Wicked Witches of Coventry- The Collection

by Sara Bourgeois

  He opened his mouth to say something, but then just made a humph sound and walked off again. A couple of times, I thought he was going to stop and come back, but he didn’t. It was probably better that way as I doubted I’d endeared him to my cause.

  The worst part was that even though he’d all but accused me of being crazy, I found myself even more attracted to him. It was an inconvenient and unwelcome revelation, but I pushed it out of my mind when I saw Cassidy across the square pawing through the grass on the library lawn. I walked quickly over to where she was crying and searching.

  “What’s wrong, Cassidy?” I asked as I dropped to my knees next to her. “What happened?”

  “I dropped Hattie’s grocery money.” She sniffled. “She won’t use her debit card or write a check. I have to go to the bank once a week to get money for groceries. I lost it. She’s going to be so angry.” Cassidy moaned the last part.

  “Well, let’s keep looking. I know we can find it. Are you sure this is where you dropped it?”

  “I’ve looked everywhere else between the bank and here. If it’s not here, then I dropped it before and someone has already taken the money.” She sniffled again. “Hattie is going to be livid. I’ll probably be fired.”

  “No, we’ll find it,” I said and stood up.

  I walked around the square looking in the grass for the lost cash. When I was turned away from the courthouse for a moment, a prickly sensation crept up my spine. It was as if I could feel someone watching me with the same disdain I’d gotten from Amelda, but she was in the library.

  I should have just shaken the feeling off, but instead I turned around to look at the courthouse. In the far right window on the top floor was what looked like a pale figure starting down at me. The sight wouldn’t have been that alarming except that, from what I could see at the distance, the figure had black holes for eyes, and when it opened its mouth, that appeared to be a midnight black chasm as well.

  Before I could get Cassidy’s attention to look, she called out, “I found it!”

  I turned around to find her waving the money in the air and smiling like a kid on Christmas morning. When I looked back at the window, the figure was gone. I decided to write it off as my overactive imagination.

  “Hey,” Cassidy said as she tucked the money into her purse and dramatically closed the zipper. “I didn’t notice those purple streaks in your hair before.”

  I pulled a handful of my hair in front of my face, and sure enough, streaks of violet, lavender, and eggplant ran through it like highlights. “Oh, this, yeah… I thought I’d try something different. You must not have seen it before because you were too busy looking for the money. Or the light wasn’t hitting it right. New town, new me,” I said with a smile.

  “I think it’s awesome,” Cassidy said. “Thanks for helping me look. I gotta go or Hattie is going to have kittens. She hates when it takes me too long at the bank. I swear the old broad constantly thinks I’m going to steal from her. Which I would never do. Anyway, bye.”

  Chapter Nine

  I pulled an elastic from my purse and tied my hair back in the hopes that would make the new purple coloring less noticeable. If people hadn’t already decided that the new girl in town was a bit off, the purple hair was going to do it for them for sure.

  My next stop was Mann’s for some groceries and supplies. I needed to get some smoked salmon for Meri since he’d insisted that familiars did not eat canned cat food. It was a good thing I’d found that money in the jar on the top shelf of the cupboard, and part of me kind of hoped that Maude had hidden some more around the house, because it wasn’t like I could do a spell to bring in money or even a job. So far, any spells I’d cast with good intentions had backfired spectacularly, I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I tried to cast one for personal gain.

  I needed some food too, and I’d decided to add some broccoli to my potatoes. Since I had to buy Meri his expensive smoked salmon, frozen broccoli was my best option.

  In the frozen food aisle, I ran into Cassidy and Hattie. Cassidy was getting some frozen tater tots from one of the cases while Hattie stood by the cart.

  I didn’t meant to brush past them, but Hattie had the cart in the middle of the aisle. When I did, the edge of Hattie’s cart knocked my book out of the back pocket of my purse. I’d forgotten that I’d wedged it in there earlier. It hit the cart and then fell to the floor.

  Hattie and I both dove for it, but she managed to snag it first. “Tuttlesmith Coven Book of Shadows.” She mused softly after glancing at the cover. “Cassidy, hurry up, girl. I’m getting another of my migraines. I want to leave now,” she barked at Cassidy as she handed the book back to me.

  Something about that whole scene didn’t sit right with me, but I had no idea what was wrong. I just knew that something was wrong. My intuition had kicked in, and as Annika suggested, I was trying to listen to it.

  Before I could ponder it too much more, the woman checking out in the lane next to mine bent over to pick up one of her bags. When she did, the collar of her crisp, white shirt fell open just enough for me to see that she wore a beautiful retro amethyst and tiger’s eye necklace. Her hand flitted to her collar as soon as it happened and concealed the necklace. The whole thing happened so fast that I wasn’t sure I’d even really seen it.

  I thought about calling Annika right then, but I didn’t know who the woman was. She was a statuesque blonde in what looked like expensive clothes. When I went out in the parking lot to leave, the woman was getting into a top-of-the-line Mercedes. She obviously had money to buy whatever she wanted, so I couldn’t help but doubt that she was Annika’s shoplifter. The last thing I wanted to do was cause more trouble in town.

  After dinner, I lay in bed and studied the book until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. I put it in the nightstand drawer and clicked off the lamp before settling under the covers.

  What felt like seconds later, but was actually the middle of the night, my eyes flicked open with a start. I could feel that there was someone in the room with me. My first thought was that it was Ralph. He’d wanted the book bad enough to break into my house to steal it.

  I rolled over on my back to try and rouse Meri from his sleep when I heard an icy whisper in my ear. Suddenly, I was completely paralyzed with my eyes open staring at the ceiling.

  The sound of the nightstand drawer opening and the rustling of pages was followed by a loud shriek from Meri. From what I could tell, he’d pounced on the intruder from his hiding spot. I heard a scuffle, and then a feminine voice that sounded vaguely familiar cried out. Someone ran out of the room and down the stairs.

  Meri jumped onto my chest. “Snap out of it, Brighton. You’re not paralyzed, you’ve been tricked into thinking you were.”

  And then I could move again. I first checked for the book which was lying on the floor undamaged.

  “Meri, did you see who it was? Do you know who broke in?”

  “No, but…” He sneezed. “They certainly smelled like lavender and baby powder.”

  “I know that smell,” I said and picked up my phone to call the sheriff’s office. “I definitely know that smell.”

  Chapter Ten

  A sleepy-looking Thorn showed up about twenty minutes later to take a report about the break-in. I found a tin of coffee in the cabinet that somehow wasn’t stale and brewed a pot while he looked around the outside of the house.

  When he came back into the house, he walked around downstairs and upstairs before finding me in the kitchen. The knob for the back door was broken, but I could swear that Thorn rolled his eyes when I suggested that Hattie had done it. Perhaps it was because he was tired, but I thought it was possible I’d imagined it too.

  “I think it was Hattie Driggs that broke in,” I said.

  “There’s no way it was her, Brighton,” he said without looking at me. “Hattie is blind, and there’s no way she could have done this.”

  “The cat… I mean… What I’m trying to say is that I s
melled the scent that lingers around Hattie.”

  “What scent would that be?” he asked with one eyebrow cocked.

  “She smells like lavender and baby powder,” I said and handed him a cup of coffee.

  “Brighton, seriously? Do you know how many people probably smell like baby powder and lavender? That’s hardly evidence,” he said. “I know this was scary, but you can’t just accuse elderly blind women of breaking into your home because you’re freaked out. That’s not how we do things around here.”

  “She’s not blind,” I said indignantly. “She read the title of a book I dropped at the store this afternoon.”

  “You’re mistaken,” he said with a sigh. “You need to get in touch with the town locksmith tomorrow and beef up the house’s security. These old locks are just asking for trouble.” He drained his cup of coffee in a couple of gulps and set the cup down on the counter. “Thank you for the coffee. I’ll see myself out.”

  When I was sure he was gone, I asked Meri: “Are you sure it was lavender and baby powder you smelled?”

  “Don’t let Officer Hunky get to you, Brighton. Of course that’s what I smelled.”

  “Well, then, I’m going to have to confront Hattie,” I said and planted my hands on my hips. “I can just intimidate her into confessing. How hard can it be?”

  “That’s a bad idea, Brighton. People in this town think she’s a sweet old lady. Officer Hunky will end up arresting you for threatening her or something. It would be better if you wait until she’s out and sneak into her house. You can find some kind of proof. Then, they’ll have to believe you.”

  “Oh, so burglary is fine but confronting her isn’t?” I asked.

  “Yeah, just don’t get caught.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Two days later, my opportunity to snoop presented itself. Meri had been keeping an eye on Hattie’s place, so when Cassidy left to run errands, and Hattie slipped out a while later, Meri came to tell me it was time.

  I found a key to the back door inside a fake plastic rock on the back porch. It wasn’t a very good hiding spot as the rock didn’t look real at all, and I wondered if she’d made the mistake because she was blind or because she was cheap.

  Once inside, I quickly found her office on the second floor. Her important papers were in a file drawer in her desk, and her declaration of benefits from the state was in the first folder. The paperwork clearly stated that she was legally blind.

  I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, so I Googled it on my phone and discovered that meant that she could still have some eyesight. Yet, everyone believed she was completely blind.

  I closed the web browser on my phone and quickly took a picture of the paperwork. Just as I got the photo, I heard the front door open. I crept out into the upstairs hallway and saw that no one was at the bottom of the stairs, so Meri and I went down as quickly and quietly as we could. Whoever had come in was doing something in the basement, so we slipped out the back door. I’d put the key back in the rock just in case, and there was no time to relock the back door. I just had to hope that no one noticed.

  We were about to leave the yard when someone else pulled up in the driveway. Rather than get caught in the backyard, Meri and I hid behind the garden shed until we decided that we could get out without someone seeing us. While we were hiding, I saw some vines peeking out of the back door of the shed that looked like they’d been clumsily hacked or torn off.

  My car was parked a couple of blocks over, so while we walked back, I put my headset in and pretended to talk on my phone. The last thing I needed was for someone to spot me talking to Meri.

  “I saw some vines sticking out of the back door of the shed,” I whispered to Meri. “Are castor beans grown on vines?”

  “I don’t think they’re vines like you’d traditionally think, but I could see how they might look that way once they were cut. What did they look like?”

  “Here, I snapped a pic really fast before we left,” I said and showed him my screen.

  Then, I did another quick Google search for castor bean plant and found that the plants I’d seen were castor bean plants. The shape of the leaves was pretty unmistakable.

  “Yeah,” Meri said when I showed him the search results. “That definitely looks like the picture you took.”

  “Those had to be the castor bean plants stolen from Ruby’s garden. I saw the ends of some of them and they looked like they’d been hacked off with dull scissors or just torn. We’re going straight to the sheriff. We’ve got her,” I said.

  We were about halfway to the sheriff’s office when Meri told me to just go home. “We can’t tell Thorn about this, Brighton. We were breaking and entering when you got the information. None of it is admissible in court, and he might arrest you.”

  “Fudge,” I said. “You’re right.”

  So we went back to Hangman’s House instead. A while later, when Meri and I had pretty much given up on finding a way to bust Hattie, the doorbell rang.

  Much to my surprise, it was Annika with pizza and beer. “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by unannounced, but I come bearing gifts,” she said and handed me the pizza box. “Also, I love the new hair. It’s so fierce.”

  My hand went unconsciously to smooth my ponytail. “Thanks, but it wasn’t intentional. It started when I was trying to feel my magic on the ley line.”

  “Well, that’s cool. I’ve heard that coming into your power can change you physically. At least you didn’t get warts. Did your boobs get bigger too? I always hoped mine would get bigger with my practice, but of course, I can’t actually use my magic for that. Personal gain and all.”

  “I think my boobs are the same size,” I said and looked down to be sure. “I’ll let you know if that changes.”

  We went into the living room and I set the pizza down on the table. Annika got two beers from the six-pack and then put the rest in the fridge.

  “So tell me what’s on your mind. I can tell it’s something more serious than boobs and hair color,” she said before shoving about half the slice of pizza in her mouth.

  I downed a huge chug of beer and then blurted out: “I think Hattie killed Harkin, and I think she broke in here and tried to steal my family grimoire.”

  “Whoa,” Annika said before stuffing the other half of the pizza slice in her mouth. “This is really good,” she mumbled with her mouth full.

  “So someone broke in here and tried to steal the book. They put a spell on me to paralyze me, but Meri ran them off. He smelled lavender and baby powder. It made him sneeze,” I rambled. “When I stayed at Hattie’s that’s exactly how she smelled.”

  “Okay.”

  “So I kinda broke into her house, but not really. She had a key in a really fake-looking rock by her back door. Anyway, she’s only legally blind. She might not be totally blind, Annika,” I said and took a deep breath. “Someone came back while we were in there, so Meri and I had to hide out behind her shed. I found castor bean plants back there. I think they were the ones stolen from Ruby’s garden.”

  “I never really liked Hattie,” Annika said. “I don’t know what it is, but something about her has always rubbed me the wrong way. I never said anything, though, because everyone around town thinks she’s some sweet, innocent old lady.”

  “I don’t know what to do because Thorn doesn’t believe she can see. He thinks she’s totally blind too. I got pictures of the paperwork saying she’s just legally blind, but I can’t turn them in. I was breaking and entering,” I said as my shoulders slumped in defeat.

  “Let’s get another beer,” Annika said, and I realized we’d drained the first ones. “Another beer and we’ll come up with a plan.”

  We drank another beer and finished the pizza. When I was about to get up to throw the box away, I saw Annika’s eyes light up.

  “I’ve got it,” she said and snapped her fingers. “We’ll call in an anonymous tip.” That was followed by a belch and a giggle fit.

  “You know what?” I
asked, feeling warm and light from the beer. “That might actually work.”

  “Here use my phone,” she said and handed it to me.

  “Shouldn’t we go find a payphone or something?”

  “I don’t think there are any payphones anymore. Don’t worry, if you stay on for less than thirty seconds, they can’t trace it. I’m sure of it.”

  “I can’t do it. I’m too nervous,” I said and handed the phone back to her.

  “Fine, I’ll do it,” she said and dialed the non-emergency number. “Can’t call 911 because I think they can definitely trace that,” she said as it rang. “Yes, hello, this is Mrs. Cornfield,” Annika said in a strange deep voice, and I had to stifle a giggle. “I have a tip for the police. That Hattie Driggs is the one who murdered Professor Max Harkin. She’s not really blind, and she’s got the murder beans in her garden shed.”

  Annika quickly hung up the phone and we both burst out laughing. “I can’t believe you did that,” I said.

  “We should have the last beers,” she said. “We’ll celebrate being the ones who took down a murderer.”

  Ten minutes later, we were laughing and drinking our last beers when the doorbell rang. “Shh, it might be the FBI here to interview us,” I said which sent us into another fit of laughter.

  I opened the door and found a very annoyed-looking Thorn staring back at me. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked as innocently as I could manage.

  “Someone called in an anonymous,” and he did the air quote signs for the word anonymous, “tip that Hattie Driggs murdered Max Harkin. Except that it wasn’t anonymous because the call came from Annika Skeenbauer’s phone. Which my friend at the cell phone company helped me track to this address.”

  “Oh,” I said. “We thought that if we were on the phone for less than thirty seconds, you couldn’t trace it.”