“That’s true,” he relented. “I’ll look into it, but in the meantime, you need to stay out of this investigation. For now, you’re still a suspect.”
“I understand,” I said, but I didn’t really. I decided to move on for the time being. Joe and I could work things out once my name was cleared. “Did you find my Cookbook of Shadows yet?”
“I did not,” he said. “I’ll call you later.”
Chapter Six
The next morning, I decided that as long as there weren’t any dead bodies in the bakery, and no one had burned it down in the middle of the night, I’d open for the day. Despite everything that had happened over the last couple of days, I had regular customers who I was most likely disappointing. Plus, I missed baking. Using my magic to clean up after personal disasters wasn’t nearly as satisfying as using it to create delicious culinary masterpieces. Or, like, really good cupcakes.
I got to the shop long before the sun came up. The stress had made it a little harder for me to sleep at night, and I’d found myself having to add a little extra something to my coffee that morning. But, once I was in my clean kitchen ready to bake, the stress of the recent events melted away like warm ganache over a slice of chocolate cherry ice cream pie.
It turned out that little extra something was my inspiration for the daily special. Caramel Celebration cupcakes were one of my favorite flavors, and they used a touch of magic in the batter to give the customer a boost of that elated feeling you had on your birthday or after finding out you got the big promotion. I’d used the magic that morning to boost me out of a stress- and insomnia-fueled funk, but to my customers, it would just be a little burst of happy in their day. And that’s all I really wanted. Making my customers happy was the most important part of my kitchen magical practice.
Many bakers had to start work at three in the morning or earlier to get all of their day’s baking done in time, but I only needed a couple of hours before opening the shop thanks to my fire magic nature. Just about the time that my baking was done, and it was time to unlock the doors for my customers, I got a text message from my mom.
Not coming in today. Too sick.
My mother being too sick to clean was a rare event, and it made me panic a little. I called her right away. The phone rang for a while before she answered, and I felt my heartrate increase.
“Hello, Zoe,” she said and sniffled. “Sorry about calling in sick.”
“What’s wrong, mom? Do you need to see a doctor?”
“I might. I think I’m coming down with histoplasmosis.”
“What?” I found myself suddenly skeptical. Skeptical was better than completely terrified that my mom was sick, though.
“I’ve been sneezing all morning, Zoe. I don’t think it’s a cold. If it’s not a cold then it’s probably the start of histoplasmosis.”
“What is that?” I asked. “Is that like a new form of flu or something?”
“It’s a fungal disease that’s spread by bats or bird droppings,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I’ve never even seen a bat in Destiny Cove, mom. I mean, we could have them in the forest, but how often do you go into the forest?”
“Fine, it’s the birds. I probably got it from the birds.”
“Have you been spending a lot of time around birds, mom?”
“No, but the weather has been perfect for growing spores. I can’t imagine that it would be too hard for there to be histoplasmosis spores everywhere. There are so many birds in the trees in this neighborhood. Are you sure you’ve never seen any bats? It seems weird that there wouldn’t be any bats.”
“Why, because there are witches? This is Destiny Cove, mom. It’s not a Halloween store.”
“I could be really sick or even dying and you’re making fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you. I just don’t think you have histoplasmosis. It’s probably just a cold or your seasonal allergies coming on. It is about that time of year.”
“You’re not a doctor.”
“Okay, mom,” I said, not sure what to think or how to deal with this new personality quirk. She’d always been some what of a germaphobe, but I’d never seen it manifest into full-blown hypochondria. “Let me know if you go to the doctor.”
“I will,” she said. “I think for now I’m just going to take a nap.”
“Good idea. Maybe have some chamomile tea too,” I said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
After I got off the phone with her, I set a few quartz crystals around the shop and burned some sage. Once the cleansing portion of the ritual was done, I put black tourmaline and juniper berries in the corners of the store for protection.
I figured with a break-in, a murder, and the people closest to me acting a bit off, I needed to get rid of any lingering negative energy and protect myself from whatever weirdness was in the air in Destiny Cove.
By the time I was done with all of that, the cupcakes were all cooled and ready for frosting. You had to get just the right amount of icing on each cupcake. Too much and it was overpowering, but if there wasn’t enough, some people would complain.
I also had a portion of one of my cases dedicated to “just a smear” cupcakes. Those were for the people who didn’t really like frosting. It gave them a hint of the flavor and I didn’t have to watch in horror as they sat in the dining room and scraped most of the frosting off their purchase. They weren’t the prettiest cupcakes in my cases, but I did attempt to make the smear neat and artistic.
It was hard for me to comprehend that there were people out there who didn’t like frosting, but I had come to peace with that knowledge. The frosted cupcakes went into the cases with a hand-written card denoting each flavor.
With the rituals done and my baked goods ready for purchase, I put out the open sign and unlocked the doors. My first customers of the day were Bethany and Thomas McGrath. They were a newly retired couple that had moved to Destiny Cove within the last year. They’d built a house on the outskirts of town in the one subdivision that had space for new construction.
There weren’t a lot of new homes built in Destiny Cove, but occasionally someone would cash in by selling their overpriced house in the city. They’d build their dream home in the Miller Acres neighborhood. The McGraths were Destiny Cove’s newest residents.
“Good morning, folks,” I said and took my place behind the counter. “What can I get for you today?”
“We’d like a half dozen of your Caramel Celebration,” Thomas said jovially. “I’m so happy you have that flavor today. It’s one of my absolute favorites.”
“Mine too,” I said and got a pink to-go box for the cupcakes. “Mind if I ask what you’re celebrating today? Is it your anniversary? Is it someone’s birthday?”
“Oh, no, not that,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m celebrating that good-for-nothing witch Regina Hatterson being dead as a doornail. It’s such a relief to know she’d gone for good.”
“Thomas,” Bethany chided softly. “That is unkind. She was still a person.”
“What? I’m glad that no-good witch is dead,” he said as he tugged at the collar of his shirt as if he found it suddenly too hot in my store.
“Why would you be celebrating that?” I asked in as neutral a tone as possible. I wanted to sound curious and not accusatory so that he would feel comfortable telling me why he wanted Regina dead.
“Well, tell her, Bethy,” Thomas said to his wife. “Tell her what that swindler did to us.”
“Since we moved to town, I’d been going to see Regina on a regular basis. I spent a lot of money on her services,” Bethany practically whispered. I could tell she was embarrassed but also relieved to have it off her chest. “My father died when I was a young girl, and I thought that Regina was helping me communicate with him. I was so happy to get messages from him from the other side that I didn’t even question it that she kept demanding more and more money for less and less information. I was so young when he died that I accepted everything she said because
I didn’t know any better. I should have checked with my mother to confirm the things Regina was saying, but I just never imagined that someone would take advantage of me that way. It seemed too sinister to be possible.”
“That awful wretch charmed my lovely wife out of thousands of dollars we couldn’t afford to lose. I was ready to come to Destiny Cove and enjoy my retirement with Bethany. We built our dream home, and even with the purchase of the house, we were looking forward to a financially stable and comfortable retirement. Now, I’m going to have to leave Bethy home alone all day in a town where she hardly knows anyone to go back to work for a few years.”
“What did you do for work?” I asked as I finished boxing up the cupcakes.
“I was a chemical engineer,” he said and handed me cash, exact change, for the cupcakes.
It hit me immediately that a chemical engineer would know how to make various poisons, and Thomas McGrath had just told me what would have been his motive to kill Regina. Plus, he was happy about it. I could understand his frustration and anger, Regina had ruined many lives with her shady practices, but was it enough to make Thomas kill her? Curiosity got the better of me, and I had to ask him what kind of chemicals he’d worked with in the past. I thought that perhaps it was something that could make it appear as though a fraudster psychic had burned from the inside out.
“A chemical engineer. That’s cool. What kind of chemicals did you work with? Did you have a specialty?”
“I specialized in pesticides,” he said proudly. “I’m working on a new formula in my garage lab. I’m hoping I can sell it to a big company. Then, Bethy and I can have the retirement we deserve. That would be a far superior choice for me than getting a regular job.”
“That’s interesting,” I said as I handed him his purchase. “Good luck to you both.”
When they were gone, Ginger scampered up onto the counter. “I heard all of that,” she said. “Are you thinking that Thomas killed Regina?”
“I think that he could have. I mean, he did work with pesticides. Those could be used as poisons, right?”
“Yeah,” Ginger responded. “They totally could, and that guy did not like Regina one bit.”
I’d been surprised by what Thomas had said, and I added him to my mental list of suspects. I thought that there were probably a lot of people in Destiny Cove who were happy about Regina’s passing, but I hadn’t expected anyone to be so forward about their elation. Of course, I was the one who made Caramel Celebration the daily special the day after she died. Ooops…
Chapter Seven
Most of the Caramel Celebration cupcakes sold out that day. No other customers brought up how happy they were that Regina was dead, but I did catch a few of them giving me the side-eye when they saw the sign that announced the daily cupcake special. It didn’t stop them from ordering the flavor, but they did judge me a little.
Per usual, I had about a dozen various cupcakes leftover when it was closing time. After I closed up shop for the day, I made my almost daily trek over to Your Fly’s Open to ask the owner, Buzz McGrath, if he wanted the day’s leftover cupcakes for his employees. I didn’t think I should mention what his father had said to me.
You see, Buzz was Bethany and Thomas McGrath’s son. He’d lived in Destiny Cove a lot longer than they had, and when I actually thought about it, he was probably a big part of the reason why they’d decided to move to our fair town.
I hadn’t brought him any cupcakes for the last couple of days, but he hadn’t come by the bakery to see if I was okay. I gathered he knew about Regina’s death, but did he know how happy his father was about the murder? Did Buzz know about Regina defrauding his mother?
Your Fly’s Open is a fishing and bait store less than a block from the bakery. Unlike my distaste for Regina, I actually liked my neighbor Buzz. We had a good rapport that was only strengthened by the free cupcakes I brought him almost daily. I didn’t like to think that what Regina had done to his mother made Buzz a suspect too, but it kinda did. I debated about whether to ask him about it but decided against it. Perhaps he didn’t know about Regina and his mother, and it wasn’t my place to tell him.
When I walked in, Lila was working the front counter. “Is Buzz around?” I asked as soon as she was done with her customer.
“He’s on a call in the back, but he’ll be out soon,” she said.
“Thank you. How are you?”
“I’m great now that you killed Regina!” Lila practically shouted.
I was taken completely aback and had no idea what to say at first. Lila was normally so quiet and reserved. I had no idea why she would be causing a scene. The few other customers in the store turned around to glare at me. I considered whether I should defend myself or just turn around and walk out of the store. In the end, I decided to clear my name.
“Lila, I don’t know what you heard, but I didn’t murder Regina.”
“She was found in your bakery, right?” Lila asked, still loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Hey,” Jacob’s voice interrupted before I could say anything. He walked quickly across the store to the counter. Lila’s attention immediately turned from me to laser focus on Jacob. “You shouldn’t be talking about the dead,” he said. “It’s bad luck. If you talk about them, they can find you and curse you with your own death as revenge.”
I’d never heard of any superstitions like that before, but Jacob was obsessed with the macabre. He’d know far more about death and necromancy than I would. Jacob even looked the part. He always dressed in all black clothes and he had a goatee that almost looked demonic. Anytime he wasn’t at work, he sported a thick coating of black eye liner and a huge upside-down pentagram necklace. I always figured he wore the Baphomet pentagram as a way to get attention. I didn’t believe that Jacob was actually into the dark arts. He was probably especially glum right then because he was hurting. Jacob was Regina’s boyfriend.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Jacob,” I said and I meant it. I wasn’t fond of Regina, but I felt bad for anyone who her passing had hurt.
“He’s not sad,” Lila injected. “They broke up two days ago.”
Well, that was news. I was surprised I hadn’t heard about that, but I bet Jacob had kept it a secret as best as he could given that he’d broken up with Regina so close to when she’d died.
“Really?” I asked. Even with Jacob trying to keep the break up hush-hush, I was surprised the news hadn’t spread like wildfire.
“Yeah, she broke up with him because she didn’t find him interesting anymore,” Lila blabbed on. “Regina was a snob who thought she was better than everyone else. What kind of person wouldn’t find Jacob interesting?” she mused.
“We did break up,” Jacob said softly. “But I’d hoped we’d end up back together. It wouldn’t have been the first time we’d broken up and gotten back together. Regina was spirited.”
Well, it would be the last time they broke up for sure. Buzz came out of his office moments later and waved for me to come back to his office. I set the cupcakes down on his desk, and he smiled.
“I’ve missed these,” he said and took one right away.
Before either of us could discuss anything, his phone rang again. He had to take the call, so I just whispered that I’d see him later and showed myself out of the office. Jacob and Lila were both with customers, so I left the store and went back to the bakery to clean up.
My mother wasn’t coming in to do her usual cleaning, so it was up to me to get my place spic and span before I checked out for the evening.
When I walked into the kitchen, I found Ginger face-first and practically passed out in the Blueberry Bliss cupcake that I’d set aside for myself.
“You know, I wanted that,” I said and chuckled.
“All this murder business is stressing me out, Zoe. I had to eat it,” she said and hiccupped so hard that her little fuzzy butt almost rolled off the counter.
“That’s fine. I’ll just have the Raspberry Relaxation I left in the
fridge,” I said. “Unless you ate that too?”
“Nope. It’s all yours.”
“I think Jacob Snide had a good reason to kill Regina,” I said as I took the cupcake out of the refrigerator. “He was probably sick of being used and mistreated by her.”
“That’s definitely possible, but you’ll need more than that to make a strong case against him.”
“Yeah. That’s true.”
“Has Joe found your Cookbook of Shadows yet?” Ginger asked as she polished off the last bit of her cupcake. It was amazing how much cake such a little guinea pig could consume.
“He searched Regina’s house, but he says he didn’t find it,” I replied.
“We should break into her house later and look for it.”
“I don’t know.”
“What could it hurt?”
“Fine,” I said. “But first, let me get this kitchen clean.”
Chapter Eight
There were two possibilities when it came to where Regina had hidden my Cookbook of Shadows. It had to be either in her home or her shop. I didn’t think she’d risk hiding it anywhere else because someone could have found it. She would want it where she could control it.
I had to decide where I would go first. If she’d broken into my bakery to steal the book, she’d have needed to hide it right away. That would have meant taking it back to her store. It was a very real possibility that she hadn’t had the opportunity to move the book anywhere else before she was killed.
So, I decided to start there. I reasoned that it would be easier at that time of day to sneak into the shop because most people were at home. There would be more possibility of me being caught if I tried to break into her home. Not many folks were still hanging around by the shops.
“You’re coming with me, right?” I asked Ginger as I changed into a black t-shirt and yoga pants. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but the sun was going down. I figured the black clothes would help me blend into the shadows. “I might need the magical backup.”
The Witching Hour Page 4
