by A. M. King
“Amanda. I’m happy here now,” Febe said. And even if she wasn’t happy there, she had her pride. “What happened?” She tried to be empathetic. But this situation was just plain...pathetic.
“He found someone more powerful than me. My aunt who heads the entire division.”
“Oh no.” Febe’s stomach tightened. Jonathan clearly had no scruples.
“Well, you were right. Please come back and work for us. I’m very sorry.”
“I don’t know what to say, Amanda. Like I said before, I’m happy here.”
Just then Janvier called out from the back.
“I’m sorry, Amanda, but it’s getting busy here. I have to get going to take some orders.”
Amanda looked disappointed. “Okay. I tried.”
She tried? Just what was Miss Young and Hot Amanda Harlington up to?
Chapter 25
Later that evening, Febe spoke to Janvier about her conversation with Amanda. They weren’t able to talk at the café since it was crazy busy with the tourists and a convention in town. They were both sitting on the couch, glancing over some more information that would help out with the case.
“I can’t believe you saw that woman after what she did to you. I thought I got rid of that weak, apologetic sister. Where’s the lioness witch in you?”
“I know, I know. She just wanted to apologize in person.”
“Yeah, whatever. We don’t have time for that. We need to find out who killed Gosnik. Did you check all the links on the top stories for a lead on the murder investigation?”
“Yup. Except this one. Tycoon going crazy. Some senile guy. Rambling...”
Janvier looked it over.
“So you have nothing then.”
“Wait.” Febe read a passage. “According to the information I gathered at the newspaper, Darla visited a man in Florida who owns an international ad agency. She said he was going senile.”
“So?”
Then Febe remembered her lesson from Madam Techer, “Nothing is a coincidence, darling Sis,” she said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Febe narrowed her eyes and glanced at the screen. “Amanda wasn’t here by chance, was she? So what if Jonathan cheated on her?”
“What was Amanda really doing in Blackshore Bay and why?” Janvier added.
Chapter 26
Febe read over the article on the screen.
“In St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S., there are reports of a fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon discovered in 1513 soon after he arrived in what we now call Florida.”
“Really?” Janvier said. “You know I always thought that was a myth.”
“Me too, until now,” Febe said, as she continued to read the article. “The city of St. Augustine, Florida is home to the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park, a tribute to the spot where Ponce de León landed.”
“Legend holds that a discovery was made while searching for the Fountain of Youth, a magical water source supposedly capable of reversing the aging process and curing sickness,” Janvier read over Febe’s shoulders. Her eyes widened in shock.
“Unbelievable,” Febe said as she continued to read out loud. “The Fountain of Youth restores youth to anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters.”
“Can you believe this?”
“I don’t know what to believe Sis,” Febe said. She read more from the screen.
“So what do you make of this? Is there a connection?” Janvier asked.
“I think I have the answer.”
“You do?”
“I know who killed Darla Gosnik and I think I know why?”
Chapter 27
Moments later, Febe called Amanda on her cell phone, hoping she’d still be in Blackshore Bay.
“Febe, I’m surprised to hear from you again.”
“I know what I said earlier but...Let’s meet. I think I may consider going back to my old job.” Febe crossed her fingers and whispered an apology to the universe for telling this little untruth which wasn’t really an untruth. She didn’t say she would go back to her old job, just that she’d consider it—sort of.
“Where do you want us to meet?”
“How about the dock near Main.”
“Oh, great. My grandfather owns a yacht there. We have property in the area, you know. Cottage country.”
Of course you do. “Sounds great,” Febe said.
* * *
Later that evening, Febe and Amanda met at the Blackshore Bay dock where the boats were situated. It was a lovely piece of property right on the lake.
“My grandfather used to bring me here when I was little,” Amanda said as the waves rocked the boat tied to the dock.
“You mean, you use to bring him here when he was little,” Febe said, arching her brow. Her heart knocked against her chest at rapid speed.
“Excuse me?”
“Amanda, it took me a while to put two and two together. I spoke with Jonathan.”
“That snake. What did he tell you?”
“That you pursued him. Because you wanted to suck the energy out of him to thrive in the business. That’s what you do.”
“Are you insane?”
“Not all the time.”
“What?”
“Darla dug up some dirt on your grandfather. He was running into some trouble financially but when she went snooping around his estate, what she found was more valuable. It was the necklace symbol that you have. It’s from St. Augustine Florida. I thought about what kind of possible connection there could be. What would be so damning that would make Darla see dollar signs? The Fountain of Youth.”
“The what?”
“You know. Don’t play dumb. The Fountain of Youth was located in Florida back in the 1500s. It was where the explorer came seeking it and founded the first city in the US. You drank from that fountain, but there was a catch. You had to suck the life out of every viable creature and you thought Jonathan was vibrant until you realized that it was my ideas that he stole. You would have loved to suck the creative energy out of me.”
“Well, aren’t you a clever girl. How on earth did you figure it out?”
“It wasn’t easy, but as you know, or should have realized from my resume, I have impeccable research skills,” Febe said. And a witch’s badass intuition. “Tedious details are my OCD thing. I never stopped looking until I found what I was looking for and pieced the puzzle together. Your grandfather is really your son!”
“What?” Amanda’s eyes widened in shock.
“I remember overhearing your phone conversations with him at the office. I was appalled at the way you spoke to him and treated him like a child and always called him by his first name. I thought it was strange at first, but now it all makes sense. He’s not your grandpa, he’s your child. How awful for you to see him grow old while you stay the same as you have all these centuries. No wonder I dreamt about a woman wearing a vintage dress. It was you. You drank from the water in the 1500s and never aged. Got married and had a child in 1940, then you taught him everything you knew about the business. Just so that it wouldn’t look suspicious, you pretended to be his granddaughter, but in fact he never married or had any children. You just came out of nowhere, hoping your past wouldn’t creep up to you, but Darla with her tabloid investigative journalism skills figured it out and was about to publish a massive exposé if you didn’t pay up .”
“That witchy woman. I’m glad I killed her. But you’ll never be able to prove it.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
“I figured out that you were a witch,” Amanda continued, “I always felt a strange energy force around you. No wonder I couldn’t get too close to you. But I still have more than what you could possibly have. I have immortality.”
“Dying ain’t so bad, Amanda. Living in hell is worse.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you had to serve a life sentence in prison for the crimes you committed including murdering Darla Gosnik, I bet your im
mortality wouldn’t seem so hot.”
She shrieked. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Freeze!” Detective Trey called out.
Seconds later, more cops appeared at the scene.
Everything happened so fast.
“I am not going to prison for eternity!” she shrieked as they took her away. “I’m not going to prison!” Her eyes opened wide and she reached for her neck and ripped off the diamond choker that she wore around it.
She started to wrinkle like Febe had never seen before. Right before their eyes, she became old and grey. It was dark and Febe could tell Trey was just as alarmed as she was.
Amanda then backed away onto the edge of the dock and hurled herself into the water.
She was gone.
Chapter 28
“So the boss from hell was really a boss from hell, wasn’t she?” Aunt Trixie said later that evening as the women gathered in the grand living room by the fireplace. “Imagine that.”
“It looks that way,” Febe agreed, “She knew her own son, whom she called her grandfather, wouldn’t spill her secret, but she never counted on him talking to a tabloid journalist from the small town with a big scandal-mongering website. Of course this scandal could have sent shockwaves around the world if it ever got out.”
“So there really is a fountain of youth, is there?” Aunt Vanity said, fixing her hair and glancing into a mirror. What else was new? “I wish I’d known that, I’d hate to lose my beauty when I reach a hundred.”
“You’d lose a whole lot more than that, Sis,” Aunt Trixie teased.
“But why on earth would anyone want to live forever? Surely they’d get tired after they reached 200,” Febe said.
Janvier grinned. “I’m sure they’d be more worn out before they got to 200. Still, people chase the wrong things and do desperate things.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Speaking of chasing,” Aunt Vanity said to Febe. “You going to be chasing that hot detective anytime soon?”
“I don’t think so,” Febe said softly, feeling butterflies in her tummy.
Goodness, was she having a sweet chemistry with this guy? “But he asked me to lunch so...”
“Lunch?” Aunt Vanity’s voice was filled with excitement. “Oh, that’s wonderful. Maybe you two can date? And get married and...”
“Vanity, you know witches and normals are not supposed to mix,” Aunt Eartha said.
Febe frowned.
Why on earth not? Okay, she knew why. But she really had a hard time getting used to that. The one guy that made her heart go pitter-patter, something that she never felt with her ex-fiancé, and she just realized that even after meeting her potential soul mate, they can’t, well, mate? How unfair was that?
“I am going to have lunch with him this week, but, I don’t think it could go any further,” Febe said, regretfully, hoping there was some way they could date.
“And why not? Want me to whip up some love potion?” Aunt Vanity winked.
“You will do no such thing.” Aunt Eartha interjected.
“Aunt Eartha, you took the words right out of my mouth,” Febe said. “I already told you, I’m on break now. We’re just going as friends. And even if we weren’t, I don’t believe in using love potions. True love is already magical.”
“Hear, hear, niece,” Aunt Eartha agreed. “True love is magical. You don’t need a potion for that.”
So was that what Febe was feeling for Trey? A deep love connection?
“Keep telling yourself that niece. I saw the way you looked into his beautiful eyes—and the way he kept looking at you. Why do you think he kept following you around? You think he suspected you? No. He was trying to protect you. He was into you in more ways than one and you were too blind to see it.”
“You think that’s what he was doing?”
“Of course. I heard him talking to one of his mates down at the café and at the gym. I didn’t want to say anything earlier because you were focusing on helping him in the murder investigation. But I heard a lot of nice things he’s said about you. I get around, you know.”
“I bet you do,” Aunt Trixie added.
Aunt Vanity rolled her eyes at her sister. She then turned her attention back to Febe. “Anyway, he is gorgeous, isn’t he? He works out at the gym a lot too.”
Febe tried hard not to blush. Yes, she noticed that too. He had quite a physique. He was so sweet to her earlier, making sure that she was all right.
Of course, she’d called Trey first before meeting Amanda, with the plan to try to get Amanda to confess to the crime so they could make their arrest. He had been reluctant at first worrying about her safety, but got the go-ahead from his department.
The night didn’t quite work out the way they’d planned though. With Amanda morphing into an old woman.
Still, he had to fill out a report for his boss, his uncle Sergeant Will Heart. That wasn’t easy, but they went with the truth. Well, the part of the truth that was believable. The part where they went to make the arrest but Amanda plunged into the lake. When the coroners found her body, it was so badly wrinkled, they figured it had to be the water pressure or something. They just didn’t know what to think.
At least that was taken care of.
Just then a knock sounded at the door.
Febe made her way over to the door to answer it, but a gust of wind met her instead.
“Who is it?” Aunt Eartha called out from the living room.
There was an envelope made of parchment paper on the front porch stuck onto the rocking chair.
She picked up the envelope and opened it.
Better practice your magic spells.
You’re going to need them soon.
One by one,
the Summer sisters will soon be gone.
Who sent this letter? Most importantly, how on earth did they know the Summer sisters were witches?
Somebody was watching them closely.
* * *
The story continues in “Life’s a Witch” book 2 of the Summer Sisters Witch Cozy Mystery series.
Don’t miss the next installment. Sign up for notification at [email protected]
* * *
Thank you for reading this installment in The Summer Sisters Witch Cozy Mystery series.
Coming soon...
More magical stories set in the cozy small coastal town of Blackshore Bay in The Summer Sisters Witch Cozy Mystery series.
The Summer Sisters Witch Cozy Mystery series:
Witch Happens (Book 1)
Life’s a Witch (Book 2)
Witch You Were Here (Book 3)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
A.M. King enjoys reading and writing cozy mysteries. Join her email list for updates on more cozy mysteries that will make your toes curl and your heart smile. You can send her an email at [email protected] with the subject line: Email Sign-Up.
She loves to hear from readers.