“What do you think of the case?” I asked the cat as we drove homeward.
“It’s bad news that the police detective who arrested your friend’s mom could have committed the crime that he arrested her for,” said Paws.
“Yes, I would say that much is true,” said Greer dryly from the back seat.
“I can’t believe that all the articles that mentioned his name were deleted, or just his first name was used,” fumed Charlie. “Treachery.”
“Let’s be honest, Detective Cutter has always seemed like a great detective, right?” I said, thinking hard. “Maybe he just didn’t want his name associated in any way with an unsolved case. We’ve never had any reason not to trust him.”
“That’s true. If you’d asked me earlier today, I would have said that Detective Cutter isn’t even capable of lying,” said Charlie.
“There’s another possibility,” said Greer.
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I asked.
“That he wasn’t the one who deleted those articles, and the missing clippings don’t have anything to do with him,” said Greer.
Now that was something to think about.
There were no dark ghosts waiting for us at the farmhouse when we arrived home.
I checked.
Chapter Nineteen
I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and gasping.
WHAT IF WE WENT ON A DATE AND JASPER DIDN’T LIKE ME? ACTUALLY HAVING TO TALK TO A PERSON REALLY CHANGES THINGS.
Just look at Paws. He’s so cute to look at.
Then you have to talk to him.
Glad my mind was on the case . . .
Gerry was free, and we hadn’t needed to break the law to talk to her – a small blessing. But the evening’s conversation worried me. Gerry had confirmed that she’d been doing spells the night Jackie disappeared, just as I had suspected. But I should have guessed sooner that it had been with my grandmother. Also, Gerry hadn’t helped us at all with the suspect list.
We were missing something, and I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
I lay back on my pillow and tried to go back to sleep. But no matter how hard I tried to stop, I kept thinking about Jasper. Soon there would be our relationship before our first date and our relationship after.
What would happen after Friday was anyone’s guess, but I really knew what I hoped for.
I just couldn’t see how that could ever be.
But maybe, I told myself as I finally drifted off.
Sunlight was streaming through my curtains when I cracked my eyes open in the morning. It was late! I jumped out of bed and bypassed the kitchen. Charlie had already left for work; I could tell because her Volvo wasn’t in the driveway. I hurried out to check on Cesar without even taking the time to eat. Maybe by the time I got home Greer would be awake, and then we could have a proper breakfast.
When I reached Mr. John’s place my text messages started to come through, including one from Liam. His mother was out of prison and he couldn’t be happier. Gerry was going to work the shop for him while he took an afternoon break, and could we meet him for tea at the Daily Brew?
Also, he said, the salon was opening again right this very morning, so there was bound to be lots of chatter for the gossipmongers.
As usual, Cesar was in high spirits. I ended up spending more time with him than usual, seduced by his liveliness and welcoming the time to do some thinking. I had rushed out of the house so quickly that taking a few minutes to wrap my mind around the day seemed like an excellent idea.
We played for a while, but eventually I got hunger, so I gave Cesar one more pet and headed home.
“Hey,” said Greer. She was sitting in the sunny breakfast nook when I arrived and she looked up hopefully.
“No pastries, unfortunately,” I told her, “but Liam wants us to meet him at the Daily Brew later.”
“I could probably do that before work,” Greer said. She had the papers fanned out in front of her, reminding me how frantic Charlie had been to get started on some articles. The newspaper’s sales had skyrocketed since the discovery of the skeleton, and the staff was having trouble keeping up with demand.
“Great,” I said.
“The medical examiner’s report is out this morning,” said Greer, pushing the front page in my direction.
“Hit her head and died,” I mused. “It doesn’t say whether the blow was likely to have been intentional or not.”
“Not explicitly, but it sounds like the ‘murder weapon’ was the ground,” said Greer.
“So nothing useful there,” I said, glaring at the paper as if it had done something wrong. “There are too many dead ends in this case,” I said, “and it’s frustrating me.”
“And Gerry is running out of time,” said Greer. “She’s out on bail, but everyone still thinks she did it.”
“Not everyone,” I said.
“No, but the people who matter do, like the police,” said Greer. “If we don’t clear her name, Liam’s mom is going to end up in prison.”
“Most of the people who grew up in Mintwood think she’s innocent,” I said, mostly to make myself feel better.
As the days had worn on, I had realized that a lot of people around town wanted Gerry’s name cleared. Miss Violetta might want the real culprit caught for her own purposes, but no one wanted to see a girl who had grown up here convicted of her best friend’s murder.
“We have to figure out what happened to Jackie,” I said. “But we can’t seem to get anything to grab onto.”
“At least the report casts doubt on whether she was actually murdered. Gerry can’t be arrested for killing her if she wasn’t actually killed, but just died from an accident,” said Greer.
“She might not have been murdered, but she didn’t get into that wall herself,” I said.
Greer lapsed into a long silence.
“That’s true,” she agreed.
We finished brunch (you couldn’t call it breakfast, because Greer hadn’t gotten up until eleven) and headed downtown to meet Liam at the Daily Brew.
The minute we walked in, we could tell that something was wrong, the big clue being that Mrs. Barnett was not behind the counter. Her daughter, who usually worked as a secretary, was filling orders.
“Where is she?” Greer whispered.
“It’s very strange,” I muttered.
We weren’t the only ones who thought so. Quite a few patrons were giving the young Barnett strange looks.
“What’s her name?” asked Greer in a whisper.
“Prudence,” I whispered back as we walked up to the counter.
Prudence was a couple of years older than we were, and I didn’t remember talking to her much in high school.
“Hey,” I said.
“Order?” Prudence was unhappy to be where she was, and she didn’t care who knew it.
“Two coffees, please,” I said. I was about to ask where her mother was when the question died in my throat.
“Your mom is being awfully nice,” said Andre, strolling over. He wore a fancy suit and looked like he was about to attend a series of important meetings.
Prudence snorted and turned away, while Andre simply raised one supercilious eyebrow, picked up his coffee, and strolled out the front door.
Passing Andre on his way out was none other than Keith of Mintwood Mucking. When the outdoor store’s proprietor caught sight of Greer and me, he stopped dead in his tracks and almost turned around and left. But Andre had let the door close rather harder than was necessary, forcing Keith to move further into the shop to avoid being hit. He offered us no greeting, but instead glared at us and kept as far away as he possibly could while still standing in line.
“Here you are.” Prudence had reappeared with our coffees and set them on the counter.
“Um, when Andre said your mom was being nice . . .” I started. Prudence was instantly irritated.
“Everyone wants to know where she is. Geez, you’d think no one else could
pour coffee. Has she never missed a day of work before?”
Greer and I exchanged looks.
“Oh for pity’s sake, I guess she hasn’t,” Prudence huffed in amusement. “Not that it’s any of your business, but she’s over at the Mintwood Mirror trying to help make the place look respectable.” After a slight pause, she leaned over and whispered, “Between us, she really wants it to succeed.”
“She doesn’t think the skeleton is a problem?” Greer asked.
Prudence shrugged. “Not after they proved it had been there for decades, so everyone knows it wasn’t Miss Violetta’s fault. Besides, the woman gives excellent haircuts.”
As if to prove the point, Prudence tossed her hair, which did indeed look very shiny, with stylish layers.
“There you are!” Liam had come in and was looking relieved to see us. “I’ve been wondering. We have to go back to the Twinkle.”
He was speaking around Keith, who was clearly annoyed about it. The proprietor of Mintwood Mucking quickly ordered and left the shop, but not before giving us one last glare. Then it was Liam’s turn and he ordered himself a large mocha.
While we waited for his drink he said, “Mom can’t be left alone in the shop. In fact, she has to hide in the back room. Customers are either furious at her or want to hug her, and either way it isn’t selling my t-shirts.” Liam snapped his fingers.
“How’s she holding up?” I asked.
“Surprisingly well. Much better than I am. I’m a mess,” Liam shook his head. “The prospect of prison honestly doesn’t seem to bother her one bit. I have no idea why.”
He lowered his voice to say that last bit. Now all the other customers in the shop were staring at Liam and not Prudence, a fact that was not lost in the coffee seller’s daughter.
“Liam, until this thing with your mom is resolved, your drinks are on the house,” Prudence said, pushing Liam’s money back at him.
With raised eyebrows Liam picked up the bills, but not before depositing some in the tip jar.
“She wants me in there as a distraction,” he said once we’d left. “If it involves free coffee, I don’t mind.”
We went back to the shop with Liam, but we didn’t stay long. The day was wearing on, and the Twinkle was too busy with gawkers and gossip seekers to be much fun.
Chapter Twenty
“We should find out why no references to a ‘Newman’ appear in any of the articles in the archive,” I said at breakfast the next morning.
Charlie had just put a spoonful of cereal into her mouth and Greer hadn’t had coffee yet, so neither of them looked thrilled at my declaration.
“What do we know so far?” Greer asked.
“Newman was the other part-time barber,” said Charlie. “Otherwise, he’s not really mentioned in any of the reports. Why do you think he was relevant?”
“We have two aspects of the situation to look into: Jackie’s side, that is, her friends and what she was doing that night; and the barbershop side,” I explained. “We’ve been looking into all of it at once, and we now know that the most likely suspect on Jackie’s side is her own best friend, Gerry. But we also know that Gerry didn’t do it, so that leaves us with the barbershop side.”
“Don’t you think it could be Keith?” Greer asked. “He’s surly enough.”
“Just because someone is grumpy doesn’t mean he’s a murderer. Lucky for you,” Charlie informed her.
“Who are you calling grumpy?” Greer asked.
“No one,” said Charlie, taking another bite of her cereal.
“Anyway, you might be right,” said Greer, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder. “It’s good to take a careful look at all the pieces.”
“We could interview any townspeople who were around then and haven’t moved away. There were a lot of them, and they can’t all be gone or unreachable,” I suggested.
“That’ll take a while,” said Charlie. “First we’ll have to track them down, then we’ll have to see if they’ll talk to us.”
“I just don’t know what else to do,” I replied.
“You’re right, we don’t have a lot of options at this point,” Charlie said. “Maybe I’ll look into it tonight. It is my job, after all, it’s just that I’m impatient to get an answer sooner rather than later. These are things you should be able to look up.”
Before I went to sleep that night I watched the sky for a while as I tried to sort out my thoughts about the case. Thick clouds were threatening to obscure the bright stars, and the wind had started to blow. The forecast had been for clear skies all week, and yet the weather was temperamental and strange. If I didn’t know any better I would have said that magic was brewing. I just hoped it would hold off until after my date with Jasper, and after Harriet came home.
Even though I was the Witch of Mintwood, I couldn’t do all of this on my own.
Dark witches and dark ghosts were not far off. Wendell had come into my kitchen and sat at my table.
And it was only the beginning of his disruption of my life.
Chapter Twenty-One
Finally it was Friday. My life had been building to this date for months, and for all that time I had thought of a date with Jasper Wolf as everything I ever wanted. Once it was actually about to happen, I realized that it was much more than that.
Every girl in town, sheesh, every girl in the state would want to date Jasper Wolf if given the chance. Why he had chosen me I had no idea. No doubt he would soon realize his mistake, and he wouldn’t want me anymore.
I could at least comfort myself with the knowledge that it probably wouldn’t take very long, but until then I was going to enjoy the magical anticipation of a Friday night with Jasper and not have a care in the world. How could it be anything but perfection?
The day of my date dawned bright and clear. intended to head downtown early and try one more time to speak with Keith, since he was clearly holding something back. I also had to check on Cesar, as usual. Otherwise I planned to spend the day practicing spells and worrying about Jasper.
Having gotten a late start, I went to check on the dog first. Mr. John was coming back soon, so I wouldn’t be seeing Cesar anymore after that. I really liked the dog and I was going to miss him, but I knew he’d be glad to be reunited with his person.
After tending to Cesar, I headed to Main Street and went straight to Mintwood Mucking. The wind was blowing and the sky was gray, so I kept my head down until I was standing right outside the store. When I looked up, it was only to see a sign pinned to the door:
Mintwood Mucking closed until further notice.
In smaller letters Keith had written, “Gone fishing, hiking, and anything else I can think to do in the mountains.”
“Well, that settles that,” I muttered to myself. There was just no way we would ever find Keith in the Maine wilderness.
He had disappeared.
My friends and I spent the day quietly. I tried very hard to practice witch spells instead of worrying about my date. It seemed better to spend my time on something important, like magic, than to stew all day about which shirt to wear on my date. When I sent a stream of magical sparks from outside into the window next to where Greer was sitting in the kitchen, I finally had to admit that the distraction wasn’t working.
Charlie spent most of the day looking into other articles for the Gazette. They were short-staffed at the moment, so she had a lot of work to do at all times. Greer had decided to pass the time by scrubbing the oven. Charlie had accused her of never cleaning anything, so Greer went ahead and scrubbed something that only she used, thereby accomplishing two things at once: cleaning, and annoying Charlie even more. Or as Greer called it, “the perfect plan.”
As I prepared to go out that night, I wondered how people around town would handle seeing me and Jasper alone together. Not well, I figured. There would be surprised cries and fainting. Many women would fall at Jasper’s feet . . .
Okay, I was being dramatic. But Jasper going on a date was a big deal
, and having him date the town eccentric’s eccentric granddaughter would be an even bigger upheaval in the accepted social fabric of Mintwood.
The times they were a’changin’.
And I hadn’t even had to spell anyone to make it happen.
What was more, the finding of a skeleton in a building on Main Street was throwing Mintwood off its spring stride.
The town had become strangely divided over Gerry’s arrest. Some folks wanted her put away forever, but others said they knew Gerry and they knew Liam and they knew that Gerry wasn’t capable of such a heinous deed. Miss Violetta thought that Gerry was innocent, while the same could not – apparently – be said of Detective Cutter.
I knew which one I wanted to be proven wrong.
Meanwhile, on the home front, my friends were totally supportive of the totally terrifying experience that was my first date with Jasper Wolf.
“Thanks for being there for me,” I told them honestly. My stomach had been in knots for days, and now that the time was drawing seriously near, I wanted to be sick.
When they got home from work, I filled Charlie and Greer in on the fact that Keith was missing. Greer gave a low whistle and Charlie shook her head. Neither was happy that Keith was missing, but there was nothing we could do about it now.
As the sun dangled lower in the sky and evening was falling, I tried to concentrate on my upcoming date.
“You shouldn’t place so much importance on just one date,” Greer told me, sounding worried. “You and Jasper have known each other for years. One date isn’t going to make or break anything.”
At Greer’s glare, Charlie nodded her head, but in my opinion she looked less convinced than Greer.
“Except my heart,” I whispered.
Charlie stuck her lip out, but Greer was significantly less sympathetic. “Stop being so dramatic.”
I huffed at her and rolled my eyes. She was wrong and I was right: this date had to be perfect. I was counting on it.
Witch Raising Situation (Witch of Mintwood Book 5) Page 13
