Bobby Sparks Witch Detective: Pet Shop Puzzle ( A Paranormal Cozy Mystery)

by Stacey Fields

  “Some have dogs,” Shiny added. “Big dogs, with big teeth, and good ears.”

  "You'll have to tell me about that someday soon," Bobby replied. "But for now, I want to know how you break into homes that have protection spells cast on them."

  “Those?” Shiny said, waving his hand in the air as if shooing away an annoying fly. “Those are easy.”

  “How do you do it?”

  “Pixie dust,” Shiny said softly. “I know; it’s illegal. But, it’s actually not that hard to find around here.”

  "Pixie dust," Bobby said, standing to her feet and crossing her arms over her chest. "And you say anyone can get their hands on it—if they want to bad enough?"

  “Oh yes,” Shiny replied, nodding his head quickly

  “And you can use that to get into any home that has a protection spell on it?”

  “No,” Shiny said, shaking his head with as much vigor as he had previously agreed.

  “No?”

  “Some of the homes have very intense spells on them. Ones that only very powerful witches or warlocks can cast, and only very powerful witches and warlocks can break.”

  Bobby remembered the dusty conditions in Holly’s pet shop. It was clear that no one had been in there cleaning for quite a while.

  “So, you haven’t been able to get into Holly’s shop, have you?”

  “No,” Shiny said, sounding very upset about that. “And you have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to! That place has been a mess for...”

  “Months?” Bobby assumed.

  “Yes,” Shiny replied once again nodding his head quickly.

  “Figures,” Bobby said, sighing softly.

  “It’s enough to drive a man crazy,” Shiny continued. “Other places with protection spells like hers, they don’t bother me as bad. They’re at least somewhat clean. Her parents’ house, for example. Or that Ms. Enchanting’s house. It’s spotless! And there’s a new family that just moved in about a month ago. Sure, there are some boxes lying around, but…”

  “Ms. Enchanting’s home?” Bobby asked, cutting him off again.

  “Yes.”

  “She has a high-level spell cast on her home?”

  “Oh, yes. She installed it the first day she moved in. But, I’ve peered in her windows. I know, I know, it sounds worse than it is, though. I wasn’t looking at her. I mean, sure, she’s a pretty woman. But, I was more interested in the condition of her home than what was going on inside it. And I have to say, it’s a very clean place.”

  “Did you happen to see anything else going on in the home while you weren’t looking at what was going on in the home?” Bobby asked.

  “There was never anything going on,” Shiny replied with a shrug. “She’s a rather boring woman, to be honest.”

  “Just one more question, Shiny, and then I’ll leave you alone.”

  “Anything,” he said. It was clear the relief of getting his secret off his chest was making him more willing to talk.

  “A lot of people had said that Holly had been keeping later hours than normal for a few months leading up to her death.”

  “Oh yes, I noticed that as well. The nights she stayed out really late were when I tried to figure out a way to get into her shop. I figured it was my best chance to have some time alone trying to work around that spell.”

  “What about her husband?” Bobby asked. “You weren’t worried about waking him?”

  "He was rarely home himself," Shiny replied. "He snuck out more than she did! To run around the woods in his wolf form, I always assumed. You know, people say that the shifter can resist and control their urge to change, but I'm not so sure about that. I mean, it's like me, right? I can't control my urge to clean, so who's to say they can control their urge to let out their inner selves, too?"

  “Interesting perspective,” Bobby said. She smiled down at the man as she turned away from him. “Thank you, Shiny. You’ve been very helpful.”

  “You’re not going to tell the Sheriff, are you?”

  “Whatever happens, I’ll make sure you don’t get in trouble,” she replied cheerfully over her shoulder.

  Chapter 22: Protection Spells, Stolen Goods, and One Key Suspect

  The police station was nearly empty. Bobby could barely contain her excitement as she burst through the door. Her mind had finally pieced together a few things. Still nothing solid, but there were definitely some connections being made.

  Don was seated at his desk in the back of the room. Archer was at his desk in front of him, and the handful of other people around were either collecting up their items to leave or just coming in to work the night shift.

  The sun outside still shone weakly as the afternoon bled into evening. It would only be a few hours before she and Don were to go to The Cave to find the man Holly was seen meeting with.

  Bobby was sure she was meeting with him to get the illegal ingredients she used in her products for the pet shop. Barry had said that he was unfamiliar with the finances of the shop, blaming Holly's relationship with her parents for making her keep different parts of her life private. Perhaps that was it, or perhaps it was because she was spending money on things she shouldn't have. Or, perhaps it was another reason altogether.

  Either way, the question of why she borrowed money from Zip was all but answered in Bobby’s mind.

  “You look surprisingly pleased,” Don noted as he scooted a Styrofoam box in her direction.

  “I am,” Bobby said. She plopped herself down in the chair across from him and grabbed whatever he had ordered for her. She didn’t ask what it was, nor did she examine it too closely as she shoveled it quickly into her mouth.

  “Care to share?”

  “You already ate almost all of my fries earlier today,” Bobby replied, hugging her food closer to herself.

  Don rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, waiting.

  “Oh, about the case,” Bobby said, laughing a little at her own joke. “Well, it turns out my assumption was right. Holly had a protection spell cast on her shop.”

  “And you’re sure of this because…?” Don asked.

  “I have my sources,” Bobby replied, not yet ready to give up her informant. “That’s not what’s important right now. What is important is that it turns out that having protection spells on homes isn’t all that uncommon. I assumed as much. But, generally speaking, getting around one of those spells is pretty easy. With the use of pixy dust.”

  “And how do you know that?”

  “Again, I have my sources.”

  Bobby took a bite of the burger in her hands, noting a strange taste that was unfamiliar to her. Wrinkling her nose, she set the burger down and directed her attention to Don again.

  “The whole point of all of this, though,” Bobby continued, “is that the spell on Holly’s place is special. It’s more advanced, and requires much more than a little illegally acquired powder to get past it.”

  Don eyed her carefully. She could tell that he was deciding which of the pieces of information to pursue further.

  “Pixy dust is illegal,” Bobby said, knowing he was hung up on that. “But, to be fair, it’s one of the easiest items to get on the black market. I guarantee you that if you went to shuffling through the medicine cabinets or glove boxes of the busy, perfect, ‘soccer mom’ types you’ll find plenty of it.”

  Pixy dust wasn’t just good for getting past a simple protection spell. It was also used most commonly, as a stimulant. It wasn’t as intense as cocaine—the drug from the mortal realm that had somehow slipped into theirs—but more like a pill you would prescribe to an overactive child in efforts to calm him down.

  This common use wasn’t what made it illegal. It was the very reason that Shiny had used it for that the Witch Council required a prescription from a licensed health provider to acquire it. Aside from being used to break into homes, pixy dust could temporarily remove a number of spells, if used correctly.

  “I’ll just add that to the list of things to look into on
ce we’re done with this case,” Don said, clearly annoyed.

  “Anyways,” Bobby continued, ready to get to her main point, “it would appear that Ms. Enchanting has a similar spell cast on her home.”

  “So, you’re assuming that if she can cast it, she could remove it as well,” Archer concluded.

  Bobby hadn’t noticed him come up behind her. She turned, looking up at him, trying to keep the red from her cheeks as she smiled and said, “yes, very good, Archer.”

  “He’s not a dog,” Don said with a scoff.

  Bobby turned and glared at him intensely. “His point is exactly what I was going to say. If Laura worked alongside Holly for months, she surely knew about the illegal ingredients in the back of her shop. She probably broke in to get them for herself to help with the opening of her own pet shop.”

  “So, let’s say she did break in to get the items. Does that mean she killed her, though?” Don asked.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Bobby thought.

  “Maybe she was worried about the competition,” Archer offered. “Maybe she wanted to have the only pet shop in Pinecreek?”

  “Seems like a weak reason to kill someone,” Don said.

  “It’s the only thing we have to go on right now, though,” Bobby replied. “We should at least bring her in for questioning.”

  “And search her home,” Archer offered. “If we’re going to bring her in, we need something to charge her with, right? If she did steal those items, that’s a good enough reason.”

  “Good call,” Don said, reaching over and taking Bobby’s burger. “You and one of the other men write up a search warrant. Call the judge, he’s probably not in his office right now, he likes to go home to have dinner with his family.”

  “That’s sweet,” Bobby said.

  "Yeah, it's real sweet," Don replied. "But right now, we don't need to worry about sweet; we need to worry about getting that warrant signed. The break-in happened last night. For all we know, she's already hidden the goods somewhere else."

  “I’ll try to have something ready in a few hours,” Archer said, nodding.

  He leaned forward and rested his weight on Don’s desk. He was also leaning very close to Bobby, and she felt her heart start to race slightly. She resisted the urge to turn and look up at him, afraid she would get lost in his beautiful blue eyes.

  “Should I only reference the robbery on the warrant?” he asked. “We’re not saying anything about the murder just yet, are we?”

  “No,” Don said shaking his head. “What little evidence we do have about Laura’s potential involvement with that is all guessing until we get that report back from the lab. If for some reason Holly’s death can be linked back to one of the items in her shop or in Laura’s home, then we have her for sure.”

  “We’re only checking her home?” Archer asked.

  Bobby and Don exchanged looks. “We should check her shop, as well,” Bobby concluded. “It would make sense, right?”

  “Good idea, Archer,” Don said. “We’ll search her home and her shop. We need to focus on getting that warrant written up tonight.”

  “We?” Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, you and I already have plans for tonight.”

  “Really?” Archer asked, his voice sounding both curious and confused.

  Bobby turned, against her better judgment, to look up at him. "No," she said quickly, shaking her head, "it's not like that. We're following another lead."

  “Okay,” Archer smiled down at her.

  “Well,” Don’s voice broke into their moment. “Are you going?”

  “Right,” Archer replied, pushing himself up. “I’ll get started on all of that right away.”

  As he hurried off to retrieve the warrant forms, Don flashed Bobby a cocky smile. “You seemed awfully quick to clarify our plans to him,” he noted, “should I be offended?”

  “No. I just don’t want to be accused of an interdepartmental romance. That’s very heavily frowned down upon by the Witch Council.”

  “It’s a good thing I don’t work for the Witch Council,” Don said with a wink.

  Bobby let out a disgusted grunt as she reached across the desk to take back her burger. “You know,” she said, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible, “I’m still not so sure that Barry doesn’t know more than he’s letting on.”

  “Why do you say that?” Don asked.

  "I don't know. I was getting a reading from him before. It was weird."

  “Weird? Weird how?”

  “I’m not sure. Like he was hiding something.”

  “I thought you could sense emotions, not liars.”

  “That’s the thing,” Bobby continued, after taking a bite of her burger. “The feelings coming off of him were such a clustered mix of everything. He was nervous, then excited, then… I don’t know. Just a little of everything, I guess.”

  "We've been over this, Bobby. He's mourning. Of course, he's feeling tons of different things at once."

  “I’m still not convinced. There was something off about that whole thing,” Bobby said, taking another bite from her burger. Again, wrinkling her nose at the odd taste, she put it down and pushed it away from her. “What is that?”

  “Cow’s liver patty,” Don replied.

  “Liver?” Bobby asked, pushing her chair back to put more space between her and the item in front of her. “You ordered me cow’s liver?”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Don asked, playing dumb. “It’s one of my favorites.”

  “Then you can have it,” Bobby said, standing to her feet.

  “My plan worked after all,” Don said, smiling brightly as he reached for the burger and devoured it in a few bites.

  Chapter 23: It’s Not a Date

  Bobby returned to her hotel after going back to Daisy’s to get herself a new meal. She and Don had agreed that they would meet a few hours later in front of the station. Until then, she planned to sleep. If she was going to be out late with the night people, she needed her rest.

  When she woke up it was already dark out, but she still had a good hour or two before the agreed upon meeting time. She took her time getting ready, selecting an outfit she hadn't actually planned on wearing when she packed it—a sleek, form-fitting black dress, with a pair of strappy black heels. She left her hair loose but applied a little extra eyeliner and mascara than usual.

  Don’s reaction when he saw her made her smile inside and out.

  “Whoa,” he said, walking up to her slowly. “You look… I mean, I didn’t even… I mean… whoa.”

  She blushed slightly, glancing him up and down as well. He was wearing a pair of black slacks and a white button-up shirt, the top two buttons undone to reveal the hairs that stuck up from his chest. It was a thrown-together look, but still stylish. He didn't wear a sports coat, which was good because paired with his scruffy face and perfectly messy hair, it would have looked awkward.

  “You look nice, yourself,” she said with a smile.

  They had opted for their current attire in an effort not to draw too much attention to themselves. It was true that everyone in town knew who the Sheriff was, and they were all familiar with his new, temporary partner. But, there was the off chance that they would simply be perceived as two individuals going out for drinks after a long day’s work.

  Don continued to stare at her, and she thought she saw him blush slightly when their gazes met. She might have blushed as well, but she wasn’t going to admit that to herself or to anyone else.

  “The Cave opens in ten,” Don said, holding his arm out to her.

  She stared at it, confused. He stepped forward, still holding his arm out to her, waiting.

  “If we’re going to appear as non-suspicious as possible, we might as well play the part, right?”

  “What part is that, exactly?”

  “I thought we made that clear—we’re on a date.”

  “No,” Bobby said, shaking her head firmly and backing up a slig
ht step. “We said we’re going out for drinks together.”

  “And why would someone go out to drinks with someone else?”

  “To unwind after a long day.”

  “People don’t go to The Cave to unwind,” Don said, stepping forward and holding his arm out to her again.

  Bobby rolled her eyes and stepped forward, linking her arm with his. He began to lead her down the street. She tried not to notice how muscular his arms were, or the cologne he was wearing. But both were impossible to ignore. So, instead, she tried to ignore the fact that she liked both of those things.

  “What’s the plan?” she asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen between them.

  "Well, I was thinking we'll have a few drinks, you'll invite me back to your place, but I'm a gentleman so I'll say ‘no' but we'll meet tomorrow for coffee, exchange a few light-hearted laughs, and…"

  “I meant with the case,” Bobby said, cutting him off.

  “Oh,” Don said with a laugh, “I see, playing hard to get, are you?”

  “This isn’t a date, Don,” she said firmly.

  “Okay,” he said. “We’ll just say that you’re right, that you got all dolled up to go out with me, just because of the case.”

  “That’s exactly why I got ‘all dolled up’.” She pulled her arm back, but he tightened his hold on her hand.

  “I’m done teasing,” he said softly. “I promise. Let’s talk about the case.”

  “Thank you. So, as I was saying, what’s the plan?”

  "Well, I'm pretty sure that whoever this guy from your realm is, we'll be able to identify him pretty quickly. Not only did Tammy give us a pretty clear description, but I know everyone in this town. I'll recognize the outsider."

  “Great, so you recognize him, but how do we approach him? Surely, he won’t believe that the town Sheriff is coming around to ask for illegal goods.”

  “No, but I figure we can just wing it.”

  “Wing it? That’s how you’re going to handle this? Just wing it?”

  “I have backup meeting us at The Cave—a few cops will be inside hanging out among the patrons, a few will be outside in case he runs.”