Witch Way Round (Witch of Mintwood Book 6)

by Addison Creek

  Mrs. Dice raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow. Somehow she managed to make even that small gesture threatening.

  “This is my girlfriend Rebecca,” he said at last. Rebecca stuck her hand out to Charlie first, and Charlie took it and tried to smile but actually ended up looking more like a wolf at the full moon.

  “This is Greer’s mom, Anita Dice, and these are my roommates Greer and Lemmi,” said Charlie.

  Rebecca’s eyes went wide when she heard the name Dice, but she just smiled and nodded and whispered that it was nice to meet everyone.

  Poor girl. Greer’s work as a bartender meant she could manage verbal sparring with the best of them, so maybe it was a good thing Rebecca was so meek.

  “It’s good to see you,” said Andy, smiling brightly at Charlie.

  “You too,” said Charlie, still flummoxed.

  “There was quite the to-do last night,” said Andy. “We just got here, but I heard all about it. Very sad. Mason was a great guy.”

  “Yes, rather a lot going on, which is why you’ll understand if we excuse ourselves. I’ve made appointments for the girls to get facials before the ball tonight,” said Mrs. Dice.

  I was beginning to appreciate the woman, but Greer looked horrified at the idea that her mother had taken control of her schedule. Rebecca looked equally horrified, probably at the idea that she’d forgotten to make such preparations. Charlie looked relieved at having an excuse to leave.

  Mrs. Dice swept us all away.

  “And I thought I was the only one who could make Greer that sour,” whispered Mrs. Dice with delight as we walked off.

  Charlie and I were so surprised, we laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Greer asked.

  “I certainly wasn’t laughing. I don’t have a sense of humor, if you’ll remember,” said Mrs. Dice, her amusement suddenly dying.

  In that moment I felt a little bit bad for her a woman who apparently had no idea how to connect with her only daughter. Derek and Devin did finance, and she understood cold hard numbers and calculation readily. Greer alone was a mystery to Anita Dice.

  “Mom, we don’t have time for facials today,” Greer hissed.

  “Good, because I didn’t make appointments for you to have them. It’s your problem if you want to end up with wrinkles,” said Mrs. Dice, looking straight ahead.

  “Oh, but you said . . .” Greer looked utterly confused.

  “I lied,” said Mrs. Dice. “We needed to get out of that situation and none of you were moving quickly enough. I solved the problem.”

  “By lying?” Greer really couldn’t handle this.

  “Certainly,” said Mrs. Dice. “I was young once too, you know.”

  “Mrs. Dice, it feels like you’re implying that we’ve lied to you,” said Charlie.

  “Not you dear, but children lie to their parents. Especially when they want to date a certain someone.” Mrs. Dice gave Greer a significant look.

  My friend went bright red.

  Chapter Thirteen

  We returned to our room to grab swim stuff and promptly left again. It was far too beautiful a day to be spent indoors.

  A day of activities had long been arranged, and the police suggested that we try to keep everything as normal as possible.

  “They want us to stay on the grounds and they don’t want us getting bored,” Charlie explained.

  “So what’s on the agenda for later in the morning?” I asked.

  Goldie had put together a list of activities, but in the excitement of the night before I had entirely forgotten to check what we were supposed to be doing today.

  “Hopefully sitting by the pool counts as an activity,” said Greer as she put on her sunglasses.

  “I don’t think it does,” said Charlie, looking worried. She wasn’t a fan of sitting around, especially when there was a mystery afoot.

  “I was kidding,” said Greer.

  Charlie’s face cleared a little.

  “Are you three going to the boathouse?” Eben asked, trundling up to us with his untied shoe laces flopping around.

  “The boathouse?” I asked, bewildered.

  “For sea kayaking. That’s one of this morning’s activities,” he explained, as if it was obvious.

  “I guess we are,” Charlie beamed. Greer groaned.

  We were all wearing sneakers, but it turned out not to matter, since you take your shoes off when you go sea kayaking.

  “Your other option is the boutique interpretive dance class, in case you’d prefer that,” said Eben as he led us away. “There are a couple of options in every time slot, so hopefully everyone can find something they like and have a good time.”

  We passed the interpretive dance studio on our way outside, but unsurprisingly, no one wanted to veer off in that direction. About a dozen very well put together women were leaning over at a strange angle as music played and a woman dressed in what was surely a rug called out instructions.

  Greer blanched.

  “Maybe next time,” said Charlie, scooting past.

  “Have any of you been kayaking before?” Eben was just full of questions.

  “You always interrogate your guests?” Charlie asked.

  “You’re just the most normal ones I’ve seen in a while. It’s a relief to talk to people who don’t have a cloud of smelly stuff around them,” Eben said, wiping his brow.

  “You mean perfume?” I said.

  “If that’s what they’re calling it these days,” said Eben.

  It took a long time to get the kayaks and get out on the water. We needed to wear shoes so that our feet didn’t hurt as we went over the rocks, but they were special, non-slip ones designed especially for kayaking.

  A handful of other guests had chosen this activity for the morning and were already padding away.

  “This sure is beautiful,” said Charlie as she hefted her paddle and contemplated the water. She was shielding her eyes and looking out at the sparkling sea, so she didn’t see someone come up behind us.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” said a deep voice.

  I froze. That was a very familiar voice.

  I turned around slowly, and there, standing behind me with a grin, was Jasper Wolf. A man I didn’t recognize stood beside him, and I could see that Greer was disappointed that it wasn’t Deacon.

  “What are you doing here?” Charlie asked.

  “Kayaking,” said Jasper. Glancing at the man next to him he said, “This is Tyler Spin.”

  Tyler Spin was tall, at least six foot six, and very gangly.

  “He works for the construction company,” Jasper explained. “We thought we’d come out on the water for a bit of fun. I had no idea you three would be out here.”

  “We had no idea you’d be at the Country Club,” I said.

  My mouth had gone dry. Were my feet swelling? I felt like I had tabletops for shoes. Did I look as awkward as I suddenly felt?

  This was why I should have followed the universally valid advice to always look your best—just in case. I did not typically follow it, and at this particular moment I regretted my bad habits. Jasper and I were dating. As in, we went on dates; I was too afraid to ask him for a clearer definition of the relationship. Reason: because I’m a chicken. Still, we went on dates, well, one date, and it had made me the happier than I ever imagined being. And now, here was Jasper, with me all unprepared.

  Well, I told myself, we’d both better get used to it.

  “I’m glad we got here at the same time! Now can go out together,” said Jasper.

  Thrown off by his mere presence, I blinked several times as if I hadn’t heard him correctly. Judging by the dimples on his cheeks and the brightening of his mint-green eyes, he knew it too.

  Determined not to let my nerves and excitement get the better of me, I tossed my hair over my shoulder and marched toward the water. I needed help getting my kayak there but I refused Jasper’s assistance, letting Eben carry the boat down to the water’s edge instead.

&nb
sp; The Vice President of the Wolf Corporation fell into step beside me.

  “Do you have meetings for the rest of the day?” I asked him. For some of the people in attendance, this weekend wasn’t just a social event. There was business to be dealt with as well.

  Jasper nodded.

  “My grandfather is tied up with other business that he needs to attend to, so he asked me to sit in on some of the meetings in his place. Given that we were going to miss all the fun stuff for the rest of the day, I thought we should take advantage of the kayaking slot,” he explained. “How are you, anyhow? And what happened last night?”

  Like everyone else, Jasper had heard about the murder. His eyes were filled with such concern that I momentarily forgot how nervous he made me.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “It’s an awful situation, though.”

  Last night had been the first time I talked to a ghost who had just been murdered. The fact that Mason hadn’t even known it had happened was going to make the investigation even more difficult than some of the others that had come my way. If I’d had any delusions about him just telling me who had done it, he had disposed of them in a hurry.

  The ocean was calm and the waves lapped gently onto the beach as we got into the water. I flailed around for a while, but Greer had been kayaking before and was the best at it, dipping her paddle into the water and smoothly pushing through the sea. Charlie was the worst. Eben gave her a push into the shallow end of the inlet, and she proceeded to flail around and send out more splashes and spray than the waves themselves. Soon all of us, including Tyler, were laughing at her.

  “I’m actually here about the new development,” said Jasper as we paddled into deeper water.

  I stared at him, watching the sun glinting off his black sunglasses. He was the same hot guy I saw whenever I looked his way, but now he’d just said the magic words.

  I knew all about the new development; it was all anyone had talked about. With Jasper, though, I decided to act surprised.

  “Development?” I sputtered, so loudly that everyone paddling near us stopped to stare.

  Jasper gazed at me levelly. Shockingly enough, he didn’t seem surprised by my reaction.

  “I told you I had some new developments in the works,” he said. “I run a construction company.”

  Okay, that was fair. I shouldn’t just go around pretending I didn’t know what he did for a living.

  “Right, but you can’t put in a development here,” I continued.

  “Why not?” Jasper asked reasonably.

  “Because it will ruin the natural beauty of the place, not to mention all the older buildings!” I said.

  “They hired me to do it on private land. You haven’t even asked me what the plans are,” he pointed out.

  He had me there, but I wasn’t to be deterred.

  “How am I supposed to ask you about the plans when you’re out of town the week the articles appear in the paper?” I asked.

  “So you read the articles?” Jasper said quickly.

  I glanced sidelong at him, squinting into the sun.

  “I read the Mintwood Gazette cover to cover every morning. How else would I keep up on the news of the day?” I said.

  “Just gossip with Liam,” said Jasper. “He knows all the important stuff going on around town.”

  “I do that too. Supplemental knowledge,” I said.

  Jasper grinned. “Are you mad at me about the development?”

  I said, “Explain everything, so I can make an informed decision.”

  Jasper frowned. “I can’t right now, but I promise I will after I look into a couple of things.”

  I sighed. I had really that he’d learned something after saving the Babbling Brook Barn. Now I guessed I was wrong.

  Jasper loved what he did. That much was clear from the expression on his face when he talked about it. He wasn’t just working for his grandfather because it was easy. He was doing it because he cared about the work.

  “I can’t read your expression. What are you thinking?” Jasper asked.

  “I was thinking what a great day it was,” I said. I wanted to change the subject. If he was going to destroy old buildings after all, I wasn’t sure what to make of him.

  “Even with what happened?” he asked.

  I’d forgotten that we hadn’t talked about the murder.

  “I’m sure the police will get to the bottom of it,” I said.

  “Yes, I’m sure the police will as well,” said Jasper. He smiled slightly and looked out to sea.

  After we returned the kayaks, Jasper and Tyler disappeared into their day of meetings. Who would want to be in meetings on a Maine summer day I didn’t know, but Jasper was very serious about his work. I felt antsy and bereft as soon as he was out of my sight, and for a moment I let myself wonder why.

  Then I told myself that was silly; I knew why.

  We still hadn’t defined our relationship.

  “Every time we hit a milestone I start worrying about what his grandfather will think,” I confided to my friends as we made our way back to the resort.

  “His grandfather won’t think anything good of you. There, now you know. Can you move on?” Charlie asked.

  I shook my head.

  “No, because there’s been no announcement or proof that we’re together.”

  “Do you think Mr. Wolf suspects?” said Greer.

  “He definitely does,” I said matter-of-factly. “He probably just thinks Jasper’s having a fling with the weird side of town and he’ll snap out of it eventually.”

  “Are you afraid that’s true?” Charlie wanted to know.

  I bit my lower lip. A part of me was. “I don’t know,” I said honestly.

  Greer slung her arm over my shoulder. “Complicated isn’t always bad. Sometimes complicated means it’s really worth it. You two will figure it out. Did you see how Jasper was looking at you in the kayak today? He can’t take his eyes off of you,” she grinned.

  I smiled a little. Okay, maybe that helped a bit.

  Then I sighed. “Okay, I’ve done enough moping. Jasper’s here. After this crazy weekend is over maybe we’ll figure things out. Until then, we have a murder to solve.”

  “Now you’re talking,” Charlie grinned.

  “Who do you think did it?” Greer asked.

  “Did what?” I said, my mind still on Jasper, whose green eyes had turned the color of the forest when we were out on the water. Now I was thinking about what a conversation with him about defining our relationship would be like. Was I seriously considering making Jasper Wolf my boyfriend?

  Yes, yes I was.

  “Killed Mason,” said Greer dryly.

  “Oh, that,” I said as Charlie snickered.

  “Snap out of it,” Greer muttered. “One kayak ride with your dream guy and you’re daydreaming in the middle of a murder case.”

  I blushed furiously and looked down. Greer was right, though. There was a case to solve and time was of the essence.

  “I have no idea who the murderer is,” said Charlie.

  We were sitting around in our hotel room trying to decide what to do next.

  “I bet it was Tank. That no-good rabbit is always trying to cause trouble,” muttered Paws.

  “Ghosts can’t go around shoving people into Lily Ponds,” said Charlie.

  “We might surprise you,” said the cat.

  “Who are our suspects?” said Greer, trying to stick to the point. She gave me a hard look, demanding that I stop daydreaming about a certain someone.

  “Okay, okay. Everyone who was at the Country Club at the time of the murder,” I said. “That’s a lot of people! We were all on the grounds for the dinner Friday night, and someone snuck out there and met Mason, but instead of having a conversation, he or she just hit him over the head,” I said.

  “That’s too many suspects,” said Charlie.

  “I bet it was a guy,” said Paws.

  “What do you have against men?” I said.

/>   “Lots, but that’s not the point,” said the cat.

  “What is the point?” asked Greer.

  “It would take a lot of force to knock a man of Mason’s size into the pond. It’s hard for me to believe a woman did that,” explained the ghost.

  He was making a good point.

  “I wish we could get a look at the autopsy,” said Charlie.

  “Do you have any connections at the medical examiner’s office?” Greer asked.

  Charlie bit her lip but shook her head. “I don’t think I do. Iriswood is famously private about that sort of thing. No leaks.”

  “If we aren’t going to get a look at the autopsy report, how are we going to find out what’s going on?” Greer wondered.

  “I don’t know,” said Charlie, “except that Paws might be onto something, and I bet the police are conducting interviews right here at the Club today.”

  “Who are they interviewing?” I wondered. If they were interested in a specific person I was curious as to how they knew that witness had any pertinent information.

  “Let’s find out,” said Charlie, finally brightening.

  “How do you propose we do that?” I asked, already fearing the worst.

  Charlie smiled.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sometimes in life you make a decision with the best information you have at the time and hope it’s the right one. You’re trying to do the right thing, to make the correct choice.

  Later, it turns out you were wrong, but you try to remember that you meant well at the time.

  Some decisions are like that, but with other decisions you know you’re up to no good from the start.

  After the kayaking venture, I made a decision that we definitely knew was wrong at the time. But it was necessary, I decided to do it anyway.

  “Spying on the police is a bad idea,” said Paws. “Where’s the door?”

  When Charlie came dashing into the room while Greer and I were freshening up, we knew something big was happening.

  She had gone out without her customary blazer and come back in a flurry of excitement.

  Breathlessly she explained that the police were interrogating employees and guests in one of the private offices and would continue to do so throughout the day. They expected to be busy right up to the time of the ball.