Two Wicked Desserts

by Lynn Cahoon

  Grans called after her, “I’ll send Christina to get you when dinner’s ready. But if you’re asleep, we’re not waking you. You look tired.”

  “Thanks,” Mia called back. Thanks for telling me I look like crap. She’d wanted to relax, but if she was this stressed when they were at less than half booked, she would hate to see it when she was fully booked and working off a waitlist. Maybe then she’d be used to the volume. Or maybe not.

  She opened her door and fell face-first onto her bed. Then she promptly fell asleep.

  The light was coming from the windows, but she wasn’t in bed. She glanced around and realized she was in the house. She could see the flagpole in the parking lot, an old and tattered St. Catherine’s Prep flag flapping in the wind. But the flag was torn and stained, the words faded. She had to be on the third floor from the view she could see from the window, but she’d never been here before. Unless this was her apartment, just years before she’d bought the place. And before the last principal had remodeled the place she now lived in.

  A woman in a cloak sat on a wooden chair, watching her. Her hood was down, her copper hair braided tight on each side of her head. She held a staff. “Have you found what you need yet?”

  She woke from the dream abruptly, and she sat upright in bed. Mr. Darcy was at the end of the bed watching her. He meowed quietly.

  “Sorry, big guy. A bad dream.” Mia patted the bed next to her and stroked his coat. “Too many things going on, and none of it makes any sense. Especially why I’m part of this and every murder that happens in Magic Springs.”

  He started to purr, which always put her to sleep. But she had a thought stuck in her head. Maybe Baldwin was right and she had terrible luck. Maybe she’d always be knee-deep in investigations.

  Chapter 12

  The next morning Mia woke starving. She hadn’t heard Grans try to wake her for dinner. And with the weird dream, she wondered if she could have been pulled out of the visit anyway. She shivered as she crawled out of bed. The apparition that called itself her guardian had been clear this time: find whatever resource she didn’t have or die. That was pretty cut-and-dried. And the missing something had to be in this house. She’d seen the flagpole. She’d known where she was, in her apartment looking out the window. There were things that didn’t make sense. But she’d known where she’d been in the dream.

  Or had it been a message? Either way, Mia was going to have to find these things before the lack of them killed her. She’d talk to Grans this morning.

  Cindy was alone in the kitchen when Mia arrived. She was ready for the event today. Then she could work on guardian business, maybe after she figured out who had broken into her kitchen. Although she thought she knew who it was–John Louis. “Hey, Cindy, where’s my grandmother?”

  “She’s not up yet.” Cindy looked up from the notebook she’d been writing in. “Look, Mia, can we talk?”

  “Aren’t we talking now?” Mia poured herself a cup of coffee. She wouldn’t eat until after the event. She didn’t trust her stomach on big days like this. Isaac used to kid her about how seriously she took her catering jobs. She should have realized then that they were on two different wavelengths.

  “I mean, I need to thank you for taking me in. I know I haven’t been the easiest person to have here, and I guess I think a little too much of myself sometimes. I’ve always just had myself to worry about. And people took care of me. Mostly Father, then my agent handled most of my decisions. Now, with him gone, I think I’d better figure out how to take care of myself before I get myself in trouble again.” She studied the table as she talked. “I didn’t like being in jail. It gave me a lot of time to think about what’s important.”

  “Everyone has times in their lives when they have to take stock of what’s happening. You’re just hitting that spot. I hope you find yourself soon.” Mia could relate to what Cindy was saying. She’d never been too focused on herself, but she had lost herself in her last relationship. Now, she was finding herself again. And she liked who she’d become. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Because you and your grandmother were there when I needed someone. I know, I messed up with the spell. Father always said not to spell for yourself. That the power was a gift I’d been given and not to waste it. I thought he was being metaphorical. At least until last week. Did I tell you my agent’s hair fell out? I was mad because Merry didn’t get me a job I wanted, and her hair fell out the next day. I don’t think it was a coincidence. Of course, I didn’t tell her that I might have been responsible.” She rubbed her forehead. “Okay, so I know it wasn’t random. I knew the book had power. I touched the cover and said that Merry should pay. And then I heard she wasn’t seeing anyone because of a health issue. Her secretary told me the truth.”

  Mia didn’t want to ask, but she needed to. “Did you wish harm on Denny?”

  Cindy shook her head. “No way. I still needed him. This part is going to be killer, and he was helping me walk in the character’s shoes.”

  “The book is telling the same story. Well, it is now that we figured out why it wasn’t talking,” Grans said as she walked into the kitchen. She patted Mia’s shoulder. “Cindy didn’t kill that man. She has a nonmagical alibi that satisfied Mark Baldwin as well. She’s off the hook for that, at least. Now we have to fix the damage she did to her agent.”

  “And find out who did kill Denny Blake.” Mia stood and went to the cabinet to grab a banana. There was no way she could get through the event without something in her stomach. “I’ve got to wake up Christina and get the van packed. We need to be at the venue in less than an hour.”

  “You go get ready and I’ll wake up Christina. The girl listens when I call her name. I think she’s afraid of me.” Grans smiled.

  Mia knew that Christina did, in fact, fear Grans, but she wasn’t going to confirm her statement. Christina needed to deal with that on her own. “Sounds like a plan.”

  She filled a travel mug with coffee and went downstairs to get ready. She had parked the van near the kitchen’s back door. She opened it and started loading the van with the boxes and tubs she’d packed last night. The cake would go in last so nothing would happen to it.

  As she carried out a tub, a man’s hands grabbed it from her and took it to the van. “Let me help.”

  Mia looked up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Levi Majors might be just a little more handsome than his older brother, Trent, but he didn’t have wisdom in his sparkling eyes. Not yet. “Thanks, Levi. What are you doing here?”

  He grinned as he set the tub in the van. “I believe you know. Where’s Christina? We need to talk.”

  “She doesn’t have time right now. We have an event. And if you take off with my sous chef, you’re going to have to deal with me.”

  “No, I don’t want to run off with her. Well, I do, but right now I’d settle for five minutes.” He followed Mia into the kitchen. “And I can help you load so you won’t lose any time that I might hold you up.”

  “That’s nice of you.” Mia glanced toward the door.

  Christina was coming into the kitchen. She stopped short when she saw Levi. Then she crossed the kitchen, grabbed a tote, and stepped around him. “I don’t have time for this.”

  “Christina, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’d be there, and I didn’t expect her to sit on my lap. If you’re going to blame anyone, blame Bethanie. She timed that stunt just so you’d see it.” Levi picked up another tote and followed her.

  Mia decided she’d start in the fridge so Levi and Christina could have some privacy. With Levi here, as long as they worked while they talked, they’d be ready in no time. When she was done with the food, she glanced out the doorway. Christina and Levi stood by the van. Mia watched as he nodded and left to get into his car.

  Christina came inside and picked up the last tub.

  “Everything all right?” Mia asked, focusing on the cake.

  Christina didn’t answer as she turned to walk out to the van.


  “Christina?” Mia asked again.

  She paused, not turning to look at Mia. “I’m not sure yet. I have a bad feeling about this. I know he wants to be with me, but I’m not sure yet.”

  Mia let the comment hang because she didn’t have time for relationship drama right then either. Hopefully, Christina could keep her head in the game long enough to get through this party. They could sit and talk after that. Maybe an answer would come then.

  Christina came back into the kitchen. “So, tell me how we’re going to get the cake to the event.”

  * * *

  Mia was setting up the decorations around the cake in the ballroom when she heard men talking in an alcove. At first she tried to drown them out, focusing on getting the cake positioned just perfect so that when the prospective parents cut into the cake, the colored section inside would show to the gathering.

  “You shouldn’t have brought him to town. Now, we’ve got the police looking into his death, which is going to stall our deal. We need this to go through. You know how much money this will bring into town.”

  Mia froze. Who was talking? She focused and moved toward the sound. She didn’t want to be seen, but on the other hand, she needed to know who was talking.

  “. . . not my fault. He was supposed to . . .” a male voice responded, but Mia realized they were walking away from the ballroom.

  Were they attending the party? Did they work at the convention center? She glanced around the corner of the alcove and found the area empty. A door at the end of the hallway was swinging shut. She ran to it, but the parking lot was empty. She stepped outside after making sure the door wouldn’t lock behind her and heard a car take off.

  “What are you doing?” Christina asked behind her.

  Mia whirled around.

  Christina held up her hands. “Hold off, what’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost.”

  Mia let out her breath and went inside the building. “Nothing. I heard someone talking. I thought they said something about hiring Denny.”

  “What? Here? Someone was talking about that? Who was it?” Christina peppered her with questions.

  Mia paused in the alcove where she’d heard the men talking. Nothing was around. No lost piece of paper with John Louis’s name and address on it with a written to-do list starting with “hire a hit man.” She blew out an exasperated breath and went into the ballroom. She had put a small stork on the front of the cake so she could make sure it showed correctly when it was cut. And she’d cut out an arrow for the couple and taped it to the table, to make sure the reveal would be perfect. Now the execution was in their hands.

  “How are the appetizers?” She turned to Christina, who’d followed her back from outside, still waiting for her answers.

  “Fine. I mean, everything’s ready. All we need are the servers and the guests and then we’ll be done with another successful catering job.” Christina smiled at the cake. “This is lovely and such a great idea. Someday I’m going to do this for my baby reveal.”

  “Are you saying you worked it out with Levi?” Mia turned and studied her helper. Christina looked hopeful, at least in Mia’s view.

  Then she shrugged and the hopeful look disappeared. “Maybe. I’ve just got a lot of thinking to do. Levi has quite the reputation for being a bad boy. I don’t want to cramp his style with what I need, but then again, it’s what I need.”

  “Exactly.” Mia smiled and put her arm around Christina. “I’m proud of you for standing up for what you want in a relationship. Now, let’s get this all set up so we can leave as soon as we train the servers.”

  “Sounds good to me. I didn’t sleep well last night. I could use a nap.” Christina moved with her into the kitchen.

  And with that one statement, Mia knew Christina’s heart was in catering. They were just alike. Neither one of them could sleep before a big day. Except Mia had worked herself into sleep yesterday. Well, sleep and a vision or a dream, whatever you wanted to call it. All she knew was, her guardian had reached out to her again. As soon as today was over, even if Grans was still working with Cindy, they needed to have a talk. It was clear Grans was holding something back. She wasn’t sure what it was yet, but she’d find out. She always did.

  * * *

  Back at the house, Grans and Cindy were walking out as they pulled up in the van. Mia stuck her head out of the window. “Where are you two going?”

  “Cindy wants to see Dorian’s old house. The Realtor has a buyer, and Cindy wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything in the house that she needed to move out before selling,” Grans called from the driver’s side of her car. “We’ll bring home dinner from the Lodge. Go upstairs and relax. I know you’ve had a busy week.”

  Great, Mia thought as the car drove off. So much for her getting to the bottom of the guardian stuff. She grabbed her tote bag with her notebook and tablet and swung it over her shoulder. “Let’s go fix some sandwiches for lunch. Then I’m crashing for a few hours.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Christina yawned. “What time are we going back?”

  “Four. Then when we get back, it will take about an hour to clean everything and put it away before dinner.” Mia set an alarm on her watch. “I’d hate to sleep through the night again.”

  “You were out yesterday.” Christina bounded up the stairs. “It was almost like someone had drugged you. You missed a great meal.”

  “I guess I was tired.” Mia was almost to the apartment when she heard the locks click. “What the heck? No one is supposed to be in there.”

  As she watched, Mr. Darcy ran out of the apartment and down the stairs. She turned to follow him, but then she decided not to fight it. She called after him. “Remember to be back in the apartment by eight. I’m not sure I can stay up much longer.”

  Christina was staring at her. “How did he do that?”

  “Do what exactly?” Mia strode into the apartment and was greeted by Grans’s dog, Muffy. He’d stayed inside, but he was watching the open door, waiting for someone to come inside.

  Christina leaned down and rubbed Muffy’s head. “Mr. Darcy has Dorian. Do you think it was the cat or the spirit who ran out of here so fast? Maybe he was looking for Cindy. Is she in danger?” she asked Muffy. The dog turned around on the carpet and laid in the middle of the rug. He was ignoring her question.

  Mia watched the interaction with amusement. Christina seemed to be taking the magic stuff surrounding Mia and her grandmother in stride. She seemed more curious than concerned.

  “You think Dorian’s trying to follow Cindy?” The idea hadn’t occurred to Mia, but it was a good one. She dialed Grans’s cell. It was answered after one ring.

  “I can’t talk, I’m driving, and Baldwin gets miffed if he sees me holding my phone,” Grans explained.

  “I’ll be quick. Keep an eye out for Mr. Darcy. We’re not sure if he took off following you two.”

  She heard Grans’s hesitation. “Well, cats do like to chase cars. I’ll be careful, but I think we’re too far away now for him to catch us. Anyway, Cindy’s holding the phone, so I’ve got to hang up now.”

  Mia heard the undercurrent. Grans hadn’t told Cindy yet that her father’s spirit was stuck in Mr. Darcy. Which was probably for the best. Cindy seemed to have a bit of a temper and could be a loose cannon, especially concerning Dorian’s family’s grimoire. New witches didn’t have to do much to get a spell book to work. It was as if it anticipated your every move. Not unlike a boyfriend, but without the need to watch hours of sports a week. She realized Grans was still on the line. “Okay, bye now.”

  “We’ll have dinner there right at six.” Grans knew Mia would have to go back to the event.

  “Sounds perfect.” Mia ended the call, then looked around the apartment. It looked presentable. Besides, Cindy wasn’t really a guest. She glanced at Christina. “We’ll just need to watch out for him. I’m sure he didn’t take off after Grans. At least I hope not.”

  “I can go search the downstairs for him,”
Christina offered.

  Mia knew the cat had a lot of hiding places in the building. “No. Let’s just eat. I need to make some phone calls and make some notes about the catering job. Mr. Darcy will come back when he’s ready.”

  “Okay, then.” Christina opened the fridge and started grabbing lunch meat and fixings for a sandwich. “Tell me what you want.”

  “Surprise me.” Mia grinned as she handed Christina the bread. “I’m hungry, so don’t go all tea party on the sandwiches. I want some substance.”

  “I can do that.” Christina disappeared into the kitchen.

  Mia curled up on the couch and pulled out her tablet to make notes about the catering. Using the Lodge’s servers, they would need to do more training next time because they didn’t understand her instructions. She called out to Christina in the kitchen, “I think James hires every homeless man in the area for these events. Then we have to train them.”

  “It’s a good quality in a man to take care of those less fortunate,” Christina reminded her as she brought in a pastrami and swiss sandwich with some potato chips on the side and set it in front of Mia. She got her own plate from the kitchen and sat down on the couch. “You never told me what you saw at the convention center. Do you think they might have been ghosts? Or maybe soldiers?”

  “I didn’t see anything. That was one of the problems. If I’d seen something, I could actually enjoy my time teasing you. However, you’re right about James’s bent toward charity. But we do have to plan time to train the servers at the next event, even if we aren’t the ones paying their wages.” Mia wrote down all this about costs and setting up the party into the file. This could be a popular event.

  She’d just finished her lunch and was curled up in the recliner when the business phone rang. “Mia’s Morsels, how may I help you?”

  “You can keep your nose out of my affairs. And your grandmother too. I don’t want to give her a heart attack when she sees what I’m up to,” the male voice reminded her. “You’ll get instructions on what I need.”