Witches, Recipes, and Murder

by Zoe Arden

  "I'm the head of COMHA. Everything is my territory!" Dean shouted back.

  They glared at each other for several long minutes before Colt intervened and suggested the sheriff and his deputies work on securing the outside perimeter, which had become swamped with tourists and locals alike.

  "Dean can handle the inside stuff," Colt said. "That's the boring part anyway. Inside stuff means paperwork. Outside stuff means you get to hang out here and go home."

  Sheriff Knoxx grumbled to himself. "I'm not sure I'd qualify it as 'hanging out.' " He eventually consented though, and he and his deputies went outside to get rid of the crowds and make sure no evidence had been missed.

  Colt breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. "That was close," he said, coming up to me. "I was afraid they were going to start wrestling right here in the warehouse."

  I giggled and put my arms around him. Some of the other agents he was friends with made soft kissy noises, teasing him. He blushed, embarrassed, but kissed me anyway. I loved him all the more for it.

  "Now what?" I asked.

  "Now we file our reports. Frank's dead, Dean shot him, case closed."

  I licked my lips. "I know you can't talk about it, but I just need to confirm some of the things Frank said before he died." He stiffened but didn't tell me to stop. "He worked for COMHA, right? Mack, I mean."

  Colt nodded.

  "And he was helping you and Dean?"

  Colt sighed. "Mack was a good guy. He might have had a gruff exterior, but he had a good heart. When he realized that necklace had altered his personality in such a negative way, and that he'd alienated the people he cared most about because of it, he wanted to do something to make things right. He wanted to redeem himself. And he did."

  He looked back over his shoulder and saw Dean talking to one of the other agents. He must have figured it was safe to continue because he kept talking.

  "He operated a bar that was a popular spot for business travelers and agents from other countries. There were a lot of paranormals who went in and out of there... a lot of secrets. Mack listened to them for us. He never revealed what he heard unless it was something dangerous. Something that could have hurt people. Then he came to us with it, and Dean and I did something about it."

  I bit my bottom lip.

  "Mack saved thousands of lives with the information he provided us," Colt said. "He was a hero."

  "Someone should tell Natalie that," I said. "She should know."

  "You tell her. Just make sure Dean doesn't know I told you."

  "Doesn't know what?" Dean asked, coming up behind us.

  Colt reddened slightly. "Where Natalie is. Ava was worried about her. Afraid Frank got to her before coming here."

  "Oh, no, Natalie's fine," Dean said. "In fact, I'd say she's better than fine. Mack left that bar of his to her in his will. If she plays her cards right, she could have a gold mine on her hands." He paused. "Well, maybe not a gold mine. But certainly a good little business."

  My eyes widened. "Mack left his bar to Natalie?"

  "Who else was he going to leave it to?" Dean asked, shrugging aside my surprise.

  I looked at Colt and lifted my eyebrows at him. "Did you know about this?"

  He shrugged helplessly. "Mack's lawyer was one of the first people we questioned after his death. He had to tell us who the bar was going to so we could check it out."

  I was annoyed with Colt but happy for Natalie. I only hoped she'd be happy for herself when she heard the news.

  "Now then," Dean said, looking at me. "Where's the necklace?"

  "I don't know."

  Dean clucked his tongue against his teeth. "Don't give me that, I know you have it. Hand it over."

  "I don't have it," I assured him. "I threw it when Frank was coming after me. I have no idea where it went."

  "Do you know what I've done to protect you?" Dean asked. "Who do you think stopped those daggers from killing you that day outside Coffee Cove? You think that was luck?"

  "You mean... you were protecting me that day?"

  "Yes, of course."

  "So you knew that Frank was the killer all along."

  "No. I was just keeping an eye on you and Natalie as best I could. I knew the killer was after you two, but I didn't know who he was. I didn't even see him that day outside the Cove; I only saw the daggers. It was like they came out of nowhere."

  I hesitated. "Thank you," I said. "For saving my life."

  He nodded, acknowledging my thanks. "Now, for the last time. Where's the necklace?"

  I sighed. "I don't know."

  "Well, it must be here somewhere," he snapped. "Which direction did you throw it in?"

  I pointed toward the far back wall and Dean hurried off, gathering up his agents as he went.

  "If he doesn't find that necklace, I'll never hear the end of it," Colt muttered.

  I shrugged. "It must be here somewhere. It couldn't have gotten up and walked off," I said, then looked at Colt. "Could it?"

  He smiled at me. "No, I don't think so."

  "You never know," I told him. "Where did that necklace come from anyway?"

  Colt shook his head. "No idea. So far as we know, it sounds like something that was made by a powerful dark wizard some time in the Middle Ages. Mack told us he found it while walking around downtown Sweetland one day after getting out of school. He had no idea where it had come from."

  "A dark wizard..." I muttered, shuddering. "I can believe it." I looked at him. "Did Mack ever let you or Dean try it?"

  "No," he said. "He was incredibly protective of it. Wouldn't let anyone touch it besides himself."

  "When I had that thing around my neck..." I shivered as my skin broke out in goose pimples at the memory. "Let's just say it wasn't a pleasant experience, even though at the time I thought it was. I think that's part of its power. It convinces you that you need it. More than that, it makes you feel like it's a part of you."

  He nodded like he understood, but I knew he couldn't. Not without ever having worn it.

  Dean stomped back over to us. "It's not there," he said angrily.

  "Well, I don't know. Maybe it got moved during the scuffle. Or maybe my throw was off. I was a terrible softball player in high school. Try checking the rest of the warehouse. I'm sure it's here."

  Dean's face was red and puffy. "If I don't find it, I'm going to hold you personally responsible."

  "No, you won't," I told him, surprised at my own brashness. "That necklace is top-secret. It's not something that anyone should have, even you. If you do find it, then I guess it's up to you what you do with it. Personally, I'd destroy it. But if you can't find it, and you try to hold me responsible for its loss, then I'll make sure the entire witching community knows that COMHA had a mind-reader for two years and used it to spy on people. In fact, just because you say you don't have it now doesn't mean you're telling the truth. I'll make sure people think of that."

  Colt chuckled. Dean's eyes opened in surprise. His face grew three times redder. He turned away from me and stomped back off, barking orders to the rest of his agents.

  "That was gutsy of you," Colt said.

  I shrugged. "I'm bluffing... probably. Someone has to put Dean in his place on occasion though."

  "Come on, I'll take you home."

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  FORTY-TWO

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  Colt stopped his car outside my house and went around to open the door for me. It was a nice night out. The sun was just about to set and for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like I had to look over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming after me.

  "Thanks," I said to Colt. He offered me his hand and when I stepped out of the car, he pulled me into a warm embrace. He kissed me softly on the lips. A sweet, loving kiss.

  "That was nice," I said, almost purring as I nuzzled against his shoulder.

 
"It was," he said. "We should do that more often."

  I nodded. If he'd let me, I felt like I could stay in his arms forever. I knew that wasn't practical, but right now I didn't care much about practical.

  "You know what else you should do more often?" he asked.

  I looked up at him. "What?"

  "Wait for me when you decide to run off and catch a killer."

  I rolled my eyes. "Are you ever going to let me live that down?"

  "Forever is a long time," he said.

  He walked me to the door. As soon as we were beside it, the door flew open and Eleanor, Trixie, and my father all jumped out at us.

  "Thank the witches you're all right!" Eleanor shouted.

  "You could have called us, you know," said my dad.

  "Why don't you ever take us along on these things?" said Trixie.

  Colt and I sighed at the same time. "Sorry," I said, hoping that was enough to satisfy everyone. They took turns hugging me and Colt, only releasing us after Colt promised not to leave this doorstep with me for the rest of the night.

  "We'll be watching you through the windows," my dad said.

  "We'll know if you try to run off somewhere," Eleanor said.

  "We'll see everything you're doing," Trixie said.

  "Okay, you guys are just being creepy now," I told them. "Please go inside and let me say goodnight to Colt. Alone."

  When they were gone, I rolled my eyes at him.

  "I really have to get my own apartment, don't I?"

  "You wouldn't need your own apartment if you'd marry me," he said.

  "I already said I'd marry you," I told him.

  "Yet a date continues to elude us."

  I laughed. "All right, you want to set a date? Let's do it."

  He looked at me, his eyes widening. "Are you serious?"

  I nodded.

  "I'm not really trying to push you into anything, you know. I just like teasing you. I mean, I do want to marry you, of course, but I'm willing to wait as long as it takes. Until you're ready."

  "I'm ready," I told him.

  He hesitated. "You weren't ready yesterday. Or even earlier today. What's changed?"

  I shrugged. "I don't know. We just went through a life-and-death struggle together. That has a way of bringing a couple closer, don't you think?"

  "Yeah... but that's not the first life-and-death struggle we've been through together."

  I smiled at him. "I guess it was finally enough to get through to me, that's all."

  "So, you're not worried about the secrets I have to keep from you anymore?" he asked somewhat skeptical. I didn't exactly blame him.

  "No," I told him, meaning it. "I'm over that. It's part of your job. I love you, that means I have to accept certain things about your job. I don't have to like them, but I have to accept them. So, that's what I'm doing."

  And just for good measure, I kissed him. When I pulled away, he was smiling.

  "How about Valentine's Day?" I asked.

  "Valentine's Day? That's fine with me, but I didn't take you for such a traditional girl."

  I shrugged. "Sometimes traditions are there for a reason. It's the perfect date. It gives us a few months to plan things but not so long that something could go wrong."

  He laughed. "You mean things can't go wrong in short periods of time?"

  "I don't know what I mean," I said. "I'm delirious. It was a long day and that necklace just sapped the energy out of me. I should never have put it on to begin with."

  "If you hadn't, we might never have caught that killer."

  "True. I guess some good did come from wearing it."

  Colt paused a moment and crinkled his brow. "Are you sure you don't know where that necklace is? Dean's never gonna give up looking for it, you know."

  "I know. And no, I don't know where it is. Maybe there was a spell on it similar to the one on the daggers. Maybe if no one wears it, it just disappears."

  Colt sighed and shrugged. "Maybe. All I know is Dean's gonna make us all go through that warehouse every day for the next week looking for it."

  "If I knew where it was, I'd tell you."

  "I know," he said and kissed the top of my head. "I'm gonna take off. Call you tomorrow?"

  "Sure." I nodded and went inside.

  Once in the house, my dad and aunts made me go over every detail of the day's events. They weren't too happy with me for hiding the necklace from them but were glad that it hadn't fallen into the wrong hands.

  "What do you think Dean will do with it if he finds it?" Trixie asked.

  "I think Dean's hands are precisely the wrong hands for something with so much power."

  "I agree," my dad said. "Dean's not a bad guy when he thinks rationally; the problem is that he so infrequently thinks that way."

  "So, whose hands are the right hands for it to be in, then? I mean, if you can't trust the head of COMHA, then who can you trust?" Eleanor asked.

  I shrugged. "I think Mack did a pretty good job of protecting it. It cost him his relationship with Natalie, but in the end, he was basically safeguarding it all these years. I mean, winning a few card games using its power isn't the same as using it to try and take over the world or something, which I'm pretty sure is what Dean would use it for. That's why Mack never let him have it; he just delivered pieces of information to him that could save people's lives."

  We sat around in silence for a minute, contemplating Mack. I'd barely known him, yet over the last couple weeks, I'd come to feel that I knew him better than most people. I'd felt what it was like to wear that necklace, and I understood the obligation to protect it.

  "I'm tired," I told them. "I'll see you all in the morning. If you have any more questions for me, you can ask me then."

  They chuckled and assured me they were done interrogating me.

  Lucy called three times as I was getting ready for bed, and I had to promise to stop by Coffee Cove first thing in the morning to fill her in. Snowball ran in and out of my room, asking me about tuna and welcoming me home. Tootsie and Rocky also came barreling into my room to say good night. When they had each taken a turn licking my face, I shut my door and reached into the front pocket of my jeans.

  The necklace was still there. I sighed, relieved. Part of me had been terrified it would fall out sometime between the time I'd picked it back up in the warehouse when no one was looking, and the time I could safely store it away. I'd decided against throwing it in the ocean, afraid it might wash up onshore and some unsuspecting kid would pick it up.

  I would never put it on again, but I would make sure that no one else could either. I wasn't sure if it could be destroyed, but if I could find a way to do it, I would. Until then, I would make sure that no one else had access to it. Especially not Dean Lampton. I would die to keep him away from this. I wasn't sure anyone else could truly understand the power that it held, aside from Mack, and he was gone.

  For now, I would rest assured that I knew where it was and that it was in good hands—my own. I slipped it into my jewelry case, just another necklace amongst many. Sometime this week, I would figure out a better hiding spot for it.

  Then again, sometimes things were best hidden in plain sight. That's what Mack had done with it. Putting it in with my allergy pills had been brilliant. I wondered if he'd known my allergies would act up and I'd have to look in there.

  I shrugged and turned out the lights, turning my thoughts to Valentine's Day. Colt had asked me how come I was suddenly all right with the secrets he had to keep from me. I hadn't wanted to tell him it was because I had a secret of my own now. It made me feel like we were on equal footing, which was the one thing that had been lacking from our relationship from day one. Now, it wasn't a problem. He had his secrets; I had mine. The world was balanced.

  The necklace buzzed at me from inside my jewelry box. I opened my eyes and glanced at it. It was like the sound a honeybee made, calling to me. I shut my eyes and went to sleep.

  * * *

  Epilogue


  .

  "Are you excited?" I asked Natalie as she surfed our display cases, looking for the perfect items for her party.

  "Of course, I am. I still can't believe Mack left his bar to me."

  She paused and bit her lip. "Sometimes I wish he had told me how he felt. That he still cared for me, I mean." She hesitated before going on. "That letter he sent me before he died... I thought he was just playing on my affection for him—I mean, the affection I used to have for him—to get me to do what he wanted. If I'd known he'd still cared... I'd have helped him in a heartbeat."

  Her eyes were watery. I stepped out from around the counter. It was a slow day and my dad, Eleanor, and Trixie had all ventured out for a late afternoon snack. We had nothing baking in the ovens, so I told them to go ahead and I would man the stations alone for a while.

  "I don't think Mack would blame you for anything," I told her. "He knew he messed things up for you guys a long time ago, and this was his way of making things right."

  She nodded her head and brushed away one tear that had fallen from her eyes. She blinked rapidly then forced a smile back on her face.

  "Bill didn't want me to accept the bar, did you know that? He's jealous even of a dead man." She laughed and I laughed with her, though I wasn't sure how funny it really was.

  Part of me felt bad for Bill, having to compete with a ghost. That couldn't have been easy. No matter what she said, Natalie clearly still cared for Mack and always would. I had no doubt that she loved Bill, too, but Mack had been her first love. I don't think you got over your first love, even when you found a new one.

  An image of Damon flashed through my mind just then. I pushed it aside. Damon and I were finished. We had been for a long time, but I knew that a part of me would always care for him.

  "What do you think about these?" Natalie asked, pointing to a tray of bear claws.

  "Bear claws? After what happened to you, I thought you'd be put off of those forever."