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

by M. Z. Andrews

  “I just hope that if the neighbors did see it, they didn’t get it on video. I don’t want someone to post it on YouTube or something. I mean something like this would go viral. My mom would kill me if she saw me breaking and entering like this!” Sweets commented nervously.

  “You guys are a bunch of worry warts,” Alba commented. “It’s the middle of the day. All these people are probably at work right now.”

  “Come on,” I groaned. “We need to find that key!”

  “You’re paying for that, by the way,” Jax snapped at Alba as we walked past the broken gate in the backyard.

  “Zip it, Shorty,” Alba retorted.

  In the back of the house, the Bradshaw’s had a wooden deck with patio furniture on it. There were two potted plants on the deck. We made quick work of checking for the key and were disappointed to find it not there either.

  “Now what are we going to do?” Holly whined.

  “We’ll have to go in through a window,” I suggested. “There’s got to be an open window around here somewhere. Spread out and start looking.”

  The girls all jumped off the deck and began looking for an open window. I went around the side we’d just come from and looked up when I heard the little yippy dog barking at me again, it sounded like he was right in front of me. He was standing in front of an open window with a screen on it. “Girls!” I hissed excitedly. I raced back around to the back yard. “Girls! I found an open window!”

  As they all tore around the corner to where I was we looked up at the window. It was a good ten feet off the ground.

  “How are we supposed to get up there?” Sweets asked.

  “I’m going to climb up there. You guys will have to give me a boost,” I told her.

  “There’s a screen on the window, though,” she argued.

  “I’ll take it off. Come on, lift me up!”

  Alba grabbed a hold of my waist and tried to lift me that way. My legs floundered as they searched for something to grab onto. “Put me down Alba, that won’t work. I’ll need to stand on you.”

  Alba and Sweets each crouched down and put out a knee for me to stand on while Jax and Holly steadied me by holding onto my hands. I was still about four feet too short to look into the open window and the little dog was getting even more and more annoyed with my attempts. “Shut up!” I hollered at the dog.

  “Mercy! That’s not very nice!” Sweets cried. “How would Chesney feel if you told him to shut up like that!”

  I rolled my eyes at Sweets. “They don’t speak English, Sweets. Now boost me up higher!”

  Alba and Sweets each took hold of a foot and tried to lift me up higher towards the window. My finger tips caught hold of the screen, but I wasn’t high enough to budge it.

  “Ok, put me down, we’ll have to make a pyramid,” I finally sighed.

  The girls let me down and we all stood around looking at one another. “I think we need to send Jax up first,” I told the girls. “She’s the lightest.”

  “Sweets, Alba, you two will have to get down on your hands and knees and form a base. Holly and I will stand on your backs and Jax can climb up us.”

  “This is the dumbest plan ever, Red.”

  “No it’s not, it’ll work, trust me,” I retorted.

  “But we’d be kneeling on rocks!” Sweets complained. “That’s going to hurt our hands and knees.”

  “Fine, we need something to put down on the rocks to kneel on,” I said, looking around. “Oh! The gate! We’ll use what’s left of the gate for a flat surface to kneel on.”

  I walked over to the beat up wooden gate and tried to lift a corner. “It’s heavy, come give me a hand.”

  Alba came over and together we carried the gate and set it down underneath the window. “There. Are we ready?”

  “What am I supposed to do when I get up there?” Jax asked nervously.

  “Pull the screen off, then we’ll push you up higher and you climb in and go around and unlock the doors for us,” I told her.

  “Alright, let’s go,” she said.

  Sweets and Alba got down on all fours while Holly and I climbed up on their backs. “Geez Red, lay off the treats, huh?” Alba hollered at me as I climbed on her back.

  When Holly and I were steadily on our feet on their backs, Jax climbed up between us and carefully we eased her up onto our bent legs. “Can you see inside?” I asked her.

  “Yeah, the dog is growling at me, Mercy,” she cried. “He’s gonna bite me if I go in there.”

  “He’s a tiny little thing. He won’t bite you. Start talking to him,” Alba hollered up from the ground.

  “Hey little guy,” Jax cooed as she began working on the screen. “This screen won’t come off!”

  “You have to shove it up first and then you should be able to get your fingers underneath the bottom and you can pull it out that way,” Holly instructed.

  I looked at Holly with a little grin. “Moonlight as a cat burglar?”

  “I had a boyfriend that locked me out of his house once,” she retorted.

  “I need something flat to slip under the screen. I can’t get my fingers in there,” Jax hollered down at us.

  “Would keys work?” Sweets asked from the bottom of the unstable pyramid.

  “Yeah, I think they might,” Jax called down to her.

  Sweets managed to lift one arm and grabbed her keys from her pocket. “Holly, can you reach?”

  “Hang on Jax,” Holly called and reached down to grab Sweets’ keys. “Got em! Here Jaxie.”

  Jax reached down and got the keys and within a matter of seconds she had the window screen popped out. The little dog jumped right towards her face, growling at her. “Nice puppy,” she cooed. “Lift me up, hurry!”

  Holly and I each took a foot and lifted Jax as high as we could. She was able to grab a hold of the inside of the window and pull herself up and through the frame. From below we could hear the dog going crazy.

  “Jax, are you alright?” Sweets hollered to her as we all dismounted and Sweets was able to stand up.

  “Ahhh!” Jax screamed. We could see the top of her head running past the window crazily. Then we heard a door slam and the house went silent.

  “Jax?” I hollered.

  She didn’t respond.

  “Jaxie?” Holly hollered after an extended silence. And then just like that, we heard Jax’s voice from the backyard.

  “Door’s open ladies!”

  “Jax! You did it!” Sweets called out excitedly. “Good job, sister!”

  Alba walked past Jax, tousling her hair as she walked by. “Way to go, Shorty.”

  Jax beamed.

  “How’d you get Barky to zip it?” Alba asked.

  “He chased me into a bedroom and I slammed the door behind me as I ran out,” Jax said with a little laugh.

  “Nice, way to go,” I told her. “Now, let’s hurry. Someone could show up any minute after all of that.”

  We all filed up the deck steps and into the back sliding door which led us into the kitchen and breakfast nook area.

  “Nice house!” Holly said, admiring their meticulously decorated interior.

  “It’s kind of chilly in here,” I told the girls, putting a hand up around my shoulders.

  “It doesn’t feel that bad,” Sweets commented. “It’s probably just the breeze coming in through that open window. I’ll go get the screen from the back yard so we can close the window.”

  “Thanks Sweets,” I told her gratefully. “I’m going to go this way,” I told the rest of the girls.

  Alba nodded. “Holly and I will go this way. Holler if you find anything interesting.”

  “Ok, you do the same.” I rubbed my arms to warm them up and make my pebbled flesh disappear while I began my investigation of the Bradshaw house. Their living room was very formal. Everything was in its place, very neat and tidy. It hardly looked like anyone actually lived there.

  Just off the living room was a study, closed off by double sliding doors.
One entire wall was lined with bookshelves and completely full of books. Obviously, someone in the house liked to read.

  Jax was right behind me, looking around as well. “Wow, they have a lot of books,” said Jax, standing back as she admired the extensive collection.

  “Yeah, they do,” I agreed.

  The wall opposite the bookshelves faced the street side of the house. I peeked outside to make sure that Sergeant Bradshaw wasn’t pulling into the driveway or that the neighbors weren’t looking across the street at us. When the coast looked clear I pulled out some drawers in the dark mahogany desk.

  “What are you looking for?” Jax asked me.

  “I really have no idea. Proof that Sergeant Bradshaw paid Jimmy to kill Harper, I guess.”

  “You really think her father killed her?”

  It pained me to think that way. How could a father possibly pay someone to kill his own daughter? The thought sickened me. “I really hope he didn’t, Jax.”

  “Girls! Look at this!” Alba hollered from the other doorway in the study.

  Jax and I looked up to see Holly and Alba rushing in with a small packet.

  “What is it?” I asked Alba.

  “It’s arsenic!” she said excitedly.

  “You’re kidding? How in the world did you find it so fast?”

  Alba pointed at Holly. “She’s like a bloodhound.”

  “My senses are extra strong right now. I had a premonition that it was hiding under some clothing in the master bedroom closet and I was right,” she said with a little shrug.

  “Holly, this is major!” Jax gushed.

  “Yeah, it is. Good job, Holly!” I agreed. “Detective Whitman said that the latest signs in the toxicology report were showing arsenic poisoning.”

  The realization of the case we were putting together was daunting. To accuse Harper’s father of the murder of his own daughter just wasn’t sitting right with me. But now we had the murder weapon in our hands. “We need to get that in a Ziploc baggie,” I said as the thought occurred to me that it likely had fingerprints on it from the murderer.

  Holly nodded. “I’ll take it to the kitchen and find one.”

  “What are we going to do now?” I asked Alba and Jax. “How are we supposed to accuse Sergeant Bradshaw of killing his own daughter? Detective Whitman would eat us alive!”

  “Did you just say you want to accuse me of killing my own daughter?” said a voice from the living room. Our heads swiveled up to see Sergeant Bradshaw at the double doors adjoining the study to the living room.

  { Chapter Twenty}

  “Sergeant Bradshaw!” I gasped. My heart practically leapt out of my chest and my feet felt heavy, like they were anchored in concrete blocks.

  “What are you girls doing in my house? I’m calling the police!” he said right away as he entered the room.

  “Sweets!” Alba called immediately.

  “Sergeant Bradshaw, we can explain,” I began slowly, holding my arms up in front of me in a defensive position. My stomach dropped almost immediately triggering my pulse to shoot out of control in my ears.

  “Sweets!” Alba called again.

  “Fine, then you can explain to Detective Whitman why you busted my gate, broke into my house, and are snooping around in my personal desk drawer!”

  “Sweets!” Alba yelled once again.

  Sergeant Bradshaw turned to Alba with annoyance and anger. “Why does she keep yelling Sweets?” he asked as he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket.

  “Tourettes,” I told him chastely.

  Jax suppressed a giggle.

  Finally, Sweets appeared from behind Sergeant Bradshaw. She took one deep breath, held her hands out in front of her and blew the sparkling dust she held, right into Sergeant Bradshaw’s face. It stunned him momentarily, but before he could react, the five of us began to chant in unison,

  “Magic and powers so deeply bound,

  We seek the truth that’s not yet found.

  Show us what we need to know,

  With verity dust, we humbly blow.

  His lips shall part with truths untold,

  We ask for him to be so bold.

  And when the time’s not on our side,

  Pause your anger, you must abide.”

  When the chant was over and the truth dust had settled like dandruff flakes on his suit coat shoulders, Sergeant Bradshaw appeared stunned. “What did you just do?” he asked calmly.

  “It was a truth spell,” I answered as I rubbed my arms.

  “Hogwash,” he spat.

  “Did you know Harper was coming home for the weekend?” Alba asked him.

  “Yes I did,” he responded plainly. When he realized what he had just said, so simply, he winced. “But that doesn’t mean I killed my daughter!”

  “It doesn’t mean that you didn’t either,” I reversed as another pang of chills zipped down my spine.

  “Did you kill your daughter, Sergeant?” Alba asked him.

  “I did no such thing! I loved my daughter very much,” he told us.

  Alba’s eyes narrowed. “Did you pay someone to kill your daughter?”

  “No!” he contended. “I most certainly did not!”

  I slumped down. I was nearly positive he was going to admit it, though if I were being honest with myself, I was thankful that he didn’t admit it. That would have been too much for me and the girls to handle.

  “Do you know who killed your daughter?” Alba asked.

  “I do not,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Did you know Jimmy Spencer?” I asked him.

  “Yes I did.”

  “Did you know that Jimmy Spencer was found dead in his bar yesterday?”

  “It’s a small town, dear. Everyone heard that Jimmy Spencer was found dead in his bar.”

  “Did you have anything to do with his death?” I asked him pointedly.

  “I did not have anything to do with the death of Jimmy Spencer. I was quite fond of Jimmy. He ran a clean bar and made a decent cup of coffee.”

  “Did you suggest to Harper that she stay overnight at Jimmy’s Bed & Brew?” Alba asked.

  Sergeant Bradshaw nodded sadly. “That was my suggestion, yes. I told Elena to suggest it to Harper. I thought if Harper came out to the house too late in the evening, she might upset my wife. Louise is rather delicate in nature, and she doesn’t care for surprises. I was just trying to keep peace in the house.”

  “Why did you suggest that Harper stay at Jimmy’s specifically, though? You could have just suggested that she come the next day, but you made sure to tell Elena to suggest Harper stay at Jimmy’s,” I pointed out.

  Sergeant Bradshaw sighed. “I only suggested Jimmy’s because I knew I could trust him to keep my daughter’s whereabouts to himself. He’s not one for gossip. I didn’t want word to get back to Louise that Harper and her boyfriend were in town. I wanted to save that little surprise for the next day when my wife would be fresh and at her best.”

  “Your wife is that fragile?” I asked him.

  He tipped his head to the side and rose a shoulder. “Something like that,” he said.

  Jax stepped forward. “I notice that you have a lot of books on your shelves about mental conditions. You’ve got several books on bipolar disorders, a few on personality disorders, some on depression and schizophrenia.”

  Sergeant Bradshaw nodded. “I do have an extensive collection of those types of books, yes.”

  “Does someone in your family struggle with a mental disorder?” Jax asked.

  He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck but answered honestly. “Yes.”

  “Is it your wife?” Jax asked.

  He gritted his teeth and muttered. “Yes.”

  “I can tell that it bothers you to admit that. Why?” I asked.

  “My wife is embarrassed about the fact that she’s got those mental problems. It’s not something she likes people to know about her. We’ve been able to hide it from our friends and neighbors for all
these years. She keeps up on her medication and she’s very strict with her dosage. She’s able to keep her episodes under control.”

  “What kinds of episodes does she have?” Alba asked.

  “It varies,” he admitted. “She can be temperamental at times. Sometimes it’s sadness, sometimes anger. But we have it under control.”

  “Do you have any arsenic in the house, Sergeant Bradshaw,” I asked him.

  “Arsenic?” he scoffed. “Of course not.”

  “Is there any reason that your wife might have arsenic in the house?”

  He shook his head in confusion. “No. No reason at all. We don’t have arsenic in the house.”

  I rubbed my pebbled arms as I walked around the desk. “I see. Then you might tell us why we found arsenic in your master bedroom closet underneath some clothes.” I motioned for Holly to show the Sergeant what she’d found.

  “You planted that!” he exclaimed. His mind was reeling now, we could see it on his face.

  “We didn’t,” said Holly. “We did put it in a baggie so that they can test it for fingerprints. I’m sure Detective Whitman has his ways to prove that it was touched by someone in your household.”

  Sergeant Bradshaw’s eyes became frantic. “That’s not possible. Why would my wife have arsenic in the house?”

  “I don’t know,” I said calmly. “Is there anyone else in and out of your house on a frequent basis? A housekeeper, a family member or friend, or anyone else that would have had access to your bedroom?”

  He shook his head in bewilderment. “No, no one. Just my wife and I. We don’t have a housekeeper, there are no family members in town besides Elena and she rarely comes to visit. Our friends only come over for suppers and we always keep our bedroom door closed. We have a restroom off of the dining room for guests to use.”

  “Detective Whitman is pretty sure that Harper was killed by arsenic poisoning,” I told him quietly.

  He shook his head wildly. “I know, he told me.”

  “If this isn’t yours, it’s got to be your wife’s,” I suggested.

  “Why would Louise have arsenic? She just wouldn’t,” he said as his voice choked off.