A Witchy Bake-off

by Danica Britton

I left the kitchen and caught Archie’s expectant gaze. “She’s not in the kitchen. Has anyone checked the restroom?”

  “Now that I think about it, I did see her going into the restroom just a few minutes ago,” Mrs. Townsend said.

  “Then why didn’t you say so before?” Archie asked with barely disguised impatience.

  “I only just remembered,” she replied indignantly.

  “I’ll check,” I said, making my way to the restrooms, which had been added on to the church hall via an extension just a couple of years ago.

  I wanted to find Adele quickly. With any luck, Archie would announce the winner was someone other than Adele Silver or Grandma Grant. It would be the only way to avoid all-out war between the two women.

  I liked to think I knew Archie well, but I hadn’t been able to read him and guess which cake he liked best.

  The rain had brought a cold snap along with it, and I shivered as I put my hand on the restroom door. It felt almost as though the air was even colder here. My skin prickled, and my stomach churned with nerves. I had an ominous premonition I was about to find something unpleasant.

  Don’t be daft, Harper, I ordered myself. You’re just feeling the cold. A nice warm bath when I got home would make me feel much better. I intended to spend the evening curled up with a good book.

  The restroom door swung open easily, but as soon as I stepped inside, I realized my premonition had been right.

  Directly in front of me, slumped against the wall beneath a small window, was Adele Silver. A large kitchen knife had been plunged into the center of her chest.

  Trembling, I knelt beside her and checked her vital signs, but she was gone. I pushed myself to my feet and stared down at her dead body.

  Oh boy. Not again.

  Chapter Seven

  I didn’t want to cause mass panic, so when I left the restroom, I tried to discreetly catch the attention of Chief Wickham. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.

  Mrs. Townsend peered at me like an old crow. “Well, did you find her? You’re looking very pale.”

  “Sort of,” I muttered, and signaled to Chief Wickham.

  As Chief Wickham and Joe both strode towards us, Mrs. Townsend persisted. “Sort of? What does that mean? Either you found her or you didn’t.”

  “What’s wrong, Harper?” Chief Wickham put a hand on my shoulder. “You look a little shaky. Are you feeling all right?”

  “Not really.” I leaned closer to Chief Wickham and Joe and used my hand to hide my mouth as I said, “I found Adele. She’s dead.”

  All my efforts to be low-key went out the window as Mrs. Townsend screeched, “Dead! Adele Silver is dead!”

  I shot her a be quiet or else look, but sadly, it didn’t seem to work.

  She wouldn’t shut up.

  Across the hall, I could see Olivia’s face, pale and drawn, as she raised her hands to her mouth. Damien’s pout disappeared and transformed into a slack-jawed expression.

  Even Grandma Grant looked stunned.

  Jess hurried over to me. “Oh, you found her? That can’t have been very nice.” She put her arm around my shoulders. “Why don’t you come and sit down?”

  I nodded and followed Jess over to a chair, feeling a little dazed.

  Chief Wickham and Joe entered the restroom with some trepidation, and Mrs. Townsend relished being the center of attention. “I knew something was wrong when I saw her going into the restroom,” she declared. “She didn’t look quite right.”

  Jess rolled her eyes and squeezed my hand. “Are you okay? I suppose she must have had a heart attack or something. How awful. She was a prickly character, but all the same, it’s very sad. She wasn’t that old.”

  I looked at Jess and shook my head slowly. “She didn’t die of natural causes.”

  Jess gasped and pulled over a chair to sit down beside me. “You mean she was murdered?”

  I nodded. “Yes, she had a knife sticking out of her chest. It was horrible.”

  Jess began to look anxiously around the church hall. I knew what she was looking for, which was silly, really, because she’d never been able to see ghosts.

  “Is Adele’s ghost here?” Jess asked quietly.

  “I haven’t seen her ghost yet,” I replied in a whisper.

  Seeing ghosts was my witchy ability. It came in useful. Over the last few years, I’d helped a number of ghosts pass on by helping to solve their murders. But, to be honest, I was dreading meeting Adele’s ghost. She wasn’t the type to take her death well. Not that anyone really took being murdered well, but she had been difficult when she was alive, so I couldn’t see her being much different as a ghost.

  We all looked up as Chief Wickham and Deputy McGrady exited the restroom. Joe remained standing by the restroom door as Chief Wickham made his way to the center of the hall.

  The chief’s face was pale as he announced, “Listen up, people. I’m sorry to tell you that Adele Silver has died, and we are treating her death as a murder. No one can leave the church hall until you’ve been questioned by either myself or Joe. No one is to enter the restrooms, either. Is that understood?”

  “But I have a weak bladder,” Mr. Townsend grumbled.

  Everybody ignored him.

  “The first person I want to speak to is Priscilla Grant,” the chief said sternly, looking at Grandma Grant.

  “Why me?” she asked. “I don’t know anything about it.”

  “You were overheard on multiple occasions having huge rows with Adele. You didn’t like her very much, did you?”

  Grandma Grant put her hands on her hips. “No, I didn’t. She was a pain in the—”

  “Grandma Grant!” Jess exclaimed, rushing over to her.

  I followed. Everyone knew Grandma Grant and Adele didn’t get on well, but surely Chief Wickham couldn’t think my grandmother was a murderer? That was just ridiculous.

  “Of course she’ll answer your questions,” I said. “Won’t you?” I gave my grandmother my best severe look, but it didn’t work very well.

  “I’m not saying anything until I speak to a lawyer,” she insisted.

  Jess groaned. “Please, you haven’t got anything to hide. Just answer his questions.”

  She shook her head stubbornly and pursed her lips together, making a zipping motion over them.

  “It’s up to you,” Chief Wickham said, frowning. He put his thumbs in his belt loops and looked down at Grandma Grant. He towered over her. “We can do this the easy way and you can answer some questions here, or we can arrest you and question you at the sheriff’s department. Maybe a few hours in the lockup will loosen your tongue.”

  “Chief Wickham! That’s no way to talk to an elderly lady,” I said.

  “Who are you calling elderly?” Grandma Grant snapped, glaring at me.

  “She got the elderly part right, but I’m not sure I’d call Priscilla Grant a lady,” Mr. Townsend whispered cattily to his wife.

  Betty from the Lobster Shack looked dismayed. “You can’t really think Priscilla killed Adele. It had to be a stranger. You should be putting up roadblocks to catch the killer. They’re probably escaping as we speak.”

  Sarah, the cook from the diner, stepped in to stand beside Grandma Grant in a show of solidarity. “I agree with Betty. There’s no way Priscilla could be guilty.”

  I gave Archie a nudge.

  “Oh, yes, that’s what I think too,” he added hurriedly.

  “I don’t care what any of you think. She is a suspect and needs to be questioned.” The chief pulled out his cell phone. “I’m calling for backup.”

  He put in a call for a crime scene unit to come down from the city, and then called the local doctor. When he was done, he glared at Grandma Grant. “You can sit in the squad car until I am ready to deal with you.”

  He marched Grandma Grant out of the church hall towards the vehicle as everyone watched with shocked expressions.

  “This can’t be happening,” Jess muttered beside me.

  I hurried over t
o Joe. “Please, you have to make Chief Wickham see reason. She wouldn’t have hurt Adele. She’s a perfectly law-abiding citizen.”

  Joe lifted an eyebrow. “I wish I could help, Harper. But you have to admit your grandmother isn’t exactly the most law-abiding citizen in Abbott Cove.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I seem to remember her climbing on the Mayor’s car and holding protests against him. Didn’t she, in fact, lay down in front of his vehicle so he couldn’t go to any meetings one day last year?”

  I waved his point away. “Yes, but he was corrupt. She made a valid point.”

  “She’s also carried out a number of scams since I moved to Abbott Cove. Just last Christmas, she scammed residents into buying defective Christmas trees.”

  “Yes, but it wasn’t really her fault and it’s hardly on the same level as murder.”

  “If she’s innocent, she has nothing to worry about. She just has to answer a few questions and then the chief will let her go.”

  “If she is innocent?” I glared at Joe. “Of course she’s innocent. Focusing on her is a waste of time; you should be looking for the real killer.”

  Joe’s jaw clenched. “I can assure you we will be looking for the real killer, Harper. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and start the questioning.”

  Unbelievable! I stood there fuming for a moment, and then caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. It wasn’t so much the fact that something had moved that captured my attention, but the fact there was a human-sized figure hovering near the ceiling, looking down on us all.

  Adele.

  I tried to wave in her direction discreetly, but I was spotted by Mrs. Townsend and ended up pretending to pat my hair.

  Somehow, I needed to get Adele somewhere I could talk to her. If she remembered anything about her death, it might provide clues we could use to identify the real killer, which meant I’d be able to get Grandma Grant off the hook.

  I followed Adele’s hovering form around the hall. I must have looked quite odd, walking in a figure eight repetitively. It seemed I’d never get her alone. I was beginning to lose hope, when suddenly, Adele looked directly at me.

  I pointed to the kitchen and set off at a fast clip, looking once over my shoulder to check she was following me.

  Inside the kitchen, I shut the door behind us. It wouldn’t keep Adele in the kitchen—she could float right through the wood—but I didn’t want anyone overhearing my attempts to communicate with a ghost.

  The tap was dripping, a constant companion to the rain hammering on the windows. I took a deep breath.

  “Adele!”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “You can see me? I thought I was a ghost. I’ve been stabbed. I saw my body lying in the restroom. Of all the places to die…” She shook her head. “A restroom really wouldn’t have been top of my list.”

  That was a strange response. I put it down to shock.

  “Adele, listen to me. I can see you and hear you, but nobody else can.”

  “How is that possible?” She peered at me curiously.

  I didn’t really have time to get into the nitty-gritty details. But for now, I supposed I owed her a quick explanation. “I’m a witch. Well, we all are: me, Jess and Grandma Grant. My special ability is being able to see ghosts.”

  “I should have guessed Priscilla was a witch.”

  “Anyway, until we find out who killed you and your spirit is able to rest, I think you’re going to be trapped here in Abbott Cove. So, anything you can tell me about who killed you would be very useful.”

  Adele nodded slowly and then turned to me with a sly smile. “I just heard Chief Wickham is going to cart your grandmother off to the sheriff’s department.” Adele chuckled. “That’ll teach her a lesson.”

  “But she didn’t kill you!”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I know my grandmother. She is not a murderer.”

  Adele shrugged. “Maybe she was overcome with jealousy after realizing I was going to win the competition.”

  “Who would kill someone over a cake?” I asked incredulously. “I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous.”

  Adele’s pale features took on a pinched look. “Maybe I don’t want your help. Maybe I quite like being a ghost. I could get used to hovering everywhere. It’s fun. A bit like flying.” She swooped in front of me, making a tight circle around the tiny kitchen.

  “Fine. Well, when you’re ready to talk, you can come and find me. I’m the only one who can see and hear you.”

  Adele didn’t reply but continued to whizz around the kitchen. She was making me feel dizzy.

  “Will you please quit doing that? It’s really distracting.”

  “Doing what?” a deep voice behind me asked.

  I turned sharply and saw Joe standing in the doorway watching me quizzically.

  Great. Just great.

  I hadn’t heard the door open. How long had he been standing there?

  My cheeks grew hot. This day couldn’t get any worse. Adele Silver was dead, Grandma Grant was the prime suspect, and Joe had just overheard me communicating with Adele’s ghost and would now think I was crazy.

  Chapter Eight

  Well, this was awkward.

  Adele found the situation hysterically funny, zooming around the small kitchen cackling to herself. I tried not to watch her, but it was hard. I gazed at the floor as though my shoes were the most interesting things in the world.

  “I was just talking to myself,” I muttered.

  I couldn’t see Joe’s face because I was still looking at the floor, but I sensed his confused frown.

  “But…”

  “I’d better get back and see if Grandma Grant needs me. In fact, I think I can hear her calling my name.” I cupped a hand to my ear.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Joe said.

  “That’s because nobody called her name, she is just using it as an excuse!” Adele cried out. “You were right, Harper. No one else can see me. So if you respond to me in the presence of anyone else, they’ll think you’re crazy.”

  I knew the best thing to do was to keep my head down and walk out of the kitchen but I couldn’t resist glancing at Adele. She had a malicious gleam in her ghostly eyes. That had sounded like a veiled threat to me. Most of the town already thought the Grant family were a little strange, but for the most part I’ve managed to keep the fact I could see ghosts under wraps.

  It took all my willpower not to respond and I stalked out of the kitchen with Joe calling after me.

  It would be nice to tell people, to make people understand, so I didn’t have to hide my ability like it was some kind of guilty secret.

  I couldn’t imagine ever telling Joe. He was far too sensible and down-to-earth to ever believe in any such thing as ghosts. I suppose I was very lucky to have Jess and Grandma Grant.

  As I walked into the village hall, I stopped beside Mrs. Townsend to ask her if she’d seen Jess or Grandma Grant, and she told me Grandma Grant was sitting outside in the sheriff’s car.

  “It’s a terrible business, Harper. I know your grandmother has a temper but I never thought she’d be the type to commit murder.”

  “She hasn’t! It wasn’t her.”

  Mrs. Townsend patted me on the shoulder. “Of course not, dear. Whatever you say.”

  Shaking my head, I walked through the hall, glaring at Chief Wickham who was currently questioning Mrs. Foster.

  Outside, it was still raining, but not quite as heavily as before. I buttoned up my raincoat and wondered where I had put my umbrella. Pulling up my collar, I ran over to the sheriff’s car and saw Jess standing beside it, her arms wrapped around her midsection and her hair damp and frizzy.

  Sitting in the back was Grandma Grant. She looked so small and vulnerable sitting there.

  Jess looked up as I reached her side.

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” she said, pushing back wet strands of hair from her face. “W
hat are we going to do?”

  I shook my head “I’m sure it will be fine. The chief is just angry. Once he questions Grandma Grant, he’ll realize she’s completely innocent and let her go.” Even as I said the words, I felt my confidence drain away. “What if he didn’t let her go? What if he didn’t have any better suspects?”

  “Did you manage to speak to Adele?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but she wasn’t much help. She seems to be on some kind of ghostly high. Zooming everywhere, and I’m pretty sure she’s imagining having some fun with the fact I’m the only one who can see her.”

  “Fun? What do you mean?” Jess asked.

  “She seemed to think it was very funny when Joe overheard me talking to her, and as he couldn’t see her, he thought I was acting very strangely.”

  “So you think she’s deliberately going to try and catch you out so other people overhear?” Jess frowned. “That woman is something else.”

  “Maybe not,” I said, trying to be charitable. “She didn’t say as much; she just looked very amused when I had to try and explain myself to Joe.”

  I looked to Grandma Grant through the raindrops on the car window.

  “We need a plan of action.”

  I rapped on the window and Grandma Grant looked up. She still looked angry, but I detected some worry in her face too.

  “Don’t worry about anything,” I said loudly. “We’re going to get you out of there.”

  Grandma Grant frowned, and then she nodded and said, “A cup of tea would be lovely but I don’t think Chief Wickham likes chickens.”

  “What did she just say?” I asked, looking at Jess.

  Jess appeared to be just as confused as me. “Something about chickens?”

  I frowned at the car window. “Maybe it’s made of some kind of sound distorting material…” I suggested. I hadn’t watched many recent cop shows. Was that a thing? Did sheriffs’ cars have special glass?

  “Can you open the window?” Jess shouted, miming pressing the button on the car door.

  Grandma Grant tried but it didn’t work. I suppose it was only to be expected. Otherwise, they’d have all sorts of criminals making their escape through the back window.