“That’s it, that’s the sound,” Leanne said a minute later, after I’d followed her instructions. Sure enough there was a slight sound of air being sucked in, and as soon as the thermometer hit one fifty five I turned off the steamer. The temperature gauge rose just a tiny bit further, and I poured the milk into my cup, tilting it slightly.
“Perfect,” Leanne smiled. “There you go, you’ve made your first cup of coffee.”
I grinned, grabbed a lid and a sleeve for the cup, and took a sip. The rich, creamy coffee was like silk on my tongue, and I couldn’t help but feel accomplished for having made this.
“Do you like it?” Leanne asked.
“I do,” I said. “It’s delicious.”
“Good,” Leanne replied. “Tomorrow I’ll teach you the differences between the different types of coffee, and then you can try serving customers if you’d like.”
“I would like that,” I said.
“Anyway, since we’re discussing you expanding your work here, what are your long-term plans in life?” Leanne said. “If that’s not too personal a question, anyway.”
“No, no, that’s fine,” I replied. “Honestly, I don’t know.”
“There’s always the possibility of going into the family business,” Leanne said. “I mean, you might not want to be a barista your whole life, but eventually Aunt Debbie and Dad are going to retire, and I know they won’t put any pressure on us, but they’re hoping at least one of the cousins has some sort of interest in running the place.”
“Are you and Kaillie going to do that?” I asked.
“I would like to. Bossing people around is one of my favorite things to do, so management sounds like a good fit for me,” Leanne replied with a wink. “But seriously, I do like the idea of running the whole show. I think I’d be better on Dad’s side of things, dealing with distribution, sales, and the more administrative stuff. Kaillie is really happy where she is. She likes being in the kitchen, trying out new recipes, and doing the baking for the day. But there’s seriously no pressure, if you decide you want to be like, I don’t know, a whale watching tour operator then that’s fine too.”
I laughed. “I’m not sure that’s the thing for me either. To be honest, I don’t really know what I want to do. I studied English Literature in college, but that was basically just because I enjoyed it and I didn’t know what else to take. I guess I haven’t really found my calling in life yet.”
“Well, this is a good place to work on that,” Leanne said kindly. “You’ve always got a job here, so you can figure out what it is you want from your life. Plus, the more you chat with the customers and get involved with everything, the more you might find what it is you want to do. That was how I found out I wanted to manage the warehouse side of things. It was by being around everyone and everything.”
“And if I decide that my calling in life is to manage the warehouse also?” I asked with a grin.
“Then I will cut you,” Leanne threatened, then laughed. “Obviously, I’m kidding. But I do call dibs on that job. You could manage the coffee shop side of things if you wanted, though.”
“Fair enough,” I said, laughing. “But yeah, I have to admit, I’m not sure what I want to do. Dad was the one who suggested I do my degree. He also thought I should take as many electives as I could in different fields of study, in case one of them tickled my fancy, but none of them really blew me away.”
“Oh well, you have lots of time to figure it out,” Leanne said. “Anyway, for now, we do have a purpose: we have to go see Sasha at the animal shelter and find out who stabbed Karen.”
Kaillie came out from the kitchen just then, with a small tub full of the delicious cookies she’d made earlier under her arm. “Ready to head home?” she asked.
“Actually, Eliza and I were going to go do, uh, something in town first,” Leanne said.
Kaillie’s eyes narrowed. “Something in town, you say?”
“Yeah. Yoga.”
I was fairly certain at least four muscles began to spasm in pain just at the idea of going back to that studio right now.
“You don’t have yoga today. You have yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It’s Saturday, remember? And it doesn’t start until six. You’re going to try and find the person who stabbed Karen, aren’t you?”
“What? Why is that the first thing you’d think of? Do you really think so little of me?”
“Yes,” Kaillie replied. “It fits your personality perfectly. You’re obviously lying about what you’re doing, so it’s something I would disapprove of. This is Enchanted Enclave, there are only so many ways you can get in trouble, and seeing as Karen was stabbed last night, and looking into that is absolutely the sort of thing you would do, yes, it was my first guess. And given your reaction, that’s exactly what you’re doing, isn’t it?”
“Fine,” Leanne replied. “It is. Someone stabbed her, and I want to know who it is.”
Kaillie sighed. “You never want me to be able to prove to the paranormal world that our family is deserving of being let back in. Why can’t you just be normal?”
“I’m not even a witch; what I do can’t factor in,” Leanne argued.
“We can’t know what factors in. Besides, you’re still a part of this family. Your father is a wizard, and you’d be a witch if men could pass down the witch gene. As far as we know, when it comes to evaluating our family and how they’re acting, you are considered.”
“Well, in that case, they should look favorably on the fact that Eliza and I are putting our lives on the line to find an attempted murderer,” Leanne replied.
“Or they’re going to look unfavorably on the fact that you’re throwing yourself into police investigations when you have absolutely no jurisdiction.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. We’re not going to give up because you’re afraid it’s going to look bad to some witches and wizards we don’t even know.”
Kaillie sighed. “I can’t believe this. Fine. If you’re going to insist on doing this, then I’m going to insist on helping, if only to keep you out of trouble. Where are we going?”
“To the animal shelter. We need to talk to Sasha,” Leanne replied without skipping a beat. “Jack Frost told us today that she was good friends with Karen, and we’re hoping that she’ll be able to tell us about any problems Karen was having, or who might have wanted her dead. We can catch you up on the way; we already have one suspect. We’ll need to organize a chat with him, too.”
Kaillie sighed. “Why can’t you ever do anything without jumping in with both feet and your eyes closed?”
A part of me kind of agreed with Kaillie. Life here on Enchanted Enclave was definitely a roller coaster.
Chapter 6
The Enchanted Enclave Animal Shelter was fairly deep in the woods, down a narrow gravel lane, not far from Roman and Leonard Steele’s property. The wooden sign at the front was well-worn, but had obviously been painted with care, and the shelter itself was a small but modern building, surrounded by high fences.
As soon as the car pulled up, at least five or six dogs all ran up to the fence, tails wagging and tongues lolling. The space behind the fence was perfect for a bunch of dogs to play in – lots of grass, some trees, toys spread around – the people at the animal shelter obviously cared a lot about their charges.
There were a few excited barks as Leanne, Kaillie and I made our way to the short, wooden building. We stepped inside and found ourselves in a lobby, guarded by a calico-colored cat lying on a small bed on top of the counter, staring at us and wiggling her tail.
Truly a ferocious creature.
I stepped over towards the cat and began patting her, earning myself some happy mews in reply. The whole space was clean, open, and had posters all around with information on taking care of dogs and cats. A moment later a woman with black skin and a natural afro came out from the back with a smile. Her eyes were round and friendly, and her makeup absolutely perfect. She was so pretty I wouldn’t have been su
rprised to see her on the cover of a magazine. Still, her manner was casual and friendly, and I found myself taking an instant liking to her.
“Hi there, welcome to the animal shelter. How can I help you today?”
“Hi, Sasha,” Leanne said, taking the lead. “We were given your name by Jack Frost. We wanted to talk to you about Karen.”
Sasha’s eyes narrowed just a tiny bit. “I’m sorry, I’m not talking to any journalists about her, for her and her family’s privacy’s sake.”
“Oh, no, we’re not journalists,” Leanne said quickly. “I was the one who found her. Well, Eliza and I were together. I knew Karen from the coffee shop – our family owns Cackling Witch Coffee – and we want to know what happened to Karen as badly as you do.”
“I didn’t realize,” Sasha said, her expression softening. “Thank you. I was told the people who found her saved her life.”
“Well, we don’t want her coming back to town knowing that the person who tried to kill her is still out there, so we thought we’d ask around and see if we could get an idea of who might have wanted to hurt her. Of course, anything we find out will go to the proper authorities. You know what Chief Jones is like, though.”
Sasha sighed. “I do. The thought that he might not be quite up to this has crossed my mind. After all, you were the one who solved the murder of Leonard Steele, weren’t you?” she asked, looking at me.
“Yes,” I replied. “I didn’t really know Karen, since I’m new to town, but from everything I’ve heard she was a wonderful person, and I think we need to do whatever we can to find out who did this.”
Sasha looked at us for a second, made a decision, and nodded. “Yes, you’re right. I’ll tell you what I know in the hopes that you’ll be able to bring the person who tried to kill Karen to justice. Have you heard about the disagreement she had with Gary?”
“The principal at the elementary school?” Leanne replied. “Yes. We were told that Karen wanted to do more to help a few struggling students, but that Gary just wanted her to let it slide and let the teachers at the high school deal with it.”
“That’s right,” Sasha said, nodding. “Gary is very results-oriented. He believes that if we simply bump up the grades for weaker students, then he looks like a good principal, despite the fact that the kids aren’t actually learning anything, and that long-term it’s a huge detriment to their education. If a child can’t do addition properly by the third grade, they’re never going to succeed when they have to learn algebra in the eighth grade.”
“We know about him, and we will be talking to him,” Leanne said. “What about any other teachers? Was there anyone else she was having disagreements with?”
Sasha bit her lip as she thought hard. “No, I can’t really think of anyone else who had any problems with her. Not at the school, anyway. She was really quite well-respected.”
“What about outside of work?” I asked. “How was her home life?”
Sasha shrugged. “I mean, I think they were happy, overall. Kyle and Karen, that is. They seemed to legitimately care for each other, but they did have their issues. With three boys, all six years old now, it wasn’t easy for them. Especially since they had no family in the area. I know Karen was trying to convince her parents to move to Enchanted Enclave to give them a little bit of help. She told me she was feeling overwhelmed since going back to work.”
“It was all too much for her?” Leanne asked softly, and Sasha nodded.
“Yes. She wanted to move back to part-time work, but because of the nature of Kyle’s construction job there wasn’t enough financial security for them to do it. Karen was feeling burnt out. She was teaching eight-year-olds all day, then coming home and having to cook dinner, take care of their children, and put them to bed.”
“Kyle wouldn’t help?” I asked, and Sasha gave me a sad smile.
“A little bit, sure. But most women I know who work still end up doing the majority of the housework, even after coming home from a day of working themselves. It was a point of contention for Karen – she was always the one who ended up cooking dinner, who bathed the boys, who put them to bed. Please don’t tell anyone I told you this. She’d absolutely hate it if anyone found out. Karen always makes a point of trying to look strong, like she has it all together. She thinks it’s important for a teacher to display that kind of resilience. She always wants to set a good example for her students. Even when she wakes up, I’m sure she’ll be telling everyone she’s fine, and that she doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.”
“Yeah, I had no idea,” Leanne said. “She seemed a little bit flustered when she came into the coffee shop, but a lot of people do before they get their daily caffeine intake. It just goes to show, you never can know exactly what goes on behind the scenes in peoples’ lives.”
“Exactly,” Sasha said, nodding. “Karen is one of the strongest women I know. I’m not surprised that she beat the odds and survived being stabbed. I hope she pulls through, for those boys’ sake. I’m not saying Kyle is a bad father – he isn’t – but a lot of the household responsibilities fell on Karen, and she shouldered a lot of burden.”
“I think we understand what you mean,” Kaillie said softly. “Do you know if there were financial troubles at all?”
“Oh, no. I mean, money was always tight for them, like it is for everyone these days, but they got by. If there were any major problems, I wasn’t aware of them. But you know, that does remind me, I think Karen was having issues with someone.”
“Oh?” Leanne prompted, and Sasha nodded slowly.
“Yes, that’s right. It’s probably nothing, but I should mention it anyway. I don’t know the details exactly, but I saw Leanne having a heated argument with the head of the rec center here in town. Do you know him? Andrew Lloyd?”
“I do,” Leanne said. “He stops by the coffee shop from time to time.”
“Good. I don’t know what the argument was about, and I didn’t want to interrupt because it looked heated. I asked Karen about it the next time I saw her, and she was very evasive.”
“That’s interesting,” Leanne said slowly. “Thank you for the information.”
“Anything I can do to help. I do hope you find the person who tried to kill Karen. Where was she?”
“Down Orca Street, about half a mile away from Main Street.”
Sasha frowned. “That’s strange, there’s not much out there, is there?”
“No,” Leanne replied. “I think the closest place is her house, but it still would have been a walk to get to Orca Street from there. And there was the school, but it was still half a mile away. It’s a conundrum for sure.”
“Alright. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do. Feel free to find me here, or at the school.”
“Thanks, Sasha,” I said to her. “Are you going to go to the city to see her?”
Sasha nodded. “Yes. As soon as I close up shop here I’m taking the ferry across. I’ve already told the school board not to schedule me next week; I want to spend some time with Karen, and also take care of the kids for Kyle for a little bit. He’s going to need some time to himself, I’m sure.”
“That’s good of you to do,” Kaillie said. “I hope she pulls through.”
“Me too,” Sasha said. “Thank you again for saving her life.”
Leanne didn’t say anything, but the guilt was written all over her face. She hadn’t forgiven herself for hitting Karen.
The three of us said goodbye to Sasha and headed back out, each of us lost in our own thoughts as we got into the car.
“It’s Saturday afternoon, my guess is we’re not going to be able to really talk to anyone else tonight,” Kaillie said, and I nodded.
“Agreed. We can get our thoughts ordered and come up with a plan of action, but I think we have a few good suspects to look at.”
Leanne put the car into drive as the three of us drove off, leaving the sound of excitedly barking dogs behind us.
Chapter 7
“Sounds good, Aunt Debbie’s food is better than yours anyway,” Leanne joked in reply.
“Hey, keep that up and you’re not getting any more of these cookies,” Kaillie replied, tapping the Tupperware.
“I’d like to see you stop me,” Leanne replied.
Kaillie pulled out her wand and tapped the lid. “Saturn, God of time, keep this box sealed from fingers fine.”
Leanne scowled. “Now that’s an unfair use of magic. No wonder you’re not seeing any invitations to get back to the paranormal world.”
“Take back what you said about my cooking and I’ll reverse the spell.”
“Fine. Kaillie, cousin dearest, you are the best cook I have ever encountered. Eating food cooked by you is better than any experience I’ve ever had with a man. You make Gordon Ramsay look like a slob who throws spaghetti at the wall and calls it a meal, and you’re way hotter than he is.”
I laughed at Leanne’s fawning words while Kaillie giggled and reversed the spell.
“See, that’s the way you should be treating me every day,” Kaillie said.
“Only if you hand over the box of cookies,” Leanne said, reaching over, grabbing one and shoving it in her mouth.
“You’re going to spoil your appetite,” Kaillie said to Leanne.
“Wow, you really are turning into your mother,” Leanne replied.
“My body has a separate ‘dessert tummy’ just for cookies,” I said as I reached into the box as well, unable to resist.
Kaillie shook her head at us, then grabbed one herself. Cleopawtra strutted into the room, making sure her entrances were always more like appearances. She was a queen in both name and in actions.
A Cauldron of Hot Coffee: Enchanted Enclave Mysteries Books 1-3 Page 19