Next on the list was Nate McMillan. Nate was the aging, longtime owner of the Enchanted Theater. After running the place for over forty years, he was ready to retire and sold the theater with the verbal assurance that Ethan Wakefield would keep the show running. Ethan not only betrayed him, but the legacy Nate had built up over the last four decades. As a matter of fact, Ethan barely waited for the ink to dry on the sale before going back on his word and canceling the show. Betrayal was one of the most common motives for murder. Was that the case this time as well?
Vanessa McMillan made the list as well. Vanessa wasn’t just Nate’s daughter; she was also the writer of the musical. While her father owned the theater, she was on top of the world. Not only had she authored a hit show, but she never had to worry about job security. All that changed when Ethan took over. Suddenly, the rug was pulled out from under her. She was out of a job and left comforting a bitter father who’d been coldly betrayed. Had Vanessa set out for revenge?
Sebastian Brown was also on the list. Sebastian was the lead actor in the musical. That wasn’t all. He was also engaged to Daphne Scott, who just happened to be Ethan Wakefield’s ex-wife. Ethan made no secret that he hated not only the musical but also the fact that his ex-wife was now dating a much younger man. Sebastian bared the brunt of that hatred. Had he retaliated by murdering Ethan?
Daphne Scott was next on the list. Daphne was both the producer of the show and Ethan’s ex-wife. Ex’s rarely got along, but in Daphne’s case, Ethan seemed to hold a special grudge. Part of that was because Daphne was the one to leave him. The other part was that Daphne had taken up with a younger man. Ethan found a way to get his revenge by canceling the show, putting both Daphne and her fiancé on the unemployment line. Did Daphne seek deadly revenge of her own?
Also on the list was Wyatt Wakefield. Wyatt was Ethan’s underachieving son. He had a disaffected streak in him and openly hated his stepmother. That rancor was only made worse by the fact that he was an aspiring playwright and his father had chosen to stage his stepmom’s play instead of his. Had the bitter family rivalry turned deadly?
Finally, there was Paige Wakefield. Paige was Ethan’s third wife. When Ethan bought the theater, he declared that “Enchanted Nights” would be replaced by a serious play that Paige had written. On a professional note, Paige seemed to get exactly what she wanted. On a personal note, Paige was constantly at odds with her stepson Wyatt. Were there cracks in Ethan and Paige’s marriage driven by the wedge between Paige and her stepson, or was there another motive entirely?
One thing was clear. There were plenty of questions to be answered. It was time to get down to business.
Chapter Twelve
Connor was still fixated on how good his donut tasted when Meg turned her focus to the task at hand.
“All right. Time to take a look at that crime scene,” Meg said.
That comment was enough to get Connor to shake off his donut haze in a hurry.
“Have you forgotten who is calling the shots here?” Connor asked.
“Fine. Call the shots, as long as that first shot is heading over to the crime scene.”
“That’s a waste of time. My men have already gone over the entire area.”
“True, but I haven’t.”
Connor folded his arms. “What do you think you’re going to find that my men didn’t?”
Now was time for some creative lying. With one spell, Meg could scan the entire scene in microscopic detail, maybe picking up on things the police had overlooked. The problem was, she couldn’t tell Connor that without revealing she was a witch.
Hence, some verbal gymnastics. “I just want to try and visualize everything.”
He exhaled. “There’s a killer on the loose and half a dozen suspects to question. There’s no reason to head over to the scene. All my men found there were the body and the pick ax.”
“Hey, you don’t have to come. I’m happy to investigate on my own.”
He shook his head. “You’re lucky I’m falling for you. If anyone else said something like that to me, I’d detain them for interfering with an official police investigation.”
“Does that mean you’ll take me to the scene?”
He chuckled with disbelief. “You’re just relentless, aren’t you?”
“How do you think I solved the last case?” Meg asked.
“No wonder the suspects all hated you.”
“It’s a good thing I don’t care about making friends with murder suspects. Now, are we going to head to the crime scene, or not?”
He stopped her. “Just one thing first.”
“What’s that?”
“What do you think you’re going to find there?”
“I don’t know. I just have a hunch.”
He stared deep into her eyes.
“You really are a one-of-a-kind woman, aren’t you?” Connor commented.
“I sure hope so. I’d hate to find out there’s another feisty, whimsical, donut shop owner turned sleuth out there somewhere,” she joked.
***
Connor drove Meg to the crime scene but decided to stay in the car. He just didn’t see any point in getting out. That was fine with Meg. Casting spells in earshot of her boyfriend would be a tricky task, but with Connor sitting in the car, paying attention to the police scanner, Meg was free to cast a spell in peace.
She closed her eyes, then whispered in Latin under her breath. When she opened her eyes, the spell had given her eagle-eyed vision. It was incredible what details she could see all of a sudden.
Ethan Wakefield had been stabbed in the back on the walkway between his driveway and his Victorian-era house. Meg focused her gaze not only on the cobblestone walkway but also the surrounding grass.
It wasn’t long before her hunch had been proven right. Meg spotted something. On closer inspection, she saw it was a ruby earring. What a find. At the same time, she was glad she’d cast the spell. The green earring blended in quite well with the grass, so it was no surprise that the police hadn’t spotted it. On top of that, the earring was also halfway across the lawn from where the body was found. The question became, whose earring was this?
That one would have to wait to be answered. In the meantime, Meg alerted her boyfriend.
“Connor, I found something,” she said.
Connor looked up from the police scanner with disbelief in his eyes. He got out of the car and approved.
“What is it?” he asked.
Meg grabbed a tissue from her purse and picked up the earring.
“See for yourself.”
The detective shook his head. “How did my men miss this?”
Meg had other thoughts on her mind. “I don’t know. The more important thing is, who does this belong to?”
Their conversation then shifted its focus entirely when they heard a noise coming from the back of the house.
“What was that?” Meg asked.
“Let’s find out,” Connor said.
Connor and Meg then both rushed to the back of the house to investigate.
Chapter Thirteen
When Connor and Meg rounded the corner to the back of the house, they saw Paige Wakefield running through the backyard. Connor gave chase. Meg decided on a different tact. It was actually to her benefit that both Paige and Connor had their backs to her. That gave Meg the chance to hang back, close her eyes, and cast a tripping spell.
A moment later, with the spell accomplished, Paige tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground. With Paige face planting, both Connor and Meg were able to catch up with her.
Paige looked completely embarrassed like she had no idea how she could have tripped. Connor and Meg had plenty of questions of their own. Paige was Ethan’s third wife. She was a bookish, petite woman in her late forties with shoulder-length curly hair and an angular face.
Connor fired the first question at her. “What are you doing here? This is a crime scene.”
“It’s also my house,” Paige replied.
&
nbsp; “That’s true, but my men ordered you to stay away while this investigation is taking place.”
“I know. I just wanted to come here and grab my phone.”
That didn’t add up in Meg’s mind. “If that’s true, then why were you sneaking out the back?”
Paige stumbled over her answer. “Well, because, like you said, I knew I wasn’t supposed to come back here. At the same time, you know how attached to our phones we all are these days. I can’t imagine being without my smartphone for days, especially after losing my dear husband.”
Paige’s attitude completely turned on a dime. Suddenly, she went from panicked to trying to drum up sympathy. She wouldn’t get any from Meg and Connor, considering how eager she was to flee from the scene.
Meg went right after her story. “You said you came back here to grab your phone, but what if you really came back here for something else? For example, to remove incriminating evidence.”
Paige’s fake puppy dog eyes filled with rage in a hurry. She became defiant. “How dare you--”
Meg cut her off. “Do you recognize this?”
Meg held up the earring she’d found in the grass.
Paige surprised Meg and Connor both by giving them a blank look.
“No,” Paige replied.
Meg didn’t believe her. She went after her again. “So, this isn’t your earring?”
Paige scoffed. “No. I’d never wear an earring that ugly.”
This, from a woman wearing head to toe yellow. Paige looked like a life-sized banana. Still, everyone had a different idea of what good taste was, and apparently she drew the line at ruby earrings. Or, so she said.
Connor wasn’t convinced of her answer either. “You know I can get a search warrant issued to see if the matching earring is inside your house.”
“That would be a waste of your time. I’ve never seen that ugly earring before in my life,” Paige declared.
This line of questioning wasn’t getting them anywhere.
Meg decided to take a different approach. “If you really were here just to get your phone, why did you feel the need to flee from the scene?”
Paige tensed up. “I thought it would look bad, me showing up at the house so soon after the murder.”
“You’re right. It looks highly suspicious,” Connor replied. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?”
Paige took a step back. She tried to look as sorrowful as possible. “Just that I’d like to get out of here. I’m trying to work through a lot of emotions here. I’m a widow, after all.”
She was sure doing her best to pull their heartstrings, but Connor and Meg wouldn’t allow themselves to be thrown off the scent that quickly.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you leave quite yet,” Connor said. “I have a question for you, Mrs. Wakefield. Your husband was murdered in front of the house. Why did it take an anonymous call for us to discover the body? Shouldn’t you have heard the crime taking place?”
Paige sighed, then answered in a low tone. “I uh, wasn’t home at the time.”
“I didn’t specify a time. How can we be sure you weren’t home?” Connor wondered.
Paige tried to cover her tracks. “What time did the, uh, murder take place?”
“Between eleven and midnight,” Connor replied.
“Yeah, I wasn’t home then,” Paige insisted.
“Where were you then?” Connor followed up.
Paige was short with the detective again. “With a friend.”
“That seems strange,” Meg said.
Paige jumped on the defensive. “What’s strange about hanging out with a friend?”
“Your husband had just bought the theater with the intention of putting on your play. I figured you’d be celebrating with him,” Meg explained.
“We celebrated earlier,” Paige said.
Meg didn’t believe that. She seemed to be hiding something. It was important to keep pressing. “Come on, Mrs. Wakefield. The wrap party wasn’t until ten. The murder occurred between eleven and midnight. Do you really expect us to believe that you celebrated something as big as buying a theater with your husband in an hour, then went off to spend time with a friend?”
Paige stared at the detective, then at Meg, before looking down. She let out a groan before blurting out the truth. “All right, so I didn’t celebrate with my husband, but I was with my friend between eleven and midnight.”
Connor knew there was plenty of time to talk about Paige’s friend later. Right now, he was focused on another issue. “But Mrs. Wakefield, why weren’t you celebrating with your husband? It’s not every day your husband buys a theater.”
Meg jumped in before Paige had the chance to lie again. “Did you two have a fight last night?”
Paige bit the corner of her lip. “Of course not.”
Meg stared her down. “Why are you lying to us?”
“This is none of your business,” Paige insisted.
Connor corrected her. “Your husband was murdered last night, and we just caught you fleeing from the scene. It’s very much our business. Now, answer the question.”
Paige tried to change the subject once again. “I know what you’re implying, but I didn’t kill my husband.”
“It’s strange that you’d jump there. We hadn’t even brought that up. Mrs. Wakefield, do you have a guilty conscience?” Meg asked.
Worry lines were all over Paige’s face. “I’m under a lot of stress here. So if there’s nothing else--”
Connor cut her off. “Excuse me, but there is something else.”
“What else is there?” Paige huffed.
“Frankly, part of your story just doesn’t make sense. Let’s say you were at your friend’s house. When you returned home last night, you still should have been the first person to have found the body, yet it took an anonymous call to notify the authorities,” Meg reasoned.
“There’s a very good explanation for that,” Paige said.
She saw both Meg and Connor staring her down.
Paige continued. “I actually didn’t come home last night.”
The plot thickened with each word out of Paige’s mouth.
“Where did you spend the night then?” Connor asked.
“I stayed over at my friend’s house. We had a couple of drinks, and it was late, so I figured it was probably not the best idea to risk driving home and getting in an accident,” Paige explained.
Meg wasn’t convinced. “So, you’re saying you went all night without your phone, and you just realized it a couple of minutes ago?”
“Like I said, I had a little too much to drink. I must have left the phone here before Ethan and I headed off to the theater last night. Then, I just forgot about it,” Paige replied.
Meg shook her head. “Do you really expect me to believe in the digital age we live in that you could be without your phone for an entire night and not notice?”
“If you’re interested in the truth, you’ll believe it,” Paige insisted.
Connor switched gears. “This friend of yours that you were supposedly with at the time of the murder. Who is she and where can we find her?”
“Her name is Wendy Sharpe. She lives at 212 High Street,” Paige said.
Connor scribbled down the address on a pad of paper. “And she’ll be able to verify your alibi?”
“It’s not an alibi; it’s the truth.”
“Uh huh. We’ll see about that.”
Paige lashed out in the most unexpected of ways. “Look, if you want to find the killer, you should be talking to Vanessa McMillan.”
That came completely out of left field. It wasn’t uncommon for a suspect to point the finger of blame elsewhere, but usually, it was only after they’d be backed into a corner. Paige was sure jittery for a woman that kept proclaiming her innocence.
“And why should we be talking to her?” Connor wondered.
“Isn’t it obvious? She thought her dad was going to hand the theater down to her. When he sold it to E
than instead, she felt jilted. But when she found out Ethan was canceling the show she wrote, that was the last straw,” Paige explained.
“It’s an interesting story. But as a writer, you’re known for making up stories,” Connor said.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Paige pleaded.
“We’ll see about that,” Meg replied.
“If we need to speak with you again, where will we be able to find you?” Connor asked.
The house was an official crime scene. Technically, Paige shouldn’t even have been there in the first place. At that moment, the detective cared most about where Paige was going next.
“I’m going to be staying with my sister,” Paige said.
“What’s her address?” Connor wondered.
“One-thirty-two Maple street,” Paige revealed.
Connor scribbled the address down on his pad of paper. “All right. We’re going to go check on this alibi of yours. Don’t even think about leaving town.”
Chapter Fourteen
Once they left the scene of the crime, Meg and Connor went to check on Paige’s alibi. On the drive over to Wendy Sharpe’s house, Meg took a picture of the ruby earring she’d found at the scene of the crime and texted it to Liz Donnelly. Maybe she’d recognize it and be able to place whose it was.
When Meg was done texting the photo, she looked over at Connor and started discussing their interview with Paige.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but that seemed to be a whole lot of lying for just one conversation,” Meg said.
Connor nodded. “It makes you wonder where the lies end the truth begins.”
“It’ll be interesting to find out. The problem is that could be really hard to do,” Meg replied.
The Witches Of Enchanted Bay Seven Book Cozy Mystery Series Bundle Page 4