David’s revelry was broken off by the pinging of a badly tuned, high-performance engine. A vintage 1968 Mercedes pulled into the parking lot and parked beside him. He admired the car. It was a beauty, even through the rust patches. But what caught his attention was the incredibly beautiful redhead who stepped out of the driver’s door. His eyes tracked her as she bent down over the driver’s seat and retrieved her purse just as a large black cat jumped out and ambled up to the station’s front door.
Now that’s something you don’t see every day.
She shut the door, locked it, and stopped when she saw him. Her eyes were green and lovely as they turned up on the ends, a lot like a cat’s eyes. She smiled. He waved. And then she went inside, the cat proceeding her in.
Usually animals hissed at him, especially cats. But that one walked right by without even a glance. And the woman…
Wow.
David grabbed his briefcase and followed the two of them inside. He expected to see the redhead waiting in the entrance foyer, a black and white tiled five by five surrounded by a four-foot wooden railing. Three worn green vinyl benches rested against the railing. Two were scattered with newspapers and magazines.
But she wasn’t there.
“Hey Dr. Flanagan,” Gloria Rosepurse said from behind the counter. She worked as the station’s desk person and dispatcher. A woman in her late forties, married to the owner of the local grocery store, Castle Groceries, with two kids and one grandchild. He knew all of this because Gloria explained this at their first meeting a month ago. “Here to see Sheriff Danvers?”
David walked through the railing gate and approached her desk. It sat in the middle of the room. No one could step into the station without getting past her. And honestly, nobody ever tried. Deputy Perrin had warned him that Mrs. Rosepurse looked meek and defenseless, but he’d seen her wrestle a six-foot, two-hundred-pound thief to the ground. “Sure am. I have several reports for him. How are you doing, Gloria?” He gave her his most dazzling smile.
Gloria blushed as she leaned forward. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in its customary bun. She wore a silver name tag on the lapel of her white blouse. “I’m doing well.” She glanced back at the Sheriff’s office. His door was cracked open. “You’ll have to wait a second. One of those Blackstone girls is in there with him.”
“Blackstone girls?”
“One of Mama Donahue’s grandkids.”
Oh? The information David had in his briefcase pertained to the murder case he’d been assigned. His first one in a small town. He’d examined the body found in the scary flower shop and had the information the Sheriff wanted. “I see. What I have for the Sheriff is about Mrs. Donahue’s, ah, deceased customer. I don’t think he’ll mind if I go on in.”
“All right. But you be careful.” She touched his arm as he moved around her desk toward the Sheriff’s office. “Those Blackstone girls are trouble.”
“Trouble?”
Gloria looked around and then spoke in a whisper that carried around the entire building. “They’re all Witches.”
Witches.
He thought about the stunning redhead and the black cat. “I’ll be careful.”
She smiled and nodded before he threaded his way around a few empty desks and gently pushed the Sharif’s door open.
It was a large enough office to accommodate six or seven people. At the moment, it contained three, and a cat. The cat sat on the Sheriff’s bureau behind him, watching everything happening around it. Sheriff Danvers sat behind his ample desk, his hands flat on the paper-strewn top. Mama D, still dressed in the same long dress, bunny slippers, black lace shawl and cane she’d had the night he’d met her in the shop, just before the deputy took her away, sat in one of the chairs facing the Sheriff’s desk. The redhead stood behind Mama D with her hands on the elderly woman’s shoulders.
“…silliness, granny.” The redhead said. “The house is fine. And I’ve cleaned up the shop.”
“You did?” Mama D turned in her chair and looked up at her granddaughter. “Oh no. You didn’t use magic, did you? You remember what happened the last time you tried to clean with magic.”
“Mama D, I was twelve, and you didn’t tell me there was a loadstone nearby!”
“Ladies,” Sheriff Danvers held up his hands. “I think we’re all agreed that arresting Mama D was a formality, given the evidence that we have. And Ginger, you’ll be taking her home now, right?”
David smiled. The redhead’s name was Ginger. Somehow that seemed fitting.
“A man died in that house,” Mama D said as she raised her cane. “That means his spirit’s gonna mess everything up till we find out who killed him.”
“Granny,” Ginger patted her grandmother’s shoulders. “I told you. It’s all right. What we really need to find out is—” That’s when she looked right at David and her eyes widened.
The Sheriff and Mama D looked at him as well and it was the Sheriff who stood. “Dr. Flanagan. Please. Come in.”
David walked in and shook the Sheriff’s hand. “Thank you, Sheriff. I didn’t want to interrupt anything important.”
“It’s fine. You’ve met Mama Donahue. This is Ginger Blackstone, one of her granddaughters.”
Ginger stepped out from behind her grandmother’s chair and offered her hand. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Flanagan.”
David took her hand in his and blinked at the sudden electric charge that passed between them. His eyes locked on hers, and hers bore through his. The cat jumped from the Sheriff’s bureau and landed on the desk with a loud, “Meeeow!”
David pulled his hand away first and searched for his words. “Nice to meet you, Miss…Misses?”
“Miss Blackstone.” Ginger smiled. She held her hand out for a few more seconds before she lowered it. “Uh…where’s Dr. Hanover?”
“He retired,” David said. “I started a month ago.”
“Oh.” She looked at Mama D. “Granny, why didn’t you tell me there was a new doctor?”
Mama D made a prune-ish face as she looked at her granddaughter. “Since when do I have to keep you informed of Castle Falls’ comings and goings? You left. All of you left. Except for Melody. I bet you didn’t know your sister left town too. Left me a note telling me she was going on a retreat or some such nonsense. I told that girl not to read all those weird self-help books she sells. And where did you get that cat? I don’t like cats.”
The cat made a pffth noise at Mama D.
The Sheriff looked around. “What cat?”
David smiled. “Melody is your sister?” He looked at Ginger.
“Yeah,” Ginger nodded. “Older sister. She has a shop here in Castle Falls. You might have seen it. Past & Future?”
“Yes, I met your sister. I bought several pieces of furniture from her. She wanted to read my cards but I’m not a real believer in that sort of thing.”
“Don’t knock it, doc,” Mama D spoke up. “Melody’s good. She’s got the family talent!”
David noted the disappointed look on Ginger’s face and decided it was time to change the subject, though he did want to know more about the stunning young redhead. “Sheriff, I have the preliminary findings of the body.” The cat moved as David set his briefcase on the desk. “Did you get an ID?”
“Yes,” Danvers cleared his throat. The Sheriff moved papers around on his desk and found one, but before he looked at it, he focused on the two women. “Ginger I think it would be a good idea to take Mama D home now. The Doc and I have some things to discuss.”
“Well, I’d like to know who the dead man is,” Ginger said as she crossed her arms over her chest. “And how he died. After all, it happened in our shop.”
“Our?” Mama D looked up at her granddaughter again.
David decided he really liked Mama Donahue. She had spunk even though she looked like she was a hundred years old.
“That doesn’t concern you, Ginger. Just let the Sheriff’s department do their job.”
Noting
a chance for brownie points, David spoke up. “Sheriff—seeing as how Mama Donahue’s been pulled into this whole affair, sharing the information with her and her granddaughter might help move the investigation along. Maybe they knew him?”
Sheriff Danvers didn’t look convinced, but he also didn’t argue. “Fine. The guy’s name was Hardin Manchester. Last address was Salem, Massachusetts. We couldn’t find any employment records but his wallet had a wad of cash in it.” He turned the paper down and looked at Mama Donahue. “Mama D, are you sure you have no idea why this man was in your shop?”
“Billy, I’ll say it again. He came into my shop when I was asleep. He broke in. And I didn’t see him before that happened. I don’t know who he is.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the Sheriff.
David noticed Danvers visibly turn white before he looked at the paper again. “Fine, fine.” Then he looked at David. “Cause of death?”
“Respiratory failure,” David said as he opened the briefcase and pulled out a folder. He handed it to Danvers. “Toxicology reports said he had elevated levels of nicotine—but all that shows is the guy was a smoker. He was in good physical shape. Clean. Well groomed.” He shrugged. “Expensive clothes.”
“Expensive clothes?” Danvers flipped through the folder. “Is that important?”
“It means he wasn’t a bum,” Ginger spoke up. “He had a wad of cash—no credit cards? Nice clothing. Good shoes too?”
David nodded.
“Was there an expensive car left somewhere? Something wearing out-of-town or state plates? Something from Massachusetts?” She looked at Danvers.
The Sheriff pursed his lips. “Yeah, there was a car. A Mercedes we found over near Ed’s Pharmacy.” He gave the folder back to David and went through the mess on his desk until he found more papers stapled together. “Here. Yeah. Champaign 1971 Mercedes.”
“The two-door?” Ginger said. “Pagoda?”
Danvers looked at the sheet. “I don’t know about the Pagoda but it’s a two-door. They towed it over to Park n Pay, the day before yesterday since our lot’s full.”
“Then you should search it,” Ginger put her hands together. “Can I look at it?”
Danvers made a face. “No. What you can do is get your grandmother home and out of the station before she kills us all with that sage. Did you look out there?” He pointed to the open door and the empty front room. “Everyone’s out because of that stuff.”
“This place was a hive of negativity,” Mama D said as Ginger helped her up. “You just wait, Billy. This place will run a lot better now that all the cogs have been cleaned out.” She shuffled just past David with her cane before she turned and smacked him in the butt with it. “We eat dinner at five. Don’t be late.”
“Granny!” Ginger said in a tone full of embarrassment. She blushed the cutest shade of pink as she looked at David. “I’m so sorry. She’s a bit eccentric.”
“No, I’m not!” Mama D called from the front room.
“It’s all right,” David smiled at Ginger and hoped he didn’t look like a grinning fool. “She’s…endearing.”
“That’s not the word I’d use,” Ginger arched a brow. “But thank you. Well, nice to meet you, Dr. Flanagan.”
“Call me David.”
“David.” She nodded to him and left the room.
He went to the door and watched her leave, noticing the cat didn’t follow but wasn’t anywhere in the Sheriff’s office anymore. Where did it go? And how come I didn’t see it leave? Come to think of it, why didn’t Danvers see it?
“David,” Danvers said.
He turned and looked at the Sheriff.
Danvers shook his head. “Don’t. You have no idea what manner of trouble you’d be walking into.”
“Maybe,” David returned to the Sheriff’s desk. “You know the whole family?”
“Oh yeah. Went to high school with the brother. There are four of them. And they’re all just a little bit strange.”
“I like strange.”
Danvers sighed and put his hand out for the folder again. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
THREE
I barely heard Mama D’s voice on the drive home. My attention and imagination were fixated on this Dr. David Flanagan. He was handsome in a very particular way. Tall with a swimmer’s build, angular features, and dark, thick close-cropped hair that stuck up and out over his forehead. And he had the most intense blue eyes. They were a unique shade of blue. Almost a greenish blue.
“And I killed him with the running vine in the corner.”
“Uh huh,” I said as I pulled the Mercedes onto the side driveway and into the half-barn Mama D used as a garage. She told me once what it was used for once before we parked cars inside. Tractors, maybe. I couldn’t remember—
Wait.
What? What did she say?
I put the car in park and looked at her where she sat beside me in the front seat. “No, you didn’t.”
She pointed a finger at me. “Ah, you haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it, then scowled and got out of the car. I didn’t say anything else as I moved around the back and opened her door for her. She used her cane to get out of the car and waved me away as she walked out of the garage toward the house. I bent inside the Mercedes and grabbed my bag, then cursed under my breath. I forgot to get the cat. Was he still in the Sheriff’s office?
“What is this cat doing here?”
That answered my question. I locked the door and followed the path to the house. Max sat between Mama D and the house door. It was a standoff. Eyes locked, Mama D tapping her cane on a stone and Max flicking his tail back and forth. I sighed at the two of them and stepped past the silliness and unlocked the door. “Y'all can come in or stay out there.”
“I’ll not have a cat in my house!” Mama D threatened Max with her cane.
I watched as Max hissed and dashed into the house. I watched him head in the direction of the Shop and then stop and look back at Mama D. She shook her head and ambled inside. When she paused at the threshold, I narrowed my eyes as she raised her cane and muttered a few words. Something sparkled around the doorframe.
“Mama D, what did you do?”
“Nothing,” Mama D moved into the house and looked at the now clean living area. “You cleaned up. Doesn’t look like anything’s broken.”
“I told you, I was twelve. I’m not clumsy anymore.” I turned and stumbled over a wrinkle in the rug heading into the kitchen.
“Unh huh,” Mama D muttered as she walked into the kitchen, paused, and then through the door into her shop.
“Well,” I said under my breath as I surveyed the cabinets and fridge for something to prep for dinner. Hmm…maybe lunch?
“Ginger!”
I joined her at the threshold of the shop and looked around. With the way she shouted, I worried the chalk outline had reappeared. “What? What is it?”
“The plants…the vines…” She stepped further in and looked around. “Everything’s in bloom.”
I shrugged as I looked around. The place was thriving now, with new green sprouting even as we stood there. “Are they not supposed to be?”
“Well no…I mean yes…” She looked up at me. “You did this?”
I felt guilty. I put my hand on my chest. “I cleaned up in here—”
“—with the help of Max,” Burt finished from his parrot stand.
“Who’s Max?” Mama D looked around.
Burt flapped his wings. “The cat.”
Mama D looked at me. “You know the cat’s name?”
That seemed an odd question. “Burt told me the cat’s name.”
She pivoted to face her Familiar. “How did you know the cat’s name?”
Burt dropped from the parrot stand, then gracefully glided up and perched on Mama D’s shoulder. “Because he told me his name. Any more dumb questions?”
I snickered. I always liked Burt. I hoped when I finally earned a
Familiar, he or she would have a cool personality like his. “I really wish you’d tell me why you hate cats so much.”
Mama D narrowed her eyes at the bat on her shoulder. “Did the cat really help her?”
Burt nodded and then moved his teddy-bear face against Mama D’s cheek.
“What are you two whispering about?” I put my hands on my hips. “You know I can’t understand it when you speak that witch and familiar language.”
Mama D looked at me as she placed her cane in front of her and piled her hands on the top. “I don’t hate cats. I just…” She said, completely ignoring my question. “I don’t trust them.”
“But Mama D, cats are born Familiars.”
“You don’t think I know that?” She moved to the register counter and inspected everything there. Bags of potpourri on a wire stand, a basket of multi-packaged seeds, and a basket of hand carved wooden animal keychains. The keychains were made by my older brother, Kevin.
I followed her and picked up a cat key chain. It was so cute. Kevin’s sculptures always looked like Chibi renditions of the actual animals. He carved them, and his wife Evie painted them. He was an architect like our father though he wasn’t a Witch. But he married a Witch. Evie was from the Westbrook Witches in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Making key chains wasn’t their careers, but one of the hobbies they loved doing together. In fact, sometimes Kevin and Evie made me a bit jealous. I wanted to find someone like that for me one day.
After I earned a Familiar.
“Mama D, do you know where Melody went? I can’t ever remember her actually going on a retreat anywhere. She doesn’t like leaving Castle Falls.”
Mama D shrugged. “She might have this time. Melody did a reading for a customer and it bothered Melody more than it bothered the client. She came over the next day, telling me it gave her nightmares.”
“A Tarot reading? Really?” I moved to one of the vines near the shop’s front door and wrapped the growing sprig around the vine’s base. “What kind of reading scares a Witch?”
“She did a three card spread. The cards were the Nine of Swords, Tower, and Death.”
The Book Of Ill Deeds_A Paranormal Cozy Mystery Page 2
