Catnaps & Crimes E-Book

Race Lucinda

• Herausgeber: MC Two Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Enjoy this clean, small town, paranormal cozy mystery by award winning and bestselling author, Lucinda Race.

Welcome to Pembroke Cove, where witches and murders are multiplying...

Book store owner and novice witch Lily Michaels is struggling to get a handle on her new powers. The book “Practical Beginnings” is showing her random spells to learn, and her familiar, the talking cat, Milo, isn’t much help. She doesn’t need any more distractions, but when a car crashes just outside the bookstore, Lily is first on the scene. It’s more than just an automobile accident. Bullet holes can be deadly. The victim, shady real estate agent Teddy Roberts, was dead before his fancy sports car ever hit that pole.

Investigating the crime scene is Detective Gage Erikson, or as Milo calls him, Detective Cutie. His crush on Lily is not-so-secret to anyone but her, but she’s acting like he’s a distraction she doesn’t need. Is he her boyfriend, or just her best friend? He just needs to keep her out of trouble while he traces clues to the crime.

But a mystery is like catnip to Lily. She’s willing to admit she has a tiny bit of a reputation for investigating things she shouldn’t. She’s trying to balance her growing feelings for Gage while keeping her witchy secret from him and solve a murder. Teddy had plenty of people with reasons to do him in. Will Lily’s best protection spell be enough to keep her and Gage safe while they work together to catch a killer?

Catnaps and Crimes is the second novel in A Book Store Cozy Mystery Series, although each book can be read as standalone. A sweet and clean cozy mystery with a guarantee the culprit is caught. Happy reading!
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Leseprobe

Catnaps & Crimes

A Cozy Witch Mystery

Book Store Cozy Mystery Series

Book 2

Lucinda Race

MC Two Press

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 Lucinda Race

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Author Lucinda Race.

Editor Trish Long

Cover design by Mariah Sinclair

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition May 2023

Print Edition 978-1-954520-63-9

E-book ISBN 978-1-954520-45-5

Contents

Author’s Note

1. Lily

2. Lily

3. Gage

4. Lily

5. Lily

6. Gage

7. Lily

8. Lily

9. Gage

10. Lily

11. Lily

12. Gage

13. Lily

14. Lily

15. Gage

16. Lily

17. Lily

18. Gage

19. Lily

20. Lily

Chapter 1 - Lily

A Free Story for You

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About the Author

Author’s Note

Hi and welcome to my world of cozy mystery. I hope you love my characters as much I do. So, turn the page and happy sleuthing .

If you’d like to stay in touch, please join my Newsletter. I release it twice per month with tidbits, recipes and an occasional special gift just for my readers so sign up here: https://lucindarace.com/newsletter/ and there’s a free cozy mystery when you join!

Happy reading…

Chapter1

Lily

QUICK NOTE: If you enjoy Catnaps & Crimes, be sure to check out my offer for a FREE novella at the end. With that, happy reading.

I peeked out the front door of my bookshop, the Cozy Nook, right after I heard the nails-on-the-chalkboard kind of grating, but it was metal grinding on metal. A sound that jarred my last nerve. I had spent the last hour trying to perfect a levitation spell, to no avail.

“Milo,” I called to my gray tabby cat. “Did you hear that?” If any customer had been in the shop, they’d assume I always talked to my cat like he understood, but in this case, he could. Milo was my familiar.

He slunk into the room. “What are you yelling about? I was having a perfectly peaceful snooze in the sun.”

No doubt on the kitchen counter again, but I didn’t care. My space was his space. I had come to terms with the fact that we’d be together for life, even if he annoyed me at times. But that was bound to happen in the best of relationships. “There’s been a car accident in the town square.” I pulled open the door. “I’m going to make sure everyone is okay.”

“Right. You want to investigate the scene of the accident.”

I glared at him over my shoulder. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Lily, you’re a witch, not a cop. Leave the mundane stuff to the police. Call your boyfriend, Gage.”

I sighed the minute Milo mentioned Gage’s name. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s a friend who is a man.” I slammed the door behind me and hurried over the brick sidewalk to where a late model sports car had veered into a metal flag pole at the edge of the town square, in front of town hall. The driver couldn’t have hit that dead center any better if there had been a bull’s-eye on it.

A few shop owners and customers had come out of the different stores to see what had happened. From where I was standing, I could see inside the car. The driver was slumped against the steering wheel and on the cream-colored leather dashboard was a fast-growing pool of red. I looked over to Beatrice, who owned Bee Bee’s Boutique and Tucker Ross from the hardware store. They were huddled together, pointing, talking, and watching. Jerilyn Busch was just going into the Sweet Spot, and Gretchen Wilson was frozen in place on the sidewalk. All around, locals were milling about, starting their day.

I shouted to anyone who would listen. “Call the police and tell them we need an ambulance. The driver looks to be hurt pretty bad.” I refocused my attention on the car and driver. Smoke was drifting up from the engine compartment and I hoped that wasn’t a sign a fire was brewing under the hood. I could light a candle but didn’t have any idea how to put a fire out. New witch here. I tried the door handle, but the door was locked or jammed. Then I tapped on the glass. Again, the driver didn’t move, and I couldn’t tell if he was awake. His dark-brown fedora was pulled low, obscuring his face. I ran around the back of the car and attempted to open the passenger door, but I noticed the front fender was jammed back against the door. There was no way I was going to open it.

The wail of sirens was growing closer, and I hoped Gage was coming too. Even though he was a detective and not just a cop, he had a calming influence on everyone, including me. I beat on the driver's window again. “Hey, you need to get out of the car.” The wisps of smoke were getting bigger. What if the car burst into flames? The shops nearby could be in danger. I closed my eyes. Did any of the spells I had learned work in this situation? Would the protection spell be effective? So far I had only tried it on my Aunt Mimi when she was the prime suspect in a murder investigation of the former head librarian, and then Gage when the assistant librarian was zeroing in on him after she had a break with reality. She was out to harm Gage and, of course, me too.

In the brief moments I was alone, I tried to decide how best to throw up a protection spell for the buildings and people. Finally, the fire truck, two police cars, an ambulance, and a dark-colored sedan rolled up, all parking at odd angles as if surrounding the scene from prying eyes.

“Gage!” I yelled. “It’s smoking.” I pointed to the hood of the car.

“Lily, are you okay?”

I was relieved to see his tall, well-built frame headed in my direction. It was sweet. His first concern was for me and not the accident victim, but after what we had been through a few weeks ago with the murder investigation, I surmised it was to be expected. “I’m fine, but the driver is another story.” I jabbed a finger in that direction. “I’ve knocked on the glass, tried to open the doors, but no luck. There’s so much blood.”

He called to the firefighters and waved his hands in the smoke's direction. “We need the jaws of life and be prepared for an engine fire.”

Emergency personnel sprang into action. I moved to the sidewalk, away from the controlled chaos. The whine of machinery pried open the driver’s door, and fire suppressant blanketed the engine compartment. I watched as Officers Peabody and Sullivan questioned the group of onlookers, trying to determine if anyone had actually seen the accident happen. I noticed Ross Frederick coming down the street, and when he saw the car, he froze, then hurried in the opposite direction.

Gage had stepped to one side and was on his cell phone. His light-brown hair dipped over his eyes. The worried expression on his face conveyed the seriousness of the situation. Several tense minutes later, the door was yanked from the car.

Two EMTs rushed forward. The first leaned in. I could see her mouth moving, but I was too far away to hear what she was saying. She eased the person back against the seat, then pressed her fingers to his neck and pulled out a stethoscope and placed the round disc against his chest. She leaned in closer and then withdrew. “Detective Erikson?”

Gage held up his finger, showing he’d be another minute. He said a few more words and then put his phone into his jacket pocket. This was the first time I noticed I was chilled to the bone. I rubbed my hands over my arms, all the while keeping an eye on Gage and the person who had checked over the driver. Dang it, I wished I had super hearing or better, a spell that would help me hear conversations at a distance. I’d have to consult my book, Practical Beginnings, to see if such a thing existed.

The expression on Gage’s face didn’t change, but in his hazel eyes, I saw the truth. I could tell the news was grim. He nodded twice. In addition, based on the fact that no one else was taking care of the man, it had been a tragic turn of events, and the car crash had taken a person’s life.

Peabody crossed the grass to where I was waiting. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low bun at the base of her police hat. Her uniform was pressed, and her shoes were freshly shined. “Lily. I hear you were first at the scene. Will you tell me what you saw?”

“How are you, Sharon?” She had only been on the force a short while, and as far as I knew, no one called her by her given name except me. She seemed to prefer Peabody.

“I’m fine. Now can you tell me what you saw?” Her words came out clipped, and she held her small notepad out, pen poised, ready to capture my every word.

My eyes stayed on the car, or what was left of it. “I heard the sound of metal on metal. The crash. I ran out and went to the driver’s door, tapped on the glass, and asked if he was okay. When he didn’t answer and I couldn’t get the door open, I tried the other side. Same result. At that point, I heard the sirens, and you all arrived.”

“Did you see any other cars, like someone who might have been involved in the crash?”

I shook my head and wrapped my stiff arms around my body. I started to shiver. “No. When I came out, there wasn’t even anyone on the sidewalk. It was just the car.”

She nodded, jotted something down, and closed her pad. “If you think of anything else, you’ll call the police station?”

Peabody posed it as a question, since I had a tiny bit of a reputation for investigating things I shouldn’t. It wasn’t really my fault. I loved puzzles and had a burning desire to find the answers. “Of course I will.”

She quirked a brow as if challenging the validity of that statement but didn’t respond before walking away. The low heels of her dark boots didn’t make a sound on the brick sidewalk, and she had her hand on the butt of her firearm, as if keeping it secured.

Gage walked over to me. “How are you doing?”

His tall, muscular frame towered over me, but his height made me feel safe. I shrugged. “Okay.” A shiver raced down my spine, as much from the cold as something else. But I couldn’t put my finger on what. Possibly my intuition, but why would that be poking at me? This was an unfortunate accident.

Gage slipped his jacket off and wrapped it around my shoulders. “That should help.”

I noticed the license plate on the car. Maine. But no one I knew locally drove a fancy sports car. It was impractical with the amount of snow we received each winter. But they could store it and have something else to drive. “Any idea who the driver is?”

“Detective Erikson. A moment, please?” Mac Sullivan, the other police officer, called to him and gestured for Gage to come back to the car.

“Why don’t you get back inside, and I’ll come over to the shop before I take off?”

I went to hand him the jacket, and he said, “Keep it. I’ll get it later.”

He was a sweet man, and that familiar pang of wishing for something, namely Gage in my life, lingered in my heart. “I’ll put on some tea.”

He touched my arm, and my heart skipped before he jogged to where Mac and Peabody were waiting for him. My gaze went back to the car, where the poor driver was still belted into the seat. The smoke had evaporated, and I figured a wrecker would be called to remove the car. That poor man. I didn’t look back as I crossed the street to my shop.

I placed a hand on the doorknob and was about to turn it when I saw Dax Peters striding down the sidewalk. His tall, thin frame had grown downright skinny over the last few weeks. We had met him for the first time when he came into my shop, declaring that Aunt Mimi was innocent of killing Flora Gray. Of course, he was right, but what was he doing here and why now?

I stepped inside the shop and watched from the window. He made a beeline for Gage, Peabody, and Mac. An animated conversation ensued, and Dax strode to the car. He walked around the outside and leaned into the now doorless driver’s side. He looked at the driver but didn’t move the hat back from his face. Then he seemed to take a long look around the interior before straightening up.

I kept a sharp eye on him. What did he see? Dax looked at my shop. His eyes seemed to bore into mine, and I got the distinct impression he had just told me to keep my nose out of his investigation. A prickling sensation spread down my arms. Investigation?

I knew from watching Netflix crime shows that car accidents didn’t warrant a fancy law enforcement person to look into things. It was the local police department that handled those mundane details. The only time they brought in the heavy hitters was when something hinky had been going on.

Gage walked to Dax, and they both looked toward my shop. Gage shook his head, and I hoped he was defending me from this interloper. All I knew about Dax was he showed up in Pembroke, said he had friends in town, and he’d be here for a little longer. But it had been almost a month, and in my book, that was not a short time. Especially since it wasn’t tourist season any longer. But there must be something about this accident that wasn’t normal. I had to know what it could be.

Milo jumped up on the windowsill next to me. “What did you find out? Someone driving too fast and crashed into the pole?” He began to lick his paw, completely unconcerned for the happenings outside the shop. “Those fancy cars fold like sardine cans.” He looked up at me. “You know I’ve been such a good help mastering a few spells. How about I get a can of sardines as a treat?”

I couldn’t help but snort. “It’s been three weeks, and I still haven’t mastered the levitation spell, so no sardines for you until I do.”

He growled like a lion, which I still found unnerving that he could do that. “Maybe my witch needs to spend more time practicing and less time drooling over Detective Cutie over there.” He hopped down and trotted off in the direction of the back room.

I didn’t have the chance to protest that I didn’t drool over Gage, and Milo should really stop calling him Detective Cutie. Where had that even come from? Certainly nothing I had said.

A movement caught my eye. Jill Dilly was running across the town square, her arms waving in the air as she called to Gage. He met her halfway between the car accident and my shop. And she stopped. I could see her chest was heaving as if she had run quite a distance.

I cracked open the shop door and turned my head with my ear directed toward them. With any luck, I could hear part of the conversation, if not all.

“Detective, who was driving that car?” She leaned around him, straining to catch a glimpse of the wreck.

“Jill. We haven’t made a positive ID yet, and until we do, we’re not releasing any information. We have to contact the family first.”

“It’s Teddy Roberts, isn’t it?”

My mouth fell open, and I snapped it shut before I could burst out a comment that no one needed to hear.

“Jill. When I can tell you something, I promise to call you. For now, please go home.”

He gently turned Jill back in the direction she came from. Seeming to vacillate between doing what he said and her wanting to know, he pointed to where her car must be. “I promise I’ll be in touch.”

Her shoulders sagged, and with a catch in her voice, she said, “I know that’s Teddy’s car.”

Gage looked at me. I didn’t care that he caught me listening. He turned to come into the shop, and I opened the door wide. When he came inside, I took his jacket off and handed it to him.

“Before you ask, I’m going to tell you.” He gave me a sharp look. “But this doesn’t give you carte blanche to investigate.”

I slowly nodded. “It was Teddy in the car?”

“It was.”

“Poor guy, to die in a stupid car accident.”

Gage's face was grim. “Teddy Roberts was dead before he hit the pole. He had been shot.”

Chapter2

Lily

My mouth dropped open, and I snapped it shut. “Teddy Roberts is dead?” I couldn’t believe what Gage was saying. “That’s not possible, and he was shot? By whom?” I looked out the window at the crowd which had gathered. Peabody and Mac were handling crowd control, and they stretched the heart-sinking yellow tape around the mangled car in a semicircle. Without looking at him, I said, “I didn’t hear a pop, just the metal grinding.”

“You might not have. I’m assuming the door was closed to the shop, and you were working. Even with sound traveling, you probably wouldn’t have heard it. And there is always a chance there was a silencer involved.”

He stated it in a matter-of-fact way. I was taken aback. I sucked in a sharp breath. “In Pembroke?” Those little cogs in my brain meshed. “It has something to do with Dax Peters, doesn’t it?”

Gage’s silence spoke volumes. He turned away and walked in the direction of the back room. “Any chance I can have a coffee?”

He knew to help himself and asking was a way to keep me from diving deeper into my own questions. But the truth of our situation is that wouldn’t stop me. Just slow me down for a millisecond. I handed him two mugs from the shelf. One said Booked for the Weekend, and the other said Just One More Page. The coffee machine sputtered as it brewed the Hawaiian blend I had picked up.

“Smells good.” He added cream to our mugs and carried them out front to the wingback chairs near the window. It had an excellent view of what was now the crime scene.

“Don’t you need to get out there again?”

He shook his head, and a look of disgust slipped over his face. “Dax took charge. I’m waiting until he needs some help with the locals. Law enforcement types like him drive me crazy.” He sipped his coffee. “Go ahead. Ask.”

Had he just given me the opening I wanted? I set my coffee on the round table between us. “To be clear, I can ask questions about Teddy?”

He inclined his head. “This doesn’t mean I want you investigating, but I figure it’s better you ask me directly instead of going around behind my back. We’ve found that gets you into sticky situations.”

That was an understatement. Almost getting hit over the head with a baseball bat was life-threatening. I wasn’t about to remind him of what might have happened. In an attempt to get away I threw myself down the stone steps. If my aunt and my best friend, Nikki, who both happened to be witches, hadn’t provided me with a soft landing at the bottom of the stairs… I gave an involuntary shudder.

Gage was watching me closely. He knew my moods, and I swore he could read my mind half the time. “If you’re not interested in poking around this problem, we don’t need to talk about it.”

“It’s not that. I was just thinking about how I had suspected Teddy of killing Flora and now he’s dead. What are the odds?”

He leaned forward, his clasped hands resting on his jean-covered thighs. “I was never clear as to why you thought he was guilty other than he was paying off Flora. Care to refresh my memory?”

“Could that be the reason someone killed him?” This was an entirely different opportunity to see if I could follow the clues and solve the puzzle—well, murder.

“Lily, I just saw that gleam come into your eye, and you need to let Dax solve this one.”

I held up my hands as if I were pleading innocence. “I never said I was going to investigate. But if I have pertinent information, I’m going to share it with our favorite lawman, Dax.”

“Tell me what you think you know.”

He settled into a more relaxed position in the chair. Milo had sauntered out from wherever he had been napping and hopped up in my lap. He gave me a sly wink, and I hoped Gage hadn’t seen that. It might be hard to explain. But under normal circumstances, with a cat who wasn’t a familiar, they winked just to get something out of their eye. I had nothing to worry about.

“Remember the night I told you Nikki and I went to Teddy’s place and we saw him with some man we didn’t recognize, along with Marshall Stone and Jill Dilly?”

“The night your house was ransacked and we found Milo locked in a closet?”

Wow. He had excellent recall. That was a month ago. Did that come from his training as a cop, or was it something special about him? Was it possible? No, Gage wasn’t a witch even though men could have magic. My dad was a witch, not that we talked about my newfound abilities yet. I still hadn’t called my parents to tell them what had happened. I refocused on the present, halting myself from going down the parental guilt path. “That’s the night.”

His hazel eyes were serious, and his body was taut, as if he was ready to spring into action. His attempt to appear casual by sipping his coffee failed the moment his eyebrow quirked. I knew his tell. Gage was anything but calm. He could wait for an iceberg to melt.

I became a puddle. “I never found out who the other man was with them. Now I’m wondering, is that the case Dax is working on? Do you think the mystery man is involved?” I rose from the chair and got my laptop.

“What are you going to look up? Mystery men who hang out with Teddy?”

I looked at him from under my lowered lashes. He was trying to smother a laugh, but I knew him too well. “It was a man, not men and no, that isn’t what I was looking up.” Well, he guessed part of what I was doing. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. “I was going to see if the town had any special events posted last month. Maybe a stamp collector’s convention or something.”

Now he laughed out loud. “In Pembroke, Maine? We’re known for our seafood festival in late September and fishing during the summer season. We are not the hot spot for stamp collectors.”

I could feel the heat flush my cheeks and not from saying something silly, but from the easy conversation with Gage. “Then maybe it was a fishing expedition.” I snapped my fingers. “Nate would know that.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to swing by your aunt Mimi’s on the way home just to grill Nate about what might have been happening in town around the time you actively became a sleuth?” He was still laughing.

Before I could answer, the door to my bookshop opened. Dax strode in, glanced around as if he took everything in with one sweep, and crossed the room.

“Detective,” he said with a faint Southern drawl. His words acknowledged Gage but his dark, almost black eyes focused on me.

I gave him a customer kind of smile. “Hello, Dax. Coffee?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Detective, I need to speak with you outside.”

Gage stood and said, “I’ll call you later.”

I nodded. But there was something unnerving about Dax. He still hadn’t looked away.

“Ms. Michaels. You’d do well to remember you are a civilian, and I don’t like amateurs mucking up my cases.” He gave me a curt nod. “Please and thank you.”

The two men left my store. Despite the melodic tone of his voice, I had always been a sucker for a deep Southern drawl; however, I couldn’t help but think the visiting officer was very odd. Who said please and thank you in the same sentence after insinuating that I was nothing more than a nuisance? But if it hadn’t been for me, Gage would have arrested my aunt for a murder she hadn’t committed. I shivered. Two murders in two months. What was Pembroke turning into, the city?

Milo jumped from the arm of my chair to the one Gage had just vacated. “I know that look, Lily.”

“What?” To be honest, I still wasn’t used to my cat talking and me understanding, but it was getting easier. Especially since he had stopped harping on me to read my personal instruction manual about how to do spells.

“You’re going to ignore what that tall, skinny guy said and start asking questions. You’ll keep your eyes open and attempt to help Gage.”

“He’s my friend. Of course I want to help him.” Who was I kidding? I’d been in love with this man since high school, but he was clueless. To be fair, I hadn’t told him or even hinted at it. I kept playing off that we were best of friends. But there was no way Gage was in the same category as my bestie, Nikki. We had been little hellions running on the beach near my aunt’s house from the time we were small. I smiled. Good times.

“I can tell you’re thinking about your detective.” Milo’s voice was a deep rumble which contradicted his cute exterior, soft downy gray fur, and the sweetest face ever.

“You should stop trying to read my mind. You’re terrible at it. And I wasn’t thinking about Gage. But how much fun Nikki and I had as kids.”

“She’s a good witch. Can cook fish like no one I know.”