Easy Bake Coven: Book One of the Vivienne Finch Magical Mysteries (24 page)

Vivienne
gave Nana Mary a smile. “You’re going to ask for magical help with this?”

“You
bet your
grimoire
I am.” Nana Mary smiled back. “It
may take some time, so you’re going to have to be extra careful. I wish you
could come with me, but you aren’t practiced enough in the craft to safely
travel to the meeting place and the two of us travelling together would draw
too much attention.”

“I’ll
watch my back.” Vivienne added. “And I’ve got Joshua to help out too.” She
snapped her fingers. “Speaking of which, I need to tell you something about
him.”

“What
is it?”

Vivienne
looked around the deserted park to make sure they were alone. “He was able to
read the
grimoire
.” She whispered. “Does that mean
he’s a witch?”

“He
can?” Nana Mary expression was one of genuine surprise. “He’s not part of the
local coven here in town.”

Vivienne
was disappointed. Joshua continued to remain an enigma and it was really starting
to tick her off. “So should I tell him what’s going on?”

“Does
your heart tell you he can be trusted?” Nana Mary asked.

She
paused for a moment. “I want to, but he lied about working the other night.
It’s starting to bother me a little.”

Nana
Mary clucked her tongue. “Men are fickle. He probably wanted a night out with
the guys to drink beer and watch football. They’re all terrible liars.”

“I
guess so.” Vivienne nodded. “He’s not like any other man I’ve ever met.”

“So
what’s the problem?”

Vivienne
thought for a moment and felt foolish. “Here I am ticked off about him lying
about work, and I’m withholding the truth about who I really am. I guess that
makes me just as bad.” She sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Go
with your instinct. Look into his eyes and then you’ll know if you should tell
him.” Nana Mary stood up from the picnic table. “Now, I really should be going
before I’m discovered.”

“What
about the police and everyone looking for you? What about Mother?” Vivienne
asked.

“There’s
no time for me to wrap up everything in a nice package. I’ll leave that to
you.” Nana Mary smiled and reached into a pocket in her jeans. She pulled out a
tiny purple bag. “This powder will keep Nora calm and she’ll believe whatever
you tell her. Slip a pinch of it in her coffee or tea when you get a chance.”

“What
is it?”

“It’s
a special blend of herbs and magic that I picked up at last Halloween’s
conclave meeting. She’ll believe every word that leaves your lips. Oh, what the
politicians would do to get their hands on this stuff.”

“What
about the police?” Vivienne pressed on.

“Tell
them I went to Arizona for a family crisis.” Nana Mary took one last look at
the lake and all the foliage from the surrounding hillside. “You’re a smart
cookie, Vivienne. I’m counting on that to keep you alive.”

She
stood up from the picnic table and kissed Nana Mary goodbye. “I’ll do my best.”

Nana
Mary reached around her neck and pulled off her necklace with the pentagram
charm. She handed it to Vivienne. “Put this on and don’t ever take it off. It
will give you some extra protection.”

Vivienne
placed it around her neck and smiled. “Is it magically charmed?”

“It
is indeed.” Nana Mary replied cryptically. “Now I really must be going.” She
turned and walked away toward the lower playground and woods. She waved one
final time before disappearing onto one of the many hiking trails that snaked
along the park.

“Good
luck Nana Mary.” She whispered and stared at the little bag of powder in her
hand. How many times had she slipped that into Nora’s drinks over the years?
That’s one recipe she’d have to ask for the next time they met.

“She’s
gone to Arizona to visit Cousin Howard and his family.” Vivienne lied to her mother
after mixing the powder into a mug of orange pekoe tea which she had slurped
down alarmingly fast. “She’ll be out of touch for awhile but you won’t worry
about it because she’s fine.”

Nora
nodded accordingly. “Yes, that makes sense now. I feel so foolish for
worrying.”

“She’ll
be back before we know it.”

“That’s
right.” Nora smiled. “She’s very independent for a woman her age.”

The
powder was amazing stuff. Vivienne thought to herself. Her mother had taken
every word as the gospel truth, no questions asked. “You better call Sheriff
Rigsbee
and let him know what happened.”

Nora
got up from the table and went to the telephone. “Yes, he’ll be glad to know
she’s not missing anymore.” She dialed the number and smiled at Vivienne.
“Hello, this is Nora Finch calling for Sherriff
Rigsbee
.
May I speak to him please?”

Vivienne
washed up the mugs of tea while Nora explained how she had just spoken to Nana
Mary and Cousin Howard in Arizona. Something about a family crisis and Nana
Mary had left in a hurry to catch a red eye flight to be at the family’s side.

She
handed the phone to Vivienne who apologized on behalf of their family for
causing a stir. It had taken quite a bit of talking, but at last Sheriff
Rigsbee
seemed convinced that the facts added up and he
called off the search. He asked that given the number of missing person reports
called in for their family lately, they try to keep better tabs on each other.
Vivienne couldn’t agree more.

Afterwards,
she called
Whispering Oaks
to explain
the situation and apologized for causing any problems. The director of the
facility was nice enough, but she could tell from the tone in his voice that he
was just a little peeved at the whole mess.

With
her cover story in place, Vivienne left Nora’s and returned to the
Sweet Dreams Bakery
. It was nearly
eleven in the morning and she had to throw away the half-baked cookies in the
oven and start the process all over.

As
she dumped the cookie dough into the garbage bin, there was a knock at the
front door. Samantha Charles waved from outside, her Mercedes parked behind
her. Vivienne set the cookie trays on the prep station and went to greet her.
“Samantha, I thought I’d missed you.”

Samantha
grinned. “Did I forget to mention how I always run late for everything?”

“Come
in.” Vivienne stepped back into the store. “I’m so glad you stopped by.”

“This
is so cute.” Samantha looked around the bakery with wonder. “You’ve really
created a charming little place.”

“Thank
you.” Vivienne beamed with pride. “I don’t know if it’ll ever open.”

“Oh,
it will.” Samantha gushed. “I’m sure it’ll be a smashing success too.”

“You’re
too kind.” Vivienne gestured to a bistro table. “Would you like to have some
tea?”

“No,
I’ve really got to be on the road in a few minutes if I want to be home before
dark.”

“Have
the others left too?” Vivienne asked.

“Fiona
is staying here a few more days to help Victoria with some historic commission
thing.” Samantha added. “The rest of us are going back though.”

“I
do hope you’ll come back and visit soon.” Vivienne pulled out one of her new
business cards that sat in a little holder on the table. “I’ll ship anywhere
too.”

Samantha
admired the card and opened her purse to place it inside. “Can I have a few
more? I’ll let everyone know back in the city.”

“Sure.”
Vivienne beamed and handed her a small handful. “I don’t have online ordering
yet, but I hope to soon.”

Samantha
placed the cards in her purse and smiled. “Thanks again for being so nice. I
don’t know what I would have done without your help.”

“That’s
what friends do.” Vivienne added.

“We
are friends now, aren’t we?” Samantha asked.

“I’d
like to think so.”

Samantha
leaned forward and gave Vivienne a hug. “I better get going now. I’ll be seeing
you on
Social Butterfly
, right?”

“Sure,
from time to time.” Vivienne agreed. “If I ever get a chance to visit New York,
I’ll let you know.”

“Don’t
get a hotel.” Samantha insisted. “You’ll stay at my apartment. I’ve got tons of
room.”

“I’m
game for that.”

Samantha
left the bakery and climbed into her sleek car. She gave a little wave as she
pulled away with a friendly honk of the horn.

Vivienne
watched her leave and then considered how behind she was on getting product
made. There wasn’t time to waste anymore. She walked over the phone and called
Clara.

As
far as convincing people to see things her way, Vivienne was on fire. By three
in the afternoon, she had managed to convince Clara to release Stephanie from
her employment and hired her on as her new baker’s assistant. For the first
time in days, things finally seemed to be getting back on track.

“I’m
so excited to be working here.” Stephanie gushed as she whipped up several
batches of chocolate chip cookie dough in the huge electric mixers.

“Are
you kidding? I’m the one who should be excited to have such a creative person
working for me.” Vivienne added as she began to slice the refrigerated
checkerboard cookie dough with a knife.

“I
feel so creative here.” Stephanie stopped the mixers and scraped the dough out
of the metal bowls with a large spatula. “Miss Clara was nice and all, but I
always felt like she was mad at me.”

“That’s
just how she treats everyone.” Vivienne spoke as she slid the checkerboard
cookies onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. “She likes to keep
people on their toes.”

“Well,
it worked like a charm.” Stephanie agreed.

Vivienne
slid the baking sheets into the oven and set the timer. She looked up at the
wall clock. “How about working until six today and then you can come in
tomorrow morning at eight?”

“Sure.”
Stephanie replied. “Are we still going to open in two days?”

“Good
grief, I sincerely hope so.” Vivienne reached down to the wooden legs on one of
the work tables and gave it a little knock.

As
she had hoped, their teamwork resulted in one entire bakery case filled to
capacity with all sorts of delicious cookies and other sugary confections.
Stephanie was quite the helper and her artistic flair was evident on the
delicate little designs she had created on some of the iced sugar cookies. She
had no sooner said goodnight to Stephanie when Joshua pulled up front in his
patrol car and parked. Vivienne stood with the door open, her arms folded
across her chest.

“I
just got your voicemail a short time ago. I called it in to the department but
they told me you found Nana Mary safe and sound.”

“Yes.”
Vivienne nodded. “Where were you?”

“I
was asleep all day.” He walked up to her dressed in his regulation uniform and
hat. “I worked the overnight. It really screws up my internal clock.” He moved
closer to kiss her but she side stepped into the store.

She
had hoped, given the opportunity to confess, that he would jump at the chance.
But he didn’t and she felt betrayed once again. “That’s not what Officer Greg
told me last night.”

He
followed her into the store, allowing the door to close. “You talked to Officer
Greg?”

She
moved to the tea display and began to arrange the boxes in a new order. “Yes,
that would be after I was attacked by some creep last night. I’d have thought
you’d have heard about it?”

“Whoa.”
Joshua crossed over to her with concern. “You were attacked?”

She
turned to face him. “That was after I locked myself out of my car at Clara’s
and was walking to Main Street to make a phone call.”

“Vivienne,
I’m sorry. I had no idea.” He reached out to hold her but she scooted over to
the bakery case.

“Look,
I get it. You want some time apart and maybe I was moving too fast.” She
examined the cookies under the soft lights in the case. “You don’t have to lie
about working to avoid seeing me. If I’m being too forward just say so.”

“That’s
not what I did.” Joshua removed his hat and set it on the nearby bistro table.
“It’s really complicated.”

She
spun around to face him, her face burning with anger. “You’re damn right it is.
You were supposed to be working the night shift but you weren’t there. I was
attacked on the street by some maniac and you weren’t there. I thought my Nana
Mary was missing this morning and you weren’t there. Are you seeing a pattern
here?”

“Vivienne,
please try to understand. I would never abandon you when you need me.” He
pleaded.

“If
it wasn’t for that wild animal, I don’t know what would have happened.” Her
voice cracked a bit.

“A
wild animal saved you?” He sat down in the bistro chair.

“I’d
really like to be alone right now Joshua.” She felt the tears building up and
fought to hold them back. “I have so much to do.”