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

by Samantha Silver

  Andrew’s face went a deep shade of red, and then almost as quickly, completely white. He started off looking like he was going to stand up from his chair and start pummeling Leanne, but then he changed his mind and sighed, sinking deeper into it, an obviously broken man.

  “I didn’t stab Karen. I swear to you, I didn’t. I will admit to the rest. But please, don’t tell anyone. I’m not in that game anymore. I’ve gotten out. I never meant to do it, and I never meant to break the law. But I’m telling you, I didn’t stab Karen.”

  “Why don’t you tell us the whole story?” I suggested kindly. After all, we still only had bits and pieces of it, and Leanne had basically guessed the connection between Andrew and Kyle. I wanted all of it, and it sounded like Andrew was finally ready to give it all up.

  Andrew nodded.

  “Alright. I will, because I want you to know I’m not a bad person. I didn’t stab Karen. About a year ago, I had some financial trouble. Basically, my car blew up at the same time as my fridge, and I couldn’t pay for both. Because of some stupid mistakes I made when I was younger, I couldn’t get a credit card – my credit is completely trashed – but I live on the east side of the island. I also didn’t want to walk half an hour to work and back every day, and I also needed food. I needed some extra cash, so I went to my brother, Tony. He always told me growing up that if I ever needed anything, I should come to him. And I believed him. After all, Tony’s my big brother. So I go to see him, and I ask him for a bit of cash. And he tells me he’ll give it to me, but I have to work for it.”

  “What does Tony do, exactly?” Kaillie asked. “He’s a criminal, but what kind?”

  “I don’t know,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “You’re right that he’s a criminal, but I honestly try and stay out of that side of his life as much as possible. I don’t know if he’s hooked up with a gang, or the mafia, or if he works on his own, or what. But he told me he was running book, and he wanted to expand his services, and thought that Enchanted Enclave would be perfect. Plus, he told me I had the perfect job for it. Everyone comes to the recreation center at times. Maybe it’s just a guy dropping his kids off to play hockey, or someone stopping at the gym for a workout after a big day at the office. Either way, Tony said, they’d be able to make a quick pit stop to my office, place a bet or two, and then head on home. It would be super easy money. And he was right.”

  Andrew sighed, as if collecting his thoughts for a second, and then continued. “He was so right. Word got around the island, and before I knew it, I was collecting hundreds, thousands of dollars a night in betting money. I would take the ferry over to the mainland and give it back to my brother. My cut alone was more than my entire salary. Within a week I’d bought a new car and fridge. But honestly, it never sat right with me. After that, every cent I earned I stuck in a savings account, and I refused to touch it. I didn’t like how I earned the money. I didn’t like sneaking around. I didn’t like how my chest would seize up every time I spotted a law enforcement official. Chief Ron came into the recreation center one day and I almost had a heart attack. It turned out he was just looking for a teenager whose parents didn’t know where he was, but it scared the crap out of me. I’d never seen Chief Ron anywhere near the recreation center before.”

  “So how did Karen come into play?” I asked. “When did she get involved?”

  “When she confronted her husband about his gambling and he admitted to her that I was the one who had been taking the bets for him. That was what the argument between us was about. I was trying to get her to keep her mouth shut; I didn’t want her to tell the cops anything. And she wanted me to stop taking bets. She told me it was wrong, and that it was ruining this community. And you know what? She was right. We definitely fought, I’m not going to deny that. But it was my ego doing the fighting. After I’d had a few hours to settle down I realized she was right, and I called her that night. I told her that I’d come to my senses, and that I was going to tell my brother that I wasn’t doing it anymore. She thanked me, and told me that it was the right thing to do. You know, Karen was right about that. You have no idea the stress this was putting me under. I didn’t enjoy it.”

  “And that was the conversation you had with your brother today.”

  “That’s right. This was the third time, in fact. I called him a couple of other times, but he pushed back a lot harder. I guess he finally realized I was serious about it. Karen was stabbed a couple days after I spoke to her on the phone. The first time, Tony tried to convince me that it was a good thing, that this way I could keep working for him. But I guess he realized I’m serious after all.”

  “Hold on,” Kaillie said. “Do you think Tony could have stabbed Karen?”

  Andrew shook his head. “No, he couldn’t have. I mean, if he knew who she was, sure. I actually wouldn’t have put it past him. But I never told him who the person I was arguing with was. He didn’t have a name, so it would have been impossible for him to find her.”

  “You’re sure you didn’t let her name slip at all?”

  “One hundred percent,” Andrew said. “I barely mentioned her at all. I wanted Tony to think that it was my own decision, and that it wasn’t really influenced by anyone else.”

  “How can we know for sure you didn’t stab Karen?”

  “You can’t,” Andrew said with a shrug. “I was in my office until after nine, and there aren’t any security cameras in here. There are a few in the building, but there are also a dozen ways to get in and out of this place while avoiding them. But I’m telling you, I didn’t do it.”

  “You’re the one who broke into her house though, aren’t you?” I asked. I figured if he was willing to admit to that, then maybe he was telling the truth about not having stabbed her.

  “Yes, that was me. Karen mentioned that her husband had kept a record of everything he bet, in case I tried to rip him off. When I found out she was stabbed, I figured the police would eventually search her place looking for clues, and I had to get rid of those papers before they did. It took me a couple of days before I was able to build up the nerve to actually go in there and get them, but I did. They were on the laptop. I had to really psyche myself up to do it. I’m not like Tony. I’m not a criminal through-and-through, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I was scared as anything as I left, and I was sure I was going to get caught, but I didn’t. Not until you three came along, anyway. Are you going to tell the cops on me?”

  He looked up at us now, a completely broken man.

  “I don’t know,” Leanne said. “You say you’re never going to do anything like this again?”

  “Never,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “Absolutely never. You have my word.”

  “We’ll have to discuss it, but I think maybe we don’t need to let the police know, either. Unless we find out you stabbed Karen. In which case, we’re telling them everything.”

  “Of course. But I’m telling you, I really didn’t. I had nothing against Karen. She was just looking out for her family, and I respect that. I didn’t stab her.”

  “Ok,” I said, nodding. “Let’s say we believe you. Who do you think did it?”

  A pained expression crossed Andrew’s face. “I have no idea. I’m telling you, I barely knew her. Her boys took soccer lessons here, so I knew her to say hi to, but that was it. We weren’t close, and I have no idea as to who would want her dead.”

  I was tempted to believe him. Honestly, Andrew had sounded like he was giving us straight answers from the start. Looking at Leanne and Kaillie, I had a sneaking suspicion they thought the same as we did.

  “Alright,” Kaillie said finally. “We make no promises about what we’re going to do with the information, but we appreciate you being straight with us.”

  “Seriously, if there was anything – anything at all I could do to prove that I hadn’t stabbed Karen, I would do it. I’m telling you, it wasn’t me.”

  The three of us headed out of the office and back into the street.

 
; Chapter 23

  “What do you think?” Leanne asked as soon as we burst out of the recreation center and back into the daylight. “Was he being straight with us?”

  “I think so,” Kaillie replied. “Everything he said to us matched up with what we overheard in the conversation with his brother, and he had no way of knowing we were listening in on that.”

  “I agree,” I said. “Plus, he even admitted that he broke into Karen’s home. He seems to me like a guy who got in way over his head, did some bad things, and wants to have to pay for them. You know how some killers end up having the guilt gnaw away at them so badly they turn themselves in? That was the impression I got from Andrew. And despite all of that, he still didn’t admit that he’d stabbed Karen. I think more than anything, that’s what makes me believe him.”

  “Alright, so he’s not our killer after all. Who does that leave us with?”

  “Kyle,” Kaillie said. “Since Gary was apparently at that conference. He didn’t have the opportunity to do it.”

  “It’s always the husband,” Leanne replied. “He must have found out that Karen was going to divorce him, and decided that he’d rather she be dead. We can go in and see him later. Eliza and I are going to yoga class.”

  I groaned. “I was really hoping you’d forgotten about that.”

  Leanne pouted at me. “You said you were going to give it another shot.”

  “No, you said that I should give it another shot. There’s a big difference.”

  “Come on,” Leanne whined. “I promise it’s not going to be as bad as last time. And besides, I’m not going to stop pestering you, ever, so you might as well get it over with.”

  I sighed. “Fine. I guess I’ll go. But if I die there tonight, let it be known that I didn’t want to.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll spread the word that you were murdered by a yoga practice,” Kaillie said.

  “Thank you. Alright, let’s head home and grab a change of clothes, then we can go.”

  Twenty minutes later I was standing in front of Janice’s yoga studio on Main Street, looking at the door, willing the ground to open up and swallow me.

  “Come on, stop being a baby and come inside,” Leanne said, opening the door and motioning for me to follow. I supposed the longer I put this off, the more painful it was going to be, so I sighed and followed her in.

  I dawdled as much as I could in the change room, with Leanne glaring at me the whole time. “I know what you’re doing. You’re acting like a child. No one is fooled by you.”

  “If we’re late, then that’s one less minute of yoga I need to do today.”

  “If we’re late I’m going to make you come another time to make up for it,” Leanne replied, and I scowled.

  “Oh come on, that’s not fair.”

  “Hey, if you’re going to act like a child, I’m going to treat you like one. Yoga is good for you. You look like you haven’t exercised in years. Your arms are as toned as a pool noodle.”

  “I happen to like my pool noodle arms, thank you very much.” Still, as much as I liked to complain to Leanne about how much the last yoga class I had taken felt like death, I knew she was right. I had nothing remotely resembling muscle tone, and my exercise regimen could kindly be described as “inspired by a Sloth”. So if it meant actually being vaguely in shape for the first time in my life maybe I could struggle through a second class, in the hopes that it wouldn’t hurt as much as the first class.

  Besides, yoga had the advantage of being done indoors. I had a sneaking suspicion that in the winter I’d consider that a huge advantage.

  I trudged towards the studio, grabbed one of the mats available for those who didn’t have their own, and set myself up among all the strong, lithe people in the room and prepared for another hour of torture that I was going to have to pay for.

  An hour later I had collapsed back onto my mat, but while I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to move for the next day, that was a significant improvement over the previous class, when I strongly contemplated throwing myself out the window, except that I didn’t have the strength.

  “So what’s the verdict?” Leanne asked, standing over me. I groaned and sat up. “You’re moving on your own this time, so that’s an improvement.”

  “I guess it was a little bit easier.”

  “See?” Janice said, coming over with a knowing smile. “The practice of yoga can be difficult for beginners, but once you get used to the movements, your body gets used to the exercise and the poses, and you will begin to feel more in tune with your body. I do hope you’ll continue to join us in future sessions. Namaste.”

  “See?” Leanne said as she led me back to the change rooms. “It wasn’t that bad. Besides, yoga opens your mind and your body. Don’t you feel more relaxed, and like your brain has just taken a break?”

  “That’s because it’s taken off and run down the road as fast as it possibly can to get away from this body,” I replied. Deep down, however, I had to admit that Leanne was right. I felt refreshed, energized, and limber, like one of those inflatable men in front of car dealerships.

  Maybe there really was something to this whole yoga thing.

  “Fine, I admit it, maybe this isn’t as bad as I made it out to be last time. But I still reserve the right to complain.”

  “Works for me,” Leanne said, laughing. “I’m thinking of starting a new Twitter account that just records the things you complain about when you come to yoga. I’ll probably be a celebrity within a few months.”

  “Sure,” I said, laughing. Suddenly, I paused.

  “What is it?” Leanne asked.

  I looked at her and grinned. “I know who stabbed Karen and tried to kill us.”

  “What? That came to you, just now?”

  “Hey, you’re the one who said yoga clears your head. Maybe that’s what did it. I was finally able to think clearly for a second, and it just came to me.”

  “Well, who is it?”

  I looked around the change room. It was totally empty. “Gary Vanderchuk, the school principal.”

  Leanne shook her head. “No way. He was in Seattle for a conference.”

  “He could have easily snuck back into town. The ferry leaves every hour. He could have come back here, stabbed her, then gone back across to Seattle, then left his car at a shop to get the blood out of it.”

  “Yeah, that’s the other thing. We looked at his car.”

  “No, we didn’t.”

  Leanne tilted her head towards me in question.

  “We saw the car he was driving in the parking lot. A car that had a sticker on the back saying ‘meat is murder’. And yet, when Gary was making his way to the gym, Kaillie said he was eating some beef jerky.”

  Leanne gasped. “Oh Saturn, you’re right!”

  “So he wasn’t driving his own car. Probably because his own car was in the shop getting the blood taken out of it.”

  “And he wouldn’t have had it fixed here in town, where it would have been obvious where that much blood would have come from. However, he could have gone to some shady place in the city that wouldn’t ask any questions, and still shown up to the conference.”

  “So who does the car belong to?” Leanne asked, and I shrugged.

  “His sister? She seemed like the sort of person who would have a bunch of hippie bumper stickers on the back of her car.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “I’m pretty sure I am. So what do you say, should we go give Detective Andrews what we have?”

  “You’re joking, right? He’s going to laugh us out of there if we tell him all we have to go on is a bumper sticker and a hunch. We need more. We need actual proof.”

  I groaned. “Don’t tell me you think your plan is to go and confront him.”

  “That’s exactly my plan. Come on, it went really well last time.”

  “You had to save my life when a gun was pulled on me.”

  “Yeah, almost being the key there. Besides, if the two o
f us had gone together in the first place things would have gone very differently, since it’s harder to shoot two people than just one.”

  “I’m not one hundred percent sure that logic is sound,” I said slowly.

  “Oh come on. Gary is a school principal. What’s he going to do?”

  “Well, he’s already stabbed one woman and broken into the coffee shop to try and kill us. I’m pretty sure he’s proven that he’s willing to resort to violence to get what he wants.”

  “Fine,” Leanne said. “Let’s just break into his office and see if there’s any proof. Everyone will be gone from the school now, and I know how we can get in without triggering the alarm system.”

  “How on earth would you know that?”

  Leanne shrugged. “This is a small town. There’s not a lot to do, so we’ve all climbed up onto the roof of the school at some point or another. There’s a skylight up there that we can go through that isn’t alarmed. At least, it was still there a couple of years ago.”

  “Seriously? And no one has thrown paint or anything down it?”

  “Oh, that definitely happened. So it’s locked now, but you know the spell for unlocking things, right? And we’ll be in private, so it’s not like there will be anyone around to see us.”

  I nodded. “I think I can do that.” Leanne and Kaillie had been making me use magic to unlock the front door of the house for weeks now, so this was actually one of the spells I was most adept at using. I wasn’t worried about messing it up, and I was confident that as long as there was no one else around I’d be fine.

  “Cool, let’s go,” Leanne said. We were going to find proof Gary was the killer.

  Chapter 24

  Fifteen minutes later we’d gotten up onto the roof of the school, with a little bit of help from Leanne for me.

  “You know, if you did more yoga you’d have an easier time getting up here,” Leanne commented after practically effortlessly making her way onto the roof.