“Are you ok?” I called out. “Leanne, call an ambulance!”
“On it,” my cousin replied, her voice shaking.
I pulled out my phone and turned the flashlight on the person lying on the ground. They didn’t seem to be responding at all, which was strange. After all, while Leanne had hit them, it would have been a glancing blow at best, and at slow speed. I couldn’t imagine it had done that much damage. But then, what did I know?
Turning on the flashlight revealed that I was looking at a woman who looked to be in her late thirties. She was barely conscious, and her breathing was shallow and ragged.
“You might want to tell that ambulance it’s a real emergency,” I called out, taking the woman’s hand. I didn’t know a lot about first aid, but I did know that you weren’t supposed to move somebody who might have a neck or back injury, and given as she’d just been hit by Leanne’s car, I didn’t know what was wrong with her.
“Save me,” a weak voice whispered, and I squeezed her hand harder.
“The ambulance is on its way, I promise,” I said. “You’re going to be fine.” I really hoped I wasn’t lying to her. The woman tried to move, but I stopped her. “No, stay still. Help is coming.”
Leanne came over now, her phone light on as well. As soon as she lit up the scene I gasped.
The woman’s shirt was covered in blood.
Chapter 2
“That… that can’t be from me, can it?” Leanne asked, any color that had been left in her face disappearing completely.
“No, I don’t think so,” I replied. It had soaked through her shirt; there was obviously a previous injury there.
“What happened to you?” I asked the woman, but she had passed out, brown curls falling across her face.
I didn’t let go of her hand, but Leanne carefully took the hem of her shirt and pulled it up. I gasped as a wound about three inches wide was revealed, right through the abdomen.
“Someone stabbed her,” Leanne called out. “Holy crap, Eliza. Someone stabbed her.”
Before I had a chance to react, headlights flew into view and an ambulance stopped in front of us a second later. Leanne called out, waving her hands at them.
“She’s been stabbed. She seriously needs medical attention, now.” The EMTs sprang into action and Leanne and I stepped back as they worked.
“Do you know who she is?” I asked Leanne, and she nodded.
“Yeah. She’s a customer at the coffee shop. Her name is Karen. She works as a teacher at the school, little kids. Maybe grade two or three?”
“Why would anyone want to stab a teacher?” I asked, and Leanne shrugged.
“Beats me. Do you think she’s going to be ok?”
“I don’t know,” I replied as they loaded her up onto the stretcher. “It definitely didn’t look good.”
“I hope I didn’t make it worse,” Leanne said.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up. For one thing, there was nothing you could have done. She literally jumped in front of your car. You can’t expect pedestrians to do that, and as soon as you saw you swerved and slammed on the brakes. Secondly, if you hadn’t hit her, we probably wouldn’t have stopped and she’d be out here bleeding to death on the street.”
“Yeah, that is a good point,” Leanne conceded. “Still, I wish I’d noticed without hitting her. What if I made it worse? What if I broke her leg, or something?”
“You didn’t do any worse than the person who stabbed her in the first place,” I said firmly.
“I guess. But still… I hit her with my car. I can’t have made things better.”
“Come on,” I said. “Here comes a police officer. We just have to tell them what happened, and then we’ll head home.”
My heart skipped a beat when I saw who had been sent from the police station – Detective Ross Andrews, the detective with the friendly smile and dimples, eyes that twinkled, and the face of an Adonis. Leanne and I watched as he spoke with one of the EMTs for about ten seconds as the man jumped into the back of the ambulance with the stretcher and drove off, sirens wailing.
“Are you two alright?” Detective Andrews asked. Thankfully, he had left the lights of his car on, so we could still see. Concern was written all over his face, and I nodded.
“Yeah. Just a little shaken up. We weren’t expecting what had happened.”
“Can you walk me through it?”
“She was stabbed!” Leanne said. “Someone stabbed her.”
“Stabbed who? Do you know who it was?”
“Karen. I don’t know her last name. The one who teaches at the elementary school. It was definitely her. She ran out at the car, and I tried to avoid her, but it didn’t work and I hit her. Oh God, I hit her!”
“Alright, let’s take some deep breaths together, ok?” Detective Andrews said.
“Yeah, do one of those ‘ohm’ things Janice made us do at yoga,” I suggested. “She says it’s supposed to calm you down and make you feel centered.”
“Yeah, well, Janice probably hasn’t hit anyone with her car recently,” Leanne shot back. “I’m pretty sure breathing isn’t going to help Karen.”
“Neither is freaking out about it here,” I replied. “Come on. Do what Detective Andrews said. Deep breath in, then deep breath out.”
After a couple of minutes Leanne was obviously feeling a lot better, and Detective Andrews turned to me. “Do you want to fill me in on what happened next?”
I nodded, trying to forget the image of Karen lying in the middle of the road. “I thought she was drunk. She was stumbling around along the edge of the road, and then all of a sudden she just ran out in front of Leanne’s car. In retrospect, I think she might have been trying to get us to help her. Leanne swerved, but still glanced her. We stopped and I ran out, and she was lying on the road, not moving. I didn’t want to move her, in case she’d been injured, but she woke up and told me to save her. I said she was going to be fine. Then Leanne came over and we saw the blood. Leanne pulled up her shirt; she’d definitely been stabbed.”
Detective Andrews’ face didn’t betray any emotions. “You say she was stabbed?”
“Well, I’m not an expert, but that’s what it looked like, anyway. She had a gash in her side about this big, and blood all over her shirt,” I said, showing the size of the wound by holding up two fingers.
“Did she say anything else? Did she mention who had stabbed her, or how it had happened?”
I shook my head. “She just asked me to help her, and then I think she passed out. She was barely conscious when we got to her to begin with.”
“Did you see anybody else around as you drove?”
“I didn’t,” I said, turning to Leanne, but she shook her head as well.
“No, me neither. Seven o’clock isn’t exactly rush hour here.”
“Ok. I think that’s all I need for now. Leanne, I wouldn’t worry too much about facing any charges for having hit her. It sounds like there was nothing you could do, and if it really was just a glancing blow, well, it’s unlikely charges will be filed.”
“Did the EMT say if she’s going to make it?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“He didn’t look hopeful, let’s put it that way,” Detective Andrews replied, his face somber. The sound of helicopter blades came from above us.
“That’s going to be her,” Leanne said flatly. Because Enchanted Enclave was an island, and the hospital here didn’t have full-scale emergency services available, anyone who needed emergency care was airlifted to Seattle. There was a helicopter on standby at all times just in case.
I really hoped that in this case, she got there in time.
“Look on the bright side, it means she can’t have died yet,” I said.
“That’s right,” Detective Andrews replied. “Alright, that’s all for now. Thanks.”
“Can you drive the rest of the way?” Leanne asked. “I’m just not sure I’m up to it.”
“Sure,” I replied as the two of us made our way back into her car. We were l
ess than half a mile from home, but I could absolutely understand her reluctance.
We made our way into the house a moment later to the wonderful aroma of rosemary, thyme and cooked shepherd’s pie.
“Took you guys long enough,” Kaillie said as soon as we walked in, a wooden spoon on her hip. She looked amazingly like her mother.
“Sorry we’re late,” I said. “Karen, the schoolteacher, was stabbed and we found her in the street.”
Kaillie’s mouth dropped open. “Is she ok? Is that what the helicopter was that passed by a couple minutes ago?”
Leanne nodded. “Yeah. We don’t know if she’s going to be ok. It doesn’t look good.”
“Oh, geez. Well, dinner’s ready and waiting for you. Why don’t we eat in front of the TV? I’m guessing neither one of you is up for a good, long conversation.”
Kaillie’s instincts were right, and despite the fact that it was delicious I mostly just pushed the food around on my plate, and couldn’t help but notice Leanne doing the same. I barely even registered the fact that there was a show on the TV; the only thing I could think about was Karen. Was she going to be ok?
“I want to know what happened,” Leanne finally said. “Who stabbed her? How did she get to the point where she thought getting hit by my car was the best idea for survival?”
“I want to know if magic could have saved her,” I said, looking over at Kaillie. “If I was a better witch, would I have been able to cast a spell or something that could have saved her life?”
Kaillie shook her head. “It’s extremely unlikely. I’ve been told that in the paranormal world there are magical doctors who do have recipes for extremely advanced potions and spells that can help fix paranormals, but we don’t know any of those. Being a paranormal world doctor is apparently super hard and prestigious, kind of like here, where they do years of extra training. So no, I don’t think even Mom or Aunt Lucy or Uncle Bob would have been able to help. And I certainly wouldn’t have. Even if you’d grown up with us, your skills would probably be similar to mine.”
“Well, that’s a bit of a relief, at least. I would have felt absolutely awful if my magic could have done something to save her and I just didn’t know how to use it.”
“Don’t forget, even if you could, you’re not supposed to show any of the humans your magical powers,” Kaillie warned. “We have to set a good example and show that we’re not the terrible witches the paranormal world seems to think our family is.”
I nodded. “Yeah, there wouldn’t have been any risk of that. She was basically unconscious.”
“I hope she makes it,” Kaillie said quietly at those words.
So did I.
Chapter 3
The next morning at the coffee shop, Cackling Witch Coffee, Karen’s stabbing was the only thing anyone was talking about. Apparently, the news had made it into the Enchanted Enclave rumor mill, since even Janice, who was almost always our first customer of the day, dove straight into it.
“I heard you two were the ones who found Karen last night,” she said in a hushed whisper when she came to the counter, even though there was no one else in the shop. “How are you holding up?”
“Alright, thanks,” I replied. “I hope Karen will be alright.”
“Me too. It couldn’t have been easy coming across a scene like that. I wonder what happened to her.” Suddenly, Janice’s hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my, I didn’t make the connection until just now, but it must have happened on your way home from yoga last night.”
I stretched my back involuntarily at the mention of yoga. Every muscle in my body was still sore, despite the fact that I had popped a couple of Advil as soon as I woke up that morning.
Of course, Cleopawtra, my cat familiar, didn’t understand what was so hard about it and had zero sympathy for my complaining. It wasn’t fair that cats were naturally strong and flexible.
“Yes, we were driving back from the studio when it happened,” Leanne said. “You haven’t gotten any updates on Karen’s condition, have you?”
Janice shook her head. “No. I can’t believe someone would have done that to such a nice woman. Well, I’ll leave you to things. Please take care of yourselves. These things can be very traumatic for everyone, and if you feel as though you need help, do ask for it.”
“Thank you, Janice,” I said with an appreciative smile. It was nice of her to look out for me and Leanne, as well as showing concern for Karen.
“Well, it sounds like everyone in town has already heard about what happened,” I said.
“Just be glad the information is more-or-less accurate,” Leanne said. “That’s not always the case. A few years ago James Goodrow was overheard in a café ranting to a friend. He told the friend he was sick of his life, because he was dealing with a couple chronic health issues. Someone thought he said he was sick of his wife, and there were rumors going around for weeks that they were going to get divorced. Of course, they never did, and James’ health issues were thankfully solved.”
“Yikes,” I replied with a grimace. “Thankfully that story had a happy ending.”
“Yeah. James and his wife Denise tell it all the time, they think it’s hilarious.”
The door opened just then, and I got ready to greet another customer. However, when I saw who it was, I had to work hard to keep the smile plastered on my face.
It was Ariadne Stewart, the woman who owned one of the gift shops here on the island, and who hated – and I meant hated – Aunt Lucy.
“Hi there, Ariadne,” I said with a faux perkiness that sounded disgustingly sweet even to me. “What can I get for you?”
“I just wanted to see if it was true,” Ariadne said, crossing her arms. “I’ve been told your cousin here hit poor Karen Johnson with her car, and that she hasn’t been arrested. That’s an absolute travesty.”
“The travesty is you daring to believe everything you hear in town,” Leanne replied without moving her eyes away from the coffee machine. “Now, are you going to order something, or did you just come here to harass the staff?”
Ariadne narrowed her eyes at Leanne. “I don’t know what you did, but I’m sure you belong in jail. I trust the person who gave me this information more than I trust you.”
“Well, it’s not up to me, either way,” Leanne replied. “Besides, what do you think I did, bribed the cops with a hundred? That’s not the sort of thing that works around here.”
Ariadne crossed her arms and glared at Leanne. “Who knows what someone like you would be willing to stoop to in order to get away with something? Your whole family is crooked. I can’t believe you hit that poor woman with your car.”
“Well, you’re ignoring the part where we probably also saved her life, but hey, I can understand you not wanting to focus on that part,” Leanne replied. “Now either order a coffee or get out of here. You’re trespassing.”
Ariadne glared at us again, then turned on her heel and stormed out of the shop, just as Aunt Debbie came out from the kitchen area carrying a tray full of freshly-baked cookies.
“I highly recommend trying these,” she said. “They’re raspberry and white chocolate chip, a new recipe Kaillie found online. I think they’ve come out wonderfully, although I was thinking they might be a better permanent menu fixture in the winter when the weather gets colder.”
Leanne and I both went over and grabbed a cookie, still warm from the oven. I bit into it and closed my eyes involuntarily. The tartness of the raspberry mingled with the delicious sweetness of the white chocolate, all enveloped in a spongy, soft cookie.
“Oh, yum,” I said. “I disagree. I think these should be on the menu year-round. This is maybe the best cookie I’ve ever had.”
“I’m with Eliza on this one,” Leanne replied. “My compliments to the chef.”
Aunt Debbie laughed. “Alright, well, I’ll keep that in mind. Kaillie and I are working to come up with more of a summer menu now that the weather’s getting warmer.”
“Still just baked
goods?” I asked, and Aunt Debbie nodded.
“Yes. We considered getting some pre-packaged lunch foods and that sort of thing, but we were never happy with the quality, and Kaillie doesn’t have the time to make savory as well as the sweets we need for the day. I’m not sure we’d sell enough of them to warrant hiring a second person for the kitchen, as well.”
“Yeah, there are too many good places for a quick lunch in town already,” Leanne agreed. “I think we’re better off focusing on what we do best, which is coffee.”
“Right,” I said. “Well, either way, those cookies are definitely a winner.”
“Thank you,” Aunt Debbie said with a smile. She moved to put them in one of the display jars while I bussed a couple of tables, waiting for the next customers to come by. When I got back to the counter, Leanne was staring into space, which was something I rarely saw her do.
“Hey, Earth to Leanne,” I said, waving a hand in front of her face. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah,” she replied, but her voice betrayed the lie.
“Hey, don’t listen to Ariadne, ok?” I said. “You know she’s wrong, right?”
“I guess,” Leanne said with a shrug. “I wonder how many other people are out there thinking the same thing though. What if everyone thinks I belong in jail?”
“Well, let those people think what they want,” I replied firmly. “Trust me. I went through this just a couple of months ago when Leonard was killed, remember? Everyone in town thought I was a murderer. If there’s one thing I learned from that, it’s that you can’t let what other people think dictate your life. Especially not people like Ariadne. She’s nasty, and she wants to get under your skin. Don’t let her.”
“You’re right,” Leanne said. “Still, I’d feel a lot better about things if I knew more about Karen’s condition, and how much damage I actually caused. I really hope she’s going to be ok.”
“Does she have any family?”
“Yeah, a husband and three kids,” Leanne replied. “They’re triplets. When they were babies she used to bring them into the shop with her all the time while she downed a triple strength latte.”
A Cauldron of Hot Coffee: Enchanted Enclave Mysteries Books 1-3 Page 17