by Lilly Graves
Aunt Nova gently touches my arm. “Forgive us, Chloe. We never had a child. The thought can take us away. It’s just that you are twenty-three, a perfectly good age for seriously dating around.”
“I just became a woman like a week or two ago. Cut me a break. Sheesh.” I cross my arms.
“That’s true, but it has always been your true essence within.” Nova admits, “And now that we know Julian wants to arrest you, we understand he’s off the table. You only want a man to cuff you under other circumstances.” She winks. “Better yet, cuff him.”
“Oh, gag me with your teen hormones,” her sister says.
“I better get going,” I interrupt, not adding the fact that I still need to find that man who had a vision of Maggie’s murder.
Chapter 14
I head out and go straight to Marney’s Moon pies. Inside the bakery, it smells of sugar. A glass display case hosts a variety of moon pies: some with a chocolate coating, others strawberry and banana, and even some that are multi-colored like a rainbow. There are stools set up at a couple of small circular tables, but there’s no one sitting there, or in line.
Taking off my sunglasses, I don’t even see Marney or Sandra. After pulling down my wrap from around my head, I tap a bell beside the register, and Marney pokes her head out from between some shelves in the back. “Oh, it’s you!” she blurts and comes over, wiping flour off her hands on a clean dish towel. Her brown hair streaked with gray is wrapped in a pink bandana.
“Hello,” I say to Marney while hearing more movements in the back from her assistant.
“Here about last night?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Figures. I know it’s early, but usually I have a customer or few by now and it’s been dead silent.”
We look at each other with widened eyes over the word dead.
“You know what I mean. I was considering closing shop, but I just got a shipment in the other day and there’s too much work to do.”
“I understand. I don’t think we had a normal moment last night for introductions. My name is Chloe Wildes. I’m living with family, Nova and Willow.”
“Oh, yes, I know. As a fellow witch, you know that we know every bit of news about each other as soon as it pops up. I’m Marney English. As you can see, I’ve lived and worked here since forever.” She taps a baked goods box that says Est. 1975. “Those were the good ol’ days when witches grew their hair out really long and adorned with flowers and braids.”
“I thought that was just Harmony from Harmony’s Herbs.” I chuckle. If there’s anybody hippie in town, it would be her. I’m joking of course, since she’s too young for that era.
The baker smiles and then frowns just as fast. I can see fresh bags under her eyes framed in soft wrinkles.
“I don’t mean to intrude on your time. You’ve been through a lot, as is. I just wanted to ask something.”
“What is it, dear?”
“The man who ran out of here screaming the other day—”
“Which one?”
“Uh, the one with suspenders, a middle-aged balding man. There are others?”
“Yes, I’ve had Henry and Halacious both run out of here screaming. Both H names, hm.”
“Halacious? Hal from the Coven’s Cup?”
“Is there any other?”
“That’s just so interesting. It doesn’t look like anything would scare him.” Hal is both big and tall. His apron fits like a kid’s around his torso. “What did he say he had a vision of?”
“That his mother-in-law came for a visit.”
“Ohhhh.” I pause. “So, this Henry guy—where do I find him?”
“Every year, Henry comes to Mystic Cove to help plan The Harvest Moon Festival. He’s sort of Phoebe’s right-hand man.” Phoebe is the town socialite, who is always involved in community events. “He’s also a prospector.”
“A prospector? So, a treasure hunter.” I jump right in. “Tom Dodd’s Treasure.”
“Yeah,” she huffs. “That old thing. He’s one of the obsessive hunters. In fact, he came by just a moment ago and offered me some big bucks to look around the bakery. It was hard to pass up.”
“Why did you pass it up?”
“Well, Sandra made a good point. You let one person in and then soon we’ll have a horde thinking they can come and turn the place upside down. There’s nothing to find here anyway.”
“He was just here?” I glance back through the picture windows, seeing a couple of pedestrians walk by.
“Yeah, shouldn’t be too hard to find. He’s probably offering money to others on the strip to find the last line to the incantation.”
“Thank you so much for the info.”
“Sure, but why are you so interested?”
“Thanks again for your time!” I beat it out of there without answering.
Perfect timing. Hal’s tossing Henry out of his coffee shop, and from the scruff of his neck, like a feral cat. “I told you to scram!” he booms.
Henry catches himself on his feet, nearly falling to the sidewalk. “Fine!” He takes off in a long stride for his short legs. “But you’ll be sorry! I could have split some of it with you! Now you’ll get nothing!”
Hal’s already back inside The Coven’s Cup. I jog over to the man, just as he’s outside of the salon, Snips and Spells.
“Henry?”
He looks at me with irritation behind his coke-bottle glasses. “Yeah, what?”
“I’m Chloe. I work for The Mystic Cove Mirror. I’m also a treasure hunter. Is that what you’re talking about?”
The stress wrinkles soften across his forehead. “Oh, well, yes. I’m going to find Tom Dodd’s Treasure.”
“Were you wanting to work with someone on it? Is that what you were asking Hal?”
“Oh, him, no. I just wanted to look around his place for the last line to the incantation. I offered him a generous amount of money for his troubles too. He just got furious with me, instead. I only yelled that I could have split it with him to get his goat. I’m not splitting the treasure with anybody.”
“Oh,” I say. “He can be moody. Sorry about that.”
“I’d bet his place has the phrase, and he’s keeping it to himself!”
I nod. “Maybe. Then why doesn’t he just go and resurrect the treasure?”
“Because he doesn’t have all of the ingredients.”
“And you do?”
“Well, no, but I will soon, during The Harvest Moon Festival.” He licks his lips, looking like he has a plan he’s positively sure of.
“Blood of a shifter,” I say out loud.
“Right,” he replies. “Shifters are real, though. Have no doubt.”
“How are you going to find one at the festival?”
He laughs with a coy smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know? You just told me you’re a treasure hunter. If I gave my secrets, you’d surely use them against me.”
“True. I see how that makes sense.”
“Of course it makes sense! You know I went to Princeton, 4.0’s across the board, every semester. I’m smarter than most geniuses. But people like to underestimate me by my appearance. I’m small, comely, non-threatening. Maybe if I were a little taller, a little stronger, like Hal.”
“That’s a lot taller and stronger,” I point out.
“Yeah, what of it? You want to tease me like the rest of society now? Is that it?”
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tease.” I play into his inflated ego. “Like you said, you’re a smart man, and very confident in your abilities.”
“Yes, yes, I am!” He puffs out his chest and pulls on those suspenders of his.
“I’d like to ask you about something else?”
“What? I told you I’m not interested in making partners. I couldn’t even split the treasure, if I tried. If only you knew what it was. Hah.”
“I was wondering about the vision you had at Marney’s Moon pies. Did you see who murdered Maggie?”
He hesitates, look
ing over his shoulder into the salon, where a woman is dipped back into a sink, purple sparkling soap bubbles lifting around her wet hair.
“You know about my vision, huh?”
“I was outside of the coffee shop when you came out running and screaming.”
His face flushes. “I wasn’t running and screaming. I was merely quickening my pace and grunting. Why do you want to know about it, anyway?”
“I work for the Mystic Cove Mirror. It’s part of my reporting. I’d like to get the scoop, if the police haven’t already.” I’m testing to see if Julian thought about him first.
“The police? No, nobody has questioned me.”
See, if only Julian would trust me. With my catty instincts, I think of angles nobody else does. Which is why I’ll solve this case without him.
Henry’s eyes slit mischievously. “Okay, I’ll tell you what I saw, and go ahead and report on it. I don’t care. I saw Halacious do it.”
Chapter 15
“Hal? In the vision, you saw him murder Maggie?”
“Okay, so I saw a shock of orange hair and forearms as thick as one of Mystic Cove’s Douglas Fir pine trees. It was him.”
I had to admit that sounded like Hal. “That’s all you remember?”
“That’s all I remember. I’m sure it was him.”
I think back on last night, when I had stopped at the cafe for an egg croissan’wich. Hal was sounding angry at the back door. His business is just a couple doors down from Marney’s, where Maggie was found dead behind, mauled. CeeCee had given his name in the short list of treasure hunters she recalled.
Is it that easy? Have I found the murderer?
Why would Hal want my mother dead?
“I have a lot of planning to do still for the festival.” Henry turns away and enters the hair salon.
I guess I have nothing more to ask of him anyway.
Hm, the man doesn’t need a cut. He needs a grow. Then I recall the blueprint of X’s. The salon was left blank. Okay, I know what he’s up to—still looking for the last line.
I pick at my thumb nail in thought. Hal isn’t the easiest person to approach.
The scent of a perfume that’s currently all the rage with witches in Mystic Cove, Fall Fantasy, drifts to my nose. If it weren’t for the underlying gardenia scent, I could have mistaken it for a delicious concoction from the Coven’s Cup, a hint of clove and cinnamon embellishing it with fall accents. Levinia Croupe’s voice follows. “Morning, Chloe.”
She’s another person CeeCee had recalled being in a frenzy, treasure hunting. But the timeline doesn’t fit.
Levinia is Nova’s arch nemesis. Just a week or so ago, I totally thought she had killed my aunt’s millionaire boyfriend. Turns out I was wrong then. I had found a lot of secrets out about her, in the meantime. Like years ago, she had gotten pregnant with his twins and hit the road, pretending to be living a glamorous lifestyle as a Paris runway model. Truth was, she wasn’t a model; she was giving birth and raising those boys alone.
“Oh, hi Levinia.”
Levinia is wearing a full-black ensemble, her deep red locks pinned up around a black-feathered hat that the cat in me wants to bat at with a paw.
I can never read her face. It always smacks of sarcasm, cunning, or an ulterior motive. Even when she smiles, like now.
“It’s been strange days lately in Mystic Cove lately,” she says lifting her perfect nose in the air and drawing in a deep breath. “I guess you had success, solving your last case.”
Even though she wasn’t the murderer, I outed her secrets and threatened her family ties. “I am really sorry about what you and your sons have gone through.”
Her eyes narrow to slits. “Not really, though, right?”
“No, I am. I truly am.”
“Well, you got your story out of it, anyway.”
“Levinia, I haven’t even published anything on it. I’m not planning to. I don’t even think Aunt Nova will write about it.”
“I don’t see why not.” She shrugs one shoulder. “It was the biggest news in Mystic Cove, maybe ever.”
Even when it comes to negative attention, Levinia will think she has to do with the biggest or the best. “What about Tom Dodd’s Treasure?”
“That old news?” She flicks a hand of well-manicured nails.
“You were never interested in it?”
“I mean, every teen witch has been charmed by the possibilities at some point or another.”
“Like Raven.” That just blurts out.
“Oh, yes, Raven was definitely interested in the treasure. You know, we were good friends, starting from when she was seventeen and I was nineteen. She ran in and out of my social circles, as the youngest. More mature for her age.”
I recall Aunt Nova saying the same thing about maturity and hanging with older kids.
“We were both goth. I still am. Not like the punks you see who turn their faces into pin cushions, whiten their skin and look like the walking dead. We were different. Dramatically dark and beautiful. I’d bet she’d still be if she were around.” She crosses her slender arms in thought.
Raven is darkly beautiful. Her long black tresses and large blue eyes that mirror mine. The combinations of grays and blacks that she wears even in The Afterlife. Part of me wishes I could divulge this information to Levinia in a volcanic outburst. You’re right! She is still dark! She is still beautiful!
Another couple of beats goes by for the forty-four-year-old diva in deep thought. “Some might have even called us besties.”
“Best friends?”
Does this new bit of information change my fantasy of who my mother was, who she is? It’s hard for me to comprehend how she’d be so close to the arch nemesis of Aunt Nova.
Then again, Nova had called herself the cheerleader and Raven the goth. I guess it can kind of makes sense how Levinia would be closer to her than Nova who was just between their two ages.
“Yes, it’s very tragic what happened to her. I’m sorry for your family’s loss.” Levinia only knows we’re related. Like others in Mystic Cove, she has no idea I’m actually meant to be her daughter. Levinia adds, “She was my loss too.”
It looks like her green eyes mist up a touch. I’ve never seen Levinia drop a tear. She’s not dropping one now, but it looks possible. There are still old wounds festering over Raven’s tragic death.
“Thank you.” To confirm events around the murder’s timeline, I ask, “You weren’t around when… what happened to her… happened.” Since it was murder, I refuse to call it an accident.
“I was gone by then. I was gone for about a year before she passed. Never got to say goodbye.” She taps the porcelain skin on her chin in thought. “She was the only person from Mystic Cove who I gave my new phone number to. When I say we were close, I mean it.”
“So, when you left town, she stayed in communication with you and that’s how you knew she was interested in the treasure?”
“When we first got close, she mentioned the treasure, asked me what I thought of it. I was interested enough to sneak a moonstone from my parent’s library safe. That’s one of the ingredients to the incantation. I’m sure you’ve heard about.”
“Yes.” I nod, letting her go on.
“By the time I had left town, she was really serious about finding it. I had other concerns at the moment, like being pregnant with twins.”
“Was she ever scared of anybody following her or anything?” I don’t want to specifically mention Hal. “CeeCee had warned her of danger. I’m just curious what kind of danger swirled around her. I’m not totally convinced that what happened what an accident.”
The witch’s eyes widen at the thought. “I-I know that it was a very dangerous time to suddenly be interested in hunting the treasure. There was this big frenzy. Raven was always paranoid of people following her, being on to her getting close to finding it.”
Leading question or not, I decided to cut to the chase. “Like Hal, from The Coven’s Cup?”
“Wild guess,” I throw up a smile and then say, “Hey, thanks for sharing your thoughts.”
“May her soul be in peace in The Afterlife,” she says.
Little did she know that Raven was far from being at peace. She needs me to find her murderer.
Halacious. I have to find a way to face my most intimidating suspect yet.
Chapter 16
As I head toward the cafe, my thoughts are rampant. I have a laundry list of information that could implicate Hal.
Number one, Annabelle said whoever killed Maggie also killed my mother:
Last night, Hal was angrily headed to the back alley just before the body was found. He’s big and strong and I could imagine he’s capable of doing major damage with his bare hands to a little woman like the Shady Pines head nurse.
According to CeeCee, he was one of the frenzied treasure seekers back in the day. Now Levinia just divulged how Raven was scared of Hal, thinking he was following her.
Also, Marney said Hal had run out of her bakery screaming. Maybe it wasn’t truly a vision about his mother-in-law, after all. Maybe he witnessed what he was capable of doing in a fit of rage.
He’d want Raven dead to get to the treasure first. Why would he want Maggie dead too? There was still a missing motive. I need to get more information.
Adrenaline courses through me. I stop outside of The Coven’s Cup where MCU’s cheer team has congregated like a bunch of chirping birds over tonight’s practice: who is dating which football player, how the big game is going to be the same night as The Harvest Moon Festival, and comparing whose ponytails have gone most slack from Mystic Cove’s perpetual dampness in the air.
I’ve never seen the place so busy. Some college students are standing outside of the patio’s decorative wrought iron fencing, talking over it to the others, waiting for someone to finally give up a chair.
Now all I have to do is get Hal to confess to murder. Simple, right? I weakly laugh as I wring my hands, staring at the cafe windows. A cheer team from MCU is sitting out on the patio.