by Tonya Kappes
“That’s the last of it.” I held the bottle to Mr. Prince Charming after I’d sprayed the last of the cleanser in the cauldron and even unscrewed the lid to dump in what little bit couldn’t be distributed through the spray mechanism.
He didn’t seem to care because he jumped on the seat of the chair behind the counter and curled up into a snuggly ball to take a nap.
The bell over the door dinged.
“June?” Oscar’s voice fell across the room and over the partition.
“Back here,” I called. “Can you flip the sign and lock the door?” I asked knowing he’d do it.
Quickly I wiped down the cauldron and found Oscar walking back to me. His eyes softened when my eyes caught his. His set jaw relaxed, and a simple closed mouth smile crossed his face.
“What’s wrong?” I met him in front of the counter and wrapped my arms around him. Without even dipping into my intuition, I knew there was something wrong.
“You aren’t going to like what I’ve got to do.” His breath was warm on my bare neck. Though he sounded down, he made my heart flutter and that was no magic. It was love. I loved Oscar Park since the day he and his uncle had moved in across the street from me and Darla.
“Does this call for a Ding Dong?” It was my way of telling him that no matter what he had to tell me, or what he ever did, there was nothing we couldn’t face together.
“Ding Dong. Not a June’s Gem?” He asked.
“Adeline gave me a real box.” I winked as my hand traveled down his arm to grab his hand. I dragged him around the counter and took out the box of Ding Dongs Adeline had given me as a gift for having her over for supper. “You only have yourself to thank for getting me hooked on these.”
I opened the box and he took a couple out, unwrapping one for him and for me.
“Cheers.” We clinked our round, chocolaty treats. My teeth broke through the hard outer shell and into the smooth, spongy cake.
Since Darla never let me eat sweets, unless it was my birthday, Oscar’s house had been full of plenty. When I was a young girl and on a particular bad day where Darla and I had an argument, Oscar had tapped on my bedroom window and I snuck out with him. We really thought we were rebels, but we only hung out under the tree in his front yard with his box of Ding Dongs.
I wasn’t sure if it was Oscar’s presence that had made me feel better and I wasn’t going to admit to that at the young age. So I told him that it was the Ding Dongs that made me feel better. Through the years, they’d become my go to snack and his too.
Tonight seemed like a perfect time to have one.
“These do make me so happy,” I said and gave him a kiss on the lips.
“That makes me so happy.” He drew me in and gave me a kiss that sent chills clear down to the tips of my toes.
Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming jumped off the chair and darted away, interrupting our kiss. This was probably his plan the whole time.
“He knows how to ruin a moment,” Oscar said.
“Maybe, he knows that you need to tell me what you came in here to tell me.” I tried to put the negative into a more positive light because I could feel the heaviness of the situation. “Does this have to do with Gabby?”
“Yeah.” He ran his hand through his hair before he brought it down to rest on his police utility belt. “There’s enough evidence to name Leah LeRoy as my number one suspect.”
My eyes widened with surprise, but he showed no reaction. This told me that he had some really incriminating stuff on her.
“I had to go serve her the village arrest.” He looked down and shuffled the toe of his shoe.
He was referring to the by-law that if a spiritualist was accused of a crime, they couldn’t run their shop and they couldn’t leave the village until the town council voted on the case after the Wizard police of Whispering Falls had presented the evidence before them.
“This is a little more difficult since this involves a mortal. There was a woman who came forward to claim Gabby’s body.” He frowned. “She’s from Locust Grove.”
“What’s her name? Maybe Adeline knows her.” I wondered about Gabby and how she told me that she had no one.
“Beth Phipps. She is actually a friend that’d come to Crazy Crafty Chicks to find out if Gabby had done her Lifestyle oil show there because she never made it back. Both of them sold for the Lifestyle company.”
“Can you tell me what evidence you have on Leah?” I asked in hopes he’d share with me because he never liked to mix work with our home life. “I get a feeling you’re needing my help.”
“You’re so good at your gift.” He unsnapped the button on his uniform shirt and pulled out his notebook. “What do you know about black locust?”
“Oh the most loveliest of white flowers that dangle down like bells.” I remember Darla growing them near the shed. Then I remember Darla say don’t touch those. “Those are special and if in the wrong hands, the black locust can be deadly,” I said what she’d told me out loud.
“June?” Oscar waved his hand in front of me and brought me out the trance I’d suddenly dove into.
“Oscar,” I gasped. “Darla used to grow it by the shed. She said they were deadly if gotten in the wrong hands. Is that how Gabby died?”
“Constance Karima told me she was killed by slow death of black locust poisoning.” He read off his notes. “It was absorbed into her bloodstream over a period of time.”
“Have you let the mortal media know?” I asked.
“No. They obviously don’t know the Karima sisters can do an autopsy with a snap of their fingers. They think the autopsy report will come out in a week or so like theirs take.” He flipped the notebook shut and stuck it back in his pocket. “That’ll keep them away while I get down to the who killed her.”
“You said Leah.” I was confused.
“From what Beth had told me, Leah owed Gabby a favor. Leah and Gabby had gotten into a fight a few times before Leah caved in and let Gabby come to Whispering Falls to do the presentation. Gabby said that after she did the show at Crafty Crazy Chick, it was going to be the last of her friendship with Leah.” His lips pressed together. “The black locust was in the bottle that rolled out of her hand.”
“The bottle that I gave Leah at the smudge ceremony to give back to Gabby?” I asked.
“Yep,” he let out a long sigh. “I did some research on the black locust and found that it grows in a small region out west and larger regions east of us in the Virginia areas.”
“We don’t have villages in the Virginia area so where would Leah get it?” I questioned. Then it hit me like a brick in the gut. “KJ.”
“That’s right.” He nodded. “I went to see him and he said that Leah had bought some black locust seeds from him a couple of months ago before spring.”
The Magical Cures Book sparked a bright light from underneath the counter. I rushed around, grabbed it and placing it on top. Oscar and I watched as the pages rapidly flipped and abruptly stopped.
“The seeds of the black locust, if ingested, can kill in five to ten minutes,” I read from the book. I glanced up at him. “If crushed and put into something, it would cause blood poisoning, leading to a slow death.”
“You talked to Gabby. Did she seem sick to you?” he asked.
“She said she was tired, but my intuition told me she was somewhat depressed, though she told me she was making six figures selling the oils.” My memory rolled back and replayed in my head like a movie reel. “The night of the party, I’d gone to the back room of Leah’s shop to see why Madame Torres was summoning me. The back door had slammed.” Then my mouth opened and all of Gabby’s words flew out of my mouth. “You are a crook and I’m not going to let you get away with it. So you’re going to have to kill me to keep my mouth shut.”
“Did you see who she said that to?” His face lit up as if I had more information to give him.
“No.” The word came out in a whisper. “I’m sorry. Whoever she was talking to had slammed the do
or. By the time Gabby excused herself and I looked out the door, the person was gone.”
“Where was Leah during all of this?” He asked a very good question because I clearly remember that she wasn’t present during the ordeal.
“I don’t know. Gabby had mentioned Leah because Leah had crocheted the little bags the oil bottles came in. Why would Leah go to all the trouble to make all of those if there was something going on between them?” I asked.
“Leah called the Order of Elders as I was questioning her.” His nostrils flared with frustration. “Now I have to deal with them.”
“Oh, great,” I mumbled, knowing that if she called them, all of Whispering Falls was going to be under a microscope. “That means we’re going to have to work fast if we are going to try to figure this out before the Marys get here.”
The Marys were the Order of Elders. It just so happened all of them were named Mary.
Mary Lynn, Mary Ellen and Mary Sue. All of them were different ages and different in their views spiritualty. Luckily for us, they were the elders for all the villages and it would take them a few days to take care of what they were currently working on before they could make it to Whispering Falls.
Chapter Thirteen
Oscar left me with a lot to think about. He went to finish up some paperwork while I cleaned the shop and began to refill the displays with the stock from the back since I was almost wiped out. I wasn’t complaining. It’d been a great day of sales and it made me feel so much better about the shop.
In the back of my mind, I knew I needed to get some bottles ready for Adeline at the Piggly Wiggly. My products were in a few mortal stores like the Piggly Wiggly. The bottles were usually bland and boring like the ones Lifetsyle used thanks to how the mortal world worked. It was the magic inside that made my product stand out above the rest. Still, I had to fill the boring bottles and the best time to quickly do so was while the shop was closed. I used the same product with a dash of magic.
I carried the box of empty bottles and placed it on the counter. I used the same ingredients and recipe and tossed all them into the cauldron.
“We are going to have to go to the store quicker than I thought,” I said to Mr. Prince Charming when he jumped up on the counter.
Mewl, mewl. Mr. Prince Charming looked at the front door of the shop.
“What is it?” I asked him and left the cauldron simmering, peeking my head around the partition.
Leah was standing at the door, waving as though she were trying to get my attention.
I hurried around the counter and unlocked the door.
“Get in here.” Immediately I drew her into my arms. “Leah, what’s going on?” I let her go and reached over to lock the door back.
“I know you know that I’m the number one suspect who killed Gabby, but I didn’t do it.” Her brows dipped as the tears poured out of her eyes. “I don’t know how the seeds got into that bottle. But someone wanted her dead and framed me.”
“But you did buy the black locust from KJ?” I asked, knowing that I was going to have to go see KJ myself. I didn’t know much about the poisonous plant but I needed to. My gut told me so.
“Yes. I did. I was going to plant some at my house. After I left his shop, I had a line waiting for me outside of Crazy Crafty Chick. Once I got everyone inside, I put the seeds down and forgot all about them.” She was shaking like a leaf.
“Here.” I poured her some tea from the snack table and gave her some cookies. “Go back there and sit while I clean this up for the night. You need to drink something to calm down so we can talk through this.”
There was no sense in talking to her when she was this upset. She wouldn’t be in her right mind to formulate the answers that I needed to get down to the bottom of all of this in her current state.
If what she said about how she put the seeds down was true, anyone could’ve gotten them. But, this would’ve been back in the spring. Had she been associating with Gabby that long? If that was the case, this was a premeditated murder.
Leah did what I told her to do. Mr. Prince Charming had even found a comfortable spot on her lap and had curled up in a ball with his eyes shut tight. This told me that she wasn’t a killer and her greatest fear that someone had set her up, was right. But who would either not like Leah or not care enough about Leah to pin a murder on her?
“Do you remember anything from that day that stood out to you?” I asked and put the complimentary cookies for the customers away so they wouldn’t get stale overnight. She shook her head. “I’m not trying to read you, but sometimes when I feel danger, or something is off, my gift gives me a little nudge or sign. Do you recall your yarn talking to you that day?”
The heavy lashes that shadowed her cheeks flew up.
“Yes!” she yelled.
Mr. Prince Charming jumped up and down, scurrying back to the comforts underneath a display table.
She stood up.
“I had a light pink cashmere yarn that’d just come in. I was unpacking it that afternoon.” Her eyes darted back and forth, and her voice was escalating as she remembered more and more. “It was perfect for a baby blanket. When I saw it I was so happy, but then I touched it and such sadness came over me.” She fell to her knees.
“Leah, are you okay?” I bent down next to her.
“Yes. It’s a heavy sadness. A death.” She buried her head in her hands. “My heart is breaking for a baby.”
“Do still have it?” I asked.
“No.” she looked up at me with the clearest of eyes. “A man came in and bought it.”
“Was he from our mortal neighborhood?” I asked for any lead she could remember.
“No.” She shook her head. “But now I know.”
“Know what?” I questioned her.
“Gabby Summerfield was pregnant.” She faltered like a wilting flower.
The chalkboard lit up in a bright pink light. Geranium, Fennel, Carrot Seed, Palmarosa, and Vitex glowed in black.
“That’s what Madame Torres meant,” I gasped and looked at Leah with wide-awake eyes. I didn’t tell her about the forecast Madame Torres had told me because if there was any chance that I could help Leah, I had to use my gift for the investigation and not let it out into the village in case the real killer was listening. “Is there anyone who you think would want to pin this on you?”
“No,” she said in a stern voice. “Does this mean you’re going to help me?”
“Oscar told me that you called in the Order of Elders and their investigations take forever from what I recall from the past,” I told her since she was fairly new to the village and probably not been involved too much with the Marys.
“My parents told me when I left Alabama to immediately call in the Marys if I ever got in trouble.” Her chest started to heave up and down as though she was going to start crying all over again.
“Don’t cry. You’ve got to be strong and think about this. Think back to that guy who bought the baby yarn.” I had a gut feeling that this guy either knew Gabby or knew something about her. “Have you ever had any men come into your store to buy yarn?”
Not that I was discriminating against men who crocheted, but more times than not, it was the women who came in to get the yarn.
“He asked all sorts of questions and read from a piece of paper on the exact yarn type. Cashmere.” She was starting to remember some fact, which were good.
“Do you remember what he looked like? How old he was? Tall? Short?” I wanted to get as many details as possible because when I tracked down Gabby’s co-worker, Beth, I was planning on asking if she knew Gabby was pregnant.
“He was average build. Probably as tall as Oscar, if that helps.” Deep-set worry was in her eyes. She jumped to her feet. “He had a very blonde eyebrow on the right.” She tapped her eyebrow as she began to recall more and more. “I thought it was odd because his hair was brown and his left brow was also brown.”
“That could be a distinct birthmark, so that’s good.” I
nodded in hopes that this one light browed guy had lived in Locust Grove and maybe Adeline had seen him. She was good at recognizing people who came into her grocery store and obviously this guy would stand out.
“Other than that, I gave him the yarn and haven’t seen him or those seeds since.” Her bottom lip curled between her teeth as she chewed on it. She began to shake her head. “I can’t remember anything else.”
“When I was at your shop for the Lifestyle oil presentation, I was checking on something in private and I walked into you back room by the backdoor before Gabby started and she was having a heated discussion with someone.” I knew that I wasn’t allowed to read other spiritualists, but this was only to help her. So I gave myself permission and would suffer the consequences later. I zeroed in on her body language to get a good reading. “Whoever she was talking to had hurried out your shop’s back door, slamming it.”
“Really?” She asked, blinking with bafflement.
Nothing about her response told me she was covering anything up.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t see who it was. Where were you during the presentation? I noticed you were gone,” I said.
“You don’t think I had a fight with her and left my own shop, do you?” As casually as she could manage, she added. “I was at Wicked Good Bakery picking up the goodies I’d gotten for the customers who’d come so they could shop Gabby’s product and enjoy some treats. No different than you do.”
“I’m not accusing you of anything. If you want me to help you, then I have to know everything you did from the time you got up the day you bought those seeds until this morning.” It wasn’t going to be easy, but I knew in my intuition that she didn’t kill Gabby. “Why did you owe Gabby a favor?”
“Oh my gosh.” She sounded so desperate. “Oh my gosh.” She started to pace back and forth in front of the counter. “How did you know?” She wrung her hands together.
“Calm down,” I urged her in a calm voice. “You have to tell me everything.”
Now her reaction sent my intuition into overtime. There was something wrong and I was now going to second guess myself. That was never a good thing. The first thing in intuition school was to never second-guess your gift.
