Familiar Spirits (Twilight Hollow Witchy Cozy Mysteries Book 1)

by Sara Christene

  I pursed my lips, trying to think of a good excuse.

  “Sophie will know if you lie,” Francis warned. “She can always tell.”

  Well that was news to me. I looked to Sophie, who was blushing furiously.

  “It’s true,” Richie said, “so you better just tell us. Maybe we can help.”

  I glanced around the mostly empty cafe. The nearest customer was an elderly man browsing the used books. He wasn’t close enough to hear us.

  I sighed, turning back to the group. “Alright, but none of you breathe a word of this to anyone. I’m only telling you because I’m pretty sure the murderer is about to be arrested.”

  Sophie’s hand froze mid-motion petting Spooky. “Really?”

  “Really.” I went on to tell them details I didn’t think would be dangerous. I glossed over a lot, just in case we were wrong and Mary wasn’t the murderer. I also left out her identity.

  “Wow, trying to set up the brother,” Richie commented. “You know, my cousin lives next to Desmond. I’ve met him a few times. He’s a nice guy.”

  I leaned forward in my seat. “You didn’t ever happen to see a woman going over there, did you? Maybe one with dark hair?”

  He thought about it. “I did see someone one time, but I only saw her from behind. She was blonde though.”

  “Why is that important?” Elmer asked.

  I almost didn’t hear him. A blonde woman had gone to visit Desmond. Could it be . . . I stood. “I’ll have to explain later. I need to check something out.”

  “You be careful, Addy,” Francis lectured.

  I gave her a little salute. “Always am.”

  Spooky hopped off Sophie’s lap as I put my chair back in place, then headed toward Evie.

  She wiped down the counter, giving me a knowing look. “You have one more hour before I have to pick up Sedona.”

  I grinned. She knew me too well. “I’ll try to be quick, but if I’m not back in time just go ahead and close up.”

  “Will do, boss, as long as you let me know which handsome man you’re rushing off to meet.”

  I rolled my eyes, then scooped Spooky up and headed out the door. I only knew of one blonde who might be visiting Desmond, and I intended to find out why.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The sky was heavy with rain as I pulled up to Sasha’s house. During my walk home to pick up the car, then my drive to Sasha’s, I had halfway talked myself out of my suspicions. Desmond was her brother-in-law, it wasn’t that weird that she was visiting him, if it was even her.

  I looked to Spooky sitting in the passenger seat. “What do you think, bad idea?”

  “Meow?”

  With a sigh I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Doesn’t hurt to ask, I guess,” I muttered.

  Spooky hopped out of the car after me and we both walked up the driveway, passing Sasha’s little sedan. I was a surprised she hadn’t gone back to work yet, or maybe she had employees to run the boutique for her.

  I knocked, then waited.

  Then I waited some more.

  I knocked one more time, no longer expecting an answer. After a few more moments of silence, I walked over to the nearest window and peered inside, but the drapes were drawn. All I could see were shadows.

  I smell blood, a voice whispered in my mind.

  I looked down at Spooky, my heart suddenly thundering in my chest. “Are you sure?” I whispered.

  Get inside.

  I was glad I didn’t sense any dark magic, or I might not have been brave enough to go in alone. If Spooky smelled blood, Sasha might be hurt, and she might need my help.

  I ran back to the front door and tried the knob, but it was locked, then I ran around back, hopping the small picket fence. Sasha’s freshly mowed yard was as clean as her house, but I only caught a brief glimpse of it as I ran toward the back door. My breath whooshed out as someone in a black hoodie ran out right in front of me. He seemed male, but that was all I could tell with his hood pulled up as he kept running.

  I almost gave chase, but Spooky warned, Get inside. The person fleeing the scene had already jumped the back fence by the time I made my decision and ran toward the open back door. I stepped inside, looking around. I was in her laundry room. There was another closed door leading inside.

  I heard Spooky’s claws on the linoleum behind me as I went to the next door. I grabbed a hammer from the nearby shelf just in case, then slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

  The first thing I spotted was Sasha’s blonde hair on the carpet, just visible around the corner of the couch. Throwing caution to the wind, I ran and knelt beside her. I couldn’t tell if she was asleep or dead, but there was a bleeding wound by her hairline surrounded by a swollen purple bruise.

  “Crap,” I muttered, pulling my phone out of my pocket with one hand while checking her pulse with the other.

  I didn’t realize until the time Logan answered that I should have called 911, but he was the first person I had thought to contact.

  “Sasha was attacked,” I said, interrupting him asking me what was wrong. “I’m at her house now. She has a head wound, but she’s still breathing.”

  “I’m on my way now, I’ll call ambulance. Hang tight.”

  I glanced around the quiet house, trusting Spooky to warn me if anyone was still around. “I’ll be here, just hurry.”

  I hung up the phone, then looked down at Sasha, wondering who would want to hurt her. The person I’d seen fleeing was of moderate height, and on second thought, maybe it had been a tall woman rather than a short man. I didn’t get a good enough look to tell.

  All I knew was that I had interrupted what that person was doing. If I hadn’t knocked on Sasha’s door, would they have killed her?

  I still didn’t sense any dark magic, which meant her attacker was a mundane. I held Sasha’s limp hand and waited. I guessed I could cross her back off the suspect list, because I was pretty sure Neil's murderer had just gotten away.

  It was pouring rain by the time Logan arrived, just ahead of the paramedics. I’d had the wherewithal to unlock the front door for him, and he came bursting in, trailed by a gust of icy air and raindrops. He pulled me aside while two female paramedics worked on Sasha.

  Water dripped off his hair as he leaned in close. “What happened, Addy? Why are you here?”

  I stared at the back of the nearest paramedic. “I just came to ask her a question, but no one was answering even though her car is here. I got worried and went around the back and saw someone running away.”

  Spooky came up and sat near us on the carpet. I almost debated telling Logan my cat had smelled the blood. I mean, he believed I was a witch, he might believe my cat could speak to me.

  The moment passed as the paramedics lifted Sasha up on a stretcher and took her outside.

  “Will she be alright?” I asked, though Logan didn’t have a way of knowing any more than I did.

  I heard a car door shut outside, then two young male officers came into the house.

  Logan pressed a hand to the small of my back. “Take your cat and wait in your car, Addy. I’ll be right out.”

  I grabbed Spooky and left Logan to talk with the officers, glad he’d given me an excuse to escape. For some reason, finding Sasha like that had shaken me more than when I found Neil’s body. Probably due to the killer fleeing the scene right in front of me.

  The ambulance took off as I ran through the rain, clutching the cat to my chest. I threw the door open and we both dove inside, bringing a deluge of water with us.

  Spooky and I waited in my car until the windows fogged up. I turned as Logan’s distorted form approached the passenger’s side. He opened the door, letting in cold air and moisture. Spooky hopped into my lap to make room for him to sit in the passenger seat.

  Logan wiped dripping water from his face as he shut the door. His suit was soaked through. “Tell me everything that happened, from the beginning.”

  I repeated the story, cursing myself for not getting a better lo
ok at the person running away. If I would’ve reacted more quickly, the case might have been solved.

  Logan touched my hand. “You did the right thing. This person already killed once, and just tried to kill again. You would have had no business trying to apprehend them.”

  I stared out into the rain. “Whoever it was, it wasn’t Mary. This person was too tall.”

  He took his hand back. “I know, I was with Mary when you called. She has an alibi for Neil’s murder. I had assumed it wouldn’t hold up, but now I’m not so sure.”

  I shook my head, absentmindedly petting Spooky’s wet fur. “None of this makes any sense. Why hurt Sasha?”

  “Considering the killer waited so long, I would guess Sasha had figured out who it was. Maybe she confronted them.”

  I whipped my eyes to him. “Do you think when she wakes up she can tell us who it is?”

  He frowned. “If she wakes up, Addy. I’ll call the hospital to check in on her condition as soon as I make sure you’re home safe.”

  I shook my head. “I need to get back to the cafe.”

  “Could you please just listen to me for once?” he huffed. “You could have been killed today. And don’t forget someone already tried to run us over. If they think you recognized them, they might come after you.”

  My stomach gave a nervous flip. I hadn’t thought of that. “You’re right, but I can’t go home. By now both of my sisters will be there. If there’s a killer after me, I can’t endanger them.”

  “You’re all . . . witches. Won’t you be safer together?”

  I considered his words. My sisters were formidable witches, but magic wouldn’t stop a bullet, at least not the type of magic we practiced. “I can’t go there. I won’t put them in danger.”

  “Is there somewhere else you can go? Somewhere no one would expect you to be?”

  I shivered, and not just from my soaking wet hair and clothes. There was somewhere no one would look for me. It had been months since I had last visited my mom, and she was remote. Few people in town even knew where she lived.

  “I know a place. I’ll be safe there.”

  He reached for the door handle. “Good, go there, and don’t tell anyone where you are. I’ll call you when I know more about Sasha.”

  “Hey Logan?” I said before he could step out.

  He froze with the door halfway open.

  “Thanks. I know in any other situation if someone were found with a hammer next to an unconscious woman, they would at least be taken in for questioning. Thanks for believing me.”

  He gave me a tight-lipped smile. “Adelaide, there are a lot of things about you that are hard to believe, you not being a murderer isn’t one of them.” He stepped out into the rain, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  And my dread.

  I looked down at Spooky. “Over the river and through the woods we go, my friend. I hope you’re ready, because I’m sure not.”

  He didn’t have to speak into my mind for me to read the look in his eyes.

  “Yeah, I know,” I muttered. “Stop being a coward.”

  I started my car and pulled away from the street, heading east with my windshield wipers working furiously. Perfect weather for heading into the spooky forest . . . if you were in a horror movie.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I called Luna on the way and told her what happened, next I called Evie and asked her if she could close up the cafe. Once those two things were done, I called my mom and told her I was coming.

  “You should have been out here days ago,” she lectured as my car slid on the muddy road.

  I gripped the steering wheel white-knuckled with my free hand, making it through the puddle. I slowed and pulled off to the side of the road, barely able to see the trees through the pouring rain. “I may need you to come pick me up, I don’t think my car can make it through the mud. I’m at the end of your road.”

  “Lock your doors and hang tight, dear,” she said, her voice quickly transitioning from lecturing to caring mother.

  “Thanks, mom.” I hung up, lowering my phone as I looked out through the rain.

  The rain slowed down as I waited, allowing a thick mist to seep up around the trunks of the redwoods. Spooky stood with his paws braced against the door, looking out at the mist.

  Goosebumps prickled up my arms beneath the sleeves of my damp coat. I glanced around, suddenly feeling uneasy with my headlights cutting across the trees. Not a single car drove in either direction on the road.

  Spooky hopped in my lap just as I felt the dark magic coming near.

  I slammed my hand down on the automatic lock switch, for what good it would do, and hunkered down in my seat, trying to look out all the windows at once. The narrow road to my mom’s was nearly five miles long, it would take her a while to reach me with the mud. I was on my own.

  The mist creeping up around the trees took on a green glow. I grabbed Spooky and clutched him to my chest. I should have never come out here.

  My heart raced as I waited for whatever was coming. I jumped at a sudden light behind me, then I realized it was headlights, coming from the direction of town.

  An old white truck pulled up beside my car. I knew I had seen the truck around, but couldn’t quite place it. The driver leaned across the passenger seat to roll down the window by hand.

  I was trembling so badly, I fumbled pushing down the switch to roll down my window. Cold air rushed into the car.

  The truck’s driver looked at me with concern. He was older, probably around my mom’s age, with thinning gray hair and pale eyes. “Did you get stuck?”

  Could he not see the green light seeping up through the mist? “M-my mom is on her way.”

  “I take it your mom is Imogene?” he asked. “Only a few of us live out here, and you’ve got hair like hers. I’m Ike, her nearest neighbor. I can give you a ride in that direction. She might’ve got herself stuck too.”

  I glanced back at the green mist edging toward the car, then down at Spooky in my lap. “You’re Max’s uncle?” I asked, wanted to confirm that this man wasn’t a complete stranger.

  His face lit up. “I wasn’t aware he knew one of Imogene’s daughters.”

  I forced a smile. The green mist was beginning to climb over the hood of my car. “I might just take you up on that ride. Do you mind if my cat comes?”

  “Not at all. Should only take a few minutes to find your mom.”

  Holding Spooky tight, I grabbed my purse, unlocked my door, then rushed over to his truck, flinging the door open before climbing inside.

  Even though Ike was clearly a mundane with zero psychic ability, since he couldn’t see the green mist, I still felt safer now that I wasn’t alone.

  He started driving slowly down the muddy road. He wore a pale blue fleece pullover, with only the edges of the sleeves wet, like he had been wearing a coat over it in the rain. “So how do you know Max?” he asked.

  Oh, we just met when I decided to investigate your son’s murder, I thought. What I said out loud was, “Sometimes he comes into my cafe. I own the Toasty Bean over on Main Street.” I hesitated. “I heard about your son, I’m sorry.”

  He gave me a tight-lipped smile. “I’m afraid I always worried Neil would end up that way. He had a lot of enemies.”

  It seemed a strange way for a father to talk about his recently deceased son, but I didn’t comment on it. Everyone grieved in their own way.

  I glanced at him, trying to come up with a change of subject, and that was when I noticed his hands on the steering wheel. Underneath two of his nails was a line of dark red.

  Spooky was looking at him too, but had issued no warning. Maybe Ike had just been painting. Or even cooking something like beets.

  “It was kind of you to pay Neil’s secretary,” I said.

  He kept his eyes on the road, slowly navigating the muddy ruts. “I covered a lot of Neil’s debts over the years, I didn’t hardly blink at one more.”

  “Sasha said you helped her too, she w
as very grateful.”

  His hands flexed on the wheel. “Neil took advantage of her most of all.”

  He started driving a little more slowly. I dared a glance at the backseat. There was a bundled up black, wet piece of clothing there. It could have been a hoodie.

  Neil had been a huge financial burden on his father over the years. Ike had paid his debts and even helped Sasha save her house. Yet his truck was old and rusty, his clothes worn. Something told me he hadn’t quite been able to afford all the help he gave.

  Suddenly I remembered where I had seen his truck before. I had seen it at Desmond’s. Ike had been driving to visit his son, and had seen me there with the homicide detective. Did Desmond know what his father had done? Had Ike worried that his son had just sold him out?

  “The rain has almost let up,” I said carefully. “I think I can walk from here.”

  Instead of stopping the truck, he turned off on a different narrow road, one that didn’t lead to my mom’s house.

  I wrapped my arm around Spooky, prepared to run.

  He pulled a small handgun out of the pocket of his fleece and aimed it at me. “I know you saw me at Sasha’s, you can stop playing dumb. What, are you wearing a wire? Trying to get me to confess?”

  Crap. Crap. Crap. My veins turned to ice at the sight of the gun. “If you had that all along, why didn’t you use it on Neil and Sasha?”

  He brandished the weapon. “Guns make murders easy to solve. Totally traceable. You have to understand, my son financially ruined me. And when Sasha found out what I’d done, she turned on me, even though I had done her a favor.”

  I edged my hand toward the door handle, wondering if I’d be able to open it quick enough to roll out.

  He moved the gun, aiming it at my head. “Don’t you dare.”

  My phone started buzzing in my back pocket.

  “Don’t answer that.”

  “So Neil took one too many loans from you,” I breathed. “And you wanted him to stop taking advantage of Sasha. But what about Mary? I know she was somehow involved in all of this.”