Murder At The Festival: A Witch Cozy Mystery (A Bluebell Knopps Witch Cozy Mystery Book 5) Read online

  Contents

  Murder At The Festival

  Disclaimer

  Special Offer!

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  One More Thing

  Contact Nancy McG

  A BLUEBELL KNOPPS COZY MYSTERY

  Book 5:

  Murder At The Festival

  By

  Nancy McGovern

  Rights & Disclaimer

  This is entirely a work of fiction. All people, places and events contained have been completely fabricated by the author. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are completely coincidental.

  Murder At The Festival Copyright © 2016 Nancy McGovern

  http://www.Facebook.com/AuthorNancyMcG

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any manner or used in any way without advanced written permission by the author.

  A Special Offer!

  To receive updates & special offers on my books PLUS a FREE COZY MYSTERY STORY, please sign up for my newsletter by CLICKING HERE! I’ll also tell you more about joining my Street Team, through which you can receive FREE COPIES of my books in return for honest reviews! It’ll be so much fun!

  Dedication

  This book is for Jackie M.

  Chapter 1

  Heads turned as Bluebell Knopps entered the cozy diner that served both as Richtersdale's watering hole and favorite family restaurant. The town had been founded when Idaho saw its first gold rush back in the 1860s. The pioneers had found no gold in the mountains there, but they had found large deposits of silver. Consequently, a bustling little nest had formed between the two mountain ranges. It didn't quite attract as many tourists as the nearby town of Wallace, but the residents of Richtersdale were proud of their little town, with its quaint brick buildings and its Athens-inspired town hall. Yet in over 150 years of existence, the town had never seen a woman with hair like Bluebell's. Bright blue, her wavy locks looked like a waterfall, surrounding a pixie-face and charming almond-shaped eyes.

  She walked up to the counter and smiled at the owner before ordering a coffee. Her hair attracted attention no matter where she went and Bluebell still felt shy about it. But try as she might, she'd never been able to dye it a different color – the magic inside her always overcame whatever chemicals she might put on her hair.

  The same magic had sent her in search of a woman who had made a prophecy about her, a prophecy that said death would follow Bluebell like a shadow. For a time, the prophecy had depressed Bluebell. But time had made her stronger, and it had made her determined to prevent crime when possible, or, at the very least, bring justice to those who committed it.

  Which was why she was in Richtersdale. Her dreams for the past month had shown her this little town in vivid colors, and she'd known she must make her way to it. Now that she was here, she felt her stomach tighten in tension as she looked around at the curious eyes that met hers. Which of those eyes hid the soul of a murderer? Worse, which of those eyes would be permanently closed if the murderer did strike?

  Her morbid thoughts were swept away as a chubby woman wearing a woolen earflap hat shaped like a panda came rushing up to her.

  "Bluebell Knopps! Of all people. I never expected to see you again."

  "Jamie?" Bluebell's jaw dropped as a woman rushed up to hug her. "Jamie Richards? W-what are you doing here?"

  "What am I doing here? Why, I live here! What are you doing here?" Jamie threw back her head and gave a big belly laugh. "Oh it's so amazing to see you!"

  "I'm j-just traveling through." Bluebell blinked, still stunned to see the girl who had once been her babysitter so far away from her hometown Lledrith. In any other circumstance, she would have felt delighted, just as Jamie clearly did.

  But instead, her dread intensified.

  "It's been so long, Jamie. What have you been up to?" she managed.

  "I'm Jamie Leimbach now," Jamie said. "Got married since we last met, managed to become a CEO of a factory, and in between, popped out a kid, too." She brought forward a little girl dressed in a sparkly pink dress, with about two dozen hair clips attached to her straight black hair.

  Catching Bluebell looking, Jamie laughed. She pulled off her woolen panda hat, and shook her hair rather like a dog. "Jenny loves hair clips. The only way I can get her out of the house somedays is to let her dress herself. She insists I wear this hat too, makes her feel happy."

  Bluebell laughed. "How cute! But, well, I'm just... flabbergasted to see you! And I'm so thrilled to hear you're doing well," Bluebell said. "You've... you've changed so much, Jamie."

  "For the better, I hope." Jamie laughed and did a little twirl.

  For the better indeed. As a teenager, Jamie babysat Bluebell each Friday night for two years. Back then, she'd been chubby, with straight, intensely dark hair, a face full of acne and a tendency to bump into things. Though the scars from those long ago pimples still lingered on her face, Jamie was totally different now. She was still pleasantly plump, in a way that made her look prettier than some of the super skinny women Bluebell knew. Her hair was now expertly cut in sloping bangs, and her smile, which had been corrected by years of braces, was now radiant instead of shy. She had a glow about her, too, that is only seen on those who are happy and grateful for their lives.

  "So, how long are you in town?" Jamie asked.

  Bluebell shrugged. "I'm not sure," she said. It was true that her dreams had convinced her something bad would happen. But when exactly it would happen couldn't be predicted.

  "Are you here for the turnip festival?" Jamie settled into the seat next to her and scooped Jenny up into her lap. Jenny, supremely disinterested in Bluebell, started playing with a butterfly shaped brooch fastened on Jamie's cardigan.

  "Turnip festival?" Bluebell asked, confused.

  "Oh, you haven't heard about it?" Jamie asked. "Well, I suppose the internet hasn't discovered Richtersdale yet. We were founded by a Swiss man named Johann Leimbach."

  "Hey, that's your last name," Bluebell said.

  "Yep, I married one of his descendants. You'll meet my husband Craig soon enough." Jamie smiled. "But the founder, Johann was originally from Switzerland. He was an amazing man. He became a monk in the Gruyere region of Switzerland, gave that up to travel the world on a schooner. Then, he got marooned for two years on an island somewhere off the west coast of Africa, before being rescued and brought to America. After that, he became a silver miner, and ended up transforming the hodgepodge camp of miners into the fine town that it is today. He was a great man, one of the solid men who built our country. But he did have an attachment to his old country as well, which is why he started a cheese factory in town. As was traditional in his old village, he organized a turnip festival each year."

  "A turnip festival?" Bluebell laughed. "Those are my least favorite vegetables."

  "Yep! I was confused at first, but the town does grow a lot of turnips, and after the harvest each fall, we gather up the excess turnips, carve candles out of them, and light up the entire town! As soon as it's dark, we'll shut off all the lights in town so that only the candlelights remain, and then the school kids have a parade of the turnip sculptures they've made.
It's so much fun, and it's happening day after tomorrow. You must stay!" Jamie said. "I don't know how fate brought you into town, but I absolutely will not let you go without a proper catch-up. How is everyone in Lledrith? How are your parents? Is old Mr. Crabshaw still winning the yearly apple pie competition?"

  Her warmth was infectious. Despite herself, Bluebell found a smile finding its way onto her face. Jamie was still as bubbly and cheerful as she had been. In her teens, despite her low grades and her occasional clumsiness, she'd been absolutely beloved by everyone in school. Even now, Bluebell was sure, she'd found a way to a special place in her new home's heart.

  "Everyone's fine in Lledrith," Bluebell said. "I'm taking a little vacation to... sort of reinvent myself."

  Jenny suddenly let out a huge wail. She'd been tugging at the brooch on her mother's cardigan, and had suddenly pricked herself on it. A tiny drop of blood appeared on her finger as she waved it around.

  "Oh, Jenny!" Jamie's face became serious, and she kissed her daughter's head. "Poor you! Let's go get that fixed." She looked at Bluebell. "You wouldn't happen to have a bandaid with you, would you?"

  Bluebell didn't, but she opened up her purse and muttered a little spell under her breath. A second later, she was handing out a bandaid to Jamie. "There you go," she said. "It's got Peppa Pig on it. Jenny's favorite cartoon, right?"

  "How could you know that?" Jamie looked astonished.

  "Er..." Bluebell bit her lip. That was a mistake. The knowledge had come to her almost as soon as she saw Jenny, but she couldn't say why. Nor could she tell Jamie that it was magic. "Erm, well, I've heard it's all the rage with toddlers nowadays."

  "Oh, I can hardly tear her away from it." Jamie smiled. She put the bandaid on Jenny's fingers, and Jenny immediately stopped crying.

  "Well, that worked," Jamie said with a smile. "Bluebell, you're positively a magician!"

  *****

  Chapter 2

  "You sure about this?" Bluebell asked. "I mean... it's been so long and..."

  "Of course you're staying at my place," Jamie insisted, taking Bluebell's bag out from the trunk of her SUV. "I won't hear a word of protest. Craig will be delighted to meet you, and you'll be delighted to meet my golden retriever Leo. That is, if you still love animals just as much as you used to?"

  "I quite prefer them to humans, sometimes." Bluebell smiled. "This is really sweet of you, Jamie. And may I just say, your home is beautiful."

  It was a beautiful white house with maroon trim, two large picture windows facing the front and a garden bordered by a white picket fence surrounding the property. The window sills had large baskets of blooming red and yellow flowers, while Jenny's tricycle lay sideways besides the front door.

  "Well, it's a little messy," Jamie said. "Between two kids and the theatre to handle, I hardly get any time to clean up."

  The main door opened up into a passageway that had framed paintings on either side and photographs of Jamie with Jenny, an unsmiling teenage boy who looked nothing like her, and an identical looking older man, obviously the father. They were met by a golden retriever with floppy ears and a blurry, constantly wagging tail. Jamie tossed aside her panda hat and marched up the hallway busily rearranging little knick knacks that were out of place. Half sticking out of one room was a giant cardboard box with "Fragile" written on it. When Jamie caught her looking at it, she laughed.

  "Equipment for helping us control the temperature of the cheese down at the factory. Craig loves to fiddle around with these things before we install it! I keep telling him they should just deliver to his office instead of our home."

  The dog suddenly decided to take part in the conversation, and bumped his way between the two women.

  "Down Leo." Jamie laughed, as he tried to jump up and kiss Bluebell. Jenny gave a whoop and hugged the dog, who immediately began to lick her instead.

  "Jack dear, are you home?" Jamie called out, as she led Bluebell up a flight of stairs.

  "I'm here," Jack said. He was the unsmiling boy in the photos, and he'd clearly grown since the photos had been taken, though his face remained grim. He towered over Jamie, his head scraping the doorframe as he emerged from his room. "Who's this?"

  "This is an old friend of mine, Bluebell Knopps," Jamie said. "Bluebell, this is my son Jack."

  "Stepson," Jack corrected, extending a hand to shake Bluebell's.

  Jamie's face crumbled with hurt momentarily, though she recovered soon enough. "Yes, well, Bluebell will be staying with us, at least until the Turnip festival."

  "Whatever." Jack shrugged. "I'm going to Randy's to play some ball."

  "Are you done with your college applications yet?" Jamie asked. "You know you're grounded till they get done."

  Jack's face darkened even more. "I told you, I'm not going. I don't want to."

  "Jack..." Jamie sighed. "Never mind. I can't deal with this right now. We'll have a talk when your father gets home."

  "Oh, like that's going to scare me," Jack scoffed. "I'm off."

  "Jackiiieee," Jenny squealed. She and Leo both came rushing at him, but he sidestepped them both and was out of the house in seconds.

  Bluebell looked at Jamie, who was staring at the door with her hands on her hips and an absent expression on her face. As if deciding something in her mind, Jamie shook her head, sighed and said, "Well, let's go to your room, Bluebell..."

  In an hour, Bluebell had taken a shower, and was down in the kitchen sharing a plate of homemade chocolate M&M cookies with Jenny and Jamie.

  "I left Lledrith after my mom died. I just wanted to be far away. Too many memories of her, you know. So I came here and snagged the job as director for Sales at the Leimbach Cheese Factory. I literally answered an ad in a paper, and got the job," Jamie said. "That was about… oh… 8 years ago."

  "I didn't think a quiet town like this needed a saleswoman."

  "Ah, but it's exactly what the town needs." Jamie smiled. "Well, back then, the business was doing terribly. Craig was about to sell it off. He had all sorts of problems, the staff was tardy, the supply chain was full of holes, the distribution and marketing were non-existent. But the product itself? There isn't a finer cheese in all of America. Making cheese is part science and part craftmanship, and Craig was wonderful at both. But like most artists, he doesn't have much of a head for business, and his cousin Charlie? Well, the less said of that man, the better."

  "So how come they didn't just sell the factory?" Bluebell asked.

  "By then, I'd been promoted from Sales Director to Operations Head. It's a small factory and I knew it in and out. I'd also opted to take a much smaller salary so that I could get equity instead. I managed to get up to 1/3rd of the factory that way. I knew there was potential. So I persuaded Craig not to sell. Charlie was a little grouchy, but he didn't have any willing buyers for his third of the factory. I don't know why I fell in love with the work and the place the way I did, but... it just had so much history, you know? It was started by Craig's great grandfather, nearly a hundred years ago. I told you about Johann, right?"

  "Yes, a most interesting man."

  "Exactly. I was fascinated by him, by the town he'd left behind, and the factory too. I just... I decided I'd do whatever I could to save his legacy. I stepped up and decided to act as manager for a while. Craig is excellent at actually producing the goods. He's inherited his grandfather's skills. But as far as managing a factory goes, well, it's a totally different profession. Neither he, nor his cousin Charlie were up for it."

  "So you stepped in."

  "Exactly. Somewhere down the line, I fell madly in love with both the factory and Craig as well. Soon enough, I was pursuing both."

  Bluebell smiled. "And eventually, you got both."

  Jamie smiled. "Well, so far so good. At any rate, this town suits me, I think," Jamie said. "Craig's perfect for me, and so is my job running the factory."

  "I'm so glad it worked out." Bluebell smiled.

  "Well, not yet." Jamie sighed. "We've been
losing money for a while now, and I thought this year we'd break even or even profit... but we had a few accidents happen, and so we're in the red again."

  "Accidents?" Bluebell's ears perked up. "What accidents?"

  "Oh, nothing serious, just—" Jamie was interrupted by the doorbell. "Who could that be?"

  It was an irritable looking woman with a pursed mouth and deep wrinkles slashing down her forehead, showing her displeasure with the world. She had bleached yellow curls and wore a blue robe wrapped around a 1950s style shirt dress. "Your dog's been at it again!" she exclaimed.

  "Mrs. Lahey, Leo's been inside the house all day," Jamie said.

  "Oh, no he hasn't. He's eaten up my gladiolas!" Mrs. Lahey said angrily. "I'm going to call the cops on him and see if he doesn't get sent to the pound."

  Jenny burst into tears and clutched at her mother's leg. "No! Leo good dog! No send away!"

  A very harassed looking Jamie scooped her up and rocked her, while facing Mrs. Lahey. "Mrs. Lahey, that's ridiculous, I'm sure you'll find that it was the cats from down the street."

  A sedan screeched to a stop in her driveway, and two men got out. One of them was Craig, easily recognizable because of his resemblance to Jack. He was just as tall, at least 6'5", but while his son was lean, Craig had the build of a bear. He had a well groomed beard and bushy eyebrows that slanted downwards as they caught sight of Mrs. Lahey. "What now?" he asked.

  "That dog of yours!" Mrs. Lahey protested.

  "Well, Mrs. Lahey!" The other man who'd come with Craig had a lean face, and a nose that looked as if it had been broken a few times. He was the kind of man who'd clearly been in quite a few fights when he was young, yet he looked impossibly sophisticated in his black suit and green tie. An interesting combination, Bluebell thought. "Mrs. Lahey, when are you coming over to try some of my new scotch?" the man asked. "It's been far too long."

  Immediately, the woman blushed and primped her hair. "Hollis, you rogue, you've forgotten all about me now that you've got yourself a new girlfriend."