“I’m on my way. Stay there. I’ll be there in five.”
I did my best to keep it together for the three minutes I had to wait before I heard Cat’s car screeching toward the house. She double parked in the driveway and ran in, immediately taking me into her arms.
“Are you ok?” she asked, as I practically collapsed onto her.
“I’m good,” I answered weakly. “I’m not dead, which is an improvement on where I thought I’d be a few minutes ago.”
“Show me where he is,” Cat said, and I took her to the kitchen and dining room where Henry was still lying, paralyzed.
“I don’t think he’s dead,” I whispered, and Cat went over to feel for a pulse.
“No, he’s alive. Just paralyzed. She closed her eyes for a minute, then pointed at Henry. I didn’t notice anything happen, and a minute later she did it again. Ropes appeared out of thin air and wrapped themselves around his wrists; and a moment later he began to struggle.
“I cursed him so he can’t use his magic,” Cat explained. “The ropes are tied with an unbreakable knot. Come on, let’s go call the police and tell Andi to send Chief Griffin over here.”
Chase showed up five minutes after Cat made the phone call. I explained to him that I came here to talk to Dana about a website for the business–I definitely didn’t want to admit that I’d actually come to see if I could get information about the murder from Dana–and explained that Henry had attacked me.
After Chase sent one of the officers he brought with him in to arrest Henry, he entered the house himself and I followed.
Thankfully, unlike me Cat had realized that the house was definitely in a state that would have been difficult to explain without including magic. She had magically rebuilt the table – although the left it on its side, like Henry had flipped it over in an attempt to get to me, and all the signs of fire in the kitchen cabinets had disappeared as well.
Henry was sitting upright, a scowl on his face, the ropes gone but his hands cuffed behind him.
“Bitch,” he snarled at me as one of the police officers hoisted him up to his feet and led him out of the room.
“How did you overpower him?” Chase asked.
“I got lucky,” replied. “There was a weird sound behind him at one point, it distracted him and he turned around, and I managed to hit him over the head with a large bowl that had been sitting on the counter,” I said, motioning to the broken shards of glass on the floor. Cat really did think of everything.
“You are extremely lucky,” Chase replied. “Although I’m still shocked that he attacked you just for making casual conversation about Brian.”
I nodded mutely. I was all too aware of what feeling like my death was imminent felt like lately.
“I’m going to have to stay here for a while. Can Cat take you home?”
“Of course,” Cat replied. “Please come by anytime to talk to Alice. She’ll be at the apartment.”
If I wasn’t mistaken I saw the flicker of a smile on Chase’s lips as I rolled my eyes. “Cat, do you really think this is the time and place to be trying to set me up with Chase?” I asked her as she led me out of the house.
“Is there ever a bad time to try and set you up with Chase?” she replied, and I rolled my eyes.
“I’ve already told you, I am not interested in dating him,” I said firmly. I had sworn off men after my last relationship. I was all the companionship I needed.
“Please,” Cat replied. “The man looks like Chris Pratt. Of course you want to date him, you just haven’t realized it just yet.”
I sighed as I jumped into the passenger side seat of Cat’s car. I really didn’t want to talk about my relationship history. Just as we were about to pull out, I saw Dana pulling up to the house in her own car, looking confused. I did not envy her for what she was about to find out about her husband.
I had thought she was a murderer, instead she was just an adulterer. She was about to get the shock of her life.
Cat took me home, where we found Peaches happily helping a customer in the bookshop in my absence; it seemed that so long as she wasn’t setting customers on fire, she was actually a pretty good saleslady and seemed to enjoy the work. Plus, being an artist came with devouring all kinds of art as a child, including books, and it was obvious that Peaches had incredibly intimate knowledge of a lot of the works I sold.
She gave us a questioning look when we walked in, and Cat motioned to her to meet us upstairs as she led me past Peaches and up into the apartment, setting me down on the couch.
“You have to tell me everything,” she ordered, and I did. I didn’t leave anything out, and by the time I’d finished retelling the whole story, I barely even realized that tears were running down my cheeks.
“Holy poop,” Cat said, shaking her head. “You’re just having the week from hell, aren’t you?”
I laughed through my tears then, snorting with laughter, which only made me laugh more as Cat took me into a big hug. Peaches came up just then, and Cat gave her a Cliff Notes version of what had happened.
“Oh my God!” Peaches exclaimed. “I can’t believe you just went through that!”
“I think a cupcake would make me feel better,” I said, batting my eyelids at Cat, who laughed and said she had to go back to her shop anyway for a few minutes, but that she promised to return with cupcakes.
“At least we know now who killed Brian Armitage,” Peaches said. “Thanks to you.”
I shrugged. “It was more of an accident than anything. I actually went to their house thinking Dana had done it. I didn’t suspect Henry at all. Not until we started talking. Then I figured it out, and it was too late. I tried to get out of there without making him suspicious, but it seems I have the worst poker face ever.”
Peaches gave me a small smile. “Well, I’m glad you’re safe.”
I leaned back against the couch and sighed. “I’m safe for now. But the Others have already come after me. I’m a lot more scared of them than I am of Henry Gunter.”
“Well,” Peaches told me as Cat returned, a triple chocolate fudge cupcake in one hand and a grin on her face, “you have your family now. We’re going to stick together, and when we do that, there’s no way the Others will win.”
I smiled at Peaches. “You’re right. You’re all amazing. I love being here, and I love you guys.”
My heart swelled with pleasure as I looked at my cousins. I didn’t know what the future held. I was just getting used to being around magic, and now I was finding out that a group of bad magical people were coming to try and take my soul. That was a lot to take in over such a short period of time. But, I felt like I could handle it. With Peaches, and Cat, and Sage and Grandma Cee on my side, I knew I could handle anything.
* * *
Over the next few days, everything began to settle down as events began to unravel and the rumour mill in Sapphire Village worked overtime. I figured everyone was trying to gossip extra to catch up on the fact that no one had realized Dana Gunter had been having an affair with Brian Armitage.
The embezzling of his business by Brian Armitage was revealed; Carl Green had no idea it had been going on. Alexa Juneau didn’t, either, until she looked through the files more closely after Brian’s death at Chase’s request. She only picked up on the anomaly when looking at all of the files at once; when the invoices were drip-fed to her by Brian she had never made the connection.
It turned out Brian and Dana had been seeing each other for six months. Henry found out about it by following his wife after he grew suspicious of the long hours she worked, and saw her go to Brian’s home, through the rear entrance. Neither Brian nor Dana had any idea that Henry knew about the affair.
When Henry had been hired to paint Brian’s house, he found the gun, in the unlocked drawer where Brian kept it. He stole the gun and apparently carried it with him everywhere, waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill Brian. When he found Brian alone in the train compartment he settled on then.
Isabella, it turned out, had found out about the affair when doing some routine IT work. Brian and Dana had been using their work emails to keep the affair secret. Isabella, being the woman she was, kept the information to herself, even though spreading it would have made her the star of the Sapphire Village rumour mill for a while, not to mention it would have tarnished Brian Armitage’s reputation even further.
I had to admit, I felt a little bit like an idiot for not thinking of Dana’s husband as being the murderer. But as Cat pointed out, the fact that I’d figured out the affair where no one else had was some pretty good detective work, not to mention the embezzling.
About a week after Henry was arrested Chase came by the shop one morning.
“Don’t tell me I have another customer complaint,” I joked when he entered, and Chase grinned. He was wearing slacks and a nice polo shirt which casually showed off his muscular body. Nope, I was so not going to think about that.
“No, don’t worry. I just came in to see how you were doing the last few days. After all, you’ve had a pretty, uh, interesting reception in Sapphire Village.”
“Thanks,” I replied with a smile. “I’m doing well. I’ve been trying not to think about how close I’ve come to death. After all, the way I see it, I’m just as close every time I go to cross the street.”
“That’s a good way to think of it,” Chase said, nodding. “And the bookshop’s going well?”
“It is, I haven’t even set any customers on fire in weeks,” I joked.
“My mom’s birthday is coming up,” he said, moving towards the shelves. “Anything you’d recommend? She’s a big fan of mysteries.”
“Yeah, in fact, I just recently read this really good one,” I said, moving towards the copy of The Mystery on the Blue Train that had helped me solve the crime.
“Sold,” Chase grinned. “My mom loves Agatha Christie, and this one looks really classy. She’ll love it.”
“I’m glad,” I said, taking the book to the counter to ring him up. “Is your mom local as well?”
Chase nodded. “Yeah. She’s retired now, but she worked as a ski instructor on the mountain for years and years. She and my dad met when they were both working here as ski bums in their early twenties, and they never moved. I grew up here.”
“I guess you’re pretty good at skiing then,” I said as I wrapped the book up and put it in a bag for Chase.
“I’m pretty decent,” Chase said. “How about you? Growing up in Miami I guess you’ve never done it?”
I shook my head. “No, never been on a pair of skis.”
“Well, how about I take you up one day and give you a lesson?” Chase asked, and I felt my face redden. I dropped my eyes to the floor.
“Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked in an almost whisper.
“I’d like for it to be a date,” he said.
“I’m just not ready, I mean, I just don’t really want to get involved with anyone right now,” I said. “I just moved here, I’m just getting used to things.”
“Of course. No problem,” Chase said. “How about as friends then? No romantic overtones. Just one friend teaching another how to ski.”
Friends. I wasn’t sure. On one hand, I was still naturally pretty suspicious. What if he said he just wanted to do it as friends, but then tried to manipulate me into making it more than that? On the other hand, he had also completely accepted my reaction, and didn’t try to change my mind. Besides, Chase didn’t seem to be that kind of guy.
On the other hand, neither had Mike, at first.
Eventually, my brain made the call.
“Yeah, ok. As friends,” I said, managing to meet his eyes and give him a smile.
“Cool,” he replied. “There’s enough snowpack that the mountain will still be open for a month. I have next Monday off, and the sign at the front says you’re closed Mondays. How about then?”
“Sure,” I replied.
“I’ll see you then. It’ll be fun, I promise!”
Chase left the store, but no matter what I couldn’t make the red tint leave my face. Chase was going to teach me how to ski! As friends, of course. But still. I had to admit, I was excited. I just didn’t know if it was because of the skiing, or because of the instructor.
Yup, things in Sapphire Village were definitely getting more complicated. The Others, Aunt Francine being a ghost, and now this. What on earth was I getting myself into?
Also by Samantha Silver
First of all, I wanted to thank you for reading my book. I well and truly hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it.
If you did enjoy Murder on the Oregon Express 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.
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Want more of Alice’s adventures? The third Magical Bookshop mystery, The Very Killer Caterpillar, is now available for preorder on Amazon by clicking here.
Other Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Alice in Murderland (Magical Bookshop Mystery #1)
The Very Killer Caterpillar (Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)
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)
Lipstick on a Pig (Willow Bay Witches #4)
A Grizzly Discovery (Willow Bay Witches #5)
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Bombing in Belgravia (Cassie Coburn Mystery #2)
Whacked in Whitechapel (Cassie Coburn Mystery #3)
About the Author
Samantha Silver lives in Oregon with her long-time boyfriend, her Jack Russell terrier named Kilo, two cats who like to help her type by lying across the keyboard, and the occasional foster. When she’s not playing mom to all these animals, Samantha is either writing the mysteries she loves, volunteering at the local animal shelter, or watching Netflix.
You can connect with Samantha online here:
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