No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells (Mystic Cafe Series) (22 page)

When I pulled up to the café, police cars surrounded the area with their lights flashing. I parked the Mustang as close as I could and hurried out from behind the wheel.

“
What’s going on?” I asked the first policeman I approached.

“
Who are you?” He held his arms straight out, stopping me from moving closer.

“
I own the café. My name’s Elly Blair.” I glanced over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the scene.

“
I’m sorry.” He lowered his arms back to his sides. “Someone apparently knocked out your front window and did some damage to the place. You want to go in and tell us if anything is missing?” He gestured with a tilt of his head.

I nodded. My stomach churned. Thank goodness I hadn’t left any money in the register. What else could the intruder have taken? Plates and glasses? I didn’t really have anything valuable except to another café owner. Other than...the magic. My stomach turned again. Was the book safe? What about the spices? This would not help my case for keeping the café open, if I couldn’t even keep those items safe. Not only did I screw up magic, but I lost it, too?

No need to panic yet. I hadn’t even looked in the café; I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. The police officer motioned for me to follow him. The sun had begun its ascent, covering the area in a warm glow, birds chirped in the nearby trees and a warm breeze slipped past, so why did my insides tremble with unease?

When we neared the entrance, the extent of the damage to the window became evident. Someone had smashed it, all right. Shards of glass littered the ground. It looked as if I’d be busy cleaning up that mess for quite some time. How much would it cost to replace the window? Regardless of the price tag, it was money I couldn’t afford to part with.

Another officer joined us. “I’m Officer Westman.”

“
Nice to meet you.” I shook his hand.

Under different circumstances meeting him would be nice, but in this situation…not so much. Nonetheless, I’d remain polite. It wasn’t his fault someone had decided to smash the café up.

“
Where’s Sheriff Jasper?” I asked.

“
He’s busy at the moment, but we’ll make sure he knows all about the situation.”

I guess the sheriff didn’t bother showing up for little things like vandalism.

“
Can you tell us if anything is missing? Otherwise, we’ll assume it was just some stupid kids out playing pranks.”

“
Were any other stores or shops affected?” I eased around the glass to peep inside the café. “I can’t imagine why someone would pick my place.”

He frowned. “No, not that we know of, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen to another business later. We’ll patrol the area and be on the lookout.” He gestured toward the door. “Why don’t you have a look around?”

I stepped around the broken glass. “Yeah, okay.”

Nothing stood out as unusual as I made my way from the front of the room. Tables and chairs were just as I’d left them. I reached the register and scanned the area. Nothing had been touched. There was a small safe in the back of the café. That was the main thing a burglar would have targeted other than the register. But since I hadn’t left the money at the café last night, any would-be thief would have been out of luck. For the first time since taking over, I’d dropped off the cash at the bank on my way home. That was a good move and an even better lesson.

When I reached the kitchen and I stepped inside, I saw that the safe had been untouched. The kitchen, on the other hand, was a mess. Pots and pans were strewn about and flour and sugar dumped on top of my workstation. My gaze traveled to the shelf and my heart sank.

As I’d dreaded, the book was gone. The spices were missing as well. Grandma Imelda’s voice rang in my head, whispering a warning I’d disregarded. “Don’t let anything happen to the book or the spices.”

Ugh. What had I done now? Who would want an old book and spices, and why? From what I’d been told, hardly anyone knew about the magic. Even worse, I couldn’t tell the police about the missing items. Had Tom taken the book and not told me? But that wouldn’t explain the broken window.

The police officer adjusted his hat. “Well, someone has been in here.”

Good work, Barney Fife.

“
Unless this is the way you leave your kitchen?” He regarded me with a raised brow.

I frowned. “No, I clean up all the time. It’s one of my pet peeves. I like everything to be in order.”

“
This isn’t in order. I’ve seen neater pigsties. Anything missing?”

I shook my head. “No, there doesn’t appear to be.”

Someone cleared their throat behind us and I whirled around. Tom stood with a look of astonishment on his face.

“
Hey, buddy, you can’t be in here right now.” The officer motioned for Tom to clear the area.

“
It’s okay. I’m a business associate.” Tom scowled.

I nodded. “Yes, he’s with me.”

Tom Owenton was an associate, all right—a pain in the butt associate. This was not going to go well.

Tom ran his hand through his thick hair. “You want to explain what is going on here?”

By the look on his face, I was guessing Tom didn’t have the book.

“
I’ll be outside if you need me.” The officer walked toward the kitchen door, but stopped just short and turned toward us again.

“
Thanks.” I’d almost rather he arrested me than have to face the interrogation from Tom.

“
You’re sure nothing’s missing?” the officer asked again before leaving.

“
No, everything seems to be here,” I told him again with a forced smile spread across my face.

He nodded. “We’ll write up a report and you can sign it. I’ll be outside.”

I walked across the kitchen to retrieve my broom. “I need to sweep up that mess outside before anyone gets hurt.”

“
Are you going to answer my question?” Tom crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Did I have a choice? He might as well put the
Out of Business
sign on the front door now; I knew it was coming today, anyway. And to think I was just beginning to get used to small-town life again. I wondered if I could get my old job back. Probably not since my resignation consisted of a voice mail message of me singing “Take this Job and Shove It.”

With broom and dustpan in hand, I moved my way across the floor and out the front door. “Exactly what it looks like: someone broke into the café.”

“
I see that part. What’s missing?” His brow furrowed in concern.

“
How do you know these things? And don’t you dare say magic.” I frowned. “You know what’s missing without me telling you, so why are you asking? Just to torture me? To make me say the words out loud?” I continued sweeping the shards of glass.

He remained straight-faced. “This is a very serious situation, Elly.”

Chapter Thirty-
One

“
I realize that.” The clinking of the glass when it hit the metal dustpan made me cringe.

“
I’m not sure if you do. You’re not acting all that worried.” He studied me.

I threw my arms up and the broom fell to the ground. “What am I supposed to do? Can’t you sniff it out with your bloodhound nose?” I made air quotes with my fingers. “Can’t you sense it with your magic?”

“
It doesn’t work that way.”

“
How does it work?” I whispered as an officer walked by. “Why don’t you tell me because I’m a little confused. My grandmother leaves me this place and she, along with all you magic people, expect me to just know what to do. Well, I don’t know what to do. So why don’t you quit blaming me and help me?” I poked at his chest. Just as I’d suspected, it was hard as a rock.

“
I plan on helping you, Elly. The only reason I’m here is to help you.” His eyes held a sadness that I hadn’t seen before.

I inhaled and slowly exhaled. “You could have fooled me. I thought the reason you were here was to close the café.”

“
Well, you’re wrong. I can’t lie and say that won’t happen, but I want to help you so that it doesn’t happen.”

I steadied myself with a deep breath, then picked up the broom and stared at him. “That was actually very sweet of you to say. Thank you.” I swept more glass into a pile. “So what do I do now? The book is gone and so are the spices.”

“
We’ll have to close until we find them. If we find them soon enough, then the boss doesn’t even need to know about this. But even if we find the book, that still doesn’t leave us much time to remedy the other situation.”

He didn’t need to remind me. The pain of my reality sat on my chest like an elephant.

“
Can’t you get in a lot of trouble for not telling your boss about the missing items?”

He shrugged. “A little.”

“
A little?” I raised a brow.

“
Okay, a lot. But what’s one more thing, right? I think you’re worth it.” He moved closer and my stomach dropped.

What was he doing? His tone had changed. He no longer sounded like my magical warden.

He placed his hand on my arm. “I want to help you, Elly. Now quit being stubborn and let me, okay?”

I took in a deep breath and his spicy scent hit my nostrils. “Okay. I’ll do whatever you say from this point forward.”

“
Like I said, we need to close until we locate the magic.”

“
I thought you’d close the café for good this morning, anyway. Aren’t my forty-eight hours up?”

He stared at me. “You have until this afternoon.”

I nodded, not sure of what to say. Tears threatened to fall from my eyes. My throat ached from holding them back and I bit my lip to keep it from trembling.

“
You need to replace the glass, anyway.” Tom reached for the dustpan. His tanned arm flexed as he reached down. “That should give us time to find the book and spices.”

“
You think a couple hours will really help? It sounds as if we’ll be looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“
You’d be surprised. Mystic Hollow is a small town, remember?” He shook his head gently.

“
Whatever you say, but I’ve never been a sleuth, so I don’t know how we’ll locate them.”

“
All we can do is try, right?” He touched my arm again.

“
Right.”

Footsteps caught my attention and I spun around. Rory approached us. He frowned when he saw Tom’s hand on my arm. Tom noticed Rory’s glare and a sly smile appeared on his face. I wriggled out from under Tom’s hand and walked toward Rory.

“
Are you okay?” he asked with a frown aimed at Tom.

“
I’m all right, but someone smashed the café window out.” I tilted my head toward the broken glass.

“
Did they steal anything?” He shoved his hands in his pockets.

“
No, not that I know of.” What a liar. If only I could tell him the truth. It would feel so much better to confide in him. I’d never been a good liar, anyway.

“
Do you need help cleaning up the mess?” He gestured for me to hand him the broom.

“
I think I have it under control, although I’m not sure of what to do with the gaping hole in the front of the café.”

“
I’ll get a few boards to nail over the broken part until you can have it replaced.” Rory moved closer, inspecting the window frame.

“
That would be wonderful. Thank you, Rory.”

“
Think nothing of it.” He smiled as if to say ha to Tom.

Why did they dislike each other so? The only common denominator was me.

“
I’ll be back soon.” Rory frowned while he gave Tom a departing glance, as if he didn’t want to leave me alone with him. But leaving the café wasn’t an option, and it didn’t appear Tom was going anywhere, either. Didn’t he need to start searching for the book? On a good note though, while Rory went for wood, Tom and I could discuss how we’d find the book…if we’d find the book. I hoped he had a good plan.

Rory drove off and I turned to Tom again. “So, where do we start?” I asked.

“
First things first. We need to find out who knew about the magic.”

Chapter Thirty
-Two

“
You want to explain to me how you know who is aware of magic and who isn’t?” I asked.

“
We have a list.”

I stared for a beat. Was he pulling my leg? “So when I became aware of magic, was I added to the list?”

“
Absolutely. The person telling you about the magic has to call in with your details.”

“
This is weird.”

“
I never said it wasn’t. It’s just the way it is.”

“
I know, I know, like the sky is blue and birds fly, blah, blah, blah.”

He laughed. “Exactly. Now you’re catching on.”

“
That’s debatable.” One thing was for sure, I wanted to get him out of there before Rory returned to repair the window. The last thing I needed was more heated looks and sneers back and forth from them.

“
Why don’t you go ahead and start while I clean up here?” I leaned against the brick building, suddenly aware of my too tight T-shirt when I noticed Tom’s eyes fixated on the area. I held the broom in front of my chest for some semblance of coverage. “I won’t be long and then I can help you in the search. Call me if you find out anything.”