Catnip Cantrips (Twilight Hollow Witchy Cozy Mysteries Book 2)

by Sara Christene

  Her eyes narrowed. “There is no think about it. I told you I was pushed.”

  “Yes, but Logan can’t see you, so you can’t tell him that. Do you really expect me to tell him that I’m being haunted by a ghost who wants her murder solved?”

  She blinked at me. It seemed I had finally gotten through to her. “Why can you see me, but not him?”

  I shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. Though my secret had been spilled to Logan, I still wasn’t in the habit of sharing. Of course, if I was one of the few who could see Martha, it wasn’t like she could go telling everybody. “I’m a witch. Some of us can see ghosts and spirits.”

  She pushed away from the counter. “A witch who runs a cafe. You wouldn’t happen to be Adelaide, would you?”

  It was my turn to narrow my eyes. “Do I know you?”

  “My nephew, Blake, has mentioned you a few times,” she explained. “He said that Twilight Hollow is home to three witches. I just thought he was being fanciful.”

  I lifted my brows. “Blake Monroe? Pawnshop Blake? You don’t seem old enough to be his aunt.”

  She lifted her nose proudly. “I would have been seventy-two on Sunday.”

  I was going to have to have a word with Blake. “Happy birthday I guess. Were you staying with Blake while you were out here?”

  “Oh heavens no,” she laughed. “I had no desire to sleep on the couch in a tiny bachelor pad. I was staying with my friend Cheryl, the one who canceled on the hike.”

  I glanced at the oven as the scent of warm pumpkin spice began to waft through the air, then back to Martha. “Aren’t you concerned that Cheryl and Blake won’t know what happened to you? As far as they know, you just disappeared.” I thought about it. “I wonder if either of them filed a police report.”

  “Well I would hope Cheryl would have gone to the police by now,” she scoffed. “Blake wouldn’t have noticed my absence yet, but that’s what I have you for. You can tell both Cheryl and Blake what happened, and question them both while you’re at it. Only a few people knew I was in town, so they’re all suspects.”

  It took me a moment to process what she had just said. “You think your friend or your nephew might have killed you?”

  She shrugged. “I would be shocked to learn it was Blake, but he would stand to inherit my house since I have no children of my own, and his mom passed away a few years ago. And Cheryl has always been a bit jealous of me.”

  I shook my head, perplexed, then turned to check the muffins. If I thought people might want to murder me, I would do my best to avoid those people, not schedule hikes with them, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

  The muffins needed just a few more minutes, so I turned back to Martha. “I’ll stop by the pawnshop on my way to work and talk to Blake. Though I’m not going to be able to tell him that you’re dead since I should have had no way of identifying you.”

  “And Cheryl?” she pressed.

  I sighed. “Once your body is officially identified, I’ll talk to her too. Now I need to gather my things for work.”

  She glanced around the kitchen. “I suppose I’ll just wait here. Or maybe I’ll go spy on Cheryl.”

  “Knock yourself out,” I said as I went to fetch my purse from the kitchen table.

  I couldn’t believe I was getting drawn into another murder investigation that had nothing to do with me, but at least she wasn’t being possessed by the dark magic. At least not yet. I should probably stay on Martha’s good side, just in case.

  By the time my muffins were packed up and I was driving down the road, I was running late, so I would have to talk to Blake later. Spooky, a regular fixture at the cafe now, sat in the passenger seat. What had started as a rare sunny day had descended into full gloom mode, making it seem hours later than it actually was.

  I found a spot right out front, then hurried into the cafe with my cat and my stacked trays of muffins.

  Evie stood behind the counter, talking to Max.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I panted, hurrying toward them. The rest of the cafe was empty, and the used books on the shelves to one side looked freshly straightened.

  “Slow day?” I said to Evie as Max took the muffin trays from me.

  “A slow lunchtime, but we were packed this morning,” she explained. “Richie had to help me fill orders. You should probably just hire him already.” She wiped her hands on her white apron, then started undoing one of the twin braids in her dark hair. “Do you need anything else from me before I go?”

  Max had set the muffins on the counter and started placing them in the display case with metal tongs. Over the past few weeks he’d been around almost as much as Richie and the other regulars. Not that I minded.

  “You’re free to go,” I said to Evie. “Thanks for staying late.” I walked around the counter, then put my purse behind it.

  Evie finished taking out her braids, then fluffed up the tight coils. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” She walked around the counter, giving Max a wave, and stopping to pet Spooky on her way out.

  Max put the last muffin in the display case, then turned to me. “So another body, huh?”

  I smiled. Of course Evie had told him. “Hopefully no one you know this time.” I glanced toward the front door as the bell on it jingled.

  Logan stepped inside, still in his hiking boots and jeans.

  Max looked from Logan, to me. “I thought Evie said it was an accident.”

  Logan reached us before I could answer. “I saw your car out front and figured I’d return your call in person. What’s up?”

  I didn’t miss Max’s frown, but I couldn’t exactly explain what was going on to him. “Do you mind waiting for a minute?” I asked him. “There’s something I need to speak with the detective about privately.”

  Max gave me his best charming smile. “I’ll wait all day if I can have one of those muffins.”

  I smirked. “You know you can help yourself.”

  I looked to Logan, finding that he was the one frowning now, then nodded in the direction of my office.

  He followed me back, and to my surprise, Spooky joined us. Usually if Max was around, the cat was in his lap.

  Logan shut the door behind us, sealing us in the small space before I realized Evie had left the extra chair out in the cafe behind the counter. Not wanting to make Logan stand while I sat behind the desk, I settled for leaning my back against the wall.

  He eyed the papers scattered across my desk. “It seems you’ve become pretty close with the veterinarian. Was he upset about his uncle?”

  You would know that if you ever came around, I thought. “I think anyone would be upset to learn their uncle is a murderer, but he was glad his cousin’s killer was brought to justice.”

  Logan looked up to meet my waiting gaze. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

  I pursed my lips, considering how I should break the news. Luna would say honesty was the best policy, but she wasn’t the one being haunted by a dead woman’s ghost. “I wanted to say that I don’t think that hiker fell on accident. I think someone might have pushed her.”

  He turned to lean against my desk, and Spooky hopped up beside him, sniffing his sleeve. “Not every death is a murder, Adelaide. There’s no need for you to get involved.”

  My temper flared at his tone. I’m not the most temperamental person, but Logan tended to bring it out in me. “Well this one is a murder, you’ll just have to trust me.”

  He studied me, probably trying to determine if I’d lost my mind. “We’ll be questioning her friends and family. It’s standard procedure, but it will be difficult to determine whether she was pushed, or whether she fell. Why are you so intent on this?”

  I could tell he still wasn’t taking me seriously, and I wasn’t about to return to Martha’s ghost with no progress. I hung my head, draping my curls forward across my cheeks. “Are you really going to make me say it?”

  He straightened, taking a step toward me. “Say what, Addy?”

 
I let out a long sigh. “I’m being haunted by her ghost. She is quite sure that she was pushed, and she wants her murder solved.” I looked up to find him staring at me wide-eyed.

  “Are you kidding?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Her name is Martha. Blake Monroe is her nephew. She was visiting here from Wickenburg, and was staying with her friend Cheryl, who canceled on their hike. I’m surprised Cheryl hasn’t reported her friend as missing.”

  “Her ghost told you all of that?” he asked incredulously.

  “Right after she ambushed me getting out of the shower.”

  He watched me for a moment, considering. “Well I guess there would be no other way for you to know all that information so quickly. She had her wallet on her, so we had already identified her. And we found her car parked in the lot near the trailhead.”

  My shoulders relaxed. “So you’ll treat this like a murder?”

  He nodded. “A murder you will be staying out of.”

  “I am being haunted by her ghost, Logan.”

  He leaned back against the desk. “I’m assuming she doesn’t know who pushed her? Does she have any idea who might want her dead?”

  I sucked my teeth. He was taking the news better than I had thought, and didn’t seem totally freaked out by the idea of another ghost . . . “Why don’t you just come by my place this evening? You can ask questions, and I’ll give you her answers. Like a translator.”

  The corner of his lip ticked up. “I never thought I’d end up questioning a victim about their own murder.”

  I laughed. “One of the perks of knowing a witch.”

  “Not the only perk,” he said cryptically as he stood. “What time should I come by?”

  “Eight should work. That will give me enough time to shoo away the last of the regulars.”

  He lifted a brow. “Won’t your veterinarian friend mind me being in your house so late?”

  I scowled. “That’s not any of his business, nor is it yours.”

  He chuckled as he went for the door. “I’ll see you at eight then.”

  I glared at him as he opened the door and walked out with Spooky following at his heels. I widened my eyes at the cat. What a traitor.

  Muttering as much under my breath, I followed them out, finding Max seated at the sofa near the front door, and Richie Garcia behind the counter making himself his customary Earl Grey. Both of them watched Logan leave.

  I stopped near the counter, put my hands on my hips, and looked Richie up and down.

  He had the grace to look abashed, which wasn’t the expression you would expect from a nineteen year old in a leather jacket and hair slicked back heavily with gel. “Sorry, Addy, I wasn’t sure how long you would be.”

  I waved him off. “The tea is on the house for helping Evie this morning. Grab yourself a muffin too.”

  I walked away from the counter toward Max, who looked up at me from his seat on the sofa. “Don’t tell me it’s another murder.”

  I sealed my lips tight and looked down at him.

  “Why aren’t you speaking?” he asked.

  I smirked. “You told me not to tell you it was another murder.”

  “Do you have time to fill me in?”

  I sat down beside him. What could I say? That I needed to question Blake Monroe about his aunt’s murder? That there was another killer on the loose in Twilight Hollow? That because of a ghost, I was smack dab in the middle of things once again?

  I settled in as Richie joined us to hear the details. Spooky hopped onto Max’s lap and curled up. It was quite the cozy scene.

  The calm before the storm, or something like that.

  Chapter Four

  At 7:30 PM I sat on my white sofa sipping peppermint tea while Martha talked my ear off. A fuzzy blanket covered my legs, still clad in jeans and not pajamas since Logan was coming over. Spooky sat on the coffee table, staring at Martha as she spoke about her art gallery. Apparently she co-owned the gallery with her ex-husband, but it was a friendly relationship, and they had one employee named Jackson, a young man with big dreams to open a gallery of his own in Seattle.

  I leaned my face over my mug, breathing in the steamy aroma, praying to goddess for patience.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  I jumped, realizing I hadn’t heard anything she’d just said. “Sorry, Martha, but I worked all day and now I’m working overtime to help you out, so please give me a break.”

  She gave me a ghostly frown, then floated into the kitchen. Spooky followed her, probably worried she would touch his food dish.

  I leaned my head back against the couch, grateful for a moment of silence.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “You’re early,” I muttered, rising to answer the door.

  Crisp air scented with dying leaves wafted in through the doorway as I found not Logan, but Luna standing outside.

  I crossed my arms and jutted out my hip. “Since when do you knock?”

  Luna’s thick auburn hair danced around her flushed cheeks in the wind. She lifted the collar of her khaki wool coat to protect her neck. “I always knock, I just don’t always wait for you to answer, but I didn’t want to scare your ghost.”

  I stepped aside for her to enter. “Aren’t ghosts supposed to be the scary ones?”

  She removed her coat as I shut the door behind her. Beneath she wore a navy skirt suit with thick tights, letting me know she had just come from her therapy practice. She often had appointments in the evening to work around her client’s schedules. “Your ghost was just murdered, I thought she might be spooked.”

  I shook my head and followed her as she hung up her coat, then glanced around the living room, searching for the ghost.

  “What are you doing here, Luna?”

  She stopped searching and turned to me. “Making sure you stay out of trouble, Adelaide.”

  I furrowed my brow. “What makes you think I’m getting into trouble? I didn’t ask for the ghost to haunt me.”

  “Don’t play dumb,” she chided. “I had another vision. I know the detective will soon be knocking on your door. You were supposed to just call him and let him handle it.”

  Having a seer in the family was the worst. “Fine, you’re right, I am getting myself involved. I can’t just banish the ghost when her murderer is on the loose. Logan is coming over to ask her a few questions.”

  Her brows shot up. “Logan can see ghosts?”

  “No, he’s going to ask her questions, and I am going to relay her answers.”

  Her surprise melted into a smile. “He sure trusts you to believe you’re getting answers from a ghost he can’t see.”

  I glanced past Luna to see Martha peeking in through the kitchen entryway, her eyes on Luna. “Is she another witch? I remember her from the hiking trail.”

  Luna whirled on her, clutching a hand to her chest. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that!”

  Martha narrowed her eyes, then floated fully into view. “Forgive me, I was only murdered yesterday, I’m still trying to figure out ghost etiquette. I would have revealed myself as soon as you found my body if I had realized you would be able to see me.”

  I chuckled, glad someone else was taking heat from Martha, rather than me. “Martha, this is Luna.” I gestured to my sister as I stepped toward her. “And Luna, Martha.” I extended my hand toward the ghost.

  Another knock on the door had us all turning our heads.

  I looked back to Luna. “Time for you to go.”

  “But I can help translate too,” she said as I gripped her sleeve and started tugging her toward the door.

  “One witch is good enough.” I grabbed her coat off the wall hook with my free hand and shoved it into her arms, then opened the door, ready to push her out.

  Logan stood outside, framed in ambient light from the neighborhood. He looked Luna and I up and down. “Bad time?”

  I nudged Luna past him out the door. “Not at all, my sister was just leaving. Come on in.”

 
; Luna glared at me from behind Logan as he stepped inside. I gave her a little smile and a wave, then shut the door. I understood her concern, I really didn’t want to become a target for a murderer again, but I couldn’t just banish Martha and be done with it.

  Logan looked around as I locked the door. His eyes went right past Martha, now floating near the sofa. “Is the ghost in here?”

  I stepped up next to him. “Right there by the sofa, but it’s not unusual that you can’t see her.”

  He turned to me. “But I could see Neil Howard’s ghost.”

  “That ghost was being empowered by dark magic. Most the time mundanes can’t see spirits, other than occasional glances out of the corner of their eyes.”

  Martha crossed her arms. “How frustrating, he really can’t see me at all.”

  “It’s normal,” I said, then shook my head when Logan looked a question at me. “Sorry, I was speaking to Martha.”

  He looked to the space Martha occupied, then back to me. “This is too weird.”

  “If you don’t want to do this . . . ” I trailed off.

  “No.” He stepped toward the couch. “Just tell me what to do.”

  “Take a seat,” I suggested, “and I’ll make you a cup of tea.” I raised an eyebrow at his back as he moved toward one chair, hesitated, then looked at the couch. “Or maybe something stronger would be better?”

  He glanced back at me. “Could you just tell me where to sit so I don’t invade her personal space?”

  Martha chuckled. “Tell him to sit where he pleases, I can move.”

  “Well look at you being agreeable,” I teased.

  “What?” Logan asked as Martha gave me a playful glare.

  I shook my head. “Sorry, speaking to Martha again. I’ll try to address each of you by name from now on. She says to sit wherever you want. She’ll move.”

  With a heavy sigh he sat on the sofa, and I went into the kitchen to start water for tea. Or maybe coffee. It was a little late, but the warm bitter comfort of coffee sounded just right.

  Once Logan and I were both seated on the sofa with steaming mugs of coffee and cream, the questioning began. It was awkward at first, but we soon fell into a flow of Logan asking questions, then me translating Martha’s answers. Unfortunately, we didn’t really learn anything Martha hadn’t already told me, except for the contact information for her ex-husband, employee, and Cheryl.