After he had gotten off the phone with Linda, Ben got up and stretched his legs. They were getting stiff from running and then planting his butt in his office chair. After that, he sent Belladonna a text message asking her out to a late dinner and looked up the business hours for the jewelry store he wanted to go to in New Salem.
Ben had considered driving to the city to buy Bella’s engagement ring, but there was a super swanky family-owned jewelry store in New Salem. He called them to make sure the hours on their website were right, and the woman he spoke to on the phone set an appointment for him that evening.
“I need an appointment?” He asked.
“No sir, but since you called ahead, I want to make sure someone is available to help you when you arrive. That’s just how we do things here. Our customers’ wishes are always our commands.” Ben could hear the smile in her voice.
“You’re a…” Ben started to acknowledge that the woman was a sister Jinn, but she cut him off.
“We’ll see you this evening, Ben.” She said and disconnected.
Of course, the jewelers were jinn, and the woman on the phone had picked up on the fact that he was as well. He’d have to be very careful what he said in the store that evening. Although he guessed that the exchange of money probably counted as paying the price for people’s wishes. Ben chuckled when he thought of all the poor men who went in “just to look” and came out with a gaping hole in their bank accounts.
He didn’t have much more time to think about it, though, because Carly walked through the station’s door with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a black umbrella in the other.
Ben had her give him a statement about what she’d been doing at the party. Carly explained about how she’d been running appetizers right before she found the chef. She also told him she hadn’t had much contact with Leonard at all. In fact, from what Carly had seen, Nick was doing most of the cooking.
They talked for a while, and then Ben had to bring up the conversation he’d overheard. He didn’t want to ask Carly about it, but he had to.
“Carly, I’ve got to ask you about something, and I apologize for the way in which I obtained the information.” Ben started. “When I was walking to meet Belladonna after the wedding, I overheard you and Nick having a conversation.”
Ben didn’t think it was possible for Carly to get any paler than her natural vampiric pallor, but she did. Despite her best attempt to remain stoic, he could tell she was terrified.
“I uh. You heard that?” She stuttered. “I need a lawyer.”
“Carly, you’re not under arrest. Unless you should be? I don’t understand.” Ben was completely confused.
“I’m not under arrest. Okay, that means I’m free to go, right? I saw that on a show.” She said and stood up.
“You are. Yes, you’re free to go, but I don’t understand what’s going on.” Ben repeated.
Without another word, Carly stood up, grabbed her umbrella, and darted out of the police station. Ben tried to go after her. He wanted to tell her that they could work out whatever was going on. He wanted to explain that running away could make things worse, but she used her vampire speed and disappeared in a blur of pale skin and dark hair.
Ben sat down and tried to write the scenario out as if it were a story. Carly and Nick were an item. Nick wanted the job as Brynhildr’s personal chef, so he convinced Carly to kill Leonard. She strangled him instead of biting him so that people wouldn’t know he was murdered by a vampire.
It made sense logically, but Ben just couldn’t wrap his head around it. His instincts were normally quite good, and right now, they were telling him that this scenario was all wrong.
Ten
Granny Pepper and Aunt Sumac stood outside of Old Man Jenkin’s house and stared at it.
“You sure we should be doing this Mom?” Aunt Sumac asked.
“If the police ain’t going to do anything, we’re going to have to find him.” Granny Pepper answered.
“We don’t know if the police are going to do anything. You’ve barely given them a chance to, and they’ve got a murder to solve.” Sumac took a step to the side because she was kind of afraid her mother would turn her into a goat for back sassing.
“Let’s go inside and look around. We’ve got tools at our disposal that the strapping, young Officer Luke does not.” Granny said with a wink.
“I thought we were here because you had a crush on Jenkins. Is it him, or Luke that you gunnin for?” Sumac asked and took another step.
“Don’t be sassy, Sue. You know I like Jenkins, it’s just that Luke fella is a sight for sore eyes. You know what I mean?” Granny Pepper waggled her eyebrows.
“Come on, Mom. Let’s go have that look around.” Sumac said. “I’ll check the pantry.”
Granny Pepper just laughed and followed her in. While Sumac checked the pantry for evidence and marshmallows, Granny Pepper went upstairs to Jenkin’s bedroom. It was very neat and tidy which Pepper immediately found suspicious.
The closet door was open, so Granny floated over to it and went inside. There were spaces on the racks and an opening on the floor like something had been there.
“Mommy, there’s a monster in my closet!” Aunt Sumac called from outside the closet door. “Oh wait, never mind. It is my Mommy in the closet.” Sumac cackled with delight at her joke.
“I see you found some marshmallows,” Pepper said.
“Just regular ones, but they’ll do for now,” Sumac said and popped a marshmallow into her mouth.
“That’s great, now get over here and look at this,” Granny grumbled.
Granny cast a spell that let them see what had been in the empty spaces. Several flannel shirts and a suitcase were missing.
“They stole his clothes and suitcase.” Granny Pepper hissed.
“Mom. Maybe he went on a trip.” Sumac said calmly.
“Do you want to be a frog or a lama?” Pepper said and raised her wand.
“You’re right, Mom. They kidnapped him and stole his clothes and suitcase. We should look around and figure out what else they took.” Sumac said and ate another marshmallow. “I’ll check the bathroom and see if they stole his toothbrush and shampoo too.”
“Good thinking,” Granny said resolutely. “I’ll check the kitchen and see if they left his beer and tomatoes in the icebox.”
There was no beer or tomatoes in the refrigerator. Granny waved her wand and cast the same spell as in the closet. She found that there had been beer and a few cartons of fresh tomatoes on the top shelf very recently. In the pantry, there was a space where several cans of tomatoes had been stored.
Aunt Sumac was not surprised to discover that the thief and kidnapper had stolen Jenkin’s toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, and an electric razor. Fortunately, for Old Man Jenkins, his abductors were the most considerate captors Sumac had ever heard of.
She went downstairs and retrieved the alien stuffed animal from the sofa. She and Granny Pepper would be able to use a locator spell on it later. Until Sumac had more information, she would continue to indulge her mother in pursuit of Jenkin’s alleged kidnappers.
It was the safest thing to do.
“Yeeeehaaaaw!!!”
Old Man Jenkins watched the rings of Saturn fly by the ship’s window. He’d never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life. He had a beer in one hand, a plump tomato in the other, and this vacation was turning out to be like heaven.
He wasn’t sure when the strange family approached him if he should be worried or not, but he was a zombie after all. A family of aliens wasn’t all that bizarre in comparison. Besides, it turned out that the Hexilox family was really cool.
Sure, they’d abducted him, but they let Jenkins bring all of his favorite things from home. Little Almoy dropped his favorite stuffed animal while they were helping Jenkins pack for the trip, but his mama Niaema promised they’d get it when they brought Jenkins home.
So far, they’d visited the moon, and the Hexiloxs were ple
ased to find that since Jenkins was a zombie, he didn’t need oxygen to get out and stretch his legs. He got out and walked around for a while. Leaving boot prints on the surface was fun.
“Can you show me where the moon landing was?” Jenkins had asked before they left.
“Oh, my. I don’t know how to tell you this, but the humans have never been to the moon, sweetie.” Niaema said solemnly. “The moon landing was faked.”
“Really?” Jenkins was half shocked and half not.
“Yeah. Anyway, where do you want to go next?” Niaema asked.
“I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I don’t know much about space. Why don’t you take me to your favorite place?” Jenkins said.
Now they were zooming past Saturn on their way to Neptune. Niaema had scheduled them for a cruise on the Titan’s Foley. It was the second largest cruise ship in the galaxy. Old Man Jenkins had never been on a cruise before, so he believed his abduction was going swimmingly.
The only regret he had was that he hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to Pepper before he left. He imagined she’d be pretty upset with him when he got back, but he’d find a way to make it up to her.
Pepper loved bacon bits, so Jenkins planned to get her a whole barrel full. She wouldn’t be able to eat them, but it was the thought that counted. He wished that she wasn’t a ghost so that they could share a beer and a tomato sandwich, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. Jenkins wondered if he closed his eyes and wished hard enough, could he will his Pepper to be here with him now? He cursed himself under his breath for leaving without her.
Jenkins was just about to try closing her eyes and wishing his Pepper at his side, but he was interrupted by the sound of little Almoy running towards him.
“Papa Jenkins, Papa Jenkins! Come play with me.” The little green alien called out to him.
“Why don’t we play by the window, little one? I want to take in as much of this view as I can. Once I go back to earth, I’m not sure I’ll ever get to see anything like this again.” Jenkins said.
“I’ll go get a game!” Almoy enthused and bounced off down the hall of the ship towards his bedroom.
Eleven
Detective Carmichael:
I’m sorry to say that the email you asked me to investigate has one of the best encryptions I’ve ever seen. I’ll run it through some of my more advanced algorithms, but it’ll take a while to get any kind of results.
Thanks,
Carl
Ben closed his laptop and let out a loud sigh. Knowing who sent him the email about Nick’s cover letter would have been a substantial lead. Either the person who emailed it was trying to help or they were attempting to shift the blame away from themselves.
He guessed they were the guilty party. Why else would they send it anonymously under such heavy encryption?
Linda walked in the door with a large Styrofoam cup of coffee and a bag that smelled like heaven.
“I brought lunch for both of us, Detective. I hope you don’t mind because I’m starving,” Linda said and set the bag down on Ben’s desk.
“I don’t mind at all. Why don’t we go into the conference room so we can spread out?” Ben said.
Ben took the food into the conference room while Linda grabbed a soda out of the station’s refrigerator. The set up the food at the table and then got down to business.
Linda started telling Ben about the text message to Leonard and their relationship before he could take a bite of his sandwich. She said that she didn’t have anything to hide, but that she just wanted the phone back because of the pictures on it. Linda looked like she was about to cry.
“Linda, it’s okay. I understand your sense of humor. I know you weren’t literally threatening to kill him. Are you all right, though? How are you coping?” Ben said and took a bite.
He was worried about looking insensitive, but Ben was also starving. Linda took a deep breath, and she started to eat too.
“I’m coping alright. It’s really sad, don’t get me wrong, but we’d only gone out a few times. He was a very quiet and reserved man, so I didn’t know him that well. I wanted to, but I’ll never get that chance. I don’t know, Ben, maybe it just hasn’t really hit me yet. Sometimes I think I’m taking it too well.” She said and picked up a fry.
They finished their lunch, and Linda went home. She didn’t have much else to add to the investigation since she’d been out delivering drinks from the bar and couldn’t recall going into the kitchen after the reception started.
Ben had the feeling that these interviews weren’t going to go anywhere, but he was resolved to solve this case. If he couldn’t, Ben considered the idea of going to beauty school. That way, Belladonna could take his job, and he could take hers. Lately, she was the one solving all of the crimes in Winterfield.
That thought made him smile. Bella was so strong and smart. They had clicked together so quickly, and he would never begrudge her the amateur detective duties she’d taken on. It wasn’t how things were supposed to be, but what in Winterfield was?
Ben wasn’t shocked when Nick didn’t show up for an interview. Jessie was the next to come in, and Ben was glad to see her. Despite everything that was going on, she still had a bright and positive attitude. She’d also brought him a huge cup of coffee.
“They’re promotional travel mugs. I found them in the back store room when I bought the bakery. I guess Betty was going to run some sort of promotion before she left town. So, now I’ve got about a hundred of these giant insulated travel mugs.” Jessie said and handed Ben the coffee.
“It’s more like a promotional travel vat than a mug.” He said with a laugh.
“If you don’t want it…”
“No, no. That’s not what I mean at all. Thank you very much, Jessie.” Ben said and took a sip.
The coffee was perfect, and Ben didn’t even notice the bag in her hand until she set it on his desk.
“Pecan tarts. These are the last two.” She said.
Her elven nature made her such a sweet and positive influence. Something about Jessie made even the stale air in the police station feel lighter and happier. To Ben, she already felt like a little sister he should protect. Jessie had that effect on everyone. Everywhere she went, she was family.
“I hate to bring it up, but I have to ask about the night of the murder,” Ben said.
“You don’t have to worry. It’s what I’m here for. Although, I don’t think I’m going to be much help.” Jessie said and then took a huge bite of her pecan tart.
“Let me guess. You were in the hall setting up the cake table almost the entire time. You might have gone to the kitchen on a couple of occasions, but you didn’t see the chef at all.” Ben said.
“How did you know?”
“It’s pretty much the standard answer. If it weren't for Leonard turning up dead in the pantry, I would have doubted the victim was even at the wedding.”
"He was there, though. Oh my gosh. I do remember seeing him. Who was he talking to?" Jessie bit her thumbnail nervously. "Come on Jessie, remember."
"Take your time. If you think it's important, it's worth the wait. Don't force it." Ben said reassuringly.
Bella Beauty Salon
Belladonna expected that Francine would be resistant to working with her. So when the former dark witch showed up for work this morning whistling a tune and carrying hot cocoa and donuts, Belladonna's BS radar went into overdrive.
It's not that Bella didn't want to believe the best about people, but this seemed like too much too fast. Francine was enthusiastic, attentive, and almost delightful to have around at the salon.
"So, how was your first night back in your old house?" Bella asked as Francine got a bucket of mop water ready. "You know, we'll mop tonight. You don't have to do that right now."
"Oh, it's okay. I want to keep busy, and wouldn't it be nice if the floor was shiny and fresh for our first appointment." Francine said with a smile.
It would be nice, Belladonna thoug
ht, but what the heck was going on? Nobody likes mopping the floor. Especially when you could just wave your wand and have it done instantly.
"Doing the work keeps you grounded," Francine said as if she could read Bella's mind.
"Whoa. Slow down. What?"
Had Francine been spying on her? Was she listening in on Bella's conversations at home? Moreover, was that some sort of threat? Belladonna couldn't figure out what kind of threat it would be.
"Doing the work keeps you grounded. We could use magic for everything, but then, I don't know, it's like we could allow ourselves to become too powerful. It's not good for us or the ordinaries." Francine said as she squirted floor cleaner into the bucket.
"And when did you decide this?" Belladonna was skeptical.
"Last night when I got back to my old house. Everything was dusty. I got my wand out." Francine started, but Bella interrupted her.
"Wait, you have a wand?"
"Yeah. My old wand. Why?" Francine asked as she pulled the willow wand out of her apron.
"So, that 's not really going to work out right now, Francine. You need to give that to me until the coven decides you can have it back."
"Okay," Francine said agreeably and handed the wand to Bella. "Anyway, I was getting ready to use the wand to dust my house, and the thought came to me. Doing the work keeps us grounded. So, I got out my furniture polish and an old rag, and I dusted everything by hand. It was invigorating. I felt like a new woman."
Belladonna was starting to get an inkling of what was going on. If she were right, then this wasn't as bad as she'd initially thought.
"Why the cocoa and donuts? Why do you want to clean my shop?" Belladonna pressed.
"What we did was wrong, Belladonna. We wanted to introduce dark magic in the world to use for our purposes. It was selfish, cruel, and above all else, lazy. Dark magic promises all of the achievement with none of the work, but in the end, you're left feeling empty." Francine said softly.
Fairly Hexed: Cozy Witch Mystery (Witches of Winterfield Book 3) Page 6
