She'd been there many times before.
'Downtown', I suppose the area would be called.
We finally pulled up behind an innocuous-looking building.
"This is it?" I wasn't sure if I was disappointed or relieved.
The meeting place didn't look anywhere near as spooky as I was expecting it to. I had imagined the club met in a cave surrounded by cobwebs or something.
But this was just a spare room in the back of a regular-looking church on a Monday night. There were a few cobwebs, sure, and there was a musty smell like the place hadn't been aired out in months or years, but there was nothing gothic or scary about it.
"I know. I was a little disappointed at first as well. But it does the job we need it to."
I took in a deep breath. I wondered if it would do the job I needed it to. Or whether I was finally losing my mind, going down the rabbit hole that Pippa had already been dragged into by Tegan and her ilk.
"We have to pay fifty dollars to use the space every week," Pippa explained as she began to unfold chairs. "We take donations of people when they come through the door." She set me up at a little folding table with instruction to take people's money and put it in an old pickle jar. Around here, Pippa was my boss.
"Why don't you just meet at the house of one of the members?" I asked.
"You'll see," Pippa said, raising her eyebrow.
I did see. I was expecting a handful of people at the meeting, five or six at the most. But as soon as the clock hit 4:30, people began streaming into the small room and within twenty minutes, the entire place was full wall to wall of members of the clearly very popular Belldale Paranormal Society.
I gulped.
I get claustrophobic around large groups of people and suddenly wasn't sure this was such a good idea.
"Rachael," an eerie voice called out. Tegan had finally sauntered into the room right at five. She still had her cape on, but some of the purple had faded from her hair, revealing blonde roots.
Pippa raised an eyebrow at me. "You two have met before?"
"I'm so glad you finally decided to join us at one of our meetings. I think you will find it very enlightening. I've been hoping to see you here for quite some time." Tegan closed and locked the door behind her and everyone went quiet as she swished her way to a small podium in the middle of the back wall. "
Pippa quietly took the jar from me and quickly counted it. When she was done, sh nodded to Tegan.
I shivered. Now that the sun had gone down, a kind of spooky quality had taken over the room. It was freezing and Pippa had to set up a tiny space heater in the corner, which barely did anything but did add an interesting smell to the room, sort of like burning plastic but slightly more sinister.
Or maybe it was just Tegan's presence that had changed the make-up of the room. She had a knack for doing that.
There were all sorts of people in the club. Some were relatively normal-looking, still wearing suits and ties from work, but the majority of them wore items that would immediately get them labeled as 'alternative' to onlookers. Necklaces with pentagons and other symbols that I didn't quite recognize, hair dyed in various bright, unearthly shades.
I suddenly saw how well Pippa fit in here. And she seemed very 'at home,' milling amongst everyone, talking and chatting and catching up with gossip that I wasn't privy to. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Pippa had friends she was just as close with, or even closer to, than me.
I settled into an empty seat beside her. The others were being friendly enough, saying hello, introducing themselves, but I still felt distinctly ill at ease. I was so far out of my element it wasn't funny.
"You don't need to look so nervous, Rach. These people don't bite. They are just interested in discussing and learning about all the unexplained paranormal happenings in Belldale." She gave me a grin. "Just a bunch of amateur detectives, kind of like you!"
She patted my hand and I nodded. Maybe that was true. Everyone in the club was here because they had a thirst to solve the unsolvable, an interest in puzzles and the unknowable. But I still felt uneasy as I waited for Tegan to begin.
Before she'd started talking, I had no idea there were so many unexplained mysteries in Belldale. We were just one little town, but apparently we had a very storied history. This week, there was a lot of discussion focused on this so called 'mystical big cat' that many members of the town—and specifically the club—claimed to have seen, but no one had ever actually caught or taken a proper photo of. Belldale's very own Bigfoot. Apparently, this creature was black with bright red eyes and was capable of disappearing right in front of a person's eyes. There had been fresh sightings this week.
"I saw it dissolve into thin air," a young man named Aaron, with long dark hair and a sleeve of tattoos, piped up. "While I was trying to take a photo of it." A little too convenient for my tastes.
But others had similar stories.
"All of this can't possibly be true, can it?" I whispered to Pippa. She returned an eager nod.
"Of course. You see why I like it here now?"
I had to admit there was a certain appeal to it all. The human mind is drawn to mysteries and, by extension, the paranormal. All the stories were fascinating, but I had to remind myself to keep a skeptical mind. But as I listened to the club discuss everything from large cats to haunted houses and even alleged UFO sightings, I felt my nerves dissolve a little. In fact, I totally forgot myself for a while and just sat there and listened.
"See, Rach?" Pippa whispered to me. "You'll never have to worry about being bored and not having a mystery to solve ever again—if you just keep coming to these meetings!"
She was probably right. Maybe I would have to keep coming along.
But I wasn't sure this was entirely where I belonged. I felt like a tourist in that room, listening to everyone's strange stories but feeling two steps removed from them all.
Tegan eventually drifted the topic onto the next part of the meeting, and I was still so distracted thinking about all the mysterious 'cases' that had been brought up that I jumped when I heard my name mentioned.
"Now, Rachael is going to tell us all a very interesting story!" Tegan placed her hands together and nodded at me while everyone clapped.
I am? I thought. "Pippa, you never told me I had to stand up in front of people and talk to them."
"Then stay seated while you talk," she answered, rather unhelpfully. "Come on. This is what you came for, right? For help? How are you going to get any if you won't tell your story?"
I sighed a little and stood up. I took a deep breath. Public speaking isn't that bad...is it?
Yes, it is. It's basically the worst thing imaginable.
I headed up to the podium. Tegan's eyes were still boring into me. I tried to relax and ignore her—and everyone else in the room—and just focus on Pippa in the audience. She was grinning at me and nodding her support.
Here goes nothing.
Everyone looked enraptured as I unleashed my story. I told them all about the day I'd decided to buy Gus's antiques store, and how the—I paused before I said the word 'curse'—seemed to have started right after then.
"And, Rachael, have you been feeling sick all the time?" Tegan's voice called out.
I paused for a second. "Yes," I had to admit. "Almost constantly, actually."
Tegan nodded and I could hear her murmuring, "A clear sign of a curse."
Was it? I took a moment before I got to the really juicy detail of the story; the salacious events that I knew everyone was really there to hear about.
I gulped right before I spoke. "Then, of course, there are the murders."
There were a few gasps and murmurs in the crowd.
Tegan's eyes drilled into me as I told them about the two bodies that had been found in Gus's antique store. First the man Jason, then the second, a woman named Bridgett. "They were both found in the antique shop next to her bakery. It looks as though the killer was the same person."
I
could have sworn that Tegan was shooting me a judgmental look. The severity of it took me off guard and I stammered for a moment as I tried to remember what I was talking about. I felt as though I should clear something up for the crowd. "Even though I was taken in for questioning, I was quickly released. Er, thank you." There was some thin applause as I scampered back to my seat.
Tegan looked grim as she retook to the podium. "As you can see, something rather terrible has befallen Rachael. A curse!"
Everyone nodded and half the crowd turned to look at me. I could feel my face growing red. "And we can help her," Tegan added. "Don't worry, Rachael." She turned her full attention to me now. "You're in the right place now, a safe place. We can remove this curse that has taken over your life. If you will accept our help."
She seemed to be waiting for an answer or confirmation from me. The room was silent as everyone stared at me.
I sat very still. Eventually I nodded, and a sly smile spread over Tegan's face. I was willing to try anything.
At this stage, I was willing to believe just about anything. After all, anything could be possible. And I was running out of rational explanations for all the weird stuff that had been happening to me.
Pippa reached over and squeezed my hand. "You'll be fine now. Everything will go back to normal if you just follow their instructions."
But little did I know, I was NOT about to like the advice that Tegan was going to give me.
"First of all," she announced. "You are going to have to go back and undo any of the actions you made that caused the curse to be placed on you."
"Well, I don't have a time machine," I half-joked, though no one seemed to find this amusing. So I sat still and silent again.
"Do you still have that contract you signed?" Tegan looked at me pointedly.
Did she mean the sales contract? I nodded uneasily.
"Good. Burn it."
Burn it? That seemed a little extreme and melodramatic.
I turned towards Pippa, who was nodding enthusiastically. I bet she was loving this advice. Her eyes did seem to be lighting up.
Tegan continued, "Next you have to go into the shop and apologize to the twins' spirits."
"You mean the painting?" I asked, slightly incredulous.
"I mean the spirits that placed the curse on you." She meant the painting, though. I sat back in my seat.
"Take back all the intentions you made to buy the property and try to offer them something in order to remove the bad karma. A gift or a sacrifice."
But I was still caught up on the first point. "Take back all my intentions? Burn the contract? You're telling me…" I shot a look at Pippa. "That I can't buy the store?" I started to get this little nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that Pippa had put Tegan up to this. It all seemed to align exactly with what she had been nagging me to do.
Tegan looked outraged. "Why on Earth would you still wish to purchase the store after there have been two murders in there? You need to cancel all your plans immediately."
She had a fair point. I'd been considering that myself. Who wants to eat in a bakery where there have been two murders?
I'd been trying to tell myself that if I could just prove that the killer was human, that there is no curse, no ghosts, it isn't so bad.
I hung my head and whispered to Pippa. "Maybe she has a point. Maybe you have a point. Maybe I really have to rethink my business plan."
I glanced up to see Pippa exchanging a wink with Tegan, and mouthing the word "thanks."
I stood up. "So you did put Tegan up to this then? You told her to say that to me?"
Pippa looked aghast. "Rach, what are you getting so upset for? You know this is the right thing to do. What, where are you going?"
"I'm leaving, Pippa. I came here for real advice, not to be set up. You know what? It sounds to me as though you've been against my plan from the start! What is it, Pippa? What is really going on? Why did you tell Tegan to say all of that stuff?"
"Rachael, I can explain." She looked startled as I started to stomp out of the room. She shrugged apologetically at Tegan and started to chase after me. "Please, just stay for the rest of the meeting. These guys are really cool once you get to know them, I promise."
I pulled on my coat. "No. You can either come with me now or stay with these guys and catch the bus home later."
"You need me to drive," she pointed out. My old car didn't have GPS and I'd had to rely on her to get to the meeting.
"I can find my way."
Pippa sighed. "I'll just come with you. Hang on."
I was still fuming once we got to the car. "So are you going to tell me what is really going on?"
"I've already told you a thousand times before," Pippa said, "There's an evil spirit behind all of this! Or spirits. How else do you explain everything? I thought you were willing to keep an open mind." Pippa's face crumbled in distress. "I was so excited when you told me you wanted to come to the meeting. I thought you were finally willing to accept that all this stuff is true."
* * *
We didn't talk much during the car ride home. Of all the people I could possibly lose trust in, Pippa was the worst. We'd always been there for each other. But now I was starting to think there was some other reason she didn't want me to buy Gus's shop and she was just using this so-called 'curse'—and Tegan—to scare me off.
I finally broke the silence once we were back in my kitchen. "I'm not sure which is worse, Pippa: you lying to me about this curse, or you actually believing all this crazy stuff."
Pippa stared back at me for a long while. "Okay, yes, I did tell Tegan to advise you not to buy the shop! But I was trying to protect you, Rachael!"
I shook my head. "I knew it."
"I do believe in all this stuff that you call crazy," she finally whispered, a little sadly. "I just wish you could see it. I wish you would listen to Tegan."
"Pippa, can't you see? This club is getting in your head. And worse than that, it's getting in the way of our friendship." I shook my head. "We've been bickering for weeks now, and it's always about the same thing. I wish you would just use your brain for a second and see how illogical all of this crazy stuff is."
I stomped over to the fridge and grabbed some leftover cake from the shelf. That plan to eat more fruits and vegetables had been a failure so far. "From now on, I'm going back to solving this mystery the old fashioned way. Looking for suspects… human suspects! And finding evidence. See, Pippa, there's one crucial aspect that has been missing from all these paranormal theories, and that is evidence! These so-called friends of yours are not your friends, Pippa, if they make you lose touch with reality."
Pippa was just staring at me with her hands on her hips. It seemed like she was trying to get up the guts to say something to me.
"Maybe if you actually had a little time for me lately, Rachael, I wouldn't have needed to make these new friends."
"What are you talking about?"
My stomach had begun to ache again and I stumbled over to the sink for a glass of water. I took a large gulp, but it did little to ease the pain.
"You've been so busy with the bakery the last year or so," Pippa started to chide. "Which I don't blame you for, of course. You had to take the time to build your business up. I get that. But I was hoping that when I started working there, it would be a chance for us to spend time together again. But you've barely even been at work! You've been so preoccupied with solving this case."
"Pippa, that's not true! We live and work together, for crying out loud! How much closer do you think we should be?"
"You didn't even know about my break up!" Pippa blurted out. She immediately looked like she regretted it.
"What break up? I didn't even know that you were dating anyone."
How would she even have found time for that? And how could she have dated someone without me even knowing about it.
I suddenly realized.
"You were going out with Romeo?" My jaw was practically on the floor. Now his
little fit made sense. It had nothing to do with the early mornings or the lack of caffeine in his system. It was a lover's tiff.
So that's what he'd meant that night when he'd told me to 'ask Pippa.'
Pippa was turning bright red as she looked at the floor. "I didn't think I could talk to you about it." But her voice was full of guilt, not accusations.
"You didn't think you could talk to me about it because you knew it was unprofessional of you to hire your boyfriend."
She nodded. "I thought that if you could just see what a good baker he was, you would be so pleased to keep him that you would overlook his questionable hiring."
I sighed. "That's why you were so nervous about me liking his baking." I shook my head. I wasn't angry with Pippa; I was just kind of hurt that she wouldn't be honest with me. Especially after I gave her the assistant manager job and bestowed the extra responsibilities onto her. I knew she'd always been kind of a flaky employee at the other places she'd worked, but I would have thought she'd know better than to hire her boyfriend at my bakery...and not even tell me about it.
"Rach?"
I sat down at the table and took another nibble of my cake. Pippa pulled out the chair besides me. "Aren't you going to say something?"
I stared at the table. "I was really worried about why Romeo had quit Pippa. I thought maybe I had done something to upset him." I shook my head. "I thought he’d been scared off by the tales about the ghost. Or the curse." I let out a little bitter laugh. "But it was all a lot more simple than that."
"Rachael, I'm sorry."
I swallowed. "Didn't you care that you were screwing with my business when you hired your boyfriend? Pippa, I'm down a baker now and we've been really struggling lately. Well, I'VE been struggling!"
Much to my horror, Pippa burst into tears. "I’ve been struggling as well, Rachael! I've just been trying not to show it!"
My phone began to ring.
Donuts, Antiques and Murder: A Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery Page 6
