Magical Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 1) Read online

  “You’re quite welcome.” My words came out more as a mumble as I stared at my mother’s vehicle, wondering what she was waiting for before opening her door. What was she doing inside her car? “You have a nice day, and I’m sure I’ll see you and Hannah this evening.”

  “I should be going, too,” Candy said with reluctance, obviously having wanted to stay and meet the infamous Regina Marigold—the woman who’d been notoriously cut out of Rosemary’s will. That would definitely have made good fodder for her clients today. It wasn’t until I moved out of the way for Candy to exit that she finally answered my previous question. “And yes, someone did recognize Jacob Blackleach. Flo said she’d seen him in the diner a time or two, though no one else could remember his face for some reason.”

  How could no one else but Flo remember Jacob Blackleach? The diner maintained numerous regulars who ate there on a daily basis for every meal, as well as the staff the diner employed. Could he have used some spell to make the patrons forget his passing? Had his magic not worked on Flo because she’d been his waitress and exposed to his presence more than the others?

  Jacob was a wizard, but he’d been weak from what Leo had said.

  I waited for Leo to confirm my suspicion, but all I received was silence. A quick glance toward the window display told me he’d abandoned me in my time of need.

  “Here.”

  The tender way Liam addressed me was enough to drag my gaze off the empty windowsill Leo had occupied. Liam was holding out his cup of coffee, but it finally sunk in that it wasn’t his.

  He’d brought me my own coffee.

  The bonus points this got him overrode my need to know why he’d given my mother a parking ticket. He could give her all the tickets he wanted. He’d just granted me my birthday wish.

  My eyes drifted up to his, and it took all of my will not to throw my arms around his neck.

  “Happy birthday, Raven.” The corner of Liam’s lip lifted in a half-grin. “Just make sure you hide it behind the cash register. Spotting a coffee cup in a tea shop probably isn’t good for your business.”

  With a wink, Liam exited the shop.

  Okay, I take it back. He might be a keeper, after all.

  Of course, Leo would choose to make an entrance now. He couldn’t just leave me to have one second of happiness, could he?

  I would have told Leo to tie his whiskers in a knot, but I was too busy sucking down the most delicious cup of coffee I’d ever tasted in my life. Granted, it could have used a bit more sugar, but I wasn’t going to come off ungrateful after such an amazing gift.

  Unfortunately, there was no amount of caffeine in the world that could help me deal with the upcoming confrontation.

  Why hadn’t Heidi given me a heads up?

  I’m sure she did.

  Leo continued to swish his bent tail as he made his way toward the back room.

  But you left your phone at home. Remember? And before you blame me, you left it on the coffee table when you were looking for the spell book.

  “You mean the spell book that you can’t remember the location of?” I quickly followed Leo toward the back, knowing I only had a few moments to spare. “I’m being serious here, Leo. If I need to know something about Nan or of our family’s lineage from that witchcrafty stuff, then tell me now. I need to be prepared before my mother walks through that door.”

  Witchcrafty stuff?

  I’m relatively sure Leo’s left eye rolled at my language.

  You’re a witch, Raven, that much is certain. By midnight, you will be one with the all-mother earth. There is nothing your birth mother can do now to change your future.

  And just like that…Leo was gone.

  Poof.

  Vanished.

  Again.

  It was beyond frustrating, but nowhere near as maddening as the fact that my mother was about to walk through the door.

  Sure enough, the gold bell chimed, leaving me little choice but to take a deep breath and turn around to face the incoming nor’ westerly.

  Okay, Regina Lattice Marigold was more like a tornado than a winter storm.

  We stared at one another without saying a word, each of us sizing up one another.

  I should preface this next scene with the fact that I do love my mother very much. She’s always put me first and made sure I didn’t want for anything as a child. She’d been strict yet fair. I wasn’t always the easiest young girl to get along with, having a wild streak a country mile wide that I needed to paint with vivid colors like a rainbow. She’d let me spread my wings while somehow keeping me close and safe.

  But to find out that she’d kept from me such life-altering knowledge about our family had been wrong, and her walking into my tea shop and demanding I return to the city was unacceptable.

  I didn’t have to ask why she was here, because as I said, that much was obvious—she wanted me back in New York City and as far away from Paramour Bay as she could get me.

  Only that wasn’t going to happen now that I knew the truth.

  “You know,” my mother accused me as she rested a hand against her forehead in disbelief. She’d always been a little dramatic, but that was understandable, considering how she’d been raised. But darn if her answer didn’t remind me of Leo, who was constantly in my head. “You know about the family. Oh, dear. I think I’m going to be sick.”

  My mother’s green eyes widened in what I could only describe as dread. Her black hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck, which was the way she usually styled her hair. She always claimed that she didn’t like the weight of her hair on her shoulders, but she could never bring herself to cut the beautiful jet-black tresses. And yet she’d cut Nan out of our lives, or vice versa.

  Did it really matter anymore?

  “I would have known a long time ago if you’d just been honest with me, Mom.” No one else was in the shop but us, yet I still found it hard to verbalize my newfound knowledge. “Nan was a witch. You were a witch. Are a witch. And now I’m a witch, yet you kept that from me. How could you do that?”

  “To protect you.” Regina audibly sighed as she began to slowly scan the shop. Was she looking for Leo? No, she had to be searching for something else. She couldn’t even know the odd familiar was still alive, albeit somewhat damaged. “And I would do it all over again. Raven, I never wanted you to live that life. You don’t understand the responsibilities that come with this kind of curse.”

  “Gift,” I corrected, having seen Otis walking down the sidewalk with his wife yesterday. He hadn’t been in pain, because his arthritis was being kept to a minimum, thanks to Nan’s herbal potion. Then there was Larry’s athlete’s foot. I mean, really. Who wanted to walk around with itching toes all day? “Nan helped people, Mom. She used her powers for good, and we could do the same. It wasn’t fair of you to keep this from me. It’s my birthright.”

  “I intentionally walked away from this life a very long time ago, Raven Lattice.” Regina shook her head as she walked over to the cash register. She stored her purse underneath the counter as if she’d done it numerous times in the past. “And that’s exactly what you’re going to do. Whatever papers my mother left you to tell you about our family history, you need to burn them tonight. I’ll help you close up the shop, then we can head to the house to get your belongings. We’ll return to the city as if none of this ever happened.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, let alone accept that she was treating me as if I were two years old. I’d told Heidi on the day we arrived in town that I needed to stand on my own two feet. It was about time I owned up to my declaration.

  “Mother, I didn’t learn about our gift from a box of papers, though I will admit that there are some very entertaining family tales in those letters.” I wasn’t lying when I said that, either. I’d come to find out that not one woman in my family who had been born with their powers had ever married. Wasn’t that odd? I wanted to know more. My appetite for my family’s history was insatiable, but I would ha
ve to continue my search on that another day. “Nan used a necromancy spell on her familiar to stay behind and teach me the ways of our family. Now before you say anything, I understand fully well that she shouldn’t have dabbled in dark magic. But she didn’t feel she had a choice, because you were the one to cut her out of your life. You did that, right?”

  It was more than apparent that my mom wanted to address several issues with the things I’d just mentioned, but she wasn’t sure where to start.

  I chose for her.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” I didn’t need her to answer, because something inherent told me that I’d speculated correctly. I could get used to this witch intuition. Crossing the room, I stood across the counter from her so I could see her reaction. I’d said it didn’t matter who was responsible for the family rift, but I was wrong. “I didn’t show signs of my power, so Nan left us alone after I’d turned eighteen. But it wasn’t by her choice. It was obviously yours.”

  “You don’t understand, Raven. She would have found a way to drag you into this life, which is not what I wanted for you. We are cursed with these powers. How can you not see that? As for Benny? Please tell me that she didn’t use a spell so dark and evil as to keep her familiar alive that—”

  The bell chimed over the front door, causing me to immediately shove the disposable coffee cup that was still in my hand into hers. I then turned around with a smile on my face, refusing to have the residents of Paramour Bay churn the gossip mill with the Marigold name. The last thing we needed was to have more attention on us than there was already due to Jacob Blackleach’s murder.

  “I thought that was you, Regina. And drinking coffee, no less. It’s no wonder that you and your mother weren’t on speaking terms.”

  My smile slipped at the sight of Cora Barnes. I tried my best to keep it in place, but that was next to impossible. There was something sinister about this woman’s presence…adversarial in nature. It didn’t help that her blonde hair was pulled back so severely that there didn’t seem to be a wrinkle left underneath all that makeup. That could not have been an easy feat considering that she had to be in her mid-fifties.

  Mid-fifties.

  The connection hit me at the exact moment my mother confirmed my intuition—you know, the one I was grateful for around an hour ago.

  “Cora, you haven’t changed a bit.”

  “It’s been…what? Almost thirty years?” Cora’s smile didn’t meet her eyes, which were one hundred percent focused on my mother. I was beginning to understand how Ted felt during those times I had conversations with Leo. “I’d honestly expected it to be longer. You have my condolences.”

  It was as if I could literally hear the electricity spark from each and every correlation matching up that I’d arrived to in my mind. Thirty years. It was my thirtieth birthday. And the two women were around the same age, so it was no wonder they knew each other from their younger days.

  “You can keep your condolences, Cora. I wouldn’t want you to waste any empathy on a woman you’ve never been able to stand.”

  Oh, snap!

  It would figure that Leo would materialize during a showdown that was apparently long overdue. Family loyalty had me straightening my back, even though I was still mad at my mother for several reasons. My defensiveness also came into play because there was something off about Cora Barnes, and I still suspected that she and her husband had something to do with Jacob Blackleach’s murder.

  “Your mother and I buried the hatchet long ago, but you wouldn’t know that, would you? Having run off to the city and all.”

  “Cora, was there something I could help you with?” I asked, unwilling to allow this confrontation to continue when it was benefitting no one. I felt a manifestation of heat building in my left hand as if I’d pushed off the floor. It was as if a combat sequence was developing in my unconscious mind. In reflection, something of this nature would only have my mother packing my bags without my knowledge and somehow hogtieing and dragging my butt out of town. I needed to restrain myself. “My mom has just arrived into town, and I’d really like to spend some quality time with her.”

  “I came by to pick up my order.” Cora shifted her shoulders, as if that helped her to transition her focus. Her long lashes practically touched her eyebrows and had me wondering if they weren’t fake. “I wasn’t able to pick it up on Sunday…well, for a number of reasons.”

  “Of course. Let me go into the back and get that for you.” I chanced a worried glance toward my mom, whose laser green eyes appeared to be having a staring contest with the customer. The heat I’d felt in my hand from earlier was waning. It had all been a result of the undertones I’d felt earlier. Cora Barnes was nothing more than a customer—not an enemy. Had she and Nan truly buried the hatchet? I guess so, considering she was still one of those clients. “If you’ll excuse me.”

  I turned fast enough that my green and yellow skirt billowed around my calves. I also managed to catch a bit of orange and black in that mix, deciphering that Leo had been next to me all along.

  He’d vanished again, but I had no doubt he would be waiting for me in the storage room.

  “Leo, show yourself right now,” I commanded in a whisper once I was through the wall of magical fairies warding my storage room entrance, looking everywhere for the fur-balled creature. “I mean it. Or should I call you Benny?”

  What is it that you want?

  Leo materialized next to the tray I’d brought in the other day to organize the orders Nan had put together before her death. The bags were dwindling one by one, leaving only around eight or so behind. This meant I would have to start my training with Leo in the next day or two if I were going to follow in Nan’s footsteps. Of course, that could only happen if we found the spell book he’d lost due to his lack of short term memory.

  “I need you to remember who killed Jacob Blackleach,” I pleaded, easily locating Cora’s order on the silver tray. “I still believe that Cora came into the shop, thinking she could meet with me about her purchase. For some reason, she hit Jacob over the head. I’m not sure it was intentional or whether she thought he was some kind of thief.”

  Didn’t your sheriff say she was at the library?

  “Liam isn’t my sheriff,” I countered, wishing Leo would stay on topic for more than a sentence or two. “Think back, Leo. Was it Cora? What about Otis? I can’t imagine him committing murder, but I’m sure that’s what everyone says about somebody after they’d been arrested for doing the deed in question. Elsie? Wilma? You know, I keep forgetting Pearl and the man she was with, regardless of her claim that she didn’t know who I was talking about. Leo, you were in here last Sunday watching Jacob search for Nan’s spell book. You saw the murderer. Can you picture the scene?”

  Leo’s left eye blinked slowly and the crooked portion of his tail flicked in…remembrance? My hopes began to climb as he remained silent, thinking back to that fateful morning. I ran my fingertips over the fold of the brown paper bag, wishing it were my cell phone. I could call 911, get ahold of Eileen, and have the sheriff arrest Cora right here and now.

  I can smell it…

  “What do you smell? Do you recall inhaling her perfume or Jacob?” I asked, recalling how the Fake Larry always had a peculiar odor about him. “Take a deep breath, Leo, and—”

  Leo’s bent whiskers pulled up, showing the lower portion of his broken fang, and then…

  Choo! Choo!

  Ugh. You need to dust in here again.

  Out of all the familiars I could have gotten stuck with, it had to be Leo.

  I take offense at that.

  “Go ahead, take offense,” I muttered in defeat, thinking there had to be a spell out there somewhere that could cure short term memory loss. Oh, that’s right. I didn’t have a spell book, because Leo couldn’t remember where Nan had put it before she died while taking a walk. “I’m so screwed.”

  I heard that, too. You should be grateful that I’m—

  “Here’s your order, Mrs.
Barnes,” I exclaimed after exiting through the charmed beads. I left Leo in the back room to talk to himself. At least I didn’t find my mom and Cora wrestling on the ground about past grudges, but then again, my mom was a witch herself and more than capable of standing on her own two feet. Couldn’t she just cast a spell of some sort and have a wart appear on the end of Cora’s nose? “That will be fifty dollars.”

  We have a lot of work cut out for us if you believe witchcraft can materialize a wart on the end of a person’s nose.

  Leo was obviously close by, but I couldn’t see him anywhere in the vicinity. And I couldn’t know the extent of the witchcraft seeing as I didn’t have the spell book, now could I?

  Sarcasm doesn’t become you, my dear.

  “Thank you,” Cora said somewhat stiffly, slipping a fifty-dollar bill into my hand. The exchange brought about a case of déjà vu. “I’m assuming our order for next week will be available?”

  “Yes,” I replied, trying to remember what it was that triggered such a weird response.

  It’s not easy, is it?

  I ignored Leo, concentrating really hard on Cora and what had just taken place.

  That’s when my initial altercation with Pearl came back to me in spades. She’d been sneaky about the exchange, almost as if she thought someone would see them. Yet no one else thought anything of purchasing alternative health products from my Nan.

  “Cora, have a nice day.” I didn’t wait for her or my mother to say anything else that would prolong this unwanted reunion. It would do neither woman any good, so I all but escorted the malt shop owner out the door without another word. “Mother, I think I know who killed Jacob Blackleach.”

  Here we go again.

  “Would you just be quiet!”

  “I didn’t say anything, and you need to watch your tone, Raven Lattice Marigold.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you, Mom.” I spun around so that my skirt wouldn’t hide the scared cretin, though I did understand why Leo would be afraid of my mother’s wrath. It was time to get this particular reunion out of the way. “You remember Benny, don’t you?”