Spells and Scones by Bailey Cates Page A

consumed.”
    â€œYes. Yes, of course. But you don’t think anyone at the Honeybee had anything to do with her death, do you?”
    He suppressed a smile. “I’m fairly sure you didn’t off the radio psychologist, Katie. But a nice scone would be a perfect delivery vehicle for poison—don’t you think?”
    I grimaced. “Well, I didn’t see her eat a thing while she was here.”
    â€œWe have to check.”
    â€œI know.” The thought that someone might have used one of our goodies to commit murder made me downright angry. It didn’t help that someone had done something similar once before.
    Quinn stood. “I’m sending everyone home now. I’ll let you know if I have any more questions.”
    Relieved, I went to grab my stuff. An exhausted Croft Barrow started shutting off lights. I heard Nate offer to take Phoebe home, and she nodded. She looked as if she’d aged ten years in the course of the evening. Angie Kissel left, and Ben went to get the car. Margie was still pretty shaky, and more than ready to go home to her family.
    â€œIf you want to get a little air, I’ll be right out,” I told her as I shrugged into my jacket. “I just want to check in with Deck.”
    â€œOkay,” she said, and I heard her relief at getting out of the bookstore. I hoped it wouldn’t stop her from bringing her kids in for story time in the future.
    Declan came toward me carrying an empty plastic bin. “Lucy told me to grab some of the leftovers from next door since the police took everything from the signing. We don’t want to disappoint the folks down at the shelter.”
    â€œGood idea. Trust her to think of it. You want some help?”
    He held up a key. “Nah. I borrowed this from Ben. You get Margie home, and when I’m done at the shelter, I’ll be over. Okay?”
    â€œMore than okay.”
    He smiled, then gestured at my neighbor standing out on the sidewalk. “She’s better?”
    â€œSeems to be.”
    â€œWhat about you? You’ve seen so many dead bodies at this point—”
    â€œHey!”
    â€œâ€”that I kind of assume you’re fine,” he finished. “Are you?”
    â€œSure.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Really? You seem . . . something.”
    I hesitated. “I got some weird news this evening.”
    â€œIn the middle of all this?”
    Putting my hand on his arm and giving it a squeeze, I smiled with my eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you all about it when we get home.”
    He nodded his agreement and, with one last look over his shoulder, went out.
    Lucy bustled up to me, a surprising twinkle in her eye. “Don’t you worry, Katie. The spellbook club will meetat the Honeybee tomorrow afternoon after we close. I’ve already called the others.”
    â€œLuce,” I said. “I don’t think—”
    â€œNow, don’t argue,” she said. “You know we need to talk about what to do about this latest murder, and the sooner the better.”
    â€œI’m sure Quinn can handle this one,” I said, but I didn’t even manage to convince myself. After all, having the primary murder suspect be Mungo’s ex-witch lent a paranormal element to Dr. Dana’s death. Or did it? After all, Angie wasn’t even a witch anymore. Still, if she was innocent, she might need my help.
    If
she was innocent. And whether I wanted to give her that help? That was yet another matter.
    â€œPffft.” Lucy broke in to my thoughts. “You always say that. You’re a catalyst
and
a lightwitch, and if you’re here, there must be a good reason. When this kind of thing has happened before, there was usually magic involved. You know Peter Quinn can’t—or won’t—pay attention to that aspect of his cases.”
    â€œBut—,” I said.
    â€œBye, honey! See you bright and early.”