“What’s wrong?”
“Gandolf told me that more than likely, this week was going to be my last week for the Gazette.”
“What?” How did Gandolf know anything about the budget cuts? He was the interim sheriff, not the president. It was definitely time to get some answers around here.
“He told me they were going to have to bring in more officers to aid in the investigation and to be prepared to stop production of the paper.” She didn’t seem as upset as she was the night before.
“You know what.” I bit the corner of my lip. I was about to say something that I might regret, but I needed the time to go see some of the people on my to-see list and this was the only way I saw my list getting completed. “Don’t you worry about the Gazette. I haven’t heard anything about it. Can you work in the shop for me today? I have a ton of things to get done.”
I knew it wasn’t a fabulous job to help her “gift” but it was a paying job. Besides, A Charming Cure was doing so much business, it was about time to hire someone.
“June!” Faith squealed. “I’d love to! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She threw her arms around my neck so tight that my head nearly popped right off my shoulders.
“No problem. I was just about to go down for the day.” I pried her off me and went back to get my bag. “You can follow me and I can show you the ropes.”
In a few minutes, we were at the shop. There wasn’t much to teach her. She had already run Wicked Good’s cash register, which was about the same. Plus, the bottles had prices on them. The only thing different was the extra-added ingredients, and those could be classified as special orders. Faith had a good enough intuition with her gift of Clairaudience that she would know when a client needed a true personal cure.
“Did you see a book about spells around here?” I was bent behind the counter looking for the “Mysteries and Magical Spells” book that I had found under the bushes in front of Ever After Books.
“No.” Faith was going around all the tables straightening the tablecloths and making sure the bottles were facing out. Even though I had done that last night, it was still good to see that she knew that’s the way I like them to look.
I rushed back to the storage room and looked around for the book, but nothing was there. With so much on my mind, I was sure it had to be at home.
I gave one more look behind the counter before I noticed my cauldron was empty.
“A…” My heart raced. I felt faint. “Faith, did you mess with my cauldron while I was in the back?” I prayed she didn’t think it was dirty and cleaned it.
“No. I’m not that stupid.” She flipped the sign to open.
Frantically, I ran all over the shop looking for any signs of the potion. It wasn’t like it grew legs and walked away.
There was a rush of butterflies to my gut. Something or someone had taken my potion, which meant they took the book. My first instinct was to get the police. That wasn’t going to happen. The two things that were missing were the two things I had done illegally.
The bell over the door chimed when someone came in.
“Good morning!” Eloise swept across the floor. She had on a blue cloak with beading all over the seams. “I’m excited to be starting our new book club.”
“I completely forgot.” I threw my palm to my forehead. My head hadn’t been screwed on lately with all the crazy commotion of the murder, Oscar, and now a break-in. “Faith are you okay without me?”
“Of course.” Faith had put an apron on and was behind the counter waiting anxiously for the first customer to come in. “I’m so grateful.”
The spark that used to be in her eyes was starting to come back. With a little luck, I would head over to the police station to ask Gandolf about the Gazette before Eloise and I went to Ever After Books.
“What was that about?” Eloise stopped me at A Charming Cure gate.
“I hired Faith to help me out for awhile. It will help both of us out.” I pointed across the street. “Before we go to the bookstore, can we go see Gandolf?”
We had to dodge a few tourists on our way over to the station, but stopped to see what everyone was gawking at outside of Glorybee Pet Shop. Petunia was sitting in a chair outside of an animal pen with her arms folded across her body. The scowl on her face was almost as crooked as the hair on her head. She was disheveled from top to bottom. Even the buttons on her shirt were mismatched.
“What is going on?” I tried to be as polite as I could, but seeing her this way was not the normal happy-go-lucky pet shop owner who loved animals that I knew.
“Those animals have to go!” She pointed behind her. All of the animals in the pen were the stray ones. “Last night I heard the most awful commotion coming from the shop. I went in and these animals were biting, scratching, and chasing my sweet animals. They went crazy! Berserk I tell you!”
We stood far away from the pen. The animals gnashed their teeth and threw themselves up against the fence. I wanted to ask Petunia if she believed what Gerald had said he told her about the animals, but decided this wasn’t the time or place.
“What is going on?” Eloise, who rarely comes out during the day, had a frightful look in her emerald green eyes.
“Watch out!” A scream from down the street followed by a honking horn caught our attention. Tourists scattered as Patience Karima rode on the ostrich’s back as though she were sidesaddle on a horse. Constance Karima was right behind in the pink hearse beeping the horn and screaming for the ostrich to stop.
The ostrich zipped right past us with Patience holding on for dear life and Constance on their tails.
“See!” Petunia pointed and shouted, “Berserk!”
“This is not good.” Whispering Falls tugged at my gut. Something was off, way off. Good thing I was on my way to see Gandolf. Maybe he had some answers.
“I’ll be back.” I assured Petunia before I ran across the street with Eloise and burst into the police station.
Gandolf was the only one in the station. Colton was nowhere to be seen.
“Good morning, June.” He stood up and took off his hat. He nodded. “Eloise.”
“Really? You think it’s a good morning?” I was ticked off and unable to hold my tongue. “First you tell Faith that the Gazette is the first business to be cut from the budget because we have to beef up the police department. Second, the stray animals have all gone crazy. You are telling me that is a good morning?”
“Settle down.” He pushed the palms of his hands to the ground like I was a ten-year old.
“Settle down?” I was about to go as berserk as the animals. “You are the sheriff interim. You do not make the rules nor do you know the status of budget cuts. Do your job of finding the person who killed Alexelrod and find out where these animals go,” I demanded.
“If you have a problem with my job description, I suggest you see Isadora Solstice.” He put his hat back on his head. His eyes bore through me. “If you don’t mind, I need to get back to a murder investigation.”
He sat back down, picked up his pencil and started flipping through some papers.
“Be expecting me to come back,” I growled, assuring him that the way he treated me was not acceptable.
Eloise and I stormed out of the station. One thing was for sure, Gandolf was going to be replaced by Colton, and fast.
“Who exactly did he think he was talking to?” I stomped down the street, passing by Ever After Books.
“Calm down.” Eloise was always the voice of reason. Today was not a day to be reasoned with. I was mad and I was going to get to the bottom of this. Whispering Falls was falling apart and it wasn’t going to continue under my administration.
“Is she in there?” Eloise asked when we got to Mystic Lights and the sign was still turned to closed.
We planted our faces up against the windows and looked in. The lights were out. Izzy had been sick due to some crazy issues a few months ago, so I chalked up her not being there due to her still recovering.
“Let me know how she is. She looked good at the meeting before everything crumbled,” I said, referring to Alexelrod’s murder. Eloise and Izzy had been friends for a long time. “Don’t tell her what is going on around here. It can wait until she’s feeling better.”
“I will.” Eloise kept her lips tight. Though she was my mom’s best friend and much older than me, she respected my place in the community. She knew when to give advice and knew when not to.
“What do you say we head on in?” I couldn’t wait for Eloise to see the inside of Ever After Books. It was the most spectacular bookstore I had ever seen. I pointed out the colorful daisies and beautifully and oddly shaped bushes. Seeing them reminded me of the spell book, who took it, and my potion. The only person I could tell all of this to was no longer someone I could confide in…Oscar.
If he were still a spiritualist, I’d be able to tell him everything, and he’d help find out who did it.
The bookstore was packed. Aisle upon aisle of customers browsed the shelves and were putting books in their hand-held baskets. All of the tables were full as well as the cute loveseats that were positioned all over the store.
Ever After Books had to be the most popular shop in Whispering Falls. Raven Mortimer even had a bakery stand in the back corner where her pre-made baked goodies sat in single-serve bags.
“Wow.” Eloise racked at the edges of her short red hair. She stood with her mouth open in awe of all the stuff going on.
Ophelia had several employees helping customers and some were helping children doing crafts in the children’s section.
“Good morning, ladies.” Ophelia welcomed us with open arms. Her long curly honey-blond hair hung down her back. She wore a long black skirt with a bright blue sleeveless top. “What can I help you find today?”
“We were wanting to start a book club.” Eloise picked a book off the shelf before replacing it.
“How can I help you?” Ophelia asked again as if she didn’t hear Eloise.
“We want you to recommend a book for our new book club.” Eloise stated her request a little differently this time.
“Are you here to look around?” Ophelia’s eyes wandered from shelf to shelf, pulling books in and out as she went.
I put my hand on her arm to stop her. She looked at me with a scowl.
“Are you okay?” I questioned her.
“No.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the back of the shop. I hoped she wasn’t going to ask me to do the same crazy follow me stunt she pulled the other night. She didn’t. Once Eloise and I were in the back office, Ophelia shut the door.
“I’ve misplaced something of the utmost importance.” Her voice was even more high-pitched when she was nervous. “It’s a book of spells, and if it gets into the wrong hands, we are all in trouble.”
“That wasn’t the book I wanted for book club.” Eloise was uncomfortable with any sort of spell. She’d rather stay in her treehouse deep in the woods than come to Whispering Falls. “We don’t know where your book is. Let’s go, June.” Eloise tugged at my shirtsleeve.
“Hold on.” I pulled away. “Was it ‘Mysteries and Magical Spells?’”
“Yes! Do you know where it is?” She asked urgently, almost pleading.
“I did.” I stopped and took a breath. “Then someone stole it.”
“What?” Eloise and Ophelia cried out in unison.
“The day Alexelrod was found, it was outside under a bush. I picked it up and took it back to my shop where I put it behind the counter.” I shuffled my feet. They were not going to like the last part I was about to tell them. “Unfortunately, last night someone broke into my shop and stole a potion I was making, and the book is gone.”
“Oh no.” Ophelia looked more like a frightened child in a witch costume rather than a real witch. “I’m afraid we are in more trouble than you realize.”
A lump sat in my throat. My stomach was doing summersaults. There was no denying it. My intuition was in full swing. Whispering Falls was in trouble and it was up to me to get us out of this mess.
Chapter Twenty
My day wasn’t getting any better. In fact it was getting worse. The animals were acting crazier than ever, Constance couldn’t find Patience, who was still hanging on to and riding the ostrich because she refused to let him run off, and the “Mysteries and Magical Spells” book was missing.
I had searched A Charming Cure high and low for any sign of a break-in, only to come up empty handed. I even walked back to my cottage to see if I had put it there and to figure out if the potion had evaporated. Nothing.
The knock on the cottage door stopped me from almost taking a knife to the couch cushions because I was so desperate.
“Colton?” Of all people to show up. While standing on the front porch, I wondered if my crazed appearance in the shadow of the sun would make any man run for the woods. I raked my fingers through my hair, and then swiped under my eyes. I was a sweaty mess and I was sure my mascara was halfway down my face by now. “Come in.”
“Are you okay?” His looked all buff in his gold-rimmed Ray Ban sunglasses and Whispering Falls uniform.
“I’m a little out of sorts.” I was reluctant to tell him why. The way I saw it, I was in a pickle and had no choice. He was as close to Oscar would be in helping me, only not in the romantic department, though he was pleasant to look at. “You are going to think I’m a crazy Village President that doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
“Ya think?” He half-grinned, teasing me.
“Whatever.” I smacked his arm. He followed me to the couch and we sat down. “Anyway, I found this book at the scene of the crime and picked it up. I didn’t think it had anything to do with Alexelrod’s murder before, but now I think I’m wrong. I think it had a lot to do with the murder, but I’m not sure what.”
“What kind of book?” Colton sat back and his shirt tugged a little tighter around his chest.
“You aren’t going to tell Gandolf are you?” I wanted to make sure he kept Gandolf out of the loop, because I was going to get Gandolf out of the picture as soon as I talked to Izzy.
“He is so busy with the budget cut that he isn’t even looking at other suspects.” Colton’s distaste for how Gandolf was running the investigation was apparent.
“It’s a ‘Mysteries and Magical Spells’ book that Ophelia kept at the shop. I picked it up because of O…” I almost slipped and said Oscar. That was a situation that Colton didn’t need to know about. It had nothing to do with the murder. Oscar’s dilemma was my fault, my problem. I shook it off. “…I was curious and left it at A Charming Cure along with a special potion I’m making. When I went to work today, the potion and the book were gone.”
“June, what kind of potion?” He seemed as if he was almost afraid to ask.
“A power potion,” I mumbled. Colton was not going to like that in the slightest bit. I covered my mouth and said, “An enhanced power potion.”
“June!” He sucked in a deep breath; his shirt became even more snug, showing off those muscles under the shirt. “We will deal with the potion later. What about the book?”
“When I confessed to Ophelia that I took the book and it was missing, she said that there were some ancient potions in there and that if they fell into the wrong hands, we were in deep trouble.” I pointed to my gut. “And I feel like it has already gotten into the wrong hands along with my potion.”
Colton got up and paced the length of the couch, scratching his head like his fingers were going to give him some good ideas.
“I think that Alexelrod didn’t go to the meeting that night because he thought everyone would be there. He slipped into Ever After and took the book. Then whoever wanted the book, was in there too and found the dart book. They shot him with the darts on his way out and that is when Faith saw him. The killer ran off after Faith started to scream.”
Colton stopped d
ead in his tracks, his eyes narrowed. “You have this all figured out.”
I sat up a little taller with a big smile on my face. I had completely just solved the crime. I was pleased as a plum.
“So who killed him?” Colton’s question deflated my oversized ego.
“I don’t know.” I slumped back into the cushions of the couch. “Good question.”
“Which brings us back to Ophelia Biblio.” His voice drifted off. “Do you think she did it?”
“I don’t. And I don’t necessarily know if the person meant to kill anyone, but did because Alexelrod was in the way.” I had played the scenario in my head so many times everything was getting foggy. “The person had to know that there was a meeting that night.”
“Ophelia, Alexelrod, and Faith were the only ones not there.” Colton brought us back to the only two suspects and victim. “Only Faith checked out on her alibi and Ophelia hasn’t.”
“There has to be something we are missing, besides the book.” That book was the key to this entire piece. “Whoever has the book is the killer.”
There was no way around it. Once those words left my mouth, my intuition kicked in and I knew better than ever that I had to find the “Mysteries and Magical Spells” book.
“In the meantime, I’ve got to go see Izzy and get Gandolf taken off the case. It’s time you took over as the new Sheriff of Whispering Falls.” There was no need to tell Colton about Faith and the budget cuts or her working for me. That sort of complicated matters didn’t concern him, only me as the Village President. “As the president,” I decided to pull rank, “I want you to work on the leads of finding the potion and the book. Do not mention any of this to Gandolf.”
“Oh, I won’t.” He put his sunglasses back on his face and headed out the door.
“Oh please,” Madame Torres’s voice dripped out from my bag. “Stop staring at his tush and ask him out.”
“Nope! I have Oscar…or…I will have Oscar.” I glanced at the time. It was almost time for me to drive to Locust Grove for dinner at Oscar’s house.
A Charming Spell (Magical Cures Mystery Series) Page 10
