Poison and Pinot (A Paranormal Cozy Mystery) (California Witching Book 2)

by Samantha Silver

  Callie blinked. "I've heard, yes, she always had a knack for reaching out and putting her money where her mouth was. She was just so generous.” I wanted to gag at how sickly-sweet Callie sounded right now.

  Clearing her throat, Karen took another step forward just as Callie went to turn toward her car again.

  "We also had a chance to look through her things to make sure there wasn't anything in there we could use, like an epi-pen, or some medication. We didn't really know what had happened to her. Taylor here made a pretty interesting find though, right?" she nudged me.

  I quickly nodded. "There was a letter in her purse that looks to be from you addressed to her. With some pretty threatening words in it about her resigning from the school board."

  Callie's mouth parted slightly, the muscles in her throat moving frantically as she swallowed. The blood drained from her rosy cheeks all at once. "Oh? And, um, I don't suppose you know what happened to this letter? Is this now considered some sort of arbitrary evidence against me?"

  "Well, obviously—"

  "—we have it," Karen finished, raising a brow at me. "We took it because we wanted to talk to you about it. But, if you're not honest with us, and believe me, I'll know if you're lying, we'll hand it over to the police, I guarantee it."

  Callie blanched, half-way between nervousness and outright rage. Her head shook slightly on her shoulders, her mouth opening and closing, giving her a real fish-like look.

  "I-I. Well, that's just..."

  I tilted my head to the side. "Karen, didn't you say we had to stop by the police department anyway? To finish giving them our statements?" I scratched at my chin, trying not to feel so guilty for lying.

  Callie just huffed, running her hands back over her coat, all pretenses gone. "Fine. What do you want to know? I didn't kill her, if that's what you're asking me."

  My eyebrows rose at the immediate about-face, but I supposed Callie must have thought she had no other options.

  "Why did you write it? Those were pretty threatening things to say to someone who's supposedly your close friend," Karen asked, using air quotes.

  "I had a couple of glasses of bourbon one night. And I made a mistake in thinking that I should voice my opinion of how she ran our latest meeting, that's all." Her gaze dropped to the ground. "I immediately regretted it the moment I sent it to her. It was childish, but I was angry."

  "About?" I asked.

  "She had this big idea to refurbish Rosemary Creek's schools and their playgrounds. Wanting to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer's dollars on something like that without asking for much help from the state. It was all money-related. Lisa had plenty of it, and she had no problem flaunting that in front of the rest of our faces. She’d always say things like “Oh, I don’t mind chipping in,” or “Why don’t we raise half of it and I’ll simply pay for the other half myself?” Callie imitated in a mockingly high-pitched tone. Her lip curled. "She always did things like that."

  Karen sucked in air between her teeth, shaking her head at her. "Wow. How dare she want to actually use her money for good, am I right?"

  That took the wind from Callie's sails. The tense defensiveness in her shoulders slumped, and she looked down at the ground with seemingly genuine sadness. "I know. I’ve always been very jealous of Lisa. I know she's done a lot for the community, and I know that includes the animal shelter. It was stupid to send the letter and I wish I could take it back."

  I remembered one of the lines from the letter and wondered what it could have meant. "You mentioned something about Lisa's daughter in the letter. Want to tell us what that was all about?"

  Callie just waved a hand in reply. "It really wasn't anything. It was just me trying to poke at a raw spot for Lisa." Callie leaned in, looking over her shoulder at the couple that had just passed by us. "Our kids have always been somewhat academically competitive, if you will. My son is the same age as Jeannette, her oldest daughter, and my daughter is the same age as Gabrielle, her youngest daughter. Apparently, the word is that Jeannette was just expelled from Stanford and no one knows why. Lisa was absolutely livid about it." She shook her head, straightening herself back up. "The two of them were known to butt heads. I've even heard Jeannette scream how much she hates Lisa in the middle of the neighborhood."

  There was silence for a moment as I processed what Callie had just told us. Daughters and mothers fought, of course. But to the point where they had a screaming match in the middle of the street? I made a mental note to look into Jeanette Lim a little bit more.

  "Is that it? Are we done here?" Callie asked after neither one of us said anything for a moment.

  Karen placed a hand on her hip. "I don't suppose you have an alibi for yesterday morning?"

  Callie shrugged. "I was at home by myself. My husband was out golfing, and the kids were visiting friends."

  I looked at Karen, wondering if we really were done, but then Callie turned away, adjusting the shoulder strap of her purse. She unlocked her car and stepped into the driver’s seat before Karen called out to her one more time. "By the way, Callie? The police do have the letter. You might want to look into your alibi a little better than that."

  Callie's glance at us was sharp as she closed the door and turned on the car, speeding away from us without another word.

  Chapter 9

  "You did not just do that."

  Karen simply shrugged her shoulders. "I just wanted her to know. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of lying, but I didn't think she would tell us everything she told us otherwise."

  I watched as Callie's black car faded out of view. "I wonder where she's going now."

  "Where who is going?" a deep, familiar voice said.

  My skin broke out in goosebumps, and this time, it had nothing to do with the wind.

  "Ken! We didn't see you there," I stammered, mentally going through a checklist to make sure I didn't look like some kind of homeless person. Jeans, sneakers, and my boring old jacket over an equally boring plain long-sleeved T-shirt. Yeah, I wasn't exactly red carpet material right now.

  Ken Leeman was a junior partner at James & Sons, the town's only law firm. He also happened to be tall, cute, and had this crazy ability to render me speechless each and every time we spoke.

  Karen smirked at me. "We were just talking with Callie Lansdowne. You know her, right, Ken?"

  "Yeah, I've seen her around. I don’t know her that well, though my mom’s always talking about her." I tried my very best not to notice how he seemed to have taken a step closer in my direction.

  "We were just having a little chat,” I said, throwing a smile his way that I hoped screamed “sexy” and not “serial killer”.

  "Did you hear about Lisa Lim?" Karen asked softly.

  The gorgeous smile slipped from Ken's face as he nodded, his eyebrows drawing close.

  "Yes, I did. She died yesterday morning, right?"

  "More like she was murdered yesterday morning," I replied, finally finding my voice and steadying it — nearly impossible to do, might I add, with Ken looking so intently right at me. "We found her at Gilly Mills when Karen was showing me the renovations they'd been working on inside."

  To his credit, Ken only looked more concerned, his voice low. "You found her? And you said she was murdered?"

  We both nodded.

  "I thought something weird was going on, and sure enough, the police told Portia, the owner, that there was evidence of foul play. The test results came back showing there was some kind of poison in her system. It makes sense, given how quickly it happened and how we found her," I replied, the words practically tumbling out of my mouth.

  "I'm sorry you two had to see that. Lisa was a really good person; it's hard to imagine anyone would want to hurt her," Ken said, shaking his head sadly. Glancing down at the watch on his wrist, he frowned.

  "Late for a meeting?" Karen guessed.

  He shook his sleeve down to cover over his wrist, hiding the watch, and shook his head. "Nah. I'm on my lunch break. I'
ve got to head back to the firm soon."

  I ignored the hollow feeling at the thought of him leaving. "We don't want to make you late or anything."

  “Don't worry about that. I'll be fine, really," he smiled. Why did he have to keep doing that? It was already hard enough not to get all tongue-tied when he was around, but when he smiled it was like anything remotely resembling coherent thoughts I may have had went right out the window.

  "Anyway, it was a nightmare, truly. I don't know what I would've done without Taylor," Karen said slowly, knocking into me with her shoulder. "All I wanted to do was freak out when I saw Lisa lying there, and Taylor was the one who kept it together. She was the one who noticed there was something weird about Lisa's eyes, too, the way they were all super red. She’s just way braver than me."

  I glared at her as soon as Ken wasn't looking and was met with the smallest of winks. I was pretty sure the expression on my face would have resembled something along the lines of pure mortification.

  "Cool under pressure. I'm not surprised," Ken said, catching my eye again and making my face do its best impression of a ripe tomato. "A clear head is one of the most important things to possess as a good veterinarian, isn't it?"

  Oh, and he remembered that I wanted to become a veterinarian. Could he be any more amazing? Even the chill in the air couldn’t hide my blush any longer.

  “It was nothing,” I said, waving away Karen’s praise. “It was definitely a big shock for the both of us, but Karen knew Lisa a lot better than I did.”

  I knew I was staring at him when he looked away, the corner of his mouth quirking up.

  "You know, my mom just told me earlier about how the Lion's Club is holding a public memorial for Lisa tonight. She helped out a lot there with the charities she donated her time and money to. My mom's part of it too, and mentioned they're trying to get the word around to everyone, even on such short notice. Do you think you'll be able to come?" He was looking at me, but I wasn't sure if he was actually asking me or both of us offhandedly.

  "We're going," Karen immediately said, nodding. "We'll definitely be there. In fact, please let Corinne know she can always call me if she needs any help with any of it. I wouldn't mind helping out at all. Anything for Lisa."

  Ken nodded, smiling again. "Great. Then I'll see you later. As much as I hate to talk and run, I need to get back to the office. I suspect that Darren won't be too happy if I'm late submitting my docket report for the week," he added, looking at his watch again.

  I tugged my bottom lip between my teeth and nodded. "Sure thing. See you tonight."

  "Bye Ken!" Karen said with a grin.

  Waiting until he was out of earshot, I groaned at Karen and looked up at the cloudy sky above us. "Could you have been any more obvious?"

  She just chuckled in reply. "Probably, but I thought it might be overkill. Besides, you're one to talk about being obvious. Every time we run into him it’s like suddenly you’ve turned into a giant puddle of goo. I thought I might have to go back inside and ask Stephanie for a rag to mop up all the drool."

  "Ugh, please,” I said, rolling my eyes, knowing the entire time that Karen was completely right.

  "Look, if I left it to the two of you, it would take forever for you to get together! So why not move the process along more efficiently?" she replied innocently. It was all I could do to keep my composure as she unlocked the car.

  "Who said anything about that? What if I told you I don't want to get together with Ken?" I asked, blocking her hand from turning on the radio once we were inside.

  Karen sat back in the seat, her lips twisted to the side as she tried to hide a grin. "Oh. Oh, we're really doing this?"

  I shrugged, realizing that maybe this wasn't a conversation I wanted to hash out at the moment. A moment too late, that was.

  Karen folded her arms, the window already fogging up on the inside. "It is so obvious that you like him, I don't know why you bother trying to pretend you don't. I'm your best friend, Taylor. We may not have known each other for a long time, but I know you. You like Ken Leeman."

  Yep, this was definitely not the conversation I wanted to be having. "So back to Callie..."

  She shook her head, pointing at me. "Nope, don't try and change the subject. You're acting like a girl in middle school clamming up around your crush or something. When was the last time you even had a boyfriend, anyway?"

  The alarms were going off in my head. RED ALERT. RED ALERT. "I've had boyfriends!"

  Karen snorted. "Wow, okay. So how long has it been?"

  Sighing, I looked out the window, watching a few people file into the cafe, safe from the wind whipping at their scarves and hats. "It's been a while. A couple of years, maybe," I muttered, the blush crawling back up my face once more.

  "That's not so bad. And really, what's the big deal? Ken's not the worst of your options in Rosemary Creek, I can tell you that. He's a good guy with his heart in the right place. And I know you think he's cute. So, what's the problem?"

  What was the problem? I honestly didn't know, myself. I hadn't had any particularly tragic relationships with guys, but for some reason I was balking at the idea of starting up another one. I knew Karen was right about Ken—I'd seen it first-hand.

  The damp windshield finally defrosted and I saw the florist taking a small crate of new vases into her shop.

  "I don't know. It's weird. I've just had too much going on lately to really be thinking about dating. You know, the whole finding out I'm actually a witch thing?"

  Karen threw the car into reverse, pulling out of the space. "You can only use that excuse for so long," she said in a sing-song voice. "Speaking of, I bet Mom could help whip up some sort of charm perfume for you to wear around Ken. At least that way he might not notice that you don’t seem to be able to string three words together when you’re around him. Then again," she said, grinning from ear to ear as she turned down the main road, "at this point you might not even need it. Ken's obviously into you already."

  I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see me. "Mm-hmm. Laugh it up."

  "What? He's always smiling whenever he's around you. He makes sure to stand closer to you than anyone else. He even practically invited you out to a memorial, Taylor. Like, c'mon. The guy has the hots for you, clearly. Although a memorial isn’t exactly the sexiest first date ever."

  My cheeks burned, and even though it sounded like a bunch of nonsense, a little part of me hoped that maybe she was right.

  "Whatever you say."

  "We better get going," Karen said, pulling the steering wheel toward the left.

  Confused, I laughed. "We're literally in your car, driving down the road. And where exactly are we going? I don't recall us making any plans. I was hoping to finish the last couple of episodes of Friends, today. That was my plan."

  She gestured to my clothes and shook her head. "There is no way I'm going out with you anywhere until we fix all… this. We have to shop for something nice for you to wear to the memorial for Lisa, later. Obviously."

  Shopping? Who had time for that? The most I was willing to do was to change into some nicer shoes. "And what's wrong with what I'm wearing right now?"

  All Karen could do was arch an eyebrow at me.

  Ok, maybe she had a point.

  Chapter 10

  It wasn't like downtown Rosemary Creek was known for its thriving fashion district. That honor very much still belonged to San Francisco. The small handful of shops that would even carry a dress like whatever Karen's devious little mind had in store for me were few and far between as we drove down to the other end of the main road.

  I didn't want to complain about going shopping, even though it was really not my thing. After all, she did have a point. I didn’t exactly want to show up to a memorial – and especially not one with Ken in attendance – looking like a total slob.

  "So. Where to?" I asked Karen once she found a parking space.

  She shielded her eyes from the bright sun that was just starting to
peek from behind the overcast bits of gray in the sky.

  "Glitzy's might have something cute. Let's try there first."

  I'd only passed by it a few times, but despite its name, the small women's clothing boutique didn't actually belong to an old lady wearing a bedazzled cat sweater. A rather bored-looking younger woman stood leaning over the counter along the far wall, watching us without any real interest.

  "Welcome to Glitzy's," she said in a monotone that rivaled my old Statistics teacher back in high school.

  Karen gave her a wave and immediately pulled me to the one side of the shop, over to a vivid display of Sunday hats. "Well, if we don't find a nice dress for you, at least we'll be able to find your next Halloween costume," she snickered, running her fingers along the edge of a lilac-colored pill-box hat.

  I rolled my eyes. "Oh really? And who am I supposed to be going as? Corinne Leeman?" Both of us burst out into a fit of giggles, trying to cover it up, looking over our shoulders to make sure the girl in the back didn't hear us. Then again, it wasn't as if she would have cared, anyway.

  We split up, Karen wandering toward the back of the store while I stayed closer to the front, checking out the blouses. I wasn't really one to really wear dresses very often, but with Karen suggesting one before, I knew it was most likely not going to be my choice to make.

  Pushing through the various blouses and knit tops on the rack, I wasn't even too sure what I was looking for. What was the usual dress code for a memorial of someone you’d never met before? As long as it was black, it didn't matter so much, did it?

  "Ooh, what about these, Taylor?"

  I spun around as Karen rushed over, holding up two different styles of black dresses. One was long and sleeveless, while the other one was short, probably just meeting the tops of my knees, with long belled sleeves made of black lace.

  She held up the shorter one higher, grinning.