Skeptic in Salem: An Episode of Crime (A Dubious Witch Cozy Mystery—Book 2)

CHAPTER ONE

Mia Bold caught something strange out of the corner of her eye. She peered through the slanted witch window of her apartment. Was that a giant green goblin walking down the street? She watched the creature teeter down the sidewalk for a moment.

Oh, it’s a street performer on stilts,

she realized as it disappeared around the corner.

Outside, the Essex Street pedestrian mall was bustling with tourists. Below her window, the bells of Hatter’s Emporium jangled as each new customer came and went, buying trinkets and mementos of their spooky stay in haunted Salem, Massachusetts. Mia noticed the first blush of color in the trees. Autumn was fast approaching and there was a slight chill in the air. According to the locals, fall was the busiest time of year.

She had only just moved to Salem, so she was still considered a new resident. But she was starting to get the hang of the people and the place. She’d finally gotten around to unpacking all her stuff from her recent move from Fishtown, Philadelphia. Now her apartment was finally coming together and looking cozy and lived in. Mia had set up a little area by the window for her desk where the light streamed inside. The apartment was a bit dark, so she had bought some colorful artwork from local artists, an accent table to sit beside the maroon couch, some bright yellow throw pillows, and a fanciful, zebra print rug to pull the room together. The furniture was all midcentury modern and strangely back in fashion. Salem was filled with wonderful little trinkets, so Mia had bought a few out-of-print books on the paranormal and witchcraft, some old maps, and a pair of antique milk-glass smelling salt bottles displayed on her bookshelf.

Suddenly, a notification appeared on her computer.

Reminder!

Cast and Crew Call

Bell, Book, and Candle: Proof of Concept Pilot

Call Time: 1500 Hours

Location: The House of the Sea Witch—Derby Street

Mia stared at the call sheet nervously. Ollie Cooper, one of the producers, was sending the notice again, just to be safe. In a few hours the cast and crew of

Bell, Book, and Candle

would report to a haunted location by the waterfront in Salem, Massachusetts. For the first time ever, they were going to

film

an episode. And since Mia was the co-host, she would be on camera every second of the shoot. This would be a new experience for Mia and she had a terrible case of stage fright. Her co-host on the show, Johnny Astor, the charming Internet sensation, claimed it would be easy and had even given her a list of tips.

Don’t move too quickly, remember the camera adds ten pounds, don’t look directly into the lens.

But none of that really helped. Especially the ten-pound thing. The reality was, no matter what she did, she was about to be thrown in the deep end.

Mia tried counting to ten and letting out her breath slowly to release the tension. Tandy, her soulful, brown-eyed mutt, looked up at her with concern. He had an uncanny way of reading her mind and looked worried. Rose, the kitten, on the other hand, was too busy chasing imaginary butterflies around the carpet. Mia watched her play, noting that she was fast becoming a full-grown cat. Ghostly silver tiger stripes were becoming visible beneath her soft white fur and she had a whisper of rings on her tail. White cats were supposedly unlucky in Salem, but Mia adored Rose and didn’t listen to the supernatural gossip. Mia was running out of time so she got back to work, researching the haunting the show was about to investigate. She believed in being prepared and besides, work was always the best way to ease her tension.

Tonight’s episode was titled “The House of the Sea Witch.” That was the nickname of the infamous old house near the waterfront. For the last century, witnesses had reported disturbing phenomena: cold spots, objects that moved on their own, and a mysterious figure who appeared in the master bedroom. Boxes and other items had been known to tumble down the stairs on their own and there had been one historic death. Mia had even found some film of the haunted staircase phenomenon on the Internet.

There would be guests to interview, including the local historian who had discovered that the house was “first-period” Salem, which was kind of a big deal. Salem was founded in 1626, and the House of the Sea Witch had been hidden under aluminum siding for the last thirty years. What’s more, the historian claimed it had been the residence of a Salem witch, also kind of a big deal. Alice Parker was one of the last women condemned at the Salem witch trials—hanged on September 22, 1692, at Proctor’s Ledge. Her husband, John Parker, a sailor, had also resided in the home along the water.

Of course, as far as Mia was concerned, the haunting was utter nonsense and she intended to prove it. Tonight, she would do a sequence of tests to determine whether the location was subject to strong electromagnetic activity or infrasound. Both those things could cause physical disturbances and hallucinations. She’d already studied the maps of the area looking for geologic features like tectonic strain, quartz crystal deposits, or underground rivers. But so far, other than being across the street from a power plant, she’d found nothing interesting about the area at all.

Maybe it was just the wild imagination of the residents of Salem, a city that seemed to be in a perpetual fever dream of phantasm.

There are ten-foot-high goblins marching down the street for Pete’s sake

. If there was any place on earth where people’s imaginations ran away with them, it was Salem, Massachusetts. The entire town revolved around the preternatural; ghosts, goblins, witches, hauntings, secret societies—Salem had it all.

The fact was, Mia was a skeptic in Salem, which made her a perpetual outsider. Even though her viewpoint was unique, Mia felt the strange little town needed someone who questioned the supernatural.

Mia’s phone rang, pulling her out of her thoughts. She looked at the caller ID. It was her big sister, Brynn, calling to video chat.

“Mimi? How are you?” Brynn said, sporting understated, perfectly applied makeup and freshly highlighted precision cut hair.

“I’m good, we’re filming late this afternoon,” Mia said, feeling scruffy compared to Brynn.

“Oh! That’s nice,” she said, and she seemed to hesitate. “Listen, I called to give you a heads-up.”

What now?

Mia thought. Ever since she’d moved to Salem, her family had been in a tizzy. Of course, she had left her old life abruptly, losing her job and fiancé in the same day.

“Heads up? About what?” Mia said.

“Mom and Dad are on the warpath. They want you back here for Thanksgiving.”

“Thanksgiving?” Mia winced at the thought of going back to Philadelphia for the holiday. Her stepfather, Daniel, would insist on eating period food and reading eyewitness accounts of the original event. “I don’t know, Brynn. I kind of wanted to stay here with my friends.”

“You know how much they love historic holidays, Mimi. They are planning a pilgrim Thanksgiving in a field with venison and wild turkey. And I’ve got to say, after what you’ve put them through, I think you need to step up.”

Mia rolled her eyes. She supposed it didn’t help that within a week of moving to Salem, she’d had a serious, and very public, run-in with the police. But no matter how many times she tried to explain the situation to her prim and proper mother, Madison, and her stepdad, Daniel Middleton, a conservative antiques dealer, they never quite accepted the facts. She decided to change the subject.

“I’ll do my best. How’s Jeffrey?” Mia said politely. Despite living miles away in Philadelphia, Brynn’s trouble-making husband constantly tried to sabotage Mia, using her unconventional choices against her to cull favor with Madison and Daniel.

“He’s fine,” Brynn said. “He says your job is shady.”

“Shady? How is being the co-host of a popular podcast shady?”

“Well, it’s not the podcasts so much, it’s the subject of the podcast.”

“You mean the paranormal?”

“Jeffy says it’s ghost hunting. In all fairness, that is what you do.”

“I don’t hunt ghosts, I debunk ghosts. Big difference, Brynn!”

“Well, I’m just being honest with you, Mimi. When I went to see Daddy the other day he said he thought you were throwing your life away.”

There was a knock on the door.

Saved by the bell,

Mia thought.

Through the peep hole she was relieved to see Sylvie Payne, the sound engineer for the podcast. Sylvie lived just down the hall and was her best friend and confidant. Mia opened the door and waved her inside while making a motion that indicated the person on the phone was a little bit crazy. This week, Sylvie’s hair was an interesting shade of indigo blue, offsetting her outfit: a graphic top with a Rolling Stones giant lips logo, paired with a red plaid skirt, black tights, and knee-high Doc Marten boots. Her style was a stark contrast to Mia’s more toned-down classic jeans and black T-shirt combo, her unruly dark curls tied back in a knot.

“Listen, Brynn, as much as I want to chat with you about throwing my life away, I’ve gotta go.”

Mia managed to hang up, relieved to be leaving the hamster wheel of that conversation.

“The parental units?” Sylvie said, in her thick New Jersey accent.

“Not exactly, my sister speaking on behalf of them all. You saved me,” Mia said.

“At least they give a hoot. The last time I talked to my mom, she totally forgot I moved to Salem.”

“Wow, I thought my family was tough,” Mia said. She always tried to convince herself that she didn’t need her family’s approval, but it always bothered her when she knew she was falling short in their eyes.

“What do you say we get some breakfast?” Sylvie said. “I’m starving.”

Mia grinned. Sylvie was always starving and despite her petite frame, seemed to have the metabolism of a hummingbird.

“Shall we go to our new favorite place?” Sylvie said.

Mia blushed thinking about Café Noir. The food was delicious and the dining room pet-friendly, but there was another reason it was her favorite—a secret, handsome, charming six-foot-tall reason. She grabbed her jacket, clipped on Tandy’s lead, and the three of them headed out the door.