Sunshine On A Stormy Night: Charlie Green Cosy Mystery, #4

By Samantha Jeffree

Life in Sunshine isn't all rainbows. In fact, it's anything but!

As winter starts to draw near Charlie Green is preparing for the next wave of tourists to visit the town on the way to the snowfields.

Her mum has bought the old bed and breakfast and is doing it up and wants her help and the Ghost Hunters are convinced they're going to find something spooky this time.

Between her usual crazy life and the addition of a TV crew in town investigating unsolved mysteries, things are going from crazy to just plain madness.

A murder, strange noises and trying to steer clear of the Ghost Hunters keeps Charlie very busy in this fourth mystery.

How will she ever find time to work in her candle shop?

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samantha Jeffree
• Release date: Oct 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223154693

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE – VANILLA

C harlie! Come here quickly! I need your help!

I did my best not to sigh and followed the sound of my mum's voice somewhere upstairs. We'd been moving furniture into her new bed and breakfast all morning and I was starting to lose enthusiasm.

My name is Charlotte Green; Charlie for short.

It's a long story, but let's just say I grew up in the town of Sunshine, went off to follow my dreams, ended up with a crazy ex-boyfriend who followed me back home and almost got me killed, and things just got weirder from there.

At first I was unsure, but I'm now certain I made the right decision coming back.

Upon my return Mum announced ‘I had bought’ the old candle shop on Main Street. She’d  signed me up for a mortgage and redecorated the shop before I got home. She presented The Lamp to me with the promise I would fall in love with it.

I hate to admit it, but she was right.

The Lamp is the most quaint, beautiful little shop I could imagine. I live upstairs with my Saint Bernard, Bentley and love that I don’t have far to go to get to work.

My best friend, Tabitha, works in the shop full time and sometimes she seems to be there more than I am. Especially since I seem to get caught up in whatever mystery occurs in Sunshine and end up spending a lot of time away from the shop; I make up for it by making the candles at night.

What is it Mum? I called.

I found her in one of the rooms at the top of the stairs, staring down at her feet. She’d pulled up the old carpets in other rooms to reveal the beautiful old floorboards. She’d done the same with this room but instead of admiring the floorboards, she was staring at something with disgust.

I came closer, What is it? I peered at the floorboards and grinned despite Mum's disgust.

Someone has drawn something very inappropriate on these floorboards. Now I'm going to have to cover or get them repaired.

I shrugged, Talk to Gus. He might be able to get that out.

Gus is the local handyman and although he's getting on in years, he still knows what he's doing. Perhaps he would know how to remove the inappropriate drawing off the floor without damaging anything.

Mum hadn't employed a contractor to do anything yet. She had just bought the bed and breakfast and was determined to do most of it herself and document it for social media.

Mum worked for years as a teachers’ aid, but when funding was cut and she lost her job, she decided a social media influencer was a great alternative.

I'm all for her having a hobby but I'm less for her posting photos of me all over social media without my permission. So far she's tried her hand at being a general influencer, a fitness influencer and now she's decided she wants to be one of those easy renovation influencers. I think she's secretly hoping to get her own show.

The sky outside the old building was dark but so far the rain had held off.  Winter had come to Sunshine.

Sunshine has the best of both worlds; it's surrounded by beautiful mountains and bushland as well as farms and also fronts onto the ocean. I'm not much of a beach girl but my 'not-boyfriend', Will Miles, lives on the beach and surfs, so I'm starting to warm to it.

Will is a reasonably fresh import from America; he's also one of the detectives in town and works with my dad who is the sergeant. It's not as weird as I thought it would be, and even though we've never discussed our relationship, I'm comfortable with where we're at.

The wind howled outside and I thought I heard footsteps downstairs. I glanced at Mum who was too busy staring at the floorboards to notice.  It was Sunday which meant The Lamp was closed; Tabitha had offered to help with the renovations, but had gone back home for something and there was no way she was back so fast.

I decided to leave Mum to her musings and headed downstairs. The lights were on but some of the globes had blown; the man who had run the bed and breakfast previously had unfortunately been murdered on his own front porch. Not one to be deterred by something like blood, Mum had put in an offer and it had been accepted. I'm not sure who had accepted it since the previous owner had no known family, but it all worked out in the end.

Mum hadn't decided on a name for her new venture yet but she has amazing decorating skills and I knew whatever it was would be classy just like the decor, once she was done.

I walked slowly down the stairs and looked around. There was no sign of anyone on the ground floor but the front door had blown open. I turned to close it and jumped violently when I realised someone was standing behind me. I whirled around ready to use what little self defence I know and relaxed when I saw who it was.

The man was short and thin with blonde hair and was holding a small device he believes finds ghosts. I sighed, Liam! What are you doing here?!?

Liam is the head of a group called the Ghost Hunters. They're annoying but mainly harmless. They came to Sunshine to investigate some unusual sightings (Sunshine is known for strange occurrences and unfortunately unsolved mysteries), but instead they got caught up in a murder investigation.

Here's where it gets tricky. Liam and his team really did spot some strange occurrences but the problem is, they were caused by me. This is hard to explain, but ever since I was little I have been able to do magic. Not little tricks involving rabbits and hats, but real magic. Sure, it's not that impressive, but it's come in handy on a few occasions. Basically, I can call things to me and move them around with my mind and light up my hands like torches. Tabitha, Will, and my older brother Mikey know, but that's it.

The Ghost Hunters think they have proof something weird is happening in town, but really they have nothing; yet.

Liam waved the beeping device in front of me, I'm here to sweep the house for you.

Thanks, but I think Mum has a lot of renovations to do before we bother with cleaning. I said as I stood with my arms folded, trying to look as intimidating as I could.

After their experience in Sunshine, the Ghost Hunters had rented an office space and stayed in town investigating the paranormal. Other than running in to them at the local coffee shop, I haven't had much to do with them since the murder case.

Not that kind of sweeping. I'm here to check for spirits. Liam said.

Oh. Right. Well I've been here all morning and I haven't seen a thing. I said.

You can't always see them. You can feel them. He said.

I looked around to see if there were any other Ghost Hunters nearby. They usually work in at least pairs so I was surprised to see him by himself.

Where's everyone else?

Comic convention in the city. He said whilst staring at his beeping equipment.

And you didn't want to go? I asked.

Someone had to look after the office. Besides, I knew Jacqui was getting the keys to this place soon and I wanted to make sure it was safe. Liam looked a little embarrassed.

Mum is an attractive woman for her age, and always goes out of her way to be nice to people. I have the distinct feeling Liam has a little crush on her.

I opened my mouth to tell him to leave when Mum came down the staircase and smiled when she saw him. She put her arm around his shoulders and took him on a tour of the building. I sighed in relief; I'm not sure the equipment they use actually works, but if it does, there's a chance it could pick up something strange from me.

I shrugged and went out onto the porch. I had left Bentley at home; he hates storms and I didn't want him running off if he was some place foreign.

I glanced up at the dark sky out over the ocean; the clouds were swirling and I could hear the waves crashing on the shore. I wrapped my cardigan around me and sighed. The beach always seems romantic to me; there's something about the serenity and ferocity all wrapped in to one.

I jumped as my phone rang in one of my pockets. By the time I found it, it had stopped ringing and I had a missed call from Will.

I listened to the voicemail, 'Hey. Sorry I missed you. Look, I'm sorry but something big has come up and I'm not going to be able to help your mum today. I'm not sure when I'll be done. Stay warm and dry and hope the move goes well. Bye.'

CHAPTER TWO – SPICED CIDER

Iwas sitting reading a book after dinner when I realised I hadn't asked Tabitha about an order due to go out the next morning. As far as I knew it was ready to go, but it was an order to Alex Baker's Aunt and I was sure she usually preferred florals over citrus scents.

I could have called Alex, but his new girlfriend hates me, and I'm not her greatest fan.

Doctor Alex is tall, blonde and very attractive. We went on a date when I first moved back to Sunshine, but I met Will soon after and things with Alex faded.

As far as I know, Alex is happy with Skye and there's no awkwardness between us. Skye, on the other hand is a different story. We grew up in the same town; she's pretty, blonde, has a great body and knows it.

Our high school isn't huge, so we knew each other in school and for reasons I still don't know, she hates me. I started dating a guy who ended up being really popular. I didn't go looking to date a popular boy; I didn't go looking at all, but Skye just wouldn't let it go.

Unfortunately that boy was murdered in my shop a little over a year ago and it still stings a little.

There was no love between us by the time we left high school but we did have memories. At the time of the murder I had been too busy being spooked to think about any of this.

Hey. I jumped when Tabitha spoke at the other end of the line.

"Oh