Whole Latte Magic

by Samantha Silver

  “Good point,” I conceded. “I’m guessing this place doesn’t have security cameras?”

  Kaillie gave me a sad smile. “Unfortunately, no. Heck, we don’t even have an alarm system. It’s not like we have a sky-high crime rate here on Enchanted Enclave. And while the coffee here might be delicious, it’s about the only thing on the premises that would be worth stealing after hours that you could do without being noticed. The coffee machine would take a while to unhook, and the roasters in the back are worth a lot of money but also weigh a ton. Literally.”

  “And up until now we never considered that someone might break in and try to kill one of us,” Leanne added quietly.

  The three of us sat in silence, absorbing those words, until a minute later the door to the kitchen opened and in walked Detective Ross Andrews.

  Chapter 20

  “Hello, ladies,” he said in greeting, nodding to each one of us in turn. “I’m wondering if I could speak with the three of you about today’s events.”

  We nodded, and his eyes immediately fell on the first aid kit, and my left pants leg which was rolled up to my knee, exposing the bandage.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, concern written all over his face.

  “I’m fine, thanks. It’s just a scratch.” The intensity of his stare made my face redden slightly, and I found myself wishing that he would reach down and touch my leg. What on earth was wrong with me? Just because he was good-looking didn’t mean I had to practically slobber all over him.

  “Are you sure? I can take you to the hospital if you’d like. They can give you stitches if you need it.”

  I shook my head. “Thanks, but seriously, it’s fine. Just a scratch, that’s all. It could have been a lot worse though.”

  “I saw,” he replied, his expression grim.

  “So your being here confirms it – Dad was right and someone did slice the wire on the ramp, rigging it to fall on Eliza.”

  Detective Andrews nodded. “That’s right. When I first heard about what had happened I hoped it was a hoax. After all, surely nobody would do anything like that here in Enchanted Enclave. But I had a look for myself, and there’s no way it was anything else. Which one of you unlocked the front door this morning?”

  “I did,” Leanne said. “Eliza and I got here about five minutes before Aunt Debbie, and I was the one with the key of the two of us.”

  “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”

  “No, but I was saying to the others before, I’m not sure I would have noticed even if there was something. I basically open up the front door on autopilot. Still, I’d look at the back entrances. The door between the warehouse side of things and the coffee shop is never locked, even at night, so whoever did it may have come in through there.”

  “How did they get up to the wire?” I asked. “After all, it was pretty high up. He would have needed a ladder to get up there.”

  “There is one in the warehouse side of the building, which lends credence to Leanne’s theory that he may have come in through an entrance on that side. I’ll go over there next. Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to kill you?”

  I squirmed in my seat. After all, the answer was yes: whoever had stabbed Karen. But admitting that to Detective Andrews would mean admitting that I had been investigating the attack on Karen, and I had a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t going to be a big fan of that if I told him.

  Still, I came inches away from being crushed to death by an industrial lamp today. As much as a part of me wanted Detective Andrews to be pleased with me – and I pushed away the feeling that it was more than just the same normal desire I always had for everyone to like me – I figured he’d probably be less pleased if the person who had tried to first kill Karen and then kill me eventually succeeded.

  “It might be Andrew Lloyd, who I’m pretty sure stabbed Karen,” I replied. Kaillie looked horrified, like someone had just told the principal she deserved to get detention, while Leanne just nodded grimly, obviously agreeing with my assessment that Detective Andrews should know what we had been doing.

  If he was angry, his reaction didn’t betray it. In fact, the only reaction he had at all was raising a single eyebrow. “And why do you think the person who stabbed Karen may have tried to kill you, too?”

  “Well, the thing is, we may have been asking a few questions here and there,” I offered, trying to sound as casual as possible. “After all, working in the coffee shop you get to know a lot of people, and right now everyone is asking about the murder. So it’s come up a lot in conversation.”

  “Right, I’m sure that’s all it is. Someone wants to kill you because you contributed to the local rumor mill in your coffee shop.”

  “Ok, so we may also have gone and had a chat with a few people who may have had a reason to want Karen dead,” I admitted. “It’s possible that one of the people we spoke to – who almost certainly tried to kill Karen – decided we were on the right track and wanted to take care of the problem.”

  I tried not to think too hard about the fact that I was the problem in question.

  “And now we’re getting to the crux of it,” Detective Andrews said. “You seriously shouldn’t be going around investigating this. I’m telling you, as a police officer, I can do my job.”

  “We know you can, but it’s not like Chief Jones is the sharpest tool in the shed,” Leanne argued. “And he’s still in charge overall. Besides, four heads are better than one, right?”

  “Not when only one of those heads has actual law enforcement experience, and the other ones are now potentially becoming the wannabe killer’s next targets,” Detective Andrews pointed out. “Look, I actually understand why the three of you have been looking into this, but you can’t keep doing it. It’s too dangerous, and one of you is going to get hurt.” He looked pointedly at me. “Or worse.”

  “Message received,” Kaillie said, nodding. “Don’t worry, we want to be good. We’ll do the right thing.”

  “Speak for yourself,” I heard Leanne mutter under her breath, but when Detective Andrews looked over at her she just flashed him a million-watt smile.

  “Alright, well, tell me who it is you spoke to,” Detective Andrews said.

  “Kaillie spoke to Andrew, from the recreation center,” Leanne said. “He’s our number one suspect right now.”

  “Is he, now?” Detective Andrews asked.

  “Yes,” I replied firmly. “He was seen arguing with Karen not long before she was stabbed. She won’t tell us what they were arguing about, but it was definitely something. Plus, he got super defensive when Kaillie started talking to him.”

  “Perhaps it was because you accused him of stabbing a woman. Most people don’t take too kindly to that, especially when it’s just a member of the public doing it. After all, you’re not cops.”

  “It was more than that,” Kaillie said slowly. “He barely even allowed us to get to the accusatory part. As soon as we started talking about Karen all of his defenses went up, and he wouldn’t say anything else, just told us to get away from him.”

  “Alright,” Detective Andrews said. “Who else have you spoken to?”

  “Gary Vanderchuck,” Leanne replied. “That’s it.”

  She wisely didn’t mention Kyle, and I was glad for it. After all, his place had been broken into, and I was there when Detective Andrews had gotten the phone call about it, and if Detective Andrews knew we were considering Kyle as a suspect he might also start to wonder if we were the ones who had broken into his place.

  “Why don’t you think he did it?”

  “He has an alibi,” I replied without skipping a beat. “He was at a conference in Seattle when Karen was stabbed.”

  Detective Andrews raised his eyebrows. “You certainly have been busy. I’ll give you credit for thoroughness.” Still, I couldn’t help but feel like there was something in his look that I was missing, like he knew something I didn’t. He probably wouldn’t be thrilled if I grabbed his notebook and started
flipping through it.

  I figured we could do without admitting we were looking inside the owners’ cars to check for blood, as well. Detective Andrews had probably done that himself, among other things.

  “Alright, well, who do you think did it?” I asked. “Surely at this point you’ve got a prime suspect. Do you think we’re on the right track, or do you think we’re way off base?”

  Detective Andrews smiled at me, and butterflies fluttered in my stomach. “You can’t honestly think I’m going to tell you that, can you? That’s confidential. I can confirm that I have a number of persons of interest who are being considered as likely culprits in the attack on Karen. But what about anyone else? Can you think of others who might want to hurt you?”

  I shook my head. “No. The most dangerous thing I’ve done apart from looking into the attack on Karen is a yoga class last week. And the only person who wanted to kill me after that ended was myself.”

  I got a laugh from Detective Andrews for that little quip. “Alright, so no disagreements with anyone else?”

  “Definitely not. Not even by a customer at the coffee shop who short-changed me. I’m telling you, there’s only one person who could have wanted me dead: the person who tried to kill Karen.”

  “Got it,” Detective Andrews said, and turned to Leanne. “What about you? After all, the both of you work behind that counter together. It’s possible the killer was going after you instead.”

  “Sorry, I’m my usual charming self at all times, and no one wants to kill me. Well, apart from Eliza for dragging her to the yoga class in question, but I can say with confidence she didn’t do it.”

  “Because it could have maimed her as well?”

  “Oh please, if the lamp had killed me at least I’d never have to step foot in that studio again,” I muttered in reply.

  “Because Eliza stomps around like an elephant at home and I would have heard her going out,” Leanne said with a grin, and I stuck my tongue out at her quickly. Detective Andrews laughed.

  “Alright. I think the two of you are right then, if there was no one else you’ve had any disagreements with this probably has to do with the attempt on Karen’s life.”

  “Do you know who broke into her house the other day?” I blurted out before I convinced myself it was a bad idea. “We heard someone did.”

  “Right. And where exactly did you hear that?”

  “You know, just town gossip,” I replied. “Does that mean it really happened, then?”

  “Yes, it happened. And no, I’m not telling you anything about it.”

  I frowned, but I really couldn’t have expected any other answer.

  “Alright, thanks,” Detective Andrews said, standing up. “I appreciate the help, and I promise you, I am going to do whatever needs to be done to find the person who did this. Someone tried to kill one of you two, and I take that very seriously. You should know I’ve spoken to Debbie and the coffee shop will be closed for the rest of the day while I bring in a full crime scene investigation unit to try and find more clues as to who is responsible for this.”

  “Thank you,” I told him earnestly. As much as the police chief in town might have been an idiot, I believed Detective Andrews when he said he was working hard, and it really did put my heart a little bit more at ease knowing he was going to try and find the person who had done this.

  “I’m happy to do it. It’s my job, and I want to remind you that it’s not your job, just like it’s not your job to try and figure out who stabbed Karen. You could be dead because you stuck your nose in something you shouldn’t have.”

  “Yeah, but we’re not,” Leanne countered, and Detective Andrews gave her an incredulous look.

  “Only because Eliza here has decent reflexes and heard the snap of the wire. You can’t count on luck any more. I don’t want to see you hurt, Eliza. I don’t want to see any of you hurt. Stay out of this.”

  Then, without another word, Detective Andrews headed back into the main part of the coffee shop.

  “Did you hear that?” Leanne said to me with a grin. “He doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “Please,” I scoffed. “He said that to everyone.”

  “Yeah, but he was looking right at you when he said it. And he singled you out. He added Kaillie and me as an afterthought.”

  “That’s silly,” I said, brushing Leanne’s words aside.

  “Eliza and Ross, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Leanne teased.

  “You know, that song is pretty appropriate, seeing as you’re acting about twelve years old,” I replied, looking to Kaillie to help me out.

  “I agree with Leanne,” my cousin said, and my mouth dropped open. “What? It’s obvious he likes you. There’s definitely a spark between the two of you. Plus, you immediately go the shade of a tomato every time he looks at you. It’s kind of a giveaway.”

  “I do not,” I replied, my face going hot.

  “Yeah, just like that,” Leanne said with a laugh. “That’s exactly it.”

  I groaned and leaned back against the wall. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “Just ask him out.”

  “What?” I yelped. “No way. Why would I do that?”

  “Because you’re obviously attracted to him, and he’s obviously attracted to you. That’s how this whole things works. Or do you not know that?”

  “No. No way. I’m not asking him out. Besides, you don’t know he feels like that about me. Maybe you’re just projecting. And I don’t feel that way about him to begin with.”

  “Sure you don’t. The fact that you added that almost as an afterthought really seals it,” Kaillie said, smiling.

  I grumbled at my cousins. I totally didn’t have a thing for Detective Andrews. I mean sure, he was really nice, and whenever he smiled dimples appeared in his cheeks. And his body looked like he did yoga constantly. And hit the weight room a few times a week too, for good measure. But that didn’t mean I liked him.

  “Whatever you say,” Leanne said. “You’ll see. The two of you are going to end up together one day. I just know it.”

  She was so wrong.

  Chapter 21

  With nothing to do for the rest of the morning or the afternoon, with the coffee shop being closed, the three of us decided to stop by Otterly Delicious to get a bite to eat and hopefully come up with a new plan to find out who had tried to kill Karen… and now to figure out who had tried to kill Leanne and me, too.

  We ordered the soup and sandwich combo – I was getting a BLT along with a bowl of curried cauliflower soup – and sat down in one of the booths.

  “We should have stuck around and tried to get as much information as we could from the crime scene people,” Leanne bemoaned.

  I shook my head. “I don’t think it would have worked. I noticed Detective Andrews looking at us as we were leaving; I think he was expecting us to do that. If we had tried to ask anyone anything he probably would have stopped us and told us to head on home.”

  “Of course you would have noticed that,” Leanne said to me with a wink.

  “Oh let it go,” I replied. “I’m not going out with him.”

  “Sure, you say that now. Anyway, I will let it go, but only because I want to catch this person. I mean, it’s one thing to go after Karen. But this time I could have been killed, and that’s even worse,” Leanne said, and Kaillie snorted.

  “Karen is way better a person than you.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably true,” Leanne admitted. “Still, it would suck to die, so we need to find proof that Andrew stabbed her.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “I don’t plan on dying either. “So let’s find some proof, and maybe submit it anonymously to Detective Andrew so he doesn’t keep thinking that we’re investigating this case.”

  “Because you care so much about his approval?” Leanne asked with a grin, and I glared at her in reply.

  “Ok,” Kaillie said. “So what do we need to know?”

  “I want to know who he w
as on the phone with,” I said. “If we can get that information, maybe we’ll have a new lead. But you can’t exactly get away with stealing someone’s phone these days. And what if he has facial recognition to unlock it?”

  “That’s easily taken care of with a spell, we just have to convince Kaillie to do it,” Leanne said, and the two of us looked at her expectantly.

  “Fine,” Kaillie said, following it up with a big huff to make sure we knew she wasn’t happy about it.

  “Really? That easy?” Leanne asked. “I was sure you were going to give us a lecture about how you can’t use magic for bad and how you’re not going to give up your shot to return to the paranormal world just for us.”

  “Normally, I would have. But someone tried to kill you two today. And frankly, even if it meant never visiting the paranormal world in my life, I would do whatever it took to make sure the person responsible doesn’t get a chance to do it again.”

  “Aww, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said,” Leanne replied. “Plus, now we’ve figured out what the line is. If we want Kaillie to use magic in a bad way, it has to be so that she can find someone trying to kill us.”

  “Well, let’s hope you don’t make that a habit,” she replied. “But yes. If this is what it takes to save your life, then so be it.”

  “Alright, let’s do that this afternoon after we eat,” I said. As if right on cue, the waitress arrived with our food and the three of us spent the next quarter of an hour talking about other things while eating, getting ready for a busy afternoon ahead.

  Hopefully, by the time it was over, we would have proof that Andrew had tried to kill Karen, and we’d be able to let Detective Andrews know so he could arrest him.

  “Hey, speak of the devil,” I said suddenly, noticing a familiar figure on the sidewalk. It was Andrew.

  “Let’s follow him,” Leanne said, jumping up from the booth. Kaillie and I followed immediately after her.