Witch Cake Murders (Sweetland Witch Women Sleuths) (A Cozy Mystery Book)

by Zoe Arden

"You raised me among humans!" I cried, exasperated.

  "Yes, because we were in their world. Don't you see? They would never have looked for us among their own kind. It was the only way to keep you safe."

  "Safe from what?"

  "From the man who killed your mother!"

  For a moment, his words hung in the air like thick fog. My heart skipped a beat.

  "You mean... he's still out there?" I asked. "Mom's murderer?" I felt the heriotza pendant around my neck begin to burn. Did that mean danger was close?

  My father shook his head. "No. I... took care of that long ago."

  "Then you're telling me that you don't like Damon just because he's human?" This was a side of my father I'd never seen before.

  "You can't trust them," he said softly.

  I took several deep breaths.

  "I want you to come back to New York with me."

  "You're crazy. I'm not leaving. I haven't been here that long."

  "Long enough."

  "No!" I shouted.

  Before he could say another word, I spun on my heels and ran.

  "Ava!" he called after me. "I'm not leaving this island without you! One way or another, you're leaving here with me!"

  * * *

  1 8

  * * *

  I couldn't face the bakery after the fight with my father. Business had plummeted since it had come out that my wand was missing. Eleanor and Trixie kept saying it wasn't my fault, but I knew better.

  The house was empty when I arrived. Tootsie and Rocky were with my aunts at the bakery. They almost always were.

  A small cake box was sitting on the doorstep. It was tied with a red ribbon. I picked it up and carried it inside with me. I set it on the counter, curious. There was no name or address. I wondered if I should wait for my aunts, but figured that without a name, it could have been anyone's.

  I cut the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a small chocolate cake. A note had been slipped in with it.

  From an admirer.

  An admirer? My mind immediately went to Damon. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? But after the way he'd hugged me at Coffee Cove, I didn't see why not. I felt a pang of regret for leaving the coffee shop the way I had. With Damon standing there staring after me. I hadn't even gotten the chance to apologize to Lucy. She'd said she wanted to talk to me.

  I sighed. Chocolate might be just what I needed.

  I cut the cake into squares and put one on a plate. I took a seat at the kitchen table, relishing in the silence around me. The cake was delicious. It was that much sweeter thinking that Damon had sent it. I wondered if he'd actually made it himself, but that was probably stretching it.

  I closed my eyes and inhaled the chocolate scent along with the flavor. The decadence of it made my head begin to swim. I'd never tasted anything so delicious. When I opened my eyes, the room was dark.

  "What the..." I muttered, trying to rise from my chair. But my legs were too heavy. I fell to the floor.

  The world around me sunk into darkness. A light gray mist covered everything. Darkness crept slowly in along the edges. The last thought I had before I passed out completely was that I hoped Damon hadn't poisoned me. If he had, I would seriously have to reconsider my crush.

  Then my mind went black.

  I woke up to something wet and sandpapery brushing against my face. Whatever it was, it smelled like tuna. I opened my eyes.

  The bright sun spotted my vision with flecks of white light. I blinked, trying focus on the sky. The clouds were like fluffy white cotton balls. They moved swiftly through the air toward a towering pink palm tree. The wet, sandpapery thing brushed against my chin.

  "Snowball wants to know if you are okay," a tiny voice asked.

  I blinked and looked toward my chest, where I realized a small clump of white had settled itself.

  "What?" I asked, thinking I was hallucinating.

  "Snowball wants to know if you are okay," the voice repeated. A pink tongue reached out and licked my nose. I giggled and put my hand up to block it.

  The white kitten that had planted itself on my chest began to purr. It was no bigger than a softball and so light I barely felt it sitting on me. I reached up and scratched its head. It had beautiful green eyes and long lashes. A girl.

  "I'm okay," I told it. "At least, I think so."

  I propped myself up on my elbows and looked around. It was early afternoon. I was on a beach. Which really told me nothing considering I was on an island. It was all beach. My head felt fuzzy. My heart was beating a little too fast.

  "What happened to me?" I asked.

  "Snowball was walking on the sand and found you." She licked my face again and jumped off my chest.

  "Snowball?" I asked. "That's your name?"

  Snowball nodded and licked her paw.

  "Well, Snowball," I said, getting slowly to my feet. "Do you happen to know where I am?"

  "You are on Heavenly Haven," Snowball said.

  "That's good." I'd figured as much but didn't want to hurt Snowball's feelings. The kitten wound its way between my legs as I took an unsteady step.

  "Do you happen to know where on Heavenly Haven I am?"

  "Mistmoor Beach," Snowball said, dropping onto her side and rolling in the sand.

  "I'm in Mistmoor Point?" I cried, surprised. How had I gotten to the other side of the island? The last thing I remembered was eating that chocolate cake in my aunts' kitchen. "Are you sure?"

  "Snowball is sure," she said, playfully attacking my feet. "Snowball lives here. But now Snowball will live with you. Snowball is happy."

  I reached down and scratched the top of Snowball's head. Her fur was soft as a cloud. I felt an odd connection to this little cat. Like I'd known her all my life.

  "You want to come home with me, huh?" I asked.

  "Snowball and Ava," she purred.

  I blinked. "How do you know my name?"

  "Snowball does not know."

  I gasped. The strange connection I felt to this little fuzz ball was starting to make sense. "Are you... are you my familiar?"

  Aunt Eleanor and Trixie had explained to me that when you found your familiar—or in most cases when they found you—there would be an inexplicable connection. It was like two people linked by a telephone wire.

  Snowball sounded like a tiny lawnmower when she purred. "Snowball and Ava. Together," was all she said. I couldn't help but smile. I picked Snowball up and began to walk with her.

  "Where do we go?" Snowball asked.

  "To find someone who can help me," I told her.

  I only hoped that when I showed up, they wouldn't slam the door in my face. If the rumors about me being the "Bakery Reaper" were running rampant in Sweetland, I could only wonder what they were saying about me in Mistmoor.

  I paused halfway down the beach, clenching my stomach. My heriotza necklace began to feel hot. A strange tingle ran down my spine. I wondered if it was trying to protect me from whatever had happened. Or was still happening.

  "Snowball is worried," the kitten said.

  "I'm okay," I told Snowball but wasn't sure that was true. My stomach didn't just feel ill. It hurt. Like it was filled with shards of broken glass. I wondered if maybe it was. I still didn't know all the spells a witch could cast.

  I tried to take a step and fell to my knees. "Ohhh," I moaned.

  "Snowball will get help!" the fierce little kitten cried. I tried to tell Snowball not to. That it was okay. Then my stomach lurched and the world around me began to spin.

  "Okay," I breathed. "Go find Felicity Redfern. She works at..." I tried to think of the name of the bakery.

  "Cakes and Creations," Snowball said. "Snowball will return. Snowball will hurry. Snowball will always protect Mama." She licked my face once more before running down the beach faster than I'd ever seen another animal move. I blinked and when I opened my eyes, Snowball was already gone.

  * * *

  1 9

  * * *

  The Mistmoor h
ospital wasn't quite as warm and inviting as Sweetland's, but I had to admit it was bigger. I lay in a hospital bed, Snowball curled at my side. Felicity and her boyfriend, Sheriff Lincoln Maxwell, sat nearby. He'd been questioning me for the last hour.

  "Okay," Lincoln said. "One more time."

  I sighed. "I have no idea how I got here," I told him.

  Snowball looked up and nodded, as if to confirm what I said.

  "Snowball was walking on the beach, and Ava appeared like magic."

  "What do you mean 'like magic?' " Lincoln asked.

  "Ava was not there. Then Ava was," Snowball replied.

  Lincoln and Felicity exchanged a look. "What?" I asked them. "What does that mean?"

  "Nothing," Felicity said, patting my hand. It seemed like they were keeping something from me. I was glad she was here, though. At least there was a friendly face in the room.

  There was a knock on the door and a second later Dr. Wallace entered. He was Sweetland's version of Dr. Dunne. In his fifties, with graying hair, he was slightly older than Dr. Dunne. But his eyes were just as kind and his manner was soft.

  "Well, good news," he said.

  We all looked at him.

  "There are no signs of poisoning or lunacy spells."

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  "So what happened to her?" Felicity asked, looking concerned.

  I was grateful for her help. She had come running back to the beach with Snowball, just when I was afraid my new familiar had gotten lost. She'd wasted no time in calling an ambulance and contacting Lincoln.

  "I'm afraid that at this point, I simply don't know."

  His face scrunched up and I could tell he was frustrated. As a doctor, it probably bothered him not to have an answer. But I was pretty sure it bothered me even more.

  "I've already spoken to Dr. Dunne," Dr. Wallace said, addressing me now. "He knows the situation and will look in on you after your return."

  "Thank you, Doctor," I said, rubbing Snowball under her chin.

  It was unsettling not to know what had happened to me, but at least I knew I wasn't dying. Yet.

  As Dr. Wallace was leaving, I thought of something. "You didn't find love potion cake in my system, did you?"

  "Love potion cake?" Dr. Wallace asked, frowning. "No. Why?"

  "It seems connected somehow to the recent killings in Sweetland," I told him.

  "Love potion cake would never kill someone," Felicity said, speaking up. I'd almost forgotten she worked in a bakery. "And it wouldn't cause someone to black out, except amongst humans. And bakeries tend to sell very few of them."

  "When's the last time you sold one?" I asked, curious.

  She hesitated. "Maybe three weeks ago."

  I don't know what made me ask it, but I suddenly felt something click into place. "To someone in Mistmoor?"

  Felicity began to twiddle her thumbs. "Well... no. In Sweetland."

  "Sweetland?" I asked, almost jumping out of bed. "To who?"

  "Well, um, I don't remember exactly."

  "Do you keep records? Could you look it up?" I asked, excited. How could Sheriff Knoxx not have looked into this?

  "Perhaps..." Felicity said. She was hedging. Either she was telling the truth and was simply unsettled at the idea of selling her cake to a possible murderer... or she was hiding something. Like the killer's identity.

  I thought back to Anastasia Lockwood's warning—trust no one. I realized now how true that was. Even Felicity, who seemed so kind and helpful, had her secrets. I was about to question her further when the door opened.

  A tall man in his mid to late twenties, with brown hair cut close to his head and a wide forehead, stepped into the room. He was impeccably dressed and looked like he would have been more at home in a modeling studio instead of a hospital room.

  He looked toward me with piercing gray eyes, and I felt heat creep into my cheeks. He made a beeline for my bed.

  "Ava Fortune?" he asked. For a minute, I thought he had the wrong person. Then I remembered what my aunts had told me about my real last name. It wasn't Stone, like I'd grown up with. It was Fortune.

  "Yes," I said.

  "And I'm Sheriff Lincoln Maxwell," Lincoln said, rising to his full height, which was still shorter than the man before him. "Who are you?"

  The man whipped a badge from his inner pocket and flashed it to the room.

  "Detective Colt Hudson. Magic and Human Affairs."

  Lincoln seemed to slink back from him.

  "I have a few questions for you, Ms. Fortune. You can answer them here or go back to headquarters with me."

  Any trace of charm his good looks might have afforded him was lost by his brusque manners.

  "I'll answer them here," I said. "I have nothing to hide."

  "I'll be the judge of that," he snapped.

  "Look, Detective," Felicity said, "Ava's had a rough day. Perhaps we can—"

  "And what's your name?" Colt asked, taking a pad and pen from his pocket now.

  Felicity tensed up. "Felicity Redfern," she said.

  "And how do you know the accused?"

  "Accused?" Felicity and Lincoln said.

  "Of what is she accused?" Lincoln demanded.

  "Nothing," Colt said. "Except murder. Now, how do you know each other?"

  Felicity was visibly shaken, though not as much as me. Compared to Colt Hudson, Sheriff Knoxx was a puppy dog.

  "We met at a party," Felicity said.

  "And you?" Colt asked, turning to Lincoln.

  "The same."

  "I see. So you've been fraternizing with the enemy."

  Felicity's jaw dropped.

  "In what world is a twenty-one-year-old witch the 'enemy?' " Felicity demanded.

  "In my world," Detective Hudson said. "And any other world that involves a murderer with serial killer tendencies."

  "Serial killer!" I blurted. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. The idea that I was a serial killer was more funny than frightening.

  "Where were you the day David Buyers was killed?" Detective Hudson asked me.

  "At my aunts' bakery in Sweetland Cove," I told him.

  "Yes. I just came from there," the detective said. "Your aunts told me the same thing. Are you sure you weren't having one of your 'blackouts?' " He made finger quotes in the air.

  "Now just you wait," Dr. Wallace said, stepping forward. He'd gotten so quiet we'd forgotten he was in the room. "You have no right to come in here and harass my patients."

  "That's another curious thing," Detective Hudson said. "Why are you treating a woman from Sweetland Cove? I thought Sweetland and Mistmoor Point hated each other?"

  Dr. Wallace bristled. "I'm a doctor. I'm also human. I don't care about age-old grudges or anything else. I treat whoever needs treating."

  "I see," Detective Hudson said, marking something in his notebook. "Human. Interesting."

  "Ava's blackout was real," Dr. Wallace insisted. "She has done nothing wrong here. And I must ask you to leave at once."

  Detective Hudson squared his shoulders. "I'm an official detective of the Council on Magic and Human Affairs. You don't get to tell me what to do."

  Doctor Wallace squared his shoulders as well. He was bigger than Detective Hudson, though the detective was at least twenty years younger.

  "And I am head doctor at Mistmoor Hospital. When it comes to the welfare of my patients, I have all the authority I need to throw you out of here. Even the Council on Magic and Human Affairs acknowledges the right of doctors to do what is best for their patients, including protecting them from interrogation."

  Detective Hudson grimaced but put his pad and pen back in his pocket. I silently cheered Dr. Wallace, who was my new hero.

  "I'll see you again soon," Detective Hudson said and slunk away. He paused at the door and looked back at me. "Real soon."

  * * *

  2 0

  * * *

  My aunts fawned over me the next two days. Eleanor, especially, was terrified to le
t me out of her sight. Sheriff Knoxx had had the chocolate cake tested for poisons and hexes, but nothing showed up. It was either clean, or it was a new spell or poison that no one had heard of before. Which was a terrifying thought.

  I had yet to hear back from Detective Hudson and could only hope that he had gone back to wherever he came from.

  Snowball seemed to be getting along well with Tootsie and Rocky, who were showing the tiny kitten around the house. The next morning, we all set off for the bakery. We opened at nine as usual, and by noon, we hadn't had one customer. Eleanor and Trixie began to talk about closing up for the day.

  "You can't do that!" I said.

  "Ava, honey, it will all smooth over eventually. But after Campbell's death and now your..." Eleanor choked on the words, "... sudden disappearance, I'm afraid people are a little too unsettled to buy anything from us."

  "Except for Sheriff Knoxx," Trixie commented. "Maybe it's the goblin in him, but his sweet tooth is stronger than any man I've ever met. Even all these murders won't keep him away from Eleanor's peanut butter dream bars."

  I rubbed my temples. "This is all my fault."

  "Ava, there's nothing you can do."

  "When's the last time you sold a love potion cake?" I asked suddenly, remembering what Felicity had told me at the hospital. Three weeks seemed like a long time to go without selling one, perhaps my aunts had sold a cake more recently.

  "Here?" Trixie laughed. "Months ago. People so rarely want them these days we only make them by special order. I think the other bakeries in town are all the same."

  "I'm surprised they're not more popular."

  "The thing is, love potion cakes have a reputation for being... tricky," Eleanor said. "They can backfire easily if not prepared correctly or if the person you give them to eats too much. Humans, especially, are susceptible to the powers of it."

  "That's probably why Damon Tellinger reacted to it so strongly," Trixie said.

  "There's got to be some connection," I muttered."

  "Ava, let the sheriff handle this," Eleanor said. "He may be part goblin, but he's not such a bad man. He's strong and very knowledgeable when it comes to crime and criminals. Let him handle this."