by Tonya Kappes
Hiss, Hiss. Mr. Prince Charming jumped off the bed. I looked out the window and Jordan was standing in front of the Cape Cod. He looked like he was checking out the Green Machine. I quickly grabbed the other doll and shoved them in the waist of my jeans and pulled my top down to cover them.
I ran into the family room and grabbed the magazine off the table. Mr. Prince Charming was gone. I didn’t have to worry about him. He could take care of himself.
“Hello there.” Jordan walked into the door. “I was going to walk over to your house. I saw your car over there.”
“I just got here and I helped myself to the spare key.” I pointed toward the coffee table where I put the key. “And just thought I’d wait.”
“And read A Cop’s World Magazine?” His brows dipped.
“Um,” I closed the magazine and looked at the front. Idiot. “I don’t smell any lasagna.”
“I didn’t know you were coming over, but I’m sure I can whip something up.” He took his holster off and sat it in the chair. He walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator like he was trying to find something to fix. “Is Oscar coming?”
“No.” I followed him and grabbed a handful of grapes off the vine that was sitting on the kitchen counter. “I really came here to ask you a few questions about my dad.”
Slowly he shut the refrigerator door. Standing there with his hand on the handle, he just stared at it. I stood behind him waiting for his answer, but he stood in silence.
“I mean, everyone told me that he and you were responding to a routine speeding stop and it went wrong. The guy pulled out a gun and fired two shots. One at your gut and one at my dad’s chest.” I recalled everything that Darla had told me, there was never a reason to question it until now. My entire existence had been a lie up until a few days ago, and I couldn’t help but hear Patience’s words about ‘no other crime’ since my father died. And if my father died in Whispering Falls, which all of Darla’s journal entries say, then how did Jordan know my dad?
“I see that you’ve been snooping around.” His voice was jittery.
“No, I’ve been sitting on your couch.” Oh, my. Feat knotted inside my stomach. Did he know that I took those funny looking dolls?
“Not here, June. Whispering Falls.” He placed both hands on the counter and took in a deep breath. “I was afraid this was going to happen.”
He stood up and shook his head.
“Please tell me. I’m accused of murder, and everything I know up until now has all been a lie.” I begged.
He pulled up his shirt and the scar from the gunshot wound was visible. He pointed to it. “I did get this from a routine traffic stop. But I didn’t know your father.” He took his holster out of the chair and sat it on the floor. He sat down. “When Darla moved in I felt sorry for you girls. It was just me and Oscar up until then, so I made sure I kept an eye out on you two. After awhile she started to open up about how you guys lived in a village and that your father had gotten killed. I didn’t ask any questions.”
“Did you know it was Whispering Falls?” I asked. Tears hung on to the bottom rim of my eye lids.
“No, not until the other day when I went to visit with Oscar and I saw the sign. Darla told me that she owned an herb shop.” He put his hands in his lap. “I put two and two together, like a good cop. The only thing that bothers me is that there are two unsolved crimes. Your father’s and now this other woman.”
“Ann.” I cringed. The pins from the dolls were beginning to stick me. I made my way to the door. “I better go. I think Oscar got the autopsy report back and I want to see if there is anything that will point the finger at someone else.”
Jordan followed behind me with the spare key in his hand and opened the door.
“Oscar has told me a few things and I’m going to help out as much as I can without getting into trouble.” He handed me the key to put back under the porcupine shoe cleaner. “You promise you will let me know if I can help you.”
I put my Girl Scout fingers in the air. “I promise.”
Chapter Eighteen
Nothing made sense. I looked over at the strange dolls in the passenger seat of the Green Machine. Things were getting more complicated by the minute.
Oscar seemed awfully suspicious but my intuition said “no way.” I couldn’t discount the nagging feeling that Oscar wasn’t doing all he could to help solve Ann’s murder. Not to mention he didn’t keep Constance busy while I asked Patience a few questions. The Oscar that lived in Locust Grove did everything he could to keep me safe.
Unfortunately, I was not feeling so safe.
I couldn’t forget what Patience had said about Oscar’s parents being spiritualists. Hmmm. . .how convenient it was for Oscar to talk me into moving to Whispering Falls.
And now these. I picked one of the dolls up. All sorts of questions formed in my head, but I wasn’t sure if I could trust Oscar at this point to even ask him about them.
Putting the doll back on the seat, I leaned a little more and flipped the glove box open. I patted around until I found what I was looking for.
Ding Dong. I pulled it out from my secret stash and just for a moment, the chocolate goodness made everything feel like it was going to be okay.
That went away as soon as I pulled into Whispering Falls and Oscar was standing on the porch. I slipped the dolls into the glove box and slammed it shut.
“Seriously, June?” Oscar scratched his head. “Why can’t you leave solving crimes to the professionals? Uncle Jordan called to tell me you are all worried. And you should be, but I’m doing everything I can. I promise.”
A little leery, I chose my words carefully, “You don’t seem to be doing anything to help, so I have to do it myself.” I unlocked the door. My eyes narrowed when I saw Mr. Prince Charming sitting in the couch in the sunlight, like he never left. But we both knew better. Oscar followed me in. “You, yourself even said that no one is talking to you.”
“We might live among spiritualists, but there are rules that have to be followed like in every other city.” He sat down on the couch and Mr. Prince Charming jumped down. “Why does that cat hate me?”
I shrugged and picked Mr. Prince Charming up, giving him a little love. I was beginning to wonder the same thing. From what I understood, animals had great instincts and could really sense someone that was bad. Mr. Prince Charming didn’t think Jordan was bad, did he?
“Why did you go see Uncle Jordan? I’m the cop here.” He had an annoyance in his voice.
“I wanted him to talk to you about getting this case solved.” I lied. There was really no need to tell Oscar about my dad’s death. That would open a whole new can of worms. “Didn’t he tell you why I was there?”
“Just that you were looking around and trying to solve Ann’s murder.” He stood up and walked back to the door. “I got Ann’s autopsy back and I’m going to go over it with the council before I can share anything with you.”
“Fine.” I shut the door behind him. I wasn’t too worried about the council, I wanted to know why Jordan didn’t tell Oscar that I wanted to know about my dad or that I had found out that my dad wasn’t with Jordan when he was shot, and that Jordan met us when we moved to Locust Grove.
I took the two concrete foot prints out of the pantry where I had stored them. They had the exact same ridges.
I drummed my fingers on Darla’s journal that was sitting on the kitchen counter. There had to be something there. Something concrete for me to go on. Surely there had to be some advice. Something more than ‘follow your instincts’ because my instincts were proving to be leading me in the wrong direction.
I went over the clues about Gerald and Petunia’s little secret with Ann; Chandra and Ann’s business partnership going up in flames and Izzy’s resentment towards Ann because she had to take her in. Not to mention all the stuff Petunia told me about my family and Oscar’s. And then there was Oscar. His lack of gathering clues, not to mention the funny dolls, were adding up to the fac
t that Oscar knew more about this village before we moved here than he’d let on.
I sat on the couch and opened up the journal.
“I don’t like the feeling of always being watched. No matter where I go or what I do, they always tell Otto. I have no friends. Only Eloise, and even she if off limits.”
Turn over, turn over. The hands curled around the neck. No! I searched the scene for any more clues like Oscar had asked me to do, but it was difficult to stop from trying to see who the victim was. Focus, June. Focus. I didn’t care about the victim as much as I wanted a new clue to who this killer was.
My heart sank to my stomach as the hands peeled away. The sun trickled into the depths of the water and focused on the space between the thumb and the forefinger. What is that? The sun got brighter. A mole? Man hands?
Quickly I jumped out of bed.
“Let’s go for a walk.” I motioned for the cat. It was time to visit Eloise. She helped Darla, surely she’d be up for helping me. I grabbed the dolls. For some reason, my intuition told me to take them.
Chapter Nineteen
Eloise said it was in the clearing beyond the wood.
Mr. Prince Charming was all over going for a walk. He trotted ahead of me leading me straight toward the big rock as if he knew exactly where we were going.
The smudging bundles were still lying next to the big rock, which I found very odd. If Gerald was accusing me of trying to murder him, I would have thought Oscar would have come up here to get the bundle of the remaining cedar.
I set the dolls on the rock and gathered the bundles into a pile next to the rock. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think that this was definitely negligence on Oscar’s part. This only added to my suspicions that Oscar was somehow involved.
I glanced at the dolls. The rock illuminated around them. I grabbed them and pulled away when the heat coming off them was steaming up the air. I picked up the bundle closest to me and took the dolls off the rock. Immediately the rock went back to being a rock and the bundle smoked.
I fanned it to put it out, only it created more smoke.
Hiss, hiss. Mr. Prince Charming ran in the opposite direction.
“What? I’m trying!” I yelled after him, throwing the bundle on the ground and stomping it out with my shoe. “I hope that wasn’t the cedar one.” I looked at the charred remains. The last thing I needed was for Gerald to have another reaction. “What was that?”
Something in the opposite direction of where the cat had run moved behind a tree.
“Is somebody there?” I yelled in the direction, but nothing moved or came forward. I shrugged it off to something else that didn’t make sense in Whispering Falls, and grabbed the dolls.
Mewl, mewl. The cat sat on the edge of the woods dragging his tail along the grass.
“Fine. I’ll follow you.” I looked at the pile of smudging bundles to make sure nothing else as going to catch fire, and made a mental note to grab them on my way back.
The further we walked, the foggier it got, and the more I realized that Mr. Prince Charming had no clue where to go and my instincts weren’t giving me any hunches.
Just when I was about to turn around, something caught my eye.
Wow. Between a couple of trees, there was a platform built high off the ground and on the platform was a two-story house. The wooden stairs led up to a cozy wrap-around porch. I tried to see if there were any lights on, which I should’ve seen through the fog, but it didn’t appear that anyone was there.
This had to be Eloise’s house. No wonder Darla loved it here. But why would she live all the way out here?
I walked around the side. Lanterns hung from the tree dotted the fog and shone enough for me to see the gravel pathway. It was hard to concentrate on where it led with all the beautiful flowers that were planted on both sides. I ran my hand along the vibrant purple, green, red, orange, and yellow flowers. Wisteria vines provided a canopy leading to a clearing. It reminded me of the beautiful vine that covered the overhang of the front of A Dose of Darla.
I blinked. I blinked harder. My heart raced as though it was going to leap right out of my chest. Rows and rows of herbs were neatly planted and proportioned perfectly. All I could see was Mr. Prince Charming’s tail waving above the rows as he darted in and out of the herbs.
Each row had a painted wood sign with the names of the herbs that followed in line. Herbs I had never heard of. I walked in front of each row, touching each herb sign.
“Rose petals, moonflower, mandrake root, seaweed, shrinking violet, dream dust, fairy dust, magic peanut, lucky clover, steal rose,” I whispered. “Spooky shroom?”
What in the world where all of these used for?
“I wondered how long it was going to take you to find me.” Eloise popped up. Her short red hair glistened from the ray of sunshine peeking through the fog. “I’m just picking some Wolfsbane. It snaps off the vine much better with the fog.” She held the orange furry plant in the air.
Wolfsbane? I wasn’t going to question it.
She stood up and with her arms straight out and her head tilted back, she inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled. “I love foggy mornings. Well?” She cocked her head to the side with a question in her eyes.
“Well what?” I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to apologize for trespassing or Mr. Prince Charming batting at the little creatures flying in the air. I scolded him, “Stop it!”
“Are you ready to eat?” She gestured toward the opposite end of the garden to a gazebo with twinkling lights twisted around the wooden spindles. In the center was a table covered in a yellow cloth, and a place setting for two.
I guess she had been expecting me.
“How did you know I was coming?” Tension crept in my shoulders. I reached back and kneaded it before I walked toward the gazebo.
Eloise glanced over her shoulder and laughed. There was a spark in her eye. She threw the Wolfsbane into a simmering pot and stirred it before she came to join me.
“Let’s say that I can see into the future,” She folded her hands in front of her. “Most of the time. Plus I figured you had a lot of questions and eventually my name was going to come up.”
I sat on the rickety chair and carefully scooted myself up to the table. There were so many different options to choose from, I didn’t know what to eat first. The assortment of scones, fruits, quiches, and a Ding Dong.
“These are my favorite.” I picked up the Ding Dong and peeled back the foil wrapper.
“Your mom told me.” She ate one too. “Your mom visited me one time after she moved and told me that you had discovered artificial foods like Ding Dongs.” She leaned forward and whispered, “Your mother loved them too.” A smile crossed her face. She knew she had just told me a big secret. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
She was right. I did. And there was no beating around the bush.
“Exactly how did you meet my mom?” I looked around the scones and picked out a blueberry one with a lot of powdered sugar on top.
“Darla was an unusual one. She had agreed to live in the village when she married Otto. He wanted to serve the place where he grew up. Only she wasn’t a spiritualist, which was good because that meant she could open her own shop.” Eloise rearranged the droopy flowers in the center of the table. They sprang to life from her touch. She brushed her hands together. “Her homeopathic store wasn’t doing well, and I had just been banned from the village. It was a win situation for both of us.”
“What do you mean?” I reached out to touch a flower sitting on the table. Eloise took it before I touched it and put it in the vase with the other vibrant flowers.
“Darla loved homeopathic medicine. People come here to seek true remedies that make them feel better. That is what Whispering Falls provides for all those visitors. They leave feeling great.” She picked up the pink tea server and poured some in each cup. “Darla was straight homeopathic with no little extra . . .um. . .feel good.”
“Feel good?”
Darla told many of her customers at the flea market that it took a few weeks for the homeopathic cure to take effect.
“My potions are instant. That is what needed to be sold in A Dose of Darla so we made a pact. She could use my potions to help in her remedies in exchange to visit me. The only person who knew about it was Izzy. She knew Darla’s cures had gotten a little extra added in and knew Darla didn’t do it on her own.”
“And in the end, you two became best friends?” It made a lot of sense. “The recipe book that she used is yours?”
“It is. When your father was murdered, she had to leave the village for her safety. She had you to raise so I gave her my book.” She looked out into her garden. “I haven’t had any friends since I was banned.”
“Murdered?” I recalled Patience calling my dad’s death a crime, but not murder. “I thought he was killed through a crime gone bad.”
“Here, have a few berries.” She shoved the bowl in my face.
“According to some of the spiritualists. . .”
She wasn’t going to answer that, so I filed it in the back of my head and continued with my questions she might answer. “Why were you banned?”
Her eyes stared at me. I tried not to give a reaction. “I’m from a village out west that allows inter-spiritual relationships. Very common. They found out that I was mixed and told me I couldn’t live there so I created my own little world here.” Her hands swept in front of her.
“So you aren’t a full-spiritualist?” This whole other world was something I only thought lived in children’s stories.
“I’m a Fairiwick.” She held her hands together and blew across them. Golden sprinkles filled the air and floated down, covering the ground as daisies. “I’m part fairy, part spiritualist. My mother was a fairy, my father was a homeopathic potion maker.”
“I. . .” I struggled to understand what she was saying.
“Really my dad was part Warlock part potion maker, but in my village we all were sorta like. . .” she hesitated and then walked over to the cauldron. Slowly she mixed the bubbling mixture with the paddle. Green smoke hovered over the golden pot. She continued, “A mix of things. And that is something Whispering Falls doesn’t allow.”
