Witch You Wouldn't Believe (Lemon Tea Cozy Mysteries Book 1)

by Lucy May

  She turned the coffee cup in her hand. “Violet, I know.”

  I drank my coffee. “Good. What do you think you’ll do?”

  She shook her head. “No. I mean, I know,” she repeated, stressing the word.

  I stopped the cup midway to my mouth. “You know?”

  Daphne glanced around the semi-empty coffee shop. “My mom told me that your mom told you.”

  I felt like we were speaking in code, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t have the patience to try and keep it up. Not today. Not on a day I was barely able to keep my eyes open as it was.

  “What are you talking about Daphne?”

  “The witch thing. The fact that we’re witches,” she whispered.

  “Oh.” At a loss, all I could manage with that single syllable.

  “I was shocked, too. I mean, witches! I thought that stuff was only in books. I didn’t believe her at first, but it didn’t take long for it all to make sense. Things that had happened when we were little all started to add up. I’m still kinda mad she didn’t tell me sooner, but I understand why.”

  I found myself nodding my head. “Yes!” I enthusiastically agreed. “So many things could have been explained if we’d known the truth. I guess part of me is glad I didn’t know, but the other part of me hates that I didn’t know sooner.”

  “Pretty crazy, though, huh?”

  “It is. So, are you going to tell me why you’re back here? I have time.”

  Daphne rubbed her face with her hands. “Ugh, well, the fact is I had nowhere else to go.”

  My heart went out to her as tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I understand.”

  She wiped her eyes and shook her head before taking a sip of coffee. “No, it’s fine. My husband is a cheating jerk. I came home from work early one day and caught him in bed with another woman.”

  “Oh no, I’m sorry.”

  She started laughing, but it was a bit of a maniacal sound. “It wasn’t the first time. That’s how pathetic I am. I caught him twice before. I don’t even want to know how many others there were that I didn’t catch him with.”

  “That’s terrible. I’m sorry, but it sounds like you’re better off without him.”

  “I agree. Mom is letting me crash with her until I can get on my feet, again. I feel like such a child having to run home to mommy.”

  “That’s what moms are for.”

  “Enough about me,” she waved a hand through the air. “Rumor has it you and Gabriel have been hooking up.”

  My eyes practically popped out of my head. “What? No! Hooking up? Who said that?”

  She was giggling, “You know how much our mothers gossip.”

  “Lila more like it,” I grumbled.

  “She has definitely been fueling the fire, but it’s all of them. I think they sit around talking about us all the time.”

  “Probably. I guess it’s better than casting spells and giving poor unsuspecting women acne,” I joked.

  “Oh my gosh, she told you about that! Isn’t that funny. Coral ruined it for us. Just think what we could have done to Gretchen!” she grinned.

  “Ugh, I would have put a giant wart on her nose if I could have. She would have deserved it.”

  “Okay, let’s get back to Gabriel. I’ve seen him around a few times. He’s hot. What’s the deal there?”

  I shrugged, not sure how to answer the question. I was starting to really like him, but he lived here and I lived two hours away. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to try a long-distance relationship.

  “I don’t know. We’ve been out a couple of times, and we seem to click. It’s weird. I’ve never really experienced that with anyone before,” I admitted.

  She was smiling and nodding, “You like him.”

  “I do.”

  “Good, then stay.”

  “What?”

  “Stay here. God knows, this town could use a bakery. You could open a bakery here and stay. You could have your cake and eat it too,” she grinned. “Get it. Have your cake and eat it too, Gabriel is the too.”

  I had to laugh at that. “Cute, but I can’t just pull up stakes and start a whole new bakery. It takes money, equipment, I’d need a building and so on. It took me years to get my bakery established and running at a profit.”

  “I’ll help. I have a feeling Gabriel would too. Your mom, my mom and the others. We’re your family. Come home, Violet,” she said softly.

  I shook my head, but inside, she had planted a seed. I already had a place to live, mortgage free, which would mean I wouldn’t be too financially dependent on the bakery turning a profit the first few months.

  “I don’t know, Daphne. It’s a lot to think about. Gabriel and I have spent very little time together, really. I’m not ready to move here to be with a man I don’t even know that well. There may not even be a future for us.”

  “You won’t know unless you try.”

  “What if, you know,” I said, bobbing my head.

  “I know what?”

  “The witch thing. What if he finds out and wants nothing to do with me?”

  That seemed to take the wind out of her sails. She leaned back in her chair. “Oh.”

  “Exactly.”

  “His mom was a witch. It isn’t like he isn’t familiar with the whole thing. I don’t think he’d run scared. Give him a chance.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, my focus is on this investigation,” I said, steering the conversation back to a much safer topic.

  She whistled low. “What a mess.”

  “Daphne, can I tell you something?”

  “Sure, you used to tell me everything.”

  “You can’t tell your mom,” I said, looking her straight in the eye.

  “I won’t, but you are kind of freaking me out. What’s going on?”

  I took a deep breath and hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. “Did you know your mom and the others have been going to the old lemon tea factory in the middle of the night?”

  “What? Why would they do that?”

  “I don’t know. My mom, Lila and Coral were also making midnight visits. I found some tapes in the factory. I stayed up last night watching the surveillance tapes and saw it with my own two eyes.”

  “Where did you get surveillance tapes?” she asked, confusion all over her face.

  “The supernatural investigators set up cameras all over the place. For whatever reason they left a box of tapes behind. Gabriel and I found them and I took them home.”

  “Why didn’t you turn them over to the sheriff?”

  I looked at her.

  “Oh,” she said with realization.

  “Exactly. My mom is already under suspicion. What if she or one of the others did it?” I hissed.

  “No way. None of them could hurt anyone. You know that.”

  “I thought I did, but I also didn’t know I was a witch or that any of them were. My mom has told me repeatedly she would do whatever it took to protect the coven. What if she killed that man to keep him from exposing her?”

  Daphne was shaking her head. “No way. I don’t believe that for a second. There is no way she would ever do that. Why would she? I mean, if all of them are witches, couldn’t they cast a spell or something and make the guy forget what he saw?”

  That was a good point and one I hadn’t thought of. “Good point.”

  “Did you see anything else on the tapes? I mean is there anything truly incriminating? Watching them come and go doesn’t mean they actually murdered him.”

  “No, I didn’t. I still have several more to go through. I’m almost afraid of what I’ll see. What if I find out she did or Lila did something? I don’t know if I could turn them in. I can’t do that.”

  “Don’t worry about what hasn’t happened. Watch the rest of the tapes before you assume anything. Have you asked your mom about it?”

  I rubbed my face, the caffein
e burst was already wearing off. “No. I was up late last night and haven’t had a chance to talk to her today.”

  “I can’t tell you what to do, but if I were you, I’d finish watching those tapes before you confront her. Maybe instead of proving her guilt, you’ll prove her innocence. Look for the positive instead of focusing on the negative,” Daphne said with a bright smile.

  Insert eye roll. “Since when did you become a Pollyanna?”

  “Since I realized life is only as bad as you let it be. I’ve seen a lot of bad in my life and I don’t want to anymore. Unless it is straight-up, horrible, I’m not going to see the bad anymore,” she said as if believing it would make it so.

  “It’s worth a shot. I’ll go home and watch the tapes and hope for the best. I just hope Harold stops focusing so much on my mom.”

  She checked her watch. “I have to get to work. I’ll catch up with you this weekend. You’ll still be around I hope?”

  “I don’t know for sure. I’m going to talk to Harold, I mean Sheriff Smith, and see where he’s at. I don’t feel like I’m actually doing anything. It seems silly for me to hang out indefinitely.”

  She stood and looked down at me. “I think you’re doing something, you just don’t know it yet.”

  I watched as she walked out of the shop before getting up and making my way back to my car. Daphne was right. I needed to quit being so negative. My trip to Lemon Bliss wasn’t all that bad. I had met Gabriel. I learned I was a witch. Which I couldn’t quite believe.

  It wasn’t all bad. Now, I just had to prove my mother was innocent of murder. How hard could that be?

  Chapter 14

  I was dreading the phone call I had to make. Tara had probably given up on me. I certainly felt like I had abandoned her.

  Once I was home, oddly enough I referred to my grandmother’s house as home now, I called her.

  “Hi,” I said sheepishly.

  She was quiet at first. “Hey, there. I’m going to forget what you look like.”

  “I know. I suck. I’m a horrible boss and friend. I’ve completely left you in the lurch.”

  “It’s really okay. I did hire another employee though. I couldn’t keep doing the long days by myself,” she said, but I didn’t hear irritation in her voice.

  “Good. I’m glad. We’ve been talking about doing that forever. I’m so sorry. This is all such a mess.”

  “I understand. You can’t exactly control how fast the police work.”

  I scoffed. “I wish. Slow isn’t even the word for it. It isn’t like this place is rife with crime, but this is a suspicious death, so it’s kinda news around here. The sheriff seems intent on taking his time. I’m worried about leaving until he resolves this,” I explained.

  “Should I be worried?” she asked.

  “No! Definitely not. I’ll figure something out. I’ll drive up on Monday, even if I have to come back that night, but I will be there.”

  “Sounds good. So, what else have you been up to in Lemon Bliss, Louisiana? I just love saying that name.”

  I giggled, happy to hear she wasn’t upset with me. “Not a lot. I snuck into the factory and stole some surveillance tapes. I watched a bunch until way late last night, and I’m getting ready to watch the rest right now.”

  “You did what!” she shrieked. “Violet!”

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds. This place is very different. I don’t think I’ll get in the same kind of trouble I would if it was a real cop and a real investigation,” I joked.

  “Violet, the law is the law. Your sheriff may not be a big time cop, but I have a feeling he’d be upset if he knew you took evidence. You’re walking a dangerous line. That is so unlike you,” she added.

  It was unlike me, but I couldn’t exactly explain to her why it was so important I see the tapes. “I know. I guess I should probably turn them over.”

  “Yes, you should. Is that guy putting you up to this?”

  “Gabriel? No. I mean he was with me and he knows about the tapes, but I put him up to it, and he just kind of went along with it.”

  “Violet, please be careful. I know you say it’s a small town, but you are messing with serious stuff. Someone died in that factory. If you’re going to be headed off to prison, I need to know.”

  “I’m not. It will all be fine. Look, I need to go, but I’ll check in tomorrow and I will see you Monday, if not sooner,” I promised, knowing I had no business making promises I couldn’t keep.

  “Take care and stay out of trouble!”

  I laughed and hung up. She was right. Kind of. I would hand over the tapes, but I wanted to see for myself what was going on in the factory first. I was holding out hope that the investigators may have put up a new camera as the weeks went by. I was just as interested to see what my mother had been up to as the investigators were.

  After watching several more tapes and seeing nothing exciting or interesting, I started to feel guilty. I shouldn’t be watching the tapes. They were likely evidence in a murder case. I had no business playing amateur detective. Not to mention, they were boring as hell. There was nothing to see. Nothing, but static and dust. My eyes hurt from the strain of trying to see through the blackness. There was nothing there. Maybe the investigators thought they were capturing ghosts on film, but I saw nothing of the sort.

  I turned off the tape, looked in the box to see three more that were unwatched and shook my head. I couldn’t do it. The guilt felt like a boulder on my shoulders and I couldn’t fathom the idea of watching another minute of tape. I had seen my mother and her friends coming and going several more times, but it was always brief blips before they disappeared. Maybe that’s what the investigators were excited about. Could they have thought my mother and the other women literally disappeared?

  I grabbed my phone and called the sheriff’s office.

  “Is Sheriff Smith in?” I asked when his secretary answered.

  “Yes. Who’s calling?”

  “This is Violet Broussard. I really need to speak to him.”

  She put me on hold and I suddenly felt very nervous. He was likely going to be very angry. I’d discovered and withheld evidence. I had my defense prepared and readied myself for a long lecture and maybe even a night in jail. I really hoped it didn’t come to that, but I had done something pretty bad.

  “Miss Broussard, what can I do for you?” his deep voice came on the line.

  I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. “I have some video tapes I think you may be interested in.”

  “What kind of video tapes?”

  “Uh, they are videos from surveillance cameras that are or were set up in the factory.”

  “I thought you didn’t have security out there?” he asked, suspicion in his voice.

  “I don’t.”

  “I see. So, where did you get these tapes?”

  I hesitated. I was giving him the tapes, so I didn’t need to give away my part in procuring the tapes. “I found them. Do you want them?”

  “If they are related to my investigation, of course I want them. Can you bring them down now?”

  I checked the time. “Yes, I’ll be right down to drop them off,” I stated, making sure he knew I wasn’t going to sit through an interrogation. He was getting the tapes. That would have to be enough.

  I took the box out to the car and made my way to the sheriff’s department.

  He was waiting for me and looked none too pleased. “Huh, look at that. A whole box of video tapes.”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s on them?”

  I considered denying I watched them, but had a feeling that would be futile. “Nothing that I saw.”

  “What did you see?”

  “Nothing exciting. A lot of dust. A few shadows here and there,” I lied.

  “I assume these are from cameras that those investigators set up?”

  “Yes. They look to be motion activated,” I explained.

  “And you just stumbled upon them?”

&nbs
p; I looked down at my feet. “Basically.”

  “Were they in your grandmother’s house?” he asked.

  That was an option, but if I said that, I would be incriminating my mother. “No.”

  “I see.”

  I took a deep breath and met his eyes. “I’m going to go now.”

  I half-expected him to stop me. Slap handcuffs on me and toss me in some dark, dank cell where I would only be served bread and water before I was found out to be a witch and burned to death. Yes, I had an active imagination. I needed to sleep. My brain was mush.

  “All right, thank you for doing the right thing, even if you did the wrong thing. I’ll take a look. You know the drill; stick around in case I have any more questions.”

  I groaned. “Sheriff Smith, is that really necessary?”

  “Yes, and unless you would like me to remind you that breaking into an active crime scene is illegal and stealing evidence is also illegal, I suggest you cool your jets and stick around town,” he lectured.

  “Of course, I understand,” I replied, keeping my annoyance to myself.

  Leaving the police station, I returned to my car. I knew I wasn’t leaving Lemon Bliss, but it was still frustrating being told I needed to stick around. I needed to start thinking beyond the next day and get some food in the house.

  Aiming my car to the small grocery store, I scanned the parking lot before getting out of the car. I wanted to get in and out, unnoticed if it all possible.

  Instead of the little carry basket, I grabbed an actual cart. It was then I realized I was starving and craving a good, hot meal. The only problem was, I didn’t cook. I baked, but cooking meals was not my thing. I could make cakes and pastries all day, but my cooking skills were basic. I’d never found it quite as fun as baking.

  I pushed my cart to the freezer section and picked out a few frozen meals along with a few other quick meals. By the time I made it to the produce section, I realized my cart was close to full. Mother would tell me this is why a woman should never go grocery shopping when she was hungry or tired.

  “My mom always told me the produce section was a great place to meet women,” a husky, familiar voice cut through my perusal of the fruit section.