Spellbinding Blend Read online

  As expected, the diner was completely packed this morning. The vast majority of the patrons were year-round residents, with a few tourists sprinkled in amongst them with a couple added tables of carnival workers. It was easy to distinguish between the diners, due to the carnival’s grey uniforms for their ride operators, food vendors, and game operators. The only one who stood out like a beacon was our friend Buttons, who had waved to his colleagues at one of the other tables. I’m sure his buddies would quiz him later about his good fortune.

  As for Rye, my back was toward the counter. I couldn’t see or hear what was now being said, so he definitely had me at a disadvantage. Did he find it strange that we were having breakfast with a clown in full makeup? If he was a warlock and the guilty party in Kevin Paul’s murder, would Rye comprehend what we were doing here with the clown?

  “Good morning,” Paula said with a tentative smile on her face, standing a bit closer to me than Buttons. His red wig shook when his head swiveled her way. “What can I get you to drink? Coffee, tea, orange juice?”

  My mother placed her coffee order as if sitting next to a clown in our little town’s one true restaurant was the most natural thing in the world, not even bothering to reach for one of the menus that was stored behind the salt and pepper shakers. She’d become a huge fan of the pancakes, and it was doubtful that she’d try anything else anytime soon. Not once did she give away the fact that she had noticed Rye sitting at the counter.

  “I’ll have a tall glass of orange juice with a straw, please.” Buttons pointed toward his painted lips while tipping his head and batting his false eyelashes. No, that wasn’t creepy at all. “Oh, and a glass of water. Staying hydrated is very important.”

  Heidi and I quickly gave our drink orders, wanting this meal with our unexpected guest to be over as quickly as possible. If we could have requested some espressos instead of regular coffees, we might have been better equipped to deal with whatever my mother had gotten us into.

  “So,” my mother began the conversation, even giving Buttons a comforting pat on his gloved hand. “I told Buttons here how sorry we are about his friend. It’s a terrible tragedy, just terrible. Have the police found any leads as to who would do such a horrible deed?”

  I’d thought that maybe this is the direction my mother was going to take, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have had the same outcome by just paying Buttons a visit at the carnival. Well, in all likelihood, Heidi and I would have sent my mother to talk to Buttons while we asked the other carnies questions that might lead to the answers we needed.

  “I gave my statement to the sheriff last night.” Buttons sniffled and looked a bit forlorn, but he didn’t dare wipe his nose with a napkin. It did beg to question if he would remove the big red bulbous nose while he ate his breakfast. I can’t imagine it was easy to wear such a thing while eating. “Poor Kevin. I hadn’t known him long, but he seemed like a good guy. Always in a good mood and eager to get his work done. He joined the carnival over the winter when we were down south in Alabama, and he seemed rather excited that we were traveling north to start the new spring season. You were the one who found him, right?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” I replied, reaching for the wrapped silverware next to the paper placemat to give myself something to do. It didn’t escape me that Cora and Desmond Barnes were at their usual table. And as was typical, Cora was glaring my way. Well, more my mother’s direction, but you know the old adage—only I was allowed to say bad things about my mother and get away with it. “I was taking the shortcut in between the kissing booth and the dunk tank. I didn’t realize until it was too late that Mr. Paul was lying on the ground at my feet.”

  “I don’t understand why Kevin would have been on that side of the carnival when he’d been slated to work the tilt-a-whirl last night.” Buttons had taken my lead and uncurled his napkin from the silverware. “It doesn’t make any sense. He shouldn’t have been there.”

  “Do you know why Mr. Paul was excited about traveling up this way?” my mother inquired, reaching over to the sugar holder to pull out two pink packets from among the other usual selection of sweeteners stored in a rectangular cut glass container. She tapped them against her hand. “Did he have family in the area that you know of?”

  My mother continued to rhythmically tap the small pink envelopes as she repeated her battery of questions. The only reason I noticed the small dose of magic being utilized was the warmth in the palm of my hand. It was the same tingling sensation I developed when things started to go south around me, which meant someone else besides me was drawing on the energy surrounding us—my mother.

  I’d already acknowledged that my mother had invited Buttons to breakfast to try and find some answers, but this was going a bit over the edge. If Rye really was a warlock, he’d be able to sense the undercurrent of energy just like me.

  I had no choice.

  I kicked my mother underneath the table…hard enough for her to notice.

  Buttons practically came out of his seat, his pained expression coming through his face paint loud and clear.

  “Ow!” Buttons practically yelled, reaching down underneath the table to rub his shin. He’d grabbed a lot of attention from the nearby diners. Heidi covered her pink lips the way she did when trying to hide a smile or laugh. As for my mother, she didn’t look the least bit amused. “What was that for?”

  “I’m so, so sorry,” I apologized, reaching across the table but not touching his hand. The white gloves kind of freaked me out, but I had to give him credit. He looked at me with more curiosity than anger. “I was, you know, having trouble with a—Charley horse.”

  “It’s those darn knee-high boots of yours, isn’t it?” Heidi interjected with a shake of her head, entirely used to saving my hide in situations just like these. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a horrible liar. Heidi? Not so much, but her heart was always in the right place. “They’ve been giving her problems lately. Were you trying to wedge your toes against the metal post underneath the table? You never did have any sense of aim.”

  Buttons appeared as if he wasn’t too sure he should believe Heidi, but he eventually nodded his understanding.

  “These clown shoes cause the arches of my feet to ache something fierce. They make it feel like I’m walking on bricks all day and night,” Buttons shared, still showing a slight grimace of pain from where I’d kicked him in the shin. “I’m sorry, Ms. Marigold. What were you asking me?”

  My mother had arched her perfectly waxed eyebrow my way in disappointment, but at least I’d gotten her to stop using magic in the diner. I snuck a quick glance over my shoulder to see that Rye was still in deep discussion with Albert and Eugene. What if I was wrong about everything?

  “Kevin mentioned he had a friend in town here, and that he’d grown up not too far from Paramour Bay,” Buttons replied with a small shrug of his shoulders. “I told the sheriff all that last night, but I’m not sure it’s enough information to help catch whoever killed Kevin.”

  Buttons looked as if he wanted to say more, but Paula must have been headed toward our table. The clown leaned back against the seat so that our waitress could set down our drinks. Three coffees were dispersed, along with one tall orange juice, a glass of water, and two straws.

  “Why thank you, miss,” Buttons said in a rather squeaky tone before pulling a beautiful paper flower out of nowhere.

  Paula’s expression brightened as Buttons’ kind gesture had apparently erased any doubt that he was a good-natured clown. I wasn’t so sure about that, and I still had a few questions of my own to ask him. Unfortunately, a couple of the children in the diner took the flower as a signal that the show had begun, and that they could come over to the table and ask for animal balloons.

  Buttons stood up and began his entertaining act, much to the delight of the patrons.

  “Do not use that in here when a certain someone might notice,” I warned, having leaned across the table to get my point across using subtle yet effective
words.

  “You want answers, this needs to be solved quickly, and I’m better at that than you.”

  I couldn’t disagree with any of those points, especially the last one she’d emphasized. The discussion was about to be taken way off topic, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

  “And why is that, Mother?” I asked, still being vague in case someone else was listening to us while Buttons was being kept busy by his audience. “For someone who gave up that such a long time ago, there seems to be no rusty spots, if you get my drift.”

  My mother leaned back against the cushioned vinyl of the booth and continued to stir her coffee as if I’d not pointed out the obvious. It was clear that I wasn’t going to get any answers from her, but at least we had a moment to clear the air about who was making the tactical decisions right now.

  “Why did you invite him to have breakfast with us, anyway?” I was still leaning forward and keeping my voice as low as possible. “We could have waited to talk to him later today without all this drama. I wanted to hear today’s scuttlebutt, and you know how they all talk in here.”

  “Raven’s right, because the booth behind me has done nothing but talk about the murder,” Heidi chimed in full of conspiracy, her whisper a little louder than ours. “Did you know that Kevin wasn’t well-liked? Apparently, Buttons isn’t being exactly truthful with us concerning his friend.”

  Heidi and I practically bumped heads when the laughing clown suddenly came back to our table with a big plop into the seat, causing my mother to lift a half an inch off her half of the vinyl cushion. It was a good thing she hadn’t been holding the coffee cup to her lips.

  “Aren’t kids the best? They see the simple happiness of life, and it’s my job to make sure it stays that way,” Buttons said with a squeeze of his nose that actually beeped. He reached his white glove over the table and patted my hand that I had wrapped around my own cup. “I never got to really say how sorry I am that you were the one who found the body. I can only imagine how much of a shock it was to make such a discovery.”

  “We were just saying how the crime here in Paramour Bay is almost nonexistent,” my mother exclaimed, casually reaching for another pink packet of sweetener. She stopped immediately once she caught sight of my pointed glare. “I know you mentioned that Kevin kept to himself, but do you think the killer could be someone you both knew? I mean, do you think the carnival is safe to be reopened?”

  I shared a look with Heidi, who only managed to mouth the word wow at the fact that my mother never did have tact in these situations. She was like a bull in a china store.

  “Of course, it’s safe,” I interjected, wondering if calling Mom in on this murder investigation had been the best decision. If Rye was truly a warlock, then indeed having my mother here was the best alternative. But I was seriously having my doubts that maybe I’d placed the call a teensy-weensy bit too early. “Mother, Liam and Detective Swanson would never have allowed the carnival to remain open if they thought for one second that it wasn’t safe for the townsfolk.”

  “I have to agree with your daughter, ma’am.” Buttons had dropped the squeaky tone for a brief moment, taking all of us by surprise at the deepness of his voice. He even made his eyes have a sad appearance despite the face paint. “There are some good folks who work with the carnival, and this is how we make our living. As for Kevin, isn’t it true that not everyone gets along with everyone else? And the one person who would have had a grudge against Kevin is no longer with the carnival.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, eager to mentally add someone on the suspect list. Right now, the list only included Rye and Buttons himself. I had a sneaking suspicion there was more to the story, and I could only hope that it didn’t include the coven. “Who would have a grudge against Mr. Paul?”

  “Why, the same man who Kevin ended up getting fired in Florida—Elroy Simpson.” Someone caught Button’s attention, and his face lit up with joy. “Oh, look! Our breakfasts are here, and just in time. I’m starving!”

  As Paula began unloading the meals from the tray in her hands, Heidi, my mom, and I all shared a look that spoke of promise. We were making progress, slow as it was, but we were a little bit closer to finding out who killed Kevin than we were five minutes ago.

  Leave it to someone in my family to ruin the mojo.

  “Wow, Ms. M.!” Heidi exclaimed, not even bothering to pick up her fork. Her nose was practically touching the window that faced the main thoroughfare in town. “I think I just spotted your doppelganger. That woman is the spitting image of you, only a bit older.”

  Neither my mother or I needed to confirm who was walking across the street toward the diner, because there was only one woman who Mom was the spitting image of—Aunt Rowena.

  “Mom, if Aunt Rowena is here…”

  I let my words trail off and felt my heart thud against my chest when my mother only nodded her agreement, pursing her lips as she contemplated our next move. You see, there was only one reason why Aunt Rowena would be in the town of Paramour Bay.

  Either Rye Dolgiram was the warlock we suspected him of being, Kevin Paul was murdered due to the brewing war between the factions of the coven, or worse—both.

  Chapter Five

  “I don’t understand what just happened,” Heidi murmured, looking over her shoulder in confusion as my mother and Aunt Rowena walked the opposite direction. “Why aren’t we going with them to find out why your great-aunt has shown up in town? She might have the very answers we’re looking for.”

  “Two reasons, really. First, Aunt Rowena is used to dealing with a community full of witches, for which Mom is better equipped at handling her. Second, she kinda-sorta found out that you know our little secret when we had to go to Windsor to save that fairy. I’d rather not find out her feelings on the subject,” I responded warily, resisting the urge to secretly follow them. I made an attempt to peer into the tea shop’s display window in hopes that Leo would see we were now heading down Water Way. The first listing Heidi was going to look at was in ten minutes, but we could walk there in five. “Trust me, Mom will find out exactly what’s going on and then call me with any news.”

  Well, at least that was the current plan. Aunt Rowena and my mother didn’t get along very well, but that had more to do with Nan leaving the coven than anything else. Aunt Rowena had kept to herself up in Windsor, and my mother and I did the same in our respective abodes. Should it turn out that Rye was a part of the coven and acting on the council’s orders to take out a designated target, then we had a bigger problem on our hands—not that there was any indication that Kevin Paul was a warlock or anything like that, regardless that his hometown was Windsor as was stated on his driver’s license.

  I tried to remind myself that the sun was still shining and spring was in the air. There were even a few puffy clouds scattered above, gracefully moving along their way out over the bay. According to the weatherman, we weren’t supposed to receive rain until sometime later in the week. There was a slight chill hanging in the early morning air that would dissipate come this afternoon when the sunshine shared its adequate warmth. The uneasiness that had settled over me had nothing to do with the nippy temperature and everything to do with the impending witch war.

  “We’ll go see this house first before we walk over to the carnival. We aren’t going to let anything untoward get in the way of you moving here at the end of the month. I need you here with me.” We also needed to keep our day on track. The way the morning was progressing, it was as though we were running out of time before we had even gotten started. At least Mom knew where to find us if she needed us, and she would definitely call me first thing in case of an emergency. “We might not actually need to talk to any of the carnival workers if Mom finds out that Rye was the one who killed Kevin Paul. In the meantime, I hope that Leo—”

  Why is my paw burning like the fire of Hades? Raven, there is something definitely wrong with this fairy stain on my fur. You need to fix it.

/>   Oh, this wasn’t good at all. Leo had somehow missed the unexpected arrival of Aunt Rowena. No wonder he hadn’t materialized sooner. Honestly, I’m not sure how he could have missed something so monumental happening in the street right outside the shop.

  Did you just say that Rowena is here? As in here, here? In Paramour Bay? In our town, specifically? Well, I have to give you props—that’s one way to get my mind off this darn fairy stain. I hadn’t thought of that one before.

  Leo suddenly appeared in front of us, which wasn’t quite as dangerous seeing as we were on one of the side streets. He looked a bit ruffled, and he was holding up his right paw with a scowl of monumental disgust.

  The lipstick stain, left behind by a fairy named Strifle, was practically glowing. It did have me worrying a bit that the perpetual fairy dust attached to Leo’s fur would radiate in such a manner when my great-aunt was in town. I wasn’t exactly sure of the portent displayed by this sign, but it couldn’t be a good omen. It had never done so before, so it was more about connecting the dots that we had available to us.

  Long story short, the fairy we helped cross into the afterlife with her charge had left behind a thank you kiss on Leo’s fur, but I did have to wonder if she hadn’t given Leo a mystical way of sensing when the coven was nearby. Maybe it had been her way of thanking us.

  After all, a member of the council was the reason Strifle had been held against her will on this plane of existence to begin with. The last time we’d been up in Windsor, Aunt Rowena had still been part of the council, although only in name. Only those in the afterlife knew what had happened since then. For all we knew, the two factions could be in open warfare by now.