by Tonya Kappes
The Green Machine took the curves and hugged the road all the way to Locust Grove. I passed our childhood homes, aching for the long ago days of no stress when it was just my little homeopathic booth at the local flea market and Oscar was a Locust Grove police officer.
The Piggly Wiggly was on the other side of town. It seemed like it took forever to get through town because everyone and their brother seemed to be out, happy to not be snowed in anymore.
From a distance I could see Oscar still on the sidewalk of the Piggly Wiggly.
Adeline, my friend who owned the Piggly Wiggly came out of the store. She whispered something into his ear. His hand rested on the small of her back.
My eyes widened, my jaw dropped, but the oncoming car beeping at me to get back in my lane caused me to swerve off the road and into the ditch right in front of the Piggly Wiggly.
“Mr. Prince Charming!” I screamed when I realized what had happened. He was on top of the dash right in front of me. Eye-to-eye. His claws dug into the dashboard. His tail straight as a stick. My fingers felt like they were super-glued to the steering wheel.
My chest heaved up and down. He drew in his claws, and batted at my charm bracelet on my wrist.
“Oh,” I sobbed and grabbed him, closed my eyes and cuddled him close to me. The cold air whipped around me when someone flung the driver’s side door open.
“June?” Oscar bent down, looking into the car. “Are you okay?”
Relief swept over me and opened the floodgate of tears. He scooted into the inches of vacant seat next to me and wrapped Mr. Prince Charming and me in his arms.
Chapter Eight
“No, sir.” Oscar was talking on his phone while I was resting in the employee room in the back of the Piggly Wiggly on the ratty old couch Adeline had in there for employee breaks. “I didn’t get to see him pull up. There was a car wreck and I felt like it was my duty to help them.” He conveniently left out the fact it was me he was referring to, his fiancée.
“Here you go.” Adeline tiptoed back into the employee room with an ice water for me, and a small bowl of milk for Mr. Prince Charming. She handed me a sack. “I know you love June’s Gems.” Her brows lifted and she sat down next to me.
Adeline had begun to sell Wicked Good Bakery goods in the grocery store. Faith drove the little Wicked Good car back and forth, making the weekly deliveries for her sister.
Oscar hung up the phone and Adeline left the room.
“June, what are you doing here? Who is running the store?” He sat next to me and rubbed his hand over my hair, playing with a strand around his finger.
“What are you doing here? The roads are fine.” I wasn’t going to answer any of his questions. Seeing him here made me mad. Made me forget how upset and heartbroken I was.
“I was going to tell you tonight.” He stood up. An inexplicable look of withdrawal came over his face.
“Don’t.” I put my hand up in front of me. I didn’t want to hear the words of how he wasn’t in love with me any longer and wanted to break off the engagement. I would rather just take off my mother’s ring and give him a clean out.
I stood up in front of him and slipped the ring off my finger. “No explanation necessary.”
“What?” Oscar clasped his hands around mine. “What are you saying?” His eyes searched my face.
“I’m saying you don’t have to break it off. I understand. I mean,” My eyes slid up and down his body, taking in his disheveled appearance, though he was still handsome.
“This?” He dropped his hands and looked down his body. “No,” he shook his head. “You have it all wrong.” He grabbed my hand again, taking out the ring, and pushing back on my finger. “I love you, June Heal. You and I are getting married.”
An audible groan escaped from Mr. Prince Charming, who was now on the arm of the couch trying to get a good seat to see what was going on.
“But,” I swallowed. “What about the candlelit dinner at your house?”
“You stopped by the house?” he asked.
“Let’s say I knew you weren’t alone the other night.” I didn’t deny his question but I wasn’t going to lie and say I didn’t have Madame Torres spy on him.
“Sonny Butcher stopped by the other night after I got snowed in because he wanted to talk to me more about his offer.” Oscar eased me down on the couch. He kneeled between my legs. “I didn’t want to alarm you, but the economy in Whispering Falls doesn’t warrant two sheriffs.”
“I know all about it.”
“Oh. I was trying to protect you and not alarm you.” His eyes dipped. I looked down. His finger tipped my chin up. “I love you and I want to work. Sonny and I had gone to school together. He called me when he realized I wasn’t in Locust Grove because he took over as sheriff. They have a part-time position on the force and he offered it to me.”
“Oh.” I blushed, knowing my wild mind had gone on a goose chase.
“It works out perfect. I will work part-time in Whispering Falls and part-time in Locust Grove.” His hands rubbed up and down my thighs. “Today was my first day on the job. I’m undercover as a bum because Adeline said someone’s been getting out of a fancy car, setting up a donation kettle, and posing as an illegal Santa.”
“You were undercover?” I smiled. The sexiness of the idea sent my heart soaring.
“Yes.”
I scrubbed his messy hair with my hands. Gathering me into his arms, he held me snuggly. My head buried into his neck, I breathed a kiss there. He pulled back, gazed into my eyes before his mouth moved over mine. Devouring me as though I was going somewhere.
“It’s an employee break room, not a hotel room.” Adeline shooed us to stop making out.
“He smells anyway.” I giggled, lifting my hand fanning it in front of my nose. “Boy, did I have it all wrong.” I was almost ashamed to admit I had thought he was cheating on me.
“Sonny came over to the house and had dinner with me. He brought take-out and the snow knocked the power out. I had candles and lit those plus the fire for warmth.” Oscar continued to put my mind at ease. “So.”
“Did I miss something?” Adeline picked up my sour-puss of a cat and rubbed down his fur. He wasn’t about to purr in delight.
“No.” I took Mr. Prince Charming and kissed his forehead, putting him down next to me. “What about my car?”
“The tow truck pulled it out. There looks like a little damage on the bumper, but that’s it,” Adeline gestured to the door. “I’ve got to get back to work. The Santa hasn’t showed up today. Maybe June scared him off.” She laughed before leaving the room.
“Are you ready to go home?” Oscar put his hand out and helped me up off the couch.
“Yes, but we have a problem.” I sucked in a deep breath and told him about the Whispering Falls Grinch and Arabella’s protest that was probably about to take place.
“It looks like I need to get back to Whispering Falls.” He snugged an arm around me and we walked out of the Piggly Wiggly with a disgruntled white cat at our feet.
Chapter Nine
I was right. When Oscar and I got back to Whispering Falls, Arabella was in full protest mode. The only other person with her was Patience Karima and she was too busy to carry a protest sign due to the ostrich she was trying to tackle and keep her candy cane away from.
We pulled into the empty parking space in front of A Charming Cure.
“You were right. Everyone has gone nuts.” Oscar slammed the driver’s side door of the Green Machine.
We had left his car in Locust Grove. Since he was going to be going back and forth, I had made a lunch date in Locust Grove with Adeline and I’d drop him off at work.
“Are you sure you are okay?” Oscar walked around, helping me out of the passenger side.
Mr. Prince Charming jumped out and darted up the street. A jingle bell fell off the tip of his tail and rolled to my foot. I bent down and picked it up, sticking it with the other jingle bells I had collected.
“I’m fine.” I
took Oscar’s hand. “My shop was really pretty with the decorations.”
Even though my little mystery with Oscar and the romantic dinner that never took place was solved, my gut still felt uneasy. My intuition told me I needed to figure out who was the Whispering Falls Grinch.
“I bet it was.” He helped me up the steps of the shop and turned to me before we opened the door. “Do you mind if I go catch up with Colton about the vandalism?”
“Not at all.” I gave him a kiss on the lips. “Go save the day.” I batted my lashes. “My hero.”
He grinned a sexy smile and darted down the steps and across the crowded street. The Whispering Falls Grinch didn’t seem to have an affect on the village tourists, they only seemed to be targeting shop owners and the decorations on the outside. But who?
Instead of going inside the shop, where I knew Faith was in total control, I glanced down the street. The sun had melted the snow on the sidewalks and I wondered if there were any clues under the snow as to who could’ve done such a thing.
Bella’s Baubles was the furthest shop from me, so I would start there and work my way down.
“What are you doing?” Bella asked from her shop door.
I was squatting on my knees, looking around for anything. I had no idea what I was looking for, but my gut told me to keep going.
“I thought my intuition was ablaze about Oscar, but I was wrong.” I stood up and dusted my hands off. “Something tells me I have to get to the bottom of whomever the thief is.”
“I hope you do.” She shook her head. “I’m sick over it. Do you think it’s a tourist?”
“Like Petunia says, the holidays bring out stress in people. And stress makes people do funny things.” My eyes zeroed in on something shiny. “Misery loves company, and if they don’t enjoy Christmas, they don’t want to see others happy.”
We moved out of the way of a group of women shoppers going in her shop.
“Let me know what you find out.” Bella walked back inside.
I glanced around me, making sure no one saw me pick up the shiny object.
“Jingle bell,” I groaned, noticing it was different than the other ones I had collected. This one was larger and only one hole in the top. Not like the regular jingle bells.
That wasn’t much of a clue. Everyone had jingle bells on around here, including my fairy-god cat. I looked down the street toward Magical Moments and Ever After Books. I was missing something but what?
My intuition nagged.
I hurried my way down the street to Magical Moments. Arabella wasn’t going to notice me snooping around. She was too busy picketing with Patience in front of the police station. A small crowd had gathered, watching the two Looney birds.
It didn’t take long for me to find a jingle bell that matched the one from Bella’s Baubles in the mess the thief had left behind. I held it in my grip. I knew if I found the owner of the jingle bell, I would find the thief. But I had to find some evidence across the street at Ever After Books in order to take my accusations to Oscar. He had to have hard evidence; at least that was what he said. I believed in my intuition. And my intuition told me these two jingle bells weren’t yet enough evidence.
I ran across the street and stood in front of Ever After Books, taking a nice long look up and down the steps where the carolers had stood and the garland was ripped off. Exactly like I expected. There was a large jingle bell with one hole on the top among the melting snow.
I grabbed it, placing it in my hand with the other two, hoping to get any reading off of them.
Madame Torres! A light bulb went off in my head.
“I’m not talking about him,” I vividly remember her saying in the midnight hour after my shop decorations had been robbed. She might not have been talking about Oscar; she was talking about rule number one. I couldn’t use her to read other spiritualists. Did she think I was going to ask her to show me who stole the decorations? All the decorations?
I scurried behind the cottage of Bella’s Baubles and pulled my trusty old crystal ball out of my bag.
“Madame Torres.” She didn’t appear. Only a snowstorm scene with whipping winds swirled in her ball. “The other night when I asked you to show me something. I meant Oscar. You thought I meant to read another spiritualist. The thief is one of us?”
The funnel cloud of snow stopped. Her ball calmed.
“Does this mean I’m right?” I asked waiting for her to answer me. “Are you telling me that someone in our village who owns a shop has been stealing the decorations?” I bit my lip waiting for her answer. My intuition told me I was right.
But who?
My decorations were gone. The decorations at Ever After Books, Bella’s Baubles, and Magical Moments were gone; which meant that Bella, Ophelia, and Arabella weren’t suspects.
The only shops that weren’t vandalized were Two Sisters and a Funeral, Wicked Good, A Cleansing Spirit Spa, Full Moon Treesort, The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe, Mystic Lights, and Glorybee Pet Shop.
My gut told me one of them was involved but whom?
“I’m not saying it’s a spiritualist because I don’t know.” Her tone was not a happy-to-hear-from-me tone.
“Are you mad at me?” I really didn’t have time to stroke her ego. I had to find the thief and make this right before the tree lighting and I was losing daylight.
Plus I still had to smudge the tree.
“I’m not mad. I just see where I rank in the familiar department.” She appeared. She no longer had on the creamy festive face. She was back to her red-and-purple-makeup, kinda crazy look. “I mean, you didn’t check on me once after the wreck.”
“That is why you are mad?” I asked. “I knew you were safe in my bag because I was safe. Mr. Prince Charming isn’t able to stay close to me like you.” I knew I had to butter her up a bit to keep her happy. “I could feel you were safe. I love you.”
“Really?” Her eyes magnified to the edge of the ball.
“Really.” With my free hand, I made a crisscross over my heart.
Her ball went back to singing music and her face went back to the festive creamy white.
“Now, let’s get down to business. Is a spiritualist the thief?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. Someone in our presence is, but because you are not in full danger, I’m not able to clue in on it.” She twirled in her ball, her eyes darted out into space as if she was trying to see something. “Yes.” Her face took up the entire ball and she looked at me. “Someone with jingle bells.”
I gulped, trying to swallow. My mouth felt like a sand dune. My gut wrenched thinking about Mr. Prince Charming, Patience, Petunia, and. . .Tiffany.
Chapter Ten
Mr. Prince Charming, Patience, and Petunia were last on my list. Even though Petunia was upset about the village council, there was no way she’d take it out on the village. But Tiffany was a different story. I had read her. The holiday was definitely not her favorite. In fact, she had made everyone in her path feel the wrath of her anger toward the festivities.
I didn’t bother walking the street to get to Full Moon Treesort, I continued on behind the shops and headed up the hill toward my cottage. The treesort was deep in the woods behind the village.
Full Moon Treesort was the only bed and breakfast in Whispering Falls and it was nothing short of amazing. The treesort was different log cabins built way up in the trees of the woods. Tourists could rent a treesort and pick which one they wanted from the different amenities Amethyst Plum had to offer.
I climbed the double-decker set of steps to the A-frame wooden structure, seeing nothing but a wall full of windows that was decorated with all sorts of Christmas cheer. The Whispering Falls Grinch hadn’t touched the treesort.
The smell of the crackling fire was pleasantly met by the smell of homemade soup when I walked inside the resort, which reminded me of the interior of a ski lodge. The fire in the stone fireplace in the middle of the large open room was roaring, warming the customers of the Treesor
t. I had to stop and catch my breath when I looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the most spectacular views of Whispering Falls. Our village was truly a winter wonderland.
“June!” Amethyst called from the open kitchen. She was standing over the stove stirring the pot of yumminess. A few of her resort customers were sitting along the counter on the stools; Tiffany was one of them along with Eloise. “Come on over and grab a bowl of soup.”
I was happy to see the fresh chopped-up veggies from Eloise’s garden.
“It’s good for the soul.” Tiffany raised a spoon.
On my way over to the kitchen, I noticed the coat tree stand where Tiffany’s pink, fur-hooded jumpsuit with the missing jingle bell was hung up. The jingle bells I had picked up at the crime scenes were still in my grasp.
“I’ll be right there,” I called. “I’m going to hang up my cape.”
It was a perfect excuse to get a closer look at Tiffany’s fur hood. She had grabbed her jingle bell so fast from the snow this morning, I didn’t get a good look at it.
I unbuttoned my cape and swung it off my body, knocking the coat tree on purpose, sending the snowsuit off the hook. Of course I profusely apologized and assured them I would pick them all up, grabbing the suit by the fur hood.
I eyed the jingle bells. A pit settled in my stomach, almost making me sick. The one person I truly thought was the Whispering Falls Grinch—Tiffany—was not. Her bells were big, but not the same design.
“On second thought.” I swung my cape back over my shoulders. “I’ve got to go. I think Faith needs me at the shop.”
I didn’t wait around for anyone to question me, especially Eloise. I bolted down the steps and ran as fast as I could out of the woods. Oscar needed to know what I had found because maybe he could tap into his own spirituality and get a good reading. I was close. I could feel it.
“Hey! June!” Arabella stuck a sign in my face when I pushed back the two-person picket line on my way into the police station. “Don’t you move!” she ordered Patience to stay in front of the police station door.
