Abracastabra (Hex Falls Paranormal Cozy Mystery # 4) (Hex Falls Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series)

by Rachel Rivers

  “Yes. And I followed them to a T.” Uncle Harold sounds panicked now. “There wasn’t time to do anything else. Trust me. It all happened so fast.”

  “Didn’t it though,” Jamie says, rather smugly. “And the cloak?” His brows rise. “It left for you, where?”

  “On the back of a chair, outside the platform. Why?”

  “Because.” He turns, making a note of that and pacing the floor. “That would mean, she would have had to place it there.”

  “Which means somehow the knife-thrower got was down in the basement with them,” I blurt, resisting the urge to snap my fingers.

  “Or there was a second cloak.” Jamie turns to me.

  “Which if that is true, then where is it?” I frown.

  “Precisely.” He smiles at me, then looks back at Uncle. “So, if I were to go down there right now, I would find an empty chair.”

  “Well, I should think so,” Uncle Harold snorts, holding out his arms, indicating, he’s wearing the cloak that was there.

  “Then down I shall go down and have a thorough look around. But first”—Jamie dons a serious expression—“I have to arrest you.”

  “What?” I shriek.

  Jamie charges toward Uncle so swiftly, I can’t even utter a word, and he has him cuffed and is leading him away. “But why? What has he done?” I chase after them.

  “It’s what the people think he’s done that’s the problem,” Jamie says, steering my uncle down the steps of the stage. He whisks him up the aisle so briskly, I can barely catch up. “But, this is preposterous. Where are you taking him? What’s happening here?”

  Jamie stops, whirls around, answers me. “I’m arresting your uncle on suspicion of the murder of the knife-thrower’s assistant, Gloria Glassman.”

  “What?”

  Uncle Harold’s head twists backwards and forwards as he’s again led away.

  “But this is ridiculous.” I chase them. “You were in the crowd. You know he didn’t do this. You saw who did. You chased her onto the street.” I point that way.

  “Yes. But how do we know they weren’t in it together?” Jamie turns. “He could have been her accomplice?”

  “Accomplice?” I gasp. “He just told you, he didn’t even know the trick!”

  “It all could have been part of an act.”

  “An act!” I holler, falling back. I can’t believe this is happening.

  “Look, all I know is we have one dead, one seriously injured, and a whole of audience of people who think they saw how the crime went down. They are out there right now, on the streets of Hex Fall, an angry mob, demanding your uncle’s arrest,” Jamie explains. “So, either I appease them, and arrest your uncle, purely on suspicion. Or I can’t protect him. You see?” He looks at me desperately.

  “Does that mean you really don’t believe he’s guilty? You’re just going through the motions, protecting a citizen.”

  “We’ll see what it means.” He shoves Uncle Harold forward.

  My uncle’s panicked eyes never leave me, as they exit through the flap of the tent.

  I don’t know what to think or do. Is this the last time I’m going to see my uncle out of jail?

  “You’ll not get away with this!” Cousin Viv hollers after Jamie, pitching up onto her toes as she races after them out of the tent. “That man is innocent! Innocent, I say!” she shrieks, her voice echoing around the entire empty midway.

  “It’s all right, Cousin Viv. Let it be.” I rush up, taking her by the arm. “It’ll be all right. I’ll see to that.” I watch as they walk off.

  “I’m sorry,” Jamie says, turning back. “But right now, jail is the safest place for him. I hope you can understand.”

  He turns, and starts away, then looks back, specifically at me. “Oh, and by the way, about what I said before, about you being good at sleuthing. I was wondering…” he hesitates.

  “Wondering what?” I say through gritted teeth.

  He’d better not be about to try to warn me off this case. Because if there was ever a case I was going to investigate, it’s this one. The thought vibrates inside me like a hot wire.

  “If you might like to join me on the investigation.” He swallows hard. “I hear you helped my brother hunt down and bring to justice the countess’s killer. It was a really big case, and I figure, with me being new at things, well…I’m not opposed to help”

  “Yes, say yes,” Cousin Viv hisses, and I hold up a hand to her.

  “To be clear, you want me to join in on your investigation?” I touch my chest, feeling bewildered.

  “Well, you’ve already proven yourself in the field.”

  Has he been talking to Sotherby?

  I open my mouth to protest, but really, I have no argument. Investigation work always does go faster with more minds involved.

  “I can understand if you don’t want to,” he blurts, before I have the chance to answer. “Considering the situation.” He looks at me solemnly and then at my uncle. “But if you’d consider it, I’d be game. Not that I want to pressure you into it, or anything.” He holds up a cautious hand. “How about you think on it overnight and give me your answer in the morning. If you’re in, I’ll be at The Bottom of the Cauldron by nine.”

  “She’ll be there!” Cousin Viv answers for me.

  What is with this?

  “I’ll see you at nine,” I say, giving her hand a squeeze.

  Jamies nods and the two of them are gone before anyone can speak another word.

  My gut instantly forms a tight knot.

  I don’t know if I can trust him. Jeremy, I trust. His twin, I don’t know.

  Well, Jeremy without a visitor inside him, anyway.

  After all, he did just take my uncle away.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Cousin Viv exhales, clutching her chest and releasing my hand.

  “Thank goodness?” I turn daggers on her. “Didn’t you hear what just happened? Your brother is going to jail.”

  “Yes, but that’ll only be temporary with you on the case,” she sighs, contentedly.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t you see, it’s perfect. You’re now work closely with the sheriff. It’s only be a matter of time now before your uncle is free.”

  I stare at the smirk on her face. “How do you figure? You do realize we could turn up things that could just as easily prove Uncle guilty, as set him free.” I twist my hands, nervously. “I could be working on a case that puts my own uncle in jail forever?”

  “Only if the mysterious knife-thrower is never found, which she will be.”

  “How do you know that?” I snap.

  “Because, darling, you’re forgetting one thing.” She arches her brows, looping a comforting arm through my own, and pulling me close to her. “You have the advantage of magic.”

  Chapter 18

  “You’re absolutely sure there was no sign of him anywhere?” I ask Donny and Wayne when they get back the next morning.

  “Not a single trace of him, miss.” They step inside my door. “We combed the whole fairgrounds and the town,” Donny says, slipping out of his dirty boots before walking on the hardwood. Wayne retreats to the door to do the same, apologizing on the way.

  They’re such considerate Henchmen.

  “Well, I guess that rules that possibility completely out. Whatever I was smelling last night was not him.” I twist my hands and pace. “I don’t know what I was thinking. There’s no way he could had enough magic left in him to create that on-stage explosion. Or to wield that pot of gun powder that took Jeremy out on the street. But who did?”

  I sigh. “Any sightings of the man in the black bowler hat anywhere in town?”

  “No miss. No sight of him anywhere, either.”

  “Oh great goblins of fire, what am I going to do? I’ve got an ex-Supreme Leader on the loose, an uncle in jail, a murder case to solve, and council waiting for answers.”

  “Don’t forget the possibility of a warlock jumping body t
o body.”

  “Thanks for reminding me.” I turn to Wayne.

  “You’re welcome.” He blushes and crosses his giant toes.

  “Where to start first?” I tap my chin. “Where could ex-Supreme Leader have gone on so little magic, other than straight into the arms of the enemy?”

  My henchmen nod.

  “Perhaps he’s been abducted by the Druens like Cousin Viv said.” I turn to look at them. “How else would his scent have just faded to nothing?”

  “It is looking more and more like that’s a possibility.” She materializes slowly before my eyes in my kitchen. Just what I need, pressure from my family before I’ve even eaten breakfast.

  “Unless, of course”—I tap my lip—“you don’t suppose he may have passed away, do you?” I offer.

  “I doubt it.” Cousin Viv snorts. “Besides, if he had, we’d smell his rotting magical corpse a mile away.

  My henchmen nod.

  “Oh.”

  “Don’t worry, darling, you’ll capture him in due time.” She leans forward, taking my hands and pressing her cheek to mine. “I have every faith in you.”

  I’m glad she has.

  “Oh, by the way, that reminds me.” She reaches into the pocket of her vampire frock and produces a piece of paper. “You have a formal address to give at noon.” She hands it to me.

  “What?” I look down.

  “They’ve asked for a news briefing on what happened yesterday,” she clarifies. “Seems they want you to give a formal press conference. They’ve been twice up to Hex Hall looking for you, and once to the committee, and asked me to give you the message.”

  “And you accepted for me?”

  “Oh, hellions, no.” She scowls. “There didn’t seem to be any choice, just the message.”

  “Wow.” I crumple the paper in my fist. “Me? Why me of all people? How’d I end up in charge?”

  “Well, as they put it, with the sheriff laid up, and the mayor away on the fishing trip with that sheriff from Coal City, way up north, where no one can—”

  “I know!”

  “At any rate, in their absence, they are turning to you—as organizer of the fair—to be its spokesperson.” Cousin Viv awkwardly grins.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have accepted that post.” I huff. “Oh, great galloping hobsnobs. What am I going to tell them?” I clap a frustrated hand to my forehead.

  “What any sane person would in your position, dear. As little as possible.” My cousin’s eyes flash in warning. “Just stand up there and say there was a disturbance at the fairgrounds, and its origin has not been determined yet. Then leave.” She shoots up her chin and clutches her hands, proud of herself.

  “I can’t do that. They’ll be expecting more.”

  “Well, too bad. Tell them that’s all you have to share at the moment. Surely, they will understand. The case is under investigation.” She arches a brow. “Just tell them you can’t offer them more detail at this time as you can’t risk jeopardizing the case. Police departments do it all the time. The vaguer the better, my dear.”

  “Cousin Viv”—I scrunch my brows—“a quarter of Hex Falls was sitting in the knife-throwing show.”

  “So?”

  “You heard the marshal, a good number of them, plus more, will likely be in the crowd today. The same people who want to see Uncle jailed for the murder.”

  “Then it is your job to change the narrative, to twist it around to a more favorable outcome.”

  “And how is being vague going to do that?”

  “You make a good point,” she concedes. “Let’s start again.” She scowls at the ceiling in thought.

  “You could always just go with the facts,” Donny suggest.

  “Meaning?” I turn to him.

  “Tell them that someone’s been injured and another is dead and that the police are investigating. Thus, you can comment no more on the case at this time.”

  “There you see, perfect!” My cousin claps her hands.

  “It would be, if the man in jail for the murder wasn’t my uncle.” I fret. “And a vampire.”

  I shudder at the thought.

  “What are we going to do if something Jamie turns up proves there was magic involved?”

  “Well, you can count on that,” Cousin Viv says.

  “What?”

  She turns promptly red.

  “What do you two know you’re not telling me?” I jerk toward her, scowling hard.

  “I assure you we had no intentions of withholding this from you—”

  “Out with it!” I snap.

  Slowly, she exhales, then produces a small piece of something from her pocket, which she holds concealed within one hand. “We found something, last night at the scene. It could be a clue or evidence,” she blurts.

  “You found a possible clue and you didn’t tell me?”

  “Well, we had every intention of telling you, darling. We just didn’t want to announce them in front of you know who.” Her pupils flash. “Especially not after he had just revealed who and what he was. A branch of the long arm of the law that is. Who knows if we could trust him?”

  I have to agree. “Fine. Show me now,” I coax.

  Cautiously, she opens her hand to reveal a tiny scrap of singed and tattered cloth.

  “What is it?”

  “Part of a skirt bustle, we believe. From the unfortunate assistant.”

  “Where did you find it?”

  “Attached to the Spinning Wheel of Death. Caught on one of the prongs.”

  “And you took it off, even when I told you not to touch anything.”

  “Yes, but I think you’re going to be very glad we did. I conferred with both Aunt Kit and Kat, and we all came to the same conclusion. This is not just a scrap of burnt fabric coated in smut from the explosion. It appears to be suspiciously magical.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Watch,” she says, rubbing away the topcoat of smut from the scorched fabric with her thumb. “You will note, that once you get past the top charred layers…”

  The fabric begins sparkling.

  “A magic residue appears.” I gasp.

  “Right. Which is unmistakably and distinctly—”

  “Bronze in color.” I say, reaching out for it. I touch the tiny sparking bronze filaments rising from the scrap, which then mystically whisk away into nothing, leaving me falling back on my heels, shocked. “What was that?” I place a hand to my chest, watching as several more of them flitter up into the air and spark into nothing.

  “Magical apothecary?” Cousin Viv say.

  “So, you suspect…?” I turn to her.

  “Druen activity. Yes. Or the like.”

  “The robe has been enchanted.”

  “Or the residue of some enchantment has been left on the robe,” she says. “And since we know of no other coven present in Hex Fall and have suspected Druen activity…”

  “You think it’s their magic.”

  “Unless we have a third coven active in the area we don’t know about.” Her silver eyebrows rise high on her head.

  Breath escapes my body with a thrust. “So, does this mean if Jeremy’s invading host is a Druen, he was involved with the death of that innocent woman?”

  “It could be. Or that he hails from another coven altogether…one we’ve yet to discover…and that the knife-thrower is a Druen,” Cousin Viv suggests.

  “Or they are one and the same.” I exhale.

  My heart pounds like thunder in my chest. I’m weighed down with hurt at the thought of that. That’s twice now the idea has pointed toward Jeremy being a Druen. In my heart of hearts, I just can’t believe it.

  I stare down at the glittery cloth more suspiciously now. “What about this mark?” I ask, spotting something new, and lean even closer. “What is this?” I squint, outlining it with my nail. It’s in the shape of a hook.

  “Why, that appears to be the hook of a death spell.” Cousin Viv draws closer, producing a spyglass from
her sleeve. She flips it open and zeros in on the spot again, her pupils dilating. “Or the deflection of it. My goodness.”

  “What?” I peer closer over her shoulder.

  “It appears this magic originates from a different source than the bronze one did.” She looks up, looking astonished. “As if there was a second source of magic involved that tried hard to fight against it.”

  “But how could that be? There was only one explosion.”

  “To the naked eye, yes. To a trained one, possibly no.” She squints.

  “But I saw no such retaliation at the scene, and I was close to the front,” I say.

  “Perhaps that’s because the second party was invisible.”

  “Druens,” I say. “They’ve taken him over, haven’t they, the ex-Supreme Leader, just as you feared and warned me about. They’ve captured him and are controlling him like a puppet in exchange for the return of his magic?” I shake, envisioning the ex-Supreme Leader at a table somewhere negotiating all our lives, and the lives of my coven members away, in exchange for increments of power. “I knew I smelled something funny.”

  “Oh, now, dear, let’s not jump to conclusions. Remember the man is powerless, more or less.” She pats my hand. “It’s more likely it has nothing at all to do with our ex-Supreme Leader, and we’ve tripped upon some other coven’s angry magic.”

  I look from her to the remaining sparkly bronze filaments still escaping from the scrap of material—then look up. “Didn’t you say the Druens had gone over to the dark side of magic?”

  “Yes.” She nods.

  “Then how on earth could this be them?” I look down. “According to my studies conducted with Auntie Connie from the good book back during my witch training, the dark kind of magic comes in only two colors.” I hold the scrap of cloth again for her to see, shuddering. “Red and black.”

  Chapter 19

  So, if am not looking for a Druen, what am I looking for?

  I climb the front steps of the hospital, on my way to see Jeremy, before I have to give my dreaded press conference. I’m due to meet his brother, too, in less than an hour.