CHAPTER 1
It was 6 am Saturday when I pulled my rented Mercedes into the old Abracadabra Magic Factory drive. It was definitely time I went automobile shopping. I was a farmer now. Farmers drove trucks so they could haul things. I needed a truck. A red truck would be nice. Or electric blue. Just because it was a farm truck didn't mean I needed to sacrifice style.
"Alexa, add shop for truck to my to-do list."
I had parked under the huge weeping willow tree and leaned back in my car seat. There was something magical about the grounds surrounding the Abracadabra Magic Factory. The closer you got to the door, the more the spell pulled you in. The magic factory called me. It had been for the last week. I didn't go inside. Just sat in the parking lot or walked the grounds. Why summon me? I didn't know. Why not go inside? The last time was not so pleasant. I still couldn't get the image of Captain Blake Bloom and Shayla undressed and wrapped in each other's arms out of my mind. The image sat there like a flashing red light.
Granted, Blake and I hadn't made any promises. Hadn't even gone on a date, but there was something between us. I thought we were both interested in exploring it, but our "relationship" had taken a rocky turn after seeing the two of them together.
But I wasn't here to think about Blake. Somewhere over the few weeks I'd been home after decades away, I realized down deep where it mattered, I was a natural-born entrepreneur. I wanted to start my business empire in the old Abracadabra Magic Factory. Empire was probably the wrong word. Although, thinking big was supposed to yield significant results.
My flower farm was coming to life in the hoop house I'd rented from my brother Arie at Nothing Fancy Garden Center. My seeds were now seedlings, growing their little hearts out. But that wasn't enough. I was ready to take the next step and open my Feng Shui consulting business. I only needed to finalize the name. Every time I thought I had one, I changed my mind.
I also had plans to oversee Abracadabra Floral and Georgia's Country Interiors. And I intended to do all of that from this building after it was renovated. I would invite Abracadabra Pet Store, home of The Psychic Cat Podcast, to join me in the building. One big happy family. That is if Arie ever got around to asking Jenna, the owner of the shop, to marry him. But you didn't hear that from me. It's supposed to be a secret.
We'd need to add more businesses. The old magic factory was a huge place, with lots of room to expand. I had plans to include a farmer's market and several other businesses. I wanted this. I needed this. The former screw-up needed a big win. Not that I hadn't known success. I'd been the top consultant at Crescent Homescaping and worked with the rich and famous. But I wanted to build my empire here where I'd been labeled a screw-up.
Two things were standing in my way— a serial killer and a curse. It was becoming more and more apparent that the serial killer was tied to the curse. How? I didn't know yet. But I needed and intended to find out. The only way I'd be free to live my new life was to put the killer behind bars and reverse the curse.
No small task, since we had no idea when the curse originated or what it entailed. We believed the curse was murdering my generation of Abracadabra's original settlers' descendants.
The curse didn't murder them directly. It used troubled people to do the dirty work. Anyhow, that was the working theory of The Bracken Ladies Mystery Squad. Officially the squad consisted of my mother, Trixie, my niece, Tiffany, and me.
This morning, I was on my way to meet all of them for breakfast at Candy's Cafe at 7 am. A few weeks ago, I hadn't talked to my family in decades. Now, I saw them every day. Sometimes all day long. My life had taken quite a change since I left L.A. and my cushy job and moved home to hide out from the serial killer.
I looked at my watch. I still had about ten minutes before I needed to leave. I was considering Midwest Homescaping for the name of my new business. It would be nice to find something that encompassed everything I was thinking of for my company under one name and logo.
I'd thought about tying in Abracadabra, but then if someday, I wanted to go regional, that might create a problem. And you never knew how the social-political climate could turn on a magical name.
Then again. Did I care? I mean, magic was apparently my bloodline. So I should wear magic loud and proud. Shouldn't I? I realized long ago that while other Feng Shui practitioners had their charts and directions. I listened to what I called the magic. And it had worked. So why couldn't I wear who I was and how I navigated the world with pride?
Because if I took my company wide, then employees would depend on me to do what's best for the company. I didn't want a name to put roadblocks in their path. Roadblocks, after all, are bad Feng Shui.
Geez. I wasn't even a company yet. These thoughts were a bit premature. That's what the magic factory seemed to do for me. Allow me to see life from crazy angles.
Somehow just sitting in the parking lot, ideas came into my mind. Ideas regarding marketing the flower farm, my Feng Shui business, and Abracadabra as a whole. Whenever I drove past the entrance to the magic factory, my car seemed to turn down the lane. It was like some mysterious force drew the electrical currents from my left brain and charged up my right brain. Hard to explain.
I should be going. I had news to share with the Bracken Ladies Mystery Squad. I'd turned up a new lead last night on the curse and the original families. Trixie and Tiffany were going to be so happy.
I turned the key, and the air popped outside my window. The now-familiar voice spoke.
"Idle thoughts. Idle results."
Lovely. Not! The voice belonged to the pesky supernatural being I'd come to know as The Lighter. Today, an urgency not heard before laced its voice.
Was The Lighter having a bad day? Did Lighters have bad days? It had told me to think of it as a Witch, Ghost, and Alchemist 5.0. Witches and Ghosts had bad days—at least in films and on television.
I answered with the only response I could generate.
"If you say so."
What was I supposed to say? Should I ask how it was doing? I didn't think our relationship had progressed that far.
"It is necessary you not produce idle results. We will talk about this later." There was a whoosh, and the voice was gone.
I had no doubt The Lighter would return and harp on the same message. Whenever I thought we were on a smooth path, things changed. What was the saying? Something like, “No struggle. No growth.” For a ghost town, Abracadabra liked growth.
CHAPTER 2
I pulled into the parking lot of Candy's Cafe. The green two-story sixty-by-sixty rectangular building with the flat roof had been around almost as long as the magic factory. It was named a cafe, but it was really a truck stop and bakery. The first floor held the cafe and bakery. The top floor was rumored to be a high-stakes poker club. Since I'd never been invited to attend, I couldn't verify the gossip.
Checking my reflection in the window, I decided I was beginning to look like a local. Skinny jeans, a red and black long-sleeved button-down checked spring long-sleeved shirt peeked out from under a black hoodie. Black slip-on shoes completed my look. I needed a haircut. My brunette hair kept falling in front of my face. That style worked for a sheepdog. Not for me.
Tiffany and Trixie were already seated at a table. A very handsome young dude awkwardly flirted with my niece. Tiffany teased back, playing with a strand of her blond hair and shifting her blue eyes coyly side to side. She'd lived the first seventeen years of her life as the daughter of a prominent Chicago restaurant owner. She'd rubbed elbows with Chicago's next generation of up-and-comers. Not sure if a farm boy from Indiana could hold her interest.
Tiff seemed to be adjusting to her new life in a ghost town called Abracadabra, Indiana, but I sensed part of it was an act. She, like me, was trying to figure out her new self. I was quickly finding out the task wasn't as easy as I expected it to be.
"Hey, before Arie and Vito arrive, I have a new lead," I said, taking my seat after kissing Trixie, my mother, on the cheek.
"Great, we'll talk about it after the guys leave. I just saw both of them pull in." So like Trixie, who enjoyed keeping our investigation on a need-to-know basis.
"Are you going to tell me why we are here?" I asked, picking up the menu. This meeting was out of character for Trixie.
"We'll talk about it as soon as everyone has arrived."
"Grams has a thing for suspense," Tiffany said after sending a text. From the look on the young dude's face staring at his screen, I assumed the text was for him, and he enjoyed it. Ah, young love. I remembered it. I had failed at it badly, and Alex Houston had gone to jail because of my failure. Our last investigation had proven him innocent. It was of little consolation.
Trixie flipped her white hair back. Her gold earrings shimmered as they danced and dangled from her ears.
"It makes me more mysterious. And at my age, mystery is all I have left."
"Not so," said Vito, kissing her on the top of the head. At 4'8", Dad could only reach the top of her head when she sat. "You're still as charming and beautiful as the day I married you."
"Which day?" Trixie asked, not looking up. "Or have you forgotten we've been divorced and married more times than you can count?"
Vito took the seat beside her and stuck the napkin in the top of his shirt.
"How can I forget? Every year, my divorce attorney sends me a huge fruit basket as a reminder."
"See, Pop, that's why I stay single," Arie said, taking his place beside his daughter. "I can't afford a fruit basket giving lawyer on a cop's salary."
Trixie passed around the menus. "Okay, I want everyone to order. We have lots to discuss. Breakfast is on me."
No sooner had her words exited her mouth when Candy limped over to our table. "Sorry about the wait. Kelly had to leave on an emergency, and Abby is running late. So it's just me."
Candy had gone to school with my parents, yet she was still here on her feet day after day.
"Not a problem. Your timing was spot on, my friend. Don't make Candy wait. Order away, family."
Once Candy had taken our orders, Trixie assumed command.
"I know you all must be wondering why I’ve summoned you here."
"More like ordered," my brother said.
She put her finger to her mouth. "Quiet. I'm just getting started. I have an announcement to make. I have made a decision regarding the operation the surgeon wishes to perform on my brain."
My heart clenched in my throat. She'd been putting off the decision for weeks. The surgery scared the heck out of me, but her not having the surgery scared me more.
"And?" Arie said as she paused.
"I'm going to have the surgery, but..."
"There's always a condition," Vito said, shaking his head.
Trixie, her finger to her mouth, silenced him.
"But you all have to listen to my plans for The Abracadabra Magic Factory. And you have to promise to carry out those plans if I'm not around." Her voice broke slightly as the sentence ended. She passed around sheets of paper.
My mouth fell open as I started to read it.
"Do we have to read this, or can you summarize?" Vito asked. "Our food will be here soon."
"Take your time and read my proposal. We'll meet again to finalize everything before I go under the knife. I want a final plan in place soon." The table grew quiet for a few minutes as everyone looked at her proposal. Trixie wanted to start a metaphysical bookstore selling crystals and chakra tuning bowls and offering yoga, tarot, and magic classes. Not at all what I wanted.
"Here comes our food," Arie announced, putting down her proposal and picking up his fork. "May we take a break from our reading to eat. I'm starving."
"You came out of the womb starving, and you've never caught up," Trixie said. "Yes, go ahead. We don't have to discuss it today. The final version must be agreed upon before I go under the knife."
"No problem," Vito said, moving to the side so Candy could set his bacon and eggs in front of him. "Candy, looks like your help arrived," Vito pointed to the window.
"She hasn't arrived until she's inside working. She and Hubby are prone to long heated discussions out in the parking lot. I'd go out and haul her butt inside, but I don't have time. Plus, that trucker over there is twice the pain-in-the-butt when she's around. That man has no idea what women want."
Arie seized his breakfast burrito from her hand. "Do any of us?"
Candy laughed. "Well, some of you are better at hiding your stupidity." She placed my pancakes in front of me.
Oh. The scent! I didn't even have to open my mouth to taste them. Wow.
Crescent Homescaping had insisted its consultants only eat in the finest dining establishments, and we'd better be the best-dressed woman in the place or else. Junior would have a heart attack if he saw me here in a truck stop shoveling in the food. What could I do? I was helpless. When it came to taste and company, Candy's Cafe soared above the other places at a quarter of the price.
"Abby's hubby was in here earlier looking for her, so they must not have spent the night together," Candy added, filling Trixie's coffee cup.
"Ain't love grand," Vito snarked.
"Only for divorce attorneys." Arie elbowed Vito's arm.
Vito fumbled his cup but managed to keep all the coffee inside. "Your helper is in the building, Candy. Take a breath."
In response, Candy shook her head. "Arie, you got your gun on you?"
His eyes grew wide, and he wiped his mouth. "Why?"
"Because you may need it. The continuing saga is about to start." Candy pointed toward the window.
I turned my head to watch. In the red hat and blue and white plaid shirt, the trucker had been quietly sitting in the booth by the front window drinking a cup of coffee and eating a plate of bacon and eggs. He was now on his feet and heading for the door.
A second later, he'd pulled his arm back. His target, Clive Walker, Abby's husband. Arie’s chair’s legs scraped the floor. He was on his feet. The trucker’s arm launched forward. An elderly gentleman in a $15,000 suit pulled Clive out of the line of fire. The trucker stumbled, and the elderly man used his cane, tripping him and sending him to the ground.
Clive strode to his car.
Arie helped the trucker to his feet. The well-dress gentleman stood to the side but did not come inside. Arie and Trucker faced off nose to nose. Their faces turning redder as the volume increase. After a few moments, the trucker threw money at the gentleman and stormed off. The gentleman brought the money inside with him and handed it to the cashier.
"What was that all about?" Tiffany asked Arie as he took his seat. "I was afraid he might pull a gun and shoot you."
"Nah. He's all bluster. I was never in danger."
"What was the problem?" I asked.
Shrugging, Arie said, "He doesn't like Clive."
I was amazed at the way Arie just handled things like that and didn't need to know why. Must be a thing. Women needed details. Men just accepted that men acted like jerks. No explanations necessary.
"Have you scheduled your surgery, Grams?" Tiffany asked, changing the subject. Poor kid. She'd lost both of the parents she'd known, and now, she had to watch the biological father she was learning to love put himself in harm's way over and over. It was a lot for her to handle.
"Surgery on Friday. So, Brackens, you'd better get crackin on this plan. Not going under the knife until I know we've got this settled."
Arie and I exchanged looks. I took a bite of my pancakes and let the butter and syrup circulate in my mouth. If I kept my mouth full, I wouldn't be tempted to voice my concerns. Now was not the time. Trixie and I were in a good place. There had to be a way around this snag. I wasn't going to upset the fruit basket or let her see my disappointment. But it hurt. After her plan failed, we could move on to mine.
"Yes, boss," Vito said.
"You'll pay for that comment, Pop," Arie said to Vito. "In other news. Faith, I need you and Lynne to meet today about the Feng Shui stuff for the garden center. We've got product coming at the end of the week, and I'm not moving it until fall."
"Don't you want to hear the plan?"
He pushed his plate away and shook his head. "Nope, Lynne's in charge. If I don't like it, I can yell at you two."
"Lovely."
"After you meet with Lynne, I need you to run over to the floral shop," Vito said, pulling a key from his pocket and tossing it across the table to me. "I need you to do one of your fancy reports for me on the shop. I'm thinking of turning it into the landscape office. Arie is sticking to his 'I don't do nothing fancy,' but that doesn't mean I can't."
Arie's life had turned upside down in the matter of a couple of months. He was used to being the only Bracken in the ghost town of Abracadabra. Now, he was raising a teenaged daughter he'd only just learned he had. His mother, father, and screw-up sister were his neighbors, and he'd fallen in love with the daughter of a man he once despised. Vito messing in garden center business might throw Arie off his tightly wound rocker.
"Arie, are you okay with that?"
"As long as I don't have to deal with it, he can landscape away." His relaxed shoulders and face told me he meant it.
"Okay." I turned to Vito. "Do you want to meet me there?"
Abby came over and refilled Vito's cup.
"No, I have to pick up Alex Houston. He's getting out of prison today. I offered him the caretaker's house on the property of the magic factory and that old truck until he can get his next steps figured out."
"Heard there's an army of lawyers lining up to represent him in his unlawful imprisonment suit, and W & B Real Estate contacted him regarding homes for sale," Arie said. "His case is one of the reasons I became a cop. Never thought he was guilty. The cops caved to pressure."
Tiffany looked at me. "Faith, how do you feel, knowing our investigation freed your old boyfriend?"
"I'm thrilled we could help." A lot of emotions ran through my mind. If I hadn't been such a witch to Alex, he would have never gone to the prom with Rhonda, and therefore, he wouldn't have been in jail. Some other innocent person might be in prison. It could have been my brother. I needed to think about that.
The Lighter had said, "He's waiting." Was Alex the "he" who was waiting? Was my debt now paid, and The Lighter would exit my life? Would the serial killer leave me alone? Had our investigation and the freeing of Alex reversed the curse?
I was hopeful, but something told me Alex was only the first hurdle. We had many more to go.
CHAPTER 3
I finished the rest of my pancakes with one ear attached to the conversation, and the other ear turned inward, listening to my thoughts. I heard Candy tell Arie that the trucker had grabbed one of the women in Clive's firm at lunch the other day, and Clive socked him. Arie handed Candy his card and told her to call the next time she had trouble.
My thoughts were on the magic factory. Acting as a family was not something we did. Or at least we hadn't done it often. We'd all been working to become a family again but working on a project like renovating the Abracadabra Magic Factory could easily tear us apart.
Vito folded his napkin next to his plate. "I'm full. I've got to be going. I'm picking Alex up in thirty minutes."
"Alex Houston is getting out today?" Abby asked.
"Yes," said Vito. He watched her clear his plate. "What happened to you?" Referring to the pink square bandage covering the back of her hand.
She looked at it. "Oh, my cat scratched me."
"My wife kept one that hated me too," Vito said, getting up. "Whenever Trixie was about to divorce me, the cat attacked my throat. I feared for my life."
Trixie shook her head. "Don't listen to a word he says, dear. Mr. President was the best cat on this earth."
Abby smiled and gathered more plates from in front of us.
"I'm off," Vito said, pulling a green windbreaker around himself.
"Me too." Arie pushed his chair back. "I've got a whole page of deliveries to make today."
"That's why you have employees," Trixie said, grabbing the check and handing Abby her credit card.
"Nope, employees handle customers. I'm better with dirt and trees."
A smirk crossed Tiffany’s face. "See how my lips are sealed.”
He dropped a kiss on the top of his daughter's head. "Watch it, kid. I can still ground you for a few more months."
Trixie watched her only son exit the building. "I thought they'd never leave. Now, about that lead."
Leaning forward in a quiet voice, I said. "Right. I almost forgot. I found another founding family. The Lull Family."
"Were they first generation?" Trixie asked.
"It appears so. I found a photocopied account of the very early days of Abracadabra on the internet. It lists five men as part of a "wizards' experiment." The name Lull was there with Bracken, Montaine, Collins, and Jasmine. Three pages later, an entry states the Lull family had left the experiment."
"Wow, so this is huge." Tiff made a note on her phone.
Trixie's eyes danced back and forth as if she were reading something.
"You know, I think now would be the time to have that talk with Howard Crane. See if the name Lull appears in any of his family's history."
Tiffany looked up from her phone. "Howard Crane. He's the scary guy we met at the bookshop in Moon Lake."
I took a sip of my root beer. "The very same."
Tiff put her left hand on the table and leaned forward. "I'll sit in the car with the doors locked and call for backup if you need it."
"Howard is harmless," Trixie said. "He came out of the womb off-center and never found the middle. That's all."
I had to laugh. Her explanation of Howard was on the money.
"While we are in Moon Lake, we should stop by the bookstore and talk to Grace Collins. See if she's heard any rumors about our missing books, and see if we might get an audience with Lily Collins."
Tiff’s phone fell to the table. "Oh. No." She shook her head. "Lily Collins, isn't she supposed to be a ghost."
"She is," I responded.
"And you want to talk to her?"
"She was around not long after Abracadabra was settled. She could give us invaluable information."
"But she's A GHOST."
I heard the pop. Everyone in the restaurant froze except Trixie, Tiffany, Candy, and me.
"There's no need to talk to Lily. You'll soon know all you need to know. There's magic in the old factory. Never forget that. How it is used is determined by the user." The whoosh happened, and The Lighter was gone.
"Oh, for heaven's sake." Candy huffed. "I don't know why that pesky thing can freeze everyone on the way in but not unfreeze them on the way out. Trixie, you get that side. I'll work this part."
"Deal." Trixie pushed herself up and snapped her fingers three times. Everyone was just as they had been before The Lighter's visit.
"Next week, we go see Howard and Lily," I said.
Trixie looked around the room. "Agreed.”
My watch dinged, as did my phone. "Got to go. I had the appointment with Lynne set up before Arie said anything."
"How about we meet later to make dinner for Alex and bake him some cookies? " Trixie asked.
Somehow cookies seemed a bit old-fashioned, but I knew what Trixie was doing. Forcing me to face Alex before time made it too awkward.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll call you when I'm done with Arie and Vito's projects."
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