“Good work, Arti,” he said warmly. “Take her home, I’m going to find the two women.”
It was time for him to make an arrest.
Chapter 20
I never thought I’d see the day that a guest would be pressed up against the counter of the B&B’s kitchen, getting her hands cuffed behind her back by the local chief of police. But life was full of surprises, and I seemed to be pretty good at running into those surprises lately.
“I never wanted to hurt anyone,” Daphne was saying, a sad and bitter bite to her words as silent tears streamed down her cheeks. “You’ll never have any idea what this feels like, young man, to lose your chance at motherhood. You would have done the same thing.”
Desiree had been at the back of the nursery, and Xander had arrested her and taken her to the police station. By the time he had finished with her, I had returned to the B&B to find Daphne back from her walk, and Xander showed up to arrest her about a minute after I’d come home.
“You’re right, I’ll never know,” Xander said as the handcuffs clicked. “But I won’t know what it feels like to try to take a parent’s child away, either.”
“I knew what I was doing,” she snapped, dropping some of the pretense of a sweet middle-aged tourist I’d gotten to know. “She would have had a happier life with me than she would have here.”
“It was a crime of opportunity then?” I asked, and Daphne nodded.
“I was just leaving town. I was on my broom, when I saw Tina walking along to school. I knew this was my chance, my only chance at having a child. So I stopped and started talking to her. We had a short chat, and the girl was friendly. I asked her if she wanted to come with me on an adventure, and she said yes. But by the time we reached the outskirts of town, we couldn’t leave. So I took her to Des. I explained everything. Since Des lived upstairs, above the nursery, I knew she could take care of Tina without anyone noticing, whereas at the B&B there was no chance.”
“So you decided to stick with your kidnapping plan until everyone forgot about Tina and you could leave safely.”
“I’m no criminal, dear,” Daphne insisted, glaring at me. “I wanted a girl of my own to raise properly and give the love she deserves.”
“And kidnapping doesn’t make you a criminal?” Xander scoffed.
“Not if it’s for a good cause,” Daphne shot back. Xander rolled his eyes and looked at me.
“I think I’ve heard enough.”
I nodded as Xander led Daphne towards the front door, rubbing my temples as I followed after them. Lara placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Was her dad happy?”
“Thrilled,” I replied with a grin as I recalled the wide-eyed look on his face, then the tears that came instantly as he took his little girl into his arms and cradled her like he was never going to let her go. “He thanked me about a trillion times. He said he was going to call Francine, he wanted her to come over and see Tina as well.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” Lara said with a smile. “You’ve saved the day once again.”
“Hey, I had help.”
About an hour later, Xander knocked on the door once more, and followed me into the kitchen, where I poured him another cup of coffee. Lara quickly excused herself, and winked at me as she made her way up the stairs, with Lucy following on her heels.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“About what?”
He gestured vaguely to the kitchen around us. “The whole case. It didn’t go as smoothly as I’d like, but I think we make a good team, you and me.”
I blushed a little and gave him a stupid smile in return. “It could have gone worse, I’ll give you that.”
For the first time, I saw a little color come to Xander’s cheeks, and it made my smile grow from ear to ear.
“Yeah, that’s true,” he chuckled. “It could have gone as well as our ‘work dinner’ the other night.”
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad,” I said, rolling my eyes and grinning.
“Maybe not, but I think I can do better,” he said. “What do you say?”
I was taken off-guard, I had to admit. I decided to try to take him off-guard right back.
“Do you usually try to pick up girls at crime scenes?”
His face reddened, and he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Well, if you say no, it sounds like Daphne has some free time in the near future.”
I spluttered out a laugh, and he winced even as he grinned.
“Too soon, huh?” he chuckled.
“Maybe a little,” I giggled. “But yeah, if only to save you from that, I think we can give it another go.”
“Great,” he said.
I grinned at him stupidly, but a moment later Xander’s phone rang.
“It’s Morgan,” he said as he swiped the phone to answer.
Yup, this had definitely been an interesting day.
“I didn’t know Moonlight Cove even had an art gallery,” Xander mused as we made our way down the sidewalk.
“It’s not something we’re known for, but I like to send guests over here every now and then when there’s a show going on. It’s gotten me some favors from the curators, so I got to help Lara set up a little.”
“Wow, that’s impressive on short notice.”
“It was nothing, but I’ll take it.”
Xander and I were on our way to our unofficial second date and official first date, as far as I was concerned. And to handle two birds with one spell, we decided to spend the evening at the art exhibition featuring Lara’s art.
I finally managed to convince her to put her work up on display, after a few long discussions over more bottles of wine than I’d like to admit. And judging by the number of unfamiliar faces I saw milling around outside the gallery, the lack of advertising her specifically hadn’t done much to deter people from seeing the Lara Lancaster’s personal artwork.
We stepped into the room and were greeted with warm light, and and I couldn’t hold back a gasp at the interior. Even though I had helped set up, I hadn’t seen the final display.
Unlike human art galleries, nothing was hanging on the wall here. Every piece on display was suspended in mid-air by magic, just like the lights above, perfectly immobile. Not having to rely on a square, wall-hanging portrait gave the artist plenty of room for creativity. Sure, a fair number of square canvases floated in rows that sharply-dressed guests walked down, but some floated far above, facing downward. In one corner was what looked like actual clouds that had been tinted different colors and floated around in an abstract but utterly enchanting display. A little movement caught my eye, and I spotted painted versions of Luna and Lucy in one of the portraits, playing with each other before jumping off the canvas and appearing in another one next to it. They bounded from canvas to canvas of Lara’s artwork, freely moving through the whole room while batting at each other and delighting the guests while not intruding on the other artists’ work.
But the centerpiece that I knew Lara had worked her heart out on was sitting in the middle of the room, proudly on display. It was a cylindrical canvas that floated like a big ring. On the outside was painted a panoramic view of the town of Moonlight Cove at night. The full moon shone down brightly on everything, making the wintery scene look warm and inviting.
“Wow,” Xander breathed, and he looked downright taken by the art around him. “Lara did all this? You must have been an amazing influence on her.”
I smiled a little proudly, and I bumped his hip with mine. “I don’t think I can take credit for this one, but I’ll take the compliment.”
“Is there an interior to that?” Xander asked, pointing out the fact that there were a few people standing inside the cylindrical display
“Oh, I don’t know, but that’s a good question,” I said, and without thinking, I grabbed his hand to pull him after me as I hurried toward it. His hand was warm and rough, but big enough to cover mine entirely. It hit me that I hadn’t felt it until now, but I was half-distracted
by the art.
We slipped inside the ring, where I was delighted to see Lara standing there, smiling and chatting with a few guests.
And to my astonishment, the interior was painted.
While the outside was the panorama of the town, the interior was a similar panorama of various interiors of buildings from around town. I recognized the Magic Bean’s warm, welcoming space with guests sitting around and chatting, as well as the Academy, filled with bustling students and a little person in the background who looked suspiciously like Diana.
Xander squeezed my hand and pointed behind us, and my heart jumped to my throat when I recognized the interior of the B&B looking me in the face. It was unmistakable - the scene showed my kitchen, with a tall, dark-haired figure that fit my frame with her back turned, facing the stove. Two half-empty wine glasses sat on the counter, and as I was looked at it, the animated paintings of Luna and Lucy jumped up on the counter and darted across it.
“I was not prepared to cry tonight,” I whispered to Xander, squeezing his hand tight, and he chuckled.
“You can thank the artist herself,” he said as Lara approached us with a nervous smile on her face.
“Hey guys!” she chimed, “I’m so glad you could make-”
Before she could finish, I lunged forward and threw my arms around her in a tight hug that made her squeak.
“You are an amazing and talented and stupendous person, and you’re not allowed to say otherwise.”
“Glad you like it,” Lara croaked before I released her. She grinned, looking between me and Xander. “I really couldn’t have done this without your support, but oh my God, I’ve gotten so many business cards.”
“I told you they’d love it,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah, you can gloat with me at the afterparty that I expect to see both of you at,” she said, winking at me. “Now shoo, go enjoy yourselves, you look amazing.”
“You do!” I shot back, but Xander had his hand around me and was pulling me away gently and waving to Lara.
“Really though, this is amazing,” Xander said once we broke free and were making our way over to the wine table. “All of it.”
“I have talented friends,” I said proudly. Looking him up and down, I added, “and talented coworkers, if I do say so myself.”
“Oh, are we coworkers now? That might make tonight a little unprofessional,” he said, giving me a quick wink.
“Yeah, well,” I mused, looking out the window to the waxing moon glowing down on the town, “I’m an unprofessional kind of witch.”
Also by Samantha Silver
First of all, I wanted to thank you for reading this book. I well and truly hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it.
If you enjoyed The Perfect Spell I’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment and leave a review for the book on Amazon, to help other readers find the book as well.
You can also sign up to my newsletter to receive an email every time I release a new book. To sign up for my newsletter, click here now.
Want to read more of Arti’s adventures? The fifth book in the Moonlight Cove series is scheduled for release in early 2019.
Other Moonlight Cove Mysteries
Witching Aint’s Easy (Moonlight Cove Mystery #1)
Witching for the Best (Moonlight Cove Mystery #2)
Thank your Lucky Spells (Moonlight Cove Mystery #3)
Western Woods Mysteries
Back to Spell One (Western Woods Mystery #1)
Two Peas in a Potion (Western Woods Mystery #2)
Three’s a Coven (Western Woods Mystery #3)
Willow Bay Witches Mysteries
The Purr-fect Crime (Willow Bay Witches #1)
Barking up the Wrong Tree (Willow Bay Witches #2)
Just Horsing Around (Willow Bay Witches #3)
Lipstick on a Pig (Willow Bay Witches #4)
A Grizzly Discovery (Willow Bay Witches #5)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Willow Bay Witches #6)
Get your Ducks in a Row (Willow Bay Witches #7)
Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Alice in Murderland (Magical Bookshop Mystery #1)
Murder on the Oregon Express (Magical Bookshop Mystery #2)
The Very Killer Caterpillar (Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)
Death Quixote (Magical Bookshop Mystery #4)
California Witching Mysteries
Witches and Wine (California Witching Mystery #1)
Poison and Pinot (California Witching Mystery #2)
Merlot and Murder (California Witching Mystery #3)
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Poison in Paddington (Cassie Coburn Mystery #1)
Bombing in Belgravia (Cassie Coburn Mystery #2)
Whacked in Whitechapel (Cassie Coburn Mystery #3)
Strangled in Soho (Cassie Coburn Mystery #4)
Stabbed in Shoreditch (Cassie Coburn Mystery #5)
Ruby Bay Mysteries
Death Down Under (Ruby Bay Mystery #1)
Arson in Australia (Ruby Bay Mystery #2)
The Killer Kangaroo (Ruby Bay Mystery #3)
About the Authors
Samantha Silver lives in British Columbia, Canada, along with her husband and a little old doggie named Terra. She loves animals, skiing and of course, writing cozy mysteries.
Evelynne Page is a world traveller who loves to discover new places. While she was born and raised in Washington state, she has most recently lived in France, Scotland, Italy and Slovenia. When she’s not travelling or writing, you’ll find her curled up with a cup of tea and a good romcom.
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