Witch Way to Hallows' Bay: A Brimstone Bay Mystery (Brimstone Bay Mysteries Book 2)

by N. M. Howell

  That is, until now. I lay back on my bed and Soot jumped up to join me. Bailey picked up little Agnes and put her down next to me, then joined us at the foot of my bed.

  The two cats curled up next to my face, taking up all the room on my pillows.

  I nuzzled my face into the little kitten, then sneezed.

  2

  Later that morning, I joined my housemates outside to help Mrs. Brody with the preparations for the upcoming Halloween celebration.

  Every year, she puts on a big party in the yard and down on the beach. It’s the only time of year that she socializes with anyone outside of the house, and, as far as I understand, it’s the only time anyone else is allowed on the property. Our yard was well suited for a party, with a large expansive lawn overlooking the bay. Every year around Halloween, the area gets the nickname Hallows’ Bay because of the grand celebrations Mrs. Brody puts on.

  Apparently, it was the party of the year, but that has yet to be seen. These people rarely traveled outside of town, so I was curious to see how it would compare to an actual city celebration.

  Mrs. Brody was joined by Nancy Pots, the local bakery owner and good friend to us witches. The girls and I spend a lot of time in her bake shop, chatting about life and testing out her latest creations. She was a fantastic baker, and everything she made was absolutely delicious. I put on at least five pounds since moving here because of that woman.

  “Hello, dear,” Mrs. Pots called out when I joined them outside. “Lovely to see you.”

  She pulled me into a big hug and squeezed me tight. She was a very maternal person, and it was a shame she didn’t have any kids of her own.

  “Who’s watching the shop?” I asked as I bent down to help Mrs. Pots pick up a long string of lights.

  “I closed the shop for a few hours,” she replied, busying herself with untangling her end of the string. “Wouldn’t want to miss the party preparations, now, would I?”

  I laughed. “I wouldn’t really consider party prep to be something to get excited about, but to each her own.” I eyed her suspiciously, as in the few months I’ve lived in Brimstone Bay, I have never seen her close the shop down once.

  I helped her untangle the lights, then we tied the strings up to the trees around the yard.

  The decorations were looking great, and I could only imagine what the yard would look like at night when the lights were all lit.

  “The yard is looking really good, Mrs. Brody,” Bailey said through a mouthful of apple. There were large baskets of fresh apples scattered around the yard next to wide empty barrels. I imagined they were going to be used for bobbing for apples.

  Mrs. Brody snatched the apple out of Bailey’s hand and bopped her nose with the tip of her finger. “Those aren’t for you, dear. Save some of the food for the guests. Besides, you don’t want to get tubby, now, do you?”

  Bailey touched her hand to her stomach and gasped. “It was just an apple!”

  “Fruit makes you fat, dear” Mrs. Brody said matter-of-factly as she went back to puttering around in one of the many boxes she had spread across the yard. Bailey huffed and reached for another apple.

  “So, what exactly do you have planned for the party?” I peeked into one of the boxes and noticed a bunch of strange metal knickknacks. I dug through the box, but didn’t recognize any of the strange items. Various shapes were cut into metal pieces; some rolled into tubes and others welded together in boxes. Cats, pumpkins, stars, and other shapes were punched into the sides.

  “Tonight will be just for us. We always get our own little party, first,” Jane said as she and Rory came to join us. Both girls had gone down to the beach to collect firewood, and dumped their armfuls in a pile near Mrs. Brody. “Tomorrow, we’ll party with the rest of the town. If they show up, that is. Hopefully, the Shadow Festival didn’t scare them, too much.”

  I laughed. “From what I hear at work, everyone has been looking forward to this for months. Apparently, last year’s party has left quite the impression.”

  Bailey beamed. “It is a really fun time. Everyone dresses up and there’s lots of good food and drinks. I hired a band to come play tomorrow night as well, and everyone stays out until the sun comes up. It’s almost like a yearly ritual.”

  “And what’s tonight supposed to be, then?”

  “Think of it as a sort of pre-Halloween,” Rory said. “A chance for us to enjoy the holiday before all the crazy happens tomorrow night.”

  “More like a chance to practice and prepare ourselves for tomorrow,” Bailey added.

  I eyed her, not sure what she was implying. I had of course heard every rumor there was to hear about Mrs. Brody’s Halloween parties. Brimstone Bay was, if anything, an excellent rumor mill.

  “Just a small pre-party, dear,” Mrs. Brody said, holding up one of the metal objects to inspect it. “Where are the cake displays?” she asked, turning to Mrs. Pots.

  “Oh, shoot, I left them in the shop,” Mrs. Pots replied. “I knew I was forgetting something.”

  “Better hurry up and get them, dear,” Mrs. Brody said to her, a stern look on her face. “We’ll be needing them for the desserts tonight.”

  Mrs. Pots huffed, then turned to me. “You’ll get them, won’t you, dear?”

  “Uh,” I started. “I guess so?”

  “There’s a good girl,” she said, walking over to me and patting my cheek like a child. “You run along, then, and pick up the cake displays. They’re in the back room.” She then placed her set of keys in my hand and turned to finish her work with the lights.

  I glanced down at the keys, then stared back up at her. “I’ll just be going, then?” I asked confused, and glanced over to Bailey. She shrugged back at me and took a bite of another apple.

  “I should probably get some work done at the office today, anyway,” I said. I was going to go ahead and expect a hangover the morning after Halloween, and it would be nice to have the event story written up at least partially before the weekend was over. It’s never a bad thing to get a head start on work.

  I left the women to their decorating and picked up my laptop in my room before going to find my bike at the side of the house. I had no idea why Mrs. Pots wouldn’t go herself, but I figured I might as well make myself as useful as I could.

  The bike ride into town only took about five minutes, and I locked up my bike in the usual spot in front of Mrs. Pots’ Bakery.

  I grabbed the keys from my bag and was about to unlock the door when I heard a loud banging noise coming from partway down the block. When I looked to see what it was, I noticed Mr. Bramley’s cafe, which was located just below the Brimstone Press office where I worked, had a big red closed sign on the door, and there were crazy loud noises coming from behind the boarded up windows.

  Curiosity got the better of me, and I went to investigate what was going on.

  I couldn’t see through the door because someone had put up newspaper to cover the glass, and the windows had plywood boards behind them, covered in more newspaper. I recognized some of my articles.

  I knocked on the door and waited for someone to come. The noise continued, and no one came. I could hear rock music blasting from inside, muffled by the sound of power tools, or something of the like.

  I knocked harder this time and shouted through the locked door. “Hello! Mr. Bramley?”

  After a moment, the music turned off and I heard the front door lock click as it unlocked. I stepped back, expecting to see Mr. Bramley step through the door.

  I did a double take when Jordan O’Riley’s face appeared instead, beaming out at me like an excited child.

  “Oh, hey, River.” Jordan stepped out from the front door and pulled me into a big hug. I caught a small glimpse of the carnage that lay behind him, but realized I didn’t care in that precise moment in time. His chest smelled like vanilla. I hugged him back, inhaling the intoxicating scent on his shirt as I pressed my face into his chest.

  After a lingering moment, we both pulled away an
d smiled at each other.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, shaking my head incredulously. “Shouldn’t you be back in Boston?”

  I had met Jordan only a few weeks back when, unknown to me, he came to town undercover to investigate the bodies that had appeared during the Shadow Festival. I had ignored his advances at first, thinking him nothing but a thug who came to town to visit the guy who turned out to be the murderer. But after finding out he was actually a cop, it was hard to resist those adorable, piercing blue eyes.

  He shrugged. “City life isn’t for me, so I jumped on the opportunity when I could.”

  I raised my eyebrow at him, not following what he was saying.

  “Didn’t you hear? Mr. Bramley shut down the cafe permanently. He sold the shop to me for a really great price.”

  I gaped, unsure what to say. Of course, Mr. Bramley would want to get away, seeing as he just discovered his only son was a murderer. I didn’t blame him for leaving.

  “You bought the shop?” I managed to say after processing the information.

  “Yeah,” Jordan laughed. “Needed a change, you know?”

  “Yeah, I get that. So, you’re actually moving to Brimstone Bay?”

  He nodded, smiling down at me with that winning smile of his. Crap, I was in trouble.

  “Already moved. Gave my notice to the force two weeks ago and found a place in town right away.”

  I was still in disbelief. “Do you know anything about running a coffee shop?”

  He laughed. “No, but I’ve partnered with my friend Trey from Boston. He’s a pastry chef and is going to help me run the place. It’s shaping up to be more of a dessert bar than a cafe, it seems, but I’m just going with it.”

  A loud bang came from within the shop and I jumped. Jordan quickly opened the door to look at what the commotion was, then laughed again. “Dude, leave the heavy work to me.”

  Jordan reached for my hand and led me inside the cafe. Or, at least, what used to be the cafe.

  The place had been completely gutted. The walls stood bare with the studs exposed, and the cafe counter and all the furniture was gone. It took me a moment to process the scene of sheer disaster that was in front of me.

  “River, this is my good friend Trey Wong. He’s a pastry chef from Boston.”

  I smiled and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise.”

  “He owns the Desserti restaurants, if you’ve heard of them,” Jordan said.

  I gaped at him. “Desserti? Are you kidding? That’s incredible – I love your food!”

  I shook Trey’s hand a little too frantically, then pulled my hand back embarrassed. His restaurants were legendary, and I’d been to the New York one with friends a number of times. When we could manage to get a reservation, that is. Desserti was one of the most successful restaurant chains around.

  “Trey has restaurants across the country. Boston, New York, Seattle, and now, soon to be Brimstone Bay.”

  “That’s amazing,” I said to him, excited to be meeting the man responsible for some of the best food I’d ever eaten. “But, why Brimstone Bay?”

  Trey shrugged. “City life gets old. Especially, in the restaurant business. I figured a small town would be a refreshing change. Besides, Jordan has a way of convincing people of things.”

  I grinned at Jordan. “Sure does.” He winked at me.

  “Ah, crap. Who the hell left all this garbage on the floor back here? I nearly tripped and fell on my ass,” a female voice called from the back room.

  Jordan grinned as a tall black-haired woman came in from the back room. “And this is Grace, Trey’s wife.”

  “Oh. My. God! River Halloway?” The young woman lunged herself at me and pulled me into a tight hug.

  “Grace?” I laughed into her hair. “Are you serious? What the hell are you doing here?”

  Grace pulled back from the hug and waved her left hand with a big fat diamond ring in front of my face. “I got married!”

  “I see that.” I smiled. “Congratulations.”

  I studied with Grace’s younger sister Emily at NYU, and the three of us would often go out clubbing together. Grace was dating a male witch at the time, and we spent a lot of time in the paranormal underground clubs. To be honest, she was the last person I expected to get married so soon.

  “How’s the restaurant going?” I asked her.

  She shrugged. “Better now. Thanks to hubby.” She walked up to Trey and put her arm around him. He smiled lovingly down, at her and I could tell he was completely infatuated.

  Grace owned a small local New York restaurant that specialized in New York style cheese cake. Last time I was in town, it seemed to be doing well, but you never knew what went on behind closed doors, I supposed.

  “When this big goof moved in a cross the street, his dessert shop started stealing all of my customers.”

  Trey blushed, then squeezed his wife back in their half-hug.

  “Luckily,” she continued, “fate brought us together, and we had the brilliant idea to merge restaurants. Now, the restaurant not only has the best cheesecake in town, but the best pastries, too!”

  “Wow, guys, that’s awesome,” I said. “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you. I’m happy you guys know each other,” Trey said. “I was worried Grace would get bored in such a small town after living in New York.”

  She shrugged. “I’ll be fine. It’s not for long, anyways.”

  Trey blushed again then looked down to his feet. “I was thinking we would stay, actually,” he mumbled.

  Grace stepped away from him. “Excuse me? That’s definitely not happening, dear.” Her emphasis on the word dear made it clear she was not happy.

  Trey shrugged. “I think some quiet would be good for us. All that stress of managing those restaurants is starting to make me lose my hair.” He laughed and ran his hands through what looked to me like a glorious head of thick hair.

  Grace rolled her eyes. “You’re just lazy. We’re on the way to being a global success, Trey. I know you’re as excited about that as I am.”

  Trey shrugged then smiled. “Of course.”

  I stepped back from the couple and smiled. “Well, I should get going. It was great meeting you, Trey. Nice seeing you again, Grace.”

  I turned to leave and Jordan walked me out of the shop and closed the door behind us.

  “I should probably leave those two alone for a few minutes,” he said. “It’s been nothing but bickering between them since they arrived.”

  I could imagine. Grace wasn’t exactly an easy-going person. She was good fun during a night out, but she was high strung and had a hot temper. But you had to be a certain kind of person to run a restaurant in New York, I imagined.

  “Yeah, better let them cool off.”

  I looked up at Jordan and he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “I’m just happy to see you, River.”

  “I’m happy you’re here,” I said quietly back to him. “Hey, we’re having a Halloween party tomorrow night at the house. Want to come?”

  “Yeah, Mayor Scott told me all about it. Apparently, it’s the party of the year.”

  “That’s what people say,” I shrugged. “It’s my first year, so I’m not sure what to expect.”

  “Are you dressing up?” he asked me.

  I grinned. “Yeah, my housemates won’t let me get away with not dressing up. You?”

  “I’m sure I can manage something,” he said. “What are you going as?”

  “I was thinking of going as a witch,” I said, laughing to myself. “Seems easy enough.”

  He laughed back at me, but a momentary look of unease flashed over his eyes.

  I nudged him with my shoulder. “Don’t worry, the party will be fine. Totally tame, no magic.”

  He smiled. “I’m not worried.”

  “See you tomorrow night?”

  “You bet. Looking forward to seeing you as a witch,” Jordan winked at me.

&n
bsp; I smiled, then quickly turned to leave so he wouldn’t see me blush.

  3

  I noticed the light on as I climbed the stairs to the second floor office of the Brimstone Press. I paused before opening the door and considered turning around and heading back to the house to work there, instead. I really wasn’t in the mood to chat with JoAnn, and if Zack was in there… Well, even worse.

  I sighed and resigned to going in anyway, as I knew I wouldn’t get any work done at home with all the party preparations going on. The cats never seemed to let me work, either, preferring the warmth of my laptop keyboard to their own beds the majority of the time.

  “Hey, kid,” Zack said to me as I walked in.

  Great. “Oh, hey, Zack.”

  Zack was sitting at his desk, which used to be my desk, next to the front window. He was typing away at some article or other. Nothing I would know about, as JoAnn seemed to be keeping me out of the loop these days. Ever since she offered Zack the job, I’ve been pushed aside like some forgotten puppy. I wasn’t given an official demotion, but it certainly felt that way.

  “What are you doing here on a Saturday?” I asked as I pushed some of JoAnn’s things aside to clear room on her desk so I could work. The office was tiny, and not everyone had their own desk. Well, I did, not that I’m bitter about that or anything.

  “Working on a few stories,” he replied. “It’s amazing how exciting things can be around here. So much to write about!”

  I rolled my eyes as I rummaged through my bag with my back towards him. “Oh, yeah, sure.” I brought out my headphones and pressed them tight into my ears so I could listen to music as I worked. Really, they were an excuse not to talk to Zack, but let’s hit two birds with one stone with this one.

  I tried to ignore him as I focused on my own work. I was tasked with writing up the article about the Hallows’ Bay celebration, which was good as I could get the inside scoop from my housemates and Mrs. Brody. I was excited about it at first, but then when I realized I’d essentially have to be working throughout the duration of the event, I was less excited.