Free Be Careful What You Witch For (A Family Fortune Mystery) by Dawn Eastman

distinguish between regular nerves and actual “feelings” and so I ignored my gut and decided to approach the problem in a logical and controlled manner. I would gather information, examine the facts, and not get caught by Mac.
    This time of year the only people in the coffee shop were regulars. We had reclaimed our town from the summer tourist crowd and now that the festival had decamped, the place was back to its quiet normal. This was good and bad. I liked not waiting in line, but growing up in a tourist town trains you to view the invaders as a necessary annoyance. Without vacationers, the economy would shut down, but it was nice to feel like we had Crystal Haven to ourselves for a little while.
    Josh started making my usual latte when I walked in the door.
    “Should I start Diana’s tea?” he asked. His black watch cap barely contained the shaggy mop of dark hair.
    I shook my head. “No, but you can make whatever Tom Andrews usually drinks.”
    Josh cocked his head, raised his eyebrows, and crossed his arms. He and Alex had been partners for years. They were overly invested in Mac and me getting back together and I felt guilty about keeping it a secret from them. Plus it meant they saw deeper meaning in all my actions.
    I put both hands up. “We’re just friends. Everyone knows that.”
    Josh shook his head. “Not everyone.”
    Fortunately, Tom swung through the door at that moment, nearly wiping out a coffee-mug pyramid, and I was able to extricate myself from the conversation.
    Tom waved to Josh. “I’ll have a—”
    “Already started, dude,” Josh said.
    Tom and I had our choice of tables so I steered him to one by the window as far from the counter and Josh’s ears as we could get.
    “So, what’s up with Seth? Did he run away?” Tom wasted no time introducing the topic I wanted to avoid.
    “Not exactly. Grace knows he’s here.” I didn’t fill him in on when she found out about his travel plans. Josh brought our drinks and I waited until he left to ask my next question.
    “What’s going on with the Rafe Godwin case?” I focused on my latte and tried to appear casual.
    “You know I can’t talk about an active case.” He leaned forward and waited for me to look at him. He lowered his voice. “Mac almost fired me last time.”
    I nodded through my twinge of guilt. “I know. I’m sorry. I was just asking because Diana’s so broken up about it. I thought if I could tell her more about how Rafe came in contact with peanuts, it might ease her mind.”
    Tom sat back in his seat. I could see the struggle on his face. He wanted to help Diana and loved to talk about his work. He pressed his lips together. Leaning forward, he kept his voice low. “We did hear back from the lab on that. I don’t know if it will ease her mind.” He hesitated.
    “And?”
    “Maybe you should talk to Mac about this.” He sat back. “I don’t want anything to get out of hand again.”
    Tom was referring to the standoff in the woods this past summer. He had apologized about a thousand times for getting me involved in what became a dangerous situation and was apparently still feeling guilty.
    “Mac won’t tell me anything. You know how he is.” I heard the desperate note creep into my voice and silently chided myself for manipulating him. “Can you tell me where the peanuts came from?”
    Tom sighed and looked out the window. He twisted his lip between his thumb and finger while checking up and down the street.
    He leaned forward again. “They found peanut oil in the bread that Diana made.”
    “Peanut oil? How did they test for that?”
    Tom shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know our lab could do that sort of test, but apparently there was peanut oil on the bread.”
    “
On
the bread? Or in it?”
    He gave me a flat stare, obviously sorry he’d given in. “It seems that the bread had peanut oil rubbed on the outside.” He sat back and crossed his arms.
    “What does Mac say?”
    Tom shook his