A Charming Crime

by Tonya Kappes

  “Yes.” He nodded and put his hand out. “I’m waiting on payment.”

  “I. . .”I stammered, looking back and forth between them. “I’m a bit confused. Smudging? I thought he was crazy.”

  Izzy threw her long blonde head back and laughed so loud it made Mr. Prince Charming wake up from his nap. He stretched and arched his back in the air before he ran out the door.

  The tall man also threw his head back, his long black hair falling behind his shoulder, exposing several feathers that were braided into it. Instantly I knew he was Native American and delivering herbs for this smudging thing, whatever that was.

  “I’m so sorry.” I took a couple hundred dollars out of the register and handed it to him. He was obviously the contact for the village on all things we need from the Native American village.

  This was a plus. There were many times I needed something for a remedy in Locust Grove and couldn’t get it because no one sold it. If I wanted it, I was going to have to find a Native American to give it to me. Now I had that contact.

  He grabbed the money, put it in his pocket and left.

  “I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” I apologized to Izzy. She took this village very seriously.

  “No problem.” She looked around. “I’m glad you have put your gifts to work today, and not wasted them at the flea market.”

  “Izzy?” I stopped her before she left. I looked around the store and made sure no one was around us. “I’d like to buy that snow globe from you.”

  Her eyes shot through me. “We can talk about that later.” Her words were quick and sharp.

  “There was one in particular. . .”I was going to tell her about Madame Torres, but she cut me off.

  “Have a wonderful day.” She turned on her heeled-pointy-toed, laced up black boots, the A-frame skirt twirled, and she walked out.

  I was going to get my hands on Madame Torres with or without Izzy’s permission, but I had to focus on this smudging ceremony.

  I could see the top of Chandra’s turban weaving in and out of the crowd.

  “I wanted to pop in with a quick hello while I had a person in the mudd bath.” She chuckled, and then shivered. “A woman came in for a manicure. Of course I read her palm without her knowing, and talked her into a mud bath. She’s going to need a lot more pampering with the stress she’s going to have in her life.” She tapped her long blue nails on the cash register. “Looks like business has been good.”

  “I can’t complain.” Truth be told, I couldn’t wait to see how much I had sold today. I was sure I had made more today than I had made last year at the flea market.

  I was glad to see Chandra. It gave me an opportunity to ask her a few questions about Ann while the customers picked up the retail bottles and read the homeopathic ingredients that was going to cure them.

  “You could tell by my palm that I didn’t kill Ann, right?” I was talking about how she had looked at my hand yesterday after I had passed out.

  “Oh, dear,” she giggled, “it’s not my place to judge. According to Petunia, Ann hasn’t come back. And we all know what that means.”

  I assumed she was talking about the whole good soul, bad soul thing. And I didn’t even understand all of that.

  “You and Ann got along, right?” I leaned over the counter a bit more, pulled my hair behind my shoulder so I could hear her. “Even after she tried to sue you?”

  “No one got along with Ann.” She tapped her temple. “Gerald did. Once I caught him in here looking through the honey homeopathic cures? Did he ask you about honey cures?”

  I wished Chandra would stay on the subject, but she was flighty and always nervous. By her constant laughter, I could tell talking about Ann had made her uncomfortable. Plus she never answered my question about her relationship with Ann.

  “I must go. Many customers need their nails done.” She smiled. “And a few little life questions answered for them without asking is a nice touch to keep them coming back.”

  I waved goodbye and helped the next customer.

  I wondered if everyone in the village gave their customers little tid-bits about their life using their spiritual gifts. Bella did it with the bracelet and Chandra practiced on her customers. No wonder people came back to Whispering Falls.

  I pulled a Ding Dong out from behind the counter and savored every single morsel while recalling what Chandra had said about honey.

  Why didn’t Gerald get fresh honey from Petunia? Why would he break in A Dose of Darla? A light bulb went off in my head. Did Petunia say that Ann was allergic to honey?

  Hmm. . .only one way to find out. Patience Karima. I had to get her alone, away from Constance.

  After all the customers were gone, I restocked the shelves exactly the way Darla always had, I had one thing and one thing only on my mind. Patience Karima and that autopsy report.

  I locked the wooded door behind us, and Mr. Prince Charming and I proceeded to walk down Main Street. Some of the shops were still open, especially Gollybee Pet Store. I’d imagine her store was the last one closed every day. Who couldn’t resist a look at some great animals that cohabit, not to mention the live tree?

  I popped my head in to say hello.

  Petunia was sitting on the grass floor while the animals and customers milled about. I waved when she looked up. She waved back. There was a bird sitting on her shoulder. A few days ago I would’ve thought it was strange, it seemed normal. My new normal.

  “You hoo.”

  I looked up and Bella stood on the sidewalk, in front of her shop, waving her hands in the air. “I’ve got your bracelet.”

  I had completely forgotten that I had left my bracelet there this morning so she could put the new dog charm on. At this point, I was going to take all the luck I could get. I hurried down to get it from her.

  “That was fast.” My eyes lit up watching her clasp the charm bracelet on my arm. It reminded me of the little turtle charm, and how much I longed to have it back.

  Which reminded me of Ann, and the possibility that she was killed by honey. But why would Gerald want her dead?

  “Thank you.” I admired the bracelet, and then glanced down the street towards Two Sisters and a Funeral.

  The Karima sisters were scurrying down the street.

  Gerald came out of the Gathering Grove, and locked the door behind him. He tapped his top hat on his head. He was off to somewhere fast. He didn’t even notice us across the street.

  “Hello,” A whisper grazed my ear.

  “Hello,” I chirped and turned to see who greeted me. No one but Bella was around me.

  “Where is everyone going?” They all seemed to be heading in the same direction.

  “It’s time for the smudging ceremony. I hope you got the ingredients with you.” Bella’s brows drew together. She looked confused. “See you there.”

  There was that word again. Smudging.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Smudging ceremony?” I asked and watched the entire village shut down as if everyone knew what was going on but me. Even Mr. Prince Charming had gotten curious and followed everyone that was walking toward the lake. “I don’t even know what that is.”

  Bella touched her head. “You need to go back to your shop and focus on the smudging ceremony. You will figure out what you need.”

  This was no time to rely on “you have a spiritual gift speech, use it.” I was a fact kind of girl. The girl that used Darla’s recipes to come up with her own. I needed a starting point.

  “I will let you in on a little secret. A smudging ceremony takes place in the wooded area beyond the lake. There is a large rock that you won’t miss. After something, um, say negative happens in the village, we cleanse the village of any evil spirits.” We nodded at passerby’s heading to the ceremony. “Since you are the new homeopathic spiritualist of the village, you should know everything we need in order to cleanse the village of the evil spirits. I’m just the astrologer.”

  “But.” I was going to protest, but
she left without saying goodbye.

  I looked back at the Gathering Grove, realizing that Gerald and my questions were going to have to wait. Even the smudging ceremony was going to wait a little bit longer.

  I tugged on the big wooden door of Mystic Lights just in case it was unlocked and if it was did that constitute breaking and entering? Of course it wasn’t unlocked, so I headed around the back of the cottage shop to check out any other way in.

  Each window was locked. I glanced at the cellar doors. My hands gripped the handles, my knuckles white. Without thinking twice about going deep into the eerie basement, I flung the doors open and bolted down the steps.

  It was just as icky as I imagined a cellar would be. I pulled the string on the single bulb light. You’d think Izzy would’ve invested in a nice light since it was a light shop. There were cobwebs everywhere

  Phewt, phewt. I blew my way through them and pulled them off my face. I could see the faint green glow from Madame Torres’s globe. It led me to the stairs that would lead inside the store.

  Creek, creek. One by one the steps made their own melodic song of eeriness. The glow seeped under the crack of the door, getting brighter with each step.

  Slowly I put my hand on the knob and tried to turn it, but it was locked. I shook the handle to jiggle it loose.

  “Damn,” I whispered. It was not going to budge. I leaned my shoulder up against the door and pushed. Still nothing.

  “Madame Torres?” I pressed my lips up to the crack. “Can you hear me?”

  “What? Where are you?” Madame Torres snarled from the other side. “Isadora Solstice put me in the closet. I don’t like the dark.” She let out a cry and the glow was gone.

  “Madame Torres?” I called for her. “Are you there? I need to know who I need to stay away from. Madame Torres?”

  She didn’t respond and the crack stayed dark. I had to get my hands on her, but how?

  I had no time to try to break in. Evidently I had to perform a smudging ceremony, whatever that was. I made sure that I closed the cellar doors so Izzy wouldn’t know I was there. The streets were empty as I made my way to the shop. I couldn’t help but peer over my back. If I was in danger like Madame Torres said, and someone was framing me for Ann’s murder, surely they were watching me. But who?

  After I unlocked the wooden door, I stood inside of A Dose of Darla and inhaled—deeply. Surely something was going to come flooding into my spiritualist’s body. Nothing but a craving for a Ding Dong came flooding.

  I opened my black bag and pulled out a Ding Dong and Darla’s journal.

  I’d bet Darla had done this smudging thing a time or two. I thumbed through the worn leather journal looking for anything that resembled a ceremony.

  “Things you need to know,” I read Darla’s handwriting out loud. Who was she talking to? Who needs to know what? Was this journal intended for me? As much as I wanted to sit there and read through it, there wasn’t time to explore my questions. I dog-eared the page for later reading and continued to thumb through it.

  “Intuition?” My gut told me to stop and read it. “Always rely on your intuition. You have always had a great sense of feeling. That is why I think you are a spiritualist like your father. When you really need something, you need to stop and listen to your gut.”

  I flipped the page. “That’s it?” I flipped a couple more pages, but the topics were different. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  I put the journal in my black bag and strapped it across my chest. I walked to the back room where most of the herbs were hanging and ran my fingers along the bottom-edge of them, trying to “listen to my gut” as Darla had put it. I had no choice but to listen to my intuition.

  Sage? Sage was a healer. That sounded good. And that was what I relied on to get me what I needed for the ceremony. After all, it was now my ceremony and I could do what I wanted to.

  Which made me think. If I was doing all of it now, who had been doing it? I made a mental note to ask Izzy about it. I wondered if that was a clue to who had been conspiring to make me the village killer.

  With all the herbs in my arms, I grabbed the journal, and then I made my way around the lake. I couldn’t help but stop where they had found Ann and brush my shoes along the tall grass. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I did hope that Oscar might’ve missed something. Anything.

  The grass parted exposing the muddy floor before the edge of the lake. I bent down when I saw what looked like a shoe print. A couple of shoe prints. And the toes where more dug in than the back of the shoe, as if they stood on their toes for a lengthy period of time. Which someone would if they were holding someone down by their neck, right?

  One thing that struck me funny, I was the one who was going to perform the ceremony to heal the village from the killer, and I was the only suspect.

  I heard the crowd gathering in the woods. The footprints were going to have to wait. If no one saw them by now, no one was going to be looking anytime soon. Or so I hoped.

  Everyone parted when they saw me coming, making a pathway for me to walk to the rock. Bella was right it was a huge rock that had some significant meaning to the village. What the meaning was, I had no clue, reminding me that I had a lot to learn about my new life.

  Maybe I should just start reading up about life in jail.

  I laid the three herbs I had gathered and put them across the rock. A collective sigh of relief fell over the crowd like I really did something wonderful. That was all I needed. Dramatically, I took apart the sage stalks and light one on fire.

  I waved it around me and then danced on the outskirts of the crowd. Letting the smoke of the sage take over the night air. I remember Darla taking her incense and doing something similar. It made me laugh thinking about her and our little dance.

  Only now I know our little dances were much more than that. She was trying to keep me safe. But from what, or who?

  “Sage is a healing herb. Breathe it. Let it come into your soul. We are in need to heal our village,” I repeated, making my way behind the crowd as they swept the smoke close to their bodies.

  I made my way back to the rock. I laid the smoldering Sage on the rock to let it continue to simmer and picked up the Cedar stalks.

  I lit them.

  “If everyone would bow their heads.” The cedar began to smoke. I had no idea how to pray, but I’d seen it many times when I went to church with Oscar and his uncle Jordan. It was the only time Darla let me go to church. “Please drive out all the negative energy and bring good influences into our village.”

  Everyone had their eyes closed and heads bowed when I went by them, waving the burning cedar over their heads.

  I made it to Gerald. He opened his eyes in shock, threw his hands over his mouth, and took off into the dark night.

  “Shhhh.” I quieted the crowd down. As I continued on my cedar trip around the group, I heard someone make a comment about Gerald and how I must’ve driven his evil spirit off.

  Without hesitation I repeated the ritual of putting the smoldering cedar on the rock next to the sage and picked up the sweet grass, lighting it on fire.

  “Everyone!” My voice boomed into the darkness. “Lift up your heads, pray into the smoke. Sweet grass carries your words in the smoke up to the gods.”

  As if the gods had really spoken, all the four-legged creatures and fireflies gathered into the circle, all their heads to the sky. Remembering they might be good souls that have come back, I made them part of my speech.

  “All creatures are welcome.” I shook the smoky sweet grass up and down as I walked around. “We are all one!”

  I gathered all the clippings in one pile and let them burn together. I rubbed my hands together in the smoke and then brought the smoke to my body, letting it run all over me. I especially brought the smoke up to my head to cleanse any nightmares I might have.

  With the smoke billowing above me, I lifted my hands and closed my eyes. “We are entering into the unseen powers of the pla
nts and with the spirits of the ceremony.”

  Where in the hell did that come from? I opened one eye to see if everyone was watching. They weren’t. They were taking it all in.

  “As all good relationships, there has to be honor and respect if this relationship is going to work!”

  I fell across the rock for a dramatic ending. I waited for a few seconds before I got back up, so everyone had an opportunity to open their eyes and see me.

  “Good night.” I bowed my head waiting for everyone to leave the circle. “Good night.”

  With my head bowed toward my feet, I watched Mr. Prince Charming making his figure 8 around my ankles, and purring as if he was letting me know that I did a good job.

  “Wee bit of a drama queen?” Oscar clapped his hands together.

  “Where were you?” I asked, keeping my voice down because not everyone had left. “I looked for you.”

  “I was standing by one of the trees in the woods. I didn’t want to knock you off your game.” He laughed. “Besides, I don’t have a spiritual gift and was not invited to the party.”

  “But I thought you had to in order to live in the village?” That didn’t make sense to me. I could’ve sworn I heard Izzy tell me that. There was so much that had been thrown at me, maybe I had gotten it all mixed up.

  “I don’t know about that.” He pulled a Ding Dong from the pocket of his jacket. “Want company?”

  I grabbed it and split it in half.

  “I’m always up for your company.”

  We walked in silence past the lake and up the hill to my rental, savoring every single delicious bite.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The cleansing must’ve worked. I didn’t have a nightmare and slept like a baby for the first time in years. Even Mr. Prince Charming was curled up next to me when I woke up.

  “Glad to see you didn’t steal any more charms.” I ran my hands down his back and along his tail.

  A bit of happiness was in my soul. There were things I had to do, like get a lawyer, figure out how to get a mold of those footprints at the lake, and talk to Gerald.