A Get Witch Quick Scheme (Bewitching the Rich Guy Book 1) Read online

  “Could everyone please stand back. The police and paramedics are here, and we need to make room for them,” Martha’s voice sounded tired, but the others complied.

  A handsome young man with muscular arms, longish blond hair and big blue eyes knelt down next to Stella. “Can you let go for a minute so I can check her pulse?” he asked. Stella let go and watched as he took Poppy’s small hand in his. “Hi there,” he said to Poppy. “What’s your name?”

  She marveled at how calm he was, as he got information from Poppy and checked her pulse. He patted her hand and told her he was going to let go for a moment, but he’d be back. He smiled at Stella and told her Poppy’s pulse was strong and she’d be fine.

  She took Poppy’s hand again and asked her how she was doing. “Better now. Is he as cute as he sounds?”

  Stella laughed. “Cuter, for sure. I think they’re trying to figure out how to safely get you out of there. He’s arguing with a big cop who doesn’t seem to like what he’s saying. Oh wait. Here comes the cop.”

  “Miss Bennett? Can you hear me? We need to shore up some of the loose boards, then we’ll work on getting you out of there. The paramedic says your pulse and responses suggest that you’re doing okay. I just wanted to touch base and make sure you agree.”

  “I’ve definitely been better, but I’m hanging in there. Please do what you need to do so I can get out of here.”

  The police officer grunted and looked at Stella. “Are you a friend of hers?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I’m going to let you stay here with her for a few more minutes, but then I’ll need you to move so my men can clear this area. Do you understand.”

  Stella had to stifle the urge to reply, “Sir! Yes, sir!” and instead she nodded.

  “Good.” He walked back to the other men and started giving orders.

  The cute paramedic came back and called out to Poppy, “You still okay under there?”

  “I’m okay, but I have a question.”

  “Shoot.”

  “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

  “That’s not technically a question,” he laughed. “My name is Matthew. Matt to my friends.”

  “Can I call you Matt, then?”

  “Absolutely. I need to check your pulse again so I can give the officer the green light to start moving things.”

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  Things moved quickly from there and before she knew it, Stella was asked to move so the police could get Poppy out. As they lifted the debris off of her friend, Raven ran up to Stella. “Oh my gosh! Is she alright?”

  Raven’s hair was mussed up and there were leaves and blades of grass in it. Stella looked down and realized that her hands were covered with dirt and her arms were all scratched up. “What the heck?”

  Raven grinned. “I think I figured out why those rose bushes aren’t growing as well as the others, but first, what happened to Poppy?” Her eyes suddenly grew large and she stopped talking.

  Stella followed her gaze and started to giggle. Matt was carrying Poppy out of the wreckage and it was almost like a scene from a romantic movie—debris in the background, the hero carrying the love of his life in his arms.

  “Wow! I want some of that!” Raven whispered.

  “Are you okay?” Stella asked.

  Poppy grinned and nodded. “I’m better now.”

  “I think you might have broken your leg. I’m going to do a quick exam and if I’m right, we’ll have to take you to the hospital for x-rays.” Matt told Poppy as he carried her over to a stretcher and gently set her down. As he turned to get his supplies, Stella saw Poppy’s hand wave and she felt the ripple of magic in the air.

  Matt stopped what he was doing and looked up, then shook his head. He returned to Poppy and squatted down next to her.

  Now that she knew her friend was going to be okay, Stella turned to Raven. “What did you find?”

  16

  Raven grinned from ear to ear. “I told you I figured it out.” They were standing out in the garden, where she’d dug around the rose bushes that weren’t as vibrant as the others.

  “Yes, you did. But what do we do now?” Stella’s frown grew larger as she realized there was really only one option. “Ugh. I guess I’d better go get the police officer.”

  Raven’s smile dimmed. “I didn’t think about that.” She looked down at the human bones she’d unearthed and shrugged. “Do you want me to get him?”

  “No, I’ll do it. You need to come up with an excuse for why you were digging under these rose bushes.” She wiped her hands on her pants and headed inside to talk to the officer in charge. As she approached him, he looked up at her, watching her with wary eyes.

  “Officer, I think we have another situation.”

  “Oh really. And what situation is that?”

  “Um. I think it’s better if you come take a look.”

  He snorted, then turned to the officer next to him. “Keep an eye on things in here. I’ll be right back.” As they walked out the back into the garden, he muttered, “You’d better not be wasting my time, I’m needed back in the house.”

  “Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider finding a dead body a waste of time,” Raven smirked. She stepped out of the way so the officer could see the bones.

  He whistled between his teeth, squatting down to take a closer look. He looked up at the two of them. “No, ma’am. This was not a waste of my time.”

  He pushed a button on his walkie talkie and barked some orders and a bunch of numbers that made no sense to Stella. He instructed them to move back away from the area, then focused on Raven. “Don’t go anywhere, Miss. I have some questions for you.”

  She gulped and nodded, then moved closer to Stella. Stella put her arm around her and hugged her close as they watched the officers dig up someone’s ancient remains.

  When Matt had finished up with Poppy, Stella had asked him to take a look at Raven’s scratched up arms. He’d cleaned them up and applied antibiotic ointment, but said they weren’t anything to worry about. As he drove away in the ambulance, Stella turned to her friend.

  “I don’t understand why you didn’t use magic to dig around the bushes, it would have saved you from getting all dirty and scratched up.”

  “I did use magic. At first, anyway. And I did it carefully, one finger flip at a time.” She grinned, flicking her pointer finger up and out several times, but Stella kept her face neutral. Raven sighed. “I just got excited when I saw the first bone. I couldn’t full on use my magic, so I started wiping away some of the dirt with my hands. I got so caught up in what I was doing, I just kept going. I didn’t even realize I had scratches from the rose bush thorns until you pointed it out.”

  “Don’t you try to pin this on me,” Stella told her.

  “Looks like I got back in the nick of time,” Fiona said from behind Stella.

  “Fiona! I’m so glad you’re back! I missed you so much!” She threw her arms around her best friend and hugged her tightly. “You won’t believe everything that’s happened.”

  “Hi Raven. What happened to you?” Fiona gestured towards her arms. “Did you two have a cat fight?” Her lips twitched with suppressed laughter as she tried to keep a straight face.

  Raven grimaced. “You’re not as funny as you think you are, Fiona, but I’m glad you’re back. We have a lot to talk about.”

  “How about we all meet up in my room in an hour,” Stella suggested. “Raven, could you let Poppy know?”

  Raven nodded and walked away, leaving the two of them alone. Fiona linked her arm with Stella’s. “Walk me to my room, would you?”

  “Of course.” They started walking and she asked, “How did the date go, Fi?”

  She sighed. “Well, can you keep a secret?”

  “Of course.”

  “Chad is a very nice, very smart man. But he just doesn’t do it for me.”

  Stella snickered and smirked. “Is it that he doesn’t do it
for you or that someone else does it more for you?”

  “Whatever do you mean?” Fiona laughed.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe Chad doesn’t make you feel the way a certain maintenance man does.”

  Fiona’s cheeks reddened but she stopped and placed her hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know that he’s not just a maintenance man. He also owns the apartment complex.”

  “Well la-di-da.” Stella teased. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

  “Here’s an answer for you. How do you feel about a certain brother whose name also starts with C? If you answer that honestly, you’ll know my answer.”

  The two women stared at each other for a moment, then started laughing. “We’re so silly, falling for the wrong men.”

  Fiona frowned. “I wouldn’t say that at all. They’re not the wrong men. They’re just not Chad.”

  Stella nodded in agreement. “You’re right. That’s a better way to look at it.”

  “He’s the right man for someone, but not for either of us.”

  They’d reached Fiona’s room and Stella left her to get freshened up before the Four Rich Witches convened. She walked to her own room, pulled out a pen and paper and listed the things they needed to talk about.

  First, there was Allegra attempting to poison Stephanie. Then the stained-glass window that presented a different version of the garden. Today, Poppy got hurt when the stage collapsed on her and Raven found bones buried in the garden. Stella knew there was something she was missing, but she couldn’t quite place it. She chewed on the end of the pen while she thought.

  “Oh right! Poppy said she needed to tell me something. And she was furious when she opened her eyes.” She added that to her list, then sat back; it seemed they really did have a lot to talk about.

  17

  Stella opened her door to find all three of her friends standing there, bearing gifts. Raven had stopped by the kitchen and picked up chips and salsa for a snack, Poppy was holding four glasses and Fiona had brought her favorite champagne.

  Once they were all settled, Stella shared her list. “I was thinking we should discuss things in the order they happened,” she suggested. The others nodded, so she began with what she witnessed at breakfast.

  “Seriously, I never trusted that woman. She kept bursting into tears and telling us all how “emotional” she is. It took everything in my power not to tell her to knock off the crocodile tears and act like a grown woman,” Poppy made a face and shook her head. She dipped a tortilla chip into the salsa and angrily bit into it. “I mean, if you have to explain it to us, it probably isn’t true.”

  “Well, I was shocked that she would do something so cruel. I couldn’t sit by and do nothing, so I switched coffee cups.”

  Fiona’s eyes were wide. “You did? Oh my. So, what happened?”

  “Allegra got really sick, really quickly. She had to stay in her room for a couple of days and even missed one of the photo shoots. Not that she actually missed anything,” Raven muttered.

  “She poisoned the coffee, you switched it, and she ended up being poisoned by her own actions. Are you kidding me?” Fiona’s glee was contagious and soon they were all giggling.

  “When she started getting sick, she looked over at me, and I could tell she realized I knew what she’d done. I have a feeling she’s still trying to figure out how I switched the cups,” Stella said.

  “How did you switch them?” Poppy asked.

  “The usual way,” she waved her hand in the air to demonstrate.

  “We said we weren’t going to use our magic, so we didn’t draw attention to ourselves,” Raven pondered, “but I think it was definitely called for in that instance.”

  “Well, I used my magic, too,” Poppy chimed in. “But it’s not my turn to talk yet, so what’s next on the list, Stella?”

  “That stained-glass window.”

  “We never did figure out what was wrong, did we?” Poppy asked.

  “What’s wrong with what?” Fiona’s eyes were sparkling. There was nothing she loved more than a good mystery. “Do tell.”

  Raven pulled out her cell phone and showed Fiona a picture of the stained-glass window. “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that. It’s down the hallway from the alcove that looks out over the garden.” She looked at the picture again. “Why did you say something’s wrong with it?”

  Raven reached over and swiped the photo. The next photo was of the garden, showing the same area. “We all noticed that the garden in the window doesn’t look the same as the actual garden. But none of us have been able to pinpoint what the difference is.”

  Fiona flipped back and forth between the garden photo and the stained-glass window. “I see what you mean. I feel there’s a difference, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

  “How about we table that for now and let me get on with my story.” Poppy’s eyes were flashing with anger again, so Stella nodded.

  “Well. I was walking past the stage when I heard someone whispering. I was going to ignore it, but I heard a woman mention Stella.” She paused and looked at her friend with worried eyes. “I couldn’t walk away without trying to hear what they were saying. I moved closer and it sounded like Allegra. You know how she’s always sniveling and crying and snorting.”

  The others nodded and she made a face of irritation. “Well, I heard her saying something about how Stella ruined her plans and she was going to get back at her. I moved closer and I bumped one of the cameras with my arm. Something fell and clattered to the floor. I bent down to pick it up and saw it had rolled under the stage.

  “Looking back, I should have just left it alone and high-tailed it out of there, but I didn’t. I leaned further and had almost reached it when I heard the sound of running feet. As I scooted back, I saw the post holding up the front of the stage go sideways, and everything came down on me.”

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “I heard a woman laugh. She said, ‘That’s what you get for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ I was about to use my magic to fix things and find out who said that when I heard more running feet and Martha’s voice, calling for paramedics.” She shrugged. “At that point, I figured it was better to stay where I was and figure it out later.”

  “Have you asked Martha if she saw anyone nearby when she found you?” Stella asked.

  “No, I haven’t had a chance. I was buried under the rubble until Matt got me out, then I had to fix my broken leg, and now we’re here.”

  “Matt?” Fiona asked.

  Raven snickered. “He was the paramedic who helped her. He also fixed up my arms,” she added. “But he didn’t look at me the way he looked at Poppy.”

  Poppy’s face went red, but her eyes held a question. “You got there pretty quickly, Stella. Did you see anyone?”

  Stella thought back. “Well, Stephanie came running into the breakfast room and she’s the one who told me what happened. When I got there, Martha was talking into her headset and two of the cameramen were taping everything. I don’t remember seeing anyone else, but honestly, I was so worried about you, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

  They were silent for a moment, considering what had been said. “You don’t think it was Stephanie you heard, do you?” Fiona asked.

  “I’m pretty sure one of them was Allegra. If she and Stephanie were working together, I don’t think she would have poisoned her.” Poppy paused. “But honestly, I don’t know. It all happened so fast and I was buried under a stage, you now. With a broken leg.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Raven muttered under her breath.

  “Raven?” Stella asked. “Do you remember seeing anyone out in the garden? They could have left that way and I wouldn’t have seen them.”

  “I didn’t see anything, but I was a little busy, you know,” she smirked, holding up her scratched arms. “I take it it’s my turn to share my part of the story?”

  Stella nodded and Raven turned towards the other two women. “Well, I was in the garden, sett
ing up my easel. I wanted to look at the image in the stained-glass window and compare it with the actual garden. I’d already noticed that some of the bushes weren’t looking at healthy as the others.”

  She paused and Fiona impatiently waved for her to continue. “Well, I still couldn’t see what was off, but I noticed that the bushes seemed like they were even worse than before, so I decided to take a closer look. I walked over and carefully scooped some of the dirt away. I was flicking small scoops away when suddenly, I saw something that looked like an arm bone.”

  Fiona was leaning forwards, caught up in the story. “What did you do?”

  “I squatted down and touched it.” Poppy gasped. “I started using my hands to clear the dirt away and I found more bones. I just kept digging until I realized it was a whole skeleton. Then I ran inside to find Poppy and Stella to let them know.”

  She turned to Stella. “I’m sorry. I was so focused on what I was doing a herd of elephants could have run past me and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

  “That’s okay. It’s a great find. I can’t wait to see who it is and find out why they were buried in the garden.” She looked at Fiona. “What do you think, Fi. Are you sorry you missed all the fun?”

  “Kind of,” she admitted. “But I had a wonderful couple of days with Chad and I learned a lot about myself and what I want to do with my life.” She saw Stella’s questioning look but shook her head. “I’ll tell you all about it another time. For right now, we need to figure out who tried to hurt Poppy.”

  18

  After the others had left, Fiona and Stella sat on the bed, cross legged, and finished the champagne. It had been a long day and she was tired, but she wanted to know what Fiona hadn’t told her about her date.