A Spell Of Trouble (Silver Hollow Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series Book 1)

by Leighann Dobbs

  Owen stood, a look of uncertainty crossing his features. “Well, I don’t know. That almost looks like poison.”

  “Poison? That’s ridiculous.” Dee Dee waved her hand in the air. “Who would want to poison Louella?”

  Gray, Issy, Owen, and even Lottie raised their brows at Dee Dee. Almost half the town would have wanted to get rid of Louella. She was nasty to everyone. But people didn’t kill other people just because they were nasty. Issy figured there was a deeper motive for Louella’s death.

  Lottie glanced at Gray apologetically. “Well, as a matter of fact, she did just say she had some evidence on Mr. Quinn.”

  “Evidence? What kind of evidence?” Owen seemed interested.

  Lottie frowned. “She said that he was a bad boy and she had a picture. Whatever that means.”

  Issy put a protective hand on Gray’s arm. “It means nothing. She’s hated us since my parents moved to town. And Gray in particular because her hair doesn’t come out as good as the other ladies’.”

  Brimstone, who had somehow made his way out of the shop even though the door was closed, blurted out a choked meow.

  Dee Dee smirked then tried to cover it up. It wasn’t polite to smirk in front of the dead.

  Owen dispersed the crowd while the EMTs loaded Louella into the back of the ambulance.

  Gray shifted on his feet beside her. She was tall at five-seven, but he still towered over her by almost six inches.

  He leaned down, lowering his voice, while his eyes scanned the crowd. “Looks like she was hit with a shut-up spell. That’s a powerful spell and takes a lot of energy. Whoever did it must be nearby and a very powerful dark witch.”

  An old fear pierced Issy’s heart. She’d faced dark magic before, and it hadn’t ended well. She’d survived, but her childhood familiar hadn’t. Thankfully, she hadn't encountered dark magic that powerful since. But now someone evil was here, and she and her cousins would have to figure out who it was so they could turn them over to the committee before things got worse.

  3

  Issy spent the rest of the day in a fog, waiting on customers and wondering who the dark witch was. Or was there more than one?

  Dee Dee had assured her that she would persuade Owen that Louella’s death was a mere heart attack. With Ursula backing that up with her medical report, Issy was sure Owen would treat it as such. The last thing they needed was the police investigating Louella’s death. They would have enough trouble trying to figure out who it was without them butting in.

  Issy stayed close to Bella for the rest of the day. The dog was a new familiar and not very savvy to the ways of magic. The scars of Issy’s childhood dog that had been killed with black magic still ran deep. She wouldn’t let anything happen to Bella. Hopefully between her and her cousins they would be able to ferret out the witch who had cast the shut-up spell on Louella and turn them over to the committee to be dealt with before anyone else got hurt.

  The committee took a dim view of dark magic, and Issy didn't want to think of what would happen to the person responsible. She’d heard of all kinds of punishments, ranging from witch house arrest, where one’s magical powers were confined to the home, to being stripped of all magical powers. In some cases, the committee put the witch’s familiar in lockdown—a sort of invisible charmed prison that confined the familiar to one room. Other punishments were much more drastic, depending on what the witch had used dark magic for.

  Issy shuddered to think of Bella in lockdown or what the committee might do to one who used the dark magic to kill, but she couldn’t feel sorry for them—anyone who would do something like that deserved what they got.

  But why did someone do something like that? Who would want to kill Louella? The health inspector’s words echoed in her ears. Louella had some pictures of Gray. But Gray was no killer. Issy knew that in her heart. Yet she couldn’t stop the niggle of foreboding that snaked its way through her gut. Even though Gray wasn’t the killer, if Louella had something on him, it might make him look guilty. All the more reason for them to find the real killer.

  Closing time couldn’t come soon enough, and she locked up the shop, gathered up Bella, and grabbed her purse. The cousins had agreed to meet at Raine’s house right after work.

  Raine lived in a log cabin high up on Soleil Mountain overlooking Solstice Lake. The view was extraordinary. Acres of sapphire-blue water dotted with pine tree—laden islands. The house was nestled in a grove of pine trees and meticulously landscaped with the most lush and colorful flowers you could imagine. Raine was a landscaper by trade and one of the best in the county. Everywhere she planted, the flowers bloomed bigger, more vibrant, and the foliage more lush than anything Issy had ever seen. No wonder she was highly sought after.

  Raine had already sparked up the grill on the patio. Ember was already there, her thick auburn hair sprouting from the top of her head in a messy updo. Her emerald-green eyes sparkled as she bent down to play with her familiars—a white kitten named Bellatrix and a black kitten named Endora.

  The two kittens vied for Ember’s attention, each leaping onto one of her legs, sticking their needle-sharp claws into her jeans and trying to climb up. Ember reached into the caldron-shaped toy basket, pulled out two toys, and threw them, sending the kittens scampering. Bella ran after them, barking happily.

  Ember caught Issy’s bemused smile. “I'm not wearing shorts until they are grown. They seem to think I’m something to be climbed on.”

  Brimstone appeared from behind a tree. “The kits are young and need training, though they have a lot of catching up to do and will never be as wise as myself.” His eyes, now showing more gold than orange, narrowed at Bella. “The canine, on the other hand… well, we all know they are inferior to felines.”

  “Caw!” A large white bird swooped low over Brimstone’s head then flew up to land on a high pine branch. Brimstone ducked and rolled on the ground then, upon seeing the bird in the tree, shook himself off, sat on his haunches, and started preening himself as if nothing had happened. Issy bit her lip not to laugh at the cat—it was obvious he’d been frightened by the bird—Gray’s familiar, a cockatoo named Cosmo—and was now trying to act nonchalant, as if the bird hadn’t scared him at all.

  “Inferior!” Cosmo cawed, his head extending forward, his crest feathers sticking upright.

  “Hey, Cosmo, don’t tease him.” Gray jogged around the side of the cabin with a watermelon. “You know he thinks he’s a higher being.”

  “Thinks?” Brimstone scoffed.

  Raine finished with the burgers, and they filled their plates then gathered at the round pine picnic table, where they’d had dozens of family dinners, and dug in, with the sapphire waters of the lake slowly changing to a light blue in the setting sun as a backdrop.

  In the center of the table sat a Venus flytrap. The plant, Mortimer, was Raine’s familiar. Raine had a way with plants and could sometimes tell things simply by touching them. She had a strange connection with Morty that Issy didn’t even try to understand.

  Bella sat at Issy’s feet, her eager, hopeful eyes trained on the burger Issy was eating.

  “So tell us about Louella. What happened today?” Raine brushed a stick-straight copper-colored bang out of her peridot-green eyes as she glanced over at Issy.

  “Louella brought someone from the board of health to my shop. Apparently she’d been in there at some point and seen the solstice frogs. Somehow she knew they were poisonous and was fixing to get me in trouble.” Issy pulled Bella up on her lap, comforting herself by running her fingers through the dog's silky fur. “As she left the shop she fell to the ground. At first I thought it was a heart attack, but her tongue was swollen and blue.”

  “I’m sure it was some kind of shut-up spell,” Gray said.

  Ember shuddered. “That’s bad. No witch should ever harm another. The committee is going to come down hard.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Gray said. “And why we need to keep this hush-hush and find the
killer first. We don’t want the police looking around and coming to the wrong conclusions.”

  Raine frowned. “Especially since Issy had a motive to kill her and was standing right next to her.”

  “I… well, I guess I do. But Gray does too. Louella claimed to have some sort of incriminating picture of him,” Issy said. “But neither of us killed her.”

  “Of course we know that, but the police don’t know it,” Raine pointed out. “We need to think of this from all angles.”

  “Hopefully the police won’t be involved. Dee Dee promised that she would convince Owen it was a heart attack, and with Ursula’s medical report corroborating that, it should be a shut case.”

  “So all we have to do is figure out who the paranormal is that killed her,” Gray added.

  Raine picked a potato chip out of the bowl and crunched down on it. “That’s nasty business. Are you sure it was a shut-up spell?”

  Gray shrugged. “It sure looked like it. Her tongue was swollen up enormously, and it was blue.”

  “But that would take a powerful witch,” Ember said. "Who would do such a thing?"

  "Do you think it could be one of the South Side Witches?" Raine referred to a coven of witches that lived in an isolated community on the south side of Silver Hollow. They delighted in pulling pranks and screwing things up for people and paranormals alike, but as far as Issy knew, they didn't resort to dark magic.

  Gray shook his head. "They're all out of town at a convention. That whole end of town is empty. It was someone closer to us that did it."

  “All the more reason to figure out who it was and stop them from doing anything like that ever again,” Issy said.

  Ember’s eyes widened. “You mean turn them in to the committee.”

  “Yep.” Raine stroked the leaves of a purple petunia plant growing in a pot beside the table, and the plant visibly perked up. “You ask me, they’re going to get what they deserve.”

  Ember tapped her finger nervously on the table. “I just hope… you know… they don’t come.”

  All eyes snapped over in her direction. “You mean…”

  Ember nodded. Issy repressed a shudder. No one needed to say the name. Ember was talking about the Federal Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. The FBPI. A secret division of the FBI tasked with investigating paranormal activity. No witch, warlock, werewolf, or vampire wanted to be anywhere near them. Issy had heard stories, and none of them were good.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Gray said. “We don’t want to become guests in area 59.”

  Raine shook her head violently. “No way. You heard what they did to the poor aliens.”

  Bella quaked in Issy’s arms.

  Mortimer burped.

  Brimstone hissed.

  Cosmo squawked.

  Even Bellatrix and Endora stopped their scampering and looked appropriately somber at the thought of the FBPI.

  “We’re not going to let that happen,” Issy said. “All we have to do is figure out who wanted Louella to shut up.”

  “And we need to get that picture she took of Gray back.”

  “Right. Maybe Dee Dee can erase it from her cell phone for us.” Ember pulled a box of chocolates out of her bag, opened the top, and slid them on the table. Then she turned to Gray. “What kind of picture did she have on you, Gray?”

  Gray frowned, his gaze skittering around the table at his cousins. “You guys don’t think I had something to do with this, do you?”

  Ember laid her palm on his muscular forearm. “Of course not. But if we know what she has on you, it might help us figure out what she was up to, which might lead to figuring out who killed her.”

  Gray pushed up from the table, clearly agitated. He paced around the patio then stopped and turned to them, running his hands through his dark hair. Issy noticed he looked tired. In fact, he’d seemed drained and tired the past couple of days, which wasn’t like him. Normally he was energetic and full of vitality. She hoped he wasn’t getting sick.

  “I think she got pictures of me during the full-moon ritual.”

  “Merow.”

  Issy ignored Brimstone’s expletive and studied her cousin. Unlike most witches, the Quinns preferred to do their rituals alone. Sure, they had some they would do together and with other members of the coven, but for the most part, they were loners.

  Full-moon rituals could be done for many reasons, but the one reason that took the most out of a witch was sexuality. Gray didn’t need any help in that department, though—he had women falling all over him. In fact, the cousins had once teased him about casting spells on the women that came for haircuts. But Gray didn’t need to cast a spell—even as his cousin, Issy knew he was a hottie.

  And from what she heard, women were well pleased after a date with him. But now that she thought about it, he never went out with any one woman for very long. Maybe being a hot, in-demand hairdresser chased after by throngs of women wasn’t that appealing to him anymore. Maybe he needed the sexuality ritual because he was ready to settle down. Issy’s heart tugged for her cousin. Was that why the usual flicker of charm and mischief in his eye was shadowed by loneliness?

  Judging by the look on his face, though, he didn’t want to discuss where he’d been directing the ritual. And they had a strict rule never to ask. But it wasn’t like him to be this secretive. Something more was going on.

  “How do you know she got a picture of you?” Ember picked up Bellatrix, who was climbing up her pant leg, and settled the cat in her lap.

  “I was out in the Scheiling Forest. I have a spot there I like, and in the middle of my ritual a bright flash went off.”

  “And it was Louella?” Raine asked.

  “I don’t know who it was. I gave chase, but when the person neared the main road I had to give up because I was… well, you know… naked.” Gray blushed.

  “She did say she had pictures, so it must’ve been her,” Issy said.

  “What was she doing out there?” Ember asked.

  “Who knows. Maybe whatever it was, someone else didn’t want her to talk about it,” Raine suggested.

  “Louella wasn’t the most well-liked person. It may not have had anything to do with her being out in the woods.” Ember picked a chocolate out of the box and popped it into her mouth then pointed to the box. “Here, you guys, have a sea-salted caramel. I made them today.”

  Issy eyed the box dubiously. Ember’s chocolates were known to be delicious, but they could also contain a little charm that one might not be expecting.

  “Don’t worry. I didn’t put any magic in them,” Ember said. “You know I don’t do that unless someone requests it.”

  Issy took a chocolate and bit in. The sweet, slightly bitter taste of the dark chocolate melded with the creamy caramel on her tongue, and the grit of salt intensified the flavors. “We need to figure out who had a motive to kill Louella. I mean, I know nobody liked her, but it had to be something pretty serious to actually kill her.”

  “Did she have money? A big life-insurance policy? Maybe a relative offed her to inherit,” Raine suggested.

  “I don’t think she did,” Gray said. “But I can double-check.”

  “It had to have been someone who was there today. Someone who was in sight of Louella in order to cast that spell,” Ember said.

  “No. Not necessarily.” Raine grabbed a chocolate. “A powerful witch can do it remotely, but they need something from the victim’s body, I think.”

  Ember screwed up her face. “From her body? You mean like fingernails and stuff?”

  Raine’s eyes drifted over to Gray. “Or hair.”

  Gray tilted his head. “Well, I wouldn’t have needed her hair, because I was right across the street. But I didn’t see any other witches.”

  “I did,” Issy said. “I saw Karen Dixon.”

  “Okay.” Ember put Bellatrix down and picked up Endora. Issy could’ve sworn she saw Endora smirk at the other cat as they exchanged places in Ember’s lap. “Karen
could be a suspect, but why would she want Louella dead? We need to figure out who would have a motive.”

  “I think I know who,” Raine said. “That parcel of land adjacent to Scheiling Forest is owned by the town. I did some landscaping at the little park they have there. It’s a huge stretch of woods. Acres and acres, and recently the town has been considering rezoning part of it.”

  “Really?” Issy hadn’t heard about that, but then again, she wasn’t too good about keeping up with town business.

  “That’s right!” Ember said. “It’s a big to-do down at town hall. My friend Cindy works there as a secretary to the planning board. Louella has been a big opponent to the rezoning. It’s been quite controversial, actually.”

  “So someone on the planning board might’ve gotten angry with her,” Issy said. “But angry enough to kill her? Over rezoning?”

  “Not over rezoning. Over money,” Ember said. “There’s a lot of money at stake here if that land gets rezoned to commercial. Hans Geller wants to build a mall there.”

  “He does?” Issy didn’t like that idea at all. Their town was quaint. Rustic. Nestled in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and away from things like malls and highways. For once, she agreed with Louella. She didn’t want that land zoned commercial.

  “So, with Louella out of the picture, whoever replaces her on the board might swing the vote in favor of the rezoning,” Gray said.

  “Yeah, especially if Hans pays them off, which I heard he was likely to do,” Raine said.

  “Is Hans a witch?” Ember asked. They didn’t know all the witches in town.

  “He wouldn’t necessarily have to be magic if he had a witch under his control. Someone that he bribed or coerced in some other way to cast a spell for him.”

  “You could be right,” Issy said. “But how would we find that out?”

  “I know of a way.” Raine reached out and stroked one of Mortimer’s leaves. “But first we need to pay Hans Geller a little visit.”