“What do you think about that?” I asked, trying hard to concentrate on my cereal. Charlie still got skittish when we discussed Hansen Gregory. At any moment she was likely to shut the entire conversation down.
“I was thinking he’s been through a lot recently,” she said. She was busy picking up individual pieces of cereal and redepositing them in her bowl. I tried to ignore this mindless fidgeting.
“Yeah, finding out that witches and ghosts are real and being kidnapped by them is a big deal,” I agreed.
“Do you have any more jewelry to give him, so he can see Paws and the others?” she asked.
I glanced up and smiled. “You think he should be able to see Paws?”
Charlie snorted. “Obviously. You have to see the attacks coming.”
“What is this about attacks?” Greer asked, stumbling into the kitchen. I glanced at the clock. To be fair it, was not as early as I had thought. The hammering had started a little later today.
“Where are the newspapers?” Greer yawned.
“I’ll get them in a minute,” said Charlie.
Greer simply nodded and sat down at the table without getting any fruit or coffee. Then she slowly lowered her face to her hands.
Charlie looked at me and shook her head.
“I can feel your judgment even if I can’t see you,” Greer grumbled into her palms.
“I just don’t see how it takes you this long to wake up,” Charlie said.
“What were you saying about Toil and Hansen and this case?” Greer asked.
Charlie shifted uncomfortably. “I was just saying that I thought Hansen really needed to get a break in the case. I was thinking maybe, you know, because of everything that has happened with him, if there’s a scoop to be had at the end, he can have it.”
“Ruthless Charlie letting somebody else have the glory on this story?” Greer asked, uncovering her face and looking at Charlie with bleary eyes.
Charlie shrugged and ate a big spoonful of cereal. We were all quiet for a few moments, then I said I’d go get the papers. I left the two of them alone while I went and grabbed both the Chronicle and the Gazette from the box out by the road and went right back to the kitchen to spread the wealth.
Charlie wanted to see the Chronicle, as usual; she already knew what was in the Gazette. Greer and I split our hometown paper. Of course, the news of the discovery of the body was all over town and beyond. Both papers had a beautiful picture of Mrs. Smith’s gardens. The Gazette headline was ‘Murder in Paradise.’”
“I don’t know if Mrs. Smith is going to be happy with this coverage,” said Charlie. “There wasn’t really much help for it, though. I’m sure she’s most upset about her gardener being murdered and about the fact that we still haven’t figured out who did it.”
Scanning one of the articles, Greer rolled her eyes. “The Toil interview with Gracie is crazy. That’s ridiculous. He says she’s sobbing all over the place, and she’s going to stay with her grandmother until this is resolved. What is she going to do against a murderer? Offer to exchange lipsticks?”
“You sure are grumpy this morning,” I told Greer.
She shrugged and continued to read the paper with an angry face.
“Hansen has a really good article,” said Charlie. “He did well. He describes the scene and the police investigation perfectly. He stays away from a discussion of suspects, but says the police think they have some leads. Do the police have leads?” Charlie asked.
“I have no idea,” I said. “Detective Cutter is not exactly confiding in me. I hope they do, though. Anyhow, tonight I have to go back and talk to Burbank again,” I said.
Greer leaned back in her chair with a smirk on her face. “Oh, yeah? And why exactly did you not go last night?”
Here we go, I thought, feeling my face get hot. Charlie perked up and glanced at Greer with a devilish grin. She was ready to tag team against me, I just knew it.
“You know, it’s funny,” said Charlie. “I noticed a truck outside when I got home last night. I was home pretty late. A lot of work to do, you see.”
“Did you know who the truck belonged to?” asked Greer ever so innocently, grinning almost as widely as when she’d won the baking competition.
“If you two don’t stop right now I’ll put a spell on you,” I said.
“Threats! We must have hit a nerve. Do you think we hit a nerve?” Charlie asked, turning to Greer. Her whole body had started to shake a little as she tried desperately to keep from laughing.
“I can’t imagine we have. Why would you think such a thing?” said Greer with a delighted smirk.
“Because of the truck,” said Charlie. She said it as if it was obvious and yet needed explaining.
Greer played along. “Oh, I see. I can’t say I exactly understand. What point are you trying to make again?”
“I think we’re both trying to make the same point,” Charlie offered.
“Okay. That’s enough. You two stop it,” I demanded.
“I see. So you don’t want to talk about the fact that Jasper and you went on a date last night and then he stayed over?” said Greer.
“In fact, I want to talk about it so little that I’m not going to talk about it,” I grumbled.
“That’s really surprising. I’m surprised,” said Charlie.
“I know, right? She seemed so into it,” said Greer.
I pushed my chair back. “We have a lot to do today. Let’s get on with it,” I said.
Laughing, my friends stood up as well. But now that I was on my feet, I wasn’t sure where to begin. Once Charlie and Greer had pointed out that Jasper and I were back together, I felt too excited to concentrate on anything else. Daydreaming on the porch sounded appealing.
Okay, not a porch with Paws occupying it.
And anyhow, concentrate is what I needed to do, no matter how much I would have preferred daydreaming.
“I need to get to work, but maybe first we should talk to Paws?” Charlie said.
“I suppose I can stay awake long enough for that,” Greer conceded.
Chapter Eighteen
The three of us went out to the porch into the cool morning. Charlie brought the papers with her and continued to look through them. She had an angry red pen that she used to highlight mistakes in Toil’s article. “I really can’t believe Gracie gave him an interview. Doesn’t she know anything? She spent half of yesterday with two journalists who could have interviewed her,” she said.
“Maybe she didn’t think she’d get a fair shake if you interviewed her,” said Greer.
“That’s ridiculous. I’m always fair in my work,” Charlie argued.
“You have a good reason for waking me up?” Paws demanded.
“Some of us do,” I muttered.
“Do you want to get in on teasing Lemmi about her guest last night?” Greer demanded with an evil grin.
If I’d been closer to Greer I would have kicked her. As it was, I merely glared at Paws. I was trying desperately to tell him the right answer with my eyes. I was pretty sure he didn’t actually want to discuss Jasper anyhow. Then again, he loved torturing me. I had no idea which urge would win out.
“We should probably concentrate on the task at hand,” said Paws. “With a murder unsolved and the dark ghosts growing in power, we have a lot to do.”
“Every time you sound reasonable I get more nervous,” said Greer.
“No wonder you’re so relaxed all the time,” I muttered.
We were all surprised, but Paws declined to participate in the frivolity of teasing.
I told the four of them what Jasper had offered last night. Charlie and Greer both liked the idea of finding out whether the Witch Hunters would call a truce. If we could get the Hunters to stop chasing good witches and just chase the bad ones, it would help a lot. If we could get them on our side we might have enough firepower to defeat the dark ghosts altogether.
“You have to remember, we might not need the Hunters,” said Paws. “We
don’t really know how strong Ellie is. Now that Rosalie has been alerted, that might be all you need. If she’s willing to join the fight herself, that would be a huge boost for our side.”
“She might, but then again she might not,” I said. “And we might not be strong enough anyhow. There were so many ghosts the other night I could hardly believe it,” I said.
“I know. I was there,” the cat confirmed.
I sighed and rubbed my temples. I had hoped to avoid this fight with Ellie forever. I had avoided it for a long time, but it was now clear that Ellie wasn’t giving up. She kept getting stronger and recruiting more dark ghosts, and it was time I faced the fact that ignoring the problem wouldn’t make it go away. It was difficult, though, because I had other things on my mind. I had Jasper to see and a rabbit to take care of, not to mention a murder mystery to investigate.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to go on a recon mission in Puddlewood?” I asked Paws.
“I appreciate the official terminology. Yes, I’ve been thinking the same thing. I think it’s necessary. My only concern is that it’s also dangerous. It’s more important for you not to go alone than for you to go quietly. You should take a couple of your witch friends with you. Unfortunately, anyone who isn’t a witch would only be in the way,” he finished.
Although that counted both Charlie and Greer, he was only looking at Greer.
I looked at Paws warily. “So who exactly do you think is going to lead us safely into the forest at night? The bear?”
Paws had a thing about the ghost bear that lived on Mintwood Mountain. Specifically, he despised him. The very mention of the bear made the cat close his eyes in consternation. “Don’t mention him to me! No, he couldn’t protect you from the summer breeze, let alone a real threat. I have contacted just the ghost you need. I have requested the Kingfisher.”
He said it as if the Kingfisher was impressive and we should all know the reference. From the blank stares, it was clear that we had no idea who the Kingfisher was.
He glared around at us and shook his head. “Fools. It’s a real accomplishment to get the Kingfisher to help. Your life has to be in real mortal danger.”
“That’s comforting,” said Charlie dryly.
“So what’s the plan?” Greer asked.
“I’ll ask Scarlett and Josephine to come with me. Whoever this Kingfisher is can lead us to Puddlewood for scouting. Rosalie will want to know what’s happening, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring some useful information back to Mintwood. Safely, if all goes well,” I added.
Against my arm, my wand was warming. I wondered if it knew what was coming. I wondered if it knew how much danger we were about to put ourselves in.
“It might be preferable to stay in tonight to watch a movie and eat some popcorn,” Charlie suddenly suggested. “But I’m sure Hansen would appreciate your efforts. He was attacked too,” she added quietly.
“This has to be done. This danger can’t stand,” I shook my head. “If we have any chance of getting the Hunters on our side, this will help with that as well.”
“This is the most ridiculous and ragtag team I have ever been a part of. I kind of like it,” said Paws with satisfaction.
After his initial annoyance at our interrupting him, he had taken to the conversation with gusto, probably because for once he was giving orders. That was his natural state, and he didn’t get to exercise it often enough.
“We all have our assignments. Let’s get to it,” he barked. When he realized that he had just expressed an emotion, he frowned. The three of us quickly stood up and headed out.
Charlie was going to spend her day looking at leads in Burbank’s murder case. I would have to go back to Mrs. Smith’s before we ventured to Puddlewood, but that should work fine, because the evil ghost town could only be visited in the middle of the night anyhow. I’d have plenty of evening to work with before then.
“I’m going to get Hansen a piece of jewelry so he can see the ghosts on the property. Also probably ghosts elsewhere,” I said before we split up.
“He’ll need to be warned that it’s kind of a kick in the pants at first. Rather disconcerting,” said Greer.
“I’ll tell him all about it,” Charlie offered.
“You do that,” said Greer.
“What kind of jewelry do you think he’d like?” I asked. My grandmother had quite a collection of jewels, but we three housemates all wore green stones. I couldn’t really see Hansen as a necklace or earring sort of fellow.
Charlie nodded sagely. “I have an idea. Do you mind if I go to look at the jewelry?”
“It’s in the basement. You hate the basement,” I pointed out.
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Do you mind if Greer gets the jewelry from the basement, so I can look at it?”
Greer snorted. “I’ll get the jewelry and bring it into the living room. After that I’m going back to bed. All this drama is making me sleepy.”
“I thought what was making you sleepy was that it was too early in the morning for you to be up,” said Charlie.
“That as well,” said Greer tiredly.
After Greer fetched what Charlie wanted, I headed up to the attic, where some of Evenlyn’s things were stored. I looked around for anything that would help us tonight, but I didn’t see find anything that seemed useful. Maybe I’d just have to spend some time with the spells and wand, although when I was going to fit a practice session into the day I had no idea.
Once Charlie headed off to work and Greer went back to sleep, I tried calling Josephine. When she didn’t answer, I gave Scarlett a call and asked if she’d be willing to come over that evening because I might need her help with something. She said she’d bring Josephine too, and that was that.
I went to take care of the rabbit, then spent the day working through the spell book. I had never done such an intensive session before, and part of me wanted to drop it and spend some time on the murder investigation. I was, after all, the only one who could speak to the ghost, and with his body moved he probably wouldn’t be at the garden much longer. Then again, I couldn’t speak to him until evening, so I had no excuse to abandon the spell book after all.
I was sitting in the back yard, at a table we hardly ever used. I wanted to be outside in case any of the spells went wrong. I had made myself some tea and then neglected it, so now it was cold.
My next distraction was that I wanted to go see Jasper before Charlie got home, but once again I made myself stick with the magic for at least a little longer.
I sighed and flipped through the pages of a spell book that contained more advanced versions of spells to perform on ghosts. I hadn’t understood that spells would be different depending on who was their target, but apparently the ghosts had their own special features.
A chill ran over me as I read more about one particular spell. “The bright spell” was meant to attack dark ghosts specifically, stunning a dark ghost who was challenging a witch. A ghost hit by the spell could no longer move.
The trouble was, it was a difficult and complicated spell. I read it at least six times and still couldn’t work it all out. The motion of the wand was fast and efficient. If every move wasn’t perfect, the spell wouldn’t work. Adding to my difficulties was the fact that I had no dark ghosts to practice on. It felt like an awfully risky proposition to leave for the evening expecting to try an unpracticed spell on an enemy.
Given that I didn’t expect to get any sleep that night, I took a nap after lunch. By then the hammering had started up again across the street, but somehow it didn’t bother me as much now.
Once I was awake and showered, I headed out to check on the rabbit, then went to get coffee.
The work of the day was just beginning.
The Mintwood Main Street was not on my way to Jasper’s, but it was on my way to coffee, and I wanted to stop by the Twinkle Costume Shop as well. I had seen precious little of Liam recently, and I needed to check in. I called Charlie, and she agreed to meet me at the s
hop to tell me the latest on the case in return for coffee from the Daily Brew. She said she’d spent her day trying to find out more about the people who surrounded Mrs. Smith. “If Liam isn’t too busy,” she said, “you’ll both be happy to hear all of it. Ghosts need not be mentioned.”
The Main Street was bustling when I arrived. As I walked past the park on my way to the Daily Brew, I was reminded of the guy in scrubs I’d seen the other day talking to someone else I didn’t know. I couldn’t place why his presence had stood out to me. Maybe it was just because of the clothes, but though I didn’t think that was it, I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Maybe if he was there again I’d get a better look.
To what end I had no idea.
When I got to the café I found Mrs. Barnett working alone. She had owned the coffee shop for many years and was a town fixture. Not to long ago we had discovered that the café was a secret meeting place for at least one group, which Charlie was determined to track down, so far with no luck.
“Afternoon,” said Mrs. Barnett, peering at me slightly as if assessing my condition. “Late coffee?”
“You know me, sometimes I have a late night. I’ll take coffees for Charlie and me and a tea for Liam,” I told her.
“That young man works too hard,” said Mrs. Barnett. “Good thing he has his mother to help. Mothers are always good to keep around,” she added, more to herself than to me. “I heard there was a murder at Mrs. Smith’s.”
I took a sip of too-hot coffee and coughed. Mrs. Barnett gave me a look that said, “Serves you right for avoiding the topic.”
“I saw the papers,” I said.
“You weren’t there?” she asked sharply.
“I can’t say,” I said.
“Because that Detective Cutter isn’t happy with you,” she said, a hint of a smile playing over her lips as she handed over the tea. She enjoyed annoying Detective Cutter. I wondered if the detective had any idea how much the rest of the town relished his frustration.
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