A Cauldron of Hot Coffee: Enchanted Enclave Mysteries Books 1-3

by Samantha Silver

  “Welcome back, is there food?” she asked. “I can hear you eating.”

  “It’s not for you, it’s got chocolate in it,” I said through a big bite of cookie, and Cleo scrunched her nose at me.

  “You’re not supposed to talk with your mouth full, that’s disgusting.”

  “You lick yourself on my bed at two in the morning. That’s disgusting.”

  “That’s grooming,” Cleo corrected me. “And besides, that’s white chocolate. It’s not bad for cats.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled, tearing off a small piece of cookie and handing it over to Cleo, who very happily ate it. “But only because we’re going to Aunt Debbie’s for dinner, so you won’t have any table scraps to beg off me tonight.”

  “Why would you do that to me?” Cleo whined. “Don’t you know I’m a growing kitten?”

  “Yeah, a growing kitten with her own food bowl that’s filled regularly.”

  “Human food has superpowers that makes you grow stronger, though.”

  “I’m fairly certain that’s not true.”

  “It is, every cat knows it.”

  “Well, I guess you won’t be a supercat tonight,” I replied.

  “Sorry to interrupt what’s obviously a riveting conversation,” Leanne said, “But I think we should sort out our plan for the next couple of days.”

  “Yeah, good plan,” I replied. “We have Gary, Andrew, and Kyle as suspects.”

  “Right,” Kaillie said. “When was it that the two of you found Karen?” I couldn’t help but notice Kaillie pause before she said ‘found’ – I had a feeling she was about to say ‘ran into’, but then thought the better of it, and I was glad for it.

  “Well, let’s see. Yoga class finished at seven, and it took probably eight or nine minutes to convince Eliza to stop crying and get up off the floor.”

  I stuck my tongue out at Leanne. “You’re not the one who was tortured without any warning.”

  “Saturn above, you are whiny,” Leanne said. “It was one yoga class.”

  “And it’s been almost twenty-four hours and I still haven’t recovered.”

  “That’s a sign you need to exercise more.”

  “That’s a sign Janice needs to be locked up for cruel and unusual punishment.” Although deep down, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew Leanne was right. I did need to exercise more. The fact that just an hour earlier I had tried to gauge just how much I really needed to pee since the idea of sitting down on the toilet filled me with dread was probably proof enough.

  “So let’s say we left at five past seven. Maybe add an extra couple of minutes to get into the car, drive off, etcetera,” I continued. “We had to have found her at what, quarter past?”

  “Probably thereabouts,” Leanne said, nodding. “It wouldn’t have been later than that.”

  “And how long do you think it had been since she was stabbed?”

  Leanne and I looked at each other. “It couldn’t have been long,” I said finally. “She was losing blood pretty quickly. Do you think five minutes is right?”

  “Yeah, I think that’s a good estimate.”

  “Alright,” Kaillie said. “So she was probably stabbed around ten past seven. Do you know where she came from?”

  “Well, she was on the left hand side of the road from the car,” I said. “But apart from that, I don’t know.”

  “No, me neither,” Leanne said. “I didn’t see her until we were about a hundred feet from her. I don’t know what direction she came from, or if she’d been walking along the road.”

  “What if we follow the blood?” I asked, snapping my fingers. “Surely there would be traces of it on the road. All we have to do is follow it and see where it leads. Maybe that’ll tell us where Karen was when she was stabbed.”

  Kaillie glanced out the window. “We probably have just enough time to go have a look before the sun goes down and it’s time to go have dinner.”

  “It’s too bad your familiar isn’t a dog; the nose could have come in handy.”

  “Excuse me?” Cleo replied, obviously outraged. “Your friend needs to learn some manners. I am superior to a dog in every respect.”

  “I know,” I whispered to Cleo. “I’m sorry. She doesn’t mean anything by it. We’re going to go out, but we’ll be back soon.”

  “In time for my dinner to be served, I hope.”

  “Of course, how could I ever forget?”

  Satisfied she wasn’t going to starve to death, Cleo curled herself up into a ball and went to sleep while the three of us got ready to go out once more. We were only a half mile from where we had found Karen, so decided that it was easier to walk than to take the car. About five minutes later, we were at the spot.

  At least, I figured it was the spot. Leanne was the expert, having lived here her whole life. To me, this place in the day looked completely different. The trees lining the side of the road were far less ominous-looking, for one thing.

  “This was it,” Leanne said, looking down on the ground. “There. That dark patch there; that had to be where she was when we found her.”

  I looked to where Leanne pointed, and sure enough, there was a tiny patch of asphalt that looked just a bit darker than the rest.

  “Alright, so she came from this direction,” I said, moving towards the trees. “Here’s another spot. We have to just follow this trail.”

  While I had initially thought it would be pretty easy to follow the trail, it turned out that wasn’t the case at all. There just hadn’t been all that much blood that had dripped onto the ground, and even though we were able to find a spot here and there, they weren’t all that obvious, and with the sun edging closer and closer to the horizon, the available light was fading fast.

  “Can you use a spell to find it?” Leanne asked, and Kaillie bit her lip, looking hesitant. “Come on, it’s not like there’s anyone around who will see.”

  “Fine,” Kaillie said, looking around carefully to confirm there were no cars or people nearby. “Saturn, god of wealth, reveal the blood that lays here in stealth.”

  I gasped as Kaillie moved her wand around, and tiny specks on the pavement suddenly began glowing blue. We now had a trail to follow. Kaillie held the wand steady while Leanne and I followed the path of blood, which continued for about two hundred feet before suddenly ending in the middle of the road.

  “That’s weird,” Kaillie said with a frown. “There’s nothing in the forest nearby?”

  “No,” I said, making my way to the edge of the woods and looking in. The darkness made the blue glow from the spell obvious; there was definitely no blood in the forest.

  “She must have been in a car,” Kaillie said, putting her wand away and ending the spell. “She was stabbed in a vehicle, and must have either been pushed out or managed to jump out. Whoever attacked her then sped off.”

  “That makes perfect sense,” Leanne said, nodding. “I think you’re right. Look at that, we have a clue!”

  It was certainly a start.

  Chapter 8

  The three of us headed back to the house, where I quickly left some food out for a napping Cleopawtra before continuing on further down the street to Aunt Debbie’s. The three of us walked right in, and as soon as we did the sound of an argument between Aunt Debbie and Aunt Lucy reached our ears. I raised my eyebrows as my eyes met Leanne’s, and she shrugged.

  “You know you’re not supposed to goad her,” I could hear Aunt Debbie saying.

  “Who says?” came my other aunt’s reply.

  “The fact that you’re almost sixty years old and you’re supposed to be better than that.”

  “Well, she’s nearly the same age as I am and she thinks it’s alright to pick on a woman forty years younger than her.”

  “You’re not supposed to argue with an idiot. They’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

  “Oh please. Ariadne might be an idiot, but I have so much experience beating her over the years I can do it in
my sleep.”

  “You’re going to end up with another visit from Kyran,” Aunt Debbie warned as the three of us stepped into the kitchen. As soon as the two witches noticed us, they immediately dropped the topic of conversation.

  “Why hello there,” Aunt Debbie said, beaming at us. “Joining us for dinner? We’re doing burrito bowls tonight.”

  “What did Aunt Lucy do to Ariadne?” Leanne asked with a grin, and Aunt Debbie glared at her sister.

  “You weren’t supposed to hear any of that. And it’s none of your business.”

  “It sounds like it definitely is my business,” Leanne said. “After all, I’m the one Ariadne came into the coffee shop basically accusing of murder.”

  “What you don’t know is that this afternoon she went to see Chief Ron and tried to convince him that you deserved to be arrested for what you did. Luckily, he wasn’t alone, and that young detective, what’s his name, came over and sorted everything out. He not-so-politely told Ariadne she was interfering with affairs that weren’t any of her business and escorted her out of the police station.”

  “Ross Andrews?” I offered up hopefully, and Aunt Lucy nodded.

  “That was him. He’s a nice young man. Anyway, I found out about this, and let’s just say Ariadne’s store suddenly found itself to be home to an infestation of frogs that she wasn’t expecting.”

  I stifled a laugh as I imagined the gift shop full of overly-perfumed kitsch being overrun by amphibians, and Ariadne having no idea how to deal with it.

  “Aunt Lucy!” Kaillie cried. “You’re not supposed to use magic like that, not in front of humans.”

  Aunt Lucy shrugged. “How will anyone ever know? We live on an island that’s full of nature. Frogs are par for the course.”

  “Well, apart from the fact that Ariadne came and accused you of doing it,” Aunt Denise said.

  “She thinks I bought the frogs from Tim down on the water. She doesn’t think I used magic,” Aunt Lucy retorted. “Seriously, I did think this through.”

  “I, for one, am glad that my aunt was willing to defend my honor,” Leanne replied with a grin as Uncle Bob walked into the room as well. “Oh, hey Dad.”

  “Hey, sweetie,” the wizard replied, making his way over to Leanne and kissing her lightly on the forehead while giving her a quick squeeze. “I thought I’d come by and enjoy dinner with my sisters, but it’s a nice surprise to have the rest of the family here.”

  “We had a long day,” Kaillie said. “And according to Leanne, Mom’s cooking is better than mine anyway.”

  “I’m not sure that’s true anymore,” Aunt Debbie said. “Anyway, I hope you all like burrito bowls, even though it’ll mean Mexican two days in a row. I was just getting it all ready when Lucy walked in. The dishes are ready to go on the table.”

  Aunt Debbie muttered a spell under her breath and two of the cupboard doors, along with one of the drawers opened up and an extra three sets of plates, glasses and cutlery flew out and launched towards the dining room, landing on the table in perfect formation.

  The six of us made our way into the dining room and sat down. The next few minutes were spent with everyone busying themselves making up their bowls and passing the various ingredients around the room.

  When everyone was settled and had taken a few bites conversation began once more.

  “Do you have any more updates on Karen’s condition?” Leanne asked Aunt Lucy, who nodded.

  “Yes. Dorothy heard from Joe that Karen is out of surgery and the cops were able to speak with her for a few minutes. She has no memory of what happened; the last thing she remembers from that day was the end of the school day and her students leaving. After that, nothing.”

  “So she has no idea who did this to her,” I said.

  “That’s right,” Aunt Lucy confirmed. “It’s too bad, really. It would have been nice to have the person who did this caught.”

  “Karen is expected to make a full recovery, then?” Kaillie asked hopefully.

  “Yes. She’s really lucky, from what I’ve heard. She lost a lot of blood. They’re going to move her from the hospital in Seattle back to Enchanted Enclave in a few days. She’ll need to stay there for a bit longer, just to make sure there are no complications, but she wants to come back home and the doctors think it should be safe for her to make the journey back in a day or two.”

  “Good,” Uncle Bob said. “Although I don’t like the idea that the person who did this to her is still walking around.”

  “It’s probably easier for his family if they’re back home as well,” Aunt Debbie mused. “After all, it’s probably nicer for Kyle and the boys if they’re able to sleep in their own beds. Plus, there are more people up here willing to help out. And with Karen’s family having come up from Portland, they’d probably be happier in Karen’s home than in a hotel.”

  “They’re going to have to beef up security at the hospital,” Uncle Bob said, and Leanne shrugged.

  “They’ll do it, but I’m not sure the killer will have a second bite at the apple. Not when Karen’s in the hospital, anyway. After all, this is Enchanted Enclave. If we know that Karen has no idea who stabbed her, then the person doesn’t have to worry about Karen telling on them. At the very least, they would wait until Karen is away from a building with security cameras all over the place,” she replied.

  “Maybe,” Aunt Lucy said. “I still think it’s most likely the husband did it.”

  “We found out you were right about that, too, Aunt Lucy,” Leanne said.

  “That’s not a surprise at all. But right about what specifically this time?”

  I hid a smile as I answered. “There were problems in Kyle and Karen’s marriage surrounding the amount of work Karen had to do. She was working full time and then taking care of the kids as soon as she got home, and she resented Kyle for it. She wanted to move to working part-time but they couldn’t afford it.”

  Aunt Lucy snorted. “That’s always the way, though. Most men still seem to think that even though women are allowed to work outside the home now they should still be taking care of all the household chores, too. It’s one of the reasons I never got married.”

  “That, and there isn’t a man in this world who’d be able to survive living with you for that long,” Uncle Bob muttered under his breath, and Aunt Lucy glared at him.

  “I heard that,” she replied. “I’ll have you know I had plenty of suitors back in my day. Saturn knows I still do now, in the prime of my life. Hit it and quit it, that’s my motto.”

  Kaillie choked on the forkful of food in her mouth and was hit by a coughing fit that lasted a solid thirty seconds.

  “Lucy,” Aunt Debbie scolded. “That’s not appropriate.”

  Aunt Lucy shrugged. “It’s true, though. Deny it all you want, but we both know women still deal with an uneven share of the housework in most families. In a family where that involves taking care of triplets, I’m not surprised that Karen was feeling stressed.”

  “Still, you would think that would lead to her wanting to kill Kyle, not the other way around,” I mused.

  Aunt Lucy shrugged. “We don’t know what happened, remember? Maybe she came at him first.”

  It was always possible.

  “That wasn’t a problem with you though, Dad, was it?” Leanne asked, turning to Uncle Bob.

  “It wasn’t, no. Your mom and I split up for completely different reasons. Although I do have to admit, early on in the marriage I did fall back into traditional gender roles. I would come back from work, crack open a beer and hang out on the couch like I used to when I was single. Your mom would come home from working at the bank, and I’d let her cook dinner and deal with all the chores like laundry and the dishes. She’d ask me for help, telling me she’d spent the whole day working too, and I’d make some noncommittal noise and go back to the TV.”

  “So how did she get things to change?” Leanne asked, and Uncle Bob grinned.

  “Eventually she also just stopped doing
any housework. She’d join me on the couch after work, and left absolutely everything. It took about a week before the house got so disgusting that I yelled at her for not doing it. She replied that if I wasn’t going to give her a hand, then she wasn’t going to do it either, and that we could either live in filth, get divorced, or I could carry my own weight.”

  “I’m guessing the third option won out,” Leanne replied, and Uncle Bob shrugged.

  “If I’d gone for either of the other two options you wouldn’t be here, and I’ve never regretted the choice I made,” he replied. “Besides, the thing is, Laura was completely right. I was being selfish, and I was just assuming that because Laura was the wife it was her job to keep a home, even though we were both working full-time. I came to understand that eventually. We were partners. I wasn’t “helping her” take care of the home, I was helping take care of the home I lived in. I was just lucky that I had a wife who was willing to call me out on my crap when we were newlyweds instead of one who stewed and let resentment get the better of her. Our marriage probably wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did if we’d done that.”

  “Well, regardless of whether or not it was Kyle who tried to kill her, I think so long as Karen remains in the hospital she’s safe,” Leanne said. “So the cops will have a few days to try and figure out who killed her.”

  “Yes, the cops,” Aunt Lucy replied, a knowing look in her eyes. I had a sneaking suspicion she was well aware of what the three of us were doing.

  Kaillie suddenly became intently focused on taking a huge bite of her burrito bowl while Leanne stared Aunt Lucy down, as if daring her to reveal what we were doing to the rest of the family.

  Luckily, if anyone else noticed the scene, they pretended not to, and the conversation quickly moved on to other topics.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning at the coffee shop was fairly uneventful, with the day always starting a little bit more slowly for everyone on Sundays. Leanne took the opportunity to start teaching me how to make the different types of coffee.