Daggers & Donuts Read online

  Daggers & Donuts

  Paranormal Cozy Mystery

  B I Skinner

  Contents

  1. Chapter 1

  2. Chapter 2

  3. Chapter 3

  4. Chapter 4

  5. Chapter 5

  6. Chapter 6

  7. Chapter 7

  8. Chapter 8

  9. Chapter 9

  10. Chapter 10

  11. Chapter 11

  12. Chapter 12

  13. Chapter 13

  14. Chapter 14

  15. Chapter 15

  16. Chapter 16

  17. Chapter 17

  18. Chapter 18

  19. Chapter 19

  20. Chapter 20

  21. Chapter 21

  Thank You!

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  “Hey, lady!” Marshall and Marcus, my rabbit familiars, shout at me. They’re actually my Gran’s familiars, who I inherited when she passed away. For some reason, when they start a sentence with “Hey lady,” it’s often a precursor of bad news.

  “Hey, rabbits,” I respond. “Don’t tell me you found another body.”

  Marcus, the leader of the two, shrugs his tiny rabbit shoulders. “Okay,” he says as they start to hop off.

  “Wait!” I call after them. “I was kidding. You didn’t really find a body, did you?”

  Last spring, Stumpy the cat found a body in a nearby park. Now amid the Crested Peaks 4th of July celebration, it appears that the rabbits are telling me there’s yet another dead body. How does this keep happening?

  “I suppose she could be taking a nap behind the tent,” Marshall offers.

  This doesn’t sound good at all.

  “Who could be taking a nap behind what tent?” I ask. I refuse to wrap my head around the idea that one of my familiars has discovered another untimely death.

  “The sparkly lady who’s lying on the ground behind the magician’s tent,” Marshall explains.

  “Perhaps she’s practicing a magic trick?” I offer.

  “Sure, if you say so,” says Marcus as they turn to leave again.

  I raise my hand. “Wait! Why don’t you show me?”

  I’ll humor them. I consider asking Detective Drew Bailey, with the Crested Peaks Police Department, who also happens to be my boyfriend, to come with us. He’s several booths down, drinking a beer, and joking with one of his friends, but I decide against it. What are the odds that they’ve actually found another body?

  I fall in behind the rabbits as they saunter in the direction of the magician’s tent. After my Gran died, in addition to her rabbits, I inherited her vegetarian breakfast café called Marcall’s. Yes, she named the restaurant after the rabbits.

  I’m the only one who can communicate with them - aside from Stumpy the cat - who they invited to come live with us without consulting me first. Now before this sounds too weird, Stumpy doesn’t talk to me; he talks to the rabbits, who then pass on what he said. Nope, it’s not weird at all.

  On our way to this supposed body, it hits me. “Did you say the lady was sparkly?”

  “Yep!”

  “Why did you say that?”

  “Because she glitters in the sun,” Marcus persists.

  Now I’m sure they don’t know what they’re talking about. I mean, who sparkles? “Where’s Stumpy, by the way?” When Stumpy found a body in the park the three of them came to the cafe to tell me.

  “Last time I saw him, he was chasing a grasshopper near the dunk tank,” Marshall tells me.

  As we approach the magician’s tent, I’m relieved that I don’t see anything unusual. “I don’t see anything, you guys. Are you sure you weren’t just imagining it?”

  “Sparkly lady is around back,” Marshall says as he and Marcus look at each other like I’m just too dumb to understand anything. They do that a lot. My grandma always claimed to have won them in a poker game. But that was decades ago, so no one is sure just how old they are.

  Gran was the only one who could communicate with them until she died last summer, and then somehow, the ability transferred to me. They don’t have magical powers like I do. They mostly just run around town scamming treats from people.

  They’re orange and white with helicopter ears. My Gran liked to say they look like Colby cheese. I’m impressed with the way they get around the town, given their size. They only weigh about four pounds each, but they seem to cover a large distance throughout Crested Peaks.

  As we walk between the magician’s tent and the one next to it, I’m dismayed to see a large object glinting in the sun. When we get closer, I realize it’s the rhinestone-studded costume of the magician’s assistant I saw perform at a show recently.

  I run to her side, but the dagger in her chest tells me there’s nothing I can do for her. Fear grips me as I realize there is indeed a body here, and I just found it. Again. I know I need to get Drew over here right away, but first, I lean over her to get a better look.

  My pulse quickens as I peer at her pale face. I start to back up when a blood-curdling scream reverberates off the surrounding tents. I’m so startled I jump back, and the rabbits take off across the park like they’ve been shot from a cannon. A woman is staring at the body in horror as she screams and points at me.

  “Shhhh!” I tell her because I can’t think of anything better to say, and I just want her to stop screaming.

  Chapter 2

  The noise draws a small crowd, and as others see the body, they shout and gasp in shock. I’m rooted to the spot while I continue to stand over the lifeless corpse. When Drew and two police officers round the corner to see what the commotion is about, the screaming woman pauses, takes a deep breath, points at me, and shouts, “She did it! I saw her!”

  Trust me when I say Drew does not look happy to see me here.

  “Charlotte! What are you doing here? What’s going on?”

  “Uhhhhh,” is the most brilliant thing I can think to say at the moment.

  “Secure the area!” Drew barks at the men with him. The officers quickly work to push the crowd back. One of them calls on his radio for barriers and yellow tape.

  Drew rushes to my side, guiding me away from the growing crowd, his hand gently tugging my elbow. “What happened, Char?” Concern, as well as frustration, etches his ruggedly handsome face.

  As I stare up into his deep emerald eyes, which are full of worry, I know he’s tired of finding me at crime scenes. I speak softly, so no one overhears us, “I don’t know! Marshall and Marcus came to get me. They told me they saw a body at the magician’s tent.”

  Drew sighs loudly. He’s one of the few people who know that the rabbits talk to me. And yes, that was a super fun conversation. Everybody knows I’m a witch, but not everyone would understand about the rabbit familiars.

  In a town like Crested Peaks, where Supernatural beings live openly with Non Supernatural beings, a witch is not that unusual. Enchanted rabbits, however, are an entirely different story

  “When did they tell you this?” he asks.

  “Not even ten minutes ago. They came up to me and said they found a body that sparkled.”

  Drew glances back at the body on the ground. “Rhinestones,” he mutters.

  “Yes. So, I followed them, hoping they were mistaken.”

  “Why didn’t you give me a head’s up? I was a few feet away.”

  “I told you. I was sure they were mistaken. What are the odds of them finding another body?”

  “Pretty good from the looks of it,” he responds grimly. “But what am I supposed to tell my captain about how you found the body? I obviously can’t tell him your talking rabbits lead you to it.”

  “I don’t know,” I sigh. “Tell him I was out walking and accidentally stum
bled across it.”

  The woman who had been screaming was giving her statement to the police. She keeps glaring at me accusingly. Great. Who knows what she’s telling them?

  “Walk me through this. What happened once you got here? Was the victim already like this?”

  I glare at him. “No, she was just standing here, minding her own business, until I stabbed her,” I retort.

  Now he’s even more frustrated. “I meant did you touch anything. Did you move the body at all? Obviously, you didn’t stab her!”

  People are watching us argue with growing interest. I hope they don’t think there’s anything suspicious happening. In a small town like Crested Peaks, nearly all the locals know that I’m dating a detective.

  They also know that this is the fourth body I’ve come across in less than a year. I wouldn’t want to get Drew in trouble and make it look like he was playing favorites. Given that I’m often in trouble with him for investigating things on my own anyway.

  “I swear I didn’t touch a thing. We walked up, and I saw her. I moved closer to get a better look, saw the dagger in her chest, and then that woman saw us and screamed. Scared the heck out of the rabbits and me. The rabbits took off across the park.”

  “Did you see or hear anything unusual?”

  “No.”

  “Which direction did you come from?”

  I point between the two tents. “We cut through there.”

  Just then, we hear a shout, “No Darla! No! No!” as Harold, the magician, sprints between the opposite side of the tents and straight for his assistant’s body. It takes two police officers to hold him back; he’s thrashing around so hard and wailing.

  “How did this happen? Who did this?” he cries while the officers pull him to the side.

  Last spring, while I was held at gunpoint by a mob kingpin, I experienced a surge of energy I’d never encountered before. A sense of profound knowing swept through my body while every nerve ending felt like it was tingling and crackling.

  It’s hard to describe it even now, and believe me, I’ve tried over and over since then to accurately label the sensation. I just knew that she was going to fire the gun on the FBI agent who was trying to help me. I wasn’t reading her mind or anything, but I just knew.

  And now, watching Harold, I have a similar feeling of knowing something. Yet, I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is. I just know without a doubt he has a secret he doesn’t want anyone to know about. I’m horrified. Did he kill his assistant? Is this grief all an act?

  ‘No!” Drew says so sharply I jump. I stare back at him, wondering what that’s all about.

  “I. Know. That. Look. By. Now.” he says very pointedly. “Don’t even think about getting involved in this.”

  “I was just watching him react to his assistant’s murder,” I explain innocently.

  “I know how you are, Charlotte. Stay out of this and let the police handle it.”

  “Okay. Okay,” I mutter as I hold my hands up in surrender. He glowers at me because neither one of us believes me.

  “You should get back to your booth while we work on things here. I’ll contact you if we need anything more.”

  “As my boyfriend, I assume you’ll be contacting me later, regardless?” I remind him.

  “Yes, of course,” he responds with a distracted look back. Drew is dedicated to his job and sometimes forgets things like eating, sleeping, and calling his girlfriend.

  But I head back to the booth we rented for the festival anyway. By now, I’ve learned to recognize when he’s in the zone, and I’ll just be in his way if I stick around.

  Chapter 3

  We sold Damien’s famous and outrageously delicious black bean breakfast burritos. In addition to some quadruple berry smoothies, which I mixed up myself using a little witchcraft. It’s a concoction made of blueberries, raspberries, goji berries, and strawberries with just a hint of almond extract. The berries, and a drop of magic, help boost the immune system. In addition to being delicious, of course.

  As I approach the booth, Damien, Marcall’s height-challenged but brilliant chef, and Miranda, my best friend and witching mentor, run to greet me. I notice that Miranda has colored her spiky hair red, white and blue for the occasion.

  “What happened? Are you okay? Is there really a body over there? Did you see it?” They fire questions at me in rapid succession without letting me answer.

  “We tried to get back there, but the police wouldn’t let us! What’s going on?” Damien asks.

  I sigh loudly as I start to grasp that there’s a dead woman not far from here. “The rabbits found a body and came to get me.”

  “Again?” Damien unhelpfully reminds me.

  “Do you know how she died?” Miranda asks.

  “I’d say the dagger in her chest is a good sign.”

  Miranda gasps, clasping her hand over her mouth while Damien cringes and shakes his head.

  “That’s horrible. Who would do such a thing?” Miranda cries.

  “Is it anybody we know?” Damien asks.

  “It looked like it was Darla, the magician’s assistant. I never met her, but I saw her perform at a show recently,” I tell them.

  When all the color drains from Damien’s face, I know something is terribly wrong. “Are you sure it was Darla?” he asks.

  “It certainly looked like her, and when Harold the magician showed up, he screamed Darla when he saw her. Why did you know her?”

  “She’s my cousin Cody’s girlfriend,” Damien whispers.

  “Oh, that’s awful.” I lay my hand on Damien’s arm for support because I don’t know what else to do at this point. “I’m not even sure what to say. Do you need to leave? I can take care of things here; you should go be with your family.”

  “But I don’t want to leave you here to handle this all by yourself.”

  Damien’s husband Tom steps up. “I’ll stay and help Charlotte finish, and then I’ll meet up with you afterward. Will that work?”

  I nod my head at him, “That’s a great idea. You go and be with your family right now, and Tom and I will pack things up and take them back to the café. I have a feeling the festival will be winding down now anyway.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it. I think I’ll run over to my mom’s house first. She should hear this from me.”

  I give my chef and dear friend a quick hug and send him on his way. What a horrible way to end the festival. Damien was Marcall’s chef while my Gran was still alive, and I’m incredibly grateful he chose to stay on even after she passed.

  He’s not only a gifted chef but he’s also become one of my dearest friends. He’s the cautious one who tries his best to keep Miranda and me in line. It rarely works, but he definitely tries.

  I glance over at Tom as he begins to gather up the leftover napkins. "When the rabbits said she was sparkly, I didn’t understand what they meant at first. That’s also why I hoped they were wrong.

  “But when we got there, she was lying on the ground on her back, with the dagger sticking out of her chest. And she was still wearing her performance costume. Sparkling in the sunlight.”

  Tom lets out a low whistle, “That makes what, the fourth body you’ve found in a year? The fourth you’ve found since you’ve been back in Crested Peaks, right? People must be starting to won—”

  He stops short when he sees Miranda make slashing motions across her throat, and when he turns to find me scowling at him, his cheeks turn pink. “Oops, sorry about that. I talk too much when I’m upset. I just can’t believe this happened to someone I know.”

  “It looks I was right. The surest way to clear out a festival is a dead body,” I point out as the three of us scan the area noting how empty everything suddenly got.

  “What should we do with the leftovers,” Tom asks. “I hate to just waste it.”

  I point to the First Aid tent. “Let’s give it to them.” Tom quickly boxes up the leftovers and heads over to the tent where the nurses and EMTs volunteer to help rev
elers suffering from heatstroke or bee stings.

  They’re thrilled to get the breakfast burritos and smoothies, and I make a note to offer free food to first responders at events from now on. We pack up the remainder of our things and get ready to head back to the café.

  Bubbles, Tom and Damien’s rescued Pibble, trots along at my side cheerfully. She’s wearing a festive red, white, and blue bow today. She’s such a happy dog who loves everyone and always looks like she’s smiling. Marshall, Marcus, and Stumpy are sitting atop the supplies packed in the wagon, waiting to be wheeled home.

  All three of them give Bubbles the evil eye. “Does she talk to you?” I ask. I’ve been wondering about that for a while but haven’t asked until now.

  Tom looks up at me sharply. He knows that even though Damien is used to the paranormal activity, for which Crested Peaks is well known, there’s just something about the talking rabbits that makes him nervous. He’d really freak if his dog could talk.

  “Nope!” says Marcus. “That’s the creepy part. She doesn’t say a word. Just sits there with that ridiculous grin on her face and drooling. It’s unnatural if you ask me.”

  I laugh. “A dog that doesn’t talk is unnatural. Of course.” Stumpy looks down at her from his lofty perch swishing his tail angrily.

  I wave at Miranda, whose coffee shop is several booths down, to let her know we’re leaving. Tom pulls the wagon while Marshall, Marcus, and Stumpy ride along as if they just naturally expect others to cater to their every need. Meanwhile, Bubbles keeps up her stride along with us, not a care in the world.

  When we arrive back at the cafe, Gladys, the town gossip, is out front chatting with a friend. Gladys has all the tea, all the time, and prides herself on it. If you need information, she’s the one to consult.

  A few months ago, she discovered that two famous reality TV stars were hiding out in a cabin nearby. But the surprise was they weren’t the two who were supposed to be together.

  As far as the rest of the world knew, the star of the show was happily engaged to the winner. Gladys, however, broke the news that he wasn’t with the first-place winner, but the woman who came in fourth place instead!