Son of a Witch: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #2

by M. Z. Andrews

  “How was your date?” I heard my mother’s voice come out of the black cat’s mouth.

  “Good morning Mother,” I said reluctantly as I zipped up my hoodie.

  “Good morning Mercy. How was your date?” she repeated.

  “Snoopy much this morning?”

  “I’m sorry, but I waited up for you last night and you never came home. I sure hope you and Houston didn’t go doing anything stupid. It was only your first date. I hope you didn’t, you know, have sex on your first date.”

  “Mother!” I hollered.

  “What? Please don’t tell me that that’s why you were out so late?” Sneaks squeezed her eyes shut and then peered out of one eye carefully. “And if that is what you were doing, I sure hope that you were safe.”

  “Mother!” I covered my face with my hands.

  “I know we’ve had this talk before Mercy, but it only takes one time, you know.”

  “Ugh! Mother! It’s none of your business, but no, that’s not why we were out so late. Something happened last night. I didn’t want to have to tell you this right away in the morning, but I guess you’re here…” I began.

  Sneaks leapt off the windowsill and onto the desk where she sat down and curled her tail around her body. “Oh dear, I’m afraid to ask. What happened?”

  I chewed on my bottom lip nervously. How do you tell your mother something like this? “Where do I start?” I asked.

  “Start at the beginning. How was the date?”

  “You are so snoopy,” I retorted before sighing. I knew she wasn’t going to leave it alone. “The date was good. We had supper downtown and then we went to a park and we talked and listened to music and while we were talking I got a phone call. It was Reign.”

  “Reign called you?”

  “Yeah. He’s in town.”

  “Already? Wow, he made good time. Did you get to meet him?”

  “Yeah, I met him.” My stomach flipped uneasily as I pulled up my desk chair to sit face to face with Sneaks.

  “And…what did you think?” she asked excitedly.

  “Mom…something happened. Reign got himself into some trouble.”

  “Trouble?” her voice changed immediately. “What kind of trouble? What happened?”

  “I’m not exactly sure, to be honest. I don’t really know who to believe. Detective Whitman and Hugh think I should be careful with believing Reign.”

  “Detective Whitman? There’s a detective involved in something related to your brother. Oh no. Did he do something? What happened?”

  “There’s no real easy way to say this Mom, so I’m just going to come right out and say it.”

  “Yeah! Say it, Mercy, you’re freaking me out here.”

  “Detective Whitman thinks Reign murdered a girl. He was found in bed with a dead girl.”

  “What? Reign murdered a girl?”

  “I don’t know if he murdered her or not, but he slept with her. And when he woke up she was dead. So the police are kind of leaning towards Reign as their prime suspect.”

  “Mercy – ”

  “Mom, do you know much about Reign? Detective Whitman and Hugh both think he’s not a great guy.”

  “I don’t know a lot about him, but he’s my son. My child could never kill another person, Mercy.”

  “I know Mom, that’s kind of how I feel. But I don’t know this guy at all. He looks sort of like a bad boy.”

  “Looks can be deceiving, Mercy. Look at your friend Jax. She was overcompensating for not being a witch by dressing like a witch. Reign could just want to look tougher than he is. He was given up for adoption after all. He may have some abandonment issues to deal with.”

  “So, I don’t know what to do Mom. I don’t know how to help Reign.”

  “Where is he now?” she asked.

  “At the police station. He and the other guys that were there last night are all being interviewed by the cops.”

  “Ok. I should come there. Reign needs me. You need me,” she asserted frantically. I could practically hear her packing her bags as we spoke.

  “Mother! No! You don’t need to drive clear back over here. We’ll figure it out. I’ll help him. The girls and I will figure it out. Ok? Listen, I’ve got to get to breakfast, I’m starving. And I’ve got class. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Ok, love you Mercy. Be safe. Two murders in a week. I’m starting to wonder how safe Aspen Falls really is!”

  ***

  I scurried downstairs to grab something to eat before they closed the cafeteria, but was disappointed to find that they had just stopped serving breakfast, so I swung into Paranormally Delicious, the coffee shop in the lobby of our dorm and grabbed a double caramel macchiato and a puff pastry from the glass case. I took it to the courtyard and was happy to see that the girls were still there, though they were just finishing up their breakfast.

  I slid down between Alba and Sweets with a huff.

  “Thank goodness you guys are still here. I have so much to tell you about the night I had!” I began.

  Sweets eyed my pastry carefully. “Is that an apple turnover?”

  “Jax told us you didn’t come in until the wee hours of the morning, looks like the dress worked wonders, huh?” suggested Holly, winking at me.

  I shot Jax an annoyed glare causing her to promptly investigate the last few bites of her omelet silently.

  “Or is it cream cheese?” Sweets asked, still investigating my breakfast. “It kind of looks like cream cheese, mmm, the cream cheese ones are sooo good.”

  Cinder and Libby, twin witches who were in their second year of school at the Institute, were seated at the table as well. “Hot date with the cowboy, huh?” Cinder asked as she finished off her cup of coffee.

  “I hear he’s quite the charmer,” Libby added.

  Cinder echoed her sister, “Quite the charmer!”

  “Girls! Quit!” I admonished. “I have so much to tell you! Things on the date went south last night.”

  “Oooh, things went south? Do tell!” Holly exclaimed excitedly.

  I palmed my forehead. “Holly! Get your mind out of the gutter!”

  “Oh my gosh Holly,” Jax agreed, rolling her eyes.

  “What? You weren’t thinking that’s what she meant?” she swung her eyes towards Alba pointedly.

  “Why are you looking at me? Why would my mind go to the gutter?” Alba looked offended.

  “Would it be possible for you guys to zip it, for like, two minutes? So I can tell you what happened? There was another murder last night, ya know.”

  A collective gasp went up around the table.

  “What?”

  “Again?”

  “Another one?”

  “Who was it?”

  “Where?”

  “How did you hear?”

  The questions went on and on. I held up a hand to silence everyone. “I’ll tell you everything I know. It was a woman in her twenties. Her name was Harper Bradshaw. She’s from Aspen Falls originally, but she lived in Connecticut. She came back to town with her boyfriend and was staying at Jimmy’s Bed and Brew downtown and this other guy, this stranger, I guess, sort of stole her away from her boyfriend and next thing he knew this new guy woke up in bed with her and she was dead.”

  “Wow, so the stranger killed her?” Holly asked, nodding.

  “He claims he didn’t. And I sort of believe him. He says to look at the boyfriend, he was jealous.”

  “Like you should just believe the stranger? I mean, of course he’s gonna say that he didn’t do it. Who would just say, oh, yeah, I did it. That’s ridiculous,” Jax ranted.

  I gnawed on my lower lip nervously. “Ok, well, there’s more to the story…” I began. I didn’t know how to tell the rest of the girls that the mysterious stranger was none other than my illegitimate half brother.

  “Ooh, it sounds juicy, do tell!” said Holly excitedly, leaning towards me with her elbow on the table.

  “I don’t know about juicy, but it’s how I go
t involved. The stranger, this new guy in town, he’s well, he’s my brother.”

  “You’re brother?” Alba asked, astonished. “I thought you were an only child.”

  “Oh, you missed that earlier,” Jax said. “Mercy’s mom had a kid when she was 16 and her grandmother gave him up for adoption. He’s coming to find her. Wait. He found you?”

  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Yeah. His name is Reign. And, girls, I’m worried. What if my brother killed that woman?”

  “You think your brother killed her?” Libby asked, astonished.

  “I really don’t know what to think. Hugh and Detective Whitman told me to watch out for Reign, that he’s shady. I want to believe him when he tells me that he didn’t do it, but I really don’t know what to think.”

  “Who else could have done it?” Alba asked.

  “Well, Detective Whitman said they are questioning Reign, the boyfriend, and the bartender. I suppose there could have been more people in the bar last night, but I really don’t know.”

  Libby leaned forward conspiringly. “I’ll bet it was the Black Witch.”

  I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of my macchiato. “Why in the world would you think the Black Witch killed Harper Bradshaw? She probably doesn’t even know Harper Bradshaw.”

  “Because she’s, well, you know, super creepy and stuff.”

  “Last week you thought the Black Witch killed Morgan Hartford and she had nothing to do with it,” I pointed out.

  “So, she still could have killed Harper Bradshaw. Just because she didn’t kill Morgan doesn’t mean anything.”

  I reached under the table and squeezed Jax’s hand secretly. Libby and Cinder didn’t know the truth, that Jax was really Sorceress Stone’s daughter and the Black Witch’s niece. I was sure Libby’s accusation didn’t make her feel very good. Jax squeezed back but wouldn’t look up and make eye contact with anyone at the table.

  “I’m sure the killer isn’t the Black Witch, you can’t just go around accusing her of everything, just because she’s ‘ya know, creepy’.”

  Libby shrugged and muttered, “Fine.”

  “Did any of your senses go off when you were there?” Jax asked, finally looking up from her plate.

  I shook my head. “No, it was such an emotional event that they didn’t. Not only was I just meeting my brother for the first time, but there was the murder and Detective Whitman asked me to talk to Harper’s mother while the father identified the body. It was horrible. Her parents were a wreck. To have to tell someone that their daughter is dead is horrible.”

  “Did you look for the girl’s ghost?” Alba asked me.

  “Honestly, I didn’t even think about looking. I was so preoccupied with my brother being the accused and all. I’m so worried. We’ve got to figure out if Reign was involved. For my mother’s sake. She’s a mess already, I just talked to her this morning.”

  “Sounds like the Witch Squad has some investigating to do,” Sweets said enthusiastically.

  “Yeah, it does sound like that.” I looked down at the Batman watch on my wrist. “But we’re going to be late for class. We probably should go. We can do some investigating later.”

  { Chapter Six}

  Classes seemed to drag on longer than usual. My toe wouldn’t stop tapping and I probably checked my watch two dozen times during my last period Potions class. I knew that Sweets was right. It was time for the Witch Squad to do some serious investigating. I couldn’t wait to get out of class and find Reign and do some digging with the girls. I couldn’t let my brother go down for a murder that he promised me he didn’t commit.

  The minute class was out, I headed for the courtyard. Alba, Sweets, Jax, and Holly were all there waiting.

  “Ok. It’s time to get serious. We need to figure out what to do about my brother,” I began as I approached the foursome in the quad.

  Jax saluted me. “Aye aye, Captain. Just tell us where to start!”

  “Well, I think we need to start by going over to Jimmy’s Bed & Brew,” I suggested.

  Alba nodded. “Agreed. Step one is going back to the scene of the crime. Stone would agree, I’m sure.”

  Sweets looked anxiously between each of us. “Wait, we’re not telling Stone are we? I mean, after last time and all. I just figured we’d…”

  “We’re not telling Stone,” Alba barked, her voice heavy with annoyance.

  “Oh, well, you said…”

  “I just said Stone would agree. I didn’t say we were going to involve her in this. That would be ludicrous. Stone’s just red tape. We don’t need any more red tape than we will already have,” Alba explained to her impatiently. Sweets already seemed to be on the short end of Alba’s nerves.

  “Step two is to check out that hottie,” Holly quipped, nodding her head towards the tall, dark and handsome man that had just exited Winston Hall.

  My face flushed bright red as the man coming towards us ducked out of the shadow of the scarlet oak tree and I realized it was none other than Reign.

  “Oh, my gosh, Holly! Stop! That’s my brother,” I said in disgust.

  “That’s your brother?” she asked, dumbfounded.

  “Over here, Reign,” I hollered at him and waved him over.

  The sun shone brightly in his eyes, he put one hand up to shield them and tilted his head slightly to the side. A slow smile spread across his face as he approached.

  “Mercy, there you are. The woman at the desk in there said you were probably at lunch right now,” he said.

  “Yeah, we just got out of class. We were actually just discussing your case,” I began. “I guess I should introduce you to the girls, they are going to be helping us prove your innocence. Reign, this is Jax, my roommate,” I said and pointed to Jax.

  Her blue eyes sparkled brightly as she shook his hand. “Wow, it’s so nice to meet you, Reign.”

  I caught the tiny wink he shot her in conjunction with a sly smile. “Hey Jax, love the hat,” he said and tapped the rim of her black witch’s hat.

  Her face lit up even more. “You do? Thanks!”

  “And this is Holly,” I said, pointing towards at Holly.

  Reign’s eyes scanned Holly up and down appreciatively while a lascivious smile spread across his face. “Hey girl.”

  Holly had managed to ratchet her boobs up yet another notch in her scoop-neck sweater before she was introduced, and she stood in front of him smiling like a Cheshire cat. “Hey Reign,” she purred seductively.

  I had to swallow hard a couple of times not to lose my lunch. I should have guessed that the girls would crush on my brother. Not that I could blame them. He was a pretty good-looking guy, but the minute I’d heard the word brother, all engines shut down and it definitely made me feel weird about my friends lusting after my brother.

  “This is Sweets,” I said. “Sweets, this is my brother, Reign.”

  Sweets immediately got tongue tied. “Um, yeah, um…hi.”

  “Sweets, is that your real name?” he asked.

  “Um, no, but I, um, all my friends call me, uh – Sweets,” she stuttered.

  Reign shot her an encouraging smile. “Cool, well, it’s nice to meet you, Sweets,” he took her hand and kissed the top of it. She stared at him, mesmerized. When he released her hand she took it back and giggled excitedly.

  “And this is Alba. She and Holly are roommates,” I told him.

  Alba took her time sizing up Reign. Debating whether or not she considered him to be the shady character that Hugh and Detective Whitman had labeled him to be. She was clearly unimpressed. “Sup,” she said to him with a little head nod.

  He chuckled. “Sup, Alba. So you girls have this case in the bag, or what?”

  “Hardly,” I said with wide eyes. “We just got out of class. We are going to run down to Jimmy’s and do a little digging. I assume you’re done at the police station?”

  He nodded and raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, that was a ball of laughs.”

  “They let you go, though.
That was a good sign,” I said.

  “All they have is me in bed with her. They’ve got nothing else right now. They don’t even know how she died yet.”

  “So, who do you think did it?” Holly asked Reign.

  Reign shifted his weight as he gave Holly a big smile. “My money’s on the boyfriend. Last thing I remember before waking up, he wanted to throw a few punches my way. We took it outside, he threw one punch, I stepped out of the way and countered with a blow to his gut. That’s all it took. He heaved himself up off the ground and stormed off. I went back inside, Harper was alone, and I offered her a place to sleep for the night,” he said innocently.

  Holly’s eyes were big as she absorbed every word he was saying. “Well that was sure sweet of you, to you know, offer her a place to stay, since her boyfriend was being such a jerk.”

  “That’s exactly what I told the gumshoe down at the police station,” Reign asserted.

  “Listen girls, I really haven’t had a chance to get to know my brother. Could we maybe go down to Jimmy’s a little later? I’d like to spend a little one on one time with Reign before we go, is that alright?”

  Sweets nodded understandingly. “Of course it is, you two take as much time as you need. We can go down to Jimmy’s whenever you want.”

  “Thanks Sweets. Jax, you don’t mind me commandeering the room for a little while do you?”

  Jax shook her head and rubbed my arm. “You just take all the time you need. Get to know your brother, we’ll all go sleuthing later.”

  “Thanks girls. Reign, do you mind if it’s just the two of us for awhile?”

  “Not at all, that’s why I came to Aspen Falls. To get to know my lil sis.”

  I smiled nervously. Reign didn’t feel like the big brother I needed all my life. I only hoped that once I got to know him, that would all change.

  ***

  “Yeah, so I grew up in a small town in Nebraska,” Reign began once we’d seated ourselves comfortably back in my dorm room.

  “That’s pretty interesting. Tell me about your parents, or, I mean the people who raised you all this time,” I suggested.