Barbecue & Brooms (A Southern Charms Cozy Mystery Book 4)

by Bella Falls

  Nana stopped him with one of her famous glares. “Child, I am worn slap out right now. Don’t treat me like I’ve got one oar out of the water. Tell me quick what’s goin’ on.”

  I cringed, knowing she left no room for hemmin’ or hawin’. “I think I no longer have my ability to find things.”

  “Because somehow I have them. We’ve switched magic, Ms. Goodwin,” finished Mason.

  “I…that…why…” Nana coughed. “Well, I’d call you both liars except I can see the truth as plain as day on your faces. Plus, I ain’t so dumb that I didn’t notice something was up last night. So, Charli, when you let Mason talk about finding Lucky, you were hiding that you couldn’t do it?”

  I pushed an invisible strand of hair out of my face, taking the beat to figure out how to answer. “Not hiding, exactly. I would say more unaware until this morning. I still don’t know why it’s happened, though.”

  “I do,” volunteered Mason, flashing me an apologetic glance. “I gave it a lot of thought last night because in my years as a warden, I’ve never once been able to pick up on a trail of a missing person or anything just by touching something. What I felt. How I just knew where Lucky was last night. It sounded so much like how Charli’s described how things work for her.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before now?” I complained.

  Mason lowered his voice. “I tried to get you to see me today when I texted you first thing this morning. It’s not my fault other things took precedence.”

  “If you two are quite finished, we have to figure this out and quick. Detective, why do you think you’ve got Charli’s magic?” Nana tapped her foot on the ground, waiting.

  Before I could stop him, Mason told my grandmother about every single time he’d given me a flying lesson. Why would he want her to know all of our most intimate moments when we opened up and tethered our magic together? He explained the time I dropped all my barriers and let him see how different my powers were and how they sort of worked, and my cheeks heated to a blaze.

  “Charlotte Vivian Goodwin, you should know better! I’ve taught you more than once not to play around with spells and such you don’t understand. Only the most practiced and disciplined can share their magic, and even then it’s not really encouraged.” She swiveled to face Mason. “And you, Detective. No doubt you were taught at your wardens’ academy that tandem magic could bring about harm if not handled correctly.”

  Mason didn’t back down from my grandmother’s scolding. “I am more than well-versed in its practice. I would never put Charli in danger.”

  Nana scoffed. “You’ve used it before with someone else?”

  “With one of my partners. And it worked just fine.” A slight tremor in his voice betrayed his doubt.

  “And how did it affect your relationship with your partner? Did you feel more bonded with him or her?” pushed Nana.

  Mason frowned and opened his mouth, but closed it while he considered my grandmother’s question. “I think feeling bonded is normal for partners. He was a good friend.”

  “I’m not talkin’ a basic friendship.” Nana poked the detective’s chest, her rage deepening her accent. “I’m askin’ you to really examine what it did to your workplace partnership. Did you feel the need to partner together? Not like it if either one of you went out on the job with someone else? Have a more-than-normal increased sense of loyalty to him?”

  “I—I never thought about it that way. But yeah, it tore me up when he wanted to transfer. Told me he needed a change. I couldn’t understand his request since we had such a great track record.” Mason bit his lip. “You’re saying that what we did and why we felt that way is because we tethered our magic together?”

  Nana stepped back and crossed her arms. “I can’t say for sure because I wasn’t there. You two might have been a good match for tandem magic, more than compatible. But it is possible to affect emotions and actions if used too much.” She waved a finger between Mason and me. “And I suppose neither of you have felt things change between you lately? Maybe growing a little closer to each other. A little fonder?”

  I clutched my stomach. No, that couldn’t be the reason why Mason was becoming an important person in my life. Why I wanted to spend time with him the most these days. I liked him from when we first met, right?

  No, I’d disliked him at first. My mind flashed over all our interactions. They weren’t all tainted with the tandem magic. So when did my attraction to the detective begin to really grow?

  Mason put an arm around my shoulder. “I can tell you that my feelings for Charli were there before we ever connected in that way. And I think she feels the same.”

  I resisted the urge to peel out of his touch and run. Swallowing hard, I deflected as fast as possible. “It doesn’t explain why you have my powers and I don’t. It’s never happened before when we tethered to fly.” Mason withdrew his arm, and my heart sank.

  He closed his eyes and let his head hang back. “Flying. That’s what happened.” He adjusted his shoulders to face my grandmother, but the move put me in a position where he couldn’t see me. “I spellcast to give Charli my abilities to fly so she could experience it without being afraid.”

  “Charlotte Vivian Goodwin,” Nana shouted, middle naming me again. “You allowed him to cast his magic into you? What have I always told you?”

  I cast my eyes to the ground. “Not to do that,” I mumbled in the voice of the girl I used to be.

  “Did you two do a proper grounding before you spellcast? How about properly bringing the spell to an end? Based on the fact that you have her magic,” my grandmother snatched Mason’s hand and held it up, “I’m gonna say a big fat no. Both of you have your porch lights on, but nobody’s home.” She dropped the detective’s hand and knocked on my forehead. With a not-so-genteel curse word, she paced away from us, mumbling hot words under her breath.

  Mason refused to interact with me, and although he stood only inches away from me, it felt like a mile. “Did you know what we were doing was as dangerous as she says it was?” I asked, hoping to reach him.

  “I already said I wouldn’t do anything to harm you and I meant that. It was never my intent for you to lose your magic because I gave you a taste of mine. But you’re grandmother’s right. Both of us ignored the ancient rules of magic. Nothing comes for free. There’s always a price to pay.” He shook his head. “Can we switch our magic back, Ms. Goodwin?”

  Nana stopped pacing. “That would be a lovely conclusion to fix an avoidable problem. How about we try that after you find the lost teddy bear for your boss’s son?”

  Right on cue, the little sasquatch squealed outside the tent. Big Willie yelled through the thin fabric. “Vivi, can you please drop your shield and help me? If I give the boy anymore sugar, he’ll be up and runnin’ around like a wild man until he’s eighteen.”

  My grandmother waved her hand, and the air around us lightened when the spell dissipated. “Good luck. Come find me when you’re done. There’s definitely more we have to discuss.”

  “That’s it?” I squeaked and covered my mouth when I heard my words out loud. Already in too deep, I dropped my hand. “How is this supposed to work?”

  She lowered her glance at me. “You two have gotten yourselves into this. You’re adults. Figure it out.”

  Mason and I walked out into the warm sun and joined Big Willie. The sheriff did his best to hold onto his rambunctious son trying to pull his massive body over for more food.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but I would appreciate any help either of you could give us,” the sasquatch pleaded.

  I elbowed Mason and spoke in a low tone so only he could hear me. “You know more than you think you do. Holding onto the boy’s hand will help. You probably don’t need to say the words out loud, but you should concentrate on helping him find the teddy bear.”

  “Hold his hand. Concentrate on the object. Got that.” His finger wiped away the drop of sweat rolling down the side of his face. “What happens
then?”

  I shrugged. “You’ll tell me what you feel, and I’ll try to walk you through it. Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” Placing my hand in his, I squeezed it three times without thinking. With a gasp, I checked to see if he understood what I’d just done, but the detective was in the middle of psyching himself up for the task.

  With a deep breath, he started the same process as before, having Little Willie concentrate on finding his bear. Mason took the boy’s hand but squeezed mine a little tighter. The detective emitted a short grunt, and I knew he felt the connection.

  “You can tell where the bear is,” I stated, testing him out.

  He nodded. “It’s not far away. There’s this glowing line outstretched in front of me. I want to grab it, but I’ve run out of hands.”

  I chuckled. “It’s in your head. You don’t have to physically grab it. Recognize it and will it to metaphorically tie it to you. You’re the boss of it.”

  “I’m the boss,” he repeated. Licking his lips, his entire face tensed with his efforts. He muttered the phrase over and over again under his breath.

  “Is the thread attached to you?” I checked.

  He nodded. “I think I know where the bear is. The thread thingy is kind of pulling me toward it.”

  Big Willie groaned. “Will you two get on with it already?”

  I held up my free hand in front of the sheriff’s face. “Hush, you.” To the detective, I urged him on. “Okay, so now that you have the path waiting for you, open your eyes.”

  Mason obeyed and blinked a few times. “I can still see that glowing thing.”

  “Good. Now we’re going to try something to test your limits. I want you to let go,” I ordered. “Let’s see if you can still see it without touch.”

  The detective paused a beat before letting go of the boy’s hand. He hung his head in exasperation. “Nope. It just disappeared.”

  I rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb. “That’s okay. You’re doing really well. Take Little Willie’s hand again and see if it returns.”

  He sighed with relief. “Yes, it’s there.” Blowing out a long breath, Mason rolled his shoulders back. “You ready to go find your bear, little man?”

  The sheriff’s son whooped in his high-pitched voice, and his father assured him he would follow right behind.

  “I think you can let me go now. You’ve got this from here.” I squeezed Mason’s hand and let my fingers relax.

  He clasped me harder. “Oh no you don’t. You’re along for this ride,” he insisted.

  Taking longer than I would, Mason did his best to keep the boy distracted with questions while moving forward with slow steps. I walked beside him, impressed at his ability to multitask and not fall over. The magic might be mine, but he wielded it with more finesse than I sometimes did on his first intentional attempt.

  Big Willie focused on his son’s happiness rather than the bits he’d overheard while following right behind us. He pulled Mason over to talk to him, and I feared the detective might be forced to tell the sheriff what was going on. But they both shook hands, and Big Willie walked away with his boy bouncing along side him.

  “Did he interrogate you?” I asked.

  The line between Mason’s eyebrows deepened. “No, but I think he might later. We’re not going to be able to keep things quiet for long.”

  Somebody jostled me by accident followed by another person complaining about me being in their way. Reminded that the weekend’s event would be huge and populated by a lot of people, I returned to the bigger problem that needed solving.

  Pulling Mason by his shirt out of the middle of the crowd, I dragged him over to the side. “This whole field is gonna fill up if it’s this crowded even before everything truly kicks off.”

  He straightened the wrinkle my fingers left in the fabric when I let go. “Figuring everything out is going to get much more complicated. And the clock is already ticking.”

  Mason grabbed my hand in his and took off with purpose. I stumbled a few steps to catch up to his quickened pace. “Where are we going?”

  He pulled me out of the way of a loud group standing in the middle, holding me closer to him. “I think I need to test your magic out again.”

  His one success had gone straight to his ego. I hated to pop his balloon, but if he possessed my powers, he needed to know how fickle they could be. “You did good, but it’s not as simple as that all the time.”

  Mason laughed off my warning. “It felt amazing afterwards,” he exclaimed, weaving us around the side of two loud women.

  “I bet I could make him say that about me if he’d let me take him home,” one of the ladies said loud enough for me to catch. With the detective pulling me away too fast, I didn’t have time to shoot her a dirty look or hex her hiney.

  “Slow down, Mason,” I implored. “Where are we going?”

  He squeezed my hand and offered me a cocky grin. “We’re going to find Lucky.”

  Chapter Ten

  “I told you it wasn’t that simple.” Crossing my arms, I stood apart from Mason and Lucky at his team’s campsite.

  For about fifteen minutes after we arrived, the detective insisted he was the key to finding the leprechaun’s lost luck. Hopes raised, he tried again and again, getting more frustrated at the challenge. No amount of hand holding with the leprechaun did the trick.

  “Gah,” Mason grunted again. “About the only thing I can get is that there’s the presence of something connected to Lucky out there.” He gestured at the entire event field. “What good is that?”

  “If ye can’t find me luck, then why are ye still grippin’ me so hard?” Lucky pleaded for the detective to let him go. He flexed his hand when Mason let him go.

  “There’s a lot of good we can gather from what you have picked up,” I reassured. “One, you still have the ability to sense something, which is more than I have right now. And two, what you detect is isn’t fully gone. That means whoever took the luck is still here. The question is, why?”

  “I’m still unclear as to why the detective’s the one trying to track me luck.” The leprechaun eyed both of us. “I’m sure there’s a story to tell, but I appreciate ye both tacklin’ me problem with such urgency.”

  The team’s smoker lid shut with a metallic clang. Henry grabbed a drink out of the cooler and joined us. “I know y’all are trying to keep things quiet, and you don’t have to tell me everything. But I’ve picked up enough to figure you might could use some insight.” He popped the top on the can and took a sip, waiting.

  “What can you add?” I prompted my assistant.

  He swallowed and smacked his lips with dramatic emphasis. “We’ve got races and a food competition going on. There’s plenty of reasons for someone to want to steal what our friend possessed to tip the scales in their favor.”

  “For a local barbecue competition and some exhibition races? That doesn’t seem like enough of a reason for such a drastic act,” Mason countered.

  Henry finished the rest of his drink and crushed the can. “It is if there’s serious money involved.”

  I scoffed. “We’re not even offering that big of a cash prize for first place.”

  My assistant waved me off. “I’m not talking about the prize money. I’m talking about the betting pool.”

  Mason shifted his stance, crossing his arms. “A couple hundred bucks bet on a few locals isn’t going to add up to much. Are you saying there’s something bigger running?”

  Lucky groaned and Henry wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, there may or may not be someone taking bets and collecting money on the side.”

  “Are you saying there’s a professional bookie involved? Give me the person’s name,” Mason instructed, taking out his notebook and pencil.

  Henry scratched the stubble on his chin. “There’s a problem with that. See, nobody here knows who it is exactly. Only how to make a bet.”

  “How?” Mason pushed.

  My assistant held up the crushed can and waved his finge
rs over it. “By setting up a system of proxies.”

  I waited, but nothing happened to the metal. “I don’t get it,” I said.

  Henry shot me an impatient glare. “If you want to make a bet, word gets around about finding a certain object that someone has spelled as a proxy. You recite a secret code word or phrase, and a betting sheet with instructions on where to place your actual bet appears.”

  Mason wrote down the information with furious purpose. “So it gives out a name?”

  “Of course not,” Lucky chimed in. “It gives ye another proxy to go to. You place your bet in the chosen receptacle. In return, ye get more information about where to collect your winnin’s. So whoever is runnin’ the bets is never seen or known.”

  Henry held up a finger and quipped, “And the proxy changes whenever the bookie feels like it. So by the time you hear about one object, the spell might be passed on to another.”

  My mind attempted to keep up with all of the steps. If someone went to that amount of trouble to keep themselves from being discovered, we might never find him or her. And while the information justified why someone here in Honeysuckle had a reason to attack Lucky, it didn’t get us any closer to figuring out who that might be.

  “Do you know what the object is right now?” Mason asked. When Henry paused, the detective promised he wasn’t looking to arrest my assistant.

  “When I placed my bet this morning, it was an abandoned shoe on the far edge of the field.” Henry pointed to where Dash and I had been walking the previous night. “And then I was given instructions that led me to a charcoal grill sitting behind the campsite of a barbecue team from Kentucky to make my wager. I placed my bet and money in the center of the grill and closed the lid. I lifted it again to check, and all of it was indeed gone.”

  Mason wrote everything down. “I think I’m going to have to bring the wardens into this.”

  “I’d ask Nana first,” I warned. The probability of keeping things quiet disintegrated the more we discovered.

  The detective scowled. “This is getting too big for just a handful of us to handle. Even if we were so fortunate as to find the bookie, that doesn’t mean we’d find the person who attacked Lucky.”