Broomstick Blend

by Kennedy Layne

  Nan had suffered a heart attack on her daily walk over ten months ago, dropping dead almost in the exact same spot. Is that why I thought there was something odd with the sheriff’s death or was it the telltale broom?

  Was I projecting my suspicion of witchcraft onto a natural human death merely because he’d died in the same manner? Or was it witchcraft, after all?

  For all I knew, there was a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why there was that specific type of broomstick lying next to the body of a dead man. It might not have anything to do with witchcraft, but that object was often used in hexes. After all, we did have an antique store here in town and for some odd reason humans thought those types of brooms were adorable. How far of a stretch was it to believe that the sheriff collected such odd pieces to decorate his home?

  “Change of plans. I’m heading back into the city with Jack,” Heidi said, startling me out of my reverie as she suddenly appeared in the doorway. She continued to flick her wrist, waving the fan in front of her face as she joined me underneath the shade of the awning. “Do you and Leo want to follow us? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind it if you crashed on his couch for a night. This place is beginning to look more and more like a ghost town every second that ticks by without electricity.”

  I’d rather die from heatstroke than set one paw in that oaf’s apartment!

  Leo must have still been splayed out on the bag of ice that had all but turned to water, because his voice sounded as if he were still inside the shop. I’m glad he was in agreement with staying in Paramour Bay, though. We had some things to sort out before we could head out of town.

  Liam chose that moment to turn away from Monty in order to head back to the station. The fact that he immediately glanced over at me warmed my heart, and I lifted my tea cup in recognition. He gave me a half smile and held up all five fingers, alerting me to the fact that he’d be over to visit in another five minutes.

  I’m going to need to eat the rest of my catnip if I’m going to handle a visit from the good ol’ sheriff. Now that I’ve had time to ponder our situation, maybe we should take a ride out to the power grid station. If we can get someone to tell us what happened, then I formally tender my vote for taking the chance of you flubbing up a spell to try and fix it. I mean, how much worse can it get? Broken is broken.

  An ice cube almost lodged in my throat that Leo had tempted fate, because he was constantly lecturing me about jinxing our good streaks. We’d had many conversations over this very subject.

  Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

  “I appreciate the offer, Heidi. I really do, but I think I’m going to stay behind to make sure we don’t have another murder on our hands as a result of…” I wiggled the fingers on my left hand to imitate casting magic. “I also don’t want to leave the shop for that long. I read somewhere that heatwaves like this can cause people to do crazy things. Add in the fact that we have no power, and I really want to be close by in case anything else happens.”

  Give this catnip ten minutes to kick in, and I’ll be ready to take a ride in that death contraption you call a car. The air conditioning isn’t the best, but it’s better than nothing, so that’s a huge plus.

  “I’m not going anywhere until I talk to Liam and find out what happened to that sheriff,” I said to Leo after having said goodbye to Heidi. She was already halfway across the street to Jack, who’d opened his car door to greet her. “Maybe it’s a good thing Heidi is going into the city, just in case we try a spell and somehow set a match to the whole town.”

  Who is this we you speak of? You must have a mouse in your pocket.

  “You’re my partner in crime,” I replied with a smile as I pressed the cold tea cup to my chest after turning around to poke my head back in the shop’s entrance. There were only a few ice chips left. “You can’t fool me, Leo. You wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  “Am I being replaced by the cat?”

  Suddenly, two arms came around my waist and brought me back against a hard chest. I didn’t mind the additional body heat, nor did I mind the small kiss that had been gently pressed to the back of my neck.

  “Don’t you know that you’re irreplaceable?” I teased, turning around to face Liam.

  I feel a hairball at the back of my throat.

  Liam’s brow was damp with perspiration, and he’d swapped out his usual khaki buttoned-down dress shirt that was his staple when on shift. In its place was a light-colored short-sleeved shirt with a small V in the front. He had been smiling, but it gradually faded as he studied my expression.

  “What happened earlier? You had me worried when you almost shoved Bree to the ground out there.”

  “You saw that, huh?” I asked, wishing I’d been a little more discreet. In my defense, I’d been in the throes of a panic attack. “It’s going to sound foolish, but Beetle came into the tea shop and declared that the sheriff was dead.”

  I didn’t have to wait long before Liam comprehended how the scene must have unfolded earlier. A bright smile began to curl on his lips, and I had a feeling I wouldn’t be living this moment down anytime soon.

  Heatstroke would be preferable than listening to this sappy stuff.

  “You thought I’d died?”

  I pushed hard against Liam’s chest, not finding any humor in this situation. His rich laughter eventually faded, and he gave me the most reassuring smile I’d ever seen.

  “I’m not that easy to get rid of, Raven.”

  Now who’s tempting fate?

  Leo had definitely just hacked up a hairball. In spite of that, a shiver of unease traveled through my spine, but not for the reasons you might think.

  You see, Liam had been dropping these one-liners over the last couple of months that made me believe he knew I was keeping a secret from him. There had even been a few references that caused me to think he was seriously talking about the supernatural.

  I’m pretty sure delusions and hallucinations are symptoms of heatstroke. Listen, you know I wouldn’t offer this to just anyone…but come lay on this formerly cold bag of ice that is now mildly cool water.

  “That’s good to know,” I replied with a small smile, hoping to cover up my suspicions. It was best to make sure that my secret didn’t get revealed by a sheriff who been found dead with an unusual broomstick by his side. “What happened to that poor man? Did he have a heart attack?”

  Good diversion, Raven. Well done. You keep him occupied from asking too many questions, confirm that the sheriff’s death was from natural causes, and then we can go for a ride in that deathtrap you call a vehicle.

  The only reason that Leo was referring to my beat-up old Corolla as a death contraption was to cover up the fact that he was to blame for my back bumper falling off after he’d jumped on top of it the other day.

  I have no idea what you’re talking about. I landed as light as a feather.

  “We’re not sure,” Liam replied with a grimace, motioning for me to step back underneath the awning. He joined me in the shade, using the ledge of the window to lean against as he continued to monitor the comings and goings of those who were still in town. “The sheriff was from a small town located between here and New Haven. Jack sent an officer to touch base with the man’s family and his deputy to inform them of his death, but we won’t know the official cause until after the autopsy.”

  Heatstroke is no laughing matter.

  “Did you know him?” I asked, joining Liam against the small ledge. I offered him one of my ice chips in sympathy. “Personally, or professionally?”

  “I met him briefly at a meeting once when some vandals were hitting small towns a while back.” Liam took one of the three ice chips left and plopped it into his mouth. “Pat O’Leary was his name, and he seemed like a decent enough man.”

  May he rest in peace.

  “You seem concerned about something.” I shifted the cup in my hands so that I was only touching the handle. I didn’t want my body heat melting the last two ice chips. “I
also don’t think you would have called in Jack had you thought it was from natural causes.”

  You just had to go there, didn’t you, Raven?

  I held my breath for Liam’s answer, though that wasn’t the wisest thing to do when I was already about to pass out from the heat. I took one of the remaining two ice chips and held it against the back of my neck.

  That’s it. I’m putting both my paws down. We’re not playing amateur sleuths again until the power comes back on.

  “Sheriff O’Leary had a note in his hand,” Liam revealed, his dark gaze meeting mine. There was a mixture of concern and unease in those brown eyes of his, and a wave of anxiety hit me in the stomach. “It was a list of herbal poisons, Raven.”

  I’m going on strike. Did you hear that, Raven? No sleuthing until we have the ability to work from the comfort of central air conditioning.

  “You think Sheriff O’Leary was poisoned? I don’t understand,” I said, my mind racing in several different directions. Thankfully, not one of them led to witchcraft. Unfortunately, the man had still lost his life by someone’s hand. “If the sheriff thought he’d ingested something that could kill him, why wouldn’t he have gone to the hospital?”

  “Exactly,” Liam replied grimly. He lifted a hand, causing me to look and see who had caught his attention. Eileen was motioning for Liam to come back to the station, her bright t-shirt of daffodils hard to miss. “There was something else.”

  No, there wasn’t something else. The good ol’ sheriff does like to exaggerate at times, doesn’t he? Hey, Raven. You should really come in here and lay on this bag. The water is still somewhat temperate.

  Leo was saying anything and everything to distract me from what Liam was about to say, but I wasn’t about to be deterred when I was so close to getting to the truth.

  You make my life so difficult at times.

  “The sheriff went into the antique store to ask about a very strange item from the 1800s,” Liam revealed, pushing away from the windowsill ledge. He needed to go see what Eileen needed, which was most likely about the case. Unfortunately, the palm of my hand began to tingle. Liam was about to reveal something that could very well have this case threaten the one secret I couldn’t allow to be revealed to the residents of this town. “Turns out, the object in question was a broomstick with a rather strange curse associated with it…whoever has it in their possession dies a horrible death.”

  Raven, tell me that you didn’t touch that hexed broomstick.

  Chapter Three

  “Leo, you’re getting fur all over my car,” I complained, flipping my turn signal on to indicate that I was pulling into the substation of the local electric company. There was no one behind me nor had there been all the way out on this edge of town, but it was an ingrained habit of driving. “I’m rethinking this case. Maybe I should have asked Heidi to stay behind to help.”

  Leo was leaning against the far vent, his whiskers pressed into the slats as the cool air did its best to keep up with the oppressive heat. My vehicle was pretty old, but she was still running like a charm. Granted, the air conditioning could have been slightly cooler, but neither one of us was going to whine about it when we were better off inside the car than the tea shop that currently acted like a furnace.

  I’m here with you, aren’t I? I hate when you infer I’m nothing more than chopped liver. I don’t trust anyone who says they like that nasty stuff.

  “You know how much I appreciate your company.” I figured it was better to butter Leo up in case this latest murder mystery did turn out to have supernatural elements included with it. It didn’t take long to pull parallel to the chain link fence. “Uh-oh. We have a problem.”

  I quickly stepped on the gas, inadvertently causing Leo to fly back against the passenger side seat. He disappeared in a blink, only to reappear sitting on his tail and scrambling to look dignified.

  What is wrong with you? Give a cat some kind of warning next time, would you? I swear, you complain about claw marks in virtually everything I touch, and then you go and pull shenanigans like that.

  “Sorry,” I muttered, sparing a glance in my rearview mirror. I’m not sure why I thought that the substation would be void of any people, but there were two trucks parked in front while a handful of employees were looking over the equipment. “Shoot. We’re going to have to find something else connected to the substation to utilize the spell you came up with.”

  Leo had managed to shift his rather heavy frame until he was back in front of the vent. This time he had a firm grip. I’d pulled the passenger seat as close as I could to the dashboard, allowing him easier access to the vents. Had Leo been an ordinary housecat, I never would have been so irresponsible. A familiar had the ability to disappear and reappear in the blink of an eye.

  There’s a pull off up ahead. We can—

  Leo’s gasp had me jerking the steering wheel, fully believing something was about to run across the street in front of us.

  Skippy! My archnemesis! Pull over, Raven. Pull over right now!

  “Leo, you almost gave me a heart attack,” I exclaimed, wincing when I realized it was possible the sheriff had still died in such a horrible manner. “It’s too hot for you to chase Skippy all over town.”

  With that said, I did pull over onto the left-hand side of the road. We were around a quarter mile outside of town, but it was foolish to keep driving when there was no place for me to cast a spell. At least, not one that I could think of off the top of my head.

  Leo literally disappeared from the front passenger seat, leaving me to pull the vehicle to a stop and wait for him. It was far too hot for him to be using magic the way he was, and it was only a matter of time before he needed to be hydrated.

  I reached for a bottle of warm water that I’d taken from the cooler at the tea shop, wishing it was still cold. Even I knew that drinking lots of water in this type of heat was a necessity.

  Having done a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, the front part of my beat-up old Corolla was now facing town. As I was putting the white cap back onto the water bottle, I saw movement out of my peripheral vision.

  Sure enough, Skippy had gone running into the foliage. I didn’t catch hide nor hair of Leo, but then again, he’d left enough fur flying around the interior of my car. It was a wonder I could even breathe.

  “Come on, Leo,” I muttered, tapping my thumb on the steering wheel.

  Sitting in a car under the blazing sun wasn’t such a good idea, and I could literally feel the heat seeping into the console in front of me. I’d give Leo only a few more minutes before I went to look for him.

  I couldn’t stop my thoughts from turning to what Liam had said about the broomstick…a cursed broomstick. Leo had said such things could happen, and I’d certainly witnessed enough supernatural events to believe it could happen.

  But what in the world was a sheriff doing with an antique cursed broomstick and a list of herbal poisons clutched in his hand at the time of his death?

  At least I had the sheriff’s name. It would make it easier to investigate his death in order to figure out if it was a result of a curse or maybe due to some type of black magic. There was still a chance Sheriff O’Leary’s death had been nothing more than a heart attack induced by the stress of the heat.

  I’d feel even more comfortable with the latter supposition if I could prove that this blackout wasn’t initiated by witchcraft.

  Drive!

  I’ll admit it.

  I screamed like a banshee.

  Leo had suddenly materialized next to me, looking a little worse for wear…which was saying quite a lot. I covered my chest with a trembling hand, trying to even out my breathing so that I didn’t hyperventilate.

  It was a serious probability, considering the effect this heatwave was having on my body.

  Wow. You’re a horrible getaway driver.

  “Leo, don’t do that,” I scolded, resting my head back against the headrest. “What did you do?”

  I found the r
eason for the power outage, and you need to go tell those men back at the substation so we can get our air conditioning back on the way it should be.

  “Wait, so the blackout wasn’t due to magic?”

  Have I ever steered you wrong? Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t remember, and I’m still too hot to put strain on what brain cells I have left after that necromancy spell. Get us to that substation so those wonderful workers can fix this horrible situation.

  Relief washed over me, although it wasn’t enough to cool my body temperature. I pressed on the gas pedal, not wanting to waste any more time, either.

  “What did you find in those woods?” I asked, not having to drive far to reach our destination. This time, I flipped my turn signal and actually maneuvered my car next to one of the utility trucks. “What caused the blackout?”

  Who do you think? Skippy, that hairy rat and his tribe of ninja squirrels, that’s who! He and his friends were having some secret meeting in one of the trees, probably about me. Anyway, the tree was rotted and a huge branch ended up on a ton of wires. I can’t believe that gang of ninja squirrels didn’t end up electrocuted, leaving all their skeletons for me to find.

  The ongoing annual battle between Leo and Skippy had been running on for years. I’m pretty sure that Leo took it a bit more seriously than Skippy, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  We’ve got a month or two left before those ninja squirrels start to gather what nuts are left on the ground for the upcoming winter. They’ll plan an attack on me next month…I just know it! Wait just a darn acorn…do you think Skippy and his band of warriors did this on purpose to drive me out of town?

  “No,” I answered fast and rather bluntly, not wanting Leo to take the next few days planning out another massive attack on the town’s squirrel population. “Skippy couldn’t have planned for the tree to fall on the wires or whatever equipment it hit next to the station.”

  I’d worked out in my mind the direction that Skippy had taken when he’d disappeared into the foliage. Whatever tree Leo was talking about had to be close to the back end of the substation. That would explain why so many workers were currently searching for damage at the local substation.