All's Fairy in Love and Murder

by K. M. Waller

“Pip, can you understand me?”

  He gave a little nod.

  “Try saying something to me to see if I can understand you.”

  “I’m hungry,” he squeaked out.

  I rubbed a finger over his head. “Perfect.”

  He crawled to my shoulder. “We can communicate again? I thought that other fairy was a part of a dream.”

  “We can, but we’ll have to be sly about it. No one else can understand you, but I’ll have to be careful not to draw too much attention to myself when we’re together.”

  “I’m still hungry,” he said.

  I took that as an acknowledgement and searched through Mossy’s refrigerator for something he could nibble on. With the way Mossy used the microwave to heat water and the fact that her fridge stood empty, I guessed she didn’t enjoy cooking. I found a box of microwave waffles in the freezer. Better than nothing. At least she had a toaster.

  A minute later, I broke apart the crispy toasted waffle for Pip. At first he nibbled, then put large pieces inside his mouth to puff up his cheeks. He mumbled something at me.

  “I can’t understand you with your mouth full.”

  He mumbled it again and a piece of waffle fell out of his mouth, but I still didn’t catch what he said. Mossy came out from behind the screen. Distracted by her presence, he jumped from the table to the sofa to the bed and back toward his cage.

  “Bouncy little thing, isn’t he? I don’t remember him being so energetic at John’s house. What are you going to do with him when you leave?” Mossy wore a deep purple shirt and when she turned her back to pull a pair of shoes from under the bed, I saw that she had painted glittery fairy wings on the back of it.

  Pip stood on his hind legs on the coffee table and waited for me to answer her. He blinked rapidly.

  “I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but I guess he can come live with me in the palace, if he wants.”

  Another piece of waffle fell out of his mouth.

  Mossy laughed, the sound light and airy. “Your father is going to love that.”

  “Dad will adjust.”

  She eyed me, a smile playing at her lips. “Get ready, my dear. We don’t want to be late.”

  After a quick bath, I borrowed another flowery dress from Mossy. I paired it with the blue shoes again. They’d worked well enough yesterday. The mirror above the sink showed what a disaster my hair had become. I worked it into a thick French braid and let the tail fall down the middle of my back.

  My mind worked ahead on the information I’d need to acquire from our time in the mayor’s office. Did I ask pointed questions and risk being asked to leave? If I played it safe and only observed, then I might miss the opportunity to further my investigation. I pulled my fairy pouch from my bag. I could sprinkle the tiniest amount of dust on my head for luck.

  “Juniper, let’s go, dear.”

  I put the pouch back in the bag. Last resort, remember? I pushed back the screen and walked over to put Pip in the bag.

  “Dear, why don’t you leave him here? We’re going to a professional meeting, and I don’t want the little guy to cause a distraction.”

  Leave my talking squirrel partner behind? I couldn’t form an argument that made sense so I conceded and closed Pip inside his cage. “I’ll bring you back a big lunch, okay?”

  He shook his head up and down but cut his eyes at Mossy.

  “We aren’t far from the city hall so we won’t need to drive,” she said.

  I took one last glance at Pip and followed her out the door. I’d come back for him later.

  Once outside, the morning sun hit my face with a blast of warmth.

  We cut across a park with benches and a fenced in area for walking dogs. Allondra sat in a fold out chair while a black and tan Doberman danced around her. They were the only two in the dog park and when she noticed us, she waved and shouted, “Morning y’all!”

  I waved back but stayed away from the fence when her dog stuck his long snout through a fence hole to get a better whiff of us.

  “I heard you met Allondra and Emory and Gladys yesterday at the café. They really are the loveliest of women, but beware, as they like to spread gossip and matchmake.”

  “Matchmake?”

  “Pair up single women with the single men in town.”

  Nothing I had to worry about.

  “Which reminds me. Are you betrothed?”

  “Not yet.” I toyed with the straps on my bag. “The captain of the guard and I have courted, I guess you could call it.”

  “Ooh, captain of the guard. Not a handsome fairy prince from the north?”

  “I might surprise everyone and rule without marrying.”

  Mossy stumbled over a chunk of uprooted grass. She grabbed my arm for support and busted into a rancorous laughter that boarded on hysterical. “My, my. The fairy monarchy has changed quite a bit since I left.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Has your father never told you?” She leaned forward and checked my expression carefully. “I’m the eldest, not Hypnum. I gave up the right to ascend to the throne because I wouldn’t marry a prince from the Scottish isles of fairies.”

  She shook her head and let go of my arm. I followed behind her a little slower than before, the news of what she’d given up sinking in. Mossy, the rightful queen of our fairy godparent kingdom? Why would Dad hide something like that from me? Had he kept me locked up from the human world for fear that I’d do the same?

  Mossy stopped short in front of a door that led into a two-story building. The boxy font on the glass window said Lilac Cove City Hall.

  Mossy smoothed the top of her hair, but her easy smile had been replaced with a frown. The door remained locked and she pressed a button on the side.

  “Yes?” the voice from the speaker box squawked at us.

  Mossy leaned toward the box. “Mossy here to see Mayor Caldwell. She’s expecting us.”

  A loud buzzer announced the door had been unlocked. Mossy held it open for me as I passed through. The bottom half of the building remained dark. A row of chairs sat in front of a counter with a sign that reminded everyone that they didn’t open until ten a.m.

  “This way,” Mossy said. She took me to an elevator and we waited while whatever happened behind the closed metal doors made the most horrific screeching sound.

  “Can’t we take the stairs?” I pointed to the stairwell. I didn’t anticipate that the ride in anything that made retching noises could be considered safe.

  “All these old buildings sound scary. We’ll be fine.”

  I noticed that for the third or fourth time she’d spoken to me, she hadn’t used a “my dear” or “dear” after.

  We rode up in silence. I debated on whether or not to further the conversation about her banishment. I didn’t have much time with my aunt and leaving on an uncomfortable note would tarnish our reunion. I’d speak to her again in the evening. For now, I’d put all my focus on finding John’s killer.

  The elevator doors opened to a brunette with a sleek bob stomping her foot outside her office. “Why won’t the password work, Brianna? It’s the same password I’ve used for two years.”

  “I don’t know, Mayor.” Brianna spit back at her. “John set up all the administrative stuff for our laptops and he had them all in his office for updates a couple of days ago. We’ll have to call someone in to help.”

  “You’re the secretary. Be a real secretary for a change and do your job.” Mayor Caldwell glanced up and noticed us watching her tirade. She smoothed down the front of her emerald green dress suit. “Ladies, welcome. Brianna didn’t tell me you were here already.”

  Brianna shrugged. “I didn’t get a chance because you wouldn’t stop yelling.”

  The mayor cut her a look that promised more of the yelling later. She strode over to us, her black three-inch high heels clicking across the tile floor.

  Now those were shoes that would make everyone take a person seriously. I needed to check my aunt’s stash to see i
f she had any like those.

  She stuck out her hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Nicole Caldwell. Mayor of our little slice of heaven.”

  I grasped her hand and when she squeezed hard enough to make me flinch, I snatched it back. “I’m Juniper. Mossy’s niece.”

  After a full once over, she turned her attention to Mossy.

  “As you can tell, I’m lost at sea without John.” She pulled Mossy into a faux hug, the kind where there was no real warmth or comfort intended. “And with that, I’m afraid I have more bad news.”

  “How so?” Mossy asked pulling away from her.

  “You’ll have to see for yourself.” Mayor Caldwell led the way into her expansive office. The stark office was absent of color and warmth and it matched her in style so perfectly, I couldn’t imagine anyone else ever occupying the same space. She picked up a stack of yellow slips of paper from her desk and waved them at us.

  “What are those?” I asked.

  “Invoices.” Mossy supplied.

  “Falsified invoices.” She slapped them down on the desk. “Thousands of dollars in flowers bought from Fairyland Flowers, if it’s even possible to spend that much in your little shop.”

  Mossy reached across the desk. “That’s ridiculous. I have never invoiced for more than the weekly arrangements and the festival each year. That’s a few hundred at the most.”

  “Well, if you didn’t do it, someone did. It’s been happening for the past two years and all paid in petty cash.”

  Mossy flipped through the pieces of paper. “This isn’t my handwriting. And I think I’d know how to properly spell peonies. One ‘e,’ not two.”

  “Briana and I agree that it might be John’s.” She pressed a hand to her chest as if saying the words out loud pained her.

  “What is a petty cash?” I asked, noting Mossy’s distress but unsure how to help.

  “An amount of cash taken out weekly so that checks don’t have to be constantly waiting on my desk for a signature. John handled all of it.”

  Mossy sunk into a brown leather chair. She laid the invoices back on the desk near an ornate paperweight in the shape of a squirrel. It reminded me of Pip, and I wondered if he would know anything about the false invoices.

  Mossy waved her hand toward the stack of yellow paper. “You think John wrote false invoices from my store and stole the cash? John was nosy to a fault, but he wasn’t a thief.”

  “The only other plausible explanation would be that you wrote those invoices and collected that cash.”

  Mossy stiffened.

  Mayor Caldwell leaned forward. “Until we can get this mishandling of city funds investigated properly by the police department, I’m afraid we won’t be using your services for the festival on Friday.”

  Mossy pushed forward in the chair. “That’s my biggest order of the year.”

  “What if the police can prove that Mossy wasn’t involved with the petty cash? Would that make it possible for her to provide the arrangements for Friday?” I asked.

  Mayor Caldwell narrowed her eyes. “I’ve never seen our police department move that quickly.”

  “What if I can prove it?” I challenged her. In the two days I’d been in town, Mossy had lost her friend and her business was in danger. I couldn’t take away her throne and watch her suffer in the human world too. Since I’d already made John my main focus, adding the petty cash mystery to the pile didn’t seem like that much more to handle.

  I had an ace in my pocket in that Pip could now speak and give me more information.

  “If you think you can resolve this faster, then by all means, be my guest.”

  Mossy stood. “I need to open Fairyland. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Mayor.” She nodded to the elevator. “Let’s go, Juniper.”

  We passed by Brianna who pretended to click away at the laptop, but I could tell from the sailboat on her login screen she wasn’t actually doing any work. I hovered near her but she picked up her desk phone and pretended not to see me.

  I’d needed to question her about John and their relationship, but instead I’d added an additional mystery and I was quickly running out of days to solve them both.

  Chapter Twelve

  Once outside of city hall, I stopped Mossy by grabbing her forearm and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure that was upsetting to hear about John. Are you sure he couldn’t have taken the money?”

  She turned to me, the events from upstairs taking a toll on her expression. “John didn’t need to steal from his job. Not many people know this, but he lived off of a sizeable inheritance from an uncle who passed several years ago. He could have quit any time he wanted, but he liked being at the hub of everything that happened in Lilac Cove. It doesn’t make sense.”

  It didn’t. Especially since Pip said John was about to lose his house because of money missing from his account. Where did all the money go? I wanted to ask Mossy more about John’s financial situation but I could tell she was upset over being accused of writing up the fake invoices.

  “Who else would have access to your invoices?” I asked.

  “Anyone who wandered in the store, I guess. I don’t lock it when I make deliveries around town because I don’t keep enough cash on hand for anyone to steal. I never thought the blank invoices would be taken. Nothing like this has happened before.”

  “If John were in charge of petty cash, would he be the one who paid the invoices?”

  Mossy put the palm of her hand against her forehead. “I’m getting a bit of a headache thinking about it. I know you want to help with this too, but I’d prefer you not get involved. The mayor can let Chief Rayburn handle it. You really shouldn’t have offered to clear my name.”

  I tilted my head and offered her a small smile. “Isn’t that what family do for each other?”

  She cast her gaze down at the sidewalk and it hit me that she’d come into the human world with nothing and no help from family and had made it on her own. I understood her reluctance to ask for help now after all these years. Not wanting to add additional stress to her day, I nudged her with my shoulder.

  “I’ll help you open the flower shop and promise to stay out of your hair the rest of the day.”

  We started down the sidewalk and linked our arms. With every step, Mossy’s spine straightened a little more. “What are you going to do to pass the time, my dear?”

  “I’ve made a couple of friends in town. I think I’ll pay them a visit.”

  “Do you mean Callan?” she said and winked.

  I tucked in my lips. As far as human men went, he was attractive, yet something about his withdrawn nature warned me he had some unresolved issues in his past. Plus, the whole issue of I’m a fairy godparent and he’s a human made it impossible to even consider flirting.

  “Actually, Emory and the other gossip ladies invited me for lunch at the café. I think I’ll take them up on their offer. Before that, maybe I’ll finish taking a tour around Lilac Cove. I want to soak up as much as I can before my five days of living as a human are up.”

  I dropped Mossy off at the front door to the flower shop and decided against grabbing Pip just yet. I wanted to double back to city hall and ask the mayor for a copy of one of the invoices. If I could start putting together a timeline of when the invoices were submitted, not to mention get the handwriting sampling, then I’d have a good place to start.

  I gave myself a mental pat on the back. I almost sounded like a real Sherlock Holmes.

  City Hall didn’t officially open for another thirty minutes and this time when I pressed the buzzer, no one answered. I knocked on the front door but didn’t see anyone at the counter. Every building had a back door. I’d try my luck with that.

  Most of the buildings making up the square were connected, and I had to walk back down to the corner to find an opening to get into the alley behind them. A turn-in led me to a row of rusty dumpsters, each back door having one sitting beside it. City Hall sat on the corner so it wouldn�
�t be too hard for me to find which door belonged to it. I passed the back of the café where the gossip club had shared information the day before. The smell of fresh baked bread wafted out from the cracks. I looked forward to lunch and getting more information.

  Three doors away from my target, a heated argument caught my attention. I recognized the mayor immediately but the man she argued with had his back turned. Investigators have to eavesdrop, I told myself. To stay out of sight, I slid behind a dumpster, careful to keep the majority of my body hidden.

  Still too far back to hear their exact words, a spike of adrenaline rushed through me when the man backed Mayor Caldwell against the wall and grabbed her wrist. Not on my watch.

  “Hey!” I shouted and came out from my hiding place.

  The man turned toward me and his angry face transformed into a wild smile. I recognized him as the man picking up keys from the police station on the first night. “Vinnie?”

  He stepped away from the mayor. “How nice to see you again, Juniper. How’s your visit in Lilac Cove.”

  I ignored his question. The smile didn’t erase the fact he’d been forceful with the mayor. “What’s going on?”

  “My Air B&B isn’t up to standard and the mayor and I were having a disagreement about the return of my deposit.”

  Mayor Caldwell rubbed her wrist. “That’s right. It got a little heated but it’s no big deal.” She addressed the man. “I’ll have your money before you check out on Friday.”

  “I guess that will have to do,” he said and turned to me. “Nice to see you again.”

  The mayor and I watched him walk to the end of the alley and disappear around the corner.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “I thought the police chief owned the B&B thing?”

  “It’s really none of your concern,” she snapped and raked her cold gaze over me. “What do you want? Have you solved the invoice situation already?”

  “I was hoping to look through the invoices again and maybe take some notes.”

  She let out an annoyed sigh and her gaze darted to the end of the alley again before landing on me. “I’ll have Brianna make copies for you and send them around to Fairyland Flowers this afternoon.”