by Jinty James
“You haven’t been poking around, have you?” he asked.
“No.” Suzanne shook her head. “My brother told Maddie who told me. And now we’re telling you.”
“Go on.”
Suzanne told him about Luke’s customer who’d grumbled about Veronica coming back to town.
“Got a name?” Detective Edgewater asked.
“No. Sorry,” Maddie said as she handed the plastic cup over to Suzanne to decorate with the cream.
Suzanne seemed to delight in squirting a very unhealthy amount of cream on top of the icy mocha.
“Here you go, detective.” She slid the drink toward him. “You’re going to love it.”
“If I don’t have a heart attack first.” He eyed the frosty concoction skeptically, then stuck in a straw and sipped. His face brightened. “That is good. But next time, lighter on the cream, please. I’m not as young as I used to be.” He patted his chest.
After thanking them for the tidbit of information, the detective left, sipping on his beverage.
“Another satisfied customer.” Suzanne flopped on her stool and picked up her sandwich.
“He was right about the cream,” Maddie observed. “You were a little heavy handed.”
“And that’s how we’re going to run out of cream before closing this afternoon,” Suzanne said smugly. “So when we talk to Amy we won’t be lying.”
A reluctant smile appeared on Maddie’s lips and she shook her head. “I should have known.”
“Yep.” Suzanne took a bite of her chicken sandwich.
They just had time to eat their lunch before workers in need of lunchtime caffeine descended on the truck. Both their specials were hits once more, and Maddie noticed out of the corner of her eye as she worked the machine that Suzanne had stopped being so liberal with the whipped cream. That must mean they were in danger of running out.
Once their customers had departed to their workplaces, Maddie saw Ramon head across the town square toward them. She had to tell Luke!
Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she texted him, hoping Suzanne wouldn’t see what she was doing. Maddie was in luck. Suzanne looked through the serving hatch, standing stock still.
“Hi Ramon,” she greeted the gorgeous Spaniard in a dreamy voice.
“Hello, Suzanne.”
There was silence for a moment. Maddie looked up from her phone. The two of them stared at each other across the counter.
“Mrrow!”
“Hello, Trixie.” Ramon blinked as he seemed to become aware of his surroundings. “And Maddie.”
“Hi.” Maddie smiled at him. When Suzanne didn’t say anything, just continued to gaze at Ramon, Maddie said, “Would you like an espresso?”
“Yes, please,” he replied.
Maddie pulled the shot, aware of Suzanne and Ramon talking softly. She smiled to herself. Her bestie really had it bad. And it looked like she wasn’t the only one affected, judging by Ramon’s behavior.
Her eyes widened as she saw Luke hurry toward the truck. For a second, she wondered if she’d done the right thing by engineering this meeting. She just hoped Suzanne would forgive her if it hadn’t been the best idea.
“Hi, Sis,” Luke said loudly when he arrived at the counter, standing next to Ramon. They were practically the same height, although Luke was dressed down in comparison, wearing jeans and a navy t-shirt, while Ramon wore tailored chinos and a blue shirt.
“Oh. Hi.” Suzanne blinked, as if coming out of a trance. “Want your usual?”
“Hello.” Ramon turned to Luke. “I have been looking forward to meeting you. I am Ramon.”
“Luke.” He nodded. “You work across the square, don’t you?”
“That is correct. I am a masseur.”
Luke made a non-committal sound.
“Ramon gives the best massages,” Suzanne enthused, apparently unaware that her brother didn’t seem impressed by Ramon’s profession. “Doesn’t he, Mads?”
“So you tell me,” Maddie replied, aware of the expression on Luke’s face. He looked as if he’d just been beaned by a bag of coffee. “I haven’t had one.”
“You must one day,” Ramon told her. “I know you work hard, Maddie. A nice, soothing massage with relaxing essential oils will make you feel wonderful.”
Maddie nodded, her cheeks heating. She had been too shy to try a massage with the Spaniard, even though Suzanne had raved about it afterward. And since she and Luke had started dating, Maddie hadn’t felt the need to avail herself of Ramon’s services, even though Suzanne had assured her he was strictly professional and highly qualified.
Maddie finished making the Spaniard’s coffee, then started on an icy mocha, making sure she put plenty of chocolate powder in it. Perhaps some cocoa goodness would help cheer up her boyfriend.
“Just give me my usual,” Luke said tightly.
“Too late,” Maddie told him. She nudged Suzanne. “This is my treat,” she whispered.
Suzanne looked a little surprised but nodded. Luke always made a point of paying for his coffee, saying he didn’t want to take advantage of his sister or Maddie. Ramon always paid for his coffee as well, and Suzanne paid for her massages. The system seemed to work well for all of them.
“Mrrow?” Trixie inquired, staring at Luke.
“I’m okay, Trixie,” he reassured the cat, his expression lightening a tad.
Suzanne added a big mound of cream to the icy concoction and handed it to her brother, waving away his cash. “Talk to Maddie about it – later,” she added as a few customers came toward their truck.
Luke smiled a thank you to Maddie, but his expression looked wary as he gave Ramon a parting glance.
Oh no. Had Maddie done the right thing by engineering a meeting between the two men?
CHAPTER 13
They ran out of cream at three o’clock. Luckily, there were no customers, so Maddie clipped on Trixie’s harness and they closed the truck, Suzanne sticking a “Back in ten minutes ” sign in the window.
“I don’t think five minutes will be long enough,” she said in reply to Maddie’s questioning glance.
They walked across the square to the small supermarket. It carried nearly everything they needed for their own groceries, and just about everything Suzanne needed for her health balls.
“There she is!” Suzanne muttered to Maddie as they entered the store. Amy was restocking the milk. “Perfect. The cream is right next to her.”
“What are we going to ask her?” Maddie whispered. After Ramon and Luke had departed, they’d been busy with customers and hadn’t had time to develop a plan.
“I’ll think of something,” Suzanne said airily.
Maddie gulped. That’s what she was afraid of.
“Hi, Amy.” Suzanne grinned at the older woman.
“Hi, girls. Hi, Trixie.” The older woman bent down to say hello to the Persian. “How are you?”
“Mrrow,” Trixie replied politely.
“I’d love to have a cat one day,” Amy said wistfully as she straightened.
“Is there any reason you can’t have one now?” Maddie asked.
“My landlord won’t allow it.” Amy grimaced.
“Oh.” Maddie was glad her landlord did allow cats.
“Pooh.” Suzanne frowned in sympathy. “You should stop by for one of our specials to cheer yourself up. I’ll put extra cream on for you.”
“I’ve heard about your iced mochas and whipped cream toppings. Maybe I will.” Amy did look slightly happier at the thought. “Do you girls need any help here?”
“Just stocking up on more cream.” Suzanne picked up a basket. “So many of our customers can’t believe Veronica was murdered.” She tsked.
Maddie didn’t think it was much of a segue but Amy didn’t seem to notice.
“The whole town is talking about it,” Amy replied. “Veronica was a nasty piece of work but I didn’t expect her to be murdered.” She didn’t sound very sorrowful about it, though.
Su
zanne cast a sideways glance at Maddie, as if she didn’t want Maddie to miss her cue. Feeling slightly shady, Maddie said, “Suzanne found the – Veronica’s body.”
“No!” Amy stared at Suzanne, her mouth parted. “I hadn’t heard. How terrible!”
“It was.” Suzanne shuddered, and Maddie didn’t think she was acting.
“Tell me everything.” Amy leaned forward, her eyes bright with curiosity.
“We were walking at the rear of—” Suzanne was interrupted by a twenty-something guy with acne on his cheeks. John – Acting Manager was emblazoned on the badge pinned to his shirt.
“You’re not paid to stand around gossiping with customers, Amy,” he told her shortly. “After you restock the milk I need you to fix the dogfood display – some kid knocked all the cans down.” He looked as if he wanted to exile children to the nastiest place on earth – forever. “And then you can go out back and start unloading the pallets of cookies.”
“It’s my fault.” Suzanne frowned at the guy. “I was asking Amy which brand of cream she recommended.”
The acting manager scanned the cartons of cream in Suzanne’s basket. “Then she should have told you to buy the other brand. It’s more expensive.” He gave Amy a dark look and stalked off.
“Wow.” Suzanne shook her head in disgust. “What a jerk!”
“He’s like that all the time,” Amy said bitterly. “If I didn’t need this job, I’d tell him to get lost.” She hesitated. “If Veronica hadn’t stolen that scholarship from me, I wouldn’t have to put up with this – heck, I probably wouldn’t be working here. I’d have a big city job somewhere making a lot more money.”
“I’m sorry,” Maddie said sympathetically.
“Mrrow.” Trixie sounded sorry, too.
“It is what it is.” Amy sighed. “But if you ask me, someone did the world a favor by killing Veronica.”
CHAPTER 14
On Tuesday night, Maddie got ready for her date with Luke.
She and Suzanne had discussed who they should talk to next, but that was as far as they’d gotten – apart from agreeing they were glad they owned Brewed from the Bean, so they didn’t have to put up with anyone bossing them around. Maddie hadn’t been able to stop her slight smile during their conversation – sometimes Suzanne bossed her around, although she didn’t seem to realize – most of the time.
As she brushed her hair, Trixie watching intently, Maddie’s stomach tightened. Luke hadn’t seemed very impressed with meeting Ramon yesterday. Would he blame her for setting up the meeting?
She needn’t have worried.
Over dinner at the steakhouse in a neighboring town, Luke looked at her appreciatively over the blue checkered tablecloth.
“Thanks for letting me know Ramon was at the truck today,” he said.
“You’re welcome,” Maddie replied softly. The atmosphere was quiet, the lights low, and the soft country rock background music seemed the perfect choice.
“One thing is bothering me,” he continued. He looked around the room but the tables near them were unoccupied, although there were diners across the room.
“What is it?”
“Are his massages legit?” He kept his voice low as he leaned toward her.
Maddie bit her lip. It wasn’t funny. Not really.
“Yes,” she replied when she was able to do so without giggling. “Suzanne says they are.”
“Good.” He relaxed slightly.
“He is a qualified masseur.”
“Good,” he repeated. He hesitated. “And you haven’t ...?”
“No.” She realized what he was trying to say and didn’t think it fair to tease him.
“I’d understand if you needed to have a massage,” he said.
“I don’t need one at the moment,” Maddie replied. An impish thought struck her. “But sometimes my shoulders get a little tight at the end of the day.” True. “Maybe if you’re—”
“Happy to be of service.” His emerald gaze held hers for several beats and her cheeks heated.
They were interrupted by the server who delivered their entrees of rib eye steak for Luke and a petit filet for Maddie. Both dishes came with a baked potato and a garden salad full of colorful salad leaves with a honeyed pomegranate dressing.
While they ate, Maddie updated him on their investigation to date, not that there was much to tell him. Still, Luke asked her – and his sister – to be careful.
“Detective Edgewater said he visited your shop,” Maddie said as they started on their dessert of chocolate mousse.
“Yeah. There wasn’t much I could tell him, though. Apart from the name of my customer.” Luke grimaced. “I just hope Eddie understands.”
“If he’s innocent, then I’m sure he will,” Maddie tried to reassure him. “You don’t mind us telling Detective Edgewater about it?”
“I kind of expected that to happen,” Luke said. He offered her a half smile. “I guess it comes with the territory when my girlfriend is investigating a murder.”
After dinner, Luke drove Maddie home, accepting her offer of a latte, and sitting next to her on the sofa in the living room.
Trixie greeted him with an affectionate “Mrrow,” and joined them on the couch.
Wytchcraft for the Chosen was hidden in the bookshelf, out of sight.
After they told Trixie about dinner, Maddie and Luke chatted for a while, before Luke kissed her goodnight. After a few lingering kisses, Luke departed, leaving Maddie with a smile on her face.
THE NEXT MORNING, MADDIE woke to find Trixie sitting on her chest.
“Mrrow.” She blinked her turquoise eyes at Maddie, then jumped off.
Maddie staggered to the kitchen, still not fully awake. After giving Trixie beef in gravy, she walked past the living room on the way to her bedroom. Wytchcraft for the Chosen lay on the sofa.
She stopped and stared.
After Luke had departed last night, she and Trixie had gone to bed. How on earth had the book found its way onto the sofa?
“Trixie?” she called.
The feline sauntered out of the kitchen and looked up at her enquiringly.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” She gestured to the ancient tome, visible from the doorway.
“Mrrow.” Trixie looked coy.
“Well, unless the book is able to move itself—” was it able to? “— I think you did.” Maddie shook her head. Trixie constantly surprised her.
The sight of the book got Maddie thinking. Would she ever have a chance to use the new incantation she’d discovered on the night of the full moon? The spell to find a person and discover what they were up to at that very moment? Would it help them in some way discover who Veronica’s killer was?
Was the fact that Wytchcraft for the Chosen was out in plain sight a hint that she should page through the book to see if there was anything else that would help them investigate the murder? Or was it on the sofa because Trixie wanted to look at it while Maddie was at work?
She hadn’t found Trixie actually paging through the tome before, but she knew her familiar liked guarding it on the sofa, and she always seemed interested in looking at the pages when Maddie studied the book.
Maddie wasn’t surprised when Trixie curled up on the sofa after breakfast, one paw on the old volume.
“Want to stay home today?” she asked the Persian.
“Mrrow,” Trixie seemed to agree.
Maddie drove to the town square, not sure what to think about first. She was glad Luke accepted her curiosity about the murder, and her desire to help discover the killer. But there was also the fact that she and Suzanne needed to discuss who to question next. And, wondering if she could ever tell Luke that she was a witch. He really seemed to “get” her. Would he be able to accept her magical abilities as well?
Deciding to think about that difficult question another day, Maddie pulled up at the square, jumped out, and waved to Suzanne, who’d arrived before her.
“No Trixie?” Suzanne looke
d disappointed.
“She wanted to stay home and guard Wytchcraft for the Chosen,” Maddie explained. She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. After tapping a button, she showed Suzanne the live camera feed of the living room. The Persian was curled up on the sofa next to the old book, seemingly asleep.
“Ohhhh.” Suzanne smiled softly.
They set up the truck and waited for their first customer, a wiry jogger who’d forgotten his bottle of water. It had been Suzanne’s idea early on to sell bottles of water for the early morning exercisers, and it had proven to be a hit.
After he’d run back across the square, Suzanne drummed her fingertips on the counter.
“Who should we question today?” she asked.
“We still have Grace and Pamela on the list,” Maddie replied.
“Grace lives in that big old house on the edge of town,” Suzanne said. “You know, the gorgeous old Victorian with the big garden.”
“Yes, the pretty cream and yellow house,” Maddie said. “I’ve always wondered what it’s like inside.”
“We should go and find out.” Suzanne grinned.
“We’ll have to close up the truck,” Maddie warned.
“We’ve done that before,” Suzanne reminded her. “It’s a shame Trixie isn’t with us, though. Everyone seems to like her and she seems to put people at ease.”
“Apart from Claudine,” Maddie said darkly.
“Yeah.” Suzanne grimaced. “But it might do us good to have a little change of scene.”
“Okay,” Maddie agreed. “But we can’t just knock on Grace’s door and ask her pointed questions about Veronica’s death.”
“Can’t we?” Suzanne wrinkled her nose.
“No,” Maddie told her. “We need some sort of pretext.”
“Ooh, I know.” Suzanne snapped her fingers. “We could ask her questions about her garden. It worked in one of our other cases. People love talking about their garden. We could say we’re thinking of seriously getting into gardening and wanted to ask her advice on ... something.”
“Let’s decide on the prettiest flower she has out the front and ask her questions about that,” Maddie proposed.