A Taste of Magic (A Sugarcomb Lake Cozy Mystery Book 1)

A TASTE OF MAGIC

Alaine Allister

Copyright © 2015 A. Allister

This is a work of fiction.  All characters and events depicted are products of the author’s imagination.  The cover is for illustrative purposes only.  All rights reserved.

Out of work reporter Clarissa Spencer is being stalked by a stray cat that won’t go away.  She can’t cook to save her life, her garden is an overgrown mess and her chocolate chip cookie addiction is out of control.  Then to top it all off, she manages to get struck by lightning! 

Clarissa thinks she has it bad…until she finds out the town mayor has been shot to death and his widow has been falsely accused of killing him.  Clarissa makes it her mission to expose the killer before her arch nemesis, an infuriatingly handsome reporter from the city newspaper, can.

To make matters worse, her best friend won’t stop meddling in her love life and her eccentric aunt turns up unannounced on her doorstep.  As if that’s not enough, Clarissa discovers the lightning strike apparently gave her magical powers.  What a week!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 01

Chapter 02

Chapter 03

Chapter 04

Chapter 05

Chapter 06

Chapter 07

Chapter 08

Chapter 09

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

“Meow!”

Clarissa Spencer awoke with an undignified snort, startled from her slumber.  Her blue-green eyes popped open as she was rudely jarred awake.  She immediately squinted against the morning light, shielding her eyes with her hand. 

She pulled her blanket up over her head.  Then she took a few deep, calming breaths and prepared to drift off again.

“Meowmeowmeowmeow!”

Clarissa’s eyes opened again.  There was no ignoring the irritating, insistent sounds outside her bedroom window.  And there was definitely no going back to sleep.  She stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom with an expression of utter exasperation on her face. 

Oh no. 

No, no, no. 

This wasn’t really happening...except it was. 

Her sleep had been unceremoniously interrupted by that darn cat
again
!

With a grunt of displeasure, Clarissa clambered out of bed, hissing at the coldness of the hardwood.  The floorboards creaked beneath her feet as she galumphed across the small but cozy room.  They would need to be replaced before long.

There were a lot of things around the house that needed attention.  New shingles and a new furnace topped the list.  It was a well-kept, quaint little place – her parents had taken great care of it.  But it was getting older and old houses required repairs. 

Sadly, those repairs would have to wait.

Once Clarissa reached the window, she pulled the blind up with an unnecessarily violent thud.  She wasn’t a morning person at the best of times, and she had stayed up late trying her best to find unnecessary expenses to cut from her budget.  It was fair to say she was tired and grumpy.

She peered outside.

Sure enough, two beady eyes were staring in at her. 

“Augh!” Clarissa gasped in alarm, clutching her hand to her heart and jumping back.

Even though she had known that blasted cat was out there thanks to its incessant meowing, its presence was still startling.  With its sleek black fur, unwavering gaze and sneaky mannerisms, the little beast was rather unnerving. 

Clarissa peered out again.

The cat was still sitting there staring in at her, unblinking. 

“Meow,” it said through the window.

“Don’t
do
that!” Clarissa told it sternly.  “Go away.  Shoo!”

The cat just sat there defiantly.

“What do you want?” Clarissa demanded, because obviously the cat was going to answer her.

The cat continued to stare.

“Go away!” Clarissa ordered.  “Go find someone else to bother!”

Some people were Cat People. 

Clarissa’s best friend Liana, for example, was one of those suckers who would turn to mush at the mere mention of a cat.  Whenever she crossed paths with a furry feline, she would fall to pieces.  It was as though a switch flipped in her brain and she suddenly started cooing and spewing out incoherent baby talk. 

Clarissa thought it was simultaneously disgusting and hilarious to witness.

Liana’s defence was that she was a Cat Person, as if that justified her insane behavior.  Clarissa teased her that if she wasn’t careful, she would soon turn into a crazy cat lady.  There was no denying that Liana was most definitely a Cat Person.

But not all people were Cat People. 

Clarissa, for one, was most definitely not a Cat Person.  She like animals in general and didn’t
hate
cats, exactly.  But she much preferred dogs.  Canines were, generally speaking, affectionate, enthusiastic and loyal to a fault.  With dogs, you always knew where you stood. 

But cats...most cats were fickle, arrogant and hard to read.  Clarissa had never understood why people like Liana pandered to them.  Clarissa also didn’t understand why the little black beast in her window kept coming back.

It had started turning up about a week ago, just lurking about in the shadows outside Clarissa’s cozy little house.  The first night it had leapt out at her from behind a rose bush with a howl, startling her so badly she had nearly wet her pants right there in her front yard!  Needless to say, the cat hadn’t made the best first impression.

But apparently her shriek of terror hadn’t deterred it from returning.

For seven days, the stubborn little creature had been skulking around outside the house.  Clarissa didn’t want it out there turning her flowerbeds into one giant, disgusting litter box.  She had tried ignoring it, clapping her hands and once, even chasing after it with a broom. 

But nothing had worked. 

The cat kept coming around.

“Go home,” Clarissa said to the cat through the windowpane.

Then it occurred to her that the cat might be a stray.  Maybe it had no home.  That would explain why it was hanging around on the edge of town.  Maybe it spent its days hunting for food in the forest just beyond Clarissa’s house.  The cat wasn’t wearing a collar and its black fur, while shiny, was slightly matted. 

Still though, it appeared to be in good condition.  It looked well fed and seemed to be healthy and energetic.  Besides, it was only autumn and a very mild one at that.  It wasn’t as though it was the dead of winter or anything. 

“Meow!” the cat yowled.  For such a small animal, it sure had a mighty set of lungs.  Even through the closed window, its cries could be heard loud and clear. 

Clarissa scowled at the cat.  “Can’t you go bother someone else?”

“Meow.”

“If I feed you, then you’ll never go away,” Clarissa informed the cat, as if trying to justify her decision.  She closed the blinds, turned her back and eyed her unmade bed longingly.  All she wanted to do was crawl back in and catch up on some much-needed sleep.

But then her conscience got the best of her.  Stupid conscience…

Even though she wasn’t a Cat Person, Clarissa couldn’t stand the thought of a living creature being cold or hungry.  Though she would never admit it to anyone, she wasn’t as heartless as she pretended to be.  Actually, she was secretly a big softie. 

So with a sigh, she returned to the window. 

She undid the latch and opened it, allowing the cat to come inside.

“This is just a one-time thing,” she told the cat firmly as it entered her bedroom and pranced around as if it owned the place.  “Don’t get used to it.  You’re not welcome here, okay?”

The cat paid her no attention whatsoever.  It was already strutting down the hallway with its little pink nose triumphantly in the air, exploring its new castle.  As she followed along behind the cat like its unwilling subject, Clarissa couldn’t shake the feeling she had been duped.

Clarissa’s house was no castle, but it was cozy and comfortable.  The small craftsman cottage had been her childhood home and it was full of happy memories.  The fireplace was where Christmas stockings had been hung every December and the kitchen was where many a family dinner had been enjoyed.

Unfortunately, Clarissa hadn’t inherited any cooking genes from her mother.  Adding milk to a bowl of cereal was about as complicated an endeavor as Clarissa could handle in the kitchen.  Anything more ambitious than that always seemed to end in catastrophe.

Even though the kitchen was rarely used these days, all the memories were still there.

The memories had been a bit part of why Clarissa had kept the family home.  She couldn’t bear the thought of random strangers moving in and creating new memories in that space.  Truthfully, she was far more sentimental than she cared to admit.

When her parents had announced they were selling the house and retiring to Florida, Clarissa had moved heaven and earth to get financing in place so she could buy it. 

The decision to purchase the charming little house had been made with Clarissa’s heart rather than her head.  But at the time, she had also looked at it as a sound financial investment.  Then again, at the time she had also had a high paying job.

Oh, how things had changed...

“Meow!” the cat called insistently as it sat expectantly in front of the refrigerator. 

“Okay okay, I’ll find you something to eat,” Clarissa told the impatient feline.

She opened the fridge and rummaged around inside.  She had to offer her unwanted houseguest three different things before it finally deemed something acceptable and began to eat.  Clearly this stray wasn’t starving!

That was the primary difference between cats and dogs, Clarissa decided.  When you had a dog, you were its owner.  But when you had a cat,
it
was
your
owner.  Or at least it liked to think it was.  Who in their right mind would ever want a cat as a pet when it would just essentially try to make you its slave?  Yuck!

“As soon as you’re finished eating you have to leave,” Clarissa instructed the cat.

It, of course, ignored her.

Now that she had fed it, clearly she was of no use or importance.  Stupid ungrateful cats...

As the cat bathed, Clarissa hopped on her laptop and quickly skimmed the Help Wanted section of the town’s web site.  The reason she skimmed it so quickly was because there was literally nothing there.  Well, not unless a thinly veiled “wife wanted” ad from Sugarcomb Lake’s most
ineligible
old bachelor counted – gross!

With a sigh, Clarissa picked up the phone book and flipped through it.  She grabbed a pen and paper and made her way over to the living room.  She flopped down on the couch, still wearing her pajamas.  Then she began cold calling every business in town to see if there was, by chance, a job vacancy. 

Luck was not on Clarissa’s side.  Or at least the economy wasn’t.  That was the problem:  no one seemed to be hiring and she was quickly running out of money.  She still couldn’t believe she had gotten herself into such a pickle.  Her faith in humanity had basically left her penniless.

“What am I going to do?” she moaned in despair after making what felt like her millionth call. 

“Meow,” the cat replied matter-of-factly. 

Clarissa looked down and saw the stray sitting at her feet.  It looked up at her.  It was still smacking its lips, if cats had lips.  Before Clarissa knew what was happening, the furry feline sauntered over to her favorite armchair, jumped onto it and curled into an impossibly tiny ball.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Clarissa protested.  “Get off the furniture!  You’ll get cat hair everywhere!”

Predictably, the cat paid her no attention whatsoever.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true.  It opened one eye and gave her a dirty look that basically said “I’m trying to sleep so be quiet, Human.”  Then it contorted its body into a position that didn’t look even remotely comfortable.  It promptly fell asleep like that, basically lying upside down.

“So much for laying down the law,” Clarissa muttered as she looked over at her snoring houseguest with disdain.  “But you’re not staying here, Cat.  As soon as you wake up from your nap you have to hit the road.”

As if right on cue, the cat suddenly and unceremoniously passed gas.  Logically, Clarissa knew it was nothing more than a gross, foul-smelling coincidence.  The cat was fast asleep, so it wasn’t as though it had done that out of spite.  But it sure felt like it.