Witch Happens

by A. M. King

  Febe sighed. “Fine. We’ll just deliver the sandwiches. But I want to speak to the managing editor to at least give our condolences. That was Darla’s older sister, Amy, right?”

  “Yes, I believe that was her name,” Aunt Vanity said, smoothing her hair and straightening her blouse. She couldn’t resist glaring at Trixie, though.

  Febe rolled her eyes. Oh, boy. Here we go.

  Febe was glad that Aunt Trixie lived in the house next door to the Victorian and not in the same house as Aunt Vanity and Eartha, or else there would be no peace.

  * * *

  After Febe washed her hands, she went into the kitchen to help the staff put together gourmet pastrami sandwiches on rye topped with a pickle. They used ultra-smoky, super-seasoned pastrami with fresh lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and a dab of Dijon mustard. Each sandwich was cut into triangles and placed decoratively on the tray. For dessert, there was a tray of fresh pastries, custard-filled chocolate chip donuts, and a basket of fresh fruits.

  “Looks delicious. Makes me hungry,” Aunt Vanity said as she got her tray together to take to the car.

  “You’re telling me.”

  Just then, the door chime sounded in the café. Febe could hear a deep, authoritative voice in the dining room, but couldn’t hear what was being said. All she heard was, “She’s in the kitchen,” from one of the staffers.

  The door swung open and in came a swoon-worthy tall, dark and handsome man in a tailored suit. She caught sight of his badge clipped to his belt.

  Crap.

  A cop.

  Wait a minute. It was dark when they’d been pulled over yesterday, but she remembered now where she had seen tall, dark and handsome before. He was the detective from last night.

  “Ms. Summer,” he said to Febe.

  “Hi there. Detective Trey, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I’m Vanity Summer, Febe’s young auntie.” Aunt Vanity was practically drooling as she extended her hand to shake his, the other hand fixing up her recently permed hairdo.

  “Nice to meet you ma’am,” he said, shaking her hand.

  “Likewise. Ooh, I love a man with strong firm hands. Huge hands, too,” she practically purred.

  Febe flushed ten shades of red.

  Good God. This is so embarrassing.

  Maybe Aunt Trixie was right about Aunt Vanity. Really? Flirting with a detective? Okay, he was hot, but still.

  Febe cleared her throat. “You’re here to ask me some more questions?” she finally asked Detective Troy who tried to get his hand out of Aunt Vanity’s strong grasp.

  “Um, Aunt Vanity. We should be loading the trays into the delivery car, right?” Febe said.

  “Oh, yes, of course,” Aunt Vanity said, twirling her hair with her other hand.

  She finally let his hand go and eyed him up and down flirtatiously before grabbing a tray of sandwiches and heading out through the swinging doors. Febe was afraid that Aunt Vanity would bump into something on her way out and drop the edible masterpieces they’d just assembled together.

  “Sorry about that,” Febe said, with a tone of humiliation.

  “Hey, no worries. Your auntie has a firm grip.”

  Yeah, on men, it appears. “I know.”

  “I’m not actually here to see you, Febe. I’m here to see your aunt Trixie.”

  “Did someone call my name?” Aunt Trixie said stepping out of the office at the back of the kitchen.

  Did the walls have ears? Did Aunt Trixie hear everything that was going on in the kitchen while Febe and Aunt Vanity were preparing the sandwiches?

  “Yes, Trixie Summer?”

  “Yes,” Trixie said cautiously.

  “Detective Trey Heart from the Sheriff’s office.” He showed his badge.

  “Hi, sir.”

  Aunt Eartha also came out, surprised. “Is everything okay here, Officer?”

  “I just need to ask a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, please ask away. It’s just us girls here. We don’t keep any secrets from each other,” Aunt Trixie said.

  “That’s fine. I’d like to know where you were between the hours of ten and midnight last night.”

  Aunt Trixie’s face fell.

  Febe watched in horror. She knew she had to leave soon to go help Aunt Vanity deliver the lunch to Gosnik News, but...

  “I...I was at my house.”

  “Do you have anyone who can verify that, ma’am?”

  “What are you saying?”

  “It’s my understanding that you had an argument last week with Darla Gosnik?”

  “Well, of course I did. Gosnik and I always have our little spats. We’ve known each other forever.”

  “Did you tell her that you would kill her if she mentioned your name in her newspaper?”

  “She’s not answering any more questions until she speaks to her lawyer,” Aunt Eartha interjected, touching Aunt Trixie’s arm.

  “That’s fine, ma’am, but I’m going to need you to come down to the station.”

  Suddenly the hot detective was turning Febe’s blood cold.

  The rest was a blur.

  Chapter 14

  “Trixie’s been arrested?” Aunt Vanity said as they drove towards the Gosnik News office down on Main Street.

  “I don’t know,” Febe said, regretfully. “I had to leave, remember? Aunt Eartha went down to the station with her. Do you think it’s a good idea delivering these sandwiches now?”

  “Oh, nonsense. Besides, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Nobody down at the station really liked Darla.”

  “They didn’t?”

  “She was a bully and a tyrant. The newspaper was left to the Gosnik sisters and Darla bought out the others’ shares and turned it into a cheap gossip rag. It used to be a nice community paper back in the day, then Darla decided to go online and change the direction of the content. It got the whole team in a fit. Anyway, she used to dig up dirt for some popular celebrity site down south and decided after her folks passed away that she’d try to build her own little empire.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really, child. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them bumped her off. I’m sure they’ll welcome us with open arms. She made a lot of enemies out of the other Gosnik family members.”

  “And what about this new editor?”

  Aunt Vanity flushed. “Oh, Bruce. Well, he is really fine. Nice gentleman. We got to talking a little when we catered their company baseball event in the summer. He just joined the paper recently, but he was thinking about leaving too.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, they all were thinking of jumping ship, girl. Weren’t you listening? None of them liked the direction the newspaper was going with Darla’s vision of turning it into an online gossip site.”

  “I see.”

  It bothered Febe that she didn’t know what was going on with Aunt Trixie down at the station. She hoped her auntie wasn’t under arrest.

  “I hope they find out who really killed Darla. I know it wasn’t Aunt Trixie. It’s possible somebody could be trying to frame her because of that public argument they had. Were you there at the time?”

  “Oh, that. Yeah.” Aunt Vanity rolled her eyes. “Trust Trixie to always run her mouth a mile a minute.

  Anyway, with all her exes vanishing off the face of the earth, maybe the cops are extra suspicious”

  “All of them?”

  “Yes, all of them.”

  “Isn’t there some sort of investigation into their...being missing?”

  “Nope. Nothing suspicious.”

  “Nothing.”

  “Not according to the police. They all had homes in the Caribbean. Cops figured they took their share of her money and took off.”

  “Oh, that is odd.”

  “Your Aunt Trixie’s odd, dear. Get used to it. I don’t know where she finds them. She goes travelling on vacation to these exotic destinations. Marries these suckers without knowing their middle n
ame and the next thing you know, they take off back to their homeland, richer than before.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Vanity shrugged, her eyes on the road. “I just do. Well, that’s what I read on the Gosnik News site anyway.”

  “Aunt Vanity!”

  “What? Sometimes you get some interesting information online.”

  “About members of your own family? Really now? You should be ashamed of yourself, reading that stuff and believing crap about your own sister. You yourself said it’s a rag site.”

  Aunt Vanity just shrugged again. Febe knew the sisters weren’t the best of friends, but she also knew there was a line they wouldn’t cross. Or was there?

  Aunt Vanity pulled up at the Gosnik News offices on Main Street.

  “I can never park in these spots,” Aunt Vanity said.

  “What about over there?”

  “You expect me to squeeze in there without using magic?”

  Febe had to get used to the new way of things now. “Oh, right. Janvier mentioned something about not being allowed to practice magic unless it was an emergency.”

  “And this is not an emergency, child. Don’t ever do anything that could get your license revoked.”

  “Right. Got it.” Febe really had to try to get used to the new normal. If one could call it that.

  * * *

  “I’m so sorry for your loss,” Febe said after they’d laid out the sandwich trays on the table in the boardroom.

  Amy Gosnik was a tall, thin woman with jet black hair and porcelain skin with dark makeup. She wore black. She almost looked like a tall, human doll.

  “Yes, we’re horrified about what happened,” Aunt Vanity added, looking around.

  “Thank you,” Ms. Gosnik said quite enthusiastically. She didn’t seem very sad. “Thank you both.”

  “Do the cops have any leads?” Febe blurted out before remembering that just moments ago her Aunt Trixie was taken in for questioning.

  She hoped and prayed that Aunt Trixie would be cleared and the Gosnik family didn’t find out about it. But then again, Aunt Trixie had been accompanied by the handsome police detective. It was only a matter of minutes before rumors swirled.

  “No, not that I know of,” Amy said as she adjusted the sandwich trays on the table at the back of the boardroom with bouncy energy.

  “I hope they do find out who did it and fast. What a horrible, terrible thing to have happened,” Aunt Vanity added glancing around the room again. “I know this is probably not the best time, but...”

  “You’re looking for Bruce, right?” Amy said. “He’s in his office.”

  Aunt Vanity self-consciously brushed her coif with her free hand. “Well, we were supposed to speak about placing some ads in the paper for Halloween.”

  “Yes, of course,” Amy said, busily organizing the cups. At each setting there was a glass and a plate along with a file folder and a book. She had the perfect lunch-and-learn set up in place.

  “I can help you with that,” Febe said, feeling useless.

  “No, I prefer to do it myself, thanks,” Amy said, hurrying around the table.

  Febe noticed that Amy had the utensils and sandwiches pointing toward the east and wondered if that was on purpose. She remembered Janvier telling her once that Amy was a bit OCD when it came to work. They’d worked together before and had gone to the same high school.

  After Aunt Vanity left them alone, Amy stopped organizing the table.

  Amy then walked over and closed the door of the boardroom. “The meeting will be starting soon, but I wanted to speak with you for a moment.”

  “Sure. What about?”

  “About my sister’s murderer.”

  “Do you have any idea who might have done it?”

  “The cops asked me, but I don’t know. I read that article and the paper you did for your psych degree on the effects of social media on human behavior. You have excellent research skills. Superior. That’s why we, the editors published your findings.”

  “Oh, no. I don’t...I mean I did...well, thank you for selecting the story. That was some years ago.”

  “Yes. Did you get into the field that you wanted?”

  “Well, not exactly.” Febe had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I do use behavioral research skills in advertising but my dream job would be to...well, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Oh, no. It does matter.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You have a knack for investigative work.”

  “Not exactly. Behavioral Science is the study of human habits, actions, and intentions; and yes it covers the areas of psychology, social work, sociology, and organizational behaviour, but it’s not quite the same as police investigative work. I use my skills to study human behaviour when it comes to consumer advertising. Listen, I really think you should speak with the police about this. That much I do know.”

  “You went into such detail. I’m hoping you can help the cops find the real killer. I have a feeling that...” She looked around nervously. “I have a feeling that there’s someone after our family.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.”

  Amy finished setting the boardroom table, then led Febe down the hall and into her sister’s office.

  “I’m surprised it’s not cordoned off with yellow caution tape. Did the cops come here to search her office?”

  “Yes, but they weren’t interested in this.” She looked into a file cabinet and pulled out a sheet of paper. She handed it to Febe.

  Febe took the sheet of paper and glanced at it. “An article on St. Augustine?”

  “Yes.”

  She read further, “’St. Augustine is a city on the northeast coast of Florida. It lays claim to being the oldest city in the U.S., and is known for its Spanish colonial architecture as well as Atlantic Ocean beaches like sandy St. Augustine Beach and tranquil Crescent Beach.’ Nothing unusual there.”

  “Yes, but she circled the article and placed initials there. HH.”

  “HH. And you showed this to the cops?”

  “We have a new detective and sheriff in town. Now, I’m not saying they’re not doing their jobs, but they took the original and said they’d look into it.”

  “And this is a copy?”

  “Yes. The original had the marking in red ink. My sister never circled anything in red unless it was important.”

  “Hmm. H.H. Oh, wait!”

  “What is it?”

  What’s the sergeant’s name again?”

  “Will H. Heart.”

  “Oh, um...nothing.” Febe thought it was strange.

  “Listen, you have to help us.”

  “Why do I have to...?”

  Amy showed Febe a mark on her skin. “I’ve just come of age and found out, like you, that I’m...well, magical. My sister just got her ring a while back and now...”

  “Oh, God!”

  “Yes. That’s right. We can’t let the authorities know everything about us unless it’s pertinent to the case, or they’d lock us all up in jail. Magical folks are still sneered at in this part of the woods.”

  Febe felt the hairs on her neck stand up.

  Chapter 15

  “She’s magical? Amy Gosnik? Well, isn’t that something?” Aunt Trixie said in the living room of the Victorian later that evening.

  It was seven o’clock and Febe had an hour to go before retiring for bed. She had to be up for her eight a.m. workshop with Professor Techer. She was told beforehand to get as much sleep as possible for her first session since it would use a lot of intense energy. Whatever that meant.

  “Yes, she is. And by the way, Aunt Trixie I am so glad you weren’t arrested,” Febe blurted out.

  “You and me both, sweetie,” she said, taking a swig of rum.

  “I knew they wouldn’t hold you too long,” Aunt Vanity said, fixing her coif and glancing into a compact mirror.

  Febe swore Vanity must have been bewitched into always checking herself in a
mirror. It was unbelievable. No doubt, she must have had a good meeting with Bruce at the paper, because she left there acting like she felt on top of the world. But Febe was smart enough to not ask her how her meeting with Bruce went.

  “So what did they say?” Febe asked interested.

  “It’s what I said. I had an alibi.”

  “You mean you stirred one up with witchcraft,” Aunt Vanity added.

  “Did not.”

  “Did too.”

  “How dare you?”

  “How dare you? You know we’re not supposed to use magic for personal gain,” Aunt Vanity said.

  “And what made you think I did such a thing? You’re the one that concocts those ridiculous love potions to try to make men fall for you. I never need such nonsense.”

  “Ladies!” Aunt Eartha intervened.

  Aunt Trixie sucked in a deep breath. “I simply told them I was up late watching TV with my cats and decided to order pizza.”

  “For the cats?”

  “No silly. For me. Okay, I might have given them just a little. Well, they actually took a piece off me.”

  “Aunt Trixie! Garlic is poisonous to cats!”

  “I know that, silly. That’s why I made sure the pizzas were simple. No garlic in the sauce. It’s the meat they like. They usually take off the pepperoni and dig into it. What can I do? I can’t deprive them. Anyway, it’s fun to watch old episodes of Perry Mason while eating pizza. Nothing like it.”

  “So what about your alibi?”

  “The pizza delivery guy, silly. I just remembered that he came by at that time and saw me there. The Blackshore Bay Pizza remembered my late night call and the guy told his boss about all the cats. I gave him a generous tip, too.”

  “Good thing, or he might not have remembered.” Aunt Vanity made a snarky remark.