Free Muffin But Murder (A Merry Muffin Mystery) by Victoria Hamilton

The garage, built from the same stone as the castle, was a beautiful building now that the glass in the gothic arched windows had been repaired and the weeds cut down from around it. It had originally been stables, no doubt, but had been converted for motor vehicle use sometime early in the twentieth century as horseless carriages replaced the kind that needed hay. The garage’s structure was so good that a future owner could even make it into a suite of rooms. I had seen that done at country inns before, where it would be given a classy name, like The Carriage House.
    I turned to look at the castle itself. It was mellow gold in the midday sun, hard autumn light gleaming against the newly cleaned arched windows. Set in a wide open space with a flagstone drive curving up to it, it was surrounded on all sides by a wall of forest. I scanned the far edges of the woods. So far I had only walked though the arboretum, but I did know that the other sections of forest were natural, not planned. I had been told by locals that there were a couple of natural spring-water streams and ponds and other features I’d love to explore in nicer weather. Gogi had even told me my great uncle Melvyn and grandfather Murgatroyd Wynter had planned a fairy-tale-themed park many years ago and had begun to build it in one part of the forest. I’d have to find it.
If
I had time before I sold the castle.
    I had to keep reminding myself that it was not for me to concern myself with all of this land, what to do with it, and how to manage it, because there was no way on earth I could keep it. Becket melted out of the woods and joined me, just sitting patiently, waiting for me to step into his world, the place where I had first seen him almost two months before.
    “What am I going to do, Becket?” I said, a catch in my voice, as I stared at the castle again. “I love this place, but I just can’t keep it. It’s going to hurt to leave, but I couldn’t stay in Autumn Vale after selling and watch someone else rip this place to shreds and make it over into a commercial hotel. Even though that’s the only use it could possibly have in this world.”
    He rubbed against my leg, and I leaned down to pet him. “I know you love it, too. What’s going to happen when I leave? You’ll
have
to come with me, but it might kill you to leave here.”
    He looked up at me, his beautiful golden eyes full of sympathy, then set off into the woods. I followed him but kept to the paths even as he galloped into the thick shrubs. I wanted to see if Alcina had made any new faery structures. Lizzie had told me some of her friend’s story, that her mother was often sick and confined to home and didn’t have a lot of energy to worry about Alcina. Shilo, now friends with Emerald, Lizzie’s mom, had learned even more. Emerald, who was still trying to figure out how to deal with her daughter’s new family, Binny, who was Lizzie’s aunt, and Rusty Turner, her grandfather, welcomed Alcina in their home. The girl had told Emerald that her mom had come back to Autumn Vale to die, sick with some incurable disease. It wasn’t said out loud, but the implication was it was cancer. Emerald and Lizzie tried to keep Alcina busy and happy, and I appreciated that about them.
    There were dozens of species of wildlife in the woods. I had made something of a hobby of spotting and identifying them: raccoons, squirrels (both the regular kind and little cute red squirrels), groundhogs, skunks, possums. I had even seen a porcupine. One of my most exciting views had been of deer at the edge of the woods and bounding across my property. Pish had binoculars, and I had taken to using them from my window to try to catch a glimpse of the shy animals, the ones spooked by my presence that I only “felt” when I was in the forest.
    I’ve been a city girl my whole life. Who knew I’d be so woodsy?
    As I approached the latest faery art installation, I got an uneasy sense that I wasn’t alone. I knew