“From what?”
“I’m cutting you off from Cloven Hoof.”
Axel grabbed my arm. “You don’t need to do that. You’re losing good business by turning me away. There’s nothing wrong with regular mushroom consumption. It’s been proven. You tell everyone that.”
“There is a problem if you rely on it. I’ve seen you staggering away some nights. You shouldn’t eat that many.”
“They help me relax. I have it under control. It’s not a problem.”
“It will be my problem if you don’t get a handle on things,” I said.
“It will be different once the election results are in,” Axel said. “I needed a little extra boost. I’ve been working long hours on this.”
“You’ve never worked at anything in your life.”
“Which is why I’m so stressed out. Tempest, I need this, or my dad is turning off the tap. He told me I need to find a passion and said to try politics. Well, he actually said I should work toward world domination, crushing as many skulls as I can along the way. I thought I’d go for something a little less messy. Demon dads, what are you gonna do with them?”
I pressed my lips together. “You’re running for mayor to keep your trust fund?”
He nodded. “This is important to me.”
“Do you need it enough that you’d kill for it?”
“No, I want to win fairly. And once I got into it, it wasn’t so bad. I’ve spent weeks getting to know what everyone wants. I don’t want to turn the place into some cheap tourist destination like Mannie does. Willow Tree Falls is all about magic and protection and keeping people safe. It’s not about exploiting our healing stones or thermal spas. The magic we use and the way your family protects the rest of the world from dangers they can’t even imagine is incredible. That needs protecting.”
“That’s quite some speech.”
Axel nodded. “Dad wrote it for me. He wants to keep Willow Tree Falls just as it is.”
I sighed. “I don’t disagree with any of that.”
“The balance we have is ideal. We don’t need to change things. I love Willow Tree Falls and only want to make it stronger. If we fill the place with overexcited non-magicals, it could tip the balance the wrong way. It could make our jobs harder.”
I nodded, surprised by his emotive outpouring. There was more to Axel than I’d realized. Sure, he’d been pushed into this by his dad, but he cared about Willow Tree Falls.
“I promise you, Tempest, I would never kill for this. I had nothing to do with Deacon’s murder.”
“Where were you the night Deacon was killed? After you left Cloven Hoof, where did you go?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “This is a bit embarrassing, but I was so out of it, I passed out and woke up the next morning on the edge of the forest.”
I groaned. “When I opened Cloven Hoof, I made assurances that no one would get themselves in trouble. Everyone would use my produce responsibly.”
“It’s my fault. Merrie always cuts me off before I get too bad.”
“But not the night of Deacon’s murder?”
Axel ducked his head. “I might have bought somebody else’s mushrooms off them. I paid double the price you sell them for.”
I smacked him around the side of his head. “Don’t ever do that again.”
He rubbed the side of his head. “Jeez, I’m sorry. Even more so because you think badly of me.”
I blew hair out of my eyes and tilted my head as I heard people approaching.
“Mom, you need to leave this alone.” A harassed sounding Giovanni strode behind the curtains, closely followed by his mother, who fussed at the collar of his shirt.
I grabbed hold of Axel and shoved him into one of the rooms, easing the door almost shut, so I could peek through the gap.
“Why are we hiding from the Romers?” Axel whispered.
“Mrs. Romer hates me, and she looks furious.” I did not want another run-in with her anytime soon.
“That’s her default face. Even when Mrs. Romer is supposed to be happy, she can make small children cry if they see her.”
I pressed a finger to my lips as I waited for them to leave.
“Remember, you need to keep quiet. Keep your head down, and no one needs to know what happened.” Mrs. Romer continued to fuss with her son’s collar.
He shrugged his shoulders and stepped away. “I’m hardly going to tell anybody what happened.”
“Make sure you don’t. I know what you’re like when you get nervous. We have to keep the family name intact.”
“What are they talking about?” Axel whispered.
“I’m not sure.”
“This doesn’t feel right,” Giovanni said. “It had to be done, but—”
“But nothing. Action had to be taken. You worry too much.”
“I’m right to be worried.”
Mrs. Romer slapped her son’s cheek. “Less cowardly talk. Be a man. Be the man your father would have been proud of.”
“I try,” Giovanni muttered as his chin dropped to his chest.
“Try harder. And stop pouting. What happened was the right thing. You stay quiet and everything will be fine.”
“Yes, Mom.” Giovanni’s shoulders were slumped as he followed Mrs. Romer back out into the main hall.
“What was all that about?” Axel said.
I eased the door open and stepped out, my thoughts racing and my heart thumping. Giovanni was a mommy’s boy, but even they snapped if pushed hard enough. “I think... I’m not sure, but I think it had something to do with Deacon’s murder.”
Axel followed me out and closed the door. “How do you figure that?”
“Mrs. Romer needs Giovanni to stay quiet about something. Something important enough to ruin the family name. Murder would ruin their reputation.”
“Why would Giovanni want Deacon dead?”
“I don’t think he did. This has nothing to do with Deacon. This has everything to do with Giovanni’s relationship with Star.”
Axel’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t even know they were dating.”
“The problem is, Star is also seeing Mannie Winter behind Giovanni’s back.”
Axel snorted a laugh. “You can’t be serious. If that’s true, Star has terrible taste in men.”
I stared hard at the curtain that concealed us. Could Giovanni have done this? “Giovanni killed Deacon. He planned to frame Mannie for the murder to ruin his chance to be our new mayor, but something went wrong, and Aurora got dragged into it.”
“It’s not possible. Giovanni can’t be a killer.” Axel waved a hand in the air. “He’s so... so, apron-whipped. His mom would never let him get away with it. She watches him like a hawk. I bet he even needs permission to go out at night.”
I rubbed my forehead. Axel had a point. Giovanni was a sweet guy and his mom ruled his life.
“Their conversation must have been about something else,” Axel said.
My pulse quickened. “Maybe I’m looking at the wrong Romer. My mom always says how strong the Romer women are. She’s always telling me to be careful around Mrs. Romer and not get on her bad side. You don’t think...” I shook my head.
Axel stood up straight. “You’re thinking the old lady did it?”
“She might be old, but she comes with a hell of a power. And she’s fiercely proud of keeping the family name respectable. What if she found out Star was cheating on her son? Some mothers will stop at nothing to protect their children.”
“She killed Deacon because...”
“Mrs. Romer killed Deacon, meaning to frame Mannie.” I shook my head again. “But something happened, and she didn’t get the chance.”
“It definitely did, since your sister was in the frame.”
I paced backwards and forwards. I was still missing something. “Why kill Deacon and attack Petra? And why try to frame Aurora?”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mayor Grenville’s voice boomed over the PA system, “I would like to
introduce you to your new mayor.”
The curtain shielding us was yanked up. Everyone stared at Axel and me.
Chapter 23
“Tempest! Axel!” Mayor Grenville stared at us. “I wasn’t expecting either of you to be here. You’re not even running for mayor, Tempest.”
I stared around at the sea of curious faces. Since everyone was in the hall, now seemed like the best opportunity to reveal what I knew about Deacon’s murder.
I stalked over and held out my hand for the microphone. “Can I borrow this?”
“Well, we do have a new mayor to announce.” Grenville looked over his shoulder at Axel.
“I’ll just be a minute. It’s important.”
Mayor Grenville scratched his head. “Everybody, I’d like to welcome Tempest Crypt to the stage, who, by the way, is not our new mayor. He will arrive shortly.”
The sound of cautious clapping filled my ears. I raised my hand. “I need you all to know that Aurora Crypt is innocent of Deacon Feathers’ murder.”
A murmur went around the room.
“I know she’s been arrested twice and questioned, but she’s innocent.” I sought out Aurora in the crowd and nodded at her. She gave me a thumbs-up, a worried look on her face.
Mannie stood to one side of the stage looking uncomfortably sweaty in a lurid pink shirt and plum colored slacks. Star stood near him while keeping a safe distance from the pinch-faced Mrs. Winter. Star’s gaze kept moving from Mannie to Giovanni, who stood with his mother. Mrs. Romer had a wicked scowl on her face.
At the back of the room stood Rhett and his biker gang. He nodded at me as I caught his eye.
I took a deep breath. I was either about to reveal a killer or make a complete fool of myself. “I know who killed Deacon Feathers.” I saw Dazielle approach the stage, a furious look in her eyes. I was running out of time. “Let me explain. Mannie Winter and Star Fairfax are seeing each other.”
Mrs. Winter made a squawking sound and spun on her heel toward Mannie.
Everyone’s attention shifted to the two of them.
Mannie adjusted his shirt collar and muttered under his breath to his wife.
I noticed Star discreetly moving toward the exit. Smart girl.
“Star is also dating Giovanni Romer.”
Giovanni’s head shot up, and he stared at me.
I glanced at Mrs. Romer. If looks could kill, I’d be hung, drawn, and quartered by now. I had no evidence she was involved with Deacon’s murder, but if I was right, she’d do anything to protect her son.
“Giovanni killed Deacon in order to discredit Mannie and ruin his chances in this election.”
“That’s not true,” Giovanni said. “I had nothing to do with Deacon’s murder. I liked him.”
“Be quiet,” Mrs. Romer snapped, her hand clamped on his arm.
Star stared at Giovanni. “You love me that much that you’d try to frame Mannie to get me all to yourself?”
I shook my head. And they say romance is dead.
“If that’s true, why was my bar broken into?” Petra moved to the front of the stage. “What has Giovanni got to do with that? And why did he plant evidence to frame your sister?”
Everyone’s attention returned to me.
I cleared my throat. “Petra, didn’t you mention something about wanting to get out of the business of bar ownership? What do you think you’ll do next?”
Petra glanced at Giovanni and Mrs. Romer. “Well, I have done some investigation into opening a new telegram service.”
“Which would put you in direct competition with Mrs. Romer.”
Mrs. Romer glared at Petra. “We don’t need another telegram store in Willow Tree Falls. Ours works just fine.”
“You overcharge. There’s no competition. I figured I could set up my own service and undercut you. People have no choice but to use you.”
“No one would use your service,” Mrs. Romer snapped. “Everyone comes to us. The Romers have run the business for hundreds of years.”
“That doesn’t mean you run it well,” Petra said.
I tapped the mic to get their attention. “No matter who would run a better service, perhaps Giovanni decided he needed you out of the running. He couldn’t risk a rival setting up and making things difficult for him.”
Giovanni opened his mouth, but Mrs. Romer glared at him, and he kept quiet.
“What nonsense,” Mrs. Romer said. “Giovanni had nothing to do with that. You should ask your sister who killed Deacon and injured Petra.”
“It wasn’t her. Even Angel Force figured out the evidence implicating Aurora in Petra’s attack was planted.”
Dazielle glared up at me but then nodded.
“Aurora was an easy target,” I said, thinking on my feet as the pieces fell into place. “Giovanni saw the angels were interested in her, so he made their job easy for them.”
Mrs. Romer glanced over at Aurora. “My boy did no such thing.”
“Aurora, when was the last time you saw either Giovanni or Mrs. Romer in Heaven’s Door?” I asked her.
Aurora tapped a finger against her lip. “It was a few days ago, after I was arrested for the first time. I remember because Mrs. Romer needed a particular type of herb, and I didn’t have any on the shelves. It was a rare type of marigold. I was sure I had some dried in the back, but it took me ages to find it.”
“You left Mrs. Romer in the store with no one watching her?”
“I did. But I trust Mrs. Romer.”
“And I bet you left your door unlocked, so she could have gotten into your apartment if she wanted to.”
“Oh! Well, yes. I never lock it. There’s no one in Willow Tree Falls that I don’t trust.”
“That means nothing,” Mrs. Romer said. “I’m an old lady. I can’t climb the stairs.”
“You can,” I said. “The last time I was in the telegram store, you stamped down your own staircase well enough. It would have been easy for you to sneak up to Aurora’s apartment, steal hair from her hairbrush, take one of her shoes, and plant them in Petra’s bar. You wanted to divert attention away from your son and onto my sister.”
“You cannot prove that,” Mrs. Romer said.
Annoyingly, she was right. I looked at Dazielle, who shook her head and shrugged.
“Angel Force will take Giovanni in for questioning. It won’t take them long to get him talking.”
“They’ll do no such thing,” Mrs. Romer said. “My son is innocent.”
Giovanni nodded, not even bothering to try to defend himself, while his mom did such a good job.
I agreed with Mrs. Romer about Giovanni’s innocence. I was sure she wasn’t innocent, though.
“Giovanni, what’s your alibi for the night Deacon died?”
He glanced at his mother, and she nodded, giving him permission to speak. “Well, I don’t recall.”
“He was with me,” Mrs. Romer said, “all night. We closed the store, I cooked Giovanni dinner, and we stayed in together.”
He bowed his head and nodded.
“Wasn’t that the night we were supposed to meet?” Star asked from her relatively safe place close to the exit. “We were going to have an early dinner before I went and met...” She stopped and looked over at Mannie. Her cheeks flushed bright pink. “Well, I was going to meet Mannie later that night, so I said we could meet early. You were with me until eight o’clock. You mentioned nothing about your mom cooking you dinner.”
“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t with me,” Mrs. Romer said. “I’m an old woman. I simply got my timings muddled.”
Giovanni backed away, his hands fluttering against his chest and panic in his eyes. “I had nothing to do with this.” His anxious gaze shifted to his mom.
“I told you to keep quiet,” she hissed at him. “And stop shaking.”
“If that’s true, you won’t mind talking to Angel Force, so they can clear your name,” I said to Giovanni. “And they also have an unidentified fingerprint on the shoe planted at the
Ancient Imp. I reckon it will be a perfect match for Giovanni.”
“It will not.” Mrs. Romer licked her lips, a hint of panic flaring behind those beady black eyes.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Giovanni bumped into several people as he backed away. “I was with my mom.”
“And Star,” I said. “You forgot that bit. What else have you forgotten?”
“I wouldn’t forget killing someone,” Giovanni said.
I noticed Rhett and his gang move to block the door to prevent anyone escaping.
“You should confess now, Giovanni,” I said. “Angel Force will go easier on you if you do.”
I ignored the fact Dazielle shook her head and glared at me.
“I can’t,” Giovanni said. “Mom, help me.”
“Mrs. Romer, is there anything you’d like to add?” I asked.
“My son is innocent.” She hurried over and grabbed Giovanni’s arm. “Stop bothering him.”
“He’ll be in for a lot more bother if you’re not truthful.”
Dazielle approached the Romers and touched Giovanni’s elbow. “We should talk at the station, where it’s private. It seems you’ve got a few things you need to get off your chest.”
“No!” Mrs. Romer’s hand shot out, and a blast of magic slammed into Dazielle, knocking her to the ground. “Keep your hands off my son.”
I clutched the microphone as the crowd dispersed away from Mrs. Romer. Magic shimmered around her, threatening anyone who got too close.
“You killed Deacon,” I said to Mrs. Romer. “You were so worried about the Romer name being discredited if people found out your son’s girlfriend cheated on him that you had to do something about it.”
Giovanni glanced from me to his mom. He opened his mouth.
“Not a word,” she snapped at him.
I could see Giovanni was weakening, so I pressed on. “Mrs. Romer snuck out that night, killed Deacon, and planned to discredit Mannie and Star. When that didn’t go to plan, and Angel Force accused Aurora, you took advantage and used it to get rid of a business rival. You tried to kill Petra and frame my sister.”
Giovanni stared at his mom, horror on his face. “I never knew you hurt Petra. I love the Ancient Imp. I can’t let anything happen to that place.”
Luck of the Witch (Crypt Witch Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) Page 20
