Midsummer Night's Mayhem (17 page)

“I’d rather not burden you with the details.”

“I understand. I’ll tell you all I’ve found out, maybe it will help.” Clover spent the next few minutes filling Juniper in on all the details about what she’d learned. The deputy listened politely and recorded a few notes in her casebook.

“You’ve covered a lot of ground in the past few days. Are you angling for a new career as an amateur detective?” Juniper asked, lightening up.

“No, not really. I just wanted to clear my name before the warrant was issued. That’s all. Oliver and I weren’t close, but he was my neighbor.”

“What is your
persuasion
? If you don’t mind me asking. I’ve always been curious about your career and magical abilities.” An innocent smile spread on her face.

Clover’s stomach lurched. “I’m not much of a career witch. I garden mostly and sell vegetables and herbs at the farmers markets and local businesses.” She’d tried making soap and bath oils once as a cover story for a respectable job, but a witch who couldn’t bake an edible cake to save her life probably shouldn’t attempt making something that contained large quantities of scented oils. Her kitchen floor had ended up covered in oily spills. When Rusty innocently trotted through the kitchen, he got so coated in oil, he was as slippery as a seal and smelled like a vat of potpourri. Clover didn’t recommend bathing a fox.

Juniper was fishing for details about Clover’s life, and that witchy sixth sense of hers wasn’t helping. Clover shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Time to change the subject. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” Clover asked.

“No. But I’ve got some information on the black magic used at your house that I think might interest you.”

“Do you know who cast the circle?” Clover’s interest was piqued and she leaned inquisitively toward the casebook.

Juniper tapped a page with her wand and a few familiar images floated in the air. “We found residue from the brewery. Honey and barley mixed with a specific type of glass. I’m afraid it leads back to Bradley Adams.”

Clover’s stomach plummeted. She’d seen the amber glass in the circle, so she wasn’t entirely surprised the evidence pointed to Bradley. But she was having a hard time believing he could do such terrible things as black magic and murder. “That can’t be. His motive for killing Oliver Yearling is weak. It’s thin at best.” Her forehead wrinkled.

“Care to elaborate?” Juniper gave her a disapproving stare.

Clover raised her brow. “If you think he’s a suspect, then you know about his sister. She was hurt in an attempt to navigate the labyrinth. Nothing too serious, but it was enough to leave her a little traumatized. But it’s not worth killing over.”

“That’s your opinion. Wizards and witches will do a lot of things when pushed. You don’t know him well enough to say he isn’t capable of using black magic. That’s why I’m focused on the physical evidence.”

Juniper had a point.

“The evidence proves that the amber glass can be traced to his brewery, but that’s all. It doesn’t prove he did it,” Clover argued. “He could have been framed.”

“I’ll admit it’s circumstantial. But it doesn’t look good for him by a long shot. To be on the safe side, I want you to stay away from Bradley until we know more.”

Clover could agree to that, but it wasn’t always that easy. “I’ll try, but the last time I saw him was in town for the vigil. I can’t very well hide inside my house. In fact, tomorrow I’m going to the labyrinth to watch the inheritance claims play out. I’m sure I’ll see a lot of witches and wizards there.”

Juniper rose to her feet. “You and half the town. Don’t worry. We’re sending a crew to make sure the event doesn’t get out of hand. I’m still going to have someone watch your house, especially with the crowds sure to be gathered next door.”

“I appreciate it.”

“I know it will be hard now that Derek won’t be around for a while. The sheriff isn’t happy about what happened, but it’s our job to keep everyone as safe as we can.”

“Even the Mayhem sisters?” Clover smirked.

“Yep. I’ll take you to see Derek.”

The cell was clean and sparse. There was a skinny mattress on a metal frame and a sink and toilet in the corner. Derek sat in the only chair and was playing a magic card game against an invisible opponent that came with the cards. His face brightened when Clover walked into the holding area.

Clover held up her basket. “They let me bring lunch back to you. I hope the soup’s not cold.”

She exchanged a look with the guard, who nodded, and she slipped a spoon and glass jar of soup through the bars.

“If you have your wand, we can warm it up,” he said, setting the jar on the table.

“They wouldn’t let me bring it back with me. In case I was planning a jail break,” she joked, trying to keep the mood light. “I’ve got some lemon poppyseed cake here, too.”

Derek ran his hands through his uncombed hair. “No worries. Soup from Nocturnes is good hot or cold. I’m just glad to see you. It’s been a little lonely today. I’m not suited for solitary. I probably should have thought this through before trying to be the hero.” Derek’s clothes were rumpled, his backpack nowhere to be seen.

Guilt flashed over her skin like a hot rash. “I hired you a lawyer. Wizard Rutherford is coming by later today. He’ll take care of everything. He’s the best in town.”

“Thanks. You didn’t have to do that.” Relief washed over his face and the tension in his shoulders eased.

Clover smiled and held his gaze. “Yes, I did. We’ll get you out of here in no time.”
She hoped.
“Do you know if they’re going to charge you?”

“They had to call in a special prosecutor from Stargazer City. The one in Willow Realm is on vacation. I guess they weren’t expecting a crime spree this time of year. He won’t be in until tomorrow morning, so it looks like I’m spending the night in jail.” Derek shrugged and dug into his soup.

“Tomorrow morning.” Her brow furrowed. “That means even if Wizard Rutherford can get you released on bail, you probably won’t be out until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.”

“Hopefully.” He wiped his mouth with the bottom of his T-shirt. “I don’t want to think about that right now. What’s the next move? What do we know about the case?” His spirits brightened.

Clover leaned in like a conspirator, and after a nod from the guard, handed Derek some cake. “Well, I’m hoping today tells me a lot. I’m still suspicious of the Winters and the land deal they had with Austin. Something isn’t right with them. I’m hoping to get a little dirt tomorrow. I think Bradley Adams is Juniper’s main suspect, though she didn’t say as much. She thinks he was the one who cast the specter spell on me.”

“Really?” He cocked his brow. “I still don’t like how Gwen Winters threatened you at the will reading. Promise me you’ll be careful tomorrow. Who knows what’s going to go down at the labyrinth?” He shoved a piece of cake into his mouth.

“From the crowd of witches who claimed to be Oliver Yearling’s love interest, I have a feeling that navigating the labyrinth might turn into a blood sport.”

18

A
fter spending some time with Derek to keep his mind off his temporary incarceration, Clover found herself walking down Main Street to clear her head. She stopped into The Potion Garden and made plans with Vivi for her and Honora to come to Clover’s house that night for dinner. Clover suggested they order take-out and spend the night brainstorming. Plus, spending some quality time with her sisters was the balm she really needed.

By the time Clover stepped through the portal in the old oak tree near her house it was late afternoon. The path was quiet, unnaturally so—not a bird tweet or cricket chirp to be heard. Her senses heightened. Sunlight streamed through the canopy of leaves, casting warm shadows across the path. Clover quickened her pace. Suddenly, Belinda Nix, the bee charmer who had a crush on Bradley, darted out onto the path, ambushing her with an angry glare.

“I want a word with you,” she sneered. Her cheeks were flushed, her breathing heavy as if she had raced over for the sole reason of accosting Clover. She put both hands on her hips, blocking Clover’s path.

Clover was in no mood to argue and couldn’t imagine how she’d offended Belinda.

“What’s the problem?” she asked, taking a step back.

“You and that big mouth of yours, that’s the problem. I’ve heard you’ve been bad-mouthing Bradley behind his back, telling anyone who will listen that he’s connected to the murder of Oliver Yearling.” Belinda’s voice was cutting, razor-sharp.

“Calm down, Belinda.” Clover put her hands up in front of her. “There’s been a misunderstanding. I’ve not been bad-mouthing anyone. I’ve been working with the sheriff’s department to help locate Oliver’s killer, but I—”

“So you admit it!” Belinda advanced getting so close Clover could feel her hot breath in her face. “How could you spread such vicious lies about one of the nicest wizards in Everland? You have no right. Don’t you see how you’re hurting him?” Her eyes narrowed into angry slits.

“I haven’t done anything. I’m trying to help.”

“By implicating him and accusing him of attacking you? You’re no help at all. You’re pure toil and trouble. You and your sisters. This is all your fault. I wouldn’t be surprised if Oliver’s blood isn’t on your hands. It was your party, your family curse, your mayhem.”

“Wait a minute, Belinda. That’s enough. I never accused Bradley of attacking me.” Clover pushed back. She wasn’t about to let this jealous witch confront her for something she didn’t do.

“I see what’s happening here. He doesn’t return your obvious affection for him, so you turn on him.” She crossed her bony arms over her chest.

“That’s ridiculous. If Bradley’s in trouble with the sheriff’s department, then that’s not my fault. The police are following the evidence. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get home.” Clover tried to dart by Belinda on the path, but the witch was quick, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back.

“Bradley’s mine,” she hissed and her long blonde hair whipped around. “Stay away from him or else.”

Clover did a mental eye roll. Talk about territorial. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Bradley and I are friends, nothing more.”

“Yes, you do. I saw your scarf at his house. The one you were wearing at the bar the other day. He said you must have left it. He talked about you like you two were close, said how much he admired you.” She choked out a laugh.

Clover thought she’d lost the scarf, so Bradley must have picked it up or taken it. That was strange and a little creepy. “I didn’t go to his house. I’ve never even been inside.” She shifted away from the erratic witch. “If you want Bradley, you can have him. Just leave me alone. I don’t have time for your childish threats.” Clover spun around and hurried down the path, trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

Within seconds, Clover heard a strange sound coming from behind her—a humming, grating sound growing louder and louder. The closer it came, the clearer the noise. It wasn’t grating. It was buzzing. Clover glanced over her shoulder and saw a massive swarm of bees flying up the path. Panic flared inside her.

No way.
Belinda had gone nuts and sent a swarm after her. The honey vixen was truly obsessed with Bradley if she would stoop to bee warfare to warn Clover off him. Clover’s knee-jerk reaction was to flee. She took of running as fast as she could, leaping off the path, and darting through the woods on a shortcut to her house. Her heart pounded. Her house was close. She broke out of the forest’s tree line, making it to her property and sprinting across her yard toward her house, but the sound of thrumming wings practically raked up her back. The swarm was only a few feet behind her.

Panic rose in her throat. She pushed harder. Clover dropped her shoulder bag and ran right out of her shoes in a last-ditch mad dash to her front porch. But the bees were gaining. They were too fast, inching closer and closer. She’d never make it inside her house in time.
Think, think, think.
She needed to take control of the situation with defensive maneuvers against the swarm.

She hopped the porch railing and turned to face the approaching cloud of stinging insects. Grabbing the charm bracelet on her wrist, she felt for the tiny silver snowflake and broke it loose with a single snap. Tossing it into the air, Clover yelled the one-word charm breaker that would set the magic free, and a whoosh of freezing, biting cold air flew across the yard like the icy tail of a comet. With a spark of magic, the spell collided with the swarm and the bees were instantly frozen in midair. Belinda had made a mistake, sending her precious bees after Clover, for now they were as harmless as tiny icicles.

Unfortunately, a few bees slipped through the freezing spell and headed for her. Clover spun around and shielded her face but the vicious bees collided with the back of her head, burrowing into her hair and stinging her neck. Screaming and swatting at the bees, she raced into the kitchen and turned on the tap, shoving her head and neck under the cool stream of water. Relief washed over her as a few dead bees whirled down the drain. The buzzing and stinging had stopped, but the pain remained.

Curious about the state of the swarm, Clover staggered out of the kitchen and collapsed on the hard wood in front of her door, her body trembling and sweating. Breath heaving, she rose wearily and glanced from the way she’d come. A heavy cloud of bees hovered in the air, in the middle of her yard. She took a few seconds to catch her breath before trekking back out to the swarm. The freezing spell had worked and the bees were completely immobile, suspended in midair. The sight was amazing and terrifying. She pulled a few bees from the air. They felt like tiny ice cubes, the freezing spell being literal.

Belinda breached the forest and stood staring at Clover with a wicked sneer on her face. “Release my hive!”

“You mean your weapon. No way. They’re on my property.” Her hands went to her hips. She wasn’t about to show any nerves.

The officer on protective duty raced up behind Clover. “Are you all right? I heard the commotion.” Seeing the swarm, he drew his wand from his belt. “What’s that? Looks like a beehive exploded.”

“I angered the local bee queen, Belinda Nix, and she sent her hive after me.” Clover shrugged. Seeing the officer, Belinda slunk into the woods.

“Do you want me to go after her, bring her in on charges?”

Clover released a shaky breath she’d been holding. “No. But you should report it to Juniper. Would you mind dealing with the swarm? I put a freezing spell on them. I’ve had a long day.”

“No problem. I’ll levitate them to an abandoned shed a few houses down, before releasing them from your spell. They’ll return to their queen, which I’m guessing belongs to Belinda.”

“I appreciate it.”

He pointed to her neck. “You’ve got a few stings.” His face cringed with sympathy.

“I’ll take care of them. Thanks,” she said and went inside.

For the next hour, Clover took an oatmeal bath to soothe her skin and dabbed a healing salve on the stings. She’d really inflamed the wrath of Belinda Nix, who had turned out to have quite the temper.

But what she’d said was interesting. Bradley had been talking about her in a nice way and he’d picked up her scarf, probably from that day in the tavern. But the evidence Juniper had discovered in the circle led right back to him. Maybe his interest in her hadn’t been because he was attracted to her romantically like Belinda had believed. Maybe he wasn’t the nice wizard everyone thought he was.

Honora and Vivi arrived with dinner. Refusing to order take-out, Honora whipped up her famous steamed mussels with linguini in a creamy white wine sauce and Vivi made a salad. Clover was wisely put in charge of the garlic bread.

“What happened to your neck?” Honora asked, spying Clo
ver’s stings peeking out of a loose tunic top. Red bumps were scattered on her throat.

“Oh, that. They aren’t as bad as they look.” Clover shrugged, trying to move past the nerve-wracking incident. “I had a run-in this afternoon with Belinda Nix.”

“What was that all about?” Vivi asked, concern welling in her eyes as she tossed the salad and placed it in the middle of the table.

“Turns out that the sweet-as-honey bee charmer has a bad temper. She got it in her head that I’m a threat to her budding romance. She’s a jealous witch who has it bad for Bradley Adams.” Clover carried a big wooden bowl brimming with steamy mussels to the table and sat down.

“She attacked you? Wait. I need details and don’t leave anything out.” Honora took a swig of amber ale. “Is it bad that I’m drinking this?” she added, passing Vivi her bowl and joining them to eat.

“No, it’s left over from the party. Might as well not go to waste,” Clover said and filled them in on her fight, flight, and freeze with the angry bees. “I was able to stop the swarm midair. I’m actually a little proud of myself. That freezing charm I got from Lavender worked perfectly.”

Vivi tore off a hunk of buttery garlic bread. “I’m glad you thwarted her plans, but it sounds awful. What a nasty witch. I wished you’d told me earlier. I could have brought you a potion for the bee stings.”

“Belinda was obviously threatened by you and she isn’t the first one. You’ve really stirred things up with your snooping,” Honora said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m proud, but maybe you should try and be a little more subtle when investigating a suspect.” Honora dug a mussel out of its shell and popped it into her mouth. “You need to be more careful.”

“I’ll try. It’s a good thing the officer is still here.” Clover’s brow furrowed. “He saw the aftermath of what Belinda had done and took care of the bees for me.”

“I’m glad he likes mussels,” Vivi said. After the afternoon’s attack, the officer had decided to stay a bit closer, and Vivi had given him a big bowl to eat while he stood guard on the porch.

“What’s that look for?” Honora asked Clover as she ruminated over her garlicky brew.

“I’m having a hard time believing Bradley could be so evil and so stupid, frankly.” Clover snorted. “He left a trail of obvious evidence right to him. Even if he did kill Oliver Yearling, do you think he’d perform black magic on my porch using his own beer bottles?” She shook her head.

“Sounds like a set up to me.” Honora shrugged. “But some criminals get dumb when they get desperate. He could have panicked and slipped up. We don’t know for sure.”

“Don’t forget the scarf,” Vivi said.

“How can I? I can’t help but think about what Belinda said about Bradley having my scarf and talking about me. I don’t know why he would have taken it, unless Belinda is lying and trying to get back at me. But why set up Bradley if she likes him?”

“Maybe she didn’t set him up. She could be telling the truth,” Vivi said.

“You mean Juniper could be right in her suspicions, and he’s the one who cast the spell on my porch? What if it really is him and I’m as blind as a bat? Maybe my crush on him has clouded my judgment.”

“Wait a minute.” Vivi cocked an eyebrow and twirled linguini on her fork. “You have a crush on Bradley Adams and you never told us?”

“Maybe a little,” Clover said. A warm blush rose in her cheeks. “He did cross my mind before all of this went down.”

Honora wiggled her eyebrows. “Of course he did. He’s hot in a flannel shirt-wearing, hard-working, sweaty sort of way. Plus he lives out here in the fresh air and country. He’s perfect for you, unless he turns out to be a black magic-wielding scumbag.” She widened her eyes. “Then not so much.”

“He’s a potential murderer!” Vivi yelped. “Has Clover really gotten so desperate that she has to resort to dating murder suspects?”

“You have a point. It’s best to focus on the case and not on getting a date. Though some of my favorite mistakes came from dating wizards I met while working,” Honora said with a mischievous grin.

“I thought you were looking at Austin and the Winters as the lead suspects,” Vivi said.

“Mostly, I am. Tomorrow is the big day for the labyrinth challenge. First off, I want to get a look at who comes to attempt the maze. Then, I want to see if Felicity can make it through and how Austin and the Winters react to
everything
. I think it’s going to be a very telling day, especially after what I found out about Oliver’s wand. He’s been into some dark spells.” Clover dropped her fork into her empty bowl. “I wonder if Felicity knew what the love of her life was really into.”