Mulberry Mischief

by Sharon Farrow

  “Drake’s holding workshops on astrology,” Tess added. “He’s lecturing in Room Fifteen right now.”

  An Olympic medalist in track and field, Drake Woodhill moved to Oriole Point a decade ago to open Gemini Rising, a New Age bookstore. He was also British—and a witch. “What does astrology have to do with health?” I asked.

  “I think he represents the haunted Halloween part of the fair. Like having the volunteers wear costumes.” She leaned closer. “I also think he’s offended by some of the costumes. Three of the girls dressed as witches. Not sexy ones either.” Tess gestured at a young woman in a floor-length black dress. I could see why Drake might be miffed. She had painted her skin green, attached a wart to her nose, and brandished a broom in one hand.

  “Drake doesn’t have a sense of humor when it comes to Wicca,” I said.

  “I don’t think he has a sense of humor at all.”

  “He does, but it’s well hidden.”

  She raised an eyebrow at me. “I bet he keeps a lot of things hidden. David saw Leticia the Lake Lady go into Drake’s shop last month.”

  “No way! Leticia never goes into any of the stores.”

  “I know. It’s weird. I wasn’t at the studio that day. I had to meet a gallery owner in Lansing about a winter glass exhibition that David and I will be part of.” Tess and David Reese met as students at the Rhode Island School of Design and had been a romantic and professional couple ever since. They had no plans to marry, being content with how harmonious their lives had been for the past twelve years. Some people found this odd. My view was “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Especially given my own checkered romantic past.

  “David only told me about it this morning,” she continued. “After I mentioned your encounter with Leticia and the dead body in her field.”

  Drake’s bookshop was directly across the street from their studio, which meant David had a clear view of anyone going in or out. “He’s sure it was her?”

  “Absolutely. She parked her purple scooter right outside Gemini Rising. He says she was in there for about an hour. Came out with a bag, so she bought something.”

  “Do you remember when this was exactly?”

  She thought a moment. “Pretty sure it was the day of the OPBA meeting.”

  “Did you ever get around to asking Drake about it?”

  “No. Drake and I aren’t friends. He’d think it strange if I suddenly visited his shop to ask about the Lake Lady. But not as strange as Leticia’s visit to his store. No one has ever seen her anywhere in Oriole Point except the beach. Why would she suddenly visit a store that sells tarot cards, crystals, and books on witchcraft?”

  “She probably went there to buy something to help protect her.”

  “Seems mysterious to me,” she said before turning her attention to a workshop moderator wanting to check in.

  Unlike Tess, I didn’t find the visit mysterious. Earlier that morning, Leticia and Piper met on the beach to argue about the Sables’ upcoming appearance at the health fair. When Piper refused to stop the Sable family from coming to Oriole Point, Leticia obviously felt she had to take matters into her own hands. The police and city officials wouldn’t help her. That left her few options. One of them involved magic, hence the visit to Drake’s bookshop. And once she decided on the method of protection, she came to me.

  My phone buzzed from the depths of my purse. Pulling it out, I saw a text from Dean with instructions to get my butt over to Room Ten, Annex B. Piper wanted me now!

  I didn’t waste time with a reply. Best to hotfoot it over there before Piper went into diva overdrive. Luckily, the crowd thinned once I made my way to the annex. A line of closed doors with workshop signs greeted me. Most people in the annex were already attending sessions, although I saw lots of visitors enter the vendor room.

  Despite the time crunch, I wanted a glimpse of David in his chipmunk costume. The sight of David as Chip (or was it Dale?) was well worth angering Piper.

  The vendor space was vast, but a man-size chipmunk is hard to miss. Although if Tess hadn’t told me about David’s costume, I would never have recognized him. His face was covered by a gigantic, smiling chipmunk head. I almost went over to him to take a few photos with my phone, but he was busy bagging purchases. An unwise task to give him since his brown furry costume and gloves didn’t lend themselves to feats of dexterity.

  After a glance at my watch, I decided to risk a quick tour.

  The conference center had taken down partitions of several rooms in order to have the space to sell the items showcased at the fair. And what a compendium of products it was: Ellie Vaughn’s Pilates machines, standing desks, trail bikes, nontoxic cookware, gluten-free food, pedometers, first-aid kits, organically grown coffees and teas, workout clothes, non-plastic toys, eco-friendly clothing, healing crystals, and more.

  Holding court over it all were the displays devoted to the Sable products. The entire back wall of the vendor room had been reserved for the Sable empire, their photos and names displayed larger than life. All of it framed by haystacks, pumpkins, and scarecrows.

  I walked past the tables, each featuring a different Sable skin-care line, cosmetic, hair product, vitamin supplement, and on and on. I never realized how many pies the Sable family had their fingers in. Literally, everything but pies. Then there were the books.

  The Sable Diet hit bookstands in the 1980s, the first in the family’s juggernaut of healthy living and natural-beauty products. Since then, family members had published at least one book a year. An entire section of the vendor room was devoted to a display of Beauty’s Bounty by Ainsley Sable.

  It looked like the book signing for it had just ended. A slender brunette in a gray pencil skirt and plum turtleneck posed by a sign that read “New York Times Best Seller.” A line of people waited to have their picture taken with her, each clutching a copy of her book. I took a closer look at Patrick Sable’s wife, whose nanny was murdered twenty-eight years ago.

  I had researched the Sables online and knew Ainsley was following in the footsteps of her mother-in-law. While the Sable men concentrated their efforts on natural supplements and diets, Ingrid and Ainsley were the literal faces of the Sable beauty and cosmetics line. Both women also wrote books about skin care, the most recent being Beauty’s Bounty.

  Ainsley in person wasn’t as flawless as her publicity photos suggested. Nor was she a natural beauty like Ingrid, who even in her seventies resembled a Nordic goddess. But Ainsley was attractive, if a bit too animated. Her wide smile seemed forced, as though she were gritting her teeth while grinning. Perhaps this latest book tour had taken its toll. Like most female celebrities, she was reed thin, which meant she looked quite good in her pencil skirt and snug sweater. And although she appeared tall, the gray stilettos were largely responsible for that. I judged her to be about five seven once she kicked off her designer footwear.

  However, she looked fit and healthy, despite her nervous energy. I was particularly struck by her mahogany brown hair, which literally gleamed. Our hair lengths were identical—just grazing our shoulders—but her hair flowed about her face like a smooth sheet of dark satin. Maybe I should check out the Sable haircare line.

  As I watched Ainsley interact with her readers, my cell phone vibrated in my bag. It was Dean. “Where are you?” he demanded.

  “In the vendor room. And what’s the urgency? I have twenty-five minutes before my talk is scheduled to start.”

  He gave an exaggerated sigh. “It’s Piper. She’s sure you’re going to be late.”

  “Well, I’m not. Tell her I’ll be there in ten minutes. Fifteen if she makes you call me again.” I tossed the phone back into my bag.

  “Hey, Marlee, what are you doing here?”

  I turned to see Mia Norris. Since she was the owner of a popcorn store called Popping Fun, it came as no surprise that she was outfitted as a giant kernel of popcorn.

  “I’m giving a talk at two o’clock on berries.”

  “That
’s right. I saw your name on the sandwich board by the front entrance. But why aren’t you dressed in a costume?”

  “I didn’t know volunteers were expected to be in costume. And technically, I’m a speaker, not a volunteer. Although, let’s be honest, Piper volunteered me again.”

  Mia giggled. “Piper always makes me laugh.”

  “Yeah, she can be a real hoot.”

  “Isn’t this the most fantastic thing to happen in Oriole Point? I’ve never seen so many celebrities in one place. This is the second day I’ve volunteered. On Monday I got to dance the tango with Rufus from Let’s Dance. Of course I took the popcorn costume off.” She giggled again. “That left only my white bodysuit, which is actually really sexy. Gary was a little jealous.”

  Gary was her husband, a taciturn fellow who must often be exhausted by the bubbly Mia.

  “What are your volunteer duties today?”

  She held up a basket filled with small bags of popcorn, each tied with red ribbon. “Passing out free samples of my shop’s low calorie, low-sodium popcorn balls.” Her smile widened. “It’s great publicity for the store. Why didn’t you tell some of your people from Berry Basket to hand out berries? I mean, berries are even healthier than popcorn.”

  “It didn’t occur to me. Anyway, it’s been a busy week. Besides, I think everyone already knows berries are a healthy thing to eat. My talk today will tell them why.”

  “Maybe you can tell me something about the berries I’ve found in this room. At least I think it’s a berry. I’ve stepped on several of them since I came in here.” She pointed at the carpet. “There’s another one. Do you know what it is?”

  I bent down and picked it up. “It’s a dried mulberry.”

  Mia peered at the berry in my hand. “It’s white. I thought mulberries were purple.”

  “Mulberries can be white, purple, red. Sometimes all on the same tree, too.” My breathing quickened. “You’ve stepped on these berries while you were in here?”

  “They’re sticky, too. Like there’s glue on them.” Mia’s sparkling brown eyes lit up even more as she glanced over my shoulder. “I have to go. I just spotted my friend Shannon. She’s a moderator for the Weight Loss Wonders workshop. Shannon knows how much I love that show and promised to introduce me to last year’s winner.”

  “Have fun,” I said absently as Mia bounced off to meet her friend.

  I looked at the mulberry again. Was Leticia here? I could see no other reason for dried mulberries to appear on the floor of the vendor room. Especially white mulberries, which is what I had ordered for Leticia from Chris Farnsworth. But would Leticia dare show herself in the very place where all the Sables had assembled?

  If so, I feared she had something far worse than a flat tire planned.

  Chapter Twelve

  Clutching the mulberry in my fist, I looked out over the vendor room now crammed with people. It suddenly felt circus-like. The noise level was high because product demonstrations were going on. And the costumed volunteers made everything surreal. I had a terrible feeling things were about to slip out of control.

  The day we found Bonaventure’s body, I noticed one of the boxes of mulberries I’d left on her porch had been opened, and several bags of berries removed. Only Leticia would care enough about the berries to take some with her. On one hand, I felt relieved. It proved she was alive. It also meant Leticia was still determined to use the berries as a form of magical protection—or as a weapon. I remembered the mulberry arrow shot into Bonaventure’s chest.

  But why were the mulberries on the carpet? I examined the berry in my hand once again. Mia had been correct to attribute the stickiness on the berry to some sort of glue. Leticia had glued these berries onto something.

  I scanned the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone with orange hair.

  When I turned up nothing, I pulled out my cell phone. The sooner Piper knew Leticia might be here, the sooner she could put security guards on her trail. I began my text with URGENT in caps, followed by my description of the dried mulberries on the vendor room floor and the likelihood Leticia was about to do something nasty. Something connected to the Sables.

  After I finished my text, I felt a tap on my shoulder. My heart sank. Who was behind me now? First, I’d been startled by Pennywise, then by a popcorn kernel on steroids. I wasn’t in the mood for another Halloween surprise.

  But when I peeked over my shoulder, I saw Ainsley Sable. “You’re Marlee Jacob, aren’t you?” Her wide smile revealed such perfect white teeth, I felt insecure about my own smile.

  “Yes, I am. How did you know?”

  “I told the volunteer who oversaw my book signing that I wanted to make certain I finished in time to attend Marlee Jacob’s talk on berries. He said I couldn’t be late because you were still in the vendor room.” She held out a manicured hand. “Ainsley Sable.”

  “I’m flattered you’ve heard of me.” I said, noticing she had a firm handshake.

  “Of course. I loved the cooking shows you produced for the Gourmet Living Network.”

  I hoped she didn’t add that I had become a little too famous when one of my celebrity chefs chose arsenic as a baking ingredient.

  “I’ve left that life behind,” I told her. “Now I’m happy to be running The Berry Basket.”

  “Patrick and Keith said they met you last night at San Sebastian. Did they mention our plans for a new product line using berries?” She had enormous eyes, almost saucer-like, which her perfectly applied makeup exaggerated. And they were of a brown so dark, in a certain light I suspected they seemed black. It was a bit disconcerting to have her avid gaze fixed on me.

  “Yes, they did.”

  “Our labs are working on berry-based products.” She gave me another hard, bright smile. “Ingrid has asked the whole family to attend your talk. Speaking of your talk, shouldn’t you be heading there now?”

  “I’m waiting for Piper. I asked her to meet me here.”

  “When you’re ready, we can all go together. I cleared my schedule in order to attend your workshop. Once I become focused on a project, I am single-minded. Right now the berry beauty line is all I can think about. What a relief to discover Oriole Point has someone so knowledgeable about berries. A woman who once was a television producer, too.” She gave me a conspiratorial wink. “That takes brains and survival skills. I think you’d make a great addition to the Sable team. I hope we can convince you to work with us. We’d be thrilled and honored.”

  Once again, I was struck by the friendliness of the Sable family. It was difficult to reconcile Leticia’s dread of them with my experiences. Then again, I had spent all of five minutes in their presence. Easy to be charming for such a short amount of time.

  “If you have questions about specific berries, I’ll make sure to include information about them in the talk.” I peeked at my cell phone. Still no text from Piper.

  “We’re working on formulas based on blueberries, acai, strawberries, and goji. Are there other berries you’d recommend?”

  “Raspberry oil is a good berry extract for any product targeted for sensitive skin. Many sunscreens include raspberries because they reduce melanin production.”

  Before Ainsley could ask me another question, a quartet of women interrupted our conversation, thrilled to have stumbled upon the author of Beauty’s Bounty. Like teenyboppers surrounding their idol, the women offered pens for her to sign their books, along with requests for selfies.

  Ainsley’s smile grew even more strained, but she signed the first book with a flourish, then let herself be positioned for what seemed destined to be a series of cell-phone photos.

  She shot me an apologetic look. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all. I’ll see you at my workshop. Take your time.” I pushed my way toward the door. If Piper wasn’t coming to me, I’d better hunt her down.

  Suddenly, I stepped on something. Lifting my shoe, I saw a squashed mulberry.

  I bent down and searched the floor. Individ
ual mulberries lay scattered about the carpet. Not many, but enough to catch my eye.

  Like Hansel and Gretel, I kept my gaze fixed to the berry version of bread crumbs as I pushed through the crowd. The berries had fallen off whatever she had glued them to. But what?

  I didn’t discover the source until I made my way to the demonstration of the latest incarnation of the Magic Bullet Blender. The dried mulberries decorated a pair of white sweatpants worn by a person who stood at the rear of the Magic Bullet crowd. The mulberries had been affixed to the cuffs of the pants, glued next to each other to form an unbroken line. But over a dozen had fallen off. Mulberries were also glued to the border of this individual’s white sweatshirt. And the person wore a white ski cap, hiding their hair. It had to be Leticia.

  My turn to surprise someone. I stood up and tapped her on the shoulder.

  When she spun around, both of us cried out. Leticia didn’t expect to see me. And I was taken aback by the mime makeup covering her face. Small wonder no one had figured out who she was under the white face paint, pointy black eyebrows, painted black tears, and scarlet red lipstick. It was a toss-up as to who was more terrifying: Pennywise or Leticia as a mime.

  “Marlee Jacob, what are you doing in here?” Leticia hissed at me. “You’re supposed to be giving a talk on berries.”

  “For the love of God, will everyone stop reminding me about my berry talk? The real question is what are you doing here?” I lowered my voice to a stage whisper. “And where have you been? The police are looking for you.”

  Her painted eyes regarded me with pity. “The police will never trap me again.”

  “Leticia, no one wants to trap you. Least of all, me.”

  “You have a kind heart, which is why I need your berries for protection. Most people are not kind. And my enemies are the unkindest of all. I can’t go home until the danger is gone and justice is finally—” The loud whirring of the Magic Bullet drowned out the rest of her sentence.