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

by K. E. O'Connor

  “She was exaggerating. I was out for a jog, not being chased.”

  Dazielle snorted a most un-angel-like laugh. “You do not jog.”

  “Maybe I just took it up.”

  Dazielle tutted. “If you’re having problems, I need to know. I can’t have you becoming a threat to other residents or the non-magicals.”

  “We can’t scare off the non-magicals. That would be too sad.”

  “Mannie has plans for Willow Tree Falls. That means we’re to be more accommodating to the growing numbers of non-magicals. They do not like demons.”

  My nose wrinkled. Mannie Winter, our new mayor, was determined to double non-magical tourist numbers. “Then they should hate this place, given what my family does.”

  “You don’t want a non-magical to uncover your secret. I can’t imagine you’d ever want to be front page news. What would the headlines be: I Swallow Demons for Breakfast. My Best Friend’s a Demon. Or how about—”

  “Enough! As if they’d believe I carry a demon inside of me.”

  Dazielle shrugged. “You’ve heard of voodoo? People have died having their demons exorcised.”

  I waved her away. Her comments were nonsense. Frank was strong, but I was stronger, and he wasn’t catching me out again. “I’ll find you later when I have something new about the case.”

  Dazielle gave me a shrewd look before nodding. “Suit yourself.” She strode away, a cascade of tiny white feathers floating off her.

  I watched her go, trying to ignore the urge to lob something at her head. We had a truce, but it felt like a temporary one. The sooner I figured out who killed Nick Saunders, the sooner I could get the angels off my back and out of my bar.

  Chapter 12

  After spending a long afternoon sorting admin at Cloven Hoof, I headed out with Wiggles to see if I could find Jane in the forest. There was no point in going until late; she never came out until dark. At least, I’d never seen her strolling through Willow Tree Falls in the middle of the day. Our wild woman of the forest lived the life of a card-carrying hermit.

  I stopped at Sprinkles just before Patti closed and grabbed a fresh out of the oven apple pie covered with cinnamon sugar. Just the scent of it had my mouth watering. I hoped it would do the same for Jane. I imagined there weren’t many opportunities to eat amazing pie in the forest.

  I walked away from the stores and houses and entered the forest, following the main path that cut through the trees. I skulked around for a bit, making my presence known and wafting the smell of pie around in the hope of getting Jane’s taste buds stimulated.

  As I moved deeper into the forest, the path vanished, and the light faded. My foot caught in a hidden tree root, and I gasped as the pie almost flipped from my hand in my attempt to stay upright.

  “If you’re having trouble keeping hold of the pie, I have a spare mouth,” Wiggles said.

  “Keep walking. You’re not having this pie.” I checked inside the pie box. It had gotten shaken around but still looked edible.

  “I’m just saying, four legs are better than two. And I’m closer to the ground, so I can watch out for holes and roots.” He raced off and returned a moment later with a huge branch sticking out of his mouth and nudged me with his nose.

  “Since when do you play stick?” I looked down at the crumbling, moss covered branch.

  He jabbed the stick into my leg.

  “Ouch! Fine.” I went to take it from him.

  Wiggles held on tight and growled.

  “You don’t want to play?”

  He jabbed me again.

  “If you keep doing that, I might find somewhere unpleasant for that stick to go.”

  Wiggles shook his head.

  I placed the pie down carefully and caught hold of the branch again. He almost yanked me from my feet with the strength of his tug.

  I pulled back and held on as Wiggles shook his head. “Jeez, have you been on the Hellhound Bulk Up Diet?”

  His gaze went to the pie.

  “Nooooo, not a chance. Apple pie is only going to give you a pot belly, not muscles.” I shook the stick to get his attention back on me.

  Wiggles tossed his head to the side, sending me flying.

  I pitched backwards and landed on my butt, right on top of the pie box. I glowered at him as I wiped dirt and leaves off my black jeans. “You did that deliberately. That’s the last game of tug I play with you.”

  Wiggles spat out the stick and sat next to me, looking at the squashed pie. “I thought I’d try being a regular dog for a few minutes. You know, try it on for size.”

  “How’s that working out?” I inched up the pie box lid. It was ruined.

  “Not so great.” His nose edged toward the pie. “That does not look so good.”

  “Nothing would look good once I’ve sat on it.”

  “I should eat it. It’s a shame to let good pie go to waste.”

  “You’re not getting any of this.” I dug my finger into the pie and ate a piece. “It still tastes great.”

  Wiggles watched me with narrowed eyes as I tried to reassemble the pie. “What do you know about this wild woman we’re badly stalking?”

  “Not much. Jane is basically a mystery. For as long as I can remember, she’s lived in these woods.”

  “What powers does she have?”

  “I’ve never seen her do anything with magic, but she must be able to look after herself alone out here. I’m guessing she draws her power from nature, which is why she enjoys spending so much time in the forest.”

  “Huh! Well, it looks like the pie’s not working on drawing her out. Maybe she’s allergic to apples,” Wiggles said. “We should eat it.”

  I looked around the densely packed trees. “You could be right. Maybe Jane doesn’t like apple pie.” I pulled open the lid and broke off a piece of crust. Despite its sad-looking crushed appearance, it was the best I’d ever had.

  Wiggles whined and pawed the ground.

  I broke off a small piece for him and cut three slices with my pen knife.

  Wiggles made short work of his pie. “Let’s try me being a regular hound again.” He nosed the stick toward me.

  “If you say so.” I grabbed the stick and threw it.

  Wiggles raced off as I munched on my pie. I leaned back against a tree as I waited for him to return. Jane would definitely hear Wiggles crashing around the woods. Even if she didn’t like pie, she’d come to check out the noise. From the little I knew of her, she was protective of these trees.

  I’d eaten most of my slice when I heard a faint rustle in the bushes to my right. It was far too delicate to be Wiggles. I kept eating. I didn’t want to startle Jane by letting her know I was aware of her presence.

  Wiggles raced back with the stick.

  I grabbed it and leaned forward. “Be discreet. I think someone is watching us.”

  Wiggles jumped around and scanned the trees.

  I shook my head. I shouldn’t have bothered. “Go fetch.” I threw the stick for him again.

  Wiggles raced off, his tongue hanging out and his tail up.

  I sensed I was being watched. Unlike Wiggles, I didn’t look around to see who it was but nudged the pie farther away with my foot.

  A large, matted-haired head appeared around the side of a huge pine tree. A pair of intense dark eyes looked at me without blinking.

  I nodded at Jane. “There’s pie here if you want it. I can’t eat a whole one my own.”

  Jane’s head disappeared. A few seconds later, she stepped out from behind the tree. She was dressed in brown, blending perfectly with the forest. Her long, dark hair was in dreadlocks down to her waist, and her cheeks were smeared with dirt.

  “What are you doing in my forest?” Her voice sounded croaky as if she didn’t use it often.

  “The forest is for everyone in Willow Tree Falls. I’m here simply enjoying some pie. I’m happy to share.”

  Jane’s gaze darted around the forest as if hunting for some sort of trap.

/>   “It’s just Wiggles and me. I’m sure you’ve heard him crashing around. He won’t bother you. He’s awfully interested in your piece of pie, though, so you’d better be quick if you want any.”

  She nodded swiftly. “He talks.”

  “He does. He’s a hellhound.”

  Jane backed up a step.

  “Don’t worry. He’s a harmless hellhound. He’s my pet.”

  Wiggles ran over and eyed Jane. He spat out the stick. “Just don’t tell anybody else that. Is that piece of pie mine?” He went to grab the slice set aside for Jane.

  I scooped it up. “I told you this is for...” I glanced at Jane. I couldn’t use the made-up name Dazielle had given her.

  “Suki. And you’re my guests in this forest.” Defiance flashed in her eyes.

  I nodded. “Very well, Suki. We’ll be your guests. Perhaps you’d like to join me?”

  After looking around again, Suki walked over slowly, giving Wiggles a wide berth. She grabbed the pie and backed away before settling lightly on top of a fallen tree trunk, looking ready to flee if anything startled her.

  I gave her a moment to calm down and let the apple pie work its magic.

  “It’s good pie,” she muttered.

  “The best. I’m guessing you don’t get into Willow Tree Falls too often to sample anything from Sprinkles.”

  “I do. From the dumpster.”

  “The dumpster?”

  “Patti throws away anything that spoils. Sometimes, she leaves a bag by the side of the dumpster. It’s always got good stuff in it, edible stuff. I take what I want and leave the rest for anybody else.”

  Wiggles dropped the stick and stared at Suki. “There’s a bag of cakes left out every night behind Sprinkles? Why did nobody tell me?”

  “Because you don’t need any more cake,” I said.

  Wiggles growled at me. “I do. What else don’t I know about? Maybe Brogan leaves a pile of puddings behind his place. Or I could get free pizza for life if Tate does the same at Mystic Mushroom.”

  I groaned. “I’m not letting you out dumpster diving in the middle of the night.”

  “It’s not a problem. I’ll let myself out.”

  Suki laughed quietly. “They’re good to me, the local residents. I think they look out for me.”

  I felt a slither of sympathy for Suki. Even if she did get left treats, it couldn’t be much fun hunting for your food out of the trash. I glanced at Wiggles. He hunted in the trash for fallen treasures all the time and was thriving.

  “I saw you at the solstice celebrations,” I said.

  “I saw you as well, sleeping in my forest.”

  “It’s a safe place to sleep.”

  “Usually it is. I don’t like it when there are so many non-magicals around. They have no respect for the place. They make noise and leave litter. It’s disrespectful.”

  “Were there many in the forest that night?”

  “A few. I kept out of their way.” Suki looked over her shoulder. “They’re not right in the head, some of them. Just today, there was a guy in the marsh making all sorts of noise. He kept cursing and falling over like he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. He was stabbing a stick into the ground as if he was looking for something he’d lost. He gave up in the end after he pitched headfirst into the marsh. He came out looking like a swamp beast.”

  I grinned. That must have been James eagerly following my suggestion to hunt for the ring. “I don’t suppose he found anything useful during his search?”

  “Other than a few unpleasant marsh-borne diseases, I doubt it.” Suki shared a small smile with me.

  “A few people have mentioned seeing you on solstice night.”

  “I was around. It’s hard to stay out of people’s way when it’s so busy.”

  “You don’t need to stay out of the way. You’d have been welcome to join in.”

  “I hate crowds. They’re too tiring.”

  “Sometimes it’s nice to have company, especially on a special night like the solstice.”

  “Maybe. I celebrate in my own way.”

  I nodded. Parties weren’t for everyone. “Did you see any journalists that night?”

  Her gaze flicked to me before drifting away. “You’re investigating the dead one in your cemetery?”

  “Yes, I’m trying to figure out who hurt Nick.”

  “I didn’t see him.”

  “Not even once? Nick was around a lot interviewing people, taking pictures, and talking to the camera. Around midnight, he was talking to a bunch of women wearing unicorn horns. That would have been hard to miss.”

  Suki finished her pie and licked the crumbs off her fingers. “I don’t remember that.” She jumped to her feet as if eager to leave.

  “You can have another piece of pie if you’d like.”

  She eyed the pie greedily. “Maybe a small piece.”

  I cut a generous slice and handed it to her. “Why do you live in the forest?”

  “It’s better that way. It’s easier. People think I’m weird.”

  “Everyone’s weird in Willow Tree Falls.”

  She shrugged. “I’m weirder than most.”

  “Any time you want to come in for a coffee, I’m always around. You’re welcome at Cloven Hoof. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you there.”

  “You won’t. The forest gives me everything I require. I serve it, and it nourishes me.”

  Suki talked in a way that suggested she protected the forest and felt responsible for it. If that was so, that made her a wood nymph. But she couldn’t be a wood nymph; they were tiny. They rarely grew to more than four feet in height. She was at least six-foot five and broad in the shoulders and hips. My mom would have said she had hips for childbearing.

  Suki looked at me intently. “Have you got any idea who killed Nick?”

  “I’ve no idea. Well, I have a few ideas but no evidence. You’re sure you didn’t see anything that night?”

  She scuffed the ground with her foot. “I knew his family.”

  I stared at her in surprise. “You did? I thought they moved away a long time ago.”

  “Nick Saunders, that was his name?”

  “That’s right.”

  She shrugged and nodded. “I know them. I remember his grandparents.”

  “But that would make you...” I stared hard at Suki. If she knew Nick’s grandparents, that must make her at least eighty years old.

  “I knew them but didn’t like them. They were always invading my forest and seeking things that didn’t belong to them.”

  “What sort of things?”

  “Objects containing magic. Things they had no right to own. Some they kept, and some they sold. I made it my job to keep things like that out of their way whenever I could, but they kept hunting for more. I didn’t get that sense about Nick, though. He seemed like a good person.”

  “So, you did meet Nick?”

  Suki looked away. “I didn’t say that. I never spoke to him.”

  “You were close to him. You must have seen him and seen how he interacted with others to consider him a good person.”

  She twisted a dreadlock around one finger. “Maybe. I was curious. I sensed his magic, but I realized he had no idea of his power. It’s unusual for someone with magic not to feel it when they come to somewhere like Willow Tree Falls.”

  “Nick definitely felt something. When I met him, he could see the demon I carried. He didn’t know what it was. Maybe coming here awakened his abilities.”

  Suki nodded. “Perhaps. It’s too late for him now, though. It’s a shame. I was sorry to hear of his death. Us magic users need to look out for those who need help.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are you?”

  She flashed me a nervous smile. “You probably already know. I look a bit different to others of my kind.”

  “Well, I’d have guessed you’re a wood nymph.”

  Suki nodded. “You’d guess right.”

  “But you’re.
..” I looked her over.

  “Enormous. I know. I never stopped growing. It was such an embarrassment to my parents. When I shot to over five foot tall, they started worrying about me. I kept getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, my dad was so convinced Mom had had an affair with a giant that they split up. I’m sure that wasn’t true. They were ashamed of me. I could only handle so much teasing before it became too much. I decided the best thing to do was stay out of people’s way. No more pointing fingers and people whispering behind my back about my freakish size.”

  It sucked that people could be so needlessly cruel. Suki seemed like a good person. “I’m sorry to hear you were bullied. You don’t need to hide now, though. If anyone says an unkind word to you, you can give them a backhander and send them flying. That will make other people think twice.”

  Suki shook her head. “I’m not a violent person unless my forest is being threatened. I don’t think I could hurt anyone.”

  “Then ask me. I’m happy to bang heads together if people say unkind things. You don’t have to hide, not anymore.”

  She looked around the forest and sighed. “It doesn’t feel like hiding. Besides, I need to stay here and protect the forest. There are too many people who’ve been poking around lately. I wasn’t sure what that journalist was looking for in the marsh, but if he found it and reported the information to others, it will bring more people. People mean damage to my trees. I can’t have that. I need to keep everything safe and protected.”

  “What are you protecting?”

  Suki worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “The secrets in the forest.”

  “Do those secrets have anything to do with the objects containing magic you mentioned?”

  She looked around the trees. “I shouldn’t say.”

  “It could help in my search for Nick’s killer. He was asking about a ring that had power. If my hunch is right, he’s not the only one looking for that ring. Maybe he got too close to it or even found it.”

  “Oh dear, this is terrible.” Suki paced backwards and forward. “I never thought it would come to this.”

  My heartbeat sped up. “What? Do you know about the ring?”

  She nodded, her expression glum. “It should never have happened. There are so many objects hidden in the forest. Normally, I’m on top of it. I do a daily check to make sure everything is where it should be. With the solstice celebrations and so many people about, it felt so stifling. There were times when I didn’t want to leave my home. I stayed hidden inside because it was so hectic, and I couldn’t face being spotted and laughed at.”