Halloween Witch Cozy Mystery Ten Book Set

by Amelia Morgan

  “I wouldn’t say they are promising, but there’s still a few possibilities left to explore before I’m ready to close the book on this topic.”

  “Should I try to avoid getting my hopes up?”

  “I certainly would.”

  “So much for optimism,” Meg joked.

  “Let’s be honest. Going into this situation, you had to realize that the odds were stacked against you.”

  Meg nodded. “I definitely realized it was a longshot. At the same time, when you have magical powers, you don’t want to rule anything out until you know for sure.”

  “I agree,” Beth said. “Speaking of spells, I’m guessing you haven’t heard back from Pamela yet.”

  “Nope.”

  “Maybe she’ll have better news to share with you.”

  Meg crossed her fingers. “Here’s hoping.”

  Beth stared at the back of the bakery. “Enough about werewolf spells, though. I have some paperwork to do, so I should really get started on it.”

  “Actually, before you dive into that paperwork, I was wondering if you can cover the register for me,” Meg said.

  “Of course.”

  “Good. I’m going to take a little break.” Meg headed for the front door of the donut shop. “I’ll only be gone for a few minutes.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get Connor a little pick-me-up,” Meg said.

  Chapter Six

  When Meg left Enchanted Donuts, she headed over to the grocery store. Her fiancé loved soft caramels. In fact, he couldn’t get enough of them. Which was why he tried to limit how often he bought them. Connor found them to be addicting. To the point where he could rarely eat just one. So, the only way to truly keep himself from going overboard was to not have any bags of caramels around his house.

  During a stressful day like this, Meg figured that Connor could use a treat. Besides, since Meg was the one doing the buying, she could always just take a handful of caramels out of the bag and only give five pieces to Connor. That way, he could indulge without having to worry about going crazy.

  Since it was before noon on a weekday, the grocery store wasn’t very busy. Meg was in and out of the store in less than ten minutes. Her plan was to drive straight back to the donut shop and then meet up with Connor later in the day.

  Meg’s plans hit an unexpected snag in the parking lot of the grocery store, however. Much to her surprise, as she exited the grocery store and began walking back to her car, she spotted Isaac Forrester approaching her.

  Meg immediately tensed up. There was no telling what Isaac was going to say or do.

  “Hey, you’re the woman who is dating that scumbag detective,” Isaac said.

  It looked like Meg had plenty of reason to be worried. Talk about a lousy start to a conversation. The question became, would things go even further downhill from there?

  Meg really wanted to tell Isaac off. After all, who did Isaac think he was, calling Connor a scumbag? Not only was that ridiculously inaccurate, but it was also incredibly rude.

  At the same time, trying to talk about manners with an ex-convict seemed like a total waste of time. In addition, doing so would probably only inflame Isaac even more. So, Meg tried to put a quick end to this discussion.

  “Why don’t you leave me alone?” Meg asked.

  Isaac didn’t back down, however. Instead, he went after Meg again. “You have seriously bad taste in men, you know that?”

  Once again, Meg restrained herself from firing back at Isaac. “Will you please just get out of my way?”

  “I’m telling you this for your own good,” Isaac said.

  Meg didn’t want to have to cast a spell to get rid of Isaac, but if push came to shove, she had an incantation ready. In the meantime, she made one more attempt to get Isaac to walk away peacefully.

  “I didn’t ask for your opinion. Nor do I care what you think. I just want you to leave,” Meg said.

  Unfortunately, Isaac didn’t let Meg go on her way. Instead, he kept badmouthing Connor. “Do you know what that vile boyfriend of yours did to me?”

  Meg couldn’t keep her feelings bottled up any longer. “Where do you get off thinking you can talk to me like that?”

  “The detective ruined my life. Do you know what it’s like going to jail?”

  “No. But then again, I’ve never broken the law.”

  “It’s hell. An experience like that can break a person. It can crush your soul.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because your boyfriend is the cause of all of my misery.”

  “You’re dead wrong. After what you did, you deserved to go to jail. In fact, you should still be behind bars.”

  “You have a lot of nerve, talking to me like that.”

  Meg took a few steps back. “You’re the one with the nerve. Now, leave me alone.”

  Isaac didn’t back away. Instead, he took a few steps forward.

  At that point, Meg feared that she would have no choice but to cast a spell to stop him.

  “I’m warning you. Don’t come any closer,” Meg said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because if you do, you’re going to regret it.”

  “Are you trying to scare me?” Isaac asked. “Because it isn’t going to work.”

  “For the last time, leave me alone,” Meg said.

  She then backed away again.

  “Where do you think you’re going? We’re not done here,” Isaac said.

  “Yes, we are,” she said.

  Meg nervously backed away again. She prayed that Isaac would finally just leave her be. But if he didn’t, she was ready with her spell.

  As Meg looked into Isaac’s eyes, it became pretty clear that he had no intention of just letting her go.

  It seemed like things were about to get ugly.

  So imagine Meg’s surprise when she heard a deep male voice speak up behind her.

  “Miss, is this man bothering you?” the voice said.

  Meg turned around and saw a burly man approaching her.

  “As a matter of fact, he is,” Meg said.

  The burly man stared Isaac down. “I’d walk away if I were you.”

  “This doesn’t concern you,” Isaac said.

  The burly man clenched his fists. “I’m only going to say this one more time. Walk away.”

  Isaac looked at the burly man, then at Meg. Isaac then let out a groan and turned around.

  After that, Isaac followed the burly man’s orders and walked away.

  Meg breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the burly man.

  “Thank you so much,” Meg said.

  “You’re welcome,” the burly man said. “It was my pleasure to help.”

  “I owe you one.”

  “It was really no problem. By the way, what was that guy’s problem?”

  “From what I can tell, he has a number of different problems,” Meg said.

  Chapter Seven

  A few minutes later, Meg drove back to the donut shop. Meanwhile, across town, Connor sat at his desk inside the police station. Even though there was a stack of paperwork in front of him, his eyes were glued to a nearby television. He wasn’t alone. Almost everyone at police headquarters was watching the news.

  There was a very specific reason for that. A local news crew had set up shop outside of Stockfield State Penitentiary. The crew was running a live feed of Josh Gilbertson being released from prison.

  The tall, brawny, oval-faced, forty-one-year-old ex-convict walked through the front gate of the penitentiary and stopped suddenly in the walkway. He then looked up at the sky and smiled wide as he took a deep breath.

  At that point, a reporter approached him and started asking him a series of questions. Josh didn’t answer any of them, however. Instead, Josh ignored the reporter and began walking toward a green sedan that was in the parking lot. Josh’s gray-haired sixty-eight-year-old mother was sitting in the driver’s-seat of the car.

  Josh
made his way to the passenger-side door of the sedan and got in the car. The green sedan then drove away.

  At that point, Connor turned away from the TV. Even though he knew that moment was coming, it still hit him on a guttural level.

  Connor’s friend, and fellow cop, Tim Blanchard, tried to say something comforting.

  “I know it’s a tough day for you, but hang in there,” Tim remarked.

  Connor let out a sigh, but he didn’t say a word.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Tim asked.

  “You know, when you join the police force, you agree to buy into the system. You have to trust that the judicial process will work correctly. You have to believe that it won’t let you down. But what if it does fail you? What do you do then?”

  “I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not a perfect system, but it’s the best one we’ve got.”

  “I know it isn’t perfect. At the same time, freeing Josh Gilbertson isn’t just a minor mistake. It’s insane.”

  “I realize that you hate it when people play devil’s advocate, but maybe Josh really is rehabilitated.”

  Connor scoffed. “Do you honestly believe he is a changed man?”

  Tim shook his head. “No.”

  “Me neither.”

  “He was able to convince the parole board that he was, though.”

  “The members of that board are fools. They should have never bought his story.”

  “I agree. But they did. And there’s nothing that we can do about it.”

  “I realize that. Why do you think I’m so upset?” Connor grimaced and then continued, “If I’m being brutally honest, I don’t think that Josh should have been eligible for parole in the first place.”

  “I’m right there with you,” Tim said. “It’s a shame they don’t let you make those decisions.”

  “It sure is.”

  “Unfortunately, all you can really do now is hope that Josh stays out of trouble.”

  Connor shook his head. “That isn’t the only thing I can do.”

  Tim squinted. “What are you talking about?”

  “When the system fails you, sometimes you need to take matters into your own eyes.”

  A look of concern came to Tim’s face. “I don’t like where this conversation is going.”

  Connor put his hand up. “Before you make any wild assumptions, I’m not going renegade like some crazy vigilante.”

  Tim breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s nice to hear.” His nose scrunched. “What are you suggesting then?”

  “Just paying Josh a visit and telling him that I will be keeping an eye on him. And warning him that if he runs afoul of the law, that I will lock him again in a hurry.”

  Tim grimaced. “I wouldn’t pay him a visit if I were you.”

  Connor threw out his arms. “Why not? It’s perfectly legal.”

  Tim nodded. “It is. But it’s not the legality of the situation that concerns me.”

  “What is it then?”

  “If anything, I think you should keep your distance. Being a cop is already hard enough without letting your emotions get in the way. In fact, when you let your personal feelings seep into your work, things can spiral out of control in a hurry.”

  “You don’t think I can keep a cool head?”

  “Frankly, I haven’t seen you this worked up in a long time. And you’re just standing here in the police department. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to keep an even keel if you were standing face to face with Josh.”

  “You’re right. That would be difficult.”

  “That’s why you’re better off just getting back to work,” Tim said.

  Connor took a deep breath. “That’s easier said than done.”

  Chapter Eight

  Connor did manage to get some paperwork done, but it was a real struggle.

  A few hours later, his work shift ended.

  After clocking out at work, he met up with his fiancé.

  Meg couldn’t wait to surprise Connor with a sweet treat.

  As expected, Connor was thrilled with Meg’s gift.

  In fact, Connor made quick work of one of the caramels that Meg gave him. He then gave his fiancé a big smile and said, “Thank you so much.”

  Meg’s eyebrows rose as she stared at Connor. “You certainly didn’t waste any time devouring that snack.”

  “You know I can’t control myself when it comes to caramels.”

  “Clearly.” Meg then reached into the bag and grabbed a caramel for herself. “Although, I don’t blame you. These things are absolutely delicious.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. And after the day I’ve had, they are also just the treat that I need.”

  “That’s what I figured. It’s not like life has done you any favors today.”

  “There’s an understatement for you,” Connor said.

  “But hey, maybe tomorrow will be better.”

  Connor stared off into the distance. “Maybe.”

  “Keep your chin up.”

  “I’m trying. I just can’t help but think about what a shame it is that no one you know has been able to find a spell that can help me.”

  Of all the things that Connor could have been disappointed about right then, his biggest concern was the fact that no werewolf cure had been discovered yet. The crazy thing was that Meg hadn’t originally planned on giving her fiancé an update about that topic until she was able to do more research. But the moment that Connor met up with Meg, he was desperate to hear the latest news. And Connor was a very persistent man. So, rather than being evasive, Meg told him the truth.

  “I’m surprised that you’re focused on spells at a time like this,” Meg said. “Given the fact that Josh Gilbertson was freed just a few hours ago.”

  “I’ve spent enough time today thinking about Josh,” Connor said. “Honestly, I did very little else this entire afternoon. So, after feeling frustrated all day, I was really hoping that you’d have some good news for me.”

  “I certainly understand where you’re coming from. And I’m sorry that I don’t have better news for you. On the flip side, I warned you yesterday that the chances were slim of there being a spell that could help you.”

  “You did. Which is why I probably shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. But what can I say? I still got excited anyway.”

  “It’s definitely easy to get ahead of yourself,” Meg said. “Going forward, I would temper your expectations.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “I know it won’t be easy, but it’s for the best.”

  Connor took a deep breath and then changed the subject. “Enough about me, though. How was your day?”

  Meg bit the corner of her lip. “Now that you mention it, there’s something I forgot to tell you earlier.”

  “What is it?”

  “I had a run-in with Isaac Forrester outside the grocery store today.”

  “When you say a run-in, what do you mean exactly?”

  “He came up to me in the parking lot and started chewing me out.”

  Connor’s eyebrows rose. “No way.”

  “Oh yeah,” Meg said. “And let me tell you, he had a lot of terrible things to say about you.”

  “I imagine.”

  “He definitely seems like he has a screw loose.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” Connor said. “He didn’t get violent or anything, did he?”

  Meg shook her head. “No. Although, if the conversation continued, he might have.”

  Connor clenched his fists. “I can’t believe he just went up to you at random like that. That scumbag has a lot of nerve.”

  “If I were you, I would definitely keep an eye out for him.”

  “I’m going to do much more than that. Tomorrow, I’m going to pay him a visit.”

  “Good,” Meg said.

  Connor gritted his teeth and stared out into the distance.

  Meg then decided to switch gears. “Anyway, with those unpleasant topics out of the way, let’s t
alk about tonight.”

  Connor grimaced. “I’m afraid there isn’t much to talk about.”

  “Look. I know you’ve had a bad day, but that doesn’t mean that things can’t turn around for us,” Meg said. “I thought we could grab some dinner at Giuseppe’s. Then we can see a movie.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. That sounds like a good plan…for another night.”

  Meg squinted. “Why not tonight?”

  Connor looked up at the sky. “There’s going to be a full moon this evening.”

  “Oh,” Meg said. “I didn’t realize that.”

  “Why would you? It’s not like you have a reason to keep track of lunar cycles.”

  Meg chuckled. “I certainly don’t.”

  “Meanwhile, keeping an eye out for a full moon is just part of being a werewolf.”

  “It sure is,” Meg said. “Anyway, forget about the dinner and a movie. You have alternate plans tonight.”

  “I certainly do. Unfortunately, my itinerary is anything but fun. Speaking of which, I should probably head home. I need to lock myself in my cage before the transformation begins,” he said.

  Connor leaned in and gave Meg a kiss.

  “Love you,” he said.

  “Right back at you,” she replied.

  “Have a good night,” he said.

  As Connor began to walk away, Meg put her hand up.

  “Actually, I have one more question to ask you before you go,” she said.

  He threw out his arms. “What is it?”

  “This is probably going to sound really weird, but can I watch?”

  His nose scrunched. “What?”

  “The transformation. Can I watch?”

  “Are you serious?”

  Meg bit the corner of her lip. “Yes.”

  “Meg, I have to warn you, it’s not a pretty sight.”

  “I imagine it isn’t. But you know me. I have an insatiable curiosity.”

  “I can’t argue with that.”

  “So, is that a yes?”

  Connor went silent. He carefully considered his answer for a number of seconds.

  Chapter Nine

  Connor arrived at his house shortly before nightfall. He immediately went into his basement. Meg followed right behind him.