Autumn Waters and the Case of the Killer Coffee (Autumn Waters Cozy Mystery Series Book 2) by Chelsea Thomas & Bertie Miller

Author:Chelsea Thomas & Bertie Miller [Thomas, Chelsea & Miller, Bertie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

FOR WHOM THE BELLA TOLLS

“Well it’s obvious what we have to do now,” Catty said as we pulled out of Grassy Knolls.

“It is?” I asked. I had been thinking exactly the opposite thing: that I had no idea what to do now.

“We need to talk to Esther Dorkle,” Catty said. “The stepsister.”

I had almost forgotten about Esther Dorkle, the spurned lover of Orville Pritchard. But Catty was right. Nannette had said she was still alive. And still a practicing witch.

A witch and a psychic. What eccentric step-siblings.

“How’re we gonna find her?”

“Easy,” Catty said. “Bella.”

Bella was our teenaged hacker friend. Well, we called her a friend. She called us old people who bothered her sometimes.

She worked out of a goth chicken coop in her parents’ yard, which might seem unconventional for a world-class hacker, but we all have our quirks.

Bella had been instrumental in our last case, but we hadn’t talked to her since. I wondered what she’d been up to, and if she was still dating the hapless high school jock who’d been obsessed with her, but Catty forbade me from asking about it.

“You know she’s embarrassed that she liked that boy,” Catty said. “If you bring it up, it’ll, start us off on the wrong foot.”

The meeting got off on the wrong foot anyway. Bella flung open the door to the coop, tears streaming down her face in black streaks, and said, “Life is pain, what do you want?”

“We need help finding a witch,” I said, hoping it would cheer Bella up.

Instead, this renewed Bella’s tears, and somehow even more of her eyeliner poured down her cheeks.

“Sorry?” I offered. “You want a cookie?”

“I hate you!” Bella yelled, and slammed the door.

I turned to Catty. “I didn’t even bring up Jean-Luc!”

“I heard that!” Bella yelled. “Don’t ever say his name in my presence again!”

“See?” Catty said.

“What witch are you looking for?” Bella asked. She was often a reluctant operative, but unable to resist a mystery.

“Esther Dorkle!” I called.

“She owns a brewery called Witch Craft Beer, in Hamtown!” Bella called out.

“Oh, wow, thanks,” I said. “How’d you find that?”

“I typed in, ‘Esther Dorkle witch,’” Bella shot back.

“Of course.” I paused. “OK, well, feel better?”

“I will never feel joy again!” Bella replied. “I’m going to retreat to the darkness, where I belong, and become a thing of shadow and vapor!”

“That sounds nice,” I said, at a loss. Catty rolled her eyes.

“Talk soon,” Catty said.

“I may never speak another word!” Bella sobbed, and we backed away slowly, like the place might blow.

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