by Naomi Muse
“That’s what they tell me.”
“What do you think it is?”
“Damned if I know. If I didn’t know any better, I would think it was some kind of curse. But I don’t believe in magic.”
“Interesting,” I said.
A curse. That hadn’t occurred to me. I may have to do some research. I can only handle one case at a time and had some ideas about this one that I would be keeping to myself.
“Well,” Chief Rowan said. “If anything, else happens, or if someone should show up here, please feel free to call me. Here’s my card, my personal numbers on the back.”
I was surprised to see that the chief was giving me his personal number, I turned it over to see he’d written his name on the back and pencil. He had pretty good penmanship.
“Thank you,” I said to him. I think I should be safe here. Maybe it was just a crime of opportunity. If something happens, I’ll let you know.”
We said our goodbyes and into the house. I went straight for my home altar. Angelo followed at my heels. He was always curious about what I was doing with my altars. He sat down beside my altar and made a snuffling found and looked at me with great interest.
“While I was talking to the chief I got a great idea, Angelo.”
He looked at me expectantly. I don’t know what more I expected him to do.
“Since you did mark the bad guy, I thought maybe we could do a tracing spell. I’ve never done one before, but it’s worth a shot, right? I’m not sure how we can track your marks, but would you mind if I took a couple of pieces of your fur?”
As if in response, Angelo began scratching his neck with his hind leg. A huge tuft of fur floated up to me. This dog shed like no one’s business.
Since this was my first time doing a spell like this and I had no real reference to go on I made sure I had my grimoire out to take notes. This didn’t seem like the type of thing that I would need my cauldron for, but I would need a map. Fortunately, I hadn’t given up my habit of collecting maps in different areas from when I had lived a more nomadic lifestyle. I cleared some space on my altar and laid out a map of Temperance. I made a ring of candles of various colors around it as I wasn’t sure which ones would really work best for the spell. I time smaller tuft of Angelo’s air with a red ribbon. It probably didn’t have to be red, but it looked good for dramatic effect.
Channeling my intentions is a key part of my magic. Sometimes, the magic is the most important part. I decided that I would probably be best off burning the hair to release the magic once the spell was completed. I rolled the hair in various scented herbs hoping that it would mask scent when the spell was all over. Angelo took a few steps backward. He stood just outside of barriers of the protective circle I cast. I don’t know how he always knew where the circle limitations ended, but he always sat just outside where I envisioned the circle ending in my mind’s eye. As always, he was perfectly still and quiet why began my spell work. I cast my circle lit my candles on following the curve in which my protective circle forms. Truthfully, it was more of a dome than a circle, but it encircled me and my spell area.
Once the circle was complete, I lit the tip of the fur bundle in the flame of the final candle and laid it in the bowl. I ran my hands together to charge them with energy and closed my eyes and laid them on the map. I continue my chanting for several moments until I felt the magic of flow through me. When the time felt right, I opened my eyes. The map was a mess. There were little purple dots everywhere. Clearly, Angelo had marked his territory quite thoroughly. I don’t know why I was surprised. Our walks took three times as long as they should because he had to stop at every single leaf he saw. I could see where the purple was concentrated at the location of our attack. If I could just triangulate the markings leading out from there, it might be the best bet for me to find my way back to the culprit.
I traced the line with my finger from our home to that point. It didn’t seem that the markings went back the same way. They headed in another direction. I shuffled around for the pen that I kept in my altar and circle the location where the tracks ended. At least I had something to go on. We could trace it from there. I wasn’t familiar with the location that was indicated on the map, but it wasn’t too far away. Nothing in Temperance was very far away. It was a small town, and this would play in my favor. I wrote down the cross streets on a notepad and closed out the spell.
I cleaned up the remnants of the spell for my altar and leaned down to give Angelo rub.
“What a good boy you are. You may have just cracked the case.”
Angelo jumped up and ran over to the cabin, and that held his treats. He was always good with words, and good boy was one of his favorite phrases. I happily gave him a treat.
I just had to find out what that address was. I opened up my laptop and typed in the cross streets. It was the Fond Memories Nursing Home. A nursing home? There was no way an elderly person had attacked me. Even if the person were in great shape, they would definitely be way too strong to be relegated to a nursing home. I wasn’t sure what this meant. It was a late night, but I had too much of a stressful day to think about heading over there now. I made a mental note to go over there the next day. Then, I remembered that I have the memory of a goldfish, so I made an actual note to myself. I stuck a sticky note right on the back door. I know it seems silly to think that I would forget about investigating an attack on myself, but you never know. Life gets in the way sometimes.
Chapter 7
The following day the bakery was just as busy. I’d expected things to die down but apparently, word-of-mouth had gotten out about the honey buns, and people were clamoring to get their hands on some. Fortunately, Sally had the foresight to make some more before she made her other delicacies
In the midst of the crowd, I had almost missed the uniform police officer that was posted outside. That was odd. The police presence wasn’t something I would expect at a bakery. When I went inside, Anita told me that he had been there when she arrived, he was there on Chief Rowan’s orders. That meant he ordered the police to check up on me. This could be a big problem. Especially if I wanted to make this trip after work. I went into the back office and rummaged through my purse and pulled out Chief Rowan’s card. Since it was early in the morning, I assumed he’d be at work. I called his work number and was routed straight to his desk. I had expected dispatch to answer, but ,apparently, he had given me a direct line.
“Chief Rowan,” he said without any formal greeting.
“Chief, this is Nova Bell at the Bewitching Bakery —”
“What happened? I’m on my way over right now,” he said.
There was a flurry of movement on the other end of the phone.
“No, nothing happened. I just wanted to speak to you.”
“Oh,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
I could be wrong, but I felt like he put a velvety tone in his voice. I pushed the thought aside and continued on.
“Well, I just came to the bakery and found a uniformed police officer standing my door staring down everyone that came inside. I was told this is your doing?”
“We have a killer on the loose, and you were attacked last night. The person who attacked you seems to have followed you based on their knowledge of your late night trip to my crime scene. So, I’m having them keep an eye out for any suspicious characters.”
“The only thing I gave you to go on was that the perp was taller than me. Are you going to interrogate everyone over 5’7?”
“Of course not, you’re barely 5’5. But if the officer sees someone paying an unnecessary amount of attention to you. He’ll make a note of it. And I can look into it personally.”
“While I appreciate the attention, I would think you had more important cases to deal with.”
“Yeah I have tons of other murderers I should be checking up on. Seriously Ms. Bell, this isn’t some big city with a high crime rate.”
There was the old Chief Rowan I knew.
“T
he only reason that you’re not a suspect is that I doubt you’d want to hurt your own business by knocking off your bakers, but I do want to keep a personal eye on this. I’m not sure why murder seems to follow you wherever you go.”
“Trust me chief, I never saw an unconscious person, let alone a dead person, until I moved to Temperance. But, we’re getting off track. How long can I expect this officer to be outside my bakery?”
“Until you’re no longer in danger. I think you’d be a little more grateful to have someone looking out for you.”
I didn’t know what else to say to him. There was no way we could continue this conversation without it turning into an argument. I that we were finally making headway. I was wrong.
“Thanks, Chief, I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, hanging up the phone before he could say anything further.
The day went by in a flash it was so busy we barely got to talk. The girls wanted to sit around and catch up, but I had an appointment to keep at the nursing home. Surprisingly, they didn’t question me as I said my goodbyes.
I decided to stop on the way to the nursing home and pick up Angelo. Old people loved dogs, and Angelo reveled in the attention. Plus, it kind of gave me an in. As a local business owner, they wouldn’t give me too much trouble if I came during regular recreation hours. At least that’s what their website said. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I figured there’d be plenty of grandmotherly types present, and maybe someone would know about our deceased baker.
When I arrived to pick up Angelo, he would let me out the door without brushing him thoroughly. His coat practically gleamed by the time we were done. I should’ve just done this for my spell. There was enough fur in the brush to make a whole new dog. Once I’ve finished brushing him to my satisfaction he rushed to the full-length mirror and checked himself on both sides before stomping her foot and approval. He brought his leash and we headed for the nursing home.
I almost expected a spooky old building just because of the way this week have been going, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful modern building. It had an open and airy feel to it, and I didn’t get any sense of dread from the grounds. I also didn’t feel any power here which was believing.
Sometimes, you can find older magic practitioners and nursing homes, and they don’t always use their powers for good. No one wants to deal with the cranky old lady was the power of the superhero. Or an old man for that matter.
At the nursing home, most of the residents were gathered outside on the patio. They were sitting around picnic tables. Most of them were thrilled to see Angelo. No one was more thrilled and him. He put an extra sway in his step as he went from person to person getting pets and licking hands. He was in his prime. All the employees at the nursing home see more than happy to let us put around. I wasn’t sure where to begin. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath trying to focus on where I feel pulled. I thought I felt something and I open my eyes to see an old woman standing at sitting beneath the cherry blossom tree. I gave a gentle tug on Angelo’s leash, and we walked over and had a C on the bench beside her. Angelo took a very keen interest in sniffing her orthopedic shoes.
The woman barely paid any attention to me but smiled down at Angelo. He played it up nicely letting his bright pink tongue roll out of his mouth. He even gave her a little extra wiggle before gingerly putting his front paws on the bench beside her so that she could pat him.
“Well, are you a handsome little man. What’s your name?”
Angelo gave a little slower in response.
His name is Angelo, and he really wanted to come here today for some reason,” I said. She looked up at me in surprise as if she hadn’t realized I was there until that point.
“Well, you? I usually arrogant chef’s new girlfriend?”
I was stunned. How could this random Old Navy possibly know Leo? I wasn’t sure if it was cruel or not, but I decided to play along.
“I’m not sure if I would call myself his girlfriend, but we have met A.”
“I know that he can be a hard one to get to know. But I promise you he’s a good boy. He does have a tendency to get mixed up in things that he doesn’t understand. Like with those bake those Baker people. She said as she trailed off looking away
“what Baker people are those.?”
“Well, I don’t like talking out of turn. But there was a nice Greek family that used to live nearby. And they were always making something special. Leo likes to think himself the best cook in town. Soon always hang around them and try to learn what they knew. They didn’t seem to mind but then one day they just kind of put them out. He says because he may, therefore, better than they did. I think that his lack of a humble nature was the problem.”
That’s too bad,” I said. “It’s hard to imagine your neighbors just giving him a family recipe like that. Well, Leo could be pretty charming when he wanted to. He was always such a bright child. But I’m niceties met a nice girl like you to settle down with.
That tore at my heartstrings. I felt like I should tell her what had happened to her grandson. But I didn’t even know this woman. I definitely didn’t know how she would take such sad news. Before I could decide on a course of action, I saw a couple heading over to us. But the look of concern on their face and they are with their tear-stained faces and clutching hands I knew they had to be her children. They were probably coming to give her the news themselves. Before they had to close I told her to have a nice day and hustled off with Angelo.
Chapter 8
Now that was an interesting update. I wasn’t sure what to do with that information. I didn’t even know if it was really useful. The only thing I did know for sure what that this that this arrogant attitude was nothing new. While the counter temperance is pretty diverse. I hadn’t really met any other Greeks except for Sally. I might have to do some old-fashioned style checking. By the time I got back to the bewitching bakery out scratch that
by the time I got back to the bewitching bakery the girls had gone home. I went inside to the office with Angelo trailing slowly behind. He was looking around at the desert displays most likely for his treats. Unfortunately, we had that in around to explaining the important need of baked dog treats to Sally yet, so we didn’t have any on hand. Fortunately, I kept commercial dog treats in my office just in case such a tragedy would occur. I went to the office that my desk and shook the bag he came running around the corner. If there hadn’t this had been anything breakable that would’ve crashed before.
And pulled out my employee papers, the file is really small. Given that I only had two employees and had only ever only interviewed to others wasn’t a need for a huge filing cabinet. I made a note of Sally address, and Leo’s too. A wave of inspiration hit. I looked up his last name and the words Temperance, Rhode Island. Only one other family was listed. When I did a web search for their addresses, his came up on the same block as Sally. This couldn’t be a coincidence.
I was ripped from my thoughts by a strange sound. It sounded like someone trying to open the front door. Angelo jumped to his feet, he heard it too and jumped to his feet. After our recent run in, I had been extra vigilant about locking the door. The sound of glass breaking sent Angelo into a barking frenzy as he headed for the door.
“Angelo, no!”
The sound of muttering curses could be heard following pounding footsteps running away. I made it to the front just in time to see what looked like someone disappearing into the darkness. I couldn’t be sure if it were the same person who had attacked me on my walk.. The fact that he ran when he heard my voice had to mean that he thought the place was empty.
Angelo was still barking, but from outside of the perimeter of the broken glass. Smartest dog I’ve ever met. I reached down to still him, and he immediately fell silent. The shops around us were all empty, so I wasn’t worried about anyone calling the police this time.
I went to the back and grabbed the broom. Angelo instantly jumped back and started growling. The broom was his ol
d nemesis. He backed away, his growl getting deeper. If things weren’t so serious, I would have laughed. Only Angelo would rush towards a burglar and run from a broom.
I swept all of the glass into a heap. I wracked my brains, but I couldn’t think of a single spell that would repair glass. There was one from that kid’s movie that repaired glasses, but that was fiction. It wouldn’t be much help here.
I covered the window as best I could with cardboard and duct tape. I couldn’t leave the bakery like this. I pulled two chairs and set them up facing each other across from the door. I sat in one chair and put my feet up on the other. I didn’t think that I needed a spell since the perpetrator had already run from me.
The first villain wasn’t afraid to jump me, but this one was running. I wasn’t sure how they could be connected. There was no reason why more than one person would be after me. Was there? Maybe it was the same guy.
Angelo laid down next to me facing the door. He was uncomfortable too. There was clearly something that I was missing.
I went over in my mind all the things that were missing in this case. Session I went over my head all the things that I knew about the case. I had very little information to go on. Leo was dead. He was arrogant, and he had a sweet old grandma in a nearby nursing home.
Come in interviewed with me for a job and turned up dead. At the very bakery where he got the specialty ingredients that he requested which was similar in origin to where other bakers get their ingredients or something like that. The grandmother said he grew up with bakers from the same backgrounds is Sally. There was some kind of falling out. Someone attacked me to stop me from investigating Leo’s death. That same someone had gone to visit the nursing home where Leo’s grandmother lives. My wards had somewhat held in keeping the pursuer out of my bakery but had not stopped them from breaking my window, but this could be a different person altogether. It was still too soon to tell.
Even though I was now the owner of the bakery and I’ve lived here for a while, I was still new in town. I seriously doubted that I could piss off more than one person in a week. At the very least, they had to be connected. There is no way they were after Anita she’s too sweet. So why would a strange man want to stop me from investigating this murder?