by DS Butler
“How are you?” he asked me as he sat on one of the stools at the counter.
“I’m fine now, thanks. What’s the latest with Sandy and Boris?”
“They have confessed to everything. They were planning to go to Mexico and live for the rest of their lives off Bernie’s money.”
“Poor Bernie,” I muttered as I reached for the coffee pot and poured Joe a cup of coffee.
A movement in the distance caught my eye, and I saw Loretta was hovering by the door, waving at me to come outside.
I frowned, pushed the cup of coffee across the counter toward Joe and said, “Excuse me, I won’t be a moment.”
I left a puzzled-looking Joe at the counter as I dashed outside.
Bernie and Madeline stood in the middle of Main Street, hand-in-hand.
Bernie beamed when he saw me. “We are leaving, Harper. I can feel it.”
I was sure he was right. Both Madeline and Bernie were glistening and shimmering already.
“Thank you for your help, Harper,” Dr. Madeline called out.
“Yes, thanks for everything, Harper!” Bernie shouted as the edges of their figures began to fragment into shining, crystalline particles.
“I’m glad I could help out,” I whispered. “Goodbye.”
I was standing in the middle of Main Street, talking to ghosts, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I couldn’t let Bernie and Madeline go without saying goodbye.
Loretta and I waited together as we watched Bernie and Madeline shimmer and sparkle into a spiral leading up to the sky. We watched in awe, and I wiped away a tear.
Beside me, Loretta sighed, and I couldn’t help wondering whether she was wishing it was she who was moving on.
We didn’t speak, but she turned to me and smiled as we made our way back to the diner together.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
Back inside the diner, it was business as usual. Grandma Grant was still berating and bullying Chief Wickham, and as I approached the counter, Sarah called out to ask if I still wanted to take a slice of cherry pie to Jess at lunchtime.
I called back and said, “Yes, please!”
Jess would never forgive me if I turned down a slice of Sarah’s cherry pie.
I refilled Old Bob’s coffee and then took the jug of coffee over to Joe, but he shook his head, declining a refill. He looked at me as though he wanted to say something, but he hesitated and then took a sip of his coffee instead.
“I don’t suppose you have any of those lemon muffins left?” he asked.
I smiled as I reached for the basket of muffins. We both had secrets we weren’t willing to share yet, and that was okay.
I put a lemon muffin on a plate in front of Joe and wondered if one day we would trust each other enough to share our secrets.
Loretta swooped past on her way to the back room and gave me a wink, just as Archie came out of the kitchen and patted my arm.
He glared daggers at Joe before moving off to talk to Old Bob.
“It’s going to take Archie and everyone else a while to forgive me and the chief for putting you in danger,” Joe said after he swallowed a mouthful of lemon muffin.
I leaned on the counter, happy to chat because nobody else needed my attention. “It wasn’t your fault. I put myself in danger by declaring I knew why Dr. Madeline was killed.”
Joe took another bite of his muffin just as Betty from the Lobster Shack walked in. She walked up to the counter and gave him a disapproving look. “I hope he has apologized, Harper.”
“He has,” I assured her.
“Good. Make him grovel.”
Joe raised an eyebrow as Betty stalked off and sat down at the table nearest the counter, picked up a menu and studied it.
I tried to hide my smile as I reached for the coffee pot.
Joe winced. “This day is getting worse. I’m dreading running into your sister now.”
I shrugged. “People stick together around here. It’s nice.”
Joe nodded slowly. “You’re right. It is nice. You’re lucky.”
I smiled and didn’t try to hide it this time. He was right. I was lucky.
Abbott Cove was full of gossips, busybodies, and of course, my very own family of witches, but people cared about one another, and I was very lucky to live there.
I smirked as my sister, Jess, entered the diner, ready to pick up her lunch.
When she caught sight of Joe, her eyes narrowed. “Ah, Deputy McGrady, I want to have a word with you.”
“Uh oh.” Joe shot me a panicked look.
I tapped a spoon on the side of the coffeepot, drawing everyone’s attention.
“I’d like to make an announcement. Chief Wickham and Deputy McGrady arrested me yesterday in an attempt to keep me safe after I did something silly. It isn’t their fault I was in danger. It was my own fault for trying to get involved in police business, and from now on, I’ll leave the investigating work to the professionals.”
“That’s about as likely as the Townsends’ Pomeranian sprouting wings and flying across the harbor,” Chief Wickham said, chuckling, which earned him a fierce glare from Grandma Grant.
“Er… Well, what I mean to say is, very good, Harper,” Chief Wickham said. “All’s well that ends well.”
I grinned. “If we have any more murders in Abbott Cove, I will not be getting involved.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Joe McGrady said and winked at me.
But at that point in time, I meant it. I never wanted to get involved in another murder as long as I lived.
Still, statistics had to be on my side. Abbot Cove was a tiny town and had already had more than its fair share of murders. So I figured we’d probably be safe from now on.
It was time for me to hang up my investigating hat and focus on living my life without enduring any more near-death experiences.
After my dramatic announcement, everyone pretty much ignored me and got back to eating their meals and drinking their coffee.
Loretta hovered by my shoulder. “I have a feeling you’ll change your mind about that,” she whispered.
I opened my mouth to respond before quickly remembering that Joe was still in front of me, and Loretta floated off through the wall.
I watched her go sadly. If I did get involved in another mystery, I would really like to help Loretta. There had to be something holding her back from moving on.
“Come on, Harper,” Archie said, bustling out of the kitchen with two plates of waffles. “Time to get busy. A busload of tourists has just pulled into the harbor, and you know what that means, don’t you?”
I did. It meant we would be rushed off our feet for the next hour or so. I prepared a new pot of coffee and headed over to greet the tourists, putting my thoughts of Loretta to one side.
One day I’d help her, I promised myself, but for now, I had work to do.
A NOTE FROM D. S. BUTLER
Thank you for reading A Witchy Christmas. I hope you enjoyed it! If you have the time to leave a review, I would be very grateful.
If you would like to be one of the first to find out when my next book is available, you can sign up for my new release email at www.dsbutlerbooks.com/newsletter
For readers who like to read series books in order, here is the order of the series so far: 1) A Witchy Business 2) A Witchy Mystery 3) A Witchy Christmas
@ds_butler
D.S.Butler.Author
www.dsbutlerbooks.com
ALSO BY D S BUTLER
Harper Grant Cozy Mysteries
A Witchy Business
A Witchy Mystery
A Witchy Christmas
The Jack Mackinnon Detective series
Deadly Obsession
Deadly Motive
Deadly Revenge
Deadly Justice
Deadly Ritual
Deadly Payback
Deadly Game
Written as Dani Oakley
East End Trouble
East End Diamond
If you would like to be informed when the new DS Butler book is released, sign up for the newsletter:
http://www.dsbutlerbooks.com/newsletter/
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Nanci, my editor, thanks for always managing to squeeze me in when I finally finish my books!
I would also like to thank my readers on Facebook & Twitter for their entertaining tweets and encouragement.
My thanks, too, to my family, who are supportive and encouraging. I couldn’t do it without them.
And last but not least, my thanks to you for reading this book. I hope you enjoyed it.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
A note from D. S. Butler
Also by D S Butler
Acknowledgments