Sunshine On A Spooky Night: Charlie Green Cosy Mystery, #2

By Samantha Jeffree

It's winter in the town of Sunshine and Charlie Green is determined to live a normal life after the events of the past few months. Owning her candle shop is a full time job and she doesn't have time for drama.

Her plans of a simple life are dashed by the arrival of not one but two groups of ghost hunters who have made it their mission to find out what's been happening in the seaside town. When a body is found in the car park of the local pizza place things go from bad to worse.

Can Charlie keep the ghost hunters from finding out her secret? Will they all survive? What in the world are those strange looking radios the ghost hunters have been walking around town with?

 

The second book in the Charlie Green Cosy Mystery Series.

The second book in the Charlie Green Cosy Mystery Series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samantha Jeffree
• Release date: Aug 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223464679

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE – WINTER’S FROST

Isneezed for the thousandth time that morning as I smelled the latest concoction put under my nose by my best friend and employee Tabitha Blackwell. We had been working on new scents for our candles since before 8am and so far only one was any good. Winter's Frost. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what Tabitha put in it, but she'd written it down and it did remind me of winter.

How about this one? Tabitha asked shoving another one under my nose.

That started another sneezing fit and my eyes started to water.

I shook my head and took a sip of water from my drink bottle to try and clear my throat. I think I need a break from candle making. I wheezed.

I walked out into the main part of the shop and breathed deeply. Trying to clear one's nose in a shop full of scented candles is like trying to sweep in a tornado - it just doesn't work.

I'll be back in a minute. I yelled over my shoulder as I opened the door to my shop and braced myself for the cold air that was no doubt about to assault my face.

I shivered against the cold wind but felt instantly better. My name is Charlotte Green, Charlie for short, and I'm the owner of a little candle shop, The Lamp, in a town called Sunshine.

It's a beautiful little seaside town surrounded by bushland full of gumtrees, wild flowers and quaint little cottages. It's home to some, but tourist destination to many. It's far enough away from the city to feel like you're going on a holiday but not so far you have to spend all your time travelling to get there. We have coffee shops, craft shops, book shops and of course my candle shop just to name a few.

My well meaning mum bought The Lamp on my behalf when I told her I was heading back to my home town after a failed attempt to find myself on a tropical island and an equally failed romance. I'm not sad to be back; if anything I think the years I was away put it all into perspective.

I sneezed once more and was beginning to wonder if I was getting a cold when someone nearby spoke and made me jump, Bless you.

Once I got over my shock, I smiled up at Doctor Alex Baker; the tall, blonde and almost too good looking doctor in town. Judging by the rain on his jacket and his wet hair, he had been out walking in the wild weather. He was dressed casually in a waterproof jacket with jeans and solid walking boots that were caked in mud.

I smiled, Thank you. Where have you been? Bit wet for hiking.

He smiled that friendly smile that made women weak (not me of course, I’ve just heard rumours), I went out to visit Dorothy Martin. She's had a nasty cold that doesn't want to budge. I just wanted to make sure she was going okay.

That's very nice of you.

He shrugged, It's all part of being the only doctor in town.

Alex had taken over from the old doctor while I was away and we had first met when he scared me and I cut my finger. He moved to the area for a change of pace after a nasty break up. I've had one dinner with him that went really well but that's it. I like him, but I'm not sure I like him enough to date him. I’m not against dating, but I’m also not actively looking for someone either.

As it turns out, I don't have a lot of luck with boyfriends. I haven't had a lot but let's just say all of them have ended up either dead or in jail; I think it's best if I focus on my shop before I lower the town's population any further.

You working today? He asked as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and shivered.

I work every day. I smiled. I just came outside to get some fresh air. We're trying out some new scents before the onslaught tomorrow.

He looked perplexed for a moment before nodding, Oh yeah, school holidays start today don't they?

I nodded. Neither of us have children but school holidays means big business for Sunshine.

You wouldn't think a town known for its rainfall would get a lot of business in winter but we do. We're within a couple of hours drive of the snowfields which encourages families in particular to want to stay in town.

We said goodbye and I turned to go back inside. He was still under the verandah at the front of my shop when I realised I had locked myself outside. It's not the first time it's happened; I probably shouldn't admit it, but I've done it a few too many times lately and every time I think I should get the local handyman to come and fix it.

But there are other ways to get in. Sure, I could knock on the door and hope Tabitha heard me in the work room, I could stand there looking stupid while Alex offered awkwardly for me to use his phone to call someone or I could do it my way.

I smiled politely at him and as discretely as I could, I used my magic to unlock the door. I smiled, waved and shut the door behind me.

I know what you're thinking. Magic? Yeah right. Well, it's true. Since I was a kid I've always had this ability to do little things like unlock doors and move things with either my mind or directing them with my hands. Tabitha's the only one who knows about it and we’ve agreed to keep it that way.

Tabitha and I grew up together; then when school was finished we went our separate ways. She went overseas to work and I went searching for my tropical paradise. When we realised neither of those choices were good ones, we came back to Sunshine and I can honestly say we’re both happy to be back.

Tabitha we need to get that door fixed! I yelled as I turned the sign to OPEN. Tabitha?

I wandered into the work room and called her name again.

She was staring at her phone; her eyes shining with excitement.

What's up?

There are ghost hunters coming to town! She squealed.

CHAPTER TWO – ORANGE AND LEMON

Istared at Tabitha for a while then looked at her phone screen. The advertisement on the Sunshine local community page said there was a group of ghost hunters coming to town to investigate unsolved mysteries in the area and reports of unusual occurrences.

Isn't that fun? It says they're going to run ghost tours of the town. Ooohh! Maybe they'll do a night time tour of the lighthouse. Her grin faltered when she saw my expression, Sorry.

I shrugged, It's okay.

It hadn't been that long ago that I had been kidnapped and taken to the lighthouse by a mad man. I had used my magic and a huge amount of luck to escape but I still wasn't in a hurry to go back there; especially at night.

My thoughts were interrupted by the little bells jingling above the door; I turned to see who was coming in and smiled.  My mum Jacqui is a beautiful woman, there's no denying it; she dresses perfectly, has amazing posture and looks better when she first wakes up than I do after a trip to the local beauty parlour.  This morning she looked more like she'd been in a tropical cyclone and had been blown into the trees.  Her bleached blonde hair was a mess, her makeup non-existent and her clothes casual. 

She's been trying something new lately.  Mum used to be a teachers’ aid at the local school before they lost their funding.  Since her family is one of the oldest in town, she comes from money, meaning she didn't need to get another job after losing hers and instead decided she was going to become a social media influencer.  At first that involved live streaming events in town - including information about two murders but she recently attended a conference on social media where they suggested doing yoga and other fitness was the way to get followers.

As Mum does, she threw herself straight in to fitness.  Becky Stewart owns the small gym in town and runs a range of classes including yoga, Pilates and something where you dance around a lot to fast music and pretend you know what you're doing.  Mum had enrolled in all of the classes the day after the conference.

Morning Mum.  How did the class go?

She looked up at me through her web of hair and grunted something that I was sure meant 'it was lovely thanks dear.' 

I tried hard not to laugh and instead smiled, What was the class this morning?  You look... energised.

She sat down hard in one of the comfortable armchairs near the door and pushed her hair away from her red face, Hot yoga.

Hot yoga?  What's that?  Tabitha asked as she came over to join in the conversation.

They basically do yoga with the heater turned right up.  I said as I turned and ran up the stairs to my apartment to get Mum a drink before she passed out.

I live in the small apartment above my