Murder and the Secret Spring
Page 17
He hesitated, his eyes clouded. “I hope so. You have to try. He can’t stay here.”
“Why not? What will happen to him if I can’t take him back?”
He looked reluctant to explain and just said, “He doesn’t belong here and this place will…how can I tell you? It destroys things that don’t fit in. Think of your body fighting off a virus. That is what would happen to him if he stayed.”
Fear sliced through my heart. “What should I do?”
He shrugged. “Give it a try. I’ve got to go.” And he began to fade.
I was just short of panic. I didn’t know what to do to make this happen! “But wait, how will I do it?”
He just smiled and then he was gone. Bad timing, I thought, because I was beginning to feel wobbly myself.
Quick, if I was going to do this, I was going to need magic. I pulled out my netsuke and held it in my hand while I began to focus and concentrate and chant one of the ancient pieces that now seemed to be a part of my repertoire. Sami squirmed in my arms, wanting to be let down, but I didn’t dare let him go. I had to get him home and if I was going to go, he had to go with me.
I started back into the water, but you know cats and water, don’t you? There was no way I was going to take him down with me. He leapt from my arms and I cried out and turned, but I couldn’t see what had happened to him. The water was already pulling me down.
“Sami!” I called, but it was no use. I was going down.
I went blank again, I have no idea for how long. And then I was waking and I was at the edge of the spring. I pulled myself out of the water and began to pull on the sweats I’d left on the rocks. This time my hair didn’t dry miraculously, so I felt pretty silly walking back through the compound, soaking wet.
But that hardly mattered. I’d failed. No Sami. I felt like I was walking through heartbreak.
Oh well. At least I knew he was alright for now and happy in the flip side world. And I was sure Dante would take care of him if he could. But how long could that last? Would I have time to try again?
The picture of my mother flashed into my mind and I gasped at the emotional power of it. My mother! She was so beautiful. Somehow I had to find out if she was still alive somewhere. I knew Dante would help me if he could. I had that to cling to.
I was almost to my car when I saw Jeremy climbing up the hill from the other parking lot. He was carrying a beautiful bouquet in his arms. I waved.
“Hi,” he called, then showed off the flowers. “I’m on my way to take Sandy out to lunch,” he said as he came closer.
I laughed, pretty sure I knew what that meant. “It looks like you’ve got something to celebrate,” I said. “Good news?”
He grinned, then pulled out a manila envelope and displayed it proudly. “Got the official documents and everything,” he said. “Wish me luck.”
And he was off toward Sandy’s bungalow.
As I reached my car, I heard thunder. I looked up and realized that dark storm clouds were brewing. I could hardly believe they meant business. After all, it had been months since we’d had any rain at all.
But there were a few raindrops on my windshield as I parked in front of Bebe’s house. I went in and she looked up in surprise, putting down the piece of toast she’d been munching on.
“What did you do? Go swimming at the Y?” she said, noting my wet hair.
I shook my head. “No.”
There was so much I wanted to tell her, but I needed some time to pull it all together and digest what I’d been through.
“No, sweetheart,” I said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. “I’m too depressed right now to explain. I’ll give you the whole story later, okay?”
“Okay. But listen.” She jumped up, her eyes shining with laughter. “I’ve got a surprise for you. Look who’s here.”
She beckoned me into the kitchen. And there was Sami, eating a nice dish of dried kibble she must have put out for him. He was purring and lashing his tail and looked up as if to say, “See! I can get here all by myself and I didn’t have to get wet in your dumb water. So there.”
I laughed, faint with joy and turned to hug Bebe, relief surging through me. “And here I was ready to sing the black cat blues. What a crazy world.”
“Totally. But now all is right. Sami is back.”
I sighed with satisfaction.
“Oh say,” Bebe said. “Someone called for you a few minutes ago. Someone named Ruby Sasser.”
“Ruby Sasser?” I frowned, then my brow cleared. “Oh! Right. Wasn’t that the woman I saved with the Heimlich Maneuver a few days ago?”
Bebe stared. “You never told me about that.”
“I didn’t?”
Well, there had been an awful lot going on lately. I guess it had slipped my mind. “What did she want?”
“She said she wanted to thank you properly. She invited us both to dinner tomorrow night.” She bobbed her eyebrows for emphasis. “Dinner at the castle.”
I frowned. “What castle?”
“I don’t know. That was what she said.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t ready for another mystery at this point.
“Well, great. That’s nice of her. Now if only I could get her to invite Roy too, and then she could tell him the whole story, and maybe he would give me a little credit for a change.”
“Isn’t he giving you credit for teasing out Gwen and getting her to show her true colors?”
“He hasn’t said a thing about it,” I admitted.
“Oh, he will. Just give him a chance.”
“We’ll see.”
Bebe put her head to the side, listening to a strange sound coming from outside. “What’s that?” she said.
I went to the window and looked out. “It’s raining,” I called back happily. Rain! It was really coming down now. I went on outside to luxuriate in the surprise shower, letting it run down my face and soak into my hair. Rain! Finally, rain! It was wonderful.
I thought I heard someone laughing and I turned in time to see Aunty Jane disappearing around the corner of the house, heading for the back yard.
“It worked!” she called back to me. “You see? My magic not so dumb and boring after all, huh?”
I laughed, shaking my head. I was so happy to see her back again. I didn’t ever want to hurt her feelings, and now it looked like she’d forgiven me. I was going to have to think of a good way to make it up to her.
Bebe came out to join me, and we danced in the rain for a few minutes, then she’d had enough of that and we went back inside.
“Jill’s coming over in a bit,” she told me. “She’s bringing a new tea blend she wants us to test for her.”
“Good. Then maybe we can go out to eat.”
“Think of some place good. I’m starving,” she said, seemingly forgetting about the toast she’d just been eating.
“The Italian Kitchen?” I ventured, then thought better of it.
“No,” we both said at once.
“Surely we can find someplace else,” she said, and I agreed, despite the fact that I knew Carlo was back in charge of his restaurant’s food. But eating his cooking again was going to have to wait for another day.
Sami meowed and I looked down at him. He looked rather cross. When I didn’t reach out to pick him up quickly enough, he made a bouncing leap from the floor to the chair to the table and landed right in my arms.
We laughed and I held him tight.
“Yes, Sami, we’ve got you! And that’s all we need, right?”
His purr was a clear answer to that one.
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Recipe: Tiramisu
Tiramisu
3 large eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
8 oz Mascarpone
2 TBS rum or Kahlua
24-30 ladyfingers—preferably the crisp kind
1 ½ cup espresso
Dutch baking cocoa, unsweetened
Whip the egg yolks with sugar for ten minutes (best to use a stand mixer)
Slowly add the Mascarpone and gently mix together.
Add rum or kahlua
Set aside
Clean mixing bowl in order to
Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form
Add to yolk mixture
In a square baking pan, assemble thin ladyfingers and pour ½ the espresso over them. Spoon on ½ cream/yolk mixture, then a second layer of ladyfingers (This time, dip each in the rest of the espresso before placing). Top with remaining cream mixture.
Refrigerate for at least four hours. Dust with cocoa before serving.
(Something delicious! Cut a square of tiramisu and place on dessert plate, drizzle artistically with Cherry Herring—or your favorite liqueur and top with a blob of whipped cream.)
Also by J.D. Winters
The Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Series by J.D. Winters…
#1: A Ghost for Christmas
#2: Ghost On Duty
#3: A Ghost In Time
#4 Cloudy with a Chance of Ghosts
#5 Little Ghost Lost
#6 Mele’s Ghostly Halloween Caper & Sami’s Story
By J.D. Winters and Dakota Kahn
In the Sister Witchcraft Series…
Sister Witchcraft: Bewitched, Bedeviled and Bewildered
Sister Witchcraft: Confessions of a Teenage Slayer
Sister Witchcraft: Undercover Coven
Sister Witchcraft Books 1 - 3 - all in one!
Sister Witchcraft: Never Date a Warlock
In the Moonhaven series…
Moonhaven 1: Even Witches Get the Blues
Moonhaven 2: That Old Witch Magic
Moonhaven 3: Witches in Wonderland
About the Author
J.D. Winters is a pen name for Helen Conrad, an award-winning, bestselling author of more than 90 romances published under various pseudonyms with Harlequin, Silhouette, Loveswept and others--as well as the extensive series, Destiny Bay Romances. Cozy mysteries are a new venture, less romance, but more fun!
JD Winters Website