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

  “Rosemary used a spell to prevent her familiar from dying a natural death. Mr. Leo suffered as a result of that type of necromancy magic.” Ted looked out the passenger side window. “How much time do I have to run my errand?”

  I frowned when I realized we had already arrived back at the tea shop. It was going on six o’clock in the evening, because Leo and I hadn’t left the shop when I’d wanted to after Elsie and Wilma’s visit. I had too many things to take care of in light of the upcoming sales, such as typing in the dates and times on my phone to keep track of the orders the customers would be picking up within the next week.

  Surprisingly, there were quite a few parking spots open on my side of the street. The other side of the road was pretty much full of vehicles owned by the patrons eating their last meal of the day at the diner. It was too bad I couldn’t continue driving through town, though, seeing that I’d only had a handful of questions answered. I should be grateful that Ted had spoken full three sentences before letting him out of the car.

  “You can take however long you need to, Ted,” I offered, not wanting him to feel rushed when I was the one who had extended the offer to bring him into town. Besides, I got to drive him back home. I finished parking and turned off the engine. “Just come back to the tea shop when you’re done. I’m going to go inside and find my phone so I can make a few calls back to New York.”

  Ted’s blue eyes darted around the somewhat empty sidewalks, causing me to think that maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to bring him along. He certainly wasn’t of average size and definitely stood out as being different. Was he worried what people would think of him? Did he not come into town often?

  “What is it you need to do? I can tag along with you, if you’d like. I can make my calls later.”

  Why I suddenly felt so protective of Ted was beyond me, but for some reason, he’d been close to my grandmother. In a way, it was almost as if she wanted someone to be here in order to take care of him, and I couldn’t imagine that responsibility being left to Leo. After all, he couldn’t even recall what happened yesterday morning with Jacob Blackleach. I gathered my keys and purse while waiting patiently for Ted to make a decision.

  “I do not need any help, but thank you.”

  Ted’s formality was no longer hard to decipher. It was a part of his personality, and I found myself being endeared to his innocent nature. His cold hand patted mine as if to stress how appreciative he was of my offer.

  I stayed in the car while he took his time unfolding his large frame, even watching him walk away after he’d closed the passenger door. To my surprise, he didn’t get far or even go to the small grocery store located a few blocks down. Instead, he entered the boutique that Elsie and Wilma mentioned earlier.

  I recalled them saying a woman by the name of Mindy Walsh owned the quaint clothing and jewelry store.

  What would Ted be doing in there?

  I hate to admit this, but the hard knock that banged against my window happened so suddenly that I screamed aloud. Déjà vu hit me like a tractor trailer rig. My keys landed somewhere on the passenger side floor, but I managed to catch my purse before it could slide off my lap.

  “Sorry,” a muffled apology came through the window. Liam stood there with a healthier and younger looking Fake Larry. Okay, technically, the real Larry looked nothing like Jacob Blackleach. And neither one of those men had anything on Liam. “Do you have a moment?”

  I quickly fished my keys off the dirty mat, but kept them in my hand instead of shoving them inside my purse. It would be easier to speak inside the tea shop instead of outside on the sidewalk. The weather in the evenings was becoming rather chilly, and I hadn’t brought a jacket with me. I only had a sweater in the back seat of my car.

  “Raven, this is Larry Butterball,” Liam said after the two men had backed away from the car so that I could open my door. I closed it behind me before extending my arm with a half-smile that hopefully conveyed how sorry I was that Larry had to cut his vacation short. “Larry, this is Raven.”

  “I’m sure you hear this a lot, but you are the spitting image of your grandmother. She and I used to have the most entertaining conversations over her estate, and I’m truly sorry for your recent loss.”

  For once, someone seemed rather genuine in expressing their condolences.

  “Thank you, Mr. Butterball. It’s so nice to meet you,” I conveyed sincerely as I heartily shook his hand. He was alive and not guilty of murder. That’s what mattered most, especially to those residents here in town. “I have so many questions for you, but I am truly sorry that you got mixed up with this matter.”

  “Have you eaten?” Liam asked with a gesture toward the diner. There was no hint of recognition that I’d driven into town with Ted, but for some reason, I could sense that he’d seen the large man enter the boutique. Was this the type of witchcraft Leo had spoken of when denying that a twitch of a nose could move items or make people disappear? It was very hard to get that particular television show out of my head when thinking of witches. “Larry drove straight through the last eight hours, so I suspect he could use a meal.”

  “I wish I could, but I drove Ted into town so he could run an errand. I also left my cell phone inside the tea shop.” Honestly, the questions I had were rather personal and regarded my grandmother’s will in spite of Liam disclosing that Jacob Blackleach had been telling me the truth regarding the stipulations. Still, it couldn’t hurt to confirm the details with Nan’s estate lawyer. “Do you mind coming inside with me?”

  “Of course not,” Larry replied, moving back another step so that I could lead the way. Ted had still not materialized from the boutique, and my curiosity began to grow as to why he’d gone inside. Did he know Mindy? “Liam caught me up to speed with what happened here, and I can’t believe you were on the receiving end of whatever con Jacob Blackleach was running here. I’ve never met the man before, and I have no idea how he got the key to my office in order to have access to your grandmother’s paperwork. We’re a pretty small town where this kind of thing never happens to anyone, so you can imagine that we’re all still in a bit of shock.”

  Liam held open the door for us after I’d unlocked the deadbolt, but I didn’t miss the way his gaze observed the interior of the store. I hadn’t asked him if he’d learned anything else from the state police detective who was leading the investigation, but I doubted they would find out anything to aid them in solving this case. Something inside of me was screaming that Jacob Blackleach’s death had everything to do with my grandmother being a witch.

  Every time I even thought of the word witch, I had to stop myself from either laughing out loud or driving to the nearest hospital so they could lock me away in a padded cell. Yet with each passing second that ticked by on the antique clock over the cash register, I truly believed Leo was real and that he was telling the truth.

  “Do the two of you know Ted?”

  I threw out that question just to ease my curiosity.

  “We’ve met a few times,” Larry replied with a shrug. “He would accompany your grandmother into the office every now and then when she wanted to update her will…which was more often than you might think.”

  Often?

  “I spoke with Detective Swanson around an hour ago.” Liam pulled my attention away from Larry. Both of them had followed me over to the counter where my phone should have been next to the cash register. But it was gone. Vanished. How was that even possible? “There are still no new leads as to why Jacob Blackleach would con you into believing that he was Larry. The detective did speak with your mother, though, and she confirmed everything in your statement.”

  Maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t find my phone. There was no doubt in my mind that my mother had tried to call me a hundred times since her phone conversation with the good detective.

  “Believe it or not, Detective Swanson thinks Blackleach’s criminal actions might have to do with me,” Larry confessed, shaking his head slowly in confusion. The o
verhead light of the shop glistened off his head, reminding me of the Mr. Clean commercials. “My ex-wife’s family was from Wethersfield, but she claims not to know this Jacob Blackleach.”

  “And no one has claimed his body from the morgue.”

  “Paramour Bay has a morgue?” I asked, opening the drawer where Nan had kept her journal. There was a chance I’d slid my phone inside with the other papers after I’d retrieved the ledger, but I had no such luck in finding my lifeline to Heidi. “And what will happen to Jacob Blackleach’s body if no one claims it?”

  “The county has a morgue located in New Haven.” Liam was watching me rather closely as I closed the drawer and began looking in the cubbyhole underneath the counter. “The body will be kept anywhere from three to six months. If no one claims the deceased, Jacob Blackleach’s body will be cremated and his remains given to a local pauper’s cemetery.”

  “Could we meet tomorrow morning at my office to go over your grandmother’s estate?” Larry asked, having joined me in my search for my phone. That was very thoughtful of him. I could see why someone so willing to help with something so mundane would be willing to handle estates. “Though it sounds like you’ve been given the right information regarding the stipulations in your grandmother’s will, it’s best we go over them together to be certain. Raven, are you sure you left your cell phone here? I don’t see it lying around.”

  Neither did I, and that was a problem.

  “I don’t either, but I suppose I could have dropped my phone in between the seats in my car.” I glanced out the display window, but I wasn’t quite ready to end this conversation. I decided to address something else that was bothering me, though I was very careful how I worded my inquiry to Liam. “I know we discussed my grandmother receiving donations for tea blends she believed could help her customers in various ailments and such, but how can you be sure Jacob Blackleach wasn’t killed because of that? I still find it odd that she would do such a thing.”

  “I don’t know about Liam, but I can personally vouch for Rosemary’s special tea blends.” Larry had stopped searching when I mentioned that I could have left my cell phone in the car, so he leaned a forearm against the counter with a smile. It was obvious that he’d been an actual client of Nan’s and had no idea the truth behind those blends or that she’d gotten them to work because of magic. “I had the worst case of athlete’s foot. Nothing I used over the counter from the pharmacy was working, so she had me drink her special tea for five days and voila! Poof. Gone. A total miracle. Your grandmother really knew her herbs.”

  It was obvious that Liam wasn’t totally convinced that Nan was simply a faith healer of some sort, but he remained silent as he glanced over at the string of beaded fairies. I didn’t want him to think I was hiding anything, so I crossed the room under the pretense that I was going to look for my cell phone in the back.

  I encouraged both of them to join me.

  “You know, she left me some of her recipes,” I shared willingly over the melodic clicks as the strings moved in time with our entrance. Leo was nowhere to be found, but then again, I’d seen him in the living room window of my house. I wasn’t quite sure how he appeared and then disappeared at will, but I’m sure I was bound to find out in the near future. “Pearl was by the shop earlier today, and I had to all but promise her I’d continue to make her the blend she’d been using on Harold…not that I believe she can force Harold to fall in love with her. Now your athlete’s foot is another story, because I’ve read about the antioxidants in teas and how good they can be for a person’s body.”

  I gagged a bit thinking about Larry’s feet, but I still managed to keep a straight face. I was more concerned in convincing Liam that Nan hadn’t been a witch. Leo was right in saying that dabbling in witchcraft was extremely different than harnessing supernatural powers. Yet I felt no different than I had before, which had me questioning if maybe I hadn’t fallen into Rosemary’s footsteps.

  Could I be the end of a lineage that had apparently gone on for decades?

  What if my mother was the last branch in the family tree?

  “I don’t see your phone in here, either,” Larry said, having moved some things around a bit. Neither he nor Liam appeared that concerned with the cast iron mortars and grinders on the shelves. And yes, I did do a bit of research on that this afternoon, as well. A mortar and pestle are those medicine bowls used to grind herbs, spices, and various other items into powder. “Looks like it’s probably in your car somewhere.”

  Larry exited the room first, entering the main shop while leaving Liam behind with me. I didn’t think anything of it until I’d gone to follow and found him staring at me in the same manner in which Patrick looked at Heidi.

  The half-smile did a number on my heartrate.

  “You intrigue me, Raven Lattice Marigold.”

  And he used my full name, which somehow released butterflies into my stomach.

  My reaction was totally different than when my mother said those three words together.

  “And why is that?” I asked, tilting my chin slightly higher so I could see his reaction to my question. It was kind of fun to watch his brown eyes darken with interest. “Because the majority of the town thinks my grandmother was a witch, and that I might follow in her footsteps?”

  The shooting pain on the side of my knee prevented Liam from answering me.

  “Ow!”

  I quickly leaned down to see the damage, immediately guessing what had taken place after lifting my skirt and seeing the surface scratches on the side of my leg. Leo had finally made an appearance, and he didn’t like me talking about Nan being a witch.

  Ouch!

  Leo most likely would have swiped at my ankle, but I currently had on my favorite pair of black boots.

  “Are you okay?” Liam asked with concern, closing the distance between us to see what I was looking at underneath my skirt. I quickly dropped the colorful fabric and stood, bringing him up short. Were his lips as soft as they looked? “What happened?”

  “Oh, my knee acts up every now and then.” I had no choice but to tell that little white lie, or else Liam would most likely have me in the back of his police car on the way to a psychiatrist. I did wonder if Paramour Bay had one of those on hand, but thought it best to lure Liam out of the back room before anything else happened that I was unable to explain. “Oh, just an old motorcycle injury.”

  “You ride motorcycles?”

  Well, I was certainly digging myself a hole, wasn’t I?

  “No, not anymore,” I hedged, thinking back to those few dates with a wilder set of boys I tried everything under the sun to forget now. Larry was waiting for us, and it was more than apparent he was anxious to go eat that dinner he’d mentioned earlier. “Larry, does nine o’clock sound good to meet with you at your office tomorrow?”

  “I usually met with Rosemary before she had to open the shop, so eight o’clock is fine if you’re game. I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

  Larry had pointed toward the door where the times of the shop had been hand-painted in yellowish-gold paint to match the storefront name.

  “I haven’t officially opened the store. I was thinking of having a grand reopening in a couple of days, seeing as Wednesday is Halloween and everyone will be in town for the trick or treating event at all the shops. By the way, Liam, I think it’s a great idea for the town to host that type of—” I had walked over to the counter to gather my purse, coming up short when I saw my cell phone. “How in the—”

  You can’t tell Heidi the truth…or anyone else, for that matter.

  Leo was in attendance, but he’d been wise to stay out of sight. I can’t believe that he’d been the one to have my phone this entire time. It wasn’t like he could use his claws to carry it around or anything like that.

  I have my ways. Oh, and your mother called approximately eight times. You might want to call her back before she shows up on your doorstep earlier than Friday morning.

  “Raven, are you s
ure everything is okay?”

  Liam’s concern was touching. I wanted nothing more than to shout from the rooftops that I was a witch, not insane, and that I’d love to have dinner with him sometime…but I’m pretty sure he would have escorted me out of town with flashing lights and accompanying sirens.

  Was that the reception I would get upon being truthful? Would my admission now solve the murder my grandmother was implicated in fifty-three years ago? Did her secret have anything to do with Jacob Blackleach?

  If ever I believed in intuition, it was now.

  Yes reverberated in my head after every single question, though it wasn’t Leo responding. That had definitely been my subconscious. But telling the truth would have a cost I wasn’t so sure I was ready to pay at the moment.

  Leo won this battle…for now.

  “Yes,” I replied with a victorious smile, picking up my phone and waving it in the air. “Can you believe my phone was sitting here the entire time?”

  Larry’s gaze went from my hand to the counter numerous times, his light brown brows dipping down in a massive frown. It was a good thing he had light-colored eyebrows. Anything darker would have looked a bit off with the bald style he was trying to pull off.

  “I could have sworn…”

  “Raven, what is this?”

  Thankfully, Liam cut off Larry’s curiosity as to how my phone had ended up beside the cash register when we’d already looked in that area.

  Liam.

  Leo.

  Larry.

  There was an obvious theme going on with these new people in my life, but I would have to put that coincidence on the back burner. Speaking of burners, I had way too many fires burning. I wasn’t sure which one to put out first.

  I also should have known not to count my blessings, especially with the way my week had been going. Liam was looking in the small basket I’d brought out front from the back room. I’d wanted to see who else in this town had standing orders, and who might want something from the list of names in the ledger. My intention had been to put the basket back in the storage room, but I’d forgotten after getting so caught up talking to Leo about Nan’s witchcraft.