Witch and Famous--A Westwick Witches Cozy Mystery

by Colleen Cross

  I walked towards the bar just as Rick Mazure, the screenwriter, sidled up to Kim. He wrapped an arm around her before giving her a drunken pat on the back. He sat down on the barstool next to hers.

  “I guess you’re out of a job.” Rick’s speech was slurred. He had obviously been drinking a lot in the last few hours.

  I joined Aunt Pearl behind the bar. “Aunt Amber told me about your editing adventures. I need the original unedited film. Where is it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her smile vanished as she busied herself scrubbing a nonexistent spot on the bar.

  “Aunt Amber’s in jail, and she’s been charged with murder. Only that film can save her. Do you have it or not?” The film part was a bit of an exaggeration, but it could easily come true in a few hours.

  “What’s it worth to you?” Her eyes narrowed as she studied my reaction.

  “This is no time for bargaining, Aunt Pearl. Do you have it or not?”

  “No.” She resumed scrubbing the invisible spot on the bar. “Even if I did, I’m not going to incriminate myself.”

  “Do you really want to see Aunt Amber go to trial for murder? Tyler can’t do anything once the State Police take over. They’ll be here any minute.” Even Aunt Pearl had a heart. Despite her ongoing rivalry with Aunt Amber, she would never allow her sister to be falsely accused.

  Her eyes met mine at the mention of State Police. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a memory stick. She pressed it into the palm of my hand. “You owe me.”

  “Sure,” I said. “Hey, why don’t you take a break? I’ll take over for a while.”

  To my surprise, she agreed. An occupied Aunt Pearl was better than an idle one, but I wanted her away from the cast and crew in case she got any more bad ideas. I didn’t want her creating more trouble for Tyler and the investigation.

  I slipped the memory stick into my pocket, thinking I should grab Tyler and race back to the police station. Except I had overheard interesting little snippets of Rick and Kim’s conversation, and I needed to know more.

  That was the other reason I wanted to take over from Aunt Pearl—it gave me an excuse to linger. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to eavesdrop. As Dirk’s agent, Kim might have some inside information on who would want to kill Dirk. Tyler had already taken Kim’s statement, but maybe the wine and the bar atmosphere might loosen her lips a little.

  But it was her companion doing all the talking.

  “—I’m going to be rich, Kim. You with me or not?”

  I busied myself arranging the bottles behind the bar. My back was to them but my ears were perked.

  Kim didn’t respond. I was dying to turn around to gauge her expression, but I didn’t dare draw attention to myself. I had the sense that Kim either disapproved of what Rick was proposing or didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. She gulped her wine and sighed.

  Rick called for more drinks and I complied, delivering a new whiskey for him and another glass of wine for Kim. I stalled as long as I could in front of them by cleaning Aunt Pearl’s imaginary spot on the bar.

  Rick downed his glass in one shot and slammed the glass down on the bar. “I’ll miss Dirk, but I won’t miss his temper. He treated us all like garbage. Especially you, Kimmie.” He placed his hand on Kim’s.

  Kim slowly extracted her hand from his grasp and placed it out of reach on her lap. “Dirk wasn’t the nicest guy around, but I’ll still miss him. I don’t even know what I’ll do without him. He was my only client, so I’m out of a job now.”

  “You can come work with me.” Rick’s hand inched closer to Kim’s again. “I’m going to start my own company.”

  Kim shook her head. “I’m an agent, Rick. I don’t write screenplays, I represent actors. I just wish I had kept more than one client, but Dirk was just so demanding. He insisted that I work for him exclusively. It paid well but look where it got me in the end. Now I’m unemployed, just like that.” She snapped her fingers.

  “Doesn’t matter, Kim. I can make you rich. Just say the word and I’ll cut you in.”

  “In on what exactly?”

  He patted his jacket pocket. “I’ve got the next Oscar winner already written. All I need is for you to find me some stars to bring it to life.”

  24

  Tyler and I had reviewed the film from Aunt Pearl numerous times in the last hour. Aunt Amber had misrepresented the contents a bit. The film she had given me wasn’t exactly the raw, uncut, unedited version. Instead, it was an enhanced version with bonus content.

  The bonus content wasn’t anything like the usual kind included with movies. Instead of funny bloopers, scene outtakes, and alternate endings, we had gotten something completely different.

  “What on earth were you thinking, Aunt Amber?” My two aunts had gone completely crazy with the movie, adding explosions and other pyrotechnics every few minutes, in addition to adding a new role for Aunt Amber. Now she was the star instead of Dirk. The only “High Noon Heist” was the extent of the liberties my two aunts had taken with the movie.

  “I can’t hear you. Don’t forget you’ve got me locked up in jail here.” Her voice echoed against the walls.

  “I can’t believe they did this.” Tyler pulled his keys from his pocket and headed into the next room. He returned in less than a minute with Aunt Amber.

  Technically she was supposed to remain in the jail cell, but given the drastic edits to the film, we pretty much needed her in the interview room to give us a play-by-play. Clearly, you can’t just lock up a witch and expect things to run smoothly.

  “Didn’t you make a copy before you made all these changes?” Tyler’s face flushed, clearly frustrated at the lack of version control.

  Aunt Amber shook her head slowly. “Pearl said not to bother because we didn’t have time. We were just trying to salvage the film after Dirk died.”

  “Why would you do that?” I stared at her blankly, not understanding.

  “We just wanted to finish the film so that everyone could get paid,” she said. “We figured it was only short a few scenes so we made them up. The plot’s a little different, but it’s even better than the original in my opinion.”

  “Oh. My. God.” I leaned back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling. I was furious with my aunts but a little touched at the same time. They just were trying to help. No—they were helping themselves.

  “Don’t you think so?” She smiled sweetly at us. “It’s ready to be released now, so we can earn some money at the box office.”

  “You did this without asking anyone?” I doubted that my aunts were just being helpful and unselfish. They each wanted recognition and saw redoing the film as a perfect vehicle for self-promotion.

  “I wasn’t on speaking terms with Steven, remember? He’s dead now, so it’s not like he could give direction anyway. Nobody here seems to take any initiative, so we took it upon ourselves to save the movie. Which we did. How it happened really doesn’t matter now.”

  “It matters a lot,” I said. “The original uncut film could have helped us to identify Dirk’s killer.” I didn’t add Steven’s killer too, since I was certain that the two had to be related. Aunt Amber’s take-charge personality was a serious drawback sometimes. “Now that you’ve altered the film, it’s a lot harder to use it as evidence.”

  “I just wanted to help.” An uncertain expression flashed across her face. “We just added our special talents—my acting and Pearl’s special effects. We didn’t want Bill or anyone else standing in our way, so we didn’t tell anyone. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

  “It’s a surprise all right.” The extra scenes would have been comical except for the gravity of the situation. Aunt Amber had several grand entrances and crying scenes that were totally out of context for an action film, and there were at least a half dozen fires and explosions in the footage we had watched so far. And we were only halfway through the film.

  Tyler paused the film and froze on the gunfight
scene. “There. Look to the left. There’s part of a hand there, and it doesn’t belong to any of the actors.”

  I squinted at the screen. The image was so blurry that it was hard to tell whether the hand belonged to a man or a woman. “There’s no gun, but whoever that hand belongs to is at the exact angle from where the shot came from. I wish we could see more.”

  I turned to Aunt Amber. “You sure you don’t have an untouched original version?”

  She shook her head slowly. “Sorry. I guess we got a bit carried away. I can still use the film as an audition tape, right?”

  “I doubt it. I think the half-finished film belongs to Steven’s estate. Not like your photographs.” That gave me an idea. Aunt Amber’s photographer had faced the set, directly in front of the place where the mystery hand was. “Hey—do you have any photographs from today?”

  She shook her head. “I won’t get them from the photographer for a couple of days.”

  “We need those pictures, Aunt Amber. Can you call the photographer and get him to send them to us?”

  “I couldn’t find him anywhere. I even tried calling him but he’s not answering,” she said. “It’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  I turned to Tyler. “We’ve got to track down Aunt Amber’s photographer right away. The shooter must have been behind Aunt Amber when she was getting her pictures done. Maybe he or she will be in the background.”

  Tyler nodded. “With all the cameras everywhere, it’s hard to believe we don’t have any footage of Dirk’s murder. And now with Steven’s murder, things are spiraling out of control.”

  It was true. I expected Brayden to march through the door at any moment to fire Tyler. I turned to Aunt Amber. “Okay, I’ll see if I can get you a lawyer. You’ll need a good one to beat a double murder charge.”

  “What? No. You want my photographer?” Aunt Amber asked. “I can find him in a jiffy.”

  I walked over to her. “But you just said before you had no idea where he was.”

  “I suddenly remembered. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get—I mean, help solve the case.” She glared at Tyler as she extracted a business card from her pocket and handed it to Tyler.

  “I’m going to try calling him.” Tyler took the card and pointed at Aunt Amber. “Don’t let her go anywhere, Cen. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  We watched him leave and then shut the door behind him.

  “He can’t just hold me against my will can he?” Aunt Amber protested. “I am cooperating, Cen. Maybe you should call that lawyer after all.”

  “You’re not actually locked up right now, in case you haven’t noticed. And you brought all this on yourself. You never should have confessed in front of Brayden. You know he just wants a fast conviction, anything to make it all go away.”

  “I was just trying to lighten the mood. Look where it got me.” Aunt Amber fluttered her eyelashes and wiped an imaginary tear from her cheek. “It was a false confession, coerced out of me under duress.”

  “You can’t say stuff like that, Aunt Amber. It makes Tyler look bad. He’s probably going to lose his job, and you’re not helping make things better. The only way to fix everything is to solve the killings. Where is this photographer?”

  Aunt Amber didn’t answer and turned away. I moved closer, trying to see what she was doing. Her back faced me as she wiggled her shoulders and moved her arms back and forth. She spoke in a low voice in measured tones.

  Find my photos and the taker,

  Bring them here, safe and safer,

  Please make haste and bring the maker,

  Ready to deliver

  From past, present, future.

  I immediately recognized the Boomerang spell, though I had never attempted it myself. It was an intermediate spell that was well above my abilities. It also came with grave consequences if done improperly. Intermediate spells worked on people as well as things, so mistakes could be costly. The spell was both touchy and powerful, since it potentially changed both the present and the future.

  I had no idea why Aunt Amber wanted to summon the photographer in addition to the photographs, but maybe that’s what you did when you didn’t know an object’s exact location. If I had paid attention during my lessons, I would probably already know that.

  We waited.

  And waited.

  Nothing happened.

  “It’s been so long that I’ve lost my touch.” Aunt Amber sobbed into her hands. “I spent all that time on acting lessons at the expense of my magic. I’ve taken my craft for granted, all for a longshot movie career that’s dead in the water. Oh, Cen, what have I done?”

  I placed my arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, Aunt Amber. Maybe you’re just having a bad day.” I was very concerned, though. Aunt Amber never had trouble with her spells.

  Her shoulders heaved as she sobbed uncontrollably. “I’m too upset. Nothing’s working.”

  “Let me try.” I figured that anything that went wrong could be fixed by Aunt Amber. I repeated the spell, not really expecting much.

  Within seconds a mist rose from the floor around the two of us, enveloping us in a gray-green cloud. Seconds later it dissipated, and I locked eyes with a tall, slender, green-eyed man with receding blond hair. It was Aunt Amber’s stills photographer from earlier in the day.

  My heart stuck in my throat. Why had my spell worked and not Aunt Amber’s? If I didn’t know what I had done differently, how would I be able to undo it and send him back later? What if I couldn’t put things back to normal?

  “What the heck just happened?” The photographer scanned his surroundings. “How did I get here?”

  “Relax,” Aunt Amber said. “We just need to ask you a few questions. And get those pictures of yours.”

  “B-but they’re still in my camera. I haven’t done anything with them yet.” He glared at Aunt Amber. “You drugged my coffee, didn’t you?”

  Aunt Amber shook her head. “No, but don’t worry. Everything is fine. I’ll explain later. Right now we need to see those pictures.”

  He looked down at his camera, surprised to see the strap hanging from his neck. “Wait a sec. I left my camera on my desk. How did it get here? Am I being kidnapped? What do you want?”

  “The pictures, dummy. Just hand over the memory card and nobody gets hurt.” Aunt Amber held out her hand as she tapped her foot impatiently.

  The photographer fiddled with his camera and extracted the memory card, which he handed to Aunt Amber. “I still don’t understand what’s going on.”

  “Shhhh.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “Give me a minute, okay?”

  “Aunt Amber! You can’t—”

  The door flew open and Tyler marched in, his face red with anger. “Where did he come from? You can’t use mag—” Tyler knew we were witches, but he didn’t realize how much we could help him.

  Or how much he needed us right now.

  25

  Tyler rubbed his palms against his forehead. “This is getting worse and worse. You can’t fix things with witchcraft. It just obscures the truth. I have no idea what’s real and what’s not anymore.”

  I patted his hand. “I promise I’ll make sure things don’t get out of hand.” I worried they already had though. I had no control over anyone in my family, especially when it concerned witchcraft, but Tyler didn’t need to know that.

  “I think these are the photos you were looking for.” Aunt Amber handed Tyler the memory card. “Better check them out first before I let this guy go.”

  The photographer studied Tyler’s uniform. “Are you a real cop? Where am I?”

  “Of course he’s real,” Aunt Amber snapped. “You’re in Westwick Corners, silly. You took my photos, remember?”

  “But I remember leaving this afternoon…” He frowned. “This isn’t part of the movie, is it?”

  Nobody answered.

  “What the hell is happening to me?” The photographer broke out into a cold sweat. “Do I need a law
yer?”

  “No. You’re free to leave anytime.” Tyler dismissed him with a wave.

  The photographer started towards the door, but his feet were stuck in place. He bent down to remove his shoes, but they wouldn’t budge either. “Something’s wrong. Why can’t I move?”

  “Do what he says, Amber. Send him back.” Tyler glared at her.

  “But what if all the photos aren’t there? Then I’ll just have to call him back again.”

  “Do what Tyler says, Aunt Amber.” I suddenly remembered it was me that had cast the spell. Aunt Amber probably couldn’t send him back even if she wanted to. “Uh-oh. I guess I have to do it.”

  I tried and tried, but nothing happened.

  Aunt Amber gave it a half-hearted shot too.

  Nothing.

  “When can I go?” The photographer’s impatience had morphed into fear. He rubbed his wedding band as sweat glistened on his forehead. He looked as if he was about to have a panic attack. We had to get him out of here and fast.

  “Relax.” Aunt Amber waved her hand and mumbled something under her breath.

  The photographer’s feet suddenly broke free. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. He glanced around nervously before scrambling to his feet.

  “We’ll get you back home in a jiffy,” Aunt Amber turned to Tyler for approval. “I’ll have to drive him back to Shady Creek myself.”

  “We have to let her go,” I said. “There’s no other way to get him back there without involving other people.” If other people saw him, it could potentially alter their present and future destinies too.

  Attempting new spells to fix our dilemma was certainly beyond my capabilities, and at least for the moment, Aunt Amber’s too. Thank goodness the photographer had only come from Shady Creek and not somewhere further afield.