Back Room Bookstore Cozy Mystery Boxed Set: Books 1 - 12 Read online

  “Sorry for getting so grumpy with you earlier, Monica,” Mona said.

  “No, you were absolutely right,” Monica assured her. “I can’t leave you to do all the work.”

  Mona nodded approvingly. “Well, you have fun tonight, and enjoy your day off tomorrow.”

  “You do the same!” Monica said, hurrying back through the portal to the other side of the shop where Isaac and Holly were waiting.

  “Whoa, that was fast,” Holly said, smiling at Monica. “How cute! I love it!”

  “Thanks,” Monica said and pat Abigail on the head as she was sitting up on the counter. “Be good, Abs, I’ll come by and pick you up before heading home tonight. Don’t tear the shop up while I’m gone.”

  Abigail rolled her eyes as Monica followed Isaac and Holly out the front door. She locked up, and soon she was sitting in the back of Isaac’s car. Isaac and Holly sat up front, talking their heads off and laughing about the movie trailers they had seen already for the movie they would be viewing that evening. Monica had never been to a movie theater before, so she was very excited to go. Once they arrived at the theater, she paid for her ticket, following Isaac and Holly’s lead, and then they went and got in line at the concession stand.

  Everything smelled wonderful. “Ooh, I would like to try the pop-ped corn,” she said to the woman behind the counter, who looked at her like she was from another planet.

  “Popcorn?” the woman asked.

  “That’s what I said,” Monica insisted, her cheeks turning a slight red.

  “Large?” she asked.

  “Sure!” Monica said, smiling greedily as the woman handed her the giant tub of popcorn. She also ordered a soda and a candy bar, still following Isaac and Holly’s lead.

  “Whoa, that’s a lot of popcorn,” Isaac said with a laugh as he salted and buttered his small popcorn. Monica did the same, and upon realizing how much better the popcorn tasted with the butter and salt, she proceeded to completely douse hers—so much so that Holly started to give her peculiar looks.

  “You sure do like a lot of butter and salt on your popcorn,” Holly said, and Monica took that as a sign to not put any more on top.

  They headed into the theater, and Monica could feel herself bouncing a bit with excitement as they selected their seats. “This movie looks so awesome,” Isaac said. “I can’t wait.”

  Holly wound up sitting in the middle. She had on a slight distressed look. “I need to find me a job soon, or this is going to be my last outing for a while.”

  “Oh dear, you lost your job?” Monica asked.

  “If you can call it that,” Isaac said. “She quit.”

  “I couldn’t work at that stuffy company anymore,” Holly moaned. “But now I’m really starting to regret it. I mean… I made good money working in my stupid little cubicle putting in numbers. It’s just not me, though. I want to work somewhere that I actually enjoy, you know?”

  Monica grinned ear to ear. “Oh, this is just perfect! I was speaking to my sister earlier today. She thinks I should hire someone to help me run the bookshop.”

  “Wait, seriously?” Holly asked excitedly. “I love your aunt’s shop!”

  “It’s her shop now, Holly,” Isaac reminded her. “That’s awfully convenient.”

  “I’d say so!” Monica exclaimed. “Well, what do you say, Holly?”

  “I’m assuming minimum wage starting out?” Holly asked.

  Monica had no idea what that meant. “Um…yes?”

  Holly thought for a moment. “Well, I would love working in a bookstore.”

  “I’ll throw in a discount on books,” Monica said.

  “How much of a discount?” Holly asked.

  Monica thought for a moment, trying to think what would be an appropriate discount that wouldn’t hurt her profit margin too much. “Twenty percent off hardbacks and fifty off paperbacks,” Monica said confidently, and Holly’s eyes glistened.

  “Shoot, with the amount of money you spend on books, Holly, you’ll save money making minimum wage,” Isaac said with a laugh.

  “Plus, you can read the books you don’t buy while you’re at the shop,” Monica said. “I mean, so long as you help customers and get any work done, you’re welcome to spend your free time reading.”

  “This is starting to sound better with each passing second,” Holly said. “Monica, I’d love to come work for you at the bookshop!”

  “Wonderful!” Monic exclaimed excitedly. Wait until Abs finds out, Monica thought with a grin. “I’m so glad things worked out, Holly!”

  “Me too,” she said. “I actually love the idea of working in a bookshop. I mean, when I was working at the office, I spent all my free time there anyway. I haven’t been in as much lately because, well, I’ve been pretty broke.”

  Isaac laughed. “Well, it seems that you have killed two birds with one stone.”

  Monica raised a brow. “She killed two birds?”

  Isaac stared at her curiously. “Um… It’s an expression, Monica. I mean that she’s got a job now and she’ll be able to spend more time at the bookstore…because she’ll be working there now?”

  “Oh,” Monica said when she realized what the expression meant.

  “You’ve really never heard that expression before?” Holly asked.

  “Um…” Monica muttered just as the previews started up, and Isaac hushed them both. She was relieved she didn’t have to explain herself on that one.

  11

  Monica arose early Sunday morning for a bit of reading on spellcasting, another book she had borrowed from her sister. Today, Monica was determined to help Brian out as much as possible with his case, and she believed she had found the perfect spell to do that: shadow casting! It was a considerably advanced spell, and as an unnatural witch, she imagined that it would be quite difficult to pull off. She dragged her trunk out of the living room—she had been meaning to unpack it all week, but she had gotten busy with the shop as well as the detective work with Brian. After rummaging around for several minutes in her bedroom, tossing various items from her home in Wysteria onto the bed, she at last found what it was she had been looking for.

  “My wand!” she exclaimed happily, pulling the dingy piece of wood out of the bottom of the trunk. Monica rarely used her wand. Complicated spells usually required a wand, and those sorts of advanced spells rarely worked for her. But today, she was determined. Monica scurried out of her back bedroom and into the kitchen where the dishes were currently hard at work preparing breakfast.

  The frying pan was moving about on its own, frying up some bacon. The stove, she could smell, was nearly done with her biscuits, and a second pan and its accompanying spatula were scrambling some eggs. Monica whistled, and all of the items jumped a bit, sending food flying across the room toward a plate that went zipping by, catching the flying breakfast treats and eventually landing on the counter. Then, with a second whistle, everything went quiet and appeared perfectly normal. Monica smiled, satisfied her kitchen charm had worked wonderfully that morning. “Not bad for an unnatural witch,” Monica said, gripping her wand in one hand and her spellbook in the other.

  She laid her book out on the counter and sat on a stool, putting the opened book beside her plate as she ate breakfast and practiced wand movements for the spell she intended to attempt later that morning. It was around this time that Abigail came lurking out of the laundry room. Monica had done a fresh load of laundry the night before, and Abigail had fallen asleep in a basket of warm clothes fresh from the dryer. “Morning,” Monica said, and as Abigail glanced up at her, the cat’s hair stood on end.

  “Ah! Careful where you’re waving that thing! Last time you pulled your wand out, I wound up with purple fur for a month!” Abigail hissed, running toward the living room and hiding herself behind a piece of furniture.

  “You’re so dramatic. It was only, like, three weeks,” Monica said. “And I’m not casting any spells just yet. Just practicing wand movements.”

  “You should j
ust stick to charms and potions!” Abigail insisted.

  “You’re so terrible!” Monica snapped. “You’re my familiar! You’re supposed to encourage me and be my magical support system.”

  “Then I encourage you to put the wand away,” Abigail said, and Monica shook her head.

  She finished her breakfast, and after giving Abigail some time to eat herself, she informed the cat that they were on a mission that day. “Come on,” Monica demanded, giving Abigail a slight shove with her foot toward the door. “You’re coming with me.” Monica snatched her favorite satchel, a brown leather bag, from the back of a chair, which she placed both her wand and book inside. She patted the satchel happily. “If we go now, we should be able to get to the falls before any mortals are out and about.”

  “What are you planning on doing at the falls with a wand and spellbook?” Abigail asked nervously on their way out the door.

  Monica chose not to answer Abigail’s question because she knew that the cat would immediately start in with her berating. Instead, Monica took a moment to look up at the sky. “It’s cloudy,” she said. She whistled toward the cottage, and her broom came zipping out of the open window. Monica held out her hand, snatching the broomstick out of the air.

  “Monica, that is a terrible idea,” Abigail said. “I know we’ve been taking the broom to the shop, but it’s just a short distance away, and we get there much earlier than this.”

  “No one is going to see us. Look at all of these clouds!” Monica insisted, throwing one leg over the broomstick. “Now, stop worrying so much and hop on.” Abigail sighed, leaping up onto the back of Monica’s broom.

  Monica kicked off, and soon they were zipping through the air. Monica smiled. This was one thing she was very good at, though it had taken her a good bit of practice to get to the point she was at now. While Monica was not a professional or anything of a competitive broom flyer, she would still consider herself above average. She flew in and out of clouds, sometimes extending one of her hands to trickle through the clouds to collect moisture. If Abigail was not on the back of the broom, she would probably play around and attempt a few tricks. But for today, she just enjoyed the view of her new home from up high.

  Thanks to the surplus of clouds that morning, she was able to get a good bit of flying in before circling the falls from overhead, making sure no one was there before attempting to land. She came to the ground slowly and confidently, and she and Abigail each dismounted. “Head on home,” she told the broom, and it zipped away. Abigail climbed up into a nearby tree, finding herself a branch to rest on.

  Monica, however, headed toward the creek where Darren’s body had been found. She sat on the bank and opened her spellbook, reading and re-reading the incantation she was going to attempt. She stood, brushing herself off and gripping her wand tight once she felt confident enough in what she had been studying. Abigail groaned from her safe spot in the tree. “This is a terrible idea,” she said again.

  “Great pep talk,” Monica grunted before extending her wand in front of her. “Umbra Umbra revelare autem secretum!”

  A bit of wind whipped around Monica and toward the creek. Much to Monica’s delight, a grouping of shadows seemed to appear in the form of humans. Abigail jumped down from her spot in the tree. “Well, I’ll be,” Abigail said. “You actually did it.”

  Monica saw a large shadow character walking from right next to where she stood and into the creek, where another shadowy figure stood, seemingly enjoying having his feet in the water. The large, burlier shadow snuck up on the smaller one, suddenly swinging fists.

  She continued to watch the two shadows tussle around in the water. She noticed the shadow of a small, round object drop from the attacker’s pocket. Then she watched one of the shadows fall, and it didn’t get back up again. The surviving shadow seemed panicked as it began to run off, and as it did, both shadows faded into nothing.

  “What a spell!” Abigail exclaimed. “I can’t believe you could do that! You just replayed the murder!”

  “Only the shadows,” Monica said, realizing that she was rather breathless. “That took a lot out of me.” Monica looked down at her right hand. “Whoa!” she yelped, dropping the wand onto the side of the bank. “It burned me!” She showed Abigail her bright red palm.

  “Yikes,” Abigail said. “Did you not feel that?”

  “Not at first, but I sure do now!” Monica said. “Ugh, some of the spell must have backfired on me or something. I’ve got to work on that.”

  “Yeah, spellcasting isn’t exactly your specialty, although I got to admit, I’m impressed,” Abigail said as Monica kicked off her shoes and began walking around in the water. “Monica, what are you doing?”

  “I saw one of the shadows drop something around here,” she said. “Water current is practically nonexistent over here, so maybe…” Monica spun around after noticing something glimmer, and she reached into the water. “A pocket-watch!” she exclaimed triumphantly.

  Monica headed to the edge of the creek where Abigail was now seated and plopped down in the grass beside her to examine the device. “It’s got an engraving of an H on the back,” she said.

  “Okay, so who do you know whose name starts with H who was at the party?” Abigail asked.

  Monica thought for a moment. “Can’t say anything rings a bell… Wait… Last names… Horn! Gerald and Janice Horn—Darren’s girlfriend and her father!”

  “Didn’t you mention something about the girlfriend’s dad not being a fan of his?” Abigail asked.

  “I did,” Monica said. “Darren might have gotten tired of Gerald’s treatment of him. He assaulted Gerald, and Gerald fought back and dropped his pocket-watch!”

  “Did you just crack this case?” Abigail asked.

  “Not yet, I don’t think, but this is definitely some pretty serious evidence!” Monica said. “I need to take this to Brian and see what he thinks.”

  Abigail nodded approvingly, but then she sighed. “You sent your broom home. I guess we’re walking?”

  “You can ride in the satchel if you want,” Monica suggested, and Abigail decided to take Monica up on the offer. She fell asleep five minutes into the walk after finding a comfortable position for herself.

  By the time Monica arrived at the station, there were several officers bustling around. She entered, Abigail still fast asleep in her satchel. She asked around, but eventually, she was pointed to an office where Brian apparently worked. She knocked on his open door, and he smiled up at her and quickly got off whatever phone call he had been on so that he could properly greet her. “Monica, what are you doing here?” he asked.

  Monica smiled. “You’ve got your own corner office? I’m impressed,” she said.

  Brian smiled right back at her. “It’s good to see you.”

  “Same,” she said, stepping toward him. She reached into her satchel. “Listen, I went by the falls this morning, and I kind of did a little snooping around. I found this at the crime scene.” Monica pulled out the watch. “It doesn’t look like it’s been in the water too long. I think it’s possible that whoever killed Darren might have dropped this.”

  Brian took the piece of evidence from her, studying it. “There’s an H engraved on it.”

  “I had a thought about that,” she said. “Maybe…Horn?”

  Brian nodded. “I think you might be right. I spoke to Gerald, and he denied being anywhere near where Darren’s body was found. If he was lying to me about that, if this pocket-watch is his that is, then we might have just found our culprit.”

  Monica smiled proudly. “Glad I could be of assistance. So, what are you going to do now?”

  “Right now? Right now, I’m going to have Gerald picked up and have him come here for questioning,” Brian said. “I need to find out if this belongs to him. And I wouldn’t mind giving him another round of questioning about his whereabouts the day of the festival.”

  Monica clapped her hands excitedly. “I’m glad I could help!”

&nbs
p; “Me too,” Brian said, smiling at her. “Would you want to stick around? Listen in on the interview with Gerald? You might just witness a confession.”

  Monica nodded. “Absolutely! I can’t wait to see this thing through until the very end.”

  Abigail shifted in her satchel a bit, and Monica patted the side of the bag, coaxing her lazy familiar back to sleep. She couldn’t wait to see Brian solve this thing for good.

  12

  Monica was giddy with excitement when she spotted Gerald being escorted through the station. The man looked a bit frustrated, not really sure why he was being asked to come to the station. “He doesn’t look nervous,” Abigail whispered as she stuck her head out of Monica’s satchel. “Looks like he’s just irritated to be here.”

  “Some people are good at hiding guilt,” Monica said confidently as she watched a group of officers escort Gerald to a room.

  Officer Brian came walking up to Monica, smiling a bit at her. “If I can get a confession out of him, this case is going to be wrapped up quick,” he said. “I can’t believe you managed to find this little thing in the creek.”

  Monica smiled. “I’m a very observant person,” she said. “So, I really get to watch you interrogate Gerald?”

  “Chief said it’s okay. I think he likes you,” Brian said. “He was impressed you found the pocket-watch.”

  “Oh boy!” she said, jumping up, causing Abigail to grunt as she swung at her side.

  “Is your cat in that bag?” he asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “No reason. Just usually you see people carrying their dogs in pet carriers, not cats,” he said with amusement in his voice. “All right, follow me.” He walked her toward a back hallway and pointed toward a large window. “One-way mirror. You’ll be able to see us, but he won’t be able to see you.” Brian reached his hand out toward a man who was standing nearby and shook. “Chief, this is my friend Monica. She’s Wilma’s niece. Just took over the Back Room Books. Monica, this is Chief Isaac Tollr.”