“They can help you with that in the main lobby,” he said, pointing in the direction they’d come from.
Hazel glanced over her shoulder at Loni. “Both Gwyn and Olga and her goons are out that door.”
“Just keep your head down,” advised Ed.
The bell in the room went off again and the doors swung open. The woman in the black wig, her two oversized body guards, and a handful of security guards were the first to enter the room.
“They’re over here!” shouted the woman, pointing directly at Hazel.
Olga’s two goons were halfway to Hazel and Loni when Hazel held up her cane, aiming the end of it at them. “Take this, you oversized apes,” she said, firing an electrical current at them and bowling them backwards.
Loni’s eyes widened. “Haze! You got your cane fixed!”
“I told you it just needed a good cleaning,” she laughed.
The green electrical current had stunned Olga’s men, but the security guards and Olga were still coming. Hazel tried to fire her stick again. This time it jammed up. She shook it harder, but nothing came out.
“Fire, you blasted thing!” she cursed, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She looked up at the guards coming right up at her, her body frozen.
And suddenly, everything in the room froze. The music. The voice over the loud speaker. The slot machine noises. The steady buzz of voices and laughter. The people. Everything stopped.
Hazel looked around. “What in the world…?”
Loni grinned. “An old trick the girls and I picked up while we attended the Institute. You’re welcome.”
“Brav-o, Loni,” said Ed. Standing in the tote sack with his arms extended, he gave her a slow clap.
Loni grabbed the handle of the suitcase. “This freezing spell won’t last long. We’ve got to get out of here before they unfreeze!”
Ed frowned. “Well, if it won’t last long, then you’re going to have to do something else. They’ll only keep chasing us!”
Then, as if a lightbulb had gone off over her head, Hazel poked a finger into the air. “By golly, I know exactly what to do!” she said with a gold-toothed smile. She pointed at the suitcase with her cane. “Loni. Open that bag!”
“Haze, we don’t have time for new disguises!” said Loni.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Loni. Didn’t anyone ever tell you to mind your elders?” Hazel swatted at her with her cane and then bent over to unzip the bag herself.
Grabbing her now sore leg, Loni squatted down to help her.
Hazel pointed at the contents of the bag. “Put the passports and the diamonds in that envelope.” As Loni did as she instructed, Hazel tugged the lanyard off and used the little clip holding the ID badge to secure it to the envelope. Hazel hobbled over to a security officer with big, muscular arms. He had one hand raised midway in the air. Hazel hung the lanyard over his arm. “There, then when they unfreeze, they can figure out exactly what Olga Sokolov was doing with all of those fake passports and the diamonds! That ought to give us a little time to get back to the airport.”
Ed winked at Hazel. “I like the way you think, Ms. Prescott. If I were a few years younger, and you were a cat…”
Hazel held up a hand. “Get in line, Ed, get in line.”
Loni grinned. “Are you two finished? The spell is going to wear off any second. We’ve gotta get outta here!”
Gripping her purse tightly to her side, Hazel nodded and led Loni and Ed past Olga Sokolov and into the hallway just as the spell wore off. From the hallway, they heard the music resume and gradually all the people began to move.
“Now where?” asked Loni.
Hazel pointed towards the lobby. “To get my ten mil!”
They began to rush towards the lobby when all of a sudden, Loni froze. “Wait, Hazel. How are we supposed to claim your prize if you gave the ID badge back to Olga?”
Hazel’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t thought of that. “Oh no!” she gasped. “We’ve got to get back in there and grab it!” Her head swiveled back to the direction they’d just come from to see a conflict breaking out in the room between Olga’s goons and the security officers.
“We can’t go back in there!” said Ed.
Loni pointed towards the lobby. “Well, we can’t go to the lobby anyway. Look!”
Hazel followed Loni’s finger to see Gwyn, Phyllis, and Char chatting up a storm with the other women from the conference in the lobby.
As Hazel’s mind reeled, trying to figure out how to get her money, Ed called to them. “Oh, ladies!” he sang. “You might want to see what’s on television right now!” He shoved a paw into the air, pointing at a flat screen on the wall.
Loni and Hazel turned to see Hazel sitting at the poker table. Even with the brunette wig, the fake tooth, and the glasses, it was Hazel. The blood drained from her face. She gasped. “Oh, for the love of Bryant Gumbel. Can we not get a break here?”
Loni swooped a hand over Hazel’s head and batted the wig off. “We’ve gotta get rid of the evidence!” She threw it in a garbage can. “Now, I hate to do this to you, Haze, because I know you want that money, but we gotta get outta here. I’m startin’ to feel the pinch.”
Hazel sighed. Leaving early was the last thing she wanted to do. What she wanted to do was claim her ten-million-dollar prize! “But my money…”
“Maybe Gwyn was right. Maybe using magic to profit is wrong after all. Maybe this was the universe’s way of making you a better person.”
Hazel frowned. “What are you trying to say? That I’m not a good person?”
Loni swatted at her friend playfully. “I know you’re a good person, Haze. We turned in a jewel thief. So what if you have to give up the ten-million-dollar prize? I think our work here is done, don’t you?”
Ed nodded. “Loni’s right. You caught a criminal! That’s exceptionally aboveboard.”
Hazel slumped forward with a scowl. “I suppose you’re right.” Then a slow smile crept over her face. “Hey, think they’re offering any reward money for catching the jewel thief?”
7
“I heard a car door!” hissed Loni, pointing towards her front door. She leapt off her seat and pushed her nose through the slit in the curtains. “It’s Gwynnie!”
“She’s back already?” asked Hazel as she rushed to the chair in Loni’s front room.
They’d just gotten in. Loni had only put the broomstick away a few minutes ago. Ed had run off to find a patch of grass, and Hazel had just grabbed a Twinkie from the snack bag.
There was a banging at the door. “Mom? Loni? Are you in there?”
Loni walked to the front door. “Geez. What’s got into her? She sounds mad.” She opened the front door.
Gwyn burst inside, her face beet red. “Mom! You’re here!”
Hazel looked around as if nothing had happened. “Gwynnie? You came home early? You musta missed me!”
“Have you been here this whole time?” asked Gwyn.
Hazel and Loni looked at each other innocently. “Well, of course we’ve been here. Where else would we have been?” asked Loni.
Gwyn’s brows lifted as she stared at her mother. “I don’t know. Vegas?”
“Vegas?!” they cried in unison.
“So you weren’t just in Vegas?” asked Gwyn, shaking her head slowly.
Hazel shook her head. “You feelin’ alright, Gwynnie?”
“But I…”
“But you what?” asked Loni.
“I saw Mom on the monitors around the casino. She won the jackpot!”
Hazel lowered her brows. “You really think if I won a jackpot in Vegas, I’d be sitting here? With her?” She pointed at Loni.
“Well, it’s just that I…”
“You…?”
“I saw you!”
“I don’t know what you saw, Gwynnie, but Loni and I have been sitting here watching poker on the boob tube all day. Right, Lon?”
Loni nodded. “Yup. All day.”
“It must’ve been
my evil twin you saw in Vegas.”
Gwynnie swished her lips to the side. “Hmm. I must have. I can’t believe it! I came all the way back. Why wouldn’t either of you answer your phones?”
Hazel looked at her purse, sitting across the room. “Oh, did you try calling? My phone’s in my purse. I haven’t checked it. Why didn’t you try calling Loni?”
“I did try calling Loni!” said Gwyn. “Her line was busy all day!”
Loni made a face. “Hmm. Sometimes the cats play with the cord in the kitchen and knock it off the receiver.” She wagged a finger at the first cat she saw. “Naughty kitty.”
Gwyn groaned and fell onto the chair nearest the door. “Ugh! I was so worried! I’m so thankful you’re both alright!”
“We’re just fine. It’s just been a quiet day around here. No excitement at all!” sighed Hazel as she pulled open her Twinkie wrapper.
Just then Ed came tearing around the corner on two paws. “What a day, girls! We should do that again soon! Vegas! Vegas! Vegas!” he chanted, paw pumping the air.
Gwyn’s eyes grew huge. “Mom!”
A wicked smile spread slowly across Hazel’s face, her forgotten gold tooth shining like the lights of Las Vegas. “Busted!”
Thanks for reading Hazel Raises the Stakes. If you enjoyed this mini story, please consider leaving a review!
Also by M.Z. Andrews
The Coffee Coven’s Cozy Capers - a spin-off series from The Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Series
Book 1: That Old Witch!
Book 1.5: Hazel Raises the Stakes
Book 2: That Crazy Witch!
The Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Series
Book 1: The Witch Squad
Book 2: Son of a Witch
Book 3: Witch Degrees of Separation
Book 4: Witch Pie
Book 5: A Very Mercy Christmas
Book 6: Where Witches Lie
Book 7: Witch School Dropout
Book 7.5: Witch, Please!
Book 8: The Witch Within
Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery Series:
Prequel: Deal or Snow Deal
Book 1: Snow Cold Case
About the Author
I am a lifelong writer of words. I have a wonderful husband, whom I adore, and we have four daughters and two sons. Three of our children are grown and three still live at home. Our family resides in the midwest United States.
Aside from writing, I’m especially fond of gardening and canning salsa and other things from our homegrown produce. I adore Pinterest, and our family loves fall and KC Chiefs football games.
If you enjoyed the book, the best compliment is to leave a review - even if it’s as simple as a few words - I tremendously value your feedback!
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All the best,
M.Z.
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www.mzandrews.com
Hazel Raises the Stakes Page 4