As Meg came out of her stupor, she realized that oddly enough, Penelope wasn’t waking her up for food, but instead it was her phone ringing.
“Who would call me at this hour?” Meg asked.
“I don’t know, but either answer it or turn off your phone. I’m trying to sleep here.”
Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Meg would have pointed out the irony of how annoyed her cat was at being rousted so early, but she knew that would be completely lost on Penelope.
More importantly, Meg was both irked and flummoxed by the fact that she was getting a call at such an early hour. She had no idea what this could be about. Still, her gut was telling her to pick up the call. After all, who would ever disturb someone at such an early hour unless it was an emergency?
As she grabbed her phone and looked at the caller ID on the screen, a chill came to her. It was Connor. Her mind began racing. Was something wrong? Was trouble afoot?
Meg took the call and prayed for the best. “Connor?”
“I’m sorry to bother you at this hour, but it’s important,” Connor replied, over the phone.
“What is it? Is everything all right?”
“No.”
“What’s the matter?”
“My men found Stacey Watterson.”
Meg was confused. “Isn’t that a good thing? Now we can question her some more.”
“That’s going to be really hard to do,” he replied.
“Why?”
“Stacey’s dead.”
***
Meg wasn’t prepared for that. What a way to start off the morning. Another day, another murder. She couldn’t believe it. This was Enchanted Bay, not the big, bad city. What was happening to her picture-perfect hometown?
Pondering the sudden and shocking events in the safety of her birthplace would have to wait until another time. Right now, this case needed solving, and fast. Preferably, before the body count got any higher.
That was easier said than done, considering the sun had yet to wake up. Meg needed a jolt to shake off her grogginess. She cast an energy spell, which was the equivalent of drinking a quadruple espresso. Within a few minutes, she was buzzing.
As she drove over to the new crime scene, she went over a slew of questions in her head. Who would want both Walter Newman and Stacey Watterson dead? Who had no alibi for both of the previous evenings? Were the murders actually connected, or perpetrated by two different killers?
She was chomping at the bit to get a look at that scene. Knowing the area would be crawling with police, Meg cast an additional spell ahead of time that gave her eagle-eyed vision. That way, she’d have the benefit of magic on her side without the police knowing it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
A few minutes later, Meg arrived on the scene. By then, it was approaching six o’clock and the sun was just beginning to rise. There were already a number of police cars already at Overlook Point when she got there. Overlook Point was a scenic vista on the outskirts of town that also doubled as the highest point within city limits. By day, it offered stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. At night, it was deserted.
That’s most likely why her killer decided to murder her here. Under the cover of night, not only was it off the beaten path, but it had no lighting. For that reason, it was technically off-limits to the public after sunset, but that hadn’t stopped Stacey from coming here.
The question was, what brought her all the way out here? As a long term resident, she knew this area was off limits to the public at this hour. The only logical explanation was that the killer had drawn her here.
As Meg parked, she saw that the forensics team was going through Stacey’s car, hoping to find anything useful they could. Meg looked around for Connor, knowing he’d have the inside scoop.
When she spotted him, she called out. “Connor.”
The detective turned to her. “Meg, there you are.”
Meg was still in disbelief. “Can you believe this? Two murders in two days.”
He gritted his teeth. “Don’t remind me. This is a bad flashback to my big city cop days.”
“Except, someone should remind the universe that you aren’t in San Francisco anymore. You can tell your big city crime that it isn’t welcome around here.”
“Trust me, I’ve been trying to do just that. It’s not getting the message.”
Meg sighed, realizing her ranting was getting her nowhere. It was time to focus her attention back on the case. “So, what happened?”
Connor looked back at Stacey Patterson’s body on the asphalt. She was face down on the ground beside her car with a big gash on the back of her head. Beside the body on the pavement was a bloody crowbar.
“Stacey was killed by a blow to the back of the head from this crowbar,” Connor replied.
“Time of death?” Meg asked.
“The coroner is placing it between ten and eleven.”
Meg looked around at the scene. “She’s been dead a while then. Who found the body?”
“An early morning hiker came up here to snap a few pictures of the sunrise,” Connor replied.
“Anyone connected with the case?”
He shook his head. “Just some Canadian tourist.”
Meg’s eyebrows raised. “This is quite a different view than they expected; I’ll bet.”
“Yeah, it’s the kind of sight that can ruin a vacation.”
“Back to Stacey. It’s odd that she was even up here in the middle of the night.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing.”
“Did you check her cell phone to see if any of the other suspects called her to draw her up here?”
“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that.”
Meg was confused. “Why not?”
“Because her cell phone is missing,” Connor revealed.
“Missing, or it was taken by the killer?”
“It was most likely the latter. Although, all we really know right now is that her phone is gone.”
Meg tried to piece together what had occurred. “So, our best theory is that the killer drew her up here in the middle of the night knowing no one would be around, they have a brief conversation, and then the killer murders her, and drives off taking her cell phone.”
“That sounds logical.”
“Has your team pulled any prints off the crowbar?”
Connor shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Of course not. That would be too easy. I guess the question is, who had reason to want both Walter Newman and Stacey Patterson dead?”
“And doesn’t happen to have an alibi for each of the last two evenings?” he added.
“Right.”
Just then, Meg and Connor got a much-needed break.
Joe Piscatelli, a wiry, bespectacled member of Connor’s forensics team, called out to him from across the way.
“Detective.”
Connor turned and replied. “Yes.”
“You’re going to want to see this,” Joe continued.
“What is it?” Connor asked.
Joe pointed towards the asphalt as Connor and Meg rushed over.
When Connor and Meg reached Joe, they looked down at a find that could blow this case wide open. A Discount Dachshund Grocery Store name tag was on the pavement. Even more fascinating was the name on the tag.
Meg’s eyes opened wide. “Does that say what I think it does?”
Connor nodded. “Owen Anderson.”
Meg focused on the name tag again to be sure. There was no doubt that it was Owen Anderson’s name tag.
From there, Meg and Connor had drastically different reactions. Meg looked down at the name tag curiously, slowly thinking things over. Connor had a knee jerk reaction, springing into action with reckless abandon.
“Good find, Joe. This is just what we’ve been looking for,” Connor said.
Connor then began walking away. He stopped when he saw that Meg wasn’t beside him. As he turned back around, he was surprised
to see Meg still stationary, deep in thought.
“Meg, what are you doing? This case is in the bag. We have to go talk to Owen.”
She pulled her head out of the clouds and stopped him. “Not so fast.”
Connor squinted. “What are you talking about? We just found Owen Andersons name tag at the scene. I’m going to have a squad car bolt to his house and hold him there until we can get over there and place him under arrest.”
Meg cautioned him again. “Don’t be hasty.”
“Meg, what’s going on with you? The case is closed. We have to act now before we risk letting him getting away.”
She disagreed. “I meant, don’t be hasty in arresting Owen because he didn’t do this.”
He stopped dead in his tracks, utterly confused. “What are you talking about?”
Meg made sure her opinion was perfectly clear. “Owen isn’t the killer.”
“How do you know that?”
“My gut instinct is telling me so.”
He wasn’t buying it. “You can have your instinct. I have hard evidence.”
Meg looked back at the name tag again. “No. You’re wrong.”
The detective indulged her briefly. “Fine. If Owen didn’t do this, then who did?”
The answer was at the tip of her tongue. From the moment she saw the name tag, it didn’t felt right. It wasn’t just that her gut was telling her that something was terribly wrong with this situation, she just couldn’t place what it was. She knew if she thought it over long enough that the answer would come to her.
Then, finally, everything clicked. The cobwebs that had taken up residence in her brain cleared out in an instant as she had a lightbulb moment.
A smile came to her face.
Connor knew something was up; he just didn’t know what it was. “Meg, do you have something?”
“You bet I do.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve figured it out,” she declared.
“You have?” he replied.
Meg nodded. “I know who really killed Walter Newman and Stacey Watterson.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Meg and Connor headed over to the Discount Dachshund Grocery Store and confronted Noah O’Leary in his office.
“You almost had me fooled,” Meg said.
Noah looked up from the mountain of papers on his desk, completely annoyed to see Meg and the detective there.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing. I’m trying to run a business here. You can’t just barge into my office like this,” he snapped.
“Sure we can, especially since we know the truth,” Meg continued.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Noah replied.
“Stacey Watterson was murdered last night,” Meg revealed.
Noah feigned remorse. “That’s awful. I didn’t have anything to do with it, though.”
“We don’t believe you,” Connor replied.
“I don’t care if you believe me. All I care about is you getting out of my office. I have a lot of paperwork to do,” Noah said.
Meg pressed on. “A Discount Dachshund name tag was found at the scene of the crime.”
Noah stopped, hesitated, and then gave them a forced smile. He pointed to the name tag he was wearing. “You couldn’t have found my name tag. Mine is right here.”
“Actually, the name tag belonged to Owen Anderson,” Meg said.
“So, what are you getting on my case for? Go talk to Owen,” Noah replied.
“Not so fast. Noah, I know you planted the name tag at the scene,” Meg said.
Noah scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not. After Walter’s murder, I was initially puzzled by your apparent lack of motive. After all, you had just gotten a promotion. Then, we found out Stacey Watterson was your ex-girlfriend. Suddenly, you had a killer motive. Walter stole your girlfriend, the love of your life, and you couldn’t let him get away with that,” Meg explained.
“Nice try. Except, I already told you, I was the one who broke up with Stacey,” Noah said.
“Yes, Owen confirmed that when we talked to him a few minutes ago. He also said the reason you broke up with Stacey was because you found out she’d fallen for Walter. Even more, Owen told us you haven’t stopped talking about Stacey ever since the breakup,” Meg revealed.
Noah narrowed his eyes. “That no-good punk ratting me out.”
“Killing Walter wasn’t enough, though. Stacey was the one who really broke your heart. I’ll bet you figured with Walter gone; you’d have a chance of getting Stacey back. Only, I’ll bet she rejected you, which led you to kill her as well,” Meg explained.
“That’s an interesting theory, but you have no proof of any of this,” Noah said.
“You’re wrong again. When Connor had questioned Owen yesterday, he wasn’t wearing his name tag either time. When we talked to him again this morning before we came to see you, he told us it was because he’d forgotten his name tag at home. Yet, an Owen Anderson name tag was found at the scene. That’s because you planted it there. Only you had access to a stack of blank name tags and a label maker. You’re the one who killed Stacey and then left the newly created name tag at the scene in an attempt to frame your biggest business rival. Isn’t that right?” Meg asked.
As Noah stared Meg and Connor down, he knew he was done for. There was no escape. He’d been caught. Faced with that reality, Noah had an emotional meltdown.
“I gave everything I had to Walter and this company, and how did he repay me? By stealing the love of my life. At first, I thought he gave me this promotion out of pity. Then, I realized he’d made me manager of the soon-to-be-opened store because it would mean I’d be working across town instead of pinning for Stacey here. As for Stacey, the woman broke my heart. I gave her all my love, and she crushed my soul. Even after she found out about Walter’s death, she was still hung up on him. She told me to just accept the fact that our relationship was over and that we’d never be getting back together, but I couldn’t do that, so I killed her too. Then, to cover my tracks, I printed up a name tag to leave at the scene to frame Owen. It was the perfect plan,” Noah said.
“Not perfect enough. Now you’ll get to spend the rest of your life behind bars thinking about where it all went wrong,” Meg said.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Two police deputies hauled Noah away to their squad car. That left Meg and Connor with a moment alone.
It had been a trying couple of days for Meg. With all the twists in the case, she’d need some time to untie the knots in her head. For now, a sigh of relief was in order.
Connor was quick to compliment Meg on solving the case, hoping that might cheer her up.
“Good job,” he said.
She took a deep breath. “Exhausting job is more like it. No wonder you spend so much of your time craving a sweet snack like a donut.”
“A donut?” He snickered. “Who can stop at just one?”
She laughed. “You know you’re just proving my point now, don’t you?”
“To be fair, I liked donuts well before I became a detective.”
Meg licked her lips. “All this talk about snacks is making me hungry.”
“I’ll tell you what, as a congratulations for such a job well done, what would you say to a nice dinner out?”
“Connor, I wouldn’t discount the work you did on this case. At the same time, only fools turn down free dinners.”
“You’re certainly not a fool. Although, sometimes you’re just a little too humble. Give yourself credit, you’re the one who cracked this sucker.”
She couldn’t help it. Humility came naturally to Meg. She’d been brought up that way. If that wasn’t enough, trying to keep her witch powers a secret her entire life had given her plenty of practice shying away from attention.
“Trust me, solving this case was a true team effort, right down to my mom and cat.”
Meg immediately regretted saying the word cat th
e moment it came out of her mouth. She wished she could take it back. There was a chance Connor would let that slide.
Unfortunately, he didn’t.
“Cat?” he replied.
There were times when keeping her family’s secrets seemed like more of a pain than it was worth. This was one of them. Then again, if she told her boyfriend that Penelope could talk, it would be more than just letting the cat out of the bag. Connor might totally flip.
Either way, Meg had to do some damage control. It was time to put her gift of gab to serious use.
“Yeah. If it wasn’t for Penelope waking me up so early, I wouldn’t have stumbled upon the body in the first place.”
Thankfully, that appeared to be a sufficient enough explanation for Connor. “Right.”
Meg tried to quickly change the subject.
Connor wouldn’t let her quite yet. He wanted to get a follow up in first. “Who knew a little cattitude wasn’t so bad after all?”
She laughed. “Yeah, it was certainly news to me.” Meg finally got to switch gears. “Anyway, I’m glad this case is all wrapped up.”
“For you, maybe. I have an awful date with some nasty paperwork ahead of me.”
“Ah, to the victor goes the spoils…of paperwork,” she deadpanned.
“On the bright side, I’ll be able to put this case behind me for good in a few hours.”
Connor’s comment was meant to make the best of the situation.
Instead, it elicited a much different reaction from Meg. Connor’s words triggered a faraway look in her eyes and a deadly serious expression on her face as she thought about her deceased neighbor. She’d been able to shelve her emotions during the investigation, but now she found herself unable to keep them from bubbling up to the surface.
The quiet in the conversation did not go unnoticed by Connor. He glanced at Meg and saw how upset she was.
“What’s the matter?” Connor asked.
“I guess it all just hit me.”
“Walter’s death?”
She corrected him. “His murder. And, the fact that he was killed over love gone wrong. Two days ago, he was right here, and now, he’s gone forever. Even more, he’s not alone. Because of love gone astray, two people are dead. It’s just not right.”
Witch Cozy Mystery Nine Book Set Page 40
