Twistchapel Witch Cozy Mystery Box Set: Books 1-4 plus Christmas Short Read online

  "Sure," nodded Drake.

  We came around the corner, past the front desk, and into the waiting room. Everyone was still there, except for the man I saw earlier.

  "Dang it, he left," I murmured.

  "Were you feeling threatened by this guy?" asked Drake.

  "Maybe... no. I don't know."

  "Why did you want to ID him?"

  "It's kind of complicated."

  "You know, since I've gotten to this town, that phrase could describe pretty much everything," he said.

  "Really? Some people find Twistchapel boring," I said, glancing down at Bart. The cat looked up at me, unamused.

  "A murder, a nosy, pretty grocery store owner, and a mysterious man with a ponytail?" asked Drake. "I don't know how anyone could describe this place as boring."

  "Did... did he just call you pretty?" asked Bart.

  "I'm not nosy," I said defensively as Drake held the station door open. "I just want to keep my innocent employees safe."

  Drake sighed as we walked out. "I know you don't want to believe this, Miss Foster, but all signs seem to be pointing to Thomas."

  "He wasn't even there that night!"

  "That's what suspects always say, but he's got no alibi. How could you know he wasn't? Unless there's someone else I should be talking to that was with him when Mr. Spinner was killed, it won't do Thomas any good."

  This would be so much easier if Derek was willing to show himself. Stupid Derek. Stupid werewolf organization.

  "So how do you think he did it?" I asked, as we arrived at Coffee Hut, a regional favorite.

  "Excuse me?"

  "I want to know how you believe Thomas got by all of the party goers without being seen, convinced Mr. Spinner to come into the forest, killed him, and then ran away with the murder weapon without being seen once again," I said.

  "This is technically a still ongoing investigation. I shouldn't really be letting you know classified information," he said, before turning to the barista and placing his order.

  "I'll share some info with you, if you share some info with me," I offered.

  "You're holding back information from the police?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Oops.

  "Not exactly. There just may or may not be some additional details that I may have forgotten and hearing new info could jog my memory," I said.

  "Smooth," said Bart dryly.

  Drake examined me with a small smile. "Okay. This stays off the record, though, and you didn't hear this from me."

  "Absolutely!" I couldn't believe that worked!

  "I believe that Thomas took his Wusthof knife with him to Bridgette's bonfire. She already told me that everyone from your store was invited, so it makes sense that he could have gone as well. Thomas has lived in this town for decades and would've been familiar with the streets and land that Dan and Bridgette now own."

  I nodded along. Coming from Drake's perspective, that wasn't impossible. Unlikely, but not impossible.

  "He parked his car somewhere in the woods, far enough away that no one from the party would accidentally find it, but close enough to get to it before anyone could catch him. After that, he must have followed Mr. Spinner into the forest, attacked him, and then drove off. Thomas acted like he misplaced his knife when you and I talked with him, and probably pitched it in a river somewhere."

  "Sir, your order's ready," said the barista, putting a cup of coffee on the bar.

  We walked over to pick up the coffee and took a seat at a nearby table.

  "Have Bridgette and Dan ever had Thomas over to their place before?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

  Drake shook his head. "No. Which would make it very difficult for him to park his car and not be seen, while knowing where the party was. However, with it being a bonfire, the light and smoke stack could've been enough to act as a guide for him."

  "Is there any other possible scenario?" I asked.

  "Well... there was another hypothesis early on, but I quickly threw it out," admitted Drake.

  "What was it?"

  "Like I said, I already threw it out."

  "I'll knock your other coffee over, too!" I warned him. I wiggled my elbow closer to his cup.

  "Okay, okay, watch it! I'll tell you," he laughed. "The markings on his chest almost appeared to be claw marks, like from an animal."

  "Really?" I asked, casting a glance down to Bart. The cat shared a look with me.

  "Yes. However, an animal wouldn't just strike and kill a man in walk away. It would've at least somewhat tried to eat him, but there were no bite marks."

  "Maybe a man ordered the animal to attack, and then called it off once it did the dirty work. What about the black hair?" I asked, recalling the scene again. "I thought that would've been the killer's hair?"

  "That's the other thing. When forensics came by, I pointed that out to them as well. They said it wasn't human hair, but the fur of a black dog or-"

  "Wolf," I finished for him, standing up. It suddenly clicked for me. Why would Mr. Spinner come into the forest, unless he knew the person he was walking to talk to? The werewolves were being trained at night, causing them to stay out late. There was only one person it could be.

  "Right," nodded Drake. "But it must have just been a coincidence. There's no way a wolf would just attack him and leave him there. As far as I know, no one in the town keep any wolves, either."

  "I... I think I know who did it!" I said, running for the door.

  "Wait, Zoey, where are you going?!" called out Drake, chasing after me.

  "I know who killed Mr. Spinner!"

  "Hold on, you're not giving me any info. I don't have my gun or handcuffs on me, either," he said. "Let's talk about this."

  "Go get them and meet me at Sophie's house!" I shouted, running down the sidewalk.

  "Zoey, what's going on?" asked Bart, scurrying quickly to keep up with me.

  "I know who did it, trust me," I huffed out between breaths.

  "I do, but do you really want to go there before Drake can get his things? What if you need him?"

  "I thought you wanted some excitement in your life, Bart?"

  The familiar laughed.

  Chapter 10

  I knocked over and over on Sophie's door with both fists, praying she was okay.

  "Sophie! Sophie are you in there?" I yelled.

  After a few seconds, the door swung open.

  "Oh, thank goodness," I said breathlessly, walking in. "Sophie, I know you're not going to believe me, but..."

  I turned back towards the door when I made it into the middle of the hallway, expecting to see Sophie holding the door. Instead, it was her husband. He had a familiar looking knife in his free hand as he pushed the door back to close it.

  "Oh... H-Hi Jeff," I said nervously, walking backwards into their living room as the man approached me. "H-How are you doing?"

  "Oh, I'm doing just fine, Miss Foster," he said. "How about you?"

  "I'm... I'm doing okay," I smiled. I risked a look down to see where Bart was, figuring maybe he could help me out.

  I almost tripped. He wasn't there.

  "What are you looking for?" asked Jeff.

  "Where are Sophie and the kids?" I asked.

  "I would never hurt them," he said.

  "I wasn't saying you'd hurt them," I said. This wasn't going as I hoped. "I just wanted to know if they were in the house or not."

  "I convinced them to head out of town to our lake house."

  "Why?"

  "I came home the other day and found Sophie crying," said Jeff, glaring at me. "She said you came by, asking questions. I figured you'd eventually figure out it was me, and be coming by sooner or later. I needed to make sure I was here to stop you from telling Sophie the truth."

  "You're going to stop me from telling Sophie the truth?" I asked. This was going badly.

  "Sophie and the kids mean everything to me. Everything! All that I've done, and all I'm about to do, is for them."

  Thi
s was going very badly.

  He raised Thomas' Wusthof knife threateningly towards me.

  This was going very, very badly.

  "Before you... you know, kill me, can I try to guess what happened?" I asked. I was trying to stall for time, but also really wanted to see if I was right.

  Jeff hesitated, then lowered the knife. "Sure. I'm in no rush."

  I took a deep breath. "I think several months ago, maybe further back, you were bitten by a strange wolf. Afterwords, you were approached by someone who wanted to help you. You began meeting with them at night to get better control over your... new abilities."

  Jeff stared back at me, showing no emotion. I took that as encouragement to go on.

  "While you were doing this, your father-in-law, Mr. Spinner, must have run into you when you were changing back and forth."

  "Ed and I used to be close," said Jeff sadly. "I know a lot of people in town hated him, but I felt like we had a connection. He saw me transform when I was heading back home early one night, and threatened to tell everyone. He said that they'd put me to death for being a... a... freak."

  "That wasn't fair of him to-"

  "The only way he wouldn't do it, is if I divorced Sophie," he continued. "He said if I just left and never came back, then he wouldn't tell her anything, and would make sure that she and the kids were taken care of. Sophie didn't know, and still doesn't know."

  "I see," I said. This filled in a few missing pieces in my head and completed the picture for me. "You and Sophie were friends with Bridgette too, and had been to her place before. You told Sophie to stay home, while you went and scouted out a place to meet up with Mr. Spinner."

  "I never meant to hurt him," said Jeff. "I just wanted to scare him, you know? I couldn't leave Sophie, and he just needed to keep his mouth shut. That's all he needed to do. I'd been drinking a lot that day, trying to build up the courage to tell him. When I told him, he said he was going to Sophie and everyone in town. I transformed into a wolf to scare him, but got carried away. The next thing I knew, I was staring down at his body. I had to get away, and just ran off into the forest."

  "One of my employees mentioned they saw a giant dog outside of the store the next morning," I said. For once, Charline came in handy. "You came and stole Thomas' knife. Why?"

  "I was there at the end of the argument between Thomas and Mr. Spinner. I saw how angry Thomas was, and figured other people saw it, too. I knew the police were going to be looking for a suspect, and figured Thomas might make a good one. I snuck into your store and took the sharpest looking knife he had, and came back home before Sophie woke up. When the new detective came by to question us, I mentioned that I saw Mr. Spinner and Thomas arguing the day of the murder. I figured they would suspect either an animal did it, or it was someone with a knife. Thomas was just unlucky. Kind of like you."

  He took another step towards me.

  "What do you think is going to happen, Jeff?" I asked, trying to stay calm. Why wasn't Drake here yet? I needed to keep stalling. "Hmm? They'll find evidence in this house if you kill me."

  "That's the plan," he snarled. "I'm going to make this look like a murder with Thomas' knife."

  "But... Thomas is locked up," I said. "How could he kill me from jail?"

  "I'm breaking him out tonight. I'm going to sneak in while the guards are half asleep, and tell Thomas that the other werewolves and I are bringing him to safety. I'll then bring him here, telling him this is where we'll meet up with the others. When we're alone, I'll tie up the final loose end."

  He raised the knife, and advanced on me.

  "Sorry it had to be this way, Zoey. You always seemed nice."

  I had to do something, but was too afraid to summon fire. If only I knew some sort of defensive spell. But maybe... maybe I could bluff him?

  I held out my hand and did the best I could to focus my energy on it. I tried to remember the feeling I had when practicing it with Bart the other day, and began to feel warmth in my hand. Suddenly, light filled my hand and the room.

  I did it! A ball of pure light!

  "Wha... What is that?! How are you doing that!?" stammered Jeff. The way he held his knife now seemed more defensive than threatening.

  "Didn't you think it was strange how I didn't freak out about you being a werewolf?" I asked.

  "I-I guess I hadn't really thought about it."

  "You aren't the only paranormal being in Twistchapel," I said. I cleared my throat and tried to sound confident and powerful. "I am a witch!"

  Jeff's eyes widened and he took a step back.

  "If you don't back off, I'll summon silver," I said. I thought I heard once that werewolves were scared of silver. I didn't really understand why, but that didn't matter at the moment.

  Jeff looked around wildly, unsure of what to do.

  "When my family finds out what I am, they will never be able to look at me again," said Jeff, the knife trembling in his hand.

  "If you give yourself up and admit you are the murderer, I promise to not tell anyone your secret," I said. "Sophie and the kids wouldn't want you to kill more people, Jeff. Think about them!"

  "You... you won't tell people what I am? You promise?"

  "I promise, Jeff."

  Jeff thought about it for a moment. "Okay. I'll do it-"

  "Freeze!" yelled a voice from the other room. I quickly let go of the light energy and put both of my hands up.

  Drake stormed into the room, his pistol raised at Jeff.

  "Drop the knife, Jeff! Don't make this worse than it already is!" he shouted.

  Jeff sighed, dropping the knife and putting his hands up.

  Drake walked over and grabbed the werewolf's arms, bringing them behind his back.

  "Took you long enough," I said.

  "Good job keeping the door ajar, Zoey," said Drake, cuffing Jeff. "It would have taken a lot longer if we had to wait to get a warrant. I heard the sound of you and Jeff frantically talking through the opening, so I came in."

  The door was open? But I saw Jeff close it.

  "Dang, that smarts," said Bart, coming into the room. He was licking one of his front paws. "I materialized for a second just to keep the door from closing all the way by using my paw as a doorstop, and I forgot how much physical pain hurts! I don't know how you humans put up with it."

  I smiled my thanks at Bart. I owed him one.

  "Maybe you're more than just a grocery store owner," smirked Drake.

  "Oh, I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve," I said. "Trust me."

  Epilogue

  "You really summoned the ball of light?" asked Bart, trotting along next to me.

  "I did!" I said defensively. "I don't know why you don't believe me!"

  "Oh, I don't know... maybe because conveniently no one else was there to see it?"

  "I'll show you it to you later, I promise," I said, walking into Foster's Market.

  "We'll see. That will be pretty amazing if you can already do it, but that'll mean we get to move on to learning other spells."

  "Sounds good to me," I smiled. After the run in with Jeff, I realized that learning a bit more about my powers probably couldn't hurt.

  "Talking to yourself again, Miss Foster?" laughed Eric, stacking some oranges.

  "You keep catching me," I said playfully. "How are things going for you? Glad to be back in produce?"

  "Very much so," he nodded. "It's also a relief to have Thomas back. I'm not so sure Jimmy is happy for me to be back here, but he'll get over it."

  "Be sure to tell me if he gives you any problems."

  "I think we'll be okay," he laughed.

  Bart and I made our way towards the back. After Jeff was arrested the previous day, I took the day off. I put Bridgette in charge of the store, and told them only to call me if there was an emergency. Luckily, there wasn't.

  I came up to the meat counter and gave Thomas a small wave. "Morning, Thomas!"

  The butcher hurried around to the front and gave me a big hug.
<
br />   "Aww," cooed Bart. "How sweet."

  I shot Bart a look, who was smiling up at me mockingly.

  "I can never thank you enough, Zoey," said Thomas, a quiver in his voice.

  "No need to thank me, Thomas. You're the best butcher in town, it'd be horrible for business if we lost you," I laughed.

  "Derek told me he talked with you," he whispered. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

  "Thanks," I said, blushing as we broke away from the hug. It was strange knowing that someone else knew I was a witch.

  "Good morning, Miss Foster," said a familiar voice. I turned around to see a smiling Drake standing there, hands in his pockets. Drake questioned me on how I knew it was Jeff, who had confessed to the murder and framing Thomas, after he made the arrest. I told him it was just a gut feeling, which didn't seem to satisfy him.

  "Detective Drake," I said.

  "Oh, I've finally earned the honorific 'detective' from you?" he chuckled. "You can leave it at just Drake. Listen, I'm glad you're both here. I wanted to apologize, especially to you, Thomas." Drake reached his hand out to the meat cutter.

  "No worries, Detective," said Thomas, shaking his hand. "You were just doing your job. I would've thought I did it, too. Besides, you helped me find my knife! Maybe it was for the best I was taken in."

  "That's definitely one way to look at it," laughed Drake, pulling me aside.

  "What's up?" I asked.

  "You put yourself in unnecessary danger," said Drake, shaking his head. "In the future, please promise to wait for the police to get there first."

  "In the future?" I asked.

  "I have a a bad feeling you might have caught a sleuthing bug," smirked Drake.

  "I'm afraid I might have," I agreed, smiling back at him.

  "Maybe Twistchapel isn't so boring after all," Bart meowed.

  The End.

  The Suspicious Spirit

  Twistchapel Cozy Mystery #2

  by Alexandria Westbay

  Chapter 1

  “I still don’t understand why you feel like you need to go,” said Bart, licking his paw while on my pillow. He knew I hated that. Bart was my cat familiar, and while he was normally not material, he could pop into the physical world at will. My pillow would always mysteriously be wet, even though he claimed he was staying a specter.