Miss Hawthorne Sits for a Spell

by Katherine Hayton

  Emily stumbled out the door, close on his heels, then whirled around as the door shut behind her. “You can’t just leave it there.”

  “Yes, I can and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” The sergeant opened the passenger side door and waved Emily inside the vehicle. “I’ll drop you back home and someone will be around to your house tomorrow to check for prints.”

  Bested for the moment, Emily kept her lip buttoned as the officer dropped her home. Harvey was on the sofa, his eyes wrinkled so much from the effort of being closed, she knew he was faking being asleep.

  Another shard of guilt at how she’d questioned him—no, accused him—earlier stabbed Emily in the chest and her eyes watered as she closed her bedroom door. She flicked on the overhead light, then blew out a huff of breath as she remembered about fingerprints. Too late, now.

  Cynthia popped her head into the room, then left again with a small wave. Emily wished she could recreate her current expression at will if it had that benefit. She put her head into her hands, wanting to cry.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Wanda shrieked, hurtling inside and straight up to Emily. “You’ll never guess what I found.” Her eyes were wide, and her hair looked like she’d been tumble-dried.

  “Well, if I’m not going to be able to guess, just tell me.”

  “There’s a form on Agnetha’s computer. It said that her application to withdraw life support has been submitted and is in the process of being approved.”

  “Pardon me?” Emily stared at the ghost in confusion, then a lightbulb went off in her head. “You mean, she wants to turn off your sister’s machines?”

  Wanda nodded, so upset that even Peanut noticed and batted at her legs to distract her. The witch bent over and picked him up, snuggling him against her chest and letting her ghost tears fall onto his grey fur.

  “Agnetha has asked the courts for permission to kill Sheryl.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Pete’s face said it all before he even opened his mouth. “How could you falsely accuse our teammate? As if that poor kid doesn’t have enough strikes against him, you have to start dragging his name through the mud.”

  “I didn’t do anything of the sort.” Emily took a step back as Gregory joined Pete at the counter. Perhaps they’d been spending too much time together lately because their expressions were identical.

  “Terrence works hard at the butcher,” Gregory said, his voice soft but deadly. “With his disability, it took a while for him to find a suitable job. I’d have thought you’d be sympathetic, given your own struggles. He mightn’t earn a fortune doing what he does, but he certainly isn’t so hard up that he’d steal.”

  Although it had made perfect sense at the time, Emily had a sleepless night to second-guess her every decision. Already that morning, she’d had an earful from Jake. He’d woken to an enquiry from the police, prompted by her name-dropping.

  He didn’t want to chase up leads with her. If he found the book, Emily now wasn’t even sure he’d share.

  Of course, he will. It’s not as though he can restore his girlfriend to life without your puzzle box.

  Wanda stood at the counter, appearing just as unhappy as Emily’s two coworkers but with even better reason. With her sister’s life on the line more than ever, Emily couldn’t afford to make mistakes.

  “I’m sorry if I upset anybody but the police asked if I thought somebody might be responsible for the break-in and he was the only suspect I could think of.”

  Pete held his hands up to either side. “But why? You’ve only met him once and I don’t think being a skater is any reason to think he’d steal.”

  “Somebody else suffered a burglary on the weekend and he thought Terrence was behind it.”

  Gregory took a step forward, his face twisting with anger. “Does your mystery victim have a name?”

  “He does but not one I’m telling you, given your current mood.” Emily folded her arms. “I’ve said, I’m sorry. There’s nothing else I can do. I can’t rewind time and take it back.”

  “Leave them,” Wanda said. “If they want to prance around being upset over their friend, they’ll be no good to us.”

  Emily shot her a glance but before she could refute the suggestion, Pete was echoing the idea.

  “Perhaps it’s best if you leave it to Gregory and me today. We can sort through everything from the weekend and having the extra work might help give us time to cool off.”

  Although she agreed, as Emily left the store, she had to fight back tears. Jake didn’t want her assistance any longer, Harvey was sitting at home resenting her, and now she couldn’t even busy herself with work.

  “Don’t do that,” Cynthia said, falling in beside Emily.

  “Do what?”

  “Start dwelling in self-pity-land. If your coworkers are giving you the day free to do what you want, then use it wisely. It’s not as though you need help to research a crime. You did pretty well sorting out my little mess.”

  “We should follow up on the court order,” Wanda said, Cynthia’s words seeming to clear the confusion from her brow. “If we can put a stop to that, it buys Sheryl more time.”

  “I used to know some lawyers back in Christchurch, but they were all involved in financial law. I could try them, but it might just lead us around in circles.”

  “Better that than not try them and find out later they could’ve helped.”

  Cynthia sounded so perky, Emily shot her a glance weighted with suspicion. The ghost’s face was perfectly innocent—another reason to suspect she was up to no good.

  Still, if she wanted to appear helpful, Emily should take advantage. She pressed the green button on her phone to bring up her old contact list, then displayed it to Cynthia. “Could you point out the ones tagged with lawyer?”

  Once she’d selected five cards from the three dozen or more loaded, Emily composed an email aloud to her phone. When she’d been a child, talking into your hand would earn a person more than a few curious glances. These days, it had become so commonplace that none of the passing pedestrians stared.

  “Until they reply, should we try to eliminate the obvious?” Emily said to her companions. “I’d rather use the computer to hunt down possible booksellers with an interest. Once they’re ruled out, we can try to weasel some information out of the sergeant or one of the constables.”

  Wanda snorted. With Cynthia on her best behaviour, it now appeared they were swapping roles. “Given his expression at the house last night, I don’t think that’ll work.”

  “It definitely won’t if I don’t give it a try.”

  As Emily walked up to her front door, her hands were shaking. She’d escaped the house without talking to Harvey and wondered if it was worth hoping he’d made himself scarce for the day.

  “You’re back early.”

  Nope. She gave him a sideways glance and decided her brother didn’t appear too unhappy. “The others are going to handle things today between them.” When a frown started to crease Harvey’s brow, she hurried to add, “They thought it best I recover from the shock of the break-in last night.”

  Not that her coworkers had expressed any concern about that. Emily had to console herself with the thought that if she hadn’t forced the sergeant around to Terrence’s house to interrogate him, they would have lavished sympathy upon her.

  “I’m really sorry about yesterday,” she said, her voice nearly disappearing. “I had no right to ask you those questions.”

  “If it’d been my place, I’d have been upset, too.” Harvey wiped his hands on the tea towel and Emily realised the bench was clear for the first time since he’d arrived. “When you’re in shock, sometimes things don’t come out the way they should.”

  His empathy made Emily feel even more of a heel than she had been. “Thank you for that,” she said. “I don’t deserve your generosity.”

  “You’re the one being generous, letting me crash here until I get back on my feet.”

  Emily was halfway t
o her room before she understood her brother’s current explanation contradicted what he’d told her this far. Still… She shrugged and closed the door softly behind her. Harvey staying with her was a problem she could resolve later.

  None of the lawyers had emailed back but Emily guessed her early Monday morning message would be buried at the bottom of a large weekend avalanche. She asked her laptop to search for second-hand booksellers, then listened to the results.

  She knew one of the shops but wouldn’t have classed it as a bookseller. By straining her memory, Emily vaguely recalled the furniture shop had a tiny section with volumes displayed on the shelves. If Google hadn’t just informed her to the better, she would have sworn they were just for decoration.

  One place sounded more likely, right until it got up to the section about specialising in military history. Another sold books but Emily knew the shop and wiped it off the list—a remainders table in front didn’t really count.

  “What are you doing?” Wanda sounded anxious and Emily gave her a curious glance. She supposed if the situations were reversed, she’d be lost in worry over her sister. “We should at least pay these places a visit. Any of them could’ve been the ones to break into Jake’s place. You can’t just cross them off the list without checking.”

  “What do you think a visit’s going to do?” Cynthia didn’t sound as snide as usual, but Emily could sense the compulsion laying under the surface. “It’s not as though they’ll have a stolen book out on display. If any of them really did steal the spells, it’s far more likely to be on order for a private sale.”

  “You don’t know that. The people around this place are sometimes as thick as two planks.” Wanda’s face flushed, a spot of colour high on each cheek. “Don’t lecture me on what they would or wouldn’t do.”

  Emily tried to intercede. “Nobody’s lecturing—”

  “I’m just laying all the cards out. If there’s a place in town which deals in high-priced books by appointment, sure. We’ve nothing to lose following it up. But a shop selling furniture with someone trying to offload a few second-hand books on the side isn’t going to have it.”

  “You don’t know. You’re not the expert.”

  “I’m better schooled than you.”

  “Ha! While you were spending time getting your nails done, some of us were living in the real world.”

  “The real world? Playing at being witches in the middle of the forest? Give me a break. You wouldn’t know the real world if it came up and bit you on your big nose!”

  “You’re the one who wants to know the secret behind my powers.” Wanda placed her hands on her hips and tilted up her chin. “You’ve been begging me for days so don’t think I don’t know what you’re really after.”

  Emily put a hand up to her forehead. A migraine was spiking into her temple, leaving her vision pulsing in a colourful wavy line. “Could you both please be—”

  “I just wanted to see if it was a trick.” Cynthia flapped her hand in a dismissive gesture. “If someone as base as you can do it, I don’t think—”

  “Base? You’re the one who loads on their makeup with a trowel.”

  “At least I’ve got something worth putting it on. With features like yours, it’s no wonder you never—”

  Emily’s temper snapped, and she yelled, “Both of you be quiet!”

  The two ghosts stared at her, their eyes wide in surprise.

  Too late, Emily remembered she wasn’t the only living human in the house. Footsteps pounded and Harvey wrenched her door open. “What’s going on in here?”

  Between her flare of anger and the thumping in her head, Emily couldn’t think of a lie. “I was talking to the ghosts.”

  Harvey frowned. “You can see spirits?”

  Emily was so frozen at what had just happened, she could barely nod her head.

  Then her brother shocked her to the core.

  “You mean, like Dad?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Are they still here, right now?” Harvey glanced around the room before directing his attention back to Emily. “It’s a bit creepy, isn’t it?”

  “They’re with us.” She rubbed her temple where her headache still beat with a fierce rhythm. “Sitting here isn’t so bad. It’s when I wake up in the middle of the night to find them staring at me while I’m sleeping that freaks me out.”

  “Ugh.” Her brother shuddered. “Do they really do that?”

  “Far too often for my liking,” Emily said, enunciating every word while looking straight at Cynthia. “No matter how often I ask them not to.”

  She reached out and pulled Peanut into her lap, the strokes along his fur soothing her as much as the cat. “I don’t remember Dad seeing spirits. When did that happen?”

  “All the time.” Harvey tipped his head to one side, staring up into the corner. “I think Mum tried to shield us quite a lot. Back then, the town wasn’t quite so welcoming as it is now.”

  Emily snorted. “You think this is welcoming?”

  He flapped his hand. “Your friend’s a medium and we passed a wizard for hire sign out on the road to Pinetar Beach.” He wrinkled his nose. “I even saw a person advertising a yoga class for dogs. You might still get a bit of attention but believe me, it’s nothing like what Dad suffered through.”

  “I don’t remember it at all.” Emily picked at the dry skin on her top lip. “Had he stopped before I was old enough to notice?”

  “He never stopped.” Harvey frowned and traced a figure-eight on the wooden table-top. “Do you remember Mr Childers? From down the road?”

  “Sure.” Emily gave her brother a sharp look. “He wasn’t a ghost.”

  Harvey laughed. “No, but he needed help to get rid of one. Dad spent every day for a month down at his place, working throughout the night trying to work out what would send the spirit on its way.”

  She rubbed at the tender spots beside Peanut’s ears, earning herself the echo of a purr. “I think I can recall when Dad stayed away for a long time.” She shrugged. “If I noticed, I probably thought he and Mum were having troubles.”

  “It was about the same time as your friend Tiffany’s parents split up,” Harvey said, nodding. “That makes sense. But what about Gwendolyn Pallweaver? She woke the entire house up screaming one night.”

  “Mad Gwen?”

  “Is that what you called her?”

  Emily pulled a face. “It’s what everyone in my class called her. Are you saying Dad was mixed up with her?”

  “She was nutty beforehand but yeah, he helped her out. There were lots of cases over the years. Sometimes people came knocking, wanting a hand with a restless spirit and Dad couldn’t see them to help.”

  “Oh, yes.” Emily eagerly nodded. “I find that too. If they appear, they stick around until they’ve worn out their welcome but if I can’t see them from the get-go, I never can.”

  “Dad used to reckon they were just trying to get attention, you know?”

  “Crystal says much the same.”

  “Is she your medium friend?”

  “Yeah. We were going to make a business out of it when I discovered I could first see the ghosts, but apart from one or two, I can’t see what’s haunting her clients at all.”

  “Still, it’s nice you have a friend with the same gift.”

  Cynthia burst out laughing, and Emily put a hand to her face to hide a smile. “It’s nice to have a friend but I don’t think we share anything.”

  “Are you saying she’s a charlatan?”

  Emily rubbed her fingers along her scar. Whenever her head was aching, the twisted tissue picked up the same beat. “I’m saying Crystal helps people who aren’t haunted with their spirits, and I help people who are with theirs.”

  “It’s a pity Dad hasn’t turned up to haunt you,” Harvey said with a quick smile. “He could pass on all the tricks of the trade.”

  “I guess it means there was nothing holding him back. At least we can rest assured, he and Mum weren�
�t murdered.”

  “Is that what your current ghost is trying to sort out? A murder?”

  “No. That would be too easy.” Emily pulled Peanut close and gave him a tiny kiss on the top of his head before releasing him. “Do you believe in witches?”

  “In Christchurch or Wellington? No. Here? Sure.”

  Emily wondered if there was a mystic code she should have sworn an oath upon. Something to stop her spilling the spirit’s secrets. Too late, if there was.

  “Wanda Hawthorne was a witch, and she put her sister’s soul into a puzzle box to save her. If we can’t find the spell to release her soon, then she’ll die.”

  The corners of Harvey’s lips curled for a second, then his face grew serious. “Okay. Is that what they took from the house last night?”

  “No.” Emily pulled out the wooden toy. “This is what they were after, so they weren’t successful. Unfortunately, the same person—or people—had also burgled the place where the spell book was being stored.”

  “And they were successful at that burglary?”

  “Yeah. They were.”

  Harvey linked his fingers behind his head and leaned back, letting his eyes gaze up at the ceiling. “Was anything else taken?”

  “From here or from Jake’s?”

  His gaze shot to Emily’s face. “Jake the snake?”

  She shifted on her chair, suddenly uneasy. “Yes. He used to date Wanda’s sister, and he’s trying to restore her, too. Why? What do you know about him?”

  “There’re a few people in town I’ve kept in touch with over the years. I’ve heard a few tales here and there.”

  Harvey scratched at the stubble on his chin. Only a few hours past shaving and it was already deepening into shadow. Emily might have missed out on her Dad’s gift, but she remembered enough to know he’d been the same.

  “If there were other things stolen from Jake’s place, it might be nothing to do with your quest.”

  Emily smiled at the word. It was so reminiscent of fantasy and adventure it fit her current situation quite well.