Bobby Sparks Witch Detective: Pet Shop Puzzle ( A Paranormal Cozy Mystery)

by Stacey Fields

  “Oh,” he said, his eyes going wide. Bobby sensed a wave of nervousness coming off of him. It was faint, and her ability to perceive it receded as quickly and unexpectedly as it had come to her, but she was certain that he was nervous. Although, the fact that he was shifting his weight back and forth and still fidgeting with his hands was also a dead giveaway of that.

  “Why don’t you run upstairs and put on a pot of coffee?” Bobby offered. “We’ll be up in a moment. There are a few things we’d like to talk to you about.”

  Barry forced a smile and turned to leave the room. Bobby waited until she heard the door to the apartment open and close before walking over to her partner quickly.

  “We need to figure out who that man is that she was meeting with,” she said quickly.

  “Why?”

  “Half of the things in here are illegal, Don. There’s no way she got them in any potion or magic shop that you’ll find around here. We’re talking black market stuff.”

  She remembered hearing one of the townspeople giving their statement earlier in the station. Perhaps the claim that Holly was involved with the black market wasn't as crazy as Bobby thought it was initially.

  “You think she was meeting with that man to get her stock?”

  “I don’t know,” Bobby said with a shrug, “but if anyone can fill us in on what she was making with those,” she motioned over her shoulder to the section of the shelves she was unable to identify, “it’s probably him.”

  Chapter 20: Inside the Home of the Grieving Widower

  The smell of coffee filled the narrow stairway as they went up to speak with Barry. Bobby had told Don that she wanted to question Barry about the money angle, although, in light of their recent discovery she was beginning to think that money problems probably weren’t the reason why Holly borrowed money from Zip.

  “She probably needed money to get her illicit goods,” Bobby concluded. Although, $3000 for potion ingredients was extremely steep, even for the most potent items on the black market.

  They walked into the apartment to find Barry busy in the kitchen. The place looked surprisingly in order for a man who had claimed to be in the grips of grief, unable to sleep, eat, or function after the death of his wife. There were a few dishes in the sink, and some take-out boxes on the counter, but overall, not to the extent Bobby had prepared herself for.

  “Black, right, Bobby?” Barry asked, reaching into a cabinet and pulling down a coffee mug from the shelf.

  “You got it,” Bobby replied.

  “You want any, Sheriff?” Barry asked.

  “Any chance you got milk or cream since the last time we were here?”

  “No,” Barry said, dropping his head as he turned to face them. “I haven’t had the energy to go to the store.”

  “That’s fine,” Don said apologetically. “I’ll just take a glass of water.”

  “Great,” Barry said, turning back around and reaching for the coffee pot. “You guys can go ahead to the sitting room. I’ll be along in a minute.”

  Bobby and Don made their way to the couch. That room was surprisingly more unkempt than the kitchen. The cushions of the couch had large indents in them, and blankets and pillows were thrown around the floor.

  They gingerly worked their way to the couch, careful not to step on anything as they went. Despite the cluttered mess, the room overall seemed clean. No dust or plates, no cups or food wrappers—things she had anticipated finding when she entered the home initially.

  “Oh, yeah,” Barry said as he walked in and kicked the pillows aside, stepping on one as he handed Bobby her coffee and Don his water. “I haven’t been able to sleep in our bed without her. Last night I tried sleeping out here.” His voice cracked slightly as he sat down in the chair across from them.

  Bobby took a quick sip from her mug as she looked at him sorrowfully. “I can only imagine how you must feel right now.”

  “I think the hardest part is waking up in the morning,” Barry spoke slowly. “I just expect to hear her moving around in the kitchen, or walk into the bathroom and find her there.”

  “Well, we won’t take up much of your time, Barry,” Don said, leaning forward, ready to get right to the point.

  Bobby held up her hand and focused her energy on the man across from her. She was starting to feel something coming off of him when he spoke about Holly, but she wasn’t sure what it was.

  “Unless, of course, you want someone to talk to,” Bobby said softly. “It must get so lonely at times.”

  “It does,” Barry said, nodding his head in agreement.

  The emotion pouring out of him became stronger, but again, Bobby was unable to identify it clearly.

  “How was your relationship with Holly, Barry?” she said. “If you don’t mind me asking. We’ve heard that she had been very stressed the last few months, and she tended to take it out on the people around her—Laura Enchanting, for example.”

  He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. His face was still set in an expression of sadness. But, there was something conflicting coming off him. Bobby could feel a slight touch of anger work its way through the room.

  “She had been acting weird for a while,” Barry said finally. “She didn’t seem like herself.”

  “In what way?” Bobby asked.

  The emotions coming out of him vibrated wildly. They were bouncing back and forth so quickly, that she couldn’t get a clear reading on what any of them were.

  “She just seemed angry all the time,” Barry said.

  “About what?”

  He looked at her quickly, his eyes drooping but his jaw clenched tightly. He leaned forward suddenly. His quick movement caused her to lose whatever slight connection she was getting. The rupture was intense.

  “I’m not sure,” he replied. “If I had known, I would have fixed it. But, I had no idea. She was just always upset. I don’t know if she was stressed with work, or if she had been fighting with her parents again. I don’t know.”

  “Any chance money problems could have caused her to feel stressed?” Don asked.

  “Money problems?” Barry asked, looking back and forth from Bobby to Don a few times.

  An awkward silence fell over the room. Bobby tried to once again pull up her ability, but she was unable to. Even unable to read Barry on a supernatural level, it was clear that the tension that was filling the air was radiating off of him. It was a nervous tension, one that was palpable in its fierceness and violent in its force.

  “Why do you ask?” Barry said finally.

  “We were just…“ Don started.

  “Just thinking of possible ideas for what could cause someone to be stressed,” Bobby finished for him.

  “I’m not involved in the shop,” Barry replied, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms once again. “If she was having problems with it, I wouldn’t know.”

  “You two didn’t talk about business?” Don asked.

  "No," Barry replied. He let out a long sigh. His face relaxed and once again drooped in an expression of sadness. "I'm not sure if it was her parents, her friends, who or what it was, but for some reason, I always got the feeling that Holly didn't feel comfortable sharing everything with me."

  “Explain that,” Bobby urged.

  “You know, she wanted to have ‘her own’,” he said, using air quotes and everything.

  “‘Her own’?” Bobby and Don repeated together.

  “Her own life, her own business, her own.”

  “Why would she want that?”

  “As insurance, I guess. In case things didn’t work out between us.” Barry took in a long, shaking breath as his eyes teared slightly.

  “Did she have a reason to think it wouldn’t?” Don asked.

  “I sure didn’t give her one,” Barry said emphatically. “I gave her everything. I promised her everything! I don’t know why she wanted to keep me on the outside of some things. But, the pet shop was definitely one of them. She never talked to
me about her potions or her spells. She never talked about money, or how business was doing. The only thing she ever talked about was that woman that worked for her and how horrible she was.”

  “Laura?” Bobby said.

  “Yes,” Barry replied with a fervent nod. His tears had dried, but his hands shook slightly, clenched into fists, tucked under his arms. “She was always complaining about how she tried to undermine her. How she was always arguing with her about the running of things. She complained about her from the very beginning.”

  “Laura said that initially she and your wife got along very well,” Bobby said.

  “That’s definitely not true. From day one those two women had their problems.”

  “Why did she wait to fire Laura?” Don asked the question that came to Bobby’s mind.

  “Holly had a good heart. Laura had just moved to Pinecreek and was still getting her bearings in town. She didn’t have any friends or family around. Holly didn’t want to just throw her out with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.”

  “That’s very kind of her,” Bobby said.

  “That was Holly. She was a very kind woman.”

  “Well,” Don said, slapping his hands on his knees and pushing himself to his feet. “Unless Ms. Sparks has any more questions, I think we’re done here.”

  “No,” Bobby said, smiling sweetly at Barry. She stood up and extended her hand to him.

  He got to his feet and quickly shook her hand. “If you think of anything,” he said, “you know where to find me.”

  “Here or in the woods,” Bobby said with a weak laugh.

  “Exactly,” Barry replied, laughing weakly with her.

  Bobby and Don walked towards the door to leave. “Oh, Barry,” Bobby said over her shoulder, “make sure you take care of yourself, okay?”

  “Will do, Ms. Sparks. Thank you for your concern.”

  Bobby and Don descended the stairs together. She wanted to run but instead, she kept her steps slow and steady. Her mind was still racing with questions, and she was eager to get somewhere private where she could discuss her thoughts with her partner.

  As soon as they stepped out into the fresh, warm air, she reached out and grabbed Don’s arm.

  “Wait,” she whispered as the door clicked shut behind them.

  She turned and inspected it slowly. She ran her fingers over the doorknob, then the flaking paint surrounding it.

  “Do you want a moment alone with the door?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe, smiling down at her. “Should I tell Archer that he’s got a little competition?”

  She turned to look up at him, ignoring his comment. “There was no break in here,” she said confidently.

  Chapter 21: Clean Rooms and Protected Homes

  Her hotel room was spotless. She noticed that a few of her items had been moved—more specifically, they had been organized. Her shirts now hung in her closet separated by color. Her shoes were lined up neatly by the dresser, and her toiletries in the bathroom were positioned nicely on the counter.

  She dropped herself into the rather uncomfortable leather chair by the window while Don paced back and forth in front of her.

  “What do you mean the pet shop wasn’t broken into?” he asked. “I thought you said things were stolen from her work area?”

  “Things were missing,” Bobby said. “That doesn’t mean they were stolen.”

  “So, no one broke in to steal them?”

  “I don’t know,” Bobby said, shifting her head back and forth as she thought through the options.

  “You just said there wasn’t a break in. You’re going to have to explain yourself,” Don said, slumping onto the edge of the bed in front of her and resting his elbows on his knees. “What are you talking about?”

  She had opted to go back to her hotel instead of back to the station because she wasn’t one hundred percent sure of her assumption. She wanted to discuss it with Don, in private, before they decided how to proceed.

  She sighed and responded, “I think there was a spell on the shop.”

  “A spell?”

  “A protection spell,” she clarified. “All good witches know one, or two.”

  “You could tell there was a spell cast on the door just by staring at it intently for a few magical moments?” Don asked, chuckling a little.

  “No,” Bobby replied, only slightly annoyed. “But, I am assuming that there is one.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “The product she had in there,” Bobby said, outlining her thoughts, “there’s no way someone would store thousands of dollars of illegal goods in the back of a dusty shop without putting some type of protection spell on it.”

  "So, if the shop wasn't broken into, what happened to the missing items?"

  “That’s the question,” Bobby said pushing herself up to walk over to her closet. She flipped through the items, noting that they weren’t just organized and arranged, but ironed as well.

  “How do you plan on figuring out the answer to that question?” Don asked, turning around to look at her.

  Bobby continued to look through her items. “Is it normal for housekeeping to iron your clothes?” she asked.

  “Are you focusing?” Don asked.

  She continued to sift through her things. “Yes,” she replied, although slightly absent-mindedly.

  “How are we going to figure out if the shop actually was broken into?”

  Still holding handfuls of socks in her hands she turned to face him. “I’m not sure yet,” she said calmly.

  “You’re not going try to break in, are you?” Don said, his mouth hanging open slightly. “You saw what the man did when he thought his home was being broken into last night. We don’t want to have him showing up, smelling like a swamp in our police station again, do we? Because trying to sneak into his place might just lead to that.”

  “Not unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Bobby said turning to head to the door. “I have something I need to do,” she added quickly.

  “Where are you going?” Don asked, standing to follow her.

  “I have to talk to someone,” she said. She pulled open the door and waited until he walked through it. “You need to get something to eat.”

  “What about…?” He started, but she let the door close in his face.

  “Bobby!” he called out, banging on the door. “What is going on?”

  “I’ll meet you at the station soon. Get me something from Daisy’s while you’re there.”

  She listened until she heard his footsteps grow more distant and eventually disappear. If she wanted to know about breaking into homes, she had to talk to someone who had plenty of experience doing so.

  After waiting a few more minutes, watching out the window to make sure Don walked down the street and turned in the direction of the diner, she hurried out of her room and down to the hotel lobby.

  There he was—where he always was. Shiny was sitting behind the reception desk, his chin resting on his chest and a soft snore escaping past his lips.

  She cleared her throat as she walked up to him. Nothing. She cleared her throat again, louder this time, and again the little old man didn’t stir.

  “Shiny,” she said, reaching out and resting her hand on his shoulder.

  The man’s eyes flew open suddenly, and he pushed himself back, nearly falling out of his chair and onto the floor.

  “You nearly scared the life out of me!” he said, as he gathered his composure.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, pulling her hand back and tossing her hair over her shoulder. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the waist-high counter and smiling kindly down at the little man.

  “Can I help you with something, Ms. Sparks?” Shiny asked, still clearly startled.

  “I noticed that my room was so clean,” she said. “I wanted to thank you for your hard work to ensure my comfort here in Pinecreek.”

  He blushed slightly and looked down at his feet, dangling loosely from his chair. “It was
nothing.”

  “Do you miss cleaning, Shiny?” Bobby asked.

  “I suppose, sometimes,” he said hesitantly.

  “You know what I think,” Bobby said, “I think that you didn’t actually give up cleaning when the Sheriff told you to.”

  “Of course, I did!” Shiny replied suddenly very defensive.

  “I’m not here to get you in trouble,” Bobby said, holding her hands out in front of her and stretching her smile slightly larger. “I actually was hoping you could help me with something.”

  “I’d love to help you, Ms. Sparks,” Shiny said, pushing himself back from the desk and jumping down from his chair. His head disappeared behind the counter. He repapered just a moment later, coming around the corner of the desk and waddling over to her. “But, I’m afraid that I can’t,” he said, smiling at her before turning to walk down the hall to the back room.

  “Why are you always sleeping?” Bobby asked, walking after him.

  “I’m an old man. I’m always tired. I’m tired just from this little walk we’re taking here,” he added with a laugh. “As soon as you leave I’ll be taking another nap.”

  “Or maybe you’re tired because you spend all night running around the town, breaking into people homes or shops and cleaning them up a little.”

  “Don’t you think that if I did that, someone would notice or catch me?”

  “Not if you only do just enough to satisfy your need, but not so much that it’s obvious. Maybe dust behind the television, where no one ever looks. Or sweep up the crumbs under the ovens, refrigerators, or washing machines. Maybe you just…”

  “Fine,” he cut her off, lifting his hand in the air and spinning around quickly. “I can’t lie to a pretty face like yours. Yes, I’ve still been cleaning. Are you happy?”

  “I’m not here to bust you,” Bobby said, kneeling down and looking the man in the eye. “I’m here because I want to know how you break into some of the homes.”

  His eyes went wide, suddenly sparkling with excitement at the proposition of getting to talk about his trade and obsession. “It’s not always easy.”

  “I’m sure it’s not,” Bobby agreed.