by Tonya Kappes
“It’s a witch hunt!” Auntie Meme’s eyes beamed a bright yellow light straight out the bullet hole that was in the window above the sink. They joined hands.
“Maggie,” Mom stuck her hand out for me to take on the left and Lilith was on the right as they hovered over Mick and me.
“Come on!” I grabbed Mick by the arm. “Mom, protect the house!” I screamed on my way out the door. The gate to the back yard was open and slightly swinging as if someone had smacked it open to run out.
Vinnie was ready and waiting in the alley behind the house.
“Maggie, you need to stop.” Mick looked over Vinnie’s hood as he stood on the passenger side. “We need to call SKUL.”
“We need to catch that person!” I slid in the driver’s seat. Mick looked in the open passenger door at me. “Either you are coming or not.”
“I’m coming.” He jumped in and Vinnie slammed his door. “I’m going to have to get used to that.”
“Hold on,” Vinnie’s wheels squealed. His engine roared before it died. “Maggie, I have some unfortunate news.”
“We don’t have time for unfortunate news. Go!” I pointed to the alley.
When nothing happened, I flipped the manual switch and tried to start Vinnie. Nothing happened. I tried a second time. Nothing.
I flipped the switch back on to Vinnie. His circuit was dim.
“Vinnie, what’s happened?” I asked and punched in a few buttons.
“That person tampered with my gas tank,” Vinnie’s voice was faint. “I tried to warn you.”
“The beeping while we were eating dinner,” Mick reminded me.
My chin dropped to my chest, my hands dropped in my lap.
“I thought he was trying to stop me and you from talking. He gets jealous sometimes.” My words were a mere whisper.
“We need to call Burt,” Mick suggested. “We don’t know if they were here to kill me or you.”
“Or both.” I opened the door and got out. I waited by the garage door for Mick and when he didn’t get out, I peered down into the car. I tapped on his window. “You coming?”
He opened the door.
“I guess I was waiting for the door to open on its own.” He got out. “But I guess if Vinnie is dead he can’t open it.”
“He’s not dead.” I corrected him. “They did something with his tank he said.”
Mick and I made our way around to the gas tank. Mick bent down and smelled the tank.
“They’ve put sugar in it.” He stood back up and put the lid back on the tank opening. “You are going to need a mechanic to flush out his system.”
Those were words I didn’t need to hear. The only person who could work on Vinnie was Abram Callahan and I hadn’t talked to him since I cut him out of our witchy world when I put the memory spell on him after he’d kind of fallen in love with me and wanted more than I did.
At the time, Mom and Auntie Meme would’ve wanted me to date and marry Abram, but that was before my Life’s Journey was discovered. Now they seemed to be on the Mick Jasper band wagon.
“We have to call Burt to come and make this a crime scene.” Mick’s words stung me to my core right as a flash of lightning crossed the sky.
“We have worked so hard to keep our identity secret.” I knew that Mom and Auntie Meme were going to have a fit when Burt and the SKUL agents showed up along with the police. And I was pretty sure they were the ones who’d caused the change in the weather pattern that seemed to be developing overhead.
“I’m sorry, Maggie, but you should’ve thought about what it meant to be a SKUL agent when you agreed to this Life’s Journey.” Mick pretended to act like he knew what he was saying.
“It’s not something I chose.” Anger began to boil in me, as if I’d really chosen to put my family in danger. I stalked back to the house and didn’t turn around when I didn’t hear Mick following me.
With my hand on the handle of the back door, I glanced over my shoulder. Darkness had settled over Belgravia Court and the light of the moon dotted the ground as the leaves on the trees shifted from a howling wind. Mick was on his phone, no doubt with Burt.
“Everything needs to be in order,” I instructed Mom, Lilith, and Auntie Meme when I walked in.
They were still hovering over the kitchen table with their legs crossed and holding hands in a circle.
“I said that we have to go back to normal!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“We are doing normal.” Auntie Meme opened one eye and shifted it at me.
“I mean mortal normal,” I said and waited for them to float down.
When nothing happened, I stomped my foot on the ground and clapped my hands.
“Now! The police will be here any minute. And you are right. If they see the three of you dangling in the air, then they will have a witch hunt out for us.” There was no time to dilly-dally.
The three of them dropped hands, uncrossed their legs and floated down next to me.
“That person was trying to kill me or Mick.” I gestured between the door and me. I looked between my two elders. “That’s what happens when you go and try to play match maker with a mortal. We are not a couple. Get that through that red head of yours.” I pointed directly at Auntie Meme.
She lifted her hand and pushed my finger to the side. “Don’t you dare point that thing at me.”
I took a step back. Even though I was in charge of my Life’s Journey, Auntie Meme was not only my guardian, but she was an elder who was to be respected.
“I’m sorry, but we are not playing around here. Someone followed either myself here or Mick. They put sugar in Vinnie’s tank and he is not working. Mick is out there calling SKUL who will in no time,” there was a knock on the front door, “as in now, they are here.”
I sucked in a deep breath. I looked between the three of them.
“Change your clothes. Be mortal normal. And you do not know that I work for SKUL. Got it?” My stern voice hopefully told them I was serious, but with these three, you never knew.
I walked down the winter wonderland hall and my gut wrenched. It took everything I had not to snap my fingers and make the old Victorian go back to no decorations, but I resisted.
“Burt, I’m so glad you are here.” Burt and Sherry along with a few other agents I didn’t know and a couple of police officers stood on the other side. I swung the door open for them to come on in.
“Merry Christmas?” Burt asked after he stepped in the foyer.
“Our house is entered into the Belgravia Court Historic Homes Christmas Tour and my mom wanted to get a jump on the decorating.” I shut the door behind them after they all made it into the house. “Straight down the hall is the kitchen. Everyone is in there.”
I followed them and noticed them looking around at the decorations. Thank goodness Mom, Lilith, and Auntie Meme were dressed in normal clothing.
“Tea anyone?” Mom turned around with a tray that had a tea pot and tea cups neatly placed on it.
“Tea cakes?” Auntie twisted behind her with a tray of pastries.
“I have nothing to offer.” Lilith smiled. “I’m Maggie’s sister, Lilith.”
“All of you seem awfully calm for people who were just in the line of fire,” Burt said, looking around.
“Take two.” Auntie Meme winked at Sherry. “You could put on a couple pounds.”
Sherry smiled. “I have missed your cooking.”
“You can come back to work anytime.” Auntie Meme had put a spell on Sherry while she worked there while I took Sherry’s undercover position a couple months ago.
Auntie had made Sherry the perfect worker. She made Sherry into her mini-Meme.
“Sir.” A police officer stepped inside with Mick on his heels.
Mick’s eyes met mine. There was a fear in his eyes that I’d never seen before. He’d always been strong, full of confidence and a protector. That was not what I saw.
The officer handed Burt something. Burt looked at them and then
walked over to me.
“I guess we know who they were here to kill.” Burt handed me the photos the police officer had handed him.
As I looked at the photos taken of myself at The Brew, SKUL headquarters in the area that looked like the dental office, and The Derby.
“How on Earth have you been followed and we not know?” Auntie Meme’s pleasant pastry voice had quickly been replaced by a concerned guardian.
Mom swung her arms in front of her, making everyone around us freeze. Everyone but Mick.
“Whoa,” Mick’s mouth dropped. “I don’t think that was a good idea.”
“I think it was just fine, young man.” Mom darted the look to Mick. He took a step back and realized he’d be best to keep out of it.
“Young lady, this means that Vinnie didn’t feel fear.” Auntie Meme’s eyes haunted me. “That makes me wonder if this person is someone you know. The both of you know.” She wiggled a finger at me and one at Mick.
“If Vinnie knew this person and didn’t feel fear, then when the person came to the house, Vinnie didn’t make noise until the person started messing with his gas tank. That’s why he only had time to beep a few times.” I noted how Vinnie had beeped a few times while we were eating.
“Who could it be?” Lilith asked. “This is just too close to home.”
“Can’t you just do that snapping thing?” Mick asked.
“I told you that it didn’t work that way.” I knew he was having a hard time understanding the witchy ways and it was going to take time.
“We don’t have the ability to know all. We are invested in our Life’s Journey and sort of experts on that. Maggie found SKUL because she is good at putting basic clues together since she had a strange ability to do that, but she can’t stop fate. Or just say hello, tell me who is after me.” Mom did her best to explain to Mick but I could see the confusion on his face.
“This isn’t like the movies. Look at it like this, we are able to do small spells on a small scale. Or things to help keep us safe in our Life’s Journey. We have tools to use in our jobs like. . .” I tried to think of the right word, “An electrician. Or an officer in the army.”
“But you can’t figure out who was here?” he asked again.
“No.” I finally had to say, “I will leave the hard investigative work to you, while I do the citizen witchy work Burt has hired me to do. Now, can you please make things go back to normal?”
Mom swept her arms around in a circle.
“Have you noticed anyone following you?” Burt asked as he came back to life, not skipping a beat from being momentarily frozen.
“No.” It wasn’t that I’d not noticed, it was that Vinnie hadn’t warned me and I relied on him to keep me safe. I lifted my hand to my necklace. “Well,” I thought back for a minute. “You know, I have seen a person with a hat and long black coat at all of those places.”
“You didn’t tell us?” Sherry asked.
“I didn’t see why it was important to this case.” I gulped. “And I saw a shadow of the hat right before the gun shots.”
“Where was this shadow?” Burt asked.
“From the window.” I pointed to the window over the kitchen sink.
“I mean all the places you’ve seen this hatted person.” Burt encouraged me.
“I saw him at The Brew one morning a few days ago and before you even hired me for the job.” My mouth dropped when I realized the person had following me since the other women had been killed. “And I saw the person at the St. James Art Festival after we’d just gotten done talking with Angela Fritz.”
“And you were with Mick there, right?” Sherry asked.
I nodded my head. It had to be the killer.
“I’m sure if we can find the hatted person, we will have our killer.” Sherry took the lead. “Think about it. Mick has been seen with Maggie on a few occasions. He’s been to the diner to eat. He’s been here. He was with her the day of the art festival where the person obviously checked in how Mick knew Angela. The person killed Angela while she’s in town and now he’s going to try to get to Maggie.”
“So wherever Maggie will be, they will be trying to kill her.” Mick finished Sherry’s sentence making me a tad bit jealous since she was his actual partner on a regular basis and I was just on an as-needed citizen basis.
“We need to get all the video footage at The Brew.” Burt turned to Auntie Meme.
“We don’t have a security camera.” Auntie Meme eyed Burt, knowing it was very unusual that she didn’t have it since most insurance companies did require it of establishments.
“And your insurance company allows that?” Burt questioned.
“We have to look into it for our new policy,” Mom said knowing that Auntie wasn’t going to really understand what he was saying. “We are actually meeting with the insurance company next week to go over our policy.”
“Look into surrounding businesses around The Brew as well as get footage from The Derby and ask on social media for any photos that might’ve been taken at the festival.” The officer wrote down everything Burt was saying.
“We came as fast as our brooms could fly us.” Glinda rushed through the door with the other ladies in the Spell Circle. They stopped when they noticed we had company. “Gentleman. Sherry.”
“Um. . .” Sherry looked between the women dressed in their witch’s clothes. “Do I know you?”
“Why, honey, we are the ones who put that. . .” Charmary started to say, but I stopped her.
“They come to the diner on a regular basis and you waited on them while I was unable to work that time a few months back.” I was proud of myself for thinking quick on my feet.
“Oh yes.” Sherry played off a good lie that she had no idea she was part of. She did a good job acting like she really did remember them. Only in truth, they’d put her in a levitation state and she floated above the couch for a long time. That was until Mrs. Hubbard showed up, which reminded me that Mrs. Hubbard was probably all over those binoculars in her front room trying to get a glimpse of what was going on over here.
I was a little shocked that she’d not scurried over to find out for herself.
“Sir, these are Auntie Meme’s book club members.” Mick did the formal introductions as Auntie beamed with pride. “They are reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe for book club and they love to play the part,” he whispered to Burt as if he didn’t want to hurt their feelings by talking about their appearance.
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “Doesn’t every book club dress up?”
Burt eye-balled each of them before he went back to the investigation. “If you don’t mind taking your book club somewhere else. This is the middle of a crime scene.”
Auntie Meme gathered the ladies and escorted them to the basement where I was sure they were going to make a protective spell over the house.
Chapter Twenty-One
“We could’ve done all of that in five minutes,” Glinda lifted a brow talking about the two hours that it took the police and the SKUL agents to comb the house and the back yard including Vinnie.
I was a little thankful Vinnie wasn’t charged to speaking because I’m not sure he’d have been so open to people putting fingerprint powder all over his shiny coat and chrome wheel. He took pride in keeping himself clean and he was pitiful sitting in the garage.
The police had released our house back to us and it was business as usual. Mom was back to fretting over her decorations and scouring Pinterest for designs. Her problem was that she loved everything she saw and wanted to make the house look like Santa had vomited all the decorations he’d ever seen in our house in one night. I encouraged her to pick one specific theme and stick to it.
“At least we got a lot of protection spells complete for all the other covens.” Flora nodded, holding on to her pointy hat as it teetered back and forth on her head.
When the Spell Circle had emerged, Mom needed their help to get her herbs together for smudge bundles for other covens a
s well as her herbs ready for the diner. She had them laid out all over the family room. Everyone had a hand in putting them together including the Spell Circle.
“If you’ll excuse me.” I stood up from the table and wondered about Mick. He said that he’d see me in the morning at The Brew for an early cup of coffee.
“Where are you going?” Lilith asked.
“I’m going to visit Mrs. Hubbard.” I saw Auntie glance up at me. I’d yet to go snoop and it was time I did so. Plus, I wanted to stop any sort of gossip that she might’ve concocted in her head because I’m about one hundred percent sure that there was no way she’d come up with a tale that someone had been following me and tried to kill me tonight.
“I’m going with you.” Lilith jumped up and grabbed her jacket off the hook from the coat tree that Auntie Meme had also strung blue twinkle lights on. There wasn’t a space in the foyer that wasn’t covered in twinkle or glitter.
“We won’t be long.” I grabbed my coat and shut the door behind me. “She looking?” I asked as we walked across the green.
“Mmhmmm.” Lilith knew that Mom was on edge.
Even though the killer was more than likely long gone, but I could tell that Mom wanted us to stay home. On a normal night, I’d probably have gone to bed or gotten a drink at The Derby with Lilith, but not tonight.
Going to see Mrs. Hubbard seemed to be uneventful and just across the green. The gas lights dotted along the walkway and lit up the green pretty well underneath the dark sky. Mom had called off Mother Nature and the rain had stopped, but the winds were still whipping letting us know that winter was on the heels of autumn.
King greeted us before we’d even made it to the door. We stepped up on the top step and Mrs. Hubbard flung her door open. Her hair was covered in a hair net that covered all the pink curlers around her head. She had on her usual black pants and a white cardigan with her pearls hung around her neck and studs stuck in her ear lobes.
“I was about to get ready for bed.” She looked between Lilith and me. There were perfect circles around her eyes that just so happened to be the same sized circles on the lens of binoculars. “But I guess you can come in for a bit of cake.”