A Charming Corpse: :A Cozy Paranormal Mystery

by Tonya Kappes

  The bottle warmed, and I opened my palm. The ingredients were bubbling and swirling like I’d seen in Madame Torres’s ball. Her words filtered into my memory.

  “Look deep into the depths of the raging water to see. It’ll be me you seek and be. The mix of smells will bring you closure, but not until a few days will be over,” I repeated the words. “The inside is raging. I smell those baby ingredients and I know she was pregnant with Brent’s baby and it’s been a few days. What am I missing?”

  Rowl! Mewl! Rowl!

  I jumped around, dropping the bottle on the marble floor when I saw Mr. Prince Charming in net dangling down from the grips of Nina Teeter.

  “I think you are missing this.” Her nose curled over top of a disgusted look on her face.

  “Nina, let him go.” I took a step towards her.

  “I don’t think so. He broke into my house along with you.” She dragged her other arm from around her body and pointed a gun at me.

  “This is your house?” I asked somewhat confused since I thought it was Gabby’s.

  “Whose house did you think you were in?” She glared.

  “Gabby’s.” I gulped.

  “Gabby? Do you think she sold that much Lifestyle to live like this?” She cackled. “Hardly,” she said with a sarcastic tone. “I wasn’t sure what your sudden plan today was when you came into the office with a sudden change of heart and eagerness to start right then. So, who are you working for?”

  “You. Lifestyle.” I tried to take my eyes off the gun, but I couldn’t. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Mr. Prince Charming was as cool as a cucumber while I was dying inside. “Please let my cat go.”

  “Why? Because you’re going to have some sort of need for a therapy session?” She cackled. “You won’t be alive long enough for that.”

  “I don’t understand.” I took a step back and tripped over the box. I grabbed the drawer from the sink and it fell out along with me on the marble floor, dumping out all its contents.

  “Bravo.” Nina took a step forward. “Now I just have to shoot you.”

  “No.” I looked at a few of things that’d fallen out. There was an empty black locust seed packet just like the one that KJ had given me. “No. You killed Gabby?”

  “Like you didn’t know.” She walked over and kicked the empty packet away from me. “Get up.”

  I did exactly what she said. I grimaced when she stuck the gun in my back.

  “I want you to just walk softly, back down the steps and into the laundry room where you entered my house.” She jutted the gun deeper, making me cringe. I moved slowly and it felt like hours as I walked down the hall and started down the steps.

  “Why did you kill her? Wasn’t she making good money for you?” I asked.

  With each step, I recalled the owl’s message.

  “The baby. Brent is your son.” My voice cracked.

  “I really wanted a grandchild, but when Gabby refused to do what the boss said and wanted to turn me into the police because she said I was selling a deceptive product, then I knew that she’d be a horrible mother. Why would I do that to an innocent baby?” She retorted angrily.

  “But you have a wonderful product.” If I had to kiss her feet to get out of this situation, I was going to. “And I don’t know what you did to her, but I can keep a secret. Just let me and my cat go.”

  I flung forward as she gave me a shove into the laundry room. She dropped the net and Mr. Prince Charming came scurrying out and over to me. She pointed her gun straight at me and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

  “Who are you calling?” I asked.

  “Yes. Police,” she gasped like she was out of air. “Come quick. I had a robber and I. . . I . . . “ she sounded pitiful, “I shot them and I think they’re dead.”

  She dropped the phone.

  “No,” I begged.

  Her sick sense of humor took over and she laughed in my face as her answer.

  “I will get off free and clear if I’ve shot an intruder. And I’m taking the fact I killed Gabby to save not only the life of my company, but the future of my son, Brent and his future. He gave into Gabby when he had a wonderful thing going with Beth.” She see-sawed the gun back and forth before she brought it up to my head. “Beth isn’t the best salesperson, but with Gabby’s clients and her knowing and being just fine with it, we can sell the watered-down oils with no problem.” She laughed menacingly. “I mean, the clients have no idea and after all, it’s the smell that sells them.”

  “How did you know about the black locust?” I gulped trying to buy some more time. If the cops were coming I could at least try and scream when they got here.

  “Did you see my garden out there?” She asked with flat and unreadable stone eyes. “Black locust seeds are so hard to get ahold of. I went back to Locust Grove and told my son that I wanted him to go and pick out a yarn for the baby because I couldn’t wait to make it a baby blanket, which was all a lie.” She smiled. “He was so happy that I was starting to embrace the news that was secret. Really, I just wanted him to distract the young woman that Gabby had been praising. I knew they’d had a fight. I knew Gabby was getting the run around by Leah, so it was a perfect set up. I encouraged Gabby to keep pestering her to get her product into Whispering Falls and book a party because it would go along with my plan.”

  “You mean you planned to kill Gabby on the night she was in Whispering Falls because it was a perfect set up for Leah to look like the killer?” I asked as all the clues started to form the full puzzle.

  There was a rattling sound coming from the door.

  “That must be the police. Time’s up.” She pointed the gun and took a step forward placing the gun on my forehead.

  Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming leapt up in the air and stuck his claws in her eyes, knocking her backwards just as the gunshot rang in the air, hitting the window behind me.

  “Police! Put down the weapon!” The loud officer’s voice was music to my ears.

  “In here!” I yelled over and over until the blue dressed officer was standing at the laundry room door with his gun pointed on Nina.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “You scared me last night.” Oscar recalled the events of previous evening.

  “If she hadn’t called the police thinking that she was going to kill me first, I probably would be dead.” I’d gotten home late after giving the Locust Grove police my statement and after they’d collected evidence.

  “I called Faith Mortimer to ask her to work in your shop today, because you need the day off.” He filled my mug up with coffee. “I took the day off and left a note on the door of the station with my cell phone to call me if there was a problem.”

  “Only in Whispering Falls.” I laughed and took a drink. “You wouldn’t have believed Mr. Prince Charming. He was so awesome. He stabbed her in the eyes.”

  Mr. Prince Charming lifted his head from the top of the couch, yawned and laid it back down like it was no big deal.

  “I do owe him.” Oscar looked over at the lounging cat, giving me a little hope that the two of them would become friends after all. “First, I think we should go for a walk.”

  “A walk?” I was intrigued.

  “It’s a beautiful morning and I’m beyond blessed you are okay. Not only that, but I got news that the Order of Elders had detoured back to wherever they were because they’d heard about Leah LeRoy being freed. And,” he hesitated, “you singlehandedly kept Locust Grove police from coming here and snooping around.”

  I got up and put my shoes on. It was already almost lunch time. I’d slept in and was taking it easy. The summer season was going to be starting next week and it was going to be a busy one. I could feel it in my gut.

  “Leah was thrilled to open her shop today.” Oscar was in the cupboards putting together a picnic lunch. “She said that she wanted to stop by later and see you. Which, I think a lot of people want to see you, so we better get going while we have time.”

  W
e decided to walk towards the wheat field and away from Whispering Falls. The birds sang along side of us while we walked. The sunshine was beating down on our faces and we got got absorbed in talking about the life we’d made for ourselves. It was a long way from where we started out underneath the tree eating Ding Dongs in his front yard.

  “Speaking of Ding Dongs.” He stopped, and I stopped. He pulled a couple of Ding Dongs from the bag. “This looks like a perfect spot to stop for a treat.”

  I looked up to see where we’d ventured off to.

  “Oscar?” I questioned when I realized we were stopped at a tree right in front of the Intuitions School at Hidden Hall~A Spiritualist University.

  “I figured we better get used to this view if you’re going to take the teaching position here in the fall.” His smile made my heart melt.

  “You mean that you want me to take the job?” I asked and searched his face for some answers. “What about us? How can we be apart a few nights?”

  “I talked to Colton. He said that he’d cover anytime that I needed off. If you want to stay here a few days with you or you want to come home, we can make it work. But you won’t know if you love teaching unless you try it.” He held the delicious treat up to my mouth and fed me a bite. “Wherever you go, June Heal, is where I go.”

  Mewl, mewl! Mr. Prince Charming came from behind the tree.

  “And wherever I go, he goes.” I held one arm out for Oscar and one arm out for Mr. Prince Charming, bringing them both closer to me.

  It was strange how things happened. Not just in the spiritual world but how both worlds collided. If it weren’t for Gabby, and how she made me realize life was so short and that I should take all the opportunities that came my way, then I’m not sure I’d have taken the job.

  But with Oscar and Mr. Prince Charming’s support, I knew that I, June Heal, had a great deal more to accomplish in the world. Mortal or otherwise.

  About the Author

  Tonya has written over 40 novels and 4 novellas, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists including USA Today. Best known for stories charged with emotion and humor, and filled with flawed characters, her novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with her husband, two very spoiled schnauzers and grew up in the small southern Kentucky town of Nicholasville. Now that her four boys are grown boys, Tonya writes fulltime.

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  Also by Tonya Kappes

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  A CHARMING DEATH (novella)

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  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Tonya Kappes. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Author Tonya Kappes, P.O. Box 176988, Ft. Mitchell, Ky. 41017