Jingle Spells Read online

  Jingle Spells

  A Mystic Café Cozy Baking Mystery

  by Rose Pressey

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, places, and brands are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Index

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 1

  A loud crash rang out and then a scream from the kitchen pierced the air. I ran through the café toward the kitchen. When I burst through the swinging door a cloud of smoke filled the space. My new assistant chef stood in front of the grill trying to put out the flames. Another spell gone wrong.

  “What happened?” I yelled as I ran over to retrieve the fire extinguisher.

  “I just made a little mistake, I guess.” She swatted at the flames with a towel.

  “A little mistake? Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  Laura McKay grabbed the pan and tossed it into the sink. I doused it with the foam just to be safe. It wasn’t unheard of to have a fire on the grill, of course, but I had a feeling this wasn’t just a regular grease fire. Laura had been working for me for a couple of months and she was still learning the spells. I’d thought she was good enough now for me to step out of the kitchen for a couple minutes. Maybe she wasn’t quite ready after all.

  “What happened this time?” I asked. “You followed the spell exactly as it’s written in the book, right?”

  “Of course I did, except for at the end of the spell the words started to disappear.” She blew the chestnut colored bangs out of her big brown eyes.

  “What do you mean they started to disappear? Was it your eyesight? Is something wrong? Are you all right?”

  At almost six-foot-tall, Laura was nearly a foot taller than me, and I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach my hand to her forehead, checking for a fever. I had no idea how having a fever would affect her eyesight, but maybe if she were too hot it was making her vision blurry. That was what my grandmother always did so I figured I would do the same thing.

  “I’m not sick. The actual words were disappearing from the book.”

  The book of magic spells was just that… magic. Sometimes I felt it had a mind of its own. At times when I flipped the pages, sparkles popped from the paper like a sparkler at a Fourth of July parade. The pages were thick, cream-colored paper with a unique symbol for each spell at the top of each page. Each word was written with fancy black bold font. The smell of cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg emanated from within the cover.

  I leaned over for a quick peek at the words. “They’re right there. It seems fine to me.”

  She looked down at the page one more time. “Yes, I suppose the words are there.”

  “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” I asked.

  “Well, I thought I was fine, but maybe I’m not.” She rubbed her temples.

  “Maybe you should take a little break. I can finish up back here. Mary Jane will be here any moment.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “I’m positive,” I said.

  I didn’t want to say that she’d done enough because that would make her feel bad, but I couldn’t afford any more disasters today. I knew exactly how she felt because at one time I had made plenty of mistakes. And I was still learning, but I was much better than when I’d first started. I reminded her that sometimes she would be the same way, but she wasn’t convinced. The food she made was delicious, but the magic that she added was the problem.

  Laura stepped out into the dining area of the café. Things were slow right now anyway and we just had one customer out there. For that reason, I needed to make that burger right away.

  I ran Mystic Café in Mystic Hollow, Kentucky, where all the food came with magic spells. We had spells for love, good luck and fortune. We had a spell for just about anything someone could want.

  My grandmother Imelda had retired to Florida and left me the place. I’d thought she had lost it when she first asked me to do this, but she’d insisted that it was the right decision. Apparently making food with spells was what I was meant to do. To be honest, I had been happy to get away from New York City, where I’d been living with my ex-fiancé. I’d caught the dirtbag cheating with my equally horrible ex-best friend. When Grandma called I’d headed back to Kentucky. I’d had no idea what she was going to ask me to do at the time. It had been rocky at first, but somehow, I’d managed to stay and make a go of it.

  I retrieved the meat from the refrigerator and headed over to the grill. After placing the burger on the grill, I studied the ticket for the spell. Oh, bless him. This was for a love spell. How romantic. He wanted to bring back romance to his marriage after thirty years. I had just the right spell for that.

  Once the burger finished cooking, I placed it on the plate with the bun, the lettuce, and tomato, making it look delicious. Then I realized that I had failed to add the ketchup. The bottle beside me was empty. I reached up on the shelf to retrieve another one. My fingers slipped from the glass and the thing fell toward my head. The lid popped open and the tomato paste landed all over me, down my hair, and my face, and the front of my apron.

  In order to see again I wiped the ketchup from my eyes. After retrieving a towel, I attempted to wipe the rest of my face and my hair. Soon I realized that the little hand towel would do nothing to get rid of the ketchup in my hair. My appearance resembled the horror movie Carrie, as if I’d been drenched in blood. I couldn’t leave the café to shower. What if I scared the customers away?

  Laura’s eyes widened when she came back through the door and saw me. “What happened? Did I do that?”

  I laughed. “No, you didn’t do this. I dropped the ketchup bottle. I’m lucky the glass didn’t break over my head instead of just the contents.”

  She grimaced. “Oh, dear. Well, I hate to tell you this right now…”

  I sucked in a deep breath, worried for what I might hear. “Not another disaster.”

  “Oh, this is no disaster. Well, I don’t think so,” she said. “But the way you look right now is unfortunate.”

  “I’m a bit confused. Are you insulting my looks?” I asked around a laugh.

  “Of course not. The red ketchup goes great with your dark hair.” She held her finger up. “Hold that thought while I take this burger to the customer.”

  Laura raced out the door with the plate in her hand. While I braced myself for what she was about to tell me, I attempted to wipe more of the ketchup from my face. Two seconds later she burst back through the door.

  “All right, so what is it you want to tell me?” I asked.

  “There’s a handsome man out there asking for you,” Laura said.

  “There’s a handsome guy
here to see me? Who is it?” I asked. “It’s not Rory?”

  “It’s definitely not him. The man is sitting on one of the stools at the counter. He’s very mysterious.”

  I raced over to the little order window to take a peek out into the dining area. When Laura said the man was mysterious I thought for sure I knew who she was talking about. I had to take a peek just to confirm. Sure enough, when I checked out the window Tom Owenton was sitting at the counter, patiently waiting. He moved the menu up to his face as if he didn’t know what Mystic Café had to offer.

  Tom had a lean, muscular physique. He was six-foot-two with long legs. The top of his head was crowned with thick short-cropped black hair. His dark, dangerous-looking eyes were filled with a hint of mischief. Tom wore an expensive dark suit that had been tailored to fit perfectly. A mysterious air surrounded him—a touch of bad boy with a lot of caring and compassion underneath. He might be hiding something underneath his tough façade, but I’d yet to unravel the mystery.

  A couple seconds later Tom peered around the side of the menu. When he caught sight of me his eyes widened. I must have looked absolutely horrible. With a flick of my wrist I shut the window’s shutters as if he hadn’t already seen me. Even worse, I couldn’t fix my appearance right now.

  “What will I do?” I gestured toward my hair.

  She grimaced. “I don’t know. Here, let me help.”

  Laura grabbed a towel and tried to wipe some of the ketchup off my hair, but she just made it worse. Now my hair was matted to my head.

  “Maybe ketchup’s good hair conditioner,” she said, trying to sound hopeful.

  “I don’t think that helps me right now,” I said.

  “Who is that guy?” she asked.

  I suddenly remembered that she had only been working here for a couple of months and had never met Tom. It had been about four months since I’d seen him.

  “That’s Tom Owenton. He’s a detective with the National Organization of Magic.”

  Her eyes widened. “I didn’t know there was such a thing.”

  “Well, there is, and I’ve had the pleasure of being investigated by them.”

  “They investigated you? What did you do?” Her voice rose a level.

  “I told you I was bad at magic.”

  “He’s here because I’m bad at magic?” Her eyes widened in fear.

  “It could be because of your magic,” I said. “But don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.”

  “Well, if a detective is here to speak with me because of bad magic then I guess I’m in trouble. Will they arrest me?” she asked. “I don’t want to go to jail. I’m claustrophobic. I look bad in orange.”

  “They’re not going to arrest you. Trust me, I was much worse at the spells. If they were going to arrest anyone they would’ve done it with me.”

  “I can’t imagine you were that bad,” she said.

  “You’d be surprised. Okay, I guess I have no choice but go out there and talk with him. He’ll come in here after me soon if I don’t go out there. Just remain calm. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  “I think I should go out the back door.” Laura spun around and headed toward the back kitchen door.

  I grabbed her by the arm. “Don’t you dare.”

  Laura and I headed out of the kitchen and over to the counter. Tom’s eyes widened when his stare traveled the length of my body.

  “Well, I see some things never change,” he said around a chuckle. The little dimple appeared on the side of his face.

  “Tom, fancy seeing you here,” I said in a cheery tone.

  He flashed another gorgeous grin. “I missed my favorite café, what can I say? It looks like you had a fight in a can of tomato sauce.”

  “Just a little mishap with a bottle of ketchup,” I said with a wave of my hand.

  A splatter of ketchup dropped onto the floor.

  “All in a day’s work for Elly.” Tom winked.

  “Is that the only reason you’re here? For cherry pie?” I placed my hands on my hips.

  “Well, as much as I love your cherry pie, that’s not the only reason I’m here.”

  “I knew it,” I said.

  Chapter 2

  “What have I done now? I think my spells have been on point lately,” I said. “I know my new employee is a little rough around the edges, but she hasn’t caused any serious damage.”

  Laura nodded. “I promise I haven’t made any huge mistakes.”

  “She hasn’t given the wrong spell to anyone like I did,” I added.

  “You gave someone the wrong spell?” she asked with wide eyes.

  Oops. I hadn’t told her about that mishap. I was surprised she hadn’t heard the gossip in town. Everyone participated, so that meant word spread quickly.

  Tom laughed. “You should’ve seen the mess she made. Elly gave a love spell to someone who shouldn’t have gotten it. Not to mention all the other things that went wrong.”

  “You came here to make me feel better, I see.” I narrowed my eyes.

  “All right, enough about that. Besides, it’s all better now. Elly took care of it. She knows what she’s doing now,” Tom said.

  “You’re not here because of me?” I asked.

  “It’s me.” Laura tossed her hands up. “I knew it.”

  Tom turned his attention to Laura. “Don’t worry, it’s not because of you either.”

  “Then who?” I asked. “It’s not me and not Laura. I know it’s not Grandma Imelda. Wait. Is she all right?”

  “Oh, she’s fine,” Tom said.

  I clutched my chest. “Thank goodness.”

  “I guess I should go ahead and tell you why I’m here so that you won’t go through the entire list of everyone you’ve ever known.”

  “Probably a good idea,” I said.

  “By the way, I think I will have some of that cherry pie,” he said.

  “Now you’re just trying to drag this out,” I said. “You just said you were going tell me so that I wouldn’t keep asking.”

  “You’re right, you’re right,” he said.

  “I will get you a slice of the delicious tart cherry pie after you tell me.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

  “All right, here’s the deal,” he said. “I need your help.”

  “My help?”

  “With helping someone with their magic.”

  “You’ve asked this before and I thought we already realized that I’m not that great as a teacher.”

  “I disagree, Elly. I think you’re great.” He looked at Laura. “Elly knows what she’s doing with magic and food.”

  I released a deep breath. Tom knew the compliments made me melt faster than a stick of butter in a pan. “Okay, who do you want me to train?”

  “She’ll be coming here from New York City.”

  “Why can’t someone in New York train her?” I asked.

  “I want to bring her to the best.”

  “Now I know you’re just teasing me. What else do you want? I don’t trust you.”

  “I’m sad that you would say that, Elly. Have I ever steered you wrong? Other than getting you mixed up in murder investigations.” Tom picked up his fork, a not-so-subtle hint about that pie.

  “I suppose other than that you’ve never steered me wrong,” I said sarcastically.

  “Thank you,” he said with a dashing smile.

  I sighed. “I don’t have any say in this matter. You’ll just keep coming around until I do it.”

  “That’s not such a bad thing,” Laura whispered.

  I had to agree with her, even though I was dating Rory. There was always a touch of chemistry between Tom and me. If I wasn’t with Rory, then I wasn’t sure what might happen with Tom. However, I tried not to think about that.

  “So why don’t you tell me a bit about this person?” I said.

  “Well, like I said, she’s from New York City.”

  “Why don’t you teach her the magic?” Laura asked.

  Tom glanced
at her. “I’m a detective. Cooking isn’t my specialty.”

  I laughed. “Don’t let him kid you. He can cook.”

  “Yes, I make a fantastic grilled cheese,” he said.

  “Can she cook?” I asked

  “She was first in her cooking class.”

  “She’s professionally trained? I don’t think she’ll like me telling her what to do,” I said.

  “Well, she’ll get over it if she doesn’t like it,” Tom said with a wink.

  “Yes, I suppose she will.” I said around a sigh.

  “Her name is Mildred Melton.”

  “Mildred Melton from New York City.”

  “Was she there to help install the Statue of Liberty?” Laura asked with a giggle.

  “Okay, so her name sounds older, but you’ll see for yourself soon enough.” Tom said.

  This was making me nervous. Tom was entirely too mysterious about this whole thing. Which meant that there was something I probably wouldn’t like about it.

  “Tell me more about her,” I said.

  “Just wait until she gets here and then she can tell you all about herself,” Tom said.

  “I know you’re hiding something.”

  He held his hands up. “I’m not hiding anything. You want to know something about her then ask her yourself.”

  “You’re being sneaky today,” I said with suspicion in my voice. “When will she be here?”

  He checked the gold watch on his wrist. “Any minute now.”

  “Thanks for the advance warning. What if I’d said no?”

  “Then I suppose we would’ve dealt with that when it happened,” Tom said. “How about that cherry pie now?”

  “I don’t know that I should give you pie,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “After all, you didn’t tell me much about Mildred.”

  “That’s just cruel. I traveled all this way and now I can’t have a slice of cherry pie? Hold the spells, of course.” He held his hand up.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Very funny.”

  I turned around, grabbed a plate, and retrieved a slice of simply scrumptious cherry pie from under the display case

  I pulled out a slice of cherry pie, put it on the plate, and placed it down in front of Tom.