
* * * * *
Sweetland Witch Women Sleuths) (A Cozy Mystery Book)
