“No one forgot that Beetle is more than capable of taking care of himself, but Mom and Leo are just worried about the situation. They are afraid that the coven might be the one behind the threatening messages.” I set the bowl of beth root down on the coffee table next to all the pestles and mortars. “We have the notes here, so I’m going to cast the spell that I mentioned earlier in hopes of finding out who wrote the notes.”
“I will have to let my Justine know where I am going for the night,” Ted agreed with a frown.
“Thank you so much, Ted,” I responded with sincerity, appreciating how he always went above and beyond for us.
I then cast a surprised look my mother’s way when she stood from the couch before taking a huge gulp of her white wine. She then handed it off to Heidi, who had no choice but to take it before my mother turned all her attention toward us.
“Ted, I have something to ask you.”
Finally. Send Crayola Head on his way to help fortify the house, although you should warn him about the fanged little demon. He’s a trickster, that one. I truly thought I’d got him on board with the squirrelpocalypse, but down deep he could care less. That tells me something…he has no conception on how to reinforce the security that I put into place the last time I was over at my VVBFF’s house to look for any leftover blueberry-filled edibles.
“It’s about the wedding.”
Heidi, Leo, and I all sucked in collective gasps of horror as we waited to hear what it could be that she wanted from Ted. The two of them weren’t the best of friends, especially since Ted had been so protective of my grandmother.
Mom’s decision to leave behind her life here in Paramour Bay and raise me in New York had been a devastating blow to Nan. Ted only tolerated my mother, but he was too much of a gentleman to speak harsh truths to a woman who had moved back home and was doing her best to make amends in other ways.
I don’t like the way this conversation is going, Raven. It took a left turn when it should have made a right. Who is steering this discussion anyway?
“Would you do me the honor of escorting me down the aisle?”
The deafening silence was so heavy that the crackle and pop of the flickering flames in the hearth behind me had all of us startling right off our toes and paws.
This is it, isn’t it? Somehow, Skippy and his band of ninja squirrels somehow outwitted me and got your mother to join the dark side of the acorn nut. This is so not how I pictured us going out, Raven.
“I know that you most likely still harbor some level of resentment for my actions hurting my mother. I had my reasons, and we both agreed to disagree on the subject at the time. With that said, I also realize how much you meant to my mother. You were her companion for the latter part of her life. You filled a place in her heart where I had left a hole, and I will forever be grateful for that. It is the reason why I would be honored to have you escort me into a new life with the man whom I love so dearly.”
Heidi’s sniffle had me wiping my own tears away upon hearing my mother’s heartfelt speech. Ted seemed to be a bit taken aback by such a request, but it didn’t surprise me to witness his slight bow of respect. Even he seemed to comprehend how much courage it had taken my mother to ask him something that clearly meant the world to her.
“I would be honored, Ms. Regina.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Leo using a paw to wipe his left eye.
What? A strand of fur got stuck in my eye, that’s all. Don’t you have a car to pick up somewhere?
“I’m going to have to swing by the garage tomorrow morning,” I murmured, still amazed at the scene before me. My mother had closed the distance between her and Ted in order to give the gentle giant an awkward hug.
“And thank you for staying with my Beetle tonight,” Mom said before quickly turning around and snatching her wineglass back from Heidi. “Tomorrow morning, please make sure that he sees the giftbox that I left for him next to his tuxedo. I bought him a special red bowtie to go with my dress after the seamstress seemingly misplaced his old one. The new bowtie is even monogrammed on the underside of the material.”
I’m the ringbearer. Did everyone seem to forget that? You found time between being blackmailed and getting your nails done to get your future husband a gift, yet you couldn’t remind him of the simple fact that I’m out of my blueberry-filled edibles? You hate cats, don’t you?
While Mom carried on about her wedding gift to Beetle and Leo continued to complain about the lack of his favorite catnip treat, I began thinking over the small mishaps that had taken place over the last few days. The seamstress had lost Beetle’s favorite bowtie, the circuit breaker to the ovens at the bakery had gone on the fritz before Bree could make the cupcakes that Mom had special ordered, and apparently other small things had gone wrong that Mom hadn’t really had time to fill me in on.
“I will make sure to remind Mr. Beetle of your gift.”
“Mom, maybe we need to take a step back,” I suggested as I walked over to where my burgundy pillow still remained in front of the hearth. I was eager to begin the spell, because I had no doubt that it would reveal the identity of Mom’s blackmailer. “We all agree that the coven probably wouldn’t resort to mere notes being left around for you to find. Cecelia turned out to be your friend, and you still remain adamant that Chef Amereldine wouldn’t sneak around and ruin his reputation by trying to win your heart when he knows where your true affections lie. What if it was someone from your past, though? Someone who is actually from Paramour Bay?”
Are you going off on another tangent that we’re all going to have trouble following? You seem to forget that I’m not consuming any blueberry-filled edibles for my brain to collect those mental antioxidants it so badly needs after I was kept from crossing into the afterlife with my beloved Rosemary.
“I’m not going off on a tangent, Leo,” I denied wryly as I settled in front of the fire. I moved the beth root closer to me as I prepared to begin the spell. “It’s a valid question. Think about it. All the things that have gone wrong are with the residents from Paramour Bay. The seamstress, the baker, and so on. The caterer and his assistant are staying at the inn, and they also have a third individual with them to help out with hors d’oeuvres and desserts at the reception. Even the band came through, though their manager was fired.”
My doppelgänger knows what’s best for his future. Speaking of the future, would someone please escort the lump of wax out the door so that I don’t need to worry about my VVBFF? I can only take so much stress with the limited supply of catnip that I have in the pantry.
Mom had assured all of us that Rebecca Dunsbury didn’t have what it took to blackmail anyone, though I had my doubts about that. It certainly sounded as if Rebecca loathed my mother. Just in case, I was having Liam call an old friend of his in the NYPD to see if they could locate her. I’d feel a lot better if we knew that Rebecca Dunsbury was still in the city.
Suddenly, the palm of my right hand began to fill with warmth.
No, it didn’t.
Leo could be in denial all he wanted, but my ability to sense danger or have an awareness of when something was about to happen had been spot on recently.
Raven, ignore it. Cast this spell so that we can save my VVBFF’s life, endure a horrible evening, and then watch as your mother ruins my supplier’s life day by day until his last undying breath.
My cell phone began to vibrate, indicating an incoming call.
Sweet angel of mercy, is the entire universe conspiring against me? Clearly, no one has gotten the memo that I’m the only one who accepts that we are on the verge of the world-ending squirrelpocalypse.
“Liam? Where are you? Everyone is here, though Mom made Beetle stay at home.” I tucked my cell phone in between my ear and shoulder so that I could finish arranging the components in the order that I would be adding them together. “We’re sending Ted over to the house to keep Beetle company for the rest of the night.”
“I’m glad to hear that, beca
use I have bad news,” Liam informed me rather gravely. “Are you sitting down?”
“Hold on,” I murmured as I pulled the phone away from my ear in order to set it down on the coffee table. I pressed the button that would allow everyone to hear what he had to say. “You’re on speakerphone, Liam. Mom, Heidi, Ted, Leo, and I are ready to hear what you’ve found out.”
The fact that Liam had replied that he was pleased to hear about Ted spending the night over at Beetle’s house told me that Beetle was okay for now. Liam’s bad news had to be about something else, but I had no idea what could be so bad that he’d want me to be sitting down to hear the news.
Really? Weren’t you the one who face-planted into a snowman this morning and ended up discovering the former sheriff unconscious and laid out on a patch of ice?
I shot a glare Leo’s way before everyone leaned forward in anticipation of the news that Liam was about to deliver.
“There’s no easy way to say this, but Rebecca Dunsbury was found dead in a hotel room around twenty miles outside of town,” Liam revealed, causing all of us to be a bit speechless. “It looks as if we have a murder case on our hands, after all.”
Sweet angel of mercy, get out of my way! Out of my way! Did you not hear that the threats are real, and that my VVBFF’s life hangs in the balance? Call in the Marines, Raven! Semper Fi! Do or die!
Chapter Nine
“This is not how I pictured spending the morning of my wedding,” my mother muttered into her cup of coffee. She hadn’t even bothered to add cream, which was how I knew that she was at the end of her proverbial rope. “Maybe it’s time to finally accept that—”
“Don’t even go there,” I warned, not willing to call off the ceremony at this point. It might have taken me a long time to accept Mom and Beetle as a couple, but they clearly made each other happy. I refused to believe that we couldn’t solve what had become a murder mystery before the big event, which just so happened to be at six o’clock this evening. “We have twelve hours before you and Beetle say those two magical words. I’m going to leave you in Heidi’s capable hands, Mom. She has promised to make sure that your hair is perfect for the ceremony. Meanwhile, Liam has been in contact with the NYPD, the sheriff from the neighboring town, and the county coroner. He’s going to handle that part of the investigation, and I’m going to go see everyone who had something happen to them in regard to your wedding. I’m going to talk to Bree at the bakery, the seamstress, and—”
I was stopped from listing the rest of plans when Leo suddenly materialized out of thin air. He’d popped into the kitchen of the cottage so fast that he had missed the edge of the counter and landed with a half-thud on a stool. How he managed not to fall off the flat-wooden seat was a miracle.
Not a miracle, Raven! I feel fantastic! You’ll never guess what happened last night. Not in a million years!
I had a pretty good idea, because the only reason that Leo would be in such a good mood was if he had found a particular brand of catnip edibles somewhere in the back of Beetle’s pantry.
Even better! If I hadn’t just consumed an entire packet of blueberry-filled edibles, I might have had your mother arrested for theft. At least, I think I could have had her arrested for theft. It doesn’t matter, though. I’m the forgiving type. You see, Beetle didn’t forget to order my special treats. They arrived on time, but your hairbrained mother shoved them into the closet with a bag of ice-melting pellets. I’ve never felt more alive than at this very moment, Raven! Isn’t life grand?
My mother groaned in frustration upon Leo’s revelation as she rested her head against the cold granite countertop of the island. She was still holding onto her coffee cup with both hands, though. It was a signal to me that she hadn’t completely given up.
“I take it that nothing happened last night while you were staying with my Beetle?” Mom asked after she finally lifted her head and focused on Leo.
Her unusual first-thing-in-the-morning look combined with the I-can’t-handle-any-more-bad-news look startled him…right off the stool. Sure enough, he’d pulled back in shock and didn’t have enough time to grab onto the edge before he landed with a thud on the floor.
For the love of all catnip, what is that thing sitting in your kitchen, Raven? Did you go and adopt one of those old English Sheepdogs while I was busy restoring my mental antioxidants? This takes the West Coast grunge style to a whole other level.
“It’s me, you nincompoop!”
Leo didn’t even bother to jump back up on the stool. Instead, he did what I refer to his blip thing. One second he was on the kitchen floor, and the next second he was back on the seat. He then took his time eyeing the woman who looked anything like the composed, confident, talented witch who was normally in her place.
Leo’s left eye bulged a bit in what had to be in time with his heartbeat. For a split second, I thought that he was really going to push my mother to the end of the proverbial rope. Instead, he did the complete opposite and reassured her that all would be okay. He even called her by her proper name instead of using one of his personal nicknames that he was prone to use in everyday conversation.
I can admit that you and I don’t always see eye to eye on things, Regina. Spending the evening with my VVBFF and hearing how worried he’s been about you…well, you just concentrate on getting cleaned up for the ceremony. Raven and I have things covered, as far as the case goes.
While Mom continued to eye Leo rather intensely to figure out if there was a punchline anywhere in his little speech, I found that it was hard to swallow the sip of coffee that I’d just taken. It was like we were in a different reality. Either that, or Count Cuddles had finally had enough of Leo’s witty comments and drained him of blood.
Come to think of it…
It’s the blueberry-filled edibles, Raven.
Leo had done another blip thing and reappeared on the counter next to the coffeemaker. I began to refill my cup, fulling intending on taking it with me to get dressed for the day. I had a lot to do in order to try and salvage my mother’s wedding, and it wasn’t going to be easy now that there was an actual murder involved with the original blackmail case.
I’ve got your back, Raven. Now that my mental antioxidants have been restored, I can see things clearly now. Am I happy that your despicable mother is going to spend the rest of her life corrupting my supplier? Of course not. I’m not ecstatic of such a thing, but I’d rather my VVBFF be corrupted than dead.
I slid the coffee pot back onto the burner while giving Leo time to think about what he’d just said regarding a vampire. Even in my caffeine deprived stated, I could see the mistake in his statement.
Ahhh. I get it now. Dead. I mean dead. Dead dead. As in—
“I get it, Leo,” I murmured, hearing my mother begin to talk to Beetle on her phone. “You didn’t get drained of blood by Count Cuddles, you want to help solve the case before something bad actually happens to Beetle, and you’re back on your game thanks to your blueberry-filled edibles.”
Exactly. Now drink that caffeine-filled nectar of yours so that we can get you up and running to operating speed for the day’s events. Not that coffee is going to actually fix all that is wrong with you, but it’s a start in the right direction.
“And there is the Leo who we all know and love,” I muttered underneath my breath as I turned back around to face my mother. Her smile was wide as she spoke with the man she was about to marry. Even through all the matted and wisped strands of hair, smudged makeup, and bloodshot eyes, it was evident that she truly loved Beetle with her entire being. “We have to make sure that this wedding takes place, Leo.”
I spent time in between catching some ZZZs last night creating a list of people who we need to interview, places we need to visit, and errands that still need to be completed. If we can get it all done and solve both cases by eleven fifty-one, we would still have enough time to pick up your car at the garage. Didn’t the old geezer say that he would be open for a few hours this morning? I did the
math. If he opens the garage at nine o’clock, then he meant that he’d close up shop by noon.
“Where is my familiar, and what have you done with his body?”
I know, right? It’s the blueberry-filled edibles, Raven. And you want to hear the best part? I’ll have double the supply come Monday, when the shipment that you ordered arrives before noon. At this rate, Skippy and his band of ninja squirrels won’t know what hit them come Spring! I have plans, Raven. Big plans!
I figured that Leo was going to crash hard from the sudden influx of catnip into his bloodstream, so I had best get all the help I could while the going was good. He was clearly at the height of his euphoria from the aftereffects of the special treats.
“What is this list of yours?” I asked, leaning back against the counter. Leo was right in that we should have a set plan for the day, especially since we would basically be on our own. Heidi would stay with Mom, Liam would investigate the murder of Rebecca Dunsbury, and Ted would remain with Beetle. “I still can’t believe that the spell last night didn’t work. Why didn’t you tell me that the flood of chaotic energy that Mom has been experiencing could have an effect on incantations?”
Raven, we’re talking about the Mistress of the Dark. I didn’t know that there was anything on this earth that could rattle that woman’s cage. How was I to know that she’d contaminate what residual energy was left on the evidence?
Leo did have a point, because it was extremely rare that my mother ever let anything get the best of her. We were definitely charting new territory here.
First on the list is to go and pay a visit to the cheating wizard. We need to send him up to the coven to make sure that the Wicked Witch of Windsor isn’t trying to outsmart us. If she is, my recent consumption of blueberry-filled edibles will be her downfall.
Leo was onto something regarding Aunt Rowena. One never knew which side she was on when it came to the coven and the family. She’d repeatedly said and demonstrated her regret for allowing the coven to come between her and Nan, but she also had big plans for the coven that she wasn’t ready to share with us.
Frosty Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 15) Page 8