Hell of a Witch (Crypt Witch Cozy Mystery Series Book 2)

by K. E. O'Connor

  We ran the short distance down the hill to the cemetery.

  Sablo stood at the gates of the cemetery. She held up her hand as we approached and fluffed out her wings. “No one’s to go in. It’s a crime scene.”

  “We know. It’s our cemetery,” I said.

  “Even so, I can’t let you pass,” Sablo said.

  Wiggles ran out of the cemetery. “You’re missing all the action. Where did you go? I was eating cake for half an hour tops, and you vanished.”

  Sablo took a step back, and her glare narrowed as she stared at my handsome hellhound. “He’s not supposed to be in there.”

  Wiggles ducked around Sablo’s legs and sped back into the cemetery. She spun on her heel and went to chase after him but then turned back to us. “He can go. No one else gets in.”

  Aurora grabbed my hand. “It’s fine. We don’t need to see what’s going on in there.”

  “We do,” I said. “Let us in.”

  Aurora gave a little shake of her head. “We can ask Mom later.” She led me away from the gates and leaned closer. “We’ll go in the side entrance. The angels won’t have a clue about all the ways into this place.”

  I grinned and nodded. Aurora was right. As guardians of the cemetery, everyone in the family knew the long-forgotten doorways. We hurried around the side of the cemetery, and Aurora tugged aside a swath of ivy, revealing a small wooden door. “Through there.”

  I yanked the door open, squeezed through, and popped out into the cemetery.

  Aurora followed me, and we kept to the darkest shadows of early morning as we made our way through the gravestones.

  “Who’s dead?” I asked.

  “I don’t know him,” Aurora said.

  “He’s not local?”

  “No, but I’ve seen him around the last two days. He could be a non-magical.”

  I could already hear Mom and Granny Dottie’s raised voices as they argued with the angels.

  “We can take care of this business,” Mom said.

  “Not if there’s been a murder committed in the cemetery. You might run the demon prison, but you don’t control everything that goes on here.” I recognized the sharp tone of Dazielle. She was not a happy angel.

  We dashed around a large, gray stone crypt, and I saw everyone crowded together. Mom stood toe to toe with Dazielle, while Auntie Queenie faced off with a tall, blond male angel. Granny Dottie jabbed a finger in the chest of another angel, while Grandpa Lucius looked on with concern.

  “Let’s not deal with that right away,” I whispered to Aurora. “Mom and the others can handle the angels if they overstep their sensibilities.” We slid around the feud, passed the angels, and stopped by the body.

  I stared down at him. “I know this guy! He introduced himself to me. He was a journalist poking around, trying to get a story on Willow Tree Falls.”

  Nick Saunders, the overly keen journalist who had tried to interview me, lay on the ground.

  “What kind of story?” Aurora asked.

  “At first, he wanted local comments on the party. He also mentioned a mythical ring. I told him that was rubbish. It’s weird though. He does have a little magic running through his veins.”

  “He doesn’t anymore.” Mom came up behind us and gave me a hug. “I’m glad you’re here. The angels are being obtuse. They’re trying to stop us from guarding the prison. Can you imagine what all the demons are thinking having these angels trample all over the place?”

  “Nothing I’d like to repeat in front of you,” I said.

  Dazielle strode over, her arms folded across her chest when she spotted me. “I should have known you’d be here.”

  “Always happy to offer my services to Angel Force.”

  She scowled at me. “You need to get your family in line. This is a crime scene.”

  I looked down at Nick’s body again. “How did he die?”

  “Someone hit him over the head with something heavy.” Dazielle sighed dramatically. She knew she’d never get us to budge out of the cemetery. This was our territory.

  The light wasn’t great, but something was wrong with this scene. “Where’s the blood?”

  Dazielle’s brilliant blue eyes narrowed. “That’s what we’ll find out if we can get on and do our jobs.”

  “I can’t believe there’s been a murder in our cemetery,” Mom said.

  “It’s just terrible.” Granny Dottie hurried over. “This is usually such a peaceful place.”

  “It is when you’re not kicking demon butt,” I said.

  “That’s to be expected,” Granny Dottie said. “How are you, my dear? Did you have a fun solstice celebration?”

  “It was great. It didn’t end so well, though.” I gestured to Nick’s body.

  “Definitely not for that poor young man,” Granny Dottie said.

  “I was telling Dazielle that we must help with the investigation,” Mom said.

  My eyebrows shot up. “Must we?”

  Dazielle looked equally shocked at Mom’s suggestion.

  “Absolutely. This happened on our territory. We can’t let that go unnoticed. If we do, before you know it, there will be dozens of bodies slung in here when people want to get rid of them. We don’t want to be known as an easy touch.”

  “That’s sort of the point of a cemetery,” I muttered. “Dead bodies are supposed to come here.”

  Mom gave me a gentle clip on the head. “You know I don’t mean that. This isn’t a place we want people’s rubbish dumped.”

  “Maybe Nick wouldn’t like to be referred to as rubbish,” Aurora said quietly.

  “I’m sure he was a lovely non-magical,” Mom said.

  “He wasn’t a non-magical,” I said. “He had magic.”

  “He did?” Dazielle asked. “How would you know that?”

  “When I was carrying that extra demon, Nick saw his shimmer sliding out. And Nick managed to get through the magic barrier at Cloven Hoof. Only someone with magic can do that.”

  “Unless your magic is weak,” Dazielle said.

  I glowered at her. “My magic is fine.”

  “If he has magic, who was his family?” Auntie Queenie asked as she strode over. “He doesn’t look familiar.”

  “He doesn’t live here. His family moved away some time ago.”

  “Maybe he was killed because of his magic,” Mom said. “If that’s the case, we must be involved in this.”

  “There’s no need,” Dazielle said. “I have Angel Force on it. We’ll clear this up in no time without your help.”

  “There are thousands of non-magical tourists in Willow Tree Falls. Most of them will be waking up with sore heads in a few hours, and many will still be inebriated from last night,” Mom said. “That’s where your focus will be. You can’t do everything.”

  Dazielle pursed her lips. “I’m sure we’ll manage, but I appreciate your concern.”

  “I nominate Tempest,” Mom said.

  “To do what?” I asked.

  “To help Dazielle. You did such a good job with uncovering who killed Deacon and clearing your sister’s name. You should be involved in this, as well.”

  “No, really I shouldn’t.” I held up my hands as I backed away. Helping sort out the mess the angels had made when trying to solve Deacon Feathers’ murder had been more than enough interaction with Angel Force. I’d only done it to help Aurora, not because I had a taste for solving murders.

  “That’s a great idea,” Aurora said. “You were brilliant getting my name cleared. You must help this journalist. It sounds like you got on with him.”

  “I never said that,” I said. “I put him off from poking his nose in where it didn’t belong. He was trying to find some angle on Willow Tree Falls, and we don’t need that. We have enough non-magicals coming here as it is. We don’t need any more hunting for the one true ring or whatever it was that he sought.”

  “I insist,” Mom said. “Dazielle, you’ll have our full co-operation, providing you include Tempest in th
e investigation team. Do we have a deal?”

  “I don’t need to do a deal with you to complete this investigation,” Dazielle said. She glanced at me and sighed. “But you weren’t unhelpful when it came to Deacon’s murder. Maybe you can lend us a hand.”

  I grimaced but saw the stern expression on Mom’s face. She wouldn’t want angels poking around the cemetery. At least, if I was involved, I could keep an eye on them and make sure they didn’t do too much damage.

  “Fine, I’ll help.” I wouldn’t be here for long anyway. With the new demon hunting job Dazielle was lining up for me, I’d soon be leaving. I’d help out for a day or two and then be gone. I could manage forty-eight hours in the company of some angels.

  An anguished cry rang out from the cemetery gates. Two women pushed past Sablo and ran over.

  Sablo pursued them, her apologetic gaze on Dazielle. “They say they know the victim.”

  Dazielle shook her head. She walked over and stopped the women from getting too close.

  As they neared, I recognized them. One was Rachel, Nick’s clingy girlfriend, and the other was his assistant, Jenny.

  “This is awful,” Rachel sobbed as her tear-filled gaze remained on Nick. “Who would want to do this?”

  Jenny stood awkwardly beside her and occasionally patted her arm. “It will be okay.”

  Rachel wheeled on Jenny. “How will this be okay? My fiancé is dead.”

  Jenny’s expression grew puzzled. “I didn’t know you were engaged.”

  “You don’t know everything about our relationship, no matter how much you poke your nose in.” Rachel glared at Jenny and then turned her tear-stained face toward Nick’s body. “I must see him.”

  “Not now,” Dazielle said. “We need to check Nick for any evidence.”

  “Evidence of what?”

  “Foul play,” Granny Dottie said.

  “Foul play?” Rachel cried. “This wasn’t an accident?”

  “We can’t be certain.” Dazielle glared at Granny Dottie before turning back to Rachel. “Perhaps you’d like to join us at the station later. I can give you more information when we are certain of the facts.”

  “I can’t leave him,” Rachel said.

  “Maybe we should,” Jenny said. “We can’t help, not now. Let’s go get a coffee and give the police a chance to do their job.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do.” Rachel shoved Jenny away. She toppled over and hit the ground.

  I strode over and helped Jenny back on her feet. We both watched as Rachel stalked away on her wobbly high heels.

  “She’s a charmer,” I said to Jenny. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m used to it.” Jenny brushed mud off the back of her pants. “Rachel likes getting her own way. She always has a tantrum when things don’t go the way she wants.”

  “You mean, she’s a bitch,” I said.

  Jenny shrugged and nodded. “She has her moments. I need to cut her some slack, I guess, especially since Nick’s dead.” She glanced over to where Nick’s body lay and looked away. “It doesn’t look accidental to me.”

  “Most likely it wasn’t. I don’t suppose you saw what he was up to last night?”

  “Not all night. He was in and out of the crowds, just like everybody else. I spent a bit of time with him but went back to the editing van and did some work. We’ve got so much footage from the celebrations, I knew it would take hours to cut together a decent reel for today’s broadcast.”

  “When did you last see him?”

  Jenny snitched her nose as she stared at the sky. “Just before midnight. My battery was getting low, and I needed to recharge my digital camera. Nick was interviewing a group of girls wearing unicorn horns, asking them about the significance of the horn. He was being really flirty. Rachel was nearby and was giving him daggers.”

  “Rachel’s the jealous type?”

  “Jealous and bitchy,” Jenny said. “Not everyone’s ideal combination.”

  “Did you see anyone else with Nick? Anyone acting strangely or being argumentative with him?”

  Jenny twirled a finger into her dark hair. “No one like that. I did see someone strange in the trees nearby, though.”

  “What were they doing that was strange?”

  “Their behavior wasn’t odd, but they looked like someone from prehistoric times. It was a woman. She had long, dark hair and a crown of what looked like twigs on her head.”

  “Maybe she was a New Age type come to enjoy the celebrations.” We got all kinds here, from upper class glampers with their designer, crystal-studded wellies and prosecco, to mud loving hippies with beaten up VW vans and composting toilets.

  “Maybe. She didn’t join the party. She looked sort of freaked out. She disappeared into the trees before I got a proper look at her.”

  My thoughts went to the wild woman I’d seen when I’d been in the forest. Maybe it was her, soaking up the party vibes like everyone else.

  “You seemed surprised when Rachel mentioned she was engaged to Nick.”

  “Because she isn’t, at least not that I know of. If anything, I think the opposite was about to happen. Nick wasn’t keen on Rachel. She clung to him like a limpet. She rarely let him out of her sight.”

  “She’s possessive as well as jealous.” Rachel sounded more and more like a suspect if Nick had been murdered.

  “I think she’d picked up on the fact Nick wanted to cut her out of his life. He was a good guy. At least, he was decent enough to me. I’ve only been on this job for six months and am learning the ropes. He’d taken me under his wing and given me a few pointers. There aren’t many journalists who would do that. It’s horribly cutthroat. If you’re not the first with the exclusive story, then you’re a loser. In this business, there is no reward for second place news stories.”

  “You liked him?”

  Jenny blinked away tears as she nodded. “I did. As a boss, he was an okay guy. And I got to see a lot of his relationship with Rachel. He wasn’t into her, not the same way she liked him.”

  “Why did he let her hang around with him if he wasn’t interested?”

  Jenny rolled her eyes. “Have you seen how long Rachel’s legs are? And that cleavage she flaunts is not natural. Nick’s a guy. He likes that sort of thing, I guess. I’m imagining he saw Rachel as a bit of fun, but she had other ideas. He couldn’t shake her off, no matter how much he tried.”

  It looked like the decision as to who to question first in this case had been made for me. If anyone had a problem with Nick, it was his girlfriend. His bitchy, jealous, possessive girlfriend. Maybe he’d decided to break things off with her last night and she’d snapped. This mess in the family cemetery was the result.

  Rachel would be the first person I’d query and convince her it was never a good idea to kill someone in a cemetery owned by my family. Not if she wanted to get away with it.

  Chapter 5

  After spending a few hours ensuring my family and the angels weren’t going to come to blows and all threats of new cracks in the demon prison were under control, I left them to sort out the crime scene and headed out with Wiggles. After last night’s festivities, I needed to check in on Cloven Hoof and see how the partying had gone down.

  The sun was just rising as I walked through the door and breathed in the calm atmosphere. The building always had a calming effect on me. It was the main reason I’d leased it. When we weren’t hosting pre-wedding parties or celebrating the solstice, this was a chilled-out place. It was a place people could come and relax and get rid of their worries. They could shut out the world for an hour or two, kick back, and just be in the moment.

  It sounded disgustingly New Age, but it worked for me, and it worked for all my customers. Business was booming.

  Merrie was behind the bar as I walked in. “I’m surprised to see you here so early.”

  “I grabbed a few hours of sleep after I shut the stall outside,” Merrie said. “I wanted to make sure everything was intact after last night. It got wi
ld for a few hours.”

  Merrie loved this place as much as I did, and I was glad for it. Whenever I had to go hunt a demon, I knew the place was in a safe pair of hands. “It all looks good.”

  “The place has been drunk almost dry,” Merrie said. “I placed a rush order after I did a quick stock take. We’ve got enough to keep us going until that arrives. How was your night?”

  “It started out well. Had a weird ending.”

  “Weird how?”

  “Like a body turning up in the cemetery weird. And before you ask, not one we were expecting. This one was a journalist, the journalist who managed to sneak in here.”

  “No kidding,” Merrie said. “Izzie told me about that. That is pretty weird.”

  “You’re telling me. Now, he turns up dead in our cemetery. Mom’s roped me into helping figure out what happened.”

  “Then you’ll be needing these.” Merrie grabbed a handful of dried mushrooms and tossed them into a small bag before passing it to me. “They’ll keep you calm when you’re having to deal with the angels.”

  I grinned. “Thanks, I think I’ll need all the help I can get. If you’re good here, I’ve got a bit of business to take care of.”

  “I’ve got no worries. Take as long as you need. I doubt we’ll have many customers today.”

  I did a quick check of the place, changed my clothes, and headed back out. Wiggles trotted along beside me and kept nudging my leg.

  “What’s eating you?” I asked him.

  “That’s just it. We’re not eating.”

  My stomach growled. He had a point. Breakfast wouldn’t be such a bad thing. “What are you thinking?”

  “Triple decker waffles. A few side orders of bacon. Pancakes and syrup. Maybe some muffins.”

  “What have you done to make you so hungry?”

  “I was off enjoying myself while you were snoozing in the forest,” Wiggles said. “This hellhound needs his energy after a night like that.”

  I glanced at him. “That didn’t answer my question.”

  “Some things you don’t need to know. All you need to know is I had a great time and burned off a lot of energy. Now, I need to refuel. So do you. I can hear your stomach rumbling from down here.”