Dark Chocolate and Death

by Samantha Silver

  “A bit of stuff Deputy Chief Enforcer Ming found in the factory that belonged to us. Some pictures and stuff. And a blanket that’s either yours or Andy’s,” I said, putting the box down and showing Ashley the monogrammed blanket.

  My sister shook her head and frowned slightly. “No, that’s not ours.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Ashley nodded. “Yeah. Wait for Andy to come home just in case, but I’m almost certain it’s not hers, either.”

  That was definitely strange. When Andrea came back home around fifteen minutes later, she confirmed it: the blanket wasn’t hers.

  I remembered seeing it in the storage closet next to my parents’ office on that first day and thinking that it looked a little bit out of place. Where on earth could it have come from? Who would have left a blanket like that in the chocolate factory?

  All of a sudden, my eyes widened as everything clicked. I had a theory, and it might not have made perfect sense, but I was fairly certain I was on the right track.

  “I have to go,” I said hurriedly, grabbing a jacket from the rack by the front door. “I’ll be back later.”

  “What’s going on, Meg?” Andrea asked.

  “Later,” I said, rushing outside. I didn’t want to tell my sisters what I thought until I knew for sure.

  Pulling out my phone as soon as I left the house, I called Liz, the fairy who had worked at the factory.

  “Hi, Megan. What’s going on?” she asked when she answered.

  “Hey, Liz. Is there anywhere we can talk? In private?” The silence on the other end of the line was somewhat telling. “Maybe I could buy you dinner somewhere?”

  “Yeah, ok,” Liz finally replied.

  “How about that Italian place right on the strip?” I offered. “Meet you there in ten minutes?”

  “Sure, yeah. I’ll see you there.”

  I made my way down to the restaurant in question. Our local Italian restaurant was run by vampires, which meant they could keep it open all night, and as a result, the décor had a very vampiric feel to it. The ceiling was low, with dark beams running across it. Each table had a couple of small candles for light, and that was it. The walls were lined with high booths for anywhere from two to eight people, which was one of the reasons why I had picked this place. It was definitely the perfect place to have a private conversation.

  A fairy I didn’t recognize began leading me to one of the tables, but I asked for a booth at the back of the restaurant, as private as it got, instead. She happily sat me down, took a drink order, and left me with a menu that I was far too nervous to look at.

  After all, I was fairly certain I was about to have dinner with a killer.

  Chapter 28

  Liz sat down across from me a few minutes later and looked up expectantly. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

  “I wanted to ask about your situation, first,” I said. “You’ve been living in the factory, haven’t you?”

  Liz’s face crumbled. “How did you know?”

  “I should have picked up on it earlier. But today, Deputy Chief Enforcer Ming came by with a box of stuff she thought belonged to our family, including a blanket monogrammed with the letter ‘A.’ But it didn’t belong to either one of my sisters. Then I remembered when I saw you the first day after the factory had been shut down; you had a leaf in your hair, like you’d slept outside. And you wouldn’t give me an address, only a phone number. You haven’t got a home right now, have you?” I finished softly.

  Liz looked down at the table, embarrassed. “It’s only temporary.”

  “I’m sure it is,” I said to her softly. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

  Liz nodded. “I do, actually. I want you to understand that it isn’t a permanent thing. It’s just an unlucky situation. I was living in an apartment downtown with a few other fairies that I know. I don’t have any family, see, it’s just me. But a couple of months ago, I got a large, unexpected expense. I’m one of the few fairies who has a pet; a little dog that I rescued as a puppy when I found him on the beach quite a ways south of here. My little Sirius fell ill, and while I was able to find a Healer willing to take care of him, it cost quite a few abras. More than I had. I was making enough to live off at the factory, but not enough to also have any real savings. So I did what any loving pet owner would do: I bailed on paying my rent for the month, paid to save my dog’s life, and found myself homeless.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

  “Thanks. I kept it hidden pretty well. I didn’t want to tell anyone what had happened. And frankly, there weren’t a lot of people to tell. I’m not exactly a social butterfly, and I don’t have any family. I didn’t know what to do, so when I got kicked out, the only place I could think of to stay was the factory. I asked Patricia to take care of my dog until I could get back on my feet, and she agreed. I didn’t tell her why I needed her to take care of my dog, I just knew from work that she loved animals, and I knew she’d take good care of Sirius. Then, when everyone went home after work, I snuck upstairs into the storage room, and I’d sleep there. I’d get up before your parents got to the factory, sneak out the front door, and then show up at my regular time like I hadn’t been there all along.”

  “And then when the factory was shut down, no one had the opportunity to go back in, including us, so your blanket was stuck there.”

  “That’s right,” Liz said. “I was sure you knew. So sure. I thought the instant you went in there you would have realized.”

  I shook my head. “I saw the blanket the first day I was there, but it was nicely folded, and I just assumed either Andy or Ashley left it there.”

  The waitress came by just then to take our orders. Liz ordered a large spaghetti Bolognese, and I couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been since she’d had a proper meal.

  “I hope that’s alright,” Liz said when the waitress left, looking apologetic.

  “Please,” I said. “Whatever you want. Seriously. This is my treat.” I couldn’t believe I was buying dinner for a fairy I was pretty sure had killed someone, but here we were. I felt sorry for her. It couldn’t have been easy, secretly living in the factory, trying to stop everyone from realizing she was homeless.

  “Thank you,” Liz said quietly, looking down at the table. I could tell she was embarrassed, but as far as I was concerned, she had nothing to be embarrassed about. I didn’t have a familiar—at least not yet, since familiars came into your life when the universe decided you needed to meet them—but I could understand how someone could love their pet that much. I liked to believe that if or when a familiar came into my life I would make the same sacrifice if I found myself in that situation.

  “I understand completely,” I said quietly. “I don’t mean to embarrass you. Honestly, I think the sacrifice you made was selfless, to give up the roof over your head for your dog, and I think you’re a wonderful fairy for having done it.”

  Liz managed a small smile. “Any dog owner would have done what I did.”

  “What about the other thing you did?” I asked quietly, my voice barely more than a whisper. “Because it was you, wasn’t it? Charles Perkins showed up that morning, and he went into the office where my parents worked. The noise woke you up, and you thought it was my mom or dad, so you tried to sneak out. But Charles caught you, and he tried to attack you, didn’t he? You fought him, and he fell over the landing and onto the floor below.”

  It was just a theory, but I was fairly certain I was right. And the tears that streamed from Liz’s face told me that I had figured it out.

  “I didn’t know what to do. I just ran,” she said, her voice so low I could barely hear her. She stared at the table, like she was trying more than anything not to remember what had happened. “I thought I could sneak out. I thought it was your father, coming into work early. Then, when I walked past the door, which was open, I saw it was Charles. I don’t know what he was doing. Looking for papers, or something. He was going through your parents’ thin
gs. All I could think about was how I had to get out of there. I thought if Charles caught me, he would report me to your parents, and I would be fired. Then what would I do? My situation was already bad; I couldn’t let it get worse.”

  “And then he spotted you.”

  Liz nodded. “He did. I tried to be quiet, but he must have heard my footsteps. He came out into the hall, and he looked so surprised. To be honest, he looked like I had caught him doing something wrong. Then he asked me what I was doing there, and I said I had just come in to work early. He asked if I had seen what he was doing, and I shook my head no. Then he asked if there was anyone else around. I said it was just the two of us, and he came toward me. That was when I started to be scared. I didn’t like the look in his eyes. He told me to come closer, told me that he looked at me when I was working. He said he liked what he saw, and he was a wizard who took what he liked.”

  Liz was trembling then, and I reached out and placed my hand next to hers. It was an invitation, if she wanted the support. She took it, and I squeezed as Liz continued her story.

  “I knew what he wanted to do. He rushed at me, and I moved to the side, but he tripped over my leg. He started to fall, and I just … I just pushed him. I didn’t even realize the railing was there. I just wanted him to fall to the ground so that I could run away. Then he fell over the railing, and he just kept falling. And when his body hit the ground, there was a thud, and he didn’t move. I was so scared. I didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t know what to do. I ran down, and as soon as I saw him, I knew he was dead. There was no way he wasn’t. I was so scared. I just ran. I ran out of the factory and hid in the forest, and I came back when it was time to work and pretended like I’d never been there at all. I felt so guilty about it; I just didn’t know what to do. What on earth was I supposed to do? I couldn’t admit to it. I had just killed a man, for goodness’ sake.”

  Liz took a deep breath. Tears streamed openly down her cheeks now, but her voice was stable. Quiet, but stable. “I was so scared, but I have to say, it’s been nothing compared to what I’ve gone through since. Every day I woke up afraid that the Enforcers were going to come and take me away. They were bound to find me, weren’t they? They were bound to figure out that it was me that shoved him over that railing. And every day I’ve been looking over my shoulder, worried that they’re going to find out and throw me in Spellcatraz.”

  “I think you have a pretty solid case of self-defense,” I said quietly.

  “But I ran! Nothing could make me look more guilty than running. I’ve been so scared this whole time.”

  “Listen, if I go with you, will you tell your story to Deputy Chief Enforcer Ming? We can explain the whole situation to her.”

  Liz nodded sadly. “I think I do want to do that, yes. I can’t stop thinking about it. I feel so guilty all the time. I know he attacked me first, but I think I need to admit to what I’ve done.”

  “Ok,” I said. “We’re going to make sure Deputy Chief Enforcer Ming knows that this was self-defense, and everything is going to be ok.” The waitress showed up at that moment with our food. “But first, we’re going to eat this food, and anything else you want.”

  Epilogue

  Liz and I finished eating, then I took her down to see Deputy Chief Enforcer Ming. I sat with her while she told her story once more, and when she was finished, Ming looked at Liz carefully.

  “I’m going to speak with the elves that are in charge of prosecution,” she said. “Given the circumstances, I don’t think they’re going to want to go ahead with charging you. Perkins’s death was a tragedy, but it sounds to me like it was obvious self-defense.”

  I left Liz with Deputy Chief Enforcer Ming, and made my way back out into the overcast world. As I began walking home, however, I felt a tingling sensation on my neck, like I was being followed. I stopped and looked behind me, but didn’t see anything. Feeling unsettled, I kept walking, but the feeling never passed. I sped up a little bit, but nothing changed. Eventually, I stopped and spun around on a dime, then almost burst out into laughter.

  I was being tailed by a dog. More specifically, a corgi. A little corgi with a white-and-yellow tail wagging away, mouth open, tongue out. It was like he was smiling at me. As soon as I stopped he stopped as well, looking at me.

  “Can I help you?” I asked carefully, feeling like an idiot. This was a dog. He couldn’t talk to me.

  “I’m just following you home,” he replied, and I gasped. There was only one reason why humans could talk to animals – they were their familiars. I had never had a familiar before. It wasn’t something that you could choose; the universe decided when your familiar would come to you.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Sherlock Bones,” the corgi replied.

  “Alright, well, are you ok if I call you Sherlock?”

  “Of course. I’m not one to stand for ceremony. It’s nice to finally meet you, Megan.”

  “You too. I should warn you, though, I’ve never had a familiar before. I have no idea how it works, so you’re going to have to bear with me.”

  “That’s alright, I can talk you through it,” Sherlock said, making his way toward me. I leaned down and patted his soft fur, and smiled. He was pretty adorable. “For one thing, I need copious amounts of snacks. For my health. Also, the best thing to feed me is roast chicken. Again, for my health. No other reason.”

  I laughed. “Alright, well, I’m not sure it’s going to be a long term thing, but chicken for dinner tonight sounds pretty good.”

  As Sherlock and I made a detour to the grocery store, I realized the little guy was already growing on me.

  Over the next few days, the truth came out and a whole lot of things changed. For one thing, Patricia, having discovered the real reason why Liz wanted her to take care of Sirius, invited the fairy to live in her home, citing that she had a couple of spare bedrooms anyway, and refused to take payment for it until Liz could find a new job and get back on her feet.

  I promised Liz that as soon as I really got my new company back up and running and needed to hire someone to do fairy duties, it would be her, if she hadn’t found a new job by then.

  I texted the girls from Western Woods and told them the case was solved. Amy promised she would find Liz a job if Liz ever decided to move to Western Woods; she felt awful about what her uncle had done.

  The biggest change, however, was in the way people seemed to treat me and my sisters in town. We certainly weren’t back to our old status of being the daughters of the biggest business owner in Pacific Cove. But we also weren’t looked at as though we’d killed Charles Perkins ourselves anymore. There were still a ton of people who thought our parents had committed fraud, but the solving of the murder was certainly helping in starting to fix our family’s reputation in town.

  Things were slowly starting to look up, but I also knew that I had a lot of work to do. After all, I was starting a new business, learning a new art to do it, and I still had to find out who on earth had framed my parents and why so I could clear their names once and for all.

  It was going to be tough, but I knew I just had to do it.

  Book 2: Megan has a lot more on her plate than just chocolates...

  Between starting her new chocolate company, trying to prove her parents' innocence, and discovering what life with a cute corgi familiar is like, Megan definitely has her hands full. But when one of her sister Andrea's customers is murdered, and Andrea is one of the main suspects, Megan has no choice but to help her sister solve the murder. After all, there's nothing Chief Enforcer Lupo would love more than to throw another Numa family member in prison.

  Meanwhile, a chance encounter with a smoking hot wizard from Europe finds Megan blocking out old memories, and Andrea doing her best to play matchmaker.

  But as the two of them get closer to finding the killer, Megan has no idea just how much danger she and Andrea are really in. Will they be able to clear Andrea's name before the two of them become t
he killer's next victims?

  Click or tap here to read White Chocolate and Wands now.

  If you want to read all about Tina, Amy, Sara and Ellie and their adventures in Western Woods, click here now to read Back to Spell One, the first book in that series.

  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 Dark Chocolate and Death 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 Megan’s adventures? The second book in the Pacific Cove Mystery series, White Chocolate and Wands, is now available on Amazon. Click here to read it now.

  If you enjoyed reading about Tina, Amy, Sara and Ellie and want to read all about their adventures, check out my Western Woods mystery series. You can read Back to Spell One, the first book in that series, by clicking here now.

  You can also check out my other books below:

  Other Pacific Cove Mysteries

  White Chocolate and Wands (Pacific Cove Mystery #2)

  Chocolate Truffles and Trouble ( Pacific 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)

  Five Charm Fire (Western Woods Mystery #5)

  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)