A Witchy Bake-off

by Danica Britton

  Joe’s hour passed far too quickly. He glanced at his watch. “Sorry, Harper. I wish I could stay longer, but I need to prep interview questions with the chief before Stacie’s lawyer arrives.”

  “I understand. It was a lovely lunch. Thank you.”

  “And I’m completely forgiven now?” His eyes twinkled.

  “I suppose so.”

  I grinned.

  “Maybe we could do it again sometime, or perhaps go out to dinner? I know there is not a wealth of restaurants in the area, but Giuseppe’s over in Cherrytown is supposed to be nice.”

  My grin grew broader. “I’d love that.”

  “Are you free tomorrow night?”

  I considered playing it cool and saying I needed to check my diary. But who was I kidding? “Tomorrow night sounds great.”

  Joe got his takeout coffees to take back to the sheriff’s office and I felt like I was floating on air as I made my way back to Franklin. He’d set up a mini office beside the window.

  “How was the lunch date?” He winked at me, and looked up over the top of his iPad and keyboard.

  “It was lovely,” I said. “Sorry for leaving you in the lurch like that.”

  “Oh, who am I to stand in the way of young love,” Franklin said dramatically, reaching for his beret. “Shall we head back to your grandmother’s house? I’m sure she’d be fascinated to hear the news about Stacie.”

  I nodded, although I knew that my grandmother would already have heard the news. Abbott Cove’s gossip network was second to none.

  Adele said goodbye to Loretta and floated out of the diner behind me and Franklin.

  When I glanced back through the window, I saw Loretta settling in above the seat opposite a young girl, who was leaning over the table and coloring furiously.

  When we got to Grandma Grant’s, I soon realized I was right. Grandma Grant had heard all about Stacie Sutton’s arrest.

  “But why was she at Adele’s house?” Grandma Grant pondered, asking the same question I’d asked myself repeatedly. “Do you think she was looking for something?”

  I nodded slowly. “Perhaps, but I can’t think what it could be. Adele?” I looked at Adele, hovering above Athena, who was using her paw to lightly bat at Adele’s ghostly foot.

  “I have no idea,” Adele said. “I don’t know what she expected to find at my house.”

  It looked like we were stuck. Without any new information, we would just have to wait to see what Chief Wickham and Joe managed to get from Stacie.

  “You could go and speak to Leslie again,” Adele said, floating beside me. “If anyone would know Stacie’s motive, it would be her.”

  “True, but I feel she might still be quite upset at the moment and not up to company, especially not me asking her lots of questions.”

  Adele floated over to the fireplace with a sigh. “I don’t think we’re ever going to get to the bottom of it. I’m going to remain here forever, just like Loretta.”

  “It’s certainly a difficult case,” Franklin said. “I can’t help feeling we’re overlooking something obvious.”

  “Like a motive, for a start,” I said. “I really don’t buy the thing about the explanation that Stacie was competitive.”

  “Maybe she’s a serial killer,” Grandma Grant said bluntly. “If she killed her husband, Adele would be number two, her second victim.”

  Franklin’s cell phone beeped. “Ah, I’m afraid that’s my cue to leave. It’s been lovely to see you all again. We’ll catch up soon I’m sure.”

  We all murmured goodbye as Franklin disappeared in a whirl of color.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” I said after he disappeared.

  Adele came with me back to the cottage, and I was pleased to see Mia seemed content enough. She’d made great friends with Smudge. He was happy to sit on her lap and be petted, stroked, and generally adored.

  I told Mia the news and she looked incredibly sad.

  “I really miss Adele. She was so kind to me.”

  It was quite disconcerting to hear Mia say that with Adele hovering just inches from her shoulder when Mia had no idea she was there.

  Adele gave a large sniff and then blew her nose on a ghostly handkerchief.

  I was thinking about what to prepare for dinner when there was a knock at the door.

  I bustled out.

  It was Olivia.

  “Come in,” I said, glad to see her.

  Her eyes were red, and she’d obviously been crying.

  “I hope you don’t mind me dropping in unannounced,” she said.

  “Not at all, come in and sit down. We have a houseguest. You can have a chat with Mia.”

  Olivia brightened at the sight of Mia and leaned down to draw the girl in for a hug.

  “It’s good to see you again,” she said.

  Mia squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry about your mother.”

  “Thank you,” Olivia said, sitting down beside Mia on the sofa.

  “Can I get anyone anything to drink?” I offered.

  “Not for me, thank you,” Olivia said. “I came by to let you know what happened. It’s been quite an eventful day.”

  I wondered if she was going to talk about Stacie Sutton’s arrest but she didn’t.

  “I’ve decided it’s time for a new beginning. A fresh start. I’ve thrown Damien out and we’re going to get divorced. I had a heart-to-heart with my father this afternoon and refused to sign any documents until I’m in the right frame of mind. He’s promised he understood and begged my forgiveness for trying to trick me into signing a legal document waiving my rights to my inheritance.”

  “Oh, that is big news.” I sat down in the armchair and Smudge jumped onto my lap.

  “Yes, it’s about time I took charge of my life. I think my mother would be proud of my decision.”

  “I am. I’m very proud of you,” Adele said, hovering just centimeters away from Olivia.

  “Tell her I’m proud of her, Harper!” Adele ordered.

  She knew full well I couldn’t do that, not directly anyway.

  “I’m sure your mother would be very proud of you. You’ve shown such strength during a difficult time. For what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right decision, and I hope things work out really well for you.”

  Olivia smiled. “It’s funny. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to wake you up to what’s wrong in your life.”

  She turned to Mia. “So? How have you been doing?”

  “Oh, not great, I suppose. Mum’s boyfriend moved back in so I left home again. Harper and Jess are letting me stay here.”

  “That’s really kind of them, but I don’t suppose they have much room. Where are you sleeping?”

  Mia pointed to the couch cushions. “Here.”

  “Look, I don’t want to be pushy, but you’re more than welcome to stay at my house in Cherrytown. Damien’s moved out so it’s just me living in a four-bedroom house, so there’s plenty of room. Of course, if you prefer to stay here with Harper and Jess, I completely understand.”

  Mia smiled broadly and then turned to me. Her smile dropped. “Would you mind?”

  “Of course not,” I said. “It makes perfect sense to me. Olivia’s got far more room, and I think it would be good for both of you. You’re both going to be missing Adele so you’ll be good company for each other.”

  Adele pushed her hand to her chest and let out a sob. “Oh my poor little girls,” she said. “It’s so sad, Harper.”

  But I didn’t think it was really sad. I thought Olivia would be getting a lot out of this. Her life would have a purpose that could help her through her grief, and she could feel that she’d be doing something to honor her mother: carrying on her mother’s tradition of helping someone in need. And Mia would have a strong moral role model in her life, someone to be there for her when times were tough.

  I glanced at Adele to see if she was disintegrating yet. I figured she’d be moving on pretty soon. Maybe this was why she was
sticking around. She didn’t want Mia to be left with all her problems and no chance of a happy life.

  But Adele remained intact as she looked down happily at Olivia and Mia as they hugged.

  Mia packed up her things, said a tearful goodbye to Smudge, and left with Olivia.

  Adele floated backwards and forwards, muttering about how proud she was of Olivia and how grateful she was that Mia was getting a chance of a stable home life.

  “Stacie was arrested hours ago,” Adele said. “I don’t understand why I haven’t moved on. Do you think I’m going to be another Loretta?”

  I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know, Adele. I’m sorry.”

  I wished I could be more help. Perhaps she hadn’t moved on because we didn’t understand the real motive yet. Then another, more sinister, thought occurred to me. Perhaps she hadn’t moved on yet because the real killer hadn’t been caught.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As I pulled out the photocopied newspaper articles from my purse and set them down along the kitchen breakfast bar, Adele floated behind me.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m going to read every single one of these articles to see if there’s something we’ve missed. Maybe there’s a clue here to why Stacie targeted you.”

  Adele raised an eyebrow, and then peered at the articles.

  I’d glanced at them with Jess in the library, and read the most important ones, from the biggest papers.

  But there was a chance there was some detail published in the smaller tabloids that I’d missed.

  Smudge curled up on the spot beside the window, enjoying the sunlight streaming in.

  “That looks like an enjoyable life,” Adele said. “I’d quite like to be a cat. No worries, just warm lazy days.”

  I murmured noncommittally as I began to read through the articles. I’d been skimming for about five minutes when, suddenly, I came across something interesting.

  I tapped a finger on the article.

  “Listen to this, Leslie was disinherited by her parents. Apparently, it was quite a scandal. Five years ago, she had gone to rehab, and so was written out of her parents’ will. Apparently, her folks were worth a fortune!”

  “So who got the money?” Adele said, not sounding very interested.

  “Apparently it all went to Stacie.”

  Adele gave a huff under her breath. “So Stacie inherited the lot. Lucky her. That doesn’t give us motive for her killing me though.”

  I pulled a face. “No, it doesn’t, does it? But it is interesting though…”

  “Why?” Adele said.

  “Well, I imagine there’d be some bad feeling between Leslie and her sister.”

  “Great, so we found a motive for Leslie killing Stacie, but that still doesn’t explain why Stacie would kill me!”

  I was quiet for a minute as I thought things through.

  Adele twittered on. “It’s so unfair. I’m going to be like this forever. Floating around like a ghost no one wants and nobody to see me or talk to me.”

  When I didn’t reply, Adele said sharply, “Harper! Are you listening?”

  I looked up quickly. “Yes, sorry. Look, maybe Joe is having some luck with his questioning. He could get a confession from Stacie, and that might be enough for you to move on.”

  Adele didn’t look impressed.

  I shuffled the articles around on the breakfast bar, thinking.

  “We might be able to get some more information from the library in Cherrytown. It’s bigger than the one in Abbot Cove. Do you want to try?” I asked.

  Adele sighed. “I suppose so. I don’t have much else to do. It’s not like I have a lot of options.”

  It was a sunny afternoon and a pleasant journey to Cherrytown. I’d borrowed Grandma Grant’s truck, and apart from some worries about the transmission, the journey went quite smoothly until we were halfway to Cherrytown.

  I’d been thinking about Joe, telling myself that things went well at lunchtime, all things considered. I’d had a lot on my mind, as well as a floating ghost distracting me, but I thought we’d gotten on pretty well.

  Adele was now perfectly adapted to traveling in a car. She no longer sank through the seat when I accelerated. I was impressed at how quickly she picked it up.

  She still seemed a little down in the dumps, so I thought I’d give her some encouraging words.

  “You’ve taken to being a ghost like a duck to water,” I said, giving her a brief glance and smiling at her. “It’s amazing how quickly you’ve picked things up.”

  “It’s a good job too,” she said morosely. “Since I’m probably going to be here forever, like Loretta.”

  I grimaced. She really was in quite a bad mood. Understandable, I supposed.

  Maybe it would cheer her up once we found something concrete on Stacie. Once we had a reason or a motive, that should be enough to free Adele from her ghostlike state.

  It was very strange how Leslie was the one with the motive. The trouble was, it was a motive for a murder that hadn’t happened. Leslie hadn’t so much as harmed the hair on Stacie’s head, despite the fact she could inherit millions if her sister was out of the way.

  But wait a minute…

  Without realizing it, I lifted my foot from the gas. It wasn’t until I heard the toot of the horn behind me that I realized I’d slowed down quite dramatically.

  I raised my hand in apology to the man who was traveling in a bright blue Jeep less than an inch from my bumper.

  He accelerated past me, making a few rude gestures.

  “Well, he didn’t need to be rude about it,” I said.

  Adele gripped the passenger seat with ghostlike fingers. “What were you thinking, Harper? If I wasn’t already a ghost, I’d be in fear of my life with you driving like that!”

  I smiled.

  “It’s not funny, Harper.”

  “I know. I’m sorry for scaring you with my erratic driving.” Maybe I had more in common with Grandma Grant than I thought. “But the thing is, Adele, I think I know who killed you. Now I’ve just got to figure out why.”

  I made a second phone call and hung up as we stood in the parking lot close to the library. Adele was impatiently circling me.

  First, I’d called Chief Wickham. I’d learned my lesson and wasn’t about to tackle a murderer alone, but his assistant said he was questioning a suspect and was not to be disturbed. So I left a message.

  Then, to be doubly sure I was safe, I left a message for Jess too, letting her know where I was and who I was meeting. After my previous experiences confronting murderers, I’d learned my lesson. I was determined to be careful.

  This time, I planned to meet my killer in a public place.

  “But I still don’t understand why,” Adele whined.

  “To be honest, I’m having trouble with that part too, but I’m hoping to get a confession.”

  “How?” Adele asked, as I locked up Grandma Grant’s truck and began to walk towards the library.

  “I’m not sure yet. I thought I’d wing it.”

  “That fills me with confidence,” Adele said sarcastically.

  I looked at my watch. I still had half an hour before our suspect was due to arrive in Cherrytown to meet me. I didn’t want to wait around panicking about the outcome, so I decided to use my time productively and do some research.

  On the second floor of the Cherrytown library, was the reference section. I headed straight for the reference desk, with Adele hovering behind me.

  “I thought you already knew who did it,” Adele said. “Why do we have to do more research?”

  “I do know who did it,” I muttered, covering my mouth. “But I want to look up something else.” The librarian at the reference desk was an owlish woman. She blinked at me and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Can I help?”

  “Yes, please. I’m looking for information on Abbott Cove in 1824. I wondered if you had some records dating back that far.”

  The librarian
nodded. “We do have various records. We have a copy of the census, land registry, and also, the Abbott Cove Times goes back to 1801. We have all the old copies on microfiche.”

  After the librarian showed me to the machines, and also showed me how to operate them, we only had about fifteen minutes before my prime suspect was due to meet me in Cherrytown.

  When the librarian had turned away and was out of earshot, I muttered to Adele, “Can you keep watch? Tell me if our suspect arrives early.”

  Adele floated over to the large paneled window and looked down on the parking lot.

  Using the census records, I quickly found that the diner, which was now 17 Main Street, was a boardinghouse in 1824.

  I caught my breath when I saw a list of names.

  There were quite a few I didn’t recognize, but one stood out: Loretta Mills.

  I quickly made some notes about the census, and then headed over to take a look at the Abbott Cove Times from 1824.

  I soon realized it would take me forever to go to every article in the newspaper for that year. I definitely didn’t have time to do it today.

  With a sigh, I stood up and began to pack my things, and then thought I’d just check if there was some kind of index available for the Abbott Cove Times.

  My luck was in.

  “Yes,” the librarian said when I asked her. “There is an index, but it’s only in beta. I can type in the words you’re looking for and we could try to narrow down the date of the paper.”

  I asked her to check the name Loretta Mills and the address 17 Main Street.

  I held my breath. If she could identify articles containing Loretta’s name, that would really make my life easier and save me having to go through years’ worth of papers.

  Of course, it was entirely possible that whatever happened in 1824 may have been very important to Loretta, but may not have been deemed newsworthy enough to be included in the Abbott Cove Times. If that was the case, I’d have to go back to the drawing board.

  But it seemed to be my lucky day.

  “There is an article,” the librarian said, “mentioning both of your search terms. It’s from 24 April 1824. If you took the paper from that day, you should find Loretta Mills and a 17 Main Street in the paper. I’m not sure whether they’ll both be in the same article…” She trailed off.