Beat Around the Broom Read online

  I smiled faintly at his morbid joke. “Can you just maybe keep this on the down-low? I mean, the part about the pastries coming from the Magic Bean, at least.”

  “I suppose I can try and put a stopper in the rumor mill, if that’s what you’re getting at,” he assured me. “But you know how quickly news gets around this town. I swear, most of our residents must be unemployed because they sure do make a full-time job of gossiping.”

  “Yeah. I know,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “My parents are two such loudmouths.”

  Xander smiled. “They’re both retired, right?”

  “Yeah. And Dad’s enjoying getting to do nothing for once, but my mom has about as much manic energy as a hundred caffeinated jack russell terriers, so she’s been getting into whatever trouble and mayhem she can manage. And I know she’s not the only one. Heck, the Magic Bean is usually a mecca for gossip itself. But if word gets out that Bella is baking poisonous pastries, that might not be especially good for business.”

  Xander gave me a firm nod. “Right. Yes. That makes perfect sense. I certainly don’t want to do anything to jeopardize a local, family-run business. Especially because I may or may not be addicted to their earl grey cupcakes with the lemon-lavender frosting,” he admitted.

  “Oh my goodness, they’re amazing, right?” I gushed. “Have you had a chance to sample Bella’s new cherry-blossom petit fours? They look like they would be way too sweet, but I swear, they taste just like manna from the heavens.”

  “I have not tried that yet, but it’s definitely going on my list,” Xander said, both of us nearly whispering by now in an attempt to not look like complete insensitive lunatics at the crime scene.

  I continued rambling. “Good call. I don’t know if they’re a limited edition seasonal thing for spring or what, but-”

  “Ahem,” coughed Megan Forsetti from across the room. Xander and I both whipped around to see Morgan poking her head around the corner from the living room to give us a very pointed and meaningful glare. I instantly blushed and Xander’s smile faded into a much more professional scowl.

  “Got it. I’m on task,” he said to his sister, giving her a rather awkward thumbs-up.

  Morgan rolled her eyes and disappeared back into the living room, presumably to continue instructing the crime scene technicians. Xander gave me a sort of embarrassed, grimacing smile that almost made me laugh out loud.

  “Oops,” he whispered. “Ears like a bat, that one.”

  “Do you think she knows how to echolocate?” I joked.

  Xander grinned. “Honestly, it wouldn’t even surprise me if she did.”

  “I bet that would be a pretty useful skill to add to her tool set as a cop. She could list it on her resume. ‘Can echolocate like a bat to track down perps,’” I said, pretending to type at a keyboard. Xander snorted.

  “If only we had more criminal cases that required cave spelunking, she’d be a shoo-in for a promotion,” he played along.

  I couldn’t hold back the huge, genuine smile on my face. Joking around with Xander like this always gave me a deeply embarrassing tingly feeling in my stomach, like butterflies or something equally gross and romantic. But as usual, I hastily reminded myself that there was a corpse in the room and a serious case at hand. A mystery to solve - and this time, it unfortunately seemed to involve my good friends’ cafe. So that was going to have to be my next move.

  “Anyway,” I said, sad to interrupt our casual flirtation but resigned to the case, “I’m thinking I might head across town to the Magic Bean so I can break the news to Elisa about the poisoned pastries myself, if that’s cool with you. She’s going to find out anyway, so she might as well hear it from a friend who knows she’s not poisoning anyone on purpose.”

  “That’s a good idea,” he agreed. “And while you’re there, you should try and ask some questions, get some information on how the pastries got here. Was it delivered or picked up? When? By whom? Stuff like that.”

  “You got it, Chief,” I said, smirking. “I’ll check in with you later, okay?” I said, turning to leave.

  “Be careful out there.”

  “Sure. You got it,” I said softly with a smile. I walked out of the house, grabbing my broom and hopping on. As I rode across town, I breathed in the sweet, slightly brisk spring mid-morning air and thought about how cute Xander was. I knew that right about now I should have been seriously considering the facts of the brutal poisoning case at hand, but whenever I let my mind wander even for a second, it went wandering right on back to him. To his floppy, sexy hair and his dreamy eyes and those powerful arms, muscles just barely concealed under the thin fabric of his uniform…

  I was so lost in thought that my body and my broom went on autopilot mode and I very nearly rode all the way back to the Manor before I jolted back to reality. Shaking off my lusty, stupid daydreams, I pulled my broom to a stop outside the Magic Bean. I leaned it against the outside of the building and then walked in through the front door, setting off the jingly bells over the doorway. To my dismay, the place was fully packed with customers, as usual. I reminded myself that I should probably be relieved to see the place so busy, as that was an indication that these folks had not yet caught wind of the dirty business that had happened across town. Clearly all these customers weren’t even the slightest bit suspicious that their cupcakes and coffee might just contain poison. But I had kind of hoped for a quieter environment so I would get more privacy in my chat with Elisa. Still, I had to take what I could get.

  Luckily, Elisa caught sight of me pretty quickly. Her face lit up from behind the counter and she came around to pull me aside, leaving Gareth at the cash register. This time, he looked much less forlorn about it than he used to, which made me smile. The shy teenager was obviously getting used to his new job.

  “Hey Arti! How’s it going?” Elisa greeted me, wearing a big smile. She wiped her floury hands off on her apron and gave me a quick hug.

  “It’s, uh, it’s going,” I replied nervously. This was going to be rough. I’d had to deliver some pretty unfortunate news to her over the past year or so and it just never got any easier. In a town like this, though, there were bound to be some recurring misfortunes. That didn’t stop me from stalling a little, though.

  “Gareth sure looks more confident up there, huh?” I said, looking over at the gawky teen cashier. He was smiling more, handling the transactions with ease. He even looked a little taller and brighter, as though he’d gone through a second bout of puberty or something.

  Elisa giggled. “Yeah, he’s really come into his own in the past few weeks. You want to know what I think it is?” she asked, lowering her voice to a whisper.

  “What?” I asked, already smiling.

  “Well, he’s been hanging out with this girl lately. I’ve seen him texting her on his breaks, always grinning at his phone like a goofball. I think he’s got a girlfriend who’s really helped him up his game,” she explained.

  “Oh, how sweet,” I replied. “That’s great!”

  “Are you disappointed that he’s over his little crush on you?” she laughed.

  I shook my head vehemently. “Oh moon, no. I’m so relieved. It was pretty awkward. He’s a little young for my taste, anyway,” I joked. “Anyway, I’m actually here to talk to you about something kind of important.”

  “Uh oh. That’s rarely a good start,” Elisa said, frowning and putting her hands on her hips. She looked defensive already, and with good reason.

  “Well,” I began in a whisper, almost mouthing the words rather than saying them aloud. “There’s been an incident across town. A murder, we think.”

  “Again? Geez, what is this town coming to?” Elisa groaned.

  “I know, right? So much for small-town tranquility,” I agreed. “But here’s the thing, El, there was a poisoning. That’s what killed the guy. And the food that poisoned him, well, it came from here.”

  Elisa’s eyes went wide and round with horror. Her jaw dropped. “What? No. You’ve got
to be kidding me. That’s impossible,” she insisted, her face going ashen.

  I winced, feeling terrible about all this. “I know. It’s awful. But Xan-Chief Forsetti did some magical tests on the food and determined that it was, in fact, the pastries Bella made. Now, we’re obviously not jumping to any conclusions. I know you guys aren’t involved. Of course I wouldn’t suspect either of you for even a second. But I wanted to tell you about it so you’d be on guard, and also so I could maybe get some information from you that might help the case,” I explained. Elisa was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, nervously glancing around at the customers obliviously enjoying their food.

  Then she grabbed me by the arm. “Come on. Back here where it’s quieter.” She led me around the counter and into the back of the cafe, where the kitchen and storage were located. Bella was surprised to see me, doing a double take at me as she stood at the floured-up work counter, nearly elbow-deep in dough.

  “Oh. Hi, Artemis,” she said softly. I gave her a smile and wave, which made her blush. Bella was always pretty skittish, even around people she knew very well. But she was a sweetheart, and one heck of an amazing baker, too. Elisa was the more businesslike, personable sister, so she ran the place and handled the front end operations.

  “Okay. So, what do you need to know? Maybe it would help if you could tell me who the victim was?” Elisa asked me with a heavy sigh.

  “Victim?” Bella repeated, looking terrified.

  “Don’t worry about that, you just keeping doing what you do best,” I assured her.

  That seemed to be enough for Bella. She nodded and kept her head down as Elisa and I talked. The guy was named Arnold Klein. His wife Florence was sent to the hospital for treatment for poisoning, too.”

  “Arnold Klein? Oh, I know him. Vaguely, I mean. He runs that furniture business. Yeah, his assistant came by early this morning to pick up their pastry order,” she said.

  “His assistant?” I repeated. “Do you remember her name, by chance? Or anything about her that might distinguish her from a crowd?”

  Elisa nodded. “Yeah, her name is Karrie. Karrie with a K. I remember thinking that was an unusual spelling, which is what made her stand out. Cute, young girl. She looked normal this morning, but she was acting kind of strangely, to be honest. I can’t really explain how or why, but she seemed distracted, like she had something weighing on her mind.”

  “Wow, you’ve got a great memory,” I told her, amazed.

  She grinned. “I try to never forget a customer. Just good business practice.”

  “Well, I’m glad, because this is great info. I think I know where I’m going to go next. I need to track down this Karrie with a K. Thanks, El,” I said, giving her a quick one-armed hug. “And don’t worry, I told Chief Forsetti to keep this whole thing under wraps for as long as possible. I don’t want you or Bella implicated in this at all. You’re innocent. I know that. And I’m going to do the best I can to sort this out.”

  “Thank you, Arti. You’re a good friend,” Elisa said warmly. “You want a coffee and a totally-non-poisonous pastry to go? It’s on the house.”

  “You know I can’t turn that down,” I said, smiling. “Only… maybe not a cinnamon bun.”

  Chapter 4

  I walked out of the Magic Bean feeling a wee bit lighter and brighter now that I had that grim revelation off my chest. Of course, it never felt very good having to tell your best friend that someone had died from eating poisoned versions of her baked goods, but still. It was nice to have gotten it over with. Especially since I was getting on my broom with a renewed sense of purpose as well as a blackberry turnover with a lime-coconut glaze and a to-go cup of hazelnut coffee. Nothing like a little caffeine and sugar rush to keep the criminal justice juices flowing.

  “Maybe that’s why there’s that stereotype about cops loving doughnuts and coffee,” I mused aloud to myself as I hopped on my broom and kicked off the ground, instantly levitating up a couple feet into the air. Looking down, I decided it would be difficult to eat, sip, and steer my broom all at once, so I stashed the turnover in the carrier basket and murmured a spell to keep it neatly preserved and unfettered by bugs or debris that might fall in.

  “Asservoa,” I said, pointing down, and no sooner had the word left my mouth than the turnover exploded in a burst of purplish blackberry stains and chunks of freshly-baked flaky pastry flying all over the place.

  “Shoot!” I exclaimed in surprise and dismay.

  Looking down at the pathetic husk of what once had been a delectable free pastry, I sighed. Apparently my magic abilities were still all out of whack, just like they had been that morning. That was yet another mystery yet to be solved. But for the moment, I just thanked my lucky stars that no magical spells on my part were required for me to ride my broom across town. And at least I still had my coffee. Although people were probably going to wonder why I looked like I’d just gotten into a fight to the death with Barney the Dinosaur.

  I began the long trek across the various neighborhoods and districts of Moonlight Cove toward the outskirts of town, where I knew Arnold’s work warehouse to be located. He had a brick-and-mortar furniture store downtown, of course, but the warehouse had to be the background, the foundation of the whole deal. At least, that was how I imagined it to be. I had a feeling it was the best place to look for Karrie, the assistant to our unfortunate deceased victim, and Karrie was the best lead I had at the moment.

  I sipped my coffee thoughtfully as I rode over, passing by historic buildings made of stone, with vines of jasmine, honeysuckle, or ivy growing up the walls like nature’s lace, quaint cottages with gardens out front and back, and some of the more woodsy cabins and small farms that spread around the outer circles of Moonlight Cove. The city itself was relatively small, more of a town than a city by most standards, and though the inner circles of the town were pretty densely populated with historic districts, scenic parks, and charming promenades, once you got outside of that, the area was pretty rural. I was happy for that fact, though, as it meant that I was able to get the vast majority of my culinary ingredients from suppliers right here in town. There were dairy farms, local beekeepers, fisheries, meat farms, vegetable farms, cheese-making artisans, and of course several bakeries. And that was just the cherry on top of the ingredients I could pluck straight from my parents’ home garden. I loved knowing that every meal I served my guests was a direct reflection of my little corner of the world, the town I adored so much. All the flavors, no matter how exotic or fancy the recipe, were derived from Moonlight Cove. I had always been pretty proud of that.

  After about a bit of riding, I finally came across the warehouse. I knew it had to be the one, because there weren’t exactly a lot of businesses in town big enough to require a warehouse. Besides, this one had the name KLEIN emblazoned over the entrance in no-nonsense, matte-black lettering. I felt a chill run down my spine. This was definitely rather ominous-feeling. But, I leaned my broom against a tree outside and strode as confidently as I could manage up to the entrance. I knocked at the door and waited, looking around. Another broom, definitely newer than mine, was propped up against the building. So at least that had to mean there was someone here. Hopefully it was Karrie.

  I knocked on what appeared to me the main door, and a moment later came the clicking of several locks being disengaged from inside before the door parted open just a sliver to reveal the pretty, surprised face of a young woman with bright green eyes and freckles. She frowned in confusion when she saw me.

  “Yes? Can I help you?” she asked, her voice soft and sweet in contrast to her rather terse greeting. I could just barely see that her round, freckly face was framed with rather frizzy red curls. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile.

  “Hi, my name is Artemis. I’m working alongside Police Chief Forsetti on a case involving the owners of this warehouse,” I said. “What’s your name?”

  She looked a little nervous at the mention of Xander, but she parted th
e door a little wider just the same. “My name is Karrie. Nice to meet you. But um, you’re working with Officer Forsetti? What’s that all about, if you don’t mind my asking? Like, is everything okay?” she asked, her perfectly-manicured fingers fidgeting.

  “Uh, well, truth be told, I do have some kind of unfortunate news to share with you, Karrie. Could I come in?” I asked, trying not to press her too hard and spook her just in case she was somehow involved with the whole thing. I had come here expecting to be instantly suspicious of Miss Karrie with a K, considering she was the best suspect we had at the moment, but I found myself feeling almost pity for her. She was younger than I’d expected, and rather naive-looking with her big green eyes.

  She waffled a bit, measuring my words, and then sighed. “Alright. Sure. Come on in. But you’ll have to make it kind of quick because Mr. Klein will probably get here any moment now and he’s not going to like having a stranger here,” Karrie said.

  Either she was one talented actress, or she genuinely didn’t know that her boss was already dead. She led me into a little lounge area that seemed to function like a break room. There was a mini-fridge and a couple of vending machines, as well as a microwave. I smiled to see the microwave - it was kind of an old-fashioned, quirky item for a witch or wizard to own. Generally, if we needed something reheated, we just used a spell. Although, I thought to myself, if my magic was going to continue being on the fritz, a microwave would probably come in handy.

  Ugh. What a depressing thought.

  I took a seat on a swivel chair across from Karrie, who sat very prim and proper in her own chair, folding her hands over her crossed legs in her pencil skirt and cardigan. She looked more like a kindergarten teacher than a murder suspect, to be honest. But if there was one thing I had learned from my experience working these mysteries, it was that appearances could be awfully deceiving sometimes.

  “So, what’s this bad news?” Karrie asked.