The Estate Murder: A Cozy Mystery (The Witch Mysteries) by Kristal Wales Page A

couldn’t help but laugh. Step up was the command that Cassidy gave her bird when she was training her to perch on a finger. She wasn’t sure whether Kairi was saying she wanted to step up, or telling Cassidy to perch and stop disturbing her. Cassidy decided to do both. Her bird was currently perched on the playground atop her cage, so Cassidy lifted her arm and said ‘over’, and Kairi flew to the outstretched hand.
     
                   “What are we gonna do, Kairi? “ Cassidy had lost yet another job. It wasn’t her fault, she surmised. She simply could not keep her observations to herself. This time, it was the town donut shop. She had worked there just over a month when one of the regulars came in. Cassidy groaned in frustration as she recalled pointing out to Mrs. Dover that she had seen her purchasing a dozen donuts every day for a week. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but she had also mentioned how Mrs. Dover’s husband had been buying donuts from another store… so they say. Long story short, Mrs. Dover felt that Cassidy had called her a glutton and Mr. Dover had been discovered in a year-long affair with Cris Crispy, Owner of Crispy’s Doughnut Shop down the road.
     
                   Cassidy surmised that the owner of Glazed, the hipper and tastier doughnut shop, would not have fired her, had she not also mentioned his own prior relationship with Crispy. At this point, Cassidy knew she seemed like a busy body know it all, but she just couldn’t stop. Things were more obvious to her than to others, she imagined. How else would they have been so oblivious when she told them? She had been halted in the middle of the living room of her parents’ vacation cottage which was situated high atop a remote hill just outside of New Orleans. She began to pace again, and her heart gave a start when Kairi abandoned her hand perch and returned to her cage, wanting nothing to do with the path Cassidy was wearing in the floor.
     
                   In either case, Cassidy had lost the job and had missed a rent payment, and now here she was, squatting in her parents’ mostly unused vacation home without permission. With resolve, she realized that nothing would be solved by staying put, and she threw on her favorite jacket, one that was fitted snugly at the waist, and flared out down to mid-thigh. She ran a brush through her hair, making the fine, copper-red ends fly up with static, and turned to Kairi.
     
                   “Goodbye,” Kairi said, as she climbed down into her cage and waited for Cassidy to close the door.
     
                   “Goodbye,” Cassidy responded, and with that, she left, locking up the door behind her.
     

Chapter 2
     
                   In town, there were very few places she hadn’t already applied, but she figured she should try those that remained. There were three on her list, and the first was The Twisted Claw, a shop that sold herbs, candles, fairy figurines, and coffee of all forms. Cassidy had never met the owner, Sandra Shaw, but had heard great things about her. As she opened the door and heard the twinkle of bells ring out, she nearly ran into a black and white cat. The cat lazed past the door with an unenthused ‘meow’ and Cassidy walked up to the long wooden bar where stood an older lady with long, dark gray hair that hung down her back in curls. She wore an emerald green dress with skirt that reached her ankles in a billowing flow. She had covered that with a gray sweater with cuffed sleeves that hung just a bit longer than her wrists, making her look quite cozy. She had appeared bored, her elbows resting on the bar counter before her, hands clasped and chin resting on her knuckles.
     
                   As Cassidy entered, Sandra stood up to full height, which was actually quite short, and pasted a smile on her face.
     
                   “G’morning, what can I get