“Yeah, that was Jimmy News,” I finally admitted to Jasper. “He wants to come by and campaign here.”
I figured Jasper would have a neutral response to this information. We had discussed the election without talking about who we supported, though I did have a feeling that Jasper would vote for Mayor Clabberd. Instead of being neutral, though, Jasper looked annoyed. “Right now?” he said.
Just then a car drove up the driveway and I set my tea down.
“I guess so,” Jasper muttered.
Jimmy News must have bounded to the front door, because he was already there by the time I reached it.
News was a skinny guy with long arms and long legs and a long nose, cute in a goofy sort of way. His eyes lit up when he saw me, and I had no idea why.
“Sorry about the car, usually I bike but lately the weather’s been too terrible. I’m Jimmy,” he said. He stuck out his hand and introduced himself.
“Want to come in?” I said. I didn’t know what else to do. I heard Jasper get up just as Jimmy came around the door.
“Jasper Wolf as I live and breathe,” said Jimmy. He rushed over to shake Jasper’s hand. Jasper was much more reluctant, extending a hand to Jimmy only grudgingly. “I had no idea you two were . . . friends,” said Jimmy.
“Why would you have an idea about that?” Jasper asked icily.
If Jimmy noticed Jasper’s hostility, not only did he show no sign, but he dug himself deeper. “I never expected Jasper Wolf to be here,” he said. “I mean, your grandfather is everything that’s wrong in this town, and here you are sitting here. I can’t get a meeting with him to save my life, but I just happen to run into his grandson leading the charge to keep his legacy alive.”
I glanced quickly at Jasper see if he was going to punch Jimmy, but I was apparently being overly dramatic as usual, because Jasper didn’t look like that at all. In fact, he looked the same way he had before, as if Jimmy had confirmed that he was such an idiot that Jasper couldn’t be bothered to punch him.
“Thanks so much for agreeing to talk to me for a few minutes,” Jimmy gushed on, looking back my way. “I really think we can do wonders in Mintwood if there’s some young blood in government,” he plowed on, bracing his hands on his hips and grinning from ear to ear. “Your family is an institution around town, and I just knew I had to talk to you. Everyone talks about your grandmother, and I know how loved she was. I wish I could’ve gotten to meet her.”
Taken aback, I didn’t recover fast enough.
“Everyone knew Lemmi’s grandmother. How is it you never met her, then?” Jasper said, his icy tone still firmly in place.
“You know, I have no idea, but I can tell you that I regret it now. At least with this campaign I get to meet most of the townspeople in Mintwood. I really think that’s the best part about it,” said Jimmy. “We had a rally and several hundred people were there. I never expected such a good turnout. It’s great.”
“Yeah, it’s great,” I chimed in.
“Your grandmother sounded like a wonderful woman, so I can see where you got it from,” said Jimmy.
Jasper looked like he wanted to drop kick Jimmy. I was enjoying it immensely.
“Jimmy, want to sit down?” I offered.
“Sure, that’ll be great,” said Jimmy, plopping into a chair. “Now, what I really want to know is what concerns you about Mintwood. I would love straight talk here. I want to know your thoughts and feelings about the real Mintwood.”
Jasper looked like he could barely stand it, but he forced himself to say silent. Paws, who hadn’t been expecting another guest, was looking delightedly through the window. Usually Cat TV involved birds, but not tonight.
I couldn’t possibly tell Jimmy what really concerned me about Mintwood. For example, dark witches were creating dark ghosts, as Ellie had done with Hank. On top of that, missing bodies on mountains, and their ghosts, were an issue. I didn’t suppose Jimmy would be able to do a thing about those problems. He probably thought he could talk with me about the ghost problem, but in that he was sorely mistaken. In fact, Mayor Clabberd’s candidacy depended on my proving that there was in fact no ghost problem. Probably shouldn’t mention that either, though.
“I’m not sure. I’ve been pretty happy living here,” I said.
“Okay, okay that’s good. Just any concerns you have, any at all. Are you one of the ones concerned about the ghosts? It’s a very serious issue,” Jimmy said. He was bobbing his head along with me and smiling.
On the other side of the room Jasper was clutching the arms of his chair until his knuckles were white. I was sure he was only still sitting down through sheer force of will.
“There are a lot of things wrong with the town,” said Jimmy, determined to get a response.
“Maybe, but I always thought of them as charming quirks,” I said, defending the town I loved..
Who was this person who lived in Mintwood and didn’t appreciate all the special oddities of the place? Sure, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was silly. Sure, town meetings were eccentric. Sure, we’d had the same mayor for thirty years. But that’s what made Mintwood the treasure that it was.
“I don’t mean to be negative,” he said.
“Then don’t be negative,” said Jasper.
“Look, I know your grandfather is really powerful, but he can’t buy everything,” said Jimmy.
“He didn’t have to,” said Jasper.
“If you have any things about the town that you would like me to particularly focus on as mayor, please let me know,” said Jimmy, looking back at me and ignoring Jasper.
Then he stood up and made toward the door. “I really have to keep on my rounds tonight. There are a lot of houses to get to.”
“Thanks for coming by,” I said.
“Any time,” he said. He smiled at me and gave a brief nod in Jasper’s direction, but his eyes slid away before he looked at him directly.
It didn’t occur to me until after Jimmy was gone that I should have told him good luck in the race. Oh, well.
Just as he was driving away, Charlie and Greer came up the driveway. I glanced at the clock and realized that it was nearly ten o’clock. I couldn’t believe how long Jasper had been at the farmhouse.
“Time flies when you’re breaking the rules,” Paws said.
“Hey, I didn’t think Jasper would still be here,” said Charlie, bounding up the stairs and grinning. “Hi, Jasper!”
“Hey, sorry I missed dessert at Deacon’s,” said Jasper. He was noticeably more relaxed than he had been five minutes ago.
“No worries. Did you and Lemmi smooth things out?” Greer asked.
“Yup,” I said, my mind a jumble. Had we smoothed things out? He had apologized and I had insulted him, invited him inside, had a nice chat with him, and then watched him get visibly angry at Jimmy News.
Yup, sounded like a normal night in Mintwood.
“It’s late, I should get going,” Jasper grinned. “I need to get back to the barn and do a little more work. I’ll make sure to turn my radio on. You never know when there might be hikers lost on the mountain.”
“You’re our hero,” Charlie gushed.
“What was that all about?” Greer asked after Jasper drove away.
I sank back into my chair and told them about Jasper coming by and the apology and about Jimmy News.
“I wasn’t actually expecting him to campaign very much,” said Charlie thoughtfully. “Maybe there will be more entertaining stories for the Gazette than I realized. Of course it’s a big story. Townspeople love drama, and the mayor potentially losing his job is dramatic. Maybe he’d be willing to do an exclusive with me. If he liked you, could you contact him and ask if he’d agree to an interview?”
I didn’t like the idea of contacting Jimmy News at all, but Charlie was looking at me with such pleading that I said I would.
Suddenly, something shocking struck me, and I paused.
“You look blown away,” said Greer.
My tho
ught was so monumentally disquieting that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.
Jasper Wolf was jealous . . . of Jimmy News . . . because of me.
Chapter Thirteen
One sure sign that I was in the middle of a ghost investigation was the number of times I woke up in the middle of the night. When I wasn’t on an investigation, I slept through the night happily. When I was on an investigation, when witches attacked, when there were problems at the farmhouse – then I was routinely awakened at odd hours.
This was one of those times.
In the night, after Jasper’s visit, I felt a hand on my shoulder shaking me awake. Groggily, I opened my eyes. “What is it?”
“It’s Farmer Franklin’s barn,” said Charlie, talking quietly, her voice filled with concern. “It’s burnt to the ground.”
I tumbled out of bed and quickly got dressed as Charlie went to wake Greer. Lena had let Charlie know that she had to get to the barn pronto. This would be front page news.
“Is everyone okay? The dogs? The goats?”
“I think so,” said Charlie. “I think everyone got out in time.”
“Now do you believe it’s ghosts?” Charlie asked.
“Ghosts don’t start fires,” I said.
“Dark ghosts?” said Charlie.
Truth be told, I really wasn’t sure what dark ghosts could do. Now that I thought about it, I told myself to ask Aunt Harriet as soon as I could. She was sleeping, though, and we didn’t want to wake her, so we just left a note and headed out to the Beetle.
Tank was waiting for us, tapping his foot and smoking a cigar.
“I suppose he can smoke because he’s already dead,” Charlie mused.
“That was the point he made to me,” I said.
Greer chuckled
I glanced at Paws, but he was sleeping soundly on his crate.
“Don’t worry about that old party pooper,” Tank encouraged us. “Have a little fun and take me along instead. A real animal: a rabbit.”
“Very well. Hop in,” I said, slipping the green-jeweled pet collar around his neck.
Tank jumped into the car and the four of us were off. It didn’t take long to reach Farmer Franklin’s place; in the dead of night there were even fewer cars on the road than during the day.
When we got there, a couple of police cars were stationed out front. Hansen Gregory was talking quietly to one of the police officers, while Detective Cutter was huddled off to the side with Farmer Franklin. The barn was a blackened heap of smoking rubble, many of the firefighters were still there, and the air was thick with the smell of burned wood.
“Wow,” breathed Greer. “This is awful.”
Just then a dog went racing past my feet. “At least the pets are in good shape,” I said, relieved.
When Detective Cutter saw us, I had the distinct impression that he rolled his eyes before he turned his back on us completely.
It took Tank only a few seconds to decide who had done it. He turned to look at me, “I know who stole the tools. Do you?”
“Who did what?” I glared down at the ghost rabbit.
“Stole the tools, of course,” he said.
“I thought you were talking about the fire,” I muttered.
“That isn’t what we came for,” the rabbit pointed out.
“What if they’re connected?” I countered.
Tank didn’t deign to reply.
“Farmer Franklin, how are you?” Charlie asked.
The owner of the property walked up to us looking tired and soot-covered but otherwise unharmed.
He scratched his sweaty head. “Terrible! I can’t believe this happened! Who knew ghosts could set fires!” he cried.
I quickly realized that the younger man talking to one of the firefighters was Franklin’s son Matt; they had the same square face and sturdy build. Hansen Gregory, who usually nearly skipped over to Charlie to tease her, kept his distance for once. I wondered why, but for the moment I had to turn my attention back to Farmer Franklin.
“Is the report that no humans or animals were hurt in the fire accurate?” Charlie said.
Farmer Franklin nodded. “Humphrey saved the day. Always knew I had the smartest dog on the planet. He can unlatch his dog kennel, you see. I mostly keep a special second lock on it that he can’t unlatch, but sometimes I forget. Don’t know how bad it would have been if I’d forgotten tonight, but thank goodness I didn’t.”
Charlie nodded sympathetically. “He deserves some dog treats.”
“He sure does,” said Franklin. “He got the goats out, too. Stupid things probably would have been fine anyway, the pen they’re in is big enough, but it’s good they got away from the smoke. Took me forever to round them all up, though. One nearly got run over by that reporter over there.” The farmer pointed to Hansen. Briefly, Charlie turned around to look and sniffed in disdain.
“So you think ghosts did this?” Charlie asked.
The man shook his head. “I don’t know what to think anymore. I didn’t know there was any such thing as a hostile ghost.”
There sure was, I thought. From their expressions I could tell that Charlie and Greer were thinking the same thing.
“Do you mind if we look around?” said Charlie.
“Have at it,” said the farmer, who looked tired and dazed. Then he wandered off to talk to his son.
We spent a few minutes wandering around the property, but we couldn’t get very close to the destroyed building for fear of getting in the way of the firefighters. In frustration, we soon realized that we weren’t going to learn anything new here.
Detective Cutter met us at the Beetle. “Get all the information you need?” he asked Charlie pointedly.
“Yes, I have a pretty good idea of the facts of the case,” said Charlie.
“That’s good. This is a bad business. Someone could have gotten hurt.”
“Do you know what started the fire?” Charlie asked, even though she already suspected the answer.
“It’s under investigation,” said the detective. “We should know soon though.”
Before we got in the car and drove away, I looked once more for Hansen Gregory. He was talking to Farmer Franklin’s son, and as I watched them, Humphrey the dog came bounding up to his master.
On our way home Greer said, “I can just see the headlines, ‘Ghosts start blaze’ or ‘Barn goes out in the a blaze of ghosts.’”
“Poor Farmer Franklin. He’s dealing with a lot,” said Charlie.
“That shouldn’t let him off the hook for saying stuff about ghosts at his barn without any proof,” I muttered.
“He thinks a lack of proof about anything else is proof enough,” Charlie defended him. “He works hard. His tools shouldn’t be stolen.”
“I wonder what started the fire,” mused Greer.
“So do I,” I said.
Chapter Fourteen
Have you ever seen a cat who’s been accidentally dunked in water? When we got home from the Franklins’ place late that night, that’s much how Paws looked. Not only that, but he was dressed in full battle armor. No, I’m not kidding. His get-up even included a helmet.
“Making his fur stand on end?” Charlie asked.
“I have a feeling it has to do with a certain rabbit currently in our car,” said Greer.
“He was sleeping when we left, and I didn’t have a chance to tell him,” I pointed out.
“Don’t worry, I think Karen did,” said Charlie. We looked over at the tea ladies and saw Karen toasting us with a big smile on her face.
I groan inwardly.
“Don’t be so distressed,” said Tank.
Okay, I guess I had groaned outwardly.
“Get your guard up!” Paws cried as the three of us walked toward him. Tank of course hopped toward him. “How dare you take my place!” ranted the ghost cat. “How dare you go mysterying without me!”
“You were asleep when we left,” I said. “Tank wanted to go so we took him.”
&
nbsp; “It is the height of insult to be replaced by a rabbit. A very high insult indeed.” Paws looked up and consulted the stars.
“That sure is high,” Greer agreed.
“Quite so,” said Paws. “I demand trial by combat.”
“Why?” said Tank.
“MY HONOR,” Paws yelled. Then his helmet fell down over his eyes, and he had to shove it back up to be able to see.
“That’s a little big for you isn’t it?” Charlie asked soothingly.
“It fits just fine! After I eviscerate this fluffy-tailed nuisance, I’ll be the winner of all things and I shall never need it again.” Paws stuck one paw in the air and waved it around wildly.
“I’m going to lie down. It’s been a terribly exciting evening, and I couldn’t go another hop,” said Tank, pretending to yawn hugely.
Paws’ eyes bulged. “You had a lot of fun, did you! Yes, pretending to be me is fun! Imagine if you were the real deal!”
“It wasn’t that important anyway,” I said. “There’s no need to be so upset.”
“There’s plenty of need! My honor is at stake! Don’t you see, Paws cannot be replaced by a rabbit!”
“Paws also should not speak in the third person,” said Tank, hopping away.
“Paws will do whatever Paws wants! Get back here, you fiend! You coward! I will have my justice,” the cat yelled, chasing his own tail in his frenzy.
“Someone get a blow dryer,” I muttered.
“He isn’t wet,” said Charlie.
“Oh, yeah,” I said.
There were really two things that could make a cat that angry.
“My reputation is ruined,” Paws moaned, collapsing onto his box after Tank disappeared around the corner. “I’ll never be able to show my face in the ghost world again.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” I said.
“I’m sure it is,” Paws said in a soft voice. “All my hard work for nothing.”
I went over and patted him on the head. He liked to be petted, and right now he needed the comfort.
A Witch on Mintwood Mountain (Witch of Mintwood Book 4) Page 14
