A Witchy Valentine (Harper Grant Mystery Series Book 4)

by D. S. Butler

  Monty looked directly at me and looked so panicked that I had to clamp my lips firmly together to stop myself responding. It was horrible to see him so upset.

  Chief Wickham obviously wasn’t happy with Pete’s explanations of events.

  “I think we should continue this at the station. Officer Tardy, would you please escort Pete Bell to the station, so he can help us with our investigation.”

  Pete looked horrified, and Jess shouted out, “You can’t arrest him. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “I’m not arresting him. We’re just taking him to the station to answer some more questions.”

  Officer Tardy placed a hand on Pete’s elbow and began to lead him away.

  “I’ll join you soon,” Chief Wickham called after them. “I want to ask the others some questions first.”

  Chief Wickham left Jess and me and began to question the members of the re-enactment society. He couldn’t get a word out of Laura, who had stopped sobbing but couldn’t stop smiling flirtatiously at Joe, and Barbara’s answers were monosyllabic. Nigel seemed to be the most talkative of the group.

  Jess was trembling, and I hugged her, trying to reassure her that everything would be okay.

  “How can it be okay, Harper? They think Pete murdered Monty!”

  “They’re just investigating. They’ll soon realize he had nothing to do with it, you’ll see.”

  Deputy Joe McGrady side-stepped Laura, left Chief Wickham to finish questioning John and made his way over to us.

  “You have to tell Chief Wickham that Pete had nothing to do with Monty’s murder,” Jess said before Joe could say anything to us.

  Joe looked at us sympathetically as he said, “I know you’re concerned about him. But how well do you really know him?”

  Jess flushed. “Well enough.”

  “You can’t really think Pete had anything to do with Monty’s death,” I said, deciding to take over, as I could see Jess was very close to losing her temper. She didn’t lose her temper often, but when she did, it was rather dramatic.

  “We have to investigate every lead, Harper. He hasn’t been charged with anything, but we would be remiss in our duties if we didn’t take him in for further questioning. Did you know anything about the bad blood between Monty and Pete?”

  I shook my head. “I only met Monty for the first time today.”

  “And how did they interact? Did they seem to be on good terms?”

  I hesitated, feeling guilty. I had realized there was something bothering Pete as soon as I spoke to him today. He seemed miserable and irritated at Monty, but if I told Joe that, was I letting Jess down? I didn’t want to get Pete into any more trouble.

  “They didn’t argue,” I said, figuring at least I was telling the truth even if it wasn’t the whole story.

  Joe narrowed his eyes, watching me closely, and I squirmed guiltily. Why did I feel so bad about not telling him the whole truth? I dropped my gaze to the floor so he couldn’t look into my eyes and see that I was hiding something.

  “Okay,” Joe said. “That’s enough now. Take Jess home. If I have any more questions, I know where to find you.”

  I nodded, thanked him and said goodbye, but Jess just glared at him over her shoulder as we walked across the field.

  “I can’t believe they would even consider the possibility that Pete was involved,” she said angrily, fishing in her pocket for the car keys.

  I understood Jess’s reaction. But at the same time, I couldn’t help thinking about Joe’s words. How well did we really know Pete?

  Chapter 5

  We were halfway across the field when Joe caught up with us. “I forgot to ask. Could you give the Townsends a ride back to Abbott Cove?”

  Jess gave a huff of annoyance and carried on walking, leaving me to deal with Joe.

  “She really is mad, isn’t she?” Joe said, looking surprised.

  I raised an eyebrow. He, Chief Wickham and Officer Tardy had just carted her boyfriend off to the police station. What did he expect?

  “It’s okay. We’ll give the Townsends a lift back to the Cove. Jess may be mad, but she isn’t heartless.”

  “Thanks. I know they can be…difficult, but they’re old, and the weather is very cold at the moment. I’d give them a ride back to the cove myself, but we’re going to Cherrytown to interview Pete.”

  I nodded. “It’s fine. We’ll make sure they get home safe.”

  Joe gave me a smile that almost made me forget he had just arrested my sister’s boyfriend and was supposed to be in my bad books.

  I ran to catch up with Jess, who wasn’t happy, at all.

  “I can’t believe he wants me to give the Townsends a ride back to Abbot Cove after everything they’ve done today.”

  “We can’t really leave them here to wait around in this freezing cold weather,” I said gently.

  Jess scowled. “I don’t see why not. They deserve it.”

  “They only told Chief Wickham what they had overheard between Pete and Monty. I’m sure they didn’t mean to cause trouble.” As I said the words, I realized how ridiculous they sounded. The Townsends thrived on trouble.

  Jess rolled her eyes. “I know you don’t really believe that, Harper. The Townsends are a pair of malicious gossips.”

  I couldn’t argue with that, but even so, they were old, and it wouldn’t be kind to leave them behind.

  “Jess,” I began in my most persuasive voice. “It won’t take long, and you don’t have to talk to them.”

  She held up her hands as she stomped along. “Fine! I’ll give them a ride. But they’d better not do anything else to upset me. Otherwise, I’m going to give them a piece of my mind.”

  We walked up to the car to find Mr and Mrs Townsend waiting beside it.

  “About time. My teeth are chattering,” Mrs Townsend snapped.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. Did we keep you waiting?” Jess’s voice was dangerously sweet.

  Mr and Mrs Townsend seemed to be surprised by Jess’s pleasant reaction. I guess they missed the edge to her voice.

  Mr Townsend gave a disgruntled nod of his head. “As a matter of fact, you did.”

  “Well, hurry up and get in the car,” Jess said, pressing the button on the key fob to unlock the doors.

  As Mr and Mrs Townsend scooted into the backseat, Jess looked at me and groaned.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked.

  “I just thought about Grandma Grant. Is there any way we can avoid her finding out about Pete?”

  I shook my head. “I doubt it. The news will be around the whole of Abbott Cove by lunchtime,” I said, nodding at the Townsends, who were sitting in the back seat of Jess’s car, watching us expectantly. “The Townsends aren’t going to keep it a secret. Besides, why are you worried about Grandma Grant finding out?”

  “Because she’ll be full of questions, and I don’t have the energy to try and explain the situation to her when I don’t even understand it myself.”

  I gave her a sympathetic look and then jumped about a foot in the air as Mr Townsend rapped on the window, and Mrs Townsend leaned over to put her hand in the middle of the steering wheel and honked the horn.

  Jess looked furious. “Unbelievable!”

  She yanked open the car door and got into the driver’s seat, quickly starting the engine. I’d barely had time to buckle up before she was performing a three-point turn to get us back on the road to Abbot Cove.

  Between Mr and Mrs Townsend on the back seat was their tiny dog. I hoped he didn’t need to take a pee anytime soon.

  I turned around to look at Mr and Mrs Townsend. “If you didn’t bring your car, how did you get to the re-enactment today?”

  “Our car is in the shop, so Barbara gave us a ride,” Mr Townsend said.

  Jess narrowed her eyes as she looked at Mr and Mrs Townsend through the rearview mirror. “What exactly did you tell Chief Wickham about Pete?”

  “Only the truth,” Mr Townsend said pompously.

 
; “We were doing our civic duty,” Mrs Townsend added.

  “Spreading malicious gossip more like it,” Jess said.

  Mrs Townsend looked outraged. “Take that back! I will not be spoken to in that manner by a jumped-up librarian.”

  Jess’s jaw dropped open. “And what exactly is wrong with being a librarian?”

  I sighed. “Let’s all calm down before we say something we regret.”

  “Tell that to the librarian,” Mr Townsend snapped.

  “I didn’t start it,” Jess mumbled.

  “Enough already!” I yelled, losing my temper.

  We spent the rest of the ride in silence until we reached the residential district of Abbot Cove.

  When we pulled up outside the Townsends’ house, Jess remained in the driver’s seat, staring stonily ahead. I got out of the car to make sure Mr and Mrs Townsend were okay.

  Mrs Townsend surprised me by thanking Jess for the ride, but then she had to go and ruin it by adding, “But I have to say you are the rudest librarian I have ever met.”

  I watched the old couple head up the path to their house in disbelief and then slid back into the passenger seat.

  “What has she got against librarians?” I asked Jess.

  “No idea. That woman is all kinds of crazy.”

  I had to agree.

  “I hate to leave you alone after what’s just happened, but do you think you could drop me at the diner. I told Monty if he met me there, I’d have some answers for him. Hopefully, he’ll have some answers for us, and we can find out if he knows who killed him.”

  “It’s quite a long walk from Cherrytown to Abbott Cove,” Jess said. “Couldn’t we have given him a lift.”

  I shook my head. “Monty had gone by the time we got to the car. Besides, ghosts don’t get tired. They hover rather than walk. Since he is a new ghost, he might have problems interacting with solid objects, which could mean he would fall right through the car.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  When she pulled up beside the diner, I turned to her and asked, “Do you want to come inside with me? I don’t think you should be alone right now.”

  Jess shook her head. “No. What you said earlier was right. The whole of Abbott Cove is going to be talking about it, and I don’t want to face anyone right now. I’ll be fine.”

  I reached out to squeeze her hand. “It will be okay. After I speak to Monty, we’ll find out who really killed him, and Pete will be released.”

  Jess sniffed. “I hope you’re right, Harper.”

  I smiled and tried to look more confident than I felt. “Of course, I am.”

  When I entered the diner, it was quiet. It was mid-morning, so the lack of customers wasn’t unusual. Archie’s Diner was generally busy at breakfast time, and then there was another rush at lunch.

  The warm, comforting scent of coffee surrounded me, and I detected a whiff of Sarah’s delicious lemon muffins. My stomach rumbled. But I ignored it. I had more important things to do than eat delicious muffins.

  There were a couple of tourists taking an early lunch and tucking into Sarah’s clam chowder, but other than that all the tables in the diner were empty.

  Archie stood behind the counter and chuckled at me. “Morning, Harper. You can’t stay away even on your day off, can you?”

  I couldn’t tell Archie why I was really at the diner – looking for a huge ghost dressed in armor. So instead, I just grinned and said, “I think it has something to do with Sarah’s lemon muffins. Can I get a couple to take out?”

  “Of course,” Archie said and began bagging up the muffins for me. He sighed as he selected a particularly large one. “They are tempting, aren’t they? Sometimes I think opening a diner was a bad choice.” After he had put the muffins in the bag, he patted his stomach ruefully.

  Archie had been my boss since I’d arrived in Abbott Cove. He wasn’t that much older than me but acted as though he were as old as Grandma Grant sometimes. Not that Grandma Grant would have ever agreed to classify herself as old.

  He was right about working at the diner, though. The food was fantastic, and it was a constant battle to resist Sara’s delicious baked goods.

  Sarah poked her head through the kitchen hatch. “Hello, Harper. I thought I heard your voice. How did the re-enactment go this morning?”

  “Oh, yes, I forgot about that,” Archie said. “Was it as boring as you expected?”

  “I thought everyone would have heard by now,” I said.

  Archie frowned. “Heard what?”

  “One of the men taking part in the re-enactment died. It was horrible.”

  “Oh, good grief!” Archie said.

  I nodded. “And they think it was murder.”

  “Not another one,” Sarah said. “Whatever is happening to our little town.”

  “Well, technically he died in Cherrytown, but I know what you mean. It’s very sad.”

  “Who died? Archie asked.

  “A man called Monty. He was quite new to the area, I think.”

  “How tragic.”

  I agreed with Archie and told him and Sarah everything that had happened, including the police taking Pete to Cherrytown station for further questioning.

  I looked around the diner, scouring every corner for Monty, but he was nowhere to be seen, and a huge ghost dressed in armor wasn’t easy to miss.

  “Are you looking for something?” Archie said, watching me with a puzzled expression on his face.

  I needed to be more careful. I shook my head. “Oh, no. Although I think I left my lip balm in the back room. Do you mind if I check?”

  “Of course not. Go right ahead,” Archie said cheerfully.

  I walked past the counter and along the small corridor to the back room. Archie lived over the top of the diner, and he let his staff use the back room on the ground floor as a break room. It was nice to get five minutes’ peace and quiet after a busy shift, especially when the diner had been busy all day, as it often was when we had a busload of tourists turn up in Abbott Cove.

  I pushed open the door to the back room and saw Loretta hovering beside the mirror hung over the fireplace. Loretta was the diner’s resident ghost. I had no idea how old she was, and as Loretta considered it an insult to ask a lady her age, it looked as though I would never find out. She wore an old-fashioned bustle skirt and blouse, so I figured she had been a ghost for a long time.

  Loretta had been looking intently at her image when I entered the room. Seeing my reflection in the mirror, she turned around and smiled at me. “Ah, Harper, I was just trying out a new hairstyle. What do you think?”

  She piled her brown hair on top of her head, twisting it back from her face.

  “Um, very nice, I guess.” I looked around the small room and quickly saw that Monty wasn’t here either.

  “I need a change,” Loretta murmured. “I’m starting to look old, and I don’t like it. A lady has to work on her appearance.”

  I frowned. “Loretta, you are a ghost. Ghosts don’t age as far as I know.”

  Loretta scowled. “Really, Harper, you have a very bad habit of reminding me at every possible opportunity that I’m a ghost.” She narrowed her eyes as she glared at me. “You are being ghostist.”

  “What?” I asked, confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “It’s like being sexist, only you’re discriminating against me because I’m a ghost not because I’m a woman.”

  I put my hands on my hips and shook my head. “Whose conversations have you been listening in on?”

  “No one’s!” Loretta said, scandalized. “I would never do such a thing. I am able to think for myself.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “Okay, fine. I was listening in on one of Betty’s recent conversations. A friend of hers has lost her job, and they were saying it was because the manager was sexist.”

  I sighed. Loretta could be difficult at times, but it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t have many people to talk
to, so it wasn’t surprising she enjoyed eavesdropping on people’s conversations. Some days it was the only human interaction she had.

  “I’m really not ghostist, Loretta. I thought we were friends.”

  “So did I, before you started criticizing my appearance,” Loretta said sniffily.

  My mouth hung open. “I didn’t! I –” I broke off before we devolved into an argument.

  It didn’t matter, and I needed to let it go. The whole situation was futile. It was impossible to win an argument with Loretta, and I had more important things to concentrate on, namely finding Monty.

  Loretta pouted and moved back across to the fireplace. It wasn’t used anymore but had a pleasant stone surround, and Sarah had topped it with a display of dried flowers, which brightened up the small room.

  “Why are you here on your day off, anyway?” Loretta asked sullenly, staring at the dried flowers.

  “Because we have a new ghost. I was hoping he would come here, but he hasn’t arrived yet.”

  Loretta quickly lost her pout and smiled. “How exciting. Is it anyone I know?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

  I flopped down to sit in one of the armchairs, trying to decide what to do. Should I wait here for Monty? Or should I go out looking for him?

  “Well, don’t just leave me hanging,” Loretta said. “Tell me all about the new ghost.”

  I quickly told Loretta what had happened this morning and that the police suspected Monty had been poisoned.

  “We don’t know for sure that he was murdered,” I said. “But it looks like a strong possibility.”

  Loretta looked thoughtful. “Ghosts don’t normally hang around unless they have some unfinished business. Usually, that unfinished business concerns how or why they died.”

  Not for the first time, I wondered how Loretta had died and why she remained to haunt the diner. Whatever unfinished business she’d had, must be unresolved. Otherwise, she would have moved on.

  “Would you keep an eye out for Monty when I’m not here?” I asked Loretta. “I think he’s probably in shock.”