“Thanks, Mercy, that really means a lot to me. I just need to call my mom and get that recipe!” she said as she pulled the car over in front of Habernackle’s.
“But first we need to ask my mom if we can do Thanksgiving here,” I said as I bounded out of Sweets’ car and to the front door of the family restaurant.
I threw open the front door and strode through the empty restaurant to the kitchen with the rest of the Witch Squad right behind me. Chesney, my little chestnut colored Cavapoo puppy, was hot on my heels the second I entered the kitchen. I stooped over to pick him up and gave him a big hug. “Hey Ches,” I said as I cuddled his soft velvety fur. He licked my cheek excitedly, wiggling in my arms so much I could barely keep hold of him.
“Well, now I know where I rank,” my mother said as she looked up from whatever she was making at the long stainless steel table in the middle of the kitchen. “Chesney gets hugs before Mom.”
I handed Chesney to Jax and strutted towards my mother. She’d recently washed her white hairs away, to impress the men in her life, and was left with only her natural colored auburn hair. She turned her bright green eyes towards me and stopped mixing.
“Sorry Mom,” I said with a little smile playing around my mouth. “Ches is just so dang cute.”
“So you’re saying I’m not cute?” Mom asked with a chuckle. She reached her arms out and let me give her a hug.
“You’re not cute, Aunt Linda, you’re adorable,” Jax said giggling while Chesney licked at her face.
“I don’t think a woman of my age can be considered adorable, Jax, but thanks for being sweet,” Mom said, wiping her hands on her apron. She reached her arms out to hug the rest of my friends one by one. Even Alba grudgingly gave her a hug.
“So, tell me, what are you girls doing here? No murders to solve today?” Mom asked, only half joking.
“We’re making plans for Thanksgiving,” I explained, before reaching a finger into the batter she had just finished mixing. “No school this week – for the holiday!”
“Nice! Is everyone going home for the break?” she asked, looking at all of us.
Holly shook her head. “No, we’re all going home for Christmas, so we’re staying for Thanksgiving.”
“So…,” I began hesitantly. “We were wondering if we could do a big Thanksgiving dinner here?”
Mom’s face lit up. “Really? You want to celebrate it here, with Reign and I?”
“If that’s ok with you?”
“Duh,” she said. “Of course that’s ok.”
“What’s ok?” asked my brother’s deep voice from the back door.
I looked up to see him coming inside, carrying an oversized cardboard box that read KEEP FROZEN. “Need help?” I asked him.
Reign nodded and gestured towards the freezer door with his head. “Open the door for me?”
Quickly I did what he asked, and when he’d put the box down inside the walk-in freezer and came back to the kitchen, he looked at all of us. “Hi girls,” he said, his dark onyx eyes sparkled as he shot us the dazzling little grin that always seemed to melt my friends’ hearts. Especially Holly and Sweets’, who both had huge crushes on him.
“Hi Reign,” Sweets said with a nervous little giggle and a pink face.
Holly, who was known for being a little more forward with her affection, sauntered towards him and threw her arms over his broad shoulders and gave him a little squeeze. “Hi Reign, how have you been?”
He shifted his weight uncomfortably, and after unhooking himself from her, he gave her a tight smile. “I’ve been good, thanks. The restaurant has been so busy. There hasn’t been much downtime. So what’s going on here?” he asked, putting both of his fists on his hips and looking from me to Jax to my mom.
“They want to have Thanksgiving dinner here,” Mom explained.
A big smile spread across my brother’s face. He’d never had a big family Thanksgiving dinner with us before. Having grown up adopted and only recently discovering Mom and me, I was sure that was something he was going to be totally ok with. Reign reached over and threw an arm around my neck. “You want to have Thanksgiving here? With family instead of your friends?!”
I rolled my eyes at him. “No. I’d like to have Thanksgiving here with my friends and my family. But if you’d rather we not, then I guess we can just eat in the cafeteria.”
Reign tightened his hold around my neck and rubbed the top of my head affectionately. “Quit it, brat. Of course, we can do dinner here. This is exciting! I’ll close the restaurant down, and we’ll just have the day be about family. This is going to be great.”
“Can I help cook, Linda?” Sweets asked my mother. “I’m going to enter my grandmother’s pie recipe in a contest at Bailey’s Bakery & Sweets so I’d be happy to make the pies.”
“That would be very helpful, Sweets,” my mother said. She lifted up the stainless steel mixing bowl she was using and poured the contents onto a large cookie sheet. “How many people should we plan on?”
I looked at the girls and shrugged. “I don’t know. The five of us. You two. Can I invite Hugh?”
Jax’s eyebrows shot up. “If you invite Hugh, can I invite Tristan?”
My mother nodded. “Absolutely! Both of your boyfriends are welcome. Of course, I might want to invite a man or two myself,” she said with a light smile. She was referring to the continuing saga of her budding relationship with Detective Mark Whitman and her long-lost first love and Reign’s father, Merrick Stone. Both had been actively pursuing her as of late, but she’d been so unsure about which man she wanted to pursue a relationship with that she’d just sort of laid low for the past few weeks.
Reign smiled. “So we can invite my father?”
I winced and shoved Reign’s arm off of my shoulder. Reign’s father was not someone I cared to see on Thanksgiving or any day for that matter. He was the Headmaster of the Paranormal Institute for Wizards, and not only was he my mother’s ex-boyfriend; he was also Jax’s uncle, making Jax and me unofficial cousins. Merrick Stone had anger issues, and while he’d recently proven not to be as nefarious as I’d once thought him to be, I still hadn’t joined his fan club. “Really, Reign?”
Reign’s face fell. “Oh, come on. It’s my first Thanksgiving as a member of this family and my biological mother, father, and sister are in the same town.”
“And cousin,” Jax chimed in happily.
“And cousin. And I don’t get to have them all be in the same place at the same time for one holiday?”
I wanted to throw my arms down, stomp my feet, and pout. But I didn’t. It was Reign’s business, and it wasn’t really my place to tell him who he could and could not invite to his place on Thanksgiving. My only hope was that my mother would see that it was a mistake to invite both men to the same dinner.
I looked at Mom. “What do you think, Mom? Don’t you think it would be awkward to invite Detective Whitman and Merrick to dinner?”
She threw her head back and growled at the ceiling. “I wish the two of them got along better.”
“They both said they’re going to try and get along, for our benefit,” Reign pointed out. “I don’t see the problem.”
“I just don’t want it to be awkward,” said Mom quietly and then groaned. “Dating at my age is just plain silly.”
“Then you just need to pick one and have him put a ring on it,” I said with frustration. “And pick the right one!”
Jax grabbed a handful of grapes from the bowl in the center of the table and popped one in her mouth. “How does she know which one is the right one?”
“She asks me!” I grumbled. “I know which one is the right one.”
Reign groaned and headed towards the back door. He’d heard enough. “I have work to do. I think you should just let Mom make her own decisions.”
I shrugged. “Whatever. So Thanksgiving here is a go? I can start inviting people?”
Mom nodded. “Who else are you inviting?”
Holly, Jax, Sw
eets, and I all looked at Alba. “We only have one person left that I can think of,” I told my mother.
Alba threw her hands up in the air and strutted out the double swinging kitchen doors and back towards the dining area. “I’m leaving,” she hollered backwards at us.
Later that afternoon after spending an hour on a term paper that was due before Christmas break, I leaned back in my chair, took my glasses off and rubbed my eyes. It felt good for a change – not to have to rush around and try and figure out who killed someone. I was finally able to just concentrate on my homework for once. Maybe I’d learn something in college yet!
I put my glasses back on and looked out the window. It was quite the grey day. The clouds were really starting to roll in, but the temperature hadn’t yet dropped. Hugh Brooks, my boyfriend of two months, was a student at the Paranormal Institute for Wizards next door. His specialty was controlling the local weather. He and I both preferred the season autumn. I appreciated the fact that he liked to keep the temperature in Aspen Falls at a comfortable 77 degrees. Regardless of the temperature outside, my dorm room felt a bit chilly. I pulled on my black Converse sneakers, drug a hoodie over my head, and left my dorm room, shutting the door behind me with a clank.
Knocking on the door down the hall, I waited for Holly or Alba to answer. “Come in,” I heard a voice grumble.
I threw open the door and found Alba alone in the room, sitting on her bed.
“Whatcha doing?” I asked as I fell into her comfy round saucer chair.
She looked down at her phone in stunned confusion. My skin began to prickle immediately.
“Alba, what’s wrong?” I asked her.
She shook her head and opened her mouth, making inaudible sounds, like she couldn’t speak.
My heart dropped into my stomach. Something wasn’t right. “Alba. Did something happen? Are you alright?”
Alba looked up at me; her normally tanned face was ashen. “I just called my house.”
My chest tightened. “Did you talk to Tony? Let me guess. He doesn’t want to drive out here for Thanksgiving?”
Alba shook her head. “No, he wasn’t home.”
I let out the breath I had been holding. “Oh, well then, what’s wrong? Are your parents okay?”
“Yeah, my parents are fine,” she said, still looking dazed.
I got up and plopped down on the bed next to her. “Then what’s the matter?”
“Tony left to come and see me,” she said flatly.
My mind raced. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? She was making it sound like that was a bad thing. “And he didn’t tell you?”
She still appeared emotionless. “He wanted to surprise me.”
I smiled, my opinion of him went up a couple notches in that moment. How sweet of him. “Aww, Alba, then what’s wrong? That’s nice of him to do. You can’t be mad at the guy because he didn’t tell you he was coming. I’m really surprised your mother even told you! You’d think she’d want you to be surprised too.”
Alba shook her head. “You don’t understand.”
“Yeah, I guess I don’t. My mom would have totally kept it a secret if Hugh was going to do a big surprise for me. But she’s really into romance and all of that lovey-dovey stuff. Maybe your mom isn’t a romantic at heart,” I rattled.
Alba turned to me and looked me in the eye. “Red. Tony left to come see me, three weeks ago.”
“Three weeks ago? How long is the drive from New Jersey?” I asked her, stunned.
“Like six hours, max.”
“So where is he?” I asked her as panic started to set in.
“He’s missing. Tony is missing.”
3
“So what exactly did your mother say?” Holly asked Alba as the rest of the Witch Squad gathered in Holly and Alba’s dorm room.
Alba looked around the room. I could tell she was feeling panicked but didn’t know what to do with the feelings she was having. Alba wasn’t exactly the most demonstrative of people either, which was probably why she and Tony probably made such a good match.
“I asked her if I could speak to Tony and she said he’s not here. I said ok, where is he? He’s not answering his cell phone. And she said he should be there with you. Unless he left already? I said, left from where? She was like, left from Aspen Falls. I said, what do you mean? Tony’s not in Aspen Falls. She said, when did he leave? I said, he never came to Aspen Falls,” Alba’s voice began to choke up a little.
Jax sat down on the bed next to her and rubbed her back. “It’s ok, Alba. We’ll find him. Don’t worry.”
“I hope he’s not dead,” Holly said sorrowfully.
Sweets’ eyes opened wider, and she elbowed Holly in the ribs. “Holly! I’m sure he’s not dead! I’m sure he’s fine. Don’t worry Alba. Like Jax said, we’ll find him.”
Alba tilted her head from side to side, cracking her neck. Then she stood up and wriggled her arms a bit, letting out the tension that was no doubt accumulating in her body. “I’m not worried. I’m sure he’s fine, too.”
“Good,” I said, nodding. Keeping her calm until we could find out more information was important. Now was definitely not the time to panic. “So, what are the facts?”
“The facts?” Alba asked, looking back at me.
“You know, when did Tony leave New Jersey? What was he driving? Did anyone ride with him? Did he contact them at all? We need to figure out what we know if we’re going to find him.”
“Right,” Alba agreed, nodding her head seriously. “Ok, well, my mom said he left three weeks ago. It was the day after Halloween. He left alone, and he was driving his car. It’s a red, four-door, Ford Focus.”
“I bet there are a million red, four-door, Ford Focus’ out there. Any special recognizable details about it?” I asked.
Alba shrugged. “Not really. It will have New Jersey plates, though. And there’s a Giants bumper sticker on the back.”
“And you called his cell phone?” Sweets asked.
“It went straight to voicemail.”
“When is the last time you talked to him? Honestly,” I asked her. I didn’t think Alba would lie to us, but I wasn’t sure.
Alba looked me straight in the eye. “The last time I talked to him was the day I left for college. I swear.”
“And you haven’t called or texted each other since that day?”
“Tony doesn’t like to text. He has big fingers and a little flip phone,” she explained.
“You can’t talk on the phone?” Holly asked.
Alba shrugged. “Neither of us are big talkers. Especially on the phone. And that first week of school we had the Hartford girl’s murder to deal with and then everything that’s happened since then. We have been busy, and Tony has a full-time job, I know he’s busy. Dad works those boys hard.”
Alba blinked. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Was she worried that her husband was dead in a ditch somewhere? Did she think that he had run off on her? Was she worried? Sad? Hurt? Afraid? I couldn’t tell in that moment. I felt like I needed to be the strong one and get us moving in a direction that would help Tony.
“Ok, well, I think we need to go pay Detective Whitman a visit. If anyone can find Tony, it’ll be him. If he can’t, he’ll point us in the right direction,” I suggested. I looked around at the faces of the rest of the girls. They were all at a loss. I could see it in their eyes. “Right girls?”
Sweets nodded absentmindedly. “Right.”
“Hi Officer Vargas,” sang Holly as we entered the lobby of the Aspen Falls Police Department.
The man with the two big black bushy eyebrows atop his eyes looked at us with annoyance. “What do you girls want?”
“What do you think we want?” I asked him. We’d been to see Detective Whitman enough since September that you’d think he’d just unlock the door for us on sight.
“He’s in a meeting,” he grumbled.
“Ugh,” I groaned, looking at Alba who still hadn’t had very much to say sin
ce leaving the Institute. “How do we go about filling out a missing person report?”
He looked at us skeptically. “How long has the person been missing?”
“Three weeks,” said Jax without hesitation.
Officer Vargas raised his eyebrows. “Where is this person missing from?”
“He’s from Jersey City, New Jersey, but he was on his way here to Aspen Falls and apparently he never made it this far,” I explained.
Officer Vargas sighed and bent over to push the buzzer to let us through the locked door. “Come on back. I’ll see if Whitman is out of his meeting yet.”
“Thanks,” I said earnestly. I’d have to remember to get Officer Vargas a Christmas gift. Maybe a Remington eyebrow trimmer.
Officer Vargas lifted the receiver off of the phone in front of him and pushed a button. “Are you available? – Ok – Those girls are here to see you again. – Ok,” he said into the phone before hanging up. “Detective Whitman said you can go back.”
I nodded somberly and led the girls back to Detective Whitman’s office.
“Girls, back so soon? Please tell me that you’re not here to report another murder?” scoffed the dark haired man sitting behind the desk.
Our somber faces caused him to sigh behind his desk. He leaned back in his rolling chair as one hand went to his mouth, with his thumb supporting his chin and his index finger curling around his dark mustache. “Oh, no. What happened?”
Holly and I exchanged nervous glances.
“Alba’s husband, Tony, is missing,” I said.
Detective Whitman looked at Alba in surprise. “You’re married?” he asked.
Alba looked down at her feet without responding.
“It’s a long story, but yes, she’s married,” I answered for her. “And her husband left New Jersey three weeks ago to come and surprise her. We just found out today. Their family thought he was out here visiting her, but he never showed up.”
“Ok, well, I’ll need some information,” he said, rolling his chair up to his desk and taking out a notepad and a pen. “What’s his name?”
Witch Pie: A Witch Squad Holiday Special (A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Book 4) Page 2
