Belladonna was hosting a BBQ at her house tonight, and she wanted to invite as many people as possible. They’d told everyone at the diner what time to arrive and asked that anyone who felt like it bring a side dish or dessert.
The excuse for the BBQ was that the Fall Festival had been so much fun they wanted another round. Murielle would invite everyone who came into the library, and Bella would ask all of her customers. Maybe if they invited enough people, the killer would show up, too. On the other hand, if it turned out Jeremy was the killer, they’d be celebrating solving the case.
Bella was grateful that half of her clients were okay with witchcraft. That meant she got to whip up some hair-raising spells. She let the magic fly, and as always, had very satisfied customers.
It was Cassie Holt’s day off, and she’d always wanted to be a redhead. So Belladonna used her wand and a touch of creativity to make Cassie’s hair the perfect shade of crimson for her complexion. Not only did she get exceptional results, but magic didn’t damage the hair.
The rest of her clients, the ones who only wanted regular hair services, were pleasant, and they tipped well. All in all, it was a good, if not busy, day. Belladonna made a lot of money, and she was starting to feel like her luck was turning.
As her last client walked out the door of the salon, a cold wind blew in and knocked the broom over. Bella rolled her eyes and walked over to set it up.
“Again?” she questioned the broom.
It didn’t answer, but the tinkling of the bell above the door startled her. Bella whirled around and couldn’t believe who’d come to see her.
“Lexi, hello. You startled me.” Belladonna took a few deep breaths and tried to steady her pounding heart.
“I’m sorry; am I too late?” Lexi asked, sweeping her hand around to demonstrate that she meant the empty salon.
“Of course not. I don’t have any more appointments, but I’ll be happy to take you as a walk-in. You’ll have my undivided attention,” Bella said and smiled cordially. “I thought you used a stylist in the city.”
“I used to, but I am the mayor’s wife. I should be utilizing as many local businesses as possible. Besides, I’ve been told you’re the best. A miracle worker as some would tell it.” Belladonna picked up on the hint of sarcasm in Lexi’s voice, but she chose to ignore it.
“Please have a seat. What can I do for you today?” Bella knew she’d be providing Lexi with services that didn’t include magic.
“I’d like a trim and color, please. My hair is much too platinum for the fall season. I’d like something a bit more caramel. Just as long as you don’t take it too dark for my complexion.” The artificial sweetness dripping from Lexi’s voice was almost enough to turn Belladonna’s stomach, but she was a professional.
Bella trimmed Lexi’s hair just enough to make it shoulder length again. Lexi was impressed with the precise cut and even told Belladonna of her approval. Next, Bella whipped up the color treatment in the back. Fortunately, she was out of sight of her magic-hating customer, so she was able to use her wand to mix the perfect color for Lexi’s porcelain complexion.
“I’m impressed, Ms. Nightshade,” Lexi stated bluntly when Belladonna was done blowing her out.
There was that emphasis on the Ms. again, but Bella let it go since it was attached to a compliment. She was so tempted to tell Lexi that she’d used a touch of magic but decided against it. Bella felt something peculiar emanating from Mrs. Whitmore, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Thank you, Lexi. That means a lot to me,” Belladonna said, almost sincerely.
“Well, it’s true. What I’d really like to know is how Sterling is doing?” Lexi said without making eye contact.
The woman was examining her long, perfectly manicured fingernails. Claws, Belladonna thought, with a flawless French manicure. Bella couldn’t shake the feeling that Lexi was trying to get close to her because of the inheritance, but she didn’t have the stones to just come out and ask. Murielle would just say it. In fact, Belladonna’s best friend would have called Lexi out on it at the house. And as if her thoughts could manifest a person, the bell over the door rang out and Murielle stepped into the salon. Her smile was bright and cheerful, but Bella could see that it covered her distaste for Lexi.
“Well if it isn’t Lexi Whitmore. I didn’t expect to see you in here. You still trying to find a way to suck up to Bella’s cat? Were you hoping that you and Sterling could become best buds?” Murielle’s smile couldn’t mask the contempt dripping from her words.
“Look, I just care about animals. I happen to like cats. Am I not allowed to be concerned about the welfare of one of our town’s feline residents? I am the mayor’s wife.” Lexi actually sounded frazzled, and that was shocking to Belladonna.
“What I don’t get is what you’re up to with your sudden concern for a cat’s welfare. Were you and your gaggle of ordinaries hoping to induct Sterling into the Ladies Brigade?” Murielle laughed at the thought.
“Thank you for the excellent work on my hair, Ms. Nightshade. How much do I owe you?” Lexi asked and stood up from the salon chair.
“Nothing. The first one is always free.”
“Nonsense, nothing is free,” Lexi said as she rifled through the twenties and fifties in her wallet.
“Well, it is here. It’s a tradition, and I insist.”
“Then I insist on leaving you a generous tip.” Lexi stated and put a fifty-dollar bill down on the salon’s counter as she backed towards the door.” She seemed a little frightened, but Bella was getting the sense that it was a show. “You might want to put your friend here on a leash. She seems to be turning into a mongrel just like her boyfriend.”
Murielle tried to lunge at her, but Bella put up an arm and stopped her. “Don’t,” she warned without saying anything else.
Murielle barked at Lexi, and when she jumped, Muri started to howl with laughter. As soon as Lexi was out the door, Bella joined her. The two of them cackled until they were red in the face and their stomachs hurt.
“You realize she probably won’t be back, right?” Bella chastised her friend semi-seriously.
“Good. That woman and her brigade of “proper ladies” gives me the creeps, and that’s saying a lot because I’m a witch,” she said, and they laughed again.
“Let’s go to my house and get the ointment for Jeremy. We’re going to need to make this fast if we’re actually going to throw together a BBQ by dinnertime tonight,” Bella said and turned her sign around.
Jeremy Whiteside’s House
“I hope you don’t mind, but I sent Luke to the store to get burgers, hot dogs, steaks, and chicken. I gave him the spare key to your house so he could get everything started for us,” Murielle said as they walked up to Jeremy’s door.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard you refer to Officer Terry by his first name,” Bella teased and poked her friend in the arm.
“Shut up. It’s not a big deal,” Murielle said and blushed furiously.
“Oh, this is more serious than I thought,” Belladonna said and laughed.
“Don’t make me turn you into a toad.”
“Don’t make me turn you into a donkey,” Bella said and acted as if she was reaching for the wand in her purse.
“Are you saying I’m an as—” The door opened and cut her off.
Jeremy was standing in front of them in shorts and a white t-shirt with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. His hair was wet and disheveled as if he’d just finished taking a shower but had made a quick attempt at drying it with a towel.
“Hello, Jer. Jer Bear,” Murielle said and put up her hand for a high five.
Jeremy slapped her hand with his weakly, but he looked utterly perplexed.
“Jeremy, we’re here to invite you to a BBQ tonight at my place,” Belladonna had interjected before Jeremy had a chance to get annoyed.
“You came over to invite me to a BBQ?” he asked, still seeming confused.
“Yes,
it’s a last-minute thing we’ve thrown together,” Bella answered confidently.
“We wanted to continue the merriment of last night’s festival,” Murielle added a little too enthusiastically.
“Anyway,” Belladonna said and drew Jeremy’s attention back to her. “We got the chance to invite most of the town during the day today, but neither of us saw you. We wanted to stop by and ask you personally.”
“Thank you?” he responded, still perplexed by the witches’ impromptu visit.
“Oh, and there’s something else,” Belladonna said and pulled the jar of salve out of her purse. “That burn looked nasty, so Murielle and I whipped up some healing ointment for you.”
“Is it magic?” he asked, taking the jar and looking it over carefully.
“Maybe a little, but I think it will really help. How is it healing?” Belladonna asked sincerely.
She was genuinely concerned about his burn, but also a bit annoyed that as of yet, she wasn’t picking up any trace of the dragon’s eye jewel’s energy. Belladonna thought for sure this visit would lead somewhere. It was almost as if something had told her that Jeremy was involved, and it was concerning that there was no evidence of it. Noticing her friend’s frustration, Murielle spoke up.
“Jeremy, I really need to pee. I should have gone before I left the library, but I didn’t. I was in such a hurry to get over here and invite you. Plus, we’ve got to be hasty because we need to get back to Bella’s place and set up for the BBQ. Anyway, can I use your bathroom? Please.” She asked and smiled so sweetly that you could almost believe she wasn’t up to something.
“Uh, sure.”
They could tell he really didn’t want to let them in the house, but he also didn’t want to be rude to two witches. Belladonna and Murielle got that a lot from people who weren’t sure how powerful they were.
Bella stood close to the entryway while Jeremy showed Muri to the bathroom. Much like Belladonna’s house, there was a parlor just off the main hallway close to the front door.
The doors were open, so Bella looked in. The room was decorated like hers, except where her parlor was full of bright colors, Jeremy’s was painted in drab blues and grays. She almost jumped out of her skin when Mrs. Tory’s ghost appeared by an end table next to a navy blue wingback chair. It wasn’t that she’d never seen a ghost before; Bella just hadn’t expected to see Elsbeth here.
The ghost pointed at a small black velvet bag sitting on the end table. Bella looked around, and Jeremy still wasn’t coming back yet. She walked quietly into the room and picked up the bag. There was a faint hint of the magical residue she’d sensed before. Bella hadn’t picked it up on Jeremy or in the house, but it was definitely on the bag.
Perhaps another witch had done a cleansing spell for him, but the residue on the bag was too much for whatever incantation they’d used. Bella figured out that the dragon’s eye had actually been in this bag at one point. Where was it now? When she looked up, Elsbeth’s ghost was gone.
She set the bag back down exactly as she’d found it and walked towards the parlor door. “Your home is beautiful,” she said to Jeremy as he and Murielle appeared in the hallway again.
“Thank you. I tried the ointment while I was waiting for Murielle. The burn feels much better. Thank you. I was starting to think I’d have to see the doctor about it,” he said and smiled as if he’d relaxed a bit.
“So, will we see you tonight?” Murielle asked him as she grabbed the knob of the front door.
“I’ll do my best. Thank you for stopping by, ladies,” Jeremy answered, now more composed and friendly than when they’d arrived.
“You’re welcome,” Belladonna answered, and then he shut the front door behind them.
Once the witches were sure they were out of earshot, Murielle asked, “So, did you pick up anything?”
Belladonna explained the ghost sighting and the energy residue she sensed on the black bag. Murielle’s eyes widened as excitement flooded her.
“So, we’ve got him then? It’s over?”
“Not so fast. I don’t have anything I can take to the police. I can’t tell Detective Benjamin that I’ve picked up the energy from a jewel I’ve never seen, except in my mother’s book, on a bag in Jeremy’s home. You and I both know that means he’s involved, but there’s no evidence. We have no proof,” Belladonna said and watched Murielle’s shoulders fall with defeat.
“I guess we should go do the BBQ thing then. I wonder how much Luke has done.”
The two witches walked back to Belladonna’s house. Bella tried to come up with another way to get the evidence she could take to the police. Partly because she wanted to solve the crime and save everybody from whatever nefarious plot was being hatched, but she also wanted to see Detective Ben again.
“We didn’t invite Detective Ben.” Bella’s attention turned suddenly away from solving the mystery to panic over not having invited him to the BBQ.
“Don’t worry, Bells. I’ve got your back. I saw him when I went to the diner for lunch today. He’s coming,” Murielle said and nudged her friend playfully in the arm.
The delicious smell of BBQ hit them as they rounded the corner to Bella’s house. No one had arrived yet, so that gave them time to get everything set up. Once they were in Belladonna’s backyard, hidden by the privacy fence, Bella and Muri took out their wands and had the expansive property ready to host the entire town in minutes.
Sterling sat in a window, hissing at the figure standing just on the other side of the fence watching them through the space between two slats. Unfortunately for Sterling and her new mistress, the window was closed, and Bella couldn’t hear the cat’s warning.
Eight
777 Cornland Lane
Guests started to arrive just as Officer Terry pulled the first round of meat off the grill. Fortunately, Bella and Murielle had set up a ton of tables because everyone brought food or drinks with them. Soon, there was a massive spread of dips, beans, potatoes a hundred different ways, salads, soup, pies, cakes, muffins, and more.
Bella gave Old Man Jenkins the side-eye when he rolled in a keg of ale, but she showed him where to set it up. Soon, most of the men were gathered around it, swapping fish stories whether they were imbibing or not.
The band from the festival arrived, and Bella showed them to the stage she and Murielle had set up. They’d had a feeling the band would play tonight, so they took a chance and set up the stage. Their foresight had paid off, and as the sun set, lively music filled the property.
A little further back in the yard, Bella had a firefly garden. She waved her wand when no one was looking, and the fireflies started their nightly dance just a little bit early. This drew the attention of all of the children who ran over to the garden to watch the show or dance with the fireflies to the music.
Belladonna walked around the party, socializing or refilling drinks when folks needed it. She kept herself in motion constantly, aware that she was looking for the dragon’s eye energy residue. Murielle helped Luke man the grill, and it made Bella smile despite the circumstances to see her friend looking so happy.
It also tugged at her heart a little because she hadn’t seen Benjamin yet. It was a very odd feeling for Belladonna. Longing wasn’t a familiar emotion for her. Love was something she’d sworn off in high school. It was too messy. Her mother had raised her alone because her father had taken off when she was a baby. The breakup didn’t appear to have caused Belladonna’s mom, Petunia, any pain. Nightshade women were just better off without men. Nevertheless, Bella didn’t feel better off without Ben. In fact, something about him felt just right.
As if she’d conjured him from her imagination, Detective Benjamin walked through the gate and into her party. He waved to her cheerfully and made his way across the lawn and through the crowd of people to her.
“Belladonna, hi. Thank you for the invite.” His smile was warm and genuine.
“You’re most welcome, Ben, but as you can see, I invited everyone,” she
said and chuckled as she swept her hand to indicate the crowd of townsfolk.”
“Still, it means a lot to me. I don’t have many friends here yet, and I hope that I’m counted as one of yours. I’m going to grab a drink; do you want one?”
“Sure.”
Belladonna watched him walk to the drink table. She guessed that many women wouldn’t like having a man they were attracted to call them a friend, but it warmed her heart. Benjamin opened up something in her that had previously been completely closed off. She knew from her craft that when the goddess used someone to open a door inside you, it was best not to ignore that gift.
Ben returned a few minutes later and handed Bella a cup filled with ice and Diet Coke. “The spread looks incredible. We should get something to eat. Officer Terry is doing an excellent job on the grill. People are raving about his BBQ.”
“His kind does know their meat.” She slipped up without thinking.
“His kind?” Benjamin asked curiously.
“Southern. They know their BBQ better than anyone. Luke’s family is from Texas. I know you can’t tell because his accent is almost entirely gone.” Belladonna recovered, and it wasn’t technically lying. So what if it had been a hundred or so odd years since the werewolves were driven out of Texas. They still knew how to cook some tasty meat.
“Ah, I see. So, shall we?” he asked and extended his hand.
“Yes. We shall.”
Both of them filled their plates high with good food and then found a table in a quiet corner of the yard. Ben chuckled at the number of desserts on Bella’s plate.
“My kind likes sweets,” she joked, but it was the truth. Witches loved dessert.
“What kind is that?” He laughed as he asked.
“Nightshade women always eat dessert first when we can. It’s so if you get full, you didn’t miss out on the best part,” she said and took a huge bite of chocolate pie.
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