Witch Way to Candy Cane Murder (Holiday Helpings Book 1) Read online

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  Chapter 1

  “These are so adorable!”

  The black-haired woman standing in the middle of some of St. John’s County’s most prominent officials remarked on the handmade candy canes I made and brought to the Christmas party. Her name was Lydia DeMarco and she was Mayor Schmidt’s Administrative Assistant and leading information resource for all the dirt on most of the people that were here tonight. If you wanted to know who was sleeping with whom, you just had to ask her. If she didn’t know, she was happy to make something up.

  Her coiffed black bob and silver metal-rimmed glasses were both perfectly shaped to fit her head. She wore a strand of pearls around her neck that were no doubt the real thing and most likely given to her by her alcoholic husband in an attempt to get her out of his hair.

  But none of that was my business.

  What was my business was the making of St. Augustine’s sweetest treats. I’m pretty good at it if I do say so myself. I own the candy shop on St. George Street aptly named Spellbound Sweets. I say aptly named because I may or may not be known to add a very special ingredient to all my treats. But it’s not a recipe I can part with, I’m sure you can understand.

  Let’s just say I’ve been around this town for a while and I’ve seen my share of parties like this. It’s all the same people doing all the same things and trying their best to impress all the same people doing all the same things and so on.

  “Mmmm.” Lydia’s eyes rolled in the back of her head as she let out a pleasurable sound. “Tabitha Daughtry, these are positively the most heavenly treats I’ve ever tasted.”

  I smiled and held the tray of candy canes out for others to take one.

  “Harry,” Lydia looked around for Mayor Schmidt obliviously unaware that her voice was carrying across the party.

  The Lightner Museum was the featured venue to have the annual Mayor’s Christmas party each year. It’s a lovely place and I remember staying here back when it was a hotel. A lot of things have changed since they opened back in 1887. However, the upper class is still getting together and doing their best to impress each other.

  “Harry, over here!” Lydia waved her scrawny arm to get the mayor’s attention. He smiled and reluctantly headed our way.

  “You simply must try Tabatha’s candy canes. They’re unbelievably magical.” She over emphasized her words for effect to exaggerate her importance and knowledge on the subject of just about everything.

  “Well, hi Tabatha. Thank you so much for offering to make and donate your desserts for our party tonight.” Mayor Schmidt said.

  “It’s my pleasure, Mayor. Would you like to try one of my candy canes? I made them special.” I said.

  It was true, I did make them especially for tonight. Whatever the politics of the so-called St. Augustine elite, I did enjoy a good holiday party. It was hard making new friends every 75 years. I tried my best to be sociable when possible. The problem was that the whispers in this town about my being a witch were exhausting at times.

  Okay, so I am a witch but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to be included in the community. I’ve been in this town so long that I don’t know where else I’d go, or if I even wanted to live anywhere other than here. This was my home. And truthfully, it’s been my home a lot longer than any of these people.

  Mayor Schmidt took a bite of a candy cane, chewed it and let it swirl around in his mouth, then smiled. “Delicious.”

  “I’m so glad you like them. Now if you’ll excuse me, I believe I saw some other hungry guests.”

  I smiled, nodded, and turned around heading to the only person in this town I could both trust and confide in, my assistant Haley Taylor.

  “Oh boy, Lydia looks like she’s in her element. I wonder who’ll she’ll have sleeping with whom after tonight.” Haley said in a whisper.

  I giggled. I could always count on her to bring a smile to my face. She was also the only one who knew my secret.

  “I know. I half expect to wake up tomorrow and be labeled the abomination of the refreshment committee for making something that has more than zero carbs.” We snickered to ourselves.

  “Well, I’m going to get back to the shop. I just stopped by bring you more candy canes, and I’m glad I did because you look like you’re almost out.” Hayley pointed to the couple that were left and cracked on the silver tray I was holding.

  “Thanks, you’re the best. I’ll meet you at the shop in a bit. I just want to make a few more passes.” I said.

  Haley headed out the front door.

  I turned back around to survey the room trying to decide who I should walk up to next when I heard a gurgling sound followed by a group of people rushing to Mayor Schmidt’s side. I ran over to see him holding his throat as he fell to the floor. People dressed in long gowns and tuxedos rushed to catch him.

  “Someone call 9-1-1!” One of the guests yelled.

  “What happened to him?” Lydia screamed in horror.

  “I don’t know, he was eating this and he suddenly grabbed his throat and went down.” Mrs. Schmidt said, tears streaming down her face. “Oh Harry, hold on!”

  The life from Mayor Schmidt’s eyes drained out of him and he lay there motionless. I looked around to see if help was coming. After what seemed like forever, paramedics entered the great room and rushed to the mayor’s side. Police followed close behind and directed other guests outside. They tried administering CPR but it was no use. Mayor Harry Schmidt was dead.

  “Please everyone calm down.” Sheriff Tucker motioned to the guests surrounding the mayor’s body. He led us all into the adjoining gallery room. When the crying had subsided and he got our attention, he began to speak. “Now what happened?”

  “I saw him take a bite of a candy cane. Then he started to gasp and fall down.” Eric Cady, the county commissioner said.

  “Oh, it was simply awful!” Lydia exclaimed. “He was such a good boss. I don’t know how this could happen.”

  “I do,” Martin Anderson, St. Augustine’s most popular attorney chimed in. “There had to be something wrong with the candy cane he was eating.”

  “Sheriff! Sheriff Tucker! Come quick, you better take a look at this.” One of the deputies shouted from across the great room.

  We all ran toward the deputy and lying on the floor was Mayor Schmidt. His skin had advanced in age and wrinkled and it took on a deep green tone.

  “His skin just turned this way. Right in front of us.” The deputy said.

  “Oh Harry!” Lydia burst into tears again and was comforted by Mr. Cady.

  “Deputy, did the body move when this happened?” I asked.

  He looked at me with curiosity. “As a matter of fact, yes it did. It twitched slightly as the shade of his skin changed. How did you know that?”

  There was something strangely familiar about this to me. I hadn’t seen it happen in over two hundred years but I could never forget it. There was a blacksmith who lived in this town back in 1890 who had the same thing happen to him. No one ever found out why. For a long time, citizens said our town was cursed, but like everything as the years past, the curse rumor was lost to history.

  “I’ll tell you how she knows- she did this!” Lydia broke away from Mr. Cady and wagged her finger at me. “Her and her spellbinding treats” She made air quotes as she emphasized the word “spellbinding.” No doubt a reference to my shop.

  “That’s not true,�
�� I protested.

  “Oh yes it is. You couldn’t wait to give him one of your cursed candy canes.” Lydia shouted.

  “Now wait a minute, what are you talking about, Lydia?” Sheriff Tucker asked.

  “She’s been passing them out all night. She practically forced one into the mayor’s mouth.” She said. “You and your wicked shop!”

  “Now Lydia, that’s not fair,” Eric said.

  “What? Everyone’s thinkin it, I’m just the only one who will say it out loud. Tell me you don’t know about the rumors of rituals and strange happenings downtown at night, all surrounding her store. We should have put you out of business long ago!” Lydia walked off in a huff and then thrust herself into the arms of another male guest.

  I can’t say I’m not surprised that Lydia would throw allegations about me out there and then cop to sympathy when she didn’t feel she was getting her way. She’s probably the one that started most of those rumors herself. Still, there was a small pang in my heart of disappointment. It seemed clear that I would never fully fit in with mortals in my own community.

  “Is it true, Tabitha? Did you make these Candy canes?” Sheriff Tucker asked.

  “Well, yes but-” He interrupted me.

  “I’m sorry but I’m going to have to take you to the station for questioning.” He grabbed my arm.

  “Sheriff Tucker, please. Surely you don’t believe I had something to do with this awful crime do you?”

  “Ain’t about what I believe, it’s about what the evidence says. And based on this evidence, you’re a suspect.” He held up a plastic bag with the remains of Mayor Schmidt’s half eaten candy cane.

  “Sheriff, I can assure you I had nothing to do with this.” I resisted his efforts to put the handcuffs on me trying to talk to him reasonably. I felt his manner changed from soft to more rigid. He and another deputy were fastening handcuffs on me.

  “No!” I said it instinctively and when I did the handcuffs vanished and I stood in the middle of witnesses who all had one expression on their face- wide-mouthed horror.

  I had just broken the one rule I promised myself I never would. I performed magic in the company of mortals. After the stunned expressions left their faces, several more deputies came toward me. I lifted the train of my long red gown and spun around, vaporizing into a cloud of smoke.

  Smoothe as Silk Peppermint Bark

  The trick to this wickedly delightful treat is to add enough peppermint candy canes to the mix. It’s a beautiful snack that will beautifully adorn any refreshment table. My aunt Tilda, who was responsible for putting an end to that nasty Black Plague back in the day showed me how to make this. She learned the recipe from a candy maker who was compelled to share the recipe in exchange for a very useful antidote to a nasty smallpox infection.

  Ingredients

  6 oz. dark chocolate

  12 oz. white chocolate

  3 tsp vegetable oil

  10 to 12 crushed candy canes

  To keep your bark from sticking, you’re going to want to line your 9” x 9” square baking pan with aluminum foil. Half the white chocolate should be stirred into a double boiler along with a teaspoon of vegetable oil. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can use a metal bowl placed inside of a pot of boiling water.

  Make sure you have a spatula nearby because you are going to stir the chocolate as it melts. Make sure the chocolate is completely melted and free from lumps. Then spread the chocolate out onto parchment paper to cool.

  Use the dark chocolate to pour as thin lines over the white chocolate layer then spread it out using a spatula.

  Place the pan in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Then you’re going to repeat this process adding another layer of white chocolate. Once that’s done, sprinkle crushed candy canes evenly over the white chocolate layer. Make sure you do this before it cools completely.

  In order to secure it, push the candy cane pieces firmly into the chocolate layer so that when it dries, it won’t fall off. Once the chocolate is cool, take it out of the pan and break it into chunks. How big or small is up to you. Also, you can cut them into squares if you prefer. They will keep in the fridge for about two weeks.

  Crunchy Sweet Holiday Treats

  Back on the mountain ridges of Witch’s Cove where my family is originally from, we had these great baking contests in our family to see which one of us could come up with the most creative recipe using only three ingredients. One year, I presented this beauty and won. The original ingredients were the bark from a willow tree, goblin caviar and button mushrooms. Of course a tiny sprinkle of magic and they taste delightful!

  Ingredients

  1 bag pretzel twists, squares or circles

  1 bag chocolate kisses

  1 bag M&Ms

  Preheat the oven at 275 degrees. Use a cookie sheet and spread the pretzels out. Place a chocolate kiss on top of each pretzel piece. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for about 3 minutes or until the chocolate kisses become soft. Remove from the oven and push an M&M on top of each. Allow it to cool completely (you can put it in the refrigerator). Serve and enjoy!

  Chapter 2

  I materialized in my sweet shop. I wasn’t sure how much time I had. I knew that Sheriff Tucker and everyone else would be heading this way most likely to see where I’d gone. As it stood now, I looked guilty. I looked like I was a fugitive. I needed to get my things together and I had to get to the bottom of who poisoned Mayor Schmidt before they found me and took me to jail.

  I wasn’t going to be any good to anybody sitting behind bars. Haley walked out of the back room and into the main showroom.

  “Tabatha, I didn’t see you there.” She said.

  “I just got here. I need your help, Haley.”

  “What’s the matter? What’s going on?” She asked.

  “Everything went crazy after you left. Mayor Schmidt has been poisoned to death.

  “What?” Haley was shocked. “Why would anybody do something so horrible to such a sweet man?” She said.

  “I have no idea, but they seem to want to blame it on me. I need to figure out who’s behind this and fast.” I gathered the few things I knew I would need and put them in a bag.

  “Do you need the help?” Haley said.

  “You know I will, thank you.” I said.

  Haley was really good at researching and finding out little-known facts that I needed when trying to summon ancient spells. Don’t worry, I never used my smells for bad, only good and mostly in my recipes. Food is supposed to release certain endorphins that make you feel happy. My magic worked a little bit in the same way. Haley got to work on helping me grab my things together.

  “Where will you stay?” She asked.

  Normally, I live above the sweet shop. That’s where my apartment was. In truth, Lydia was half right about hearing and seeing strange things going on downtown in the middle of the night. I have had my share of spellcasting and failures and some of those ended up with quite the explosion. So she wasn’t wrong on that account, but I was also far from putting a cursing anybody.

  “Where will you go, Tabitha?” Haley asked again.

  “I know of a beach cottage on Anastasia Island. I can stay there as it’s out of the way and most people wouldn’t think to go there looking for me.” I said.

  “You’re gonna want to leave soon. They’ll becoming here I’m sure.” She gave a gentle smile.

  “Thanks Haley. I appreciate it.”

  As I started to walk outside when I saw what looked like flashing lights and heard police cars barreling down the cobblestone driveways, blocking the front of my shop. They threw up yellow tape. I stopped and locked the door instead. It was too late. They were here already. I was sure Sheriff Tucker was going to come in and try to handcuff me again. Not to mention the fact that I just vaporized in front of everybody.

  That was the number one cardinal rule. Never show your powers to mortals. I was now guilty of that and I knew it would be a matter of time before the witch’s cou
nsel would hear about this. They had no mercy in their sentencing, once you were found guilty of betraying the sacred rules.

  It was something I would have to deal with later. Right now, I had the entire St. Johns County police force staring down at me and only my candy canes to defend myself.

  “Wow this is crazy.” Haley said. “Do you think you should just go talk to him? I mean Sheriff Tucker is an easy-going guy, and you’ve known him for forever.”

  “I know, Haley. I tried to talk to him. He wasn’t listening. It was as if they were all convinced that I was guilty of poisoning the mayor. He tried to arrest me and take me to jail.”

  “Well, you know that we can find the best lawyer out there to help you.”

  “Haley, the best lawyer was there tonight. Eric Cady was one of the guests and he looked at me just as suspicious as everybody else. Nobody’s going to help me. I’ve got to take matters into my own hands.” I said.