by Amity Allen
The second time, it sputtered to life, and I looked back only once to see Denise frozen in time and space, complete confusion plastered on her face. Pressing the gas as hard as I could, I turned the golf cart back in the direction of the house where my car was parked.
It felt like it took forever to get there, but I finally did. The first thing I did was barricade myself in my car with the gun and lock the doors. As soon as I was safely ensconced in my makeshift bunker, I called 9-1-1.
I wasn’t sure, but my best guess was that the frozen effect started to thaw in a matter of minutes. It would take Denise some time to get back to the barn because I’d swiped her transportation.
I prayed that by that time, the police would be here, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I only set the gun down once before the police arrived, and that was to make a note to myself:
Learn to use a gun.
I picked it back up and slunk down so that only my eyeballs peeked out over the window, and I watched.
It took about ten minutes for the sounds of sirens to fill the property. I waited until two police cars stopped next to me, white and blue lights flashing, and I got out.
Unfortunately, Officer Goodnight was not among the first responders, but I texted him, and he said he was on his way. I explained to the officer in charge what had transpired, and I told them where Denise was when I’d last seen her.
It didn’t take long for them to apprehend her. She shot me a nasty look as an officer shoved her head down to push her into the back of a squad car. Of the remaining police officers, several of them searched Denise’s house and barn, while another asked me questions about what had transpired.
“You will find a mostly empty case of atropine in her veterinary room in the barn. I’d bet money a high dose of that is what poisoned her sister, Heather Morgan.”
“Miss Parker, how did you know Denise Tellerman killed her sister?” the officer asked.
“Well, technically it was Bruce Martindale who poisoned Heather, but Denise blackmailed him into doing it.”
“I don’t understand. Blackmailed him how?”
“She threatened to expose the fact that he was bribing Heather, who was the pageant director, for his daughter to win the pageant that she ran. The man is a pageant coach, and if word got out that he was bribing directors, he’d probably lose his livelihood and be banned from the pageant world altogether. Apparently he thought protecting that was worth Heather’s life.”
The deputy chief sauntered up to us, shaking his head. “How is it we’ve got a movie star doing our jobs better than we are?”
I considered letting him know that I was a TV star rather than a movie star, but I thought better of it.
“Sorry, sir. I pretty much stumbled upon the truth. You guys are doing a great job. I just got lucky.” I shrugged. “Purely accidental.”
He didn’t look appeased. “I’m going to need you to come down to the station, young lady, and give us a full reporting of everything you found. Do you think you can do that?”
I gave him a salute. “Sir, yes sir.” And as soon as I did it, I realized I must have looked completely ridiculous. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice.
I felt a tap on my shoulder.
Officer Goodnight spoke to the officer who had been questioning me. “May I borrow her for a few minutes? I have a few questions about what we found in the barn.”
The officer signaled it was all right, and Officer Goodnight whisked me off in the direction of the barn. “I can’t believe you came out here to confront a killer without telling me. Do you have a death wish or what?”
“I came out here to bring her a lasagna,” I said defiantly. “That reminds me, it’s still in my car, thawing all over the place. Do you like lasagna?”
“Yeah. Who doesn’t? Don’t change the subject. Did you know or not?” His eyes narrowed, and I found I couldn’t exactly lie to him.
“I had a slight suspicion, but no. I didn’t know.”
“Poppy!”
“What?”
“Promise me you won’t ever do that again.”
I thought about it for a minute. “No can do.” And before he could protest some more, I asked, “What is it you wanted to talk to me about at the barn?”
He shook his head, exasperated with me.
I pretended not to notice.
“You were right. We found several bottles of atropine in the veterinary room at Denise’s barn, and a mostly empty big box of it.”
“Enough to kill somebody?”
“Well, I’m not a chemist, but I would say so, and certainly more than you need for a half a dozen horses according to Phil who has a couple of horses. What is that stuff used for anyway?”
“On a farm it’s often used by veterinarians to treat eye problems; for example, if an animal gets a corneal ulcer. It dilates the eye fully, allowing it to heal, and is usually used in conjunction with some other form of antibiotic ointment.”
Officer Goodnight shook his head. “How do you know stuff like this?”
“I used to come out here and ride when I was a kid. I went to summer camp here once.”
He nodded. “So Denise Tellerman had her sister killed? That’s some serious sibling rivalry.”
“Yeah. Apparently Heather had a pattern of stealing things that were important to Denise. And when I say things, I mean people.”
“Like?”
“It sounds like Denise had never gotten over Tony, Heather’s husband.”
“So, Tony was Denise’s ex-boyfriend?”
“Apparently, and Heather met him when Denise brought him home to meet the family.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah.”
“You said people, plural, so who else did she steal?”
“The little girl who won Heather’s Bloomin’ Belles pageant, Dimples Bradshaw. The little girl used to be a competitive horseback rider. I think she used to board her horse here, and I know she took lessons from Denise.”
“So how did Heather steal her away?” He rubbed his chin.
“A lot of it is Denise’s perception, but when Dimples started doing pageants, she gave up horseback riding. They must’ve sold the horse too. I think a lot of the other little girls Dimples hung around with followed her lead and quit the riding business too. It put a real strain on Denise’s income stream.”
“So she blamed Heather for the loss of her income and the love of her life?”
“Yes. She thought she could get everything back if only Heather were out of the picture. She could get back together with Tony, and they would have Heather’s life insurance money. With the pageant out of business, some of the girls would come back to horseback riding. Or at least that’s how I believe she fantasized the outcome.”
“All her dreams would come true, and she’d get Bruce Martindale to do the dirty work so she wouldn’t have to get her hands dirty,” he said.
“Exactly.”
“But the hired help can sometimes talk and get you into trouble.”
“Which was why she snuck into the B&B and put a pillow over Liz Stoner’s face.”
“And Liz was too snockered to put up a fight.”
“Poor Liz. She just fell for the wrong guy.”
He nodded.
“And Tippy Bradshaw will probably never know how close she came to being framed for murder.”
“So framing Tippy was Denise’s way of getting back at her for taking her business elsewhere?”
“Yes, and also a way of pointing the authorities in another direction. By having the murder happen at the pageant, I think Denise hoped to provide a large pool of suspects and make it look like it was someone from the pageant community. Backstabbing and jealousy aren’t uncommon with those people and she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to blame it on them.”
“How did she know Dimples was going to win?”
“She didn’t, but her plan set things up so it was likely to happen. Dimples already had a good chance of winning the co
mpetition. Then Denise instructed Bruce to take over the pageant after Heather’s death. That knocked Anna Beth out of the running. After that, her next biggest competition was Allessandra Gustavez, so she sent the email about the birth certificate, hoping to get Allessandra disqualified. Later, when the police discovered it was Tippy who supposedly sent the email, it would make it look like Tippy had been the one who was causing problems. Denise wanted it to look like Tippy would do anything to win the competition, including poison the director who could be standing in her way.”
“But why would we think that Tippy had problems with Heather? In all of our interviews with Tippy, there wasn’t a hint of any bad blood between Heather and her.”
“That’s because there wasn’t any, but Denise made sure to invent stories about the antipathy between Heather and Tippy Bradshaw. She told me one at the funeral home. But from what I observed, it wasn’t Heather who had the problem with Tippy, it was Denise. I heard them arguing the night of the welcome party.”
Officer Goodnight’s radio went off. He listened then said something into it I didn’t understand. All those numbers and code words. How did they remember all that?
“We’ve sent a car to pick up Bruce Martindale in Nevada. Then we’ll have him brought back here for questioning.”
I prayed Anna Beth had a mother somewhere in all this who would be able to give her some comfort and stability. It was going to be a long road to the big house for her father.
“I feel sorry for Bruce’s daughter. I’m sure he told himself he was doing all this for her.”
“I’m sure he did. People will go to any length to justify their behavior.”
“Including lie to themselves. But you can probably get Bruce Martindale to turn on Denise once you play that recording of her confessing to killing Liz for him. Plus she’s already blamed him for Heather’s murder. He’ll be ready to give you Denise on a silver platter, especially if he thinks he can get a lighter sentence.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come do my job?”
“I’m sure. But it was fun figuring it all out.”
Officer Goodnight nodded slowly as he contemplated me. “Fun, huh?”
“Yeah, even more fun than acting.”
“Well, unless you sign up for the police academy, I can’t be encouraging you to interfere with official investigations, Miss Parker.”
“Oh, now it’s Miss Parker again?” I teased. “I thought I was supposed to call you Niall, and if that’s the case, you should have to call me Poppy.”
“All right, Poppy. But you’re this close to getting me in hot water with the deputy chief.” He held up his fingers with only a hair of space between them.
“I’m sorry.” And I genuinely was, but I couldn’t see how I could avoid looking into a murder that happened at a pageant I was judging.
That had to be a sign. Plus that dream where my mother called me a Seeker of Truth, and the onset of my new powers. If that was my purpose in this life, I couldn’t let a little thing like “police regulations” get in the way.
By the time I got home later that night, I was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. I plopped down on my bed and fell asleep with my clothes on.
I dreamed I got an email from my mother, strange because I’d never set up an email account or anything like that on the Northern Lights browser.
But it shouldn’t have surprised me. Everything to do with Northern Lights had to do with helping me adjust to the newfound magic inside me.
When I woke up, I looked over to find the black cat resting peacefully on my pillow next to me. His green eyes stared into mine, and he seemed rather content to have me as his new person. I felt kinda bad giving him a new name, like I might be changing his identity in some way, but he and I should have a fresh start. I needed to stop thinking of him as Heather’s cat.
“Good morning,” I said, and he arched his back and began kneading the pillow with his little paws.
Even though I didn’t really think I would find anything, I couldn’t help but to open my laptop just to make sure there wasn’t an email there. It took a few minutes for my computer to boot up, but once it did, there was a big purple envelope on the screen. It looked like an inbox.
I clicked on it, and it opened to an email from the email address: Eleanor@Northern lights.com.
Eleanor.
My heart pounded in my chest. Could this be real? An email from my mother?
Pepper moved closer to me and curled up next to the computer as if to say he was interested too. I clicked open the email and read the following brief message:
Dear Poppy,
The cat’s name is Aloysius.
He will serve as your guide. You are not alone, my darling.
I love you,
Mom
Suddenly the air seemed to get sucked out of the room, but maybe that’s because I inhaled it all when I gasped.
I looked over at the cat. “Your name is Aloysius?”
Finally! I thought you’d never figure that out.
Somehow I heard his voice—or was I reading his thoughts?
“Can you understand what I’m saying?” I asked the black fur ball.
He tilted his head, and his green eyes met mine. Of course. I am your spirit animal.
I jumped off the bed and stared at him. Could this be? Was it possible the cat was truly communicating with me?
I can hear your thoughts too.
I started shaking.
What a creepy feeling to know that another creature could read your mind.
I did not like this.
Don’t worry. I won’t be obtrusive. I can skip the parts where you’re swooning over that cop. Basically I’m here to help you navigate this transition with your powers.
“You know about my powers?” This time I asked the question aloud, though I wasn’t sure why; perhaps habit. I wasn’t yet used to the idea that my pet could read my mind.
Of course. I was sent by them.
“Who is ‘them’?”
Those of which you are a part.
Okay, that was nice and cryptic.
“This is what I don’t get. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who doesn’t understand what in the world is happening to me.”
Which is why I have been sent. To help you. Long ago, your mother’s family moved south. This separated you from most of the collective magic, and I’m afraid you must pay the price by being the lone soul of your kind in this half of the world.
So most of the witches are up north by the Northern Lights, is that why the browser is called that?
I can only speak to the heritage from which you hail. Yes, most of your ancestors come from there, but it is not a bad thing to be alone. Except for the fact that it’s lonely.
I considered this. If history had taught me anything about witches, it was that they did not tend to fare well in groups. He made a good point.
“What am I supposed to do, Aloysius? By the way, did I say that right?”
The cat nodded in a strangely human way.
It is not for me to tell you what to do, only to provide you with guidance and support.
“That’s what I’m asking for—guidance.”
Poppy, you are a Seeker of Truth. That is your special brand of magic. It is a unique gift, and one that can be used to help others. I believe you’re on the right track but your mother felt your loneliness, so she sent me to be with you.
“My mother sent you?”
Yes.
“Why couldn’t she be here herself?”
Your mother no longer has a body in this world, but she wants you to know that her spirit is with you always.
I sat back down on the bed and the black kitty curled up next to me and started purring. I stroked the top of his head until Aunt Cricket called to tell me it was time for breakfast.
“Poppy, can you do me a favor later?” Aunt Cricket asked. We’d opened the B&B up for guests again as soon as Denise Tellerman and Bruce Martindale were
in police custody.
Our first guests would be arriving today and Cricket and I were going to spend the first few hours of the day preparing for them. We’d let things get a little messy during the days it had just been us.
“Sure, Aunt Cricket. What’s that?”
“Would you mind using that skimmer to get the leaves out of the pool?”
“Of course. But I thought you had a service that did that.”
“I did, but I have a major problem with them. That guy left the gate open every time he was here no matter how many times I complained, and with what happened we’ve got to be more strict with our security so I’m going to have to find someone new. In the meantime, I can buy some chlorine, throw it in there, and you can help me scoop out the leaves.”
Oh dear. “I’m not sure it’s safe to just dump a bunch of chlorine in there. I think you need to test the chemicals first . . .”
She stopped what she was doing and turned to me, exasperated. “Fine. I’ll start looking for a new service today. Will that make you happy?”
The snippy tone in her voice was something I rarely heard.
“It’s not about making me happy. It’s about not burning the skin off our guests with the wrong combination of chemicals.”
She sank down into a chair. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Poppy. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
I patted her arm. “It’s okay. You just need a vacation.”
She looked up, surprised. “A vacation? Why, what in the world. I haven’t been on a vacation since I took you to California when your TV show started.”
“Uh-huh, that was five years ago, and that wasn’t even a vacation. I think you’re due.”
She shook her head.
“Think about it. I could run this place for a little while.”
“No, you couldn’t.”
I straightened my spine indignantly. “Excuse me?”
Cricket laughed. “I know you’re perfectly capable, but I don’t think you should try since you already have a job at The Flower Shoppe. Mads and Skylar are counting on you.”
I pursed my lips. She was right, but surely we could make it work.
