Witch Doggone Killer

by Paula Lester

  Julia handed the binoculars to Aly, who was in the back seat, and replaced the glasses on her face. “Black is flattering,” she said simply. “But since we’re in Red River, I wish we had time to go shopping.” She pouted and crossed her arms. “This is so boring.”

  “We can’t shop.” Aly trained the binoculars on the diner. “We’re helping Willow follow Mike Gentry and solve all her problems.”

  My jaw dropped and I twisted to look at Aly. “All my problems? I only have one problem and that’s solving Arthur Wiggins’ murder, so I don’t go to jail or lose my business. Come on! I’m not the high maintenance friend. We all know that’s Julia.”

  The named friend gave me a cool look. “What problems do I have?”

  “You have an annoying boss, for one. I don’t have that. And your love life is volatile.” I crossed my arms, feeling smug.

  “Delilah Stroves is annoying, but I handle her very well, thank you very much. And my love life is fine. Unlike yours.” She snickered and pulled a tube of lipstick out of her purse.

  “Come on, guys. Let’s not turn on each other.” Aly’s tone was conciliatory. “We’re all on the same team.”

  “Easy for you to say. You have the best love life of all of us.” I pouted. Aly had been in a steady relationship with a nice guy named Todd for a couple of years. He was as gentle and calm as Aly, and they made a lovely couple.

  Aly reached forward to pat my arm. “You’ll find your soulmate too. Don’t worry. Life’s a journey, not a race. Besides, you have a better career than I do. You get to save animals all day while I cut flower stems and arrange them in a vase. So, let’s not compare, okay?” A hint of reproach had entered her tone.

  I held up my hands. “Okay, okay. I’m done.” Movement caught my eye, and I grabbed for the binoculars. “Someone’s coming out of the diner.” I checked through the glasses. “It’s him.”

  The other two straightened and shuffled in their seats, on high alert.

  “Where’s he going?” Aly asked.

  “I can’t tell yet. He’s just standing there.” I twisted the lenses to focus better. Mike stood on the curb outside the diner, hands in his pockets, looking around.

  Red River was a smaller town than Superior Bay and not as touristy, but there were a few more higher-end stores than we had. Plus, shopping at the specialty boutiques in Red River meant you weren’t likely to have the same outfits as everyone else in Superior Bay. That was why Julia loved doing it.

  Aly sighed and slumped back in the seat. “He does a lot of standing around.”

  We’d been following the guy all morning, starting at his house. I was pleasantly surprised to find his address in Aunt Dru’s phone book. That thing was coming in way more handy than I could have imagined.

  So far, Mike had stood in his front yard for a while, kicking at dandelions with the toe of his tennis shoes, gone back in the house and watched TV for half an hour, and then come to the diner for eggs and toast.

  Now he was standing on the sidewalk looking around.

  Aly was right. Mike was boring and so was being an amateur PI.

  “He doesn’t seem very smart, either,” Julia complained. “I mean, he tried to roll up that hose in his yard and almost tied himself up with it. Seems like someone would have to be brighter than that to poison another person.”

  I nodded. Mike definitely seemed to be lacking in the common sense department. “It took him, like, five minutes to get the deadbolt locked when he left his house too.”

  “But he is mean,” Aly mused. “He stole his neighbor’s newspaper.”

  I shook my head. “We don’t know that for sure. It could be that the delivery person threw it in the wrong yard.”

  “Really?” She gave me an amused look. “Then why’d he look around in all directions, sprint across the grass, nearly break his own neck when he tripped, and then race back to his house and throw the paper through the front door like it was a baseball and he was throwing it to home base to get the runner out?”

  “Okay. I admit it seems like he stole it. Fine, so we know Mike is mean and not particularly bright. That’s all we’ve learned so far.”

  “Wait. Look!” Julia pointed.

  I swung the binoculars the direction she indicated. Angelique approached Mike from a side street. “Man! I wish we could hear what they’re talking about.”

  “Isn’t it enough that they’re talking to each other?” Aly suggested. “They’re having a meeting without Jackson around.”

  “Do you think that means they’re in cahoots?”

  Julia gave me the side-eye. “Cahoots? What are you—seventy years old? Who says cahoots?”

  I shrugged. “People on mystery shows. I’m trying to channel my inner sleuth.”

  She cocked her head and appeared to be mulling that over. “So, you’re saying you need to talk the talk so you can walk the walk?” A giant smile spread over her pixie-like face. “I like that.”

  “Couldn’t hurt,” I said. “I mean, I have to use medical terms when I’m being a vet, so I figured I need some detective terms to poke around in a murder investigation.”

  “Could you find some current investigator terms? I think cahoots is dead.” Julia’s tone made it sound like she’d reached a final decision.

  “Would you two cool it? They’re going somewhere,” Aly said from the back seat, as always the voice of reason.

  I handed her the binoculars and eased the car forward.

  It turned out it’s hard to follow people who are walking when you’re in a car. I felt ridiculous inching along, parking, waiting, and inching again. The whole time, Mike and Angelique talked, and I wished I could hear them. I considered opening my window and trying a spell to enhance my hearing. It was something I should be able to do with my magic—Aunt Dru was always offering to teach me better control. But I wasn’t positive I could do it and didn’t want to deal with my friends giving me a hard time about letting the cool air conditioning out.

  When our quarry disappeared into Mike’s house, we were stymied.

  “What do we do?” Julia craned her neck. “Should we sneak around the house and see if we can find an open window or something?

  “That seems a lot like trespassing,” Aly said. “Following people in public areas and watching what they do and who they talk to is one thing but prowling around on private property and listening into windows seems . . . over the line.”

  Julia glanced at her cell phone’s screen. “I hate to break up this amazingly fun and completely non-productive trip, but I have to get to work. Delilah wants me to get started on the dog-shaped cookies for show week this afternoon.” She gave me an apologetic look.

  “No problem. Just be sure to save me a couple of those cookies.” I pulled away from the curb with one last glance at the house. “Maybe Angelique and Mike were partners in killing Arthur,” I said slowly. “I remember she was pretty good at chemistry back in high school. She’s smarter than him, anyway.”

  “Could be.” Aly sounded thoughtful. “Maybe we should follow her next.”

  “She’s in Red River right now,” I protested. “Let’s drop Julia off and then figure out what to do next. I’m thinking maybe dig into what Korbin’s up to a little more. That excuse about his grandmother going into a home just keeps bouncing around my head as not being entirely truthful.”

  Aly nodded and settled into the seat.

  When we got to Stroves’ Bakery, we all went inside. Aly needed to use the bathroom, and I wanted to score an afternoon cup of java. Delilah was behind the counter, looking sour. Julia greeted her boss brightly, but the woman grunted in return. “You’re almost late.”

  “Good thing almost isn’t important when it comes to lateness.” Julia used a sing-songy voice that made Delilah roll her eyes.

  Sometimes I wondered how Julia kept her job.

  “At least you’re here now. I need to get going.” Delilah grabbed a purse from under the counter and then seemed to realize I was there. She pinned
me with her slightly scary gaze. “You’re judging this year, I heard.”

  When it came to the dog show in Superior Bay, everyone knew what you were talking about without spelling it out with things like proper nouns. “Looks like it,” I confirmed.

  She nodded. “Well. Make sure you follow the rules.” She spun around and disappeared into the kitchen without another word.

  Aly had returned from the bathroom to stand beside me. “She’s always such a bundle of politeness.”

  Julia waved a hand. “Don’t mind her. It’s dog show season. She’s always crabbier around this time.”

  “Her poodle line is so awesome,” I said, heading to the industrial-size coffee pot to fill a to-go cup. “Sadie is the best of the lot, I think.”

  Julia nodded. “Delilah’s hoping Sadie will finally be the one to win. After nineteen years in the show, it would be a nice thing for her.” She put on a pink apron with purple, white, and neon green polka dots. “Heaven knows she’s worked hard enough on it. Well, I’m off to bake the cookies. What are you two going to do now?”

  I exchanged a glance with Aly. “Find Korbin, I guess.”

  “I don’t think that will be tough.” Aly pointed outside.

  Following her gesture, I caught sight of my technician across the street, moving swiftly down the sidewalk.

  With quick goodbyes to our friend and return promises of dog-shaped cookies to taste later, Aly and I hurried outside.

  Korbin had disappeared around a corner, heading toward the marina. Aly and I power-walked in that direction, me carrying the coffee tightly a foot away from my body, focusing on not letting it spray out the top and all over me. Been there, done that.

  When we got to the corner Korbin had rounded, we slowed down.

  Aly stuck out her neck to see the sidewalk beyond. “He just went around the next corner,” she reported, moving forward again.

  We made it about halfway scurrying down the block when a car rolled up on the street beside us. I glanced over and groaned. Crosby, driving a black police car, opened the passenger window and leaned over to look at us. “What’re you ladies up to?”

  Aly and I exchanged a glance, and I shrugged. “Nothing. Just taking a walk.”

  He parked the car, got out, and joined us on the sidewalk. Resting a hand on the butt of the holstered pistol in his belt, he said, “You two are walking faster than I’ve ever seen either of you move since we were kids and we TP’d Crandall Watson’s house. I’ll ask you again. What are you up to?”

  Aly seemed to shrink back. She probably knew he had our number.

  I jutted out my chin, determined to hold the line. “We’re just going to look at the boats in the harbor. It’s a nice day.”

  He didn’t answer but stared directly into my eyes until I looked away.

  “Fine. We’re following a suspect in Arthur’s murder.”

  Crosby ran a hand through his sandy-blond hair. “Oh, come on! What are you guys trying to do to me? Willow, we talked about this. You’re going to get yourself in deeper than you intended.”

  Aly spoke up. “How’s the department doing on the murder investigation, Cros?”

  His eyes slid to her face. He pursed his lips and then blew out a burst of air. “Not good,” he mumbled.

  Aly gave him a sympathetic look tinged with smugness. We all knew each other well enough that she didn’t actually have to say, “See?”

  He shook his head. “That doesn’t mean you two should go off and nose around in this. We’ll get it. Just leave it to the professionals, please.” He sounded desperate for us to adhere.

  “You know, Willow has a really good suspect list,” Aly said. “She’s given this whole thing a ton of consideration, and I bet you’d be surprised at what she’s come up with.”

  He opened his mouth to respond but then closed it. A crack seemed to appear in his stubborn refusal to let me help investigate. Deciding it was now or never—the best time to capitalize on that crack and expand it into a crater, I jumped in and quickly went over everything I knew so far and where my line of thought was on the biggest suspects.

  When I was finished, Crosby rocked back on his heels. After a moment, he sighed. “Okay, that’s actually pretty sound. I hadn’t thought of some of those angles. Especially the show judge one.” He tapped the gun and considered us for a minute.

  I sipped my coffee to give him time to think. Stroves’ Bakery’s coffee was the best—rich and hot. I had to stifle a moan of happiness.

  Finally, Crosby said, “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll all work on this as a team. You two . . . and Julia because I can only assume she’s in on this too . . . are not to follow or question anyone without clearing it with me first. We’ll work together to clear Willow’s name. Hopefully before the dog show, when things get really crazy around here.” Before Aly or I could say anything, he held up a finger. “Keep this to yourselves. If the Chief finds out I’m letting laypersons investigate a murder case, I’ll lose my job.” He glanced toward the marina “Leave Korbin be for now. I’m on a shift. We’ll regroup and start tomorrow.”

  When he turned his back, heading toward the squad car, Aly and I did silent happy dances.

  “I saw that.” He didn’t glance back, and I highly doubted he’d seen our dances. More likely, he just knew us well enough to know we were doing them. “Knock it off,” he growled. “This is serious business.” He got into the car and drove away without offering us a ride.

  Chapter 7

  Sunday mornings meant pancakes and bacon at our farm. I gathered eggs from the chicken coop, and Aunt Dru did the cooking honors. We had real maple syrup from the farm up the road.

  Crosby arrived in time to be the clean-up crew. He devoured a short stack and the last four pieces of crispy bacon in three minutes flat. I made a second pot of hot coffee to fill us each a to-go mug before we headed out. Aunt Dru stood on the porch and waved us off while Juliet sat at her feet.

  “Alyson and Julia are going to work the Angelique angle today, and I thought we’d focus on Korbin,” I said.

  Crosby nodded and steered around a big pothole. He glanced at me for a second before returning his gaze to the road. “Remind me why we’re suspicious of Korbin again? As far as I can tell, there’s nothing that should make him a suspect.”

  A vision of Ella Bean telling me Korbin smelled scared crossed my mind. I sipped my coffee to buy time. Of course, there was no way I could tell Crosby about that. I’d never told anyone I was a witch. Not since I’d heard the first squirrel talk to me in the forest when I was eight years old. I’d run home that day and cornered Sam, the barn cat, demanding for him to say something, so I could prove to myself I hadn’t imagined the whole squirrel thing.

  When I was done with the short conversation with Sam—he refused to talk about anything other than the mouse who’d been taunting him all day—I’d turned around to find Aunt Dru leaning on the doorframe, a tiny smile on her lips. We’d sat on the porch swing, where she told me I was a witch and she was too.

  My aunt had never told me not to tell people I had special abilities. It was just something I’d done intuitively. I guess, when you’re eight, you already understand how cruel people can be to those who are different from them.

  Of course, I never thought Crosby—or Alyson or Julia—would be mean to me. We were the four musketeers. But deep down, I was afraid they wouldn’t be my friends anymore if they knew my secret. Maybe they’d be scared of me. Or jealous.

  I shrugged and brought my mind back to Crosby’s question about Korbin. “He’s just been acting really strange. Not like his normal self at all. He was late to work the other day and had some thin excuse. Then he asked for time off to move his grandmother into a nursing home. But I just get the feeling he isn’t telling me the whole story. Plus, I overheard him talking to Angelique about Arthur.”

  Crosby didn’t answer, but he wore a thoughtful expression. He slowed the pick-up truck a bit as we cruised past the farmhouse where Ko
rbin and his grandmother lived. There were no cars in the driveway. On the porch, an old basset hound lifted his saggy, tired head to watch us go by, and I wished Crosby wasn’t with me. I’d pull in and talk to Rex for a minute. Find out for sure whether Ethel was moving into a home. But Crosby was with me, and I couldn’t think of an excuse to have him pull into Korbin’s driveway. Besides, how would I get a minute alone with the dog even if we did stop?

  Crosby stepped on the gas, and we continued into Superior Bay’s downtown, driving up and down the sleepy Sunday streets. I kept an eye out for Korbin as I sipped coffee.

  “So, how’s your new guy working out?”

  I glanced at Crosby. “What new guy?”

  He didn’t make eye contact with me but stared out the windshield as he made a right turn onto another block. “Your new vet. Miller.”

  Jeremy had worked for me for just under a year—I hardly considered him new. “He’s doing fine. He’s a good vet, and the clients seem to like him well enough. He gets along with my staff too.” I had no idea what my friend was getting at. It seemed an odd topic of conversation.

  Crosby chewed the corner of his lip for a second, as though he were trying to decide whether to say something else. The next words came out in a rush. “I heard a rumor you two were getting along . . . well. Maybe better than employers and employees usually do.”

  My neck snapped around as though it had its own mind, and I stared at Crosby with wide eyes. Was he suggesting what I thought he was? That Jeremy and I were in a relationship? That wasn’t true at all. I mean, I did think Jeremy was handsome. My heart tended to become a traitor and beat too hard when Jeremy came into the office in the morning. And once in a while, I had a weird daydream about dating him. But nothing had ever happened between us. “Our relationship is completely professional,” I said between clenched teeth. “What rumor are you talking about?”

  He shrugged. “Dory Weston told MarySue at the station that you and Jeremy are an item.” Crosby finally glanced at me. There was a little color in his cheeks that wasn’t usually there. “I just wondered if it was true, that’s all.”