Pickups and Pirates (Southern Relics Cozy Mysteries Book 3)

by Bella Falls

  My phone buzzed and I read the text message. “No, but the right tool for the job just arrived at my house.” I showed the coven leader the picture that pinged in next. “And she brought pie.”

  Chapter Seven

  I pulled up next to the unknown vehicle parked in front of the big house. Dashing out of my dad’s truck, I bounded up the stairs and threw my arms around the woman rocking on our porch.

  “It is so good to see you, Charli Goodwin,” I squealed, hugging her hard.

  She chuckled and squeezed me back. “I’ve been meaning to get you to Honeysuckle Hollow and get you started on that store that I mentioned so you could start selling off some of your special items. But you beat me to it and got me back here.”

  I released her and gushed, “Wait till you hear the reasons why.”

  “There’s more to our presence here than a missing person?” asked a handsome stranger sitting in one of the rocking chairs and causing Bobby to slobber all over his shoes by scratching his head.

  “Ruby Mae Jewell, this is my boyfriend, Mason Clairmont,” Charli introduced. “Detective Mason Clairmont, I should say.”

  “Private eye?” I asked, wondering how much trouble a small Southern supernatural town could get into that they would need one of their very own.

  Mason set his glass of sweet tea down and pushed himself out of the rocker to greet me. “I don’t like to flash my badge when I’m out of my jurisdiction, but I’m actually a warden.”

  I perked up and clasped his hand. “Ooh, then you are definitely welcome to my house.”

  “Hey, get your own man,” Charli joked. “This one’s taken.”

  We all shared a laugh, and I perched on the edge of the porch railing. “While it’s good to see you, girl, and to meet you, Mason, I hope y’all are ready to dive right into work. We don’t have a lot of time to sit out here flapping our gums.”

  The detective’s expression changed from relaxed friendliness to all business. “What’s going on?”

  I opened my mouth to tell them, then thought better about announcing anything out in the open, even with the extensive wards around our house. “Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you what I’ve learned so far just this morning. I’ll bet my great-grandmother’s already cooked up something for lunch. Trust me, we’re all gonna need to fuel up.”

  For the first time in ages, Granny Jo almost burned the fried chicken in the skillet while she listened to me talk about lost pirate treasure and curses at the small kitchen table. When I asked her what she knew about Daniel Jewell, her reply shocked me.

  “To be honest, there’s not a whole lot other than what was passed down orally from his kids to the rest of the generations. He came here as a young man in the 1700’s and built on this land granted to him by the King. I think he got this prime property because of some favor he did for someone with considerable influence,” she explained, taking out the casserole dish of macaroni and cheese and setting it on the counter to let the bubbling cheddar on top cool.

  “And our family has always been in the business of finding magical objects and keeping them safe?” I pushed, confused as to how a nosy family like ours knew so little about the first one of us to settle in this country.

  “Mm-hmm.” Granny Jo slammed the door of the oven shut. “I wish I could tell you more, but we have very few things of his left to give us any hints. There’s always been a rumor floating around that this house is hiding something important of his, but I’ve never seen hide nor hair of it. Now, y’all fix yourselves some plates and eat as much as you want. There’s plenty.”

  “Good, because I’m starving.” My cousin Dani walked into the kitchen and cut in line to get food. “Rissa worked us hard collecting all the things from that hideaway in the cabin and helping her cart it all to the museum. She’s lucky that the hurricane did very little damage to the building. Across the street on the waterfront, you know that restaurant that extended onto a short dock? Dock’s clean washed away and half of the structure collapsed after part of the roof came off. Bellfort seemed to get hit a lot harder than anywhere else around here.”

  “Um, hello, dear cousin of mine. Dani Jo, did you leave your manners at the front door or would you like to greet our guests?” I scolded her with a light smack upside her head.

  She put her plate down and licked her fingers clean of chicken grease. “Oh my lands, I am so sorry. It’s good to see you again, Charli, but I don’t think this is the same companion you had with you before.”

  “I hope I’m friendlier and whole lot better looking than Henry,” Mason teased and then introduced himself.

  Having to repeat myself about why I asked Charli to come and what went on at the coven gave my food time to cool off so it didn’t burn my mouth. My stomach thanked me when I tore into the first huge bite of fried chicken, “Good scald as always, Granny.”

  “Your news about pirate treasure almost made me ruin it.” She pointed a wooden spoon at me and narrowed her eyes. “Almost.”

  Charli gulped down some sweet tea. “I guess we’ll have to eat pretty fast so I can figure out how to help find this woman who’s hurt.”

  My spell phone vibrated once in my pocket and I checked the message that flashed on the screen. “Sweet tea and spells, they found Auggie.”

  Dani’s forkful of mac and cheese clattered on her plate. “What? When I left to drive Cate back to her place, Luke was making plans with Barney on how best to look for her without getting law enforcement involved.”

  I showed her the text. “Luke says he managed to follow her blood all the way off Radio Island and down the road a bit to a nearby house. They helped bandage her up and drove her to a local doctor because she refused to go to the hospital.”

  “Her boyfriend’s a vampire,” Charli explained to Mason before turning to me. “I guess you don’t need my talents with quite as much urgency as you thought.”

  Licking my lips and setting my elbows on the table, I leaned forward. “It actually frees you up to help me get started on the bigger mystery.”

  “No one in Honeysuckle is going to believe that you’re actually helping to find real pirate’s treasure,” the detective stated, shoveling a golden square of cornbread in his mouth. “I can’t lie. The kid in me wants to stay and help.”

  “Plus, I’ll bet your connection as a warden will come in handy. So, if you’re willing, I hope you’ll both stick around. You can have my room upstairs if you don’t mind a house full of ghosts.” I sweetened the pot to tempt them. “Or if you want, I’ll get Luke to clean up my cottage on the water and the two of you can stay there.”

  “Your uncle might get to it once he’s taken care of some of the mess down by the barns,” Granny Jo added. “Danielle Josephine, when you’ve got your fill, why don’t you fix him a plate and take it to him.”

  My cousin got up from the table. “Actually, I’ll pack up the rest of my food and make a picnic basket for the two of us to share. I’m sure I’ll be seeing the two of you around,” she said to the guests.

  The three of us left at the table finished our food. Charli pushed her plate away, a smile of sated satisfaction making her face glow as she complimented my granny. “That was amazing Ms. Jewell.”

  “You might as well get used to calling me Granny Jo. Pretty much everyone always does. Y’all stack your plates in the sink and I’ll take care of them.” My great-grandmother set out three smaller plates with a slice of pie on each. “Why don’t you take these to enjoy on the porch while you can. I’ve already had a taste myself, and I have to say, that is some mighty fine chess pie. Don’t suppose you made it yourself so I can have the recipe?”

  “What a fine compliment coming from you. But Mason here’s the one who made it,” Charli bragged.

  The detective kissed her on the cheek. “I learned the recipe from your grandmother because it’s your favorite.” After clearing off all of our dishes, he grabbed two plates. “Are you sure we’ve got time to enjoy these?”

  I scoffed, clai
ming a slice for myself. “There’s always time for pie.”

  Mason let us use his car since fitting three people in Dad’s truck didn’t seem practical. We stopped by the coven headquarters to retrieve the few essential items I thought we’d start with before heading to Rissa’s place. Her stubborn mentor had refused to be taken to the hospital, so getting Auggie to stay at her house was the only battle the educational director of the museum won.

  Luke came out to greet us, and after initial introductions, he ushered us all inside. “The professor is in a feisty mood, so be prepared,” he warned. After Charli and Mason passed through the door, he held me back and hugged me tight.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I muffled into his shoulder. Leaning back so I could see his eyes, I watched his response to my question. “Did following the trail of blood trigger you in some way?”

  He captured my lips with his and kissed me hard until my head swam a little. My feet left the ground, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold on tight. When he put me down again, it took me a moment to regain my composure.

  “What was that for?”

  “For being so sensitive to my issues with blood to ask me about it. For being incredibly sweet and way too good for me.” He leaned in to whisper into my ear. “And for being insanely hot.”

  My cheeks heated to a thousand degrees under his compliments. “Wow, whatever side of the bed you woke up on this morning, you should do it more often.”

  Luke grinned, and his fangs protruded enough to clue me in on exactly how our kiss affected him. “We’d better get inside before we’re missed. Your father called me and filled me in a little. And I’m guessing that pile of things in the back of the car is important.” Without being asked, he retrieved them from the detective’s car and brought them in for me.

  “Stop fussing over me, I ain’t dead yet,” Auggie’s gravelly voice croaked out at a very loud decibel. “And would whoever knows what in Hades is going on start explaining things?”

  Rissa met us in her small foyer. “This will be an interesting experiment in patience. Your friends said you brought something here you wanted me to take a look at. I’m betting I won’t get a chance until Ms. Congeniality in there gets her chance first.”

  “Why did you bring me hot tea?” Auggie shouted. “Who in their right mind thinks asking for some tea means I want it in a mug. Dump some sugar in it and pour it over ice.”

  Rolling her eyes, Rissa entered the living room before us. “You’re fussing way too much, Auggie. You’re going to tire yourself out.”

  I followed right behind her and found Odie looming over the couch, attempting to fluff a pillow behind the professor’s head while trying to avoid the barrage of smacks she landed on his arm to swat him away. It would be comical if the injured woman wasn’t risking her health.

  “If you don’t stop flailing about, I’m not going to show you the treasure map,” I threatened, hoping to distract her and give my friend’s husband a chance to make a clean getaway.

  Odie straightened to his full height, towering over everyone in the room. “Tell me it’s real.”

  “Why would y’all be meeting in secrecy if it was fake?” Auggie scoffed. “Well, what are you waiting for? Set it up here on this coffee table so I can take a look.”

  Placing a hand on Luke’s chest, I stopped him from setting things up. “First, I want to be sure you’re really okay. How did you get hurt?”

  She crossed her arms. “If I’m gonna tell that story again, I’ll need at least one cigarette.”

  “Other than the fact that you should’ve quit ages ago, I’d really rather you didn’t smoke in my house,” Rissa reminded her mentor, taking over the task of trying to rearrange the pillows. “The faster you get through your side of things, the quicker you’ll get to studying that map.”

  Auggie grumbled something under her breath but didn’t argue with us. “My guess is I antagonized that Nigel character a little too much when I left the museum. I figure he must have overheard our whole conversation about the coin and followed me back to my cabin. The fake twerp took advantage of the hurricane and attacked me. But he didn’t find my bolt-hole, did he?” She banged her hand on her thigh with rueful glee.

  Mason stepped forward. “You know it was this man who attacked you? Have you informed the authorities?”

  Rissa shook her head behind the professor’s back and Auggie snorted. “If I could clearly identify the idiot, I would have made sure he was already behind bars. No, I was attacked from behind, so I didn’t see who did it. But I can’t think of anyone else who would look at my cabin and think, ‘Ooh, that place must be hiding something valuable.’”

  I raised my hand and waited to be called on like a small child in school. “If you had your stuff hidden in the bolt-hole, then how did Nigel get ahold of the bell?”

  The older lady pressed a hand against her forehead, squinting in pain. “It’s my fault. I had brought it up to study it some more after cleaning it up. If I had just left it below the cabin, the creep wouldn’t have been able to get his hands on it.”

  Odie also raised his hand but didn’t wait to speak. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to know where you found everything. I’ve lived here all my life, and no one has ever gotten a hint of real pirate treasure.”

  Auggie gave in to a little exhaustion and sat back on the pillows. “I’ve been staying out in that cabin on and off for years. Based on some conclusions I’d made from my lifetime of research, I thought the area could be one of the most likely places where the rumored treasure might be. So, I got a decent metal detector and would walk the beaches from time to time. It’s not a bad little hobby, and it paid off big time when I uncovered the bell first.”

  Rissa narrowed her eyes at her former mentor. “I thought you said a true scholar worked off of evidence, not hunches.”

  “No, missy, you start with the evidence. Sometimes, you gotta listen to your instincts if you want to make the big discovery,” Auggie corrected, rubbing her temple.

  “You really should go to the hospital, Professor Waters,” Crystal said from her seat across from the couch. “You could have a concussion.”

  “Okay, everybody who has a medical degree, raise your hand.” When none of us did, she harrumphed in satisfaction. “Now, everybody who wants to take a look at the map, raise your hand.” Arms shot up in the air. Odie lifted both of his with a faltering smile for his outvoted wife.

  While Rissa helped me unroll and set up the map on the table, I repeated everything I’d learned from the coven library, leaving out the crucial part about witches, curses, and anything else remotely magical. No matter how much knowledge the professor had, as a mortal, she could not be exposed to the real world the rest of us lived in.

  Crystal pointed out the local coastline much like my father had. Her family tree extended almost as far back as ours, and as a water witch, she knew the coast better than everyone in the room. “Some of the names are a little different than today, but this is definitely Bellfort. See, here’s the inlet and Radio Island. It’s even got some of the smaller unnamed sea islands. Whoever drew this had extensive knowledge of the area.”

  “There are pieces missing from the map,” Auggie blurted out, sitting up so she could take a closer look. “No cartogram like this would be without a compass rose to indicate cardinal direction, and yet, there isn’t one.”

  I’d taken the hollowed-out book with me from the coven library, but if I retrieved it from the dining room, I feared it might agitate the professor even more. The missing piece would give us the first clues to start the search, but maybe Charli didn’t need the map at all to find things.

  “You, missy,” Auggie barked at me, snapping her fingers to get my attention. “You know something more. I saw hot pants there setting more stuff down in the other room. What aren’t you telling me?” With a grunt she pushed herself off the couch, ignoring our pleas for her to be careful.

  She teetered on her feet and lifted a hand to her forehead.
“I wish this headache would stop and everyone would quit treating me like there’s something wrong.”

  Odie got to her in time to catch her as she crumpled into his arms. He picked the injured woman up and cradled her to his chest. “What do we do now?”

  “Set her back down on the couch,” Luke ordered, rushing over to help. “I didn’t raise my hand when she asked who had a medical degree because I didn’t get mine in a recent century and I’m very out of practice. She’s not having a seizure, but a bad headache could mean she’s suffering from a concussion. She really should have a full examination.”

  While everyone in the room held their breath in worry, a crazy idea dawned on me. “It might be a little risky, but since we need to keep things quiet, we have two options available. One, we could contact Dr. Tomasi and have her treat Auggie.”

  “If she’s willing, then we can have her come here, which will keep things simple,” Rissa said, placing a hand on her mentor’s forehead as if her touch could help. “Although I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep her from getting involved if we’re all out and about searching for something she’s clearly spent a considerable amount of effort trying to find.”

  “There is a second riskier option,” I dared, readying myself for the response to the idea. “We could take her to my family home.”

  Once the obvious dangers of bringing a mortal into a magical household full of not only witches but also generations of spirits exploded out of almost everyone’s mouths, I waved my hands to quiet them down. “Hear me out. Dr. Tomasi can still come by to treat her. My great-granny is a world class healer, even in her ghostly form. And with all of the research from the coven library being brought there to keep it protected and for us to use, she’ll have plenty to occupy her recover time and she can stay actively involved. With her help, we might be able to locate things even faster.”

  Auggie popped straight up on the couch. “I knew it!” she roared, startling all of us out of our skins. “I knew my suspicions about the existence of supernaturals weren’t unfounded.”