Alice in Murderland

by Samantha Silver

  “I am, yes,” I replied.

  “I’m Susan McInnis,” the lady replied, holding out a hand, which I shook. “I knew your mother; she used to babysit me when I was little. I’m glad you’ve come back to Sapphire Village.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a smile. So this was the woman Frank said was in charge of the group that opposed the Sapphire Village expansion.

  “Listen, I know you’re new in town, but there’s a proposal to build a new development in town that would completely destroy the spirit of Sapphire Village, and destroy the town that your mother grew up in. I’m the head of Keep Sapphire Village Quaint, the main group opposed to the project. Most of the town is behind me on this. If you’re interested, you can come to any of our meetings. We meet once a week to discuss how we can best stop this project from continuing, in one of the meeting halls at the library. The next meeting is tonight. Please feel free to stop by,” Susan told me, handing me a brochure that had obviously been printed on a home computer.

  “Ok, thanks for the invitation,” I told her. This lady was intense.

  “It’s extremely important that this project does not go through,” Susan impressed upon me. She was still holding my hand where she had put the pamphlet. “It would destroy this town completely.”

  “I’ve heard that from a few people,” I managed to say. “I’ll come to your meeting tonight.”

  “Good,” Susan said, seemingly satisfied. She let go of my hand, and I began to breathe normally again. “I’ll see you then.”

  My head spun slightly as Susan McInnis went on her merry way. Had I just had my first conversation with a murderer? It seemed that Susan was a good suspect, and I had to say, while pretty much all of my crime experience came from watching bad TV shows, Susan definitely seemed like the kind of person who would kill for her cause.

  I finished up my grocery shopping, grabbing a fruit smoothie from the fresh smoothie stand in the middle of the store, and then looked at the flyer. Maybe it would be a good idea to go, and to see who else might have killed Edith Chalmers. After all, I was pretty sure that Cat was still a suspect, and I didn’t want her to find herself in a sticky situation. I’d been invited to this meeting, the least I could do was go and check out the lay of the land, right?

  Carrying my groceries back to the apartment, I put them away. Feeling both productive and pensive, I decided to make my way downstairs to the bookshop and start getting things ready for the re-opening, with me as the new owner.

  Muffin was sleeping in a little cat bed under the counter, happily snoozing away, dreaming of chasing mice or whatever it was cats dreamed about. I turned on the computer at the counter and began to look at the inventory of books Francine had owned.

  Luckily, the whole setup was pretty easy to understand. She had one supplier, from whom she ordered all of her books online. The login information was kept in a handy Excel sheet.

  Looking at the inventory, it seemed most of Francine’s books had been published before 1800. She was a big fan of Jonathan Swift and of the old Greek masters. Sales weren’t great, but they weren’t awful, either. On the other hand, there were so few books that had been published in the last two hundred years on this list, I had a feeling I was going to be able to make sales rise without too much trouble.

  I scanned through the website of Francine’s supplier and looked at what options were available. Vasile’s Wholesale Books mainly sold fancy-looking, leather-bound or just cool looking volumes of books, and promised next-day delivery. I ordered some of anything that I thought people these days might be interested in that still fit the vibe of the store, and by the time I was finished, I’d spent over two grand on a whole slew of new books, including an entire collection of Agatha Christie books in cool-looking hardcover that made the books look antique, a leather-bound series of the Harry Potter books and some incredibly painted hardcover collections of the Lord of the Rings books, as well as first edition Jane Austen novels.

  By tomorrow, this bookstore was going to carry books that were more along the lines of what people read these days, while still keeping the antique vibe that made it so cool.

  I looked around the store as well, thinking of myself as a customer. If I came in right now, there were tons of books available, but there wasn’t really any browsing space. The main walls made up such an imposing, impressive bookshelf; it made me think that the smaller bookshelves in the middle of the store looked a little bit sad compared to it. Plus, if I got rid of those, it would make everything feel so much more open.

  Taken in by my sudden stroke of genius, I found some boxes in the back and began to pile up the books on the shelves inside of them. Muffin made his way over after about five minutes, meowing at me, probably complaining that I was making too much noise and disturbing his nap.

  “I promise, Muffin, when I’m done with this new plan of mine, there’ll be a ton of new places for you to sleep on comfortably,” I told him. I looked at the books, then looked outside. The windows were still covered up; no one from the outside could see in. I wondered if magic couldn’t make this a lot easier.

  I focused on one book on the shelf; an old tome of Voltaire books that had been translated into English. I imagined the book floating into the cardboard box in front of me, and then as I felt the energy build up inside of me, I pointed at the book and focused even harder.

  The book wiggled in place for a second, and then calmly floated directly into the box. I had literally only moved a finger.

  “Yes!” I cried triumphantly, while Muffin glared at me, unimpressed with my triumphant outburst. “Whatever, you just wish you could do that,” I said to the cat, sticking my tongue out at him. He replied by yawning in my face, curling into a ball and closing his eyes. Ok, so he wasn’t super impressed by my newfound ability to use magic. But I certainly was!

  I giggled to myself as I moved the next book with magic as well. There was something so intensely satisfying about seeing myself move the books with magic.

  In reality, it probably took a lot longer to move all the books with magic than it would have to simply pile them up by hand. But by the time I was finished, I was incredibly proud of myself. I was using magic in my day-to-day life to make things easier, and it was working!

  With the shelves now empty, I looked at them to see how to take them apart. After a few attempts I’d figured it out, and decided it was too tricky to try and do with magic; after all, this wasn’t really my store–or at least, it still didn’t feel like it–and I didn’t want to permanently break the shelves.

  An hour later I’d dismantled all the shelves, and taken them and the cardboard boxes filled with books to the storeroom at the back of the shop. Now, the only thing in the store was the floor-to-ceiling shelves against the walls.

  Making my way back to the computer, I opened up Amazon. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

  Half an hour later I had an order for new beanbag chairs, nest chairs and loungers that were going to take the place of the shelves; in a few days this store was going to be inviting for anyone who wanted to have a seat and enjoy a book for a while. I’d also gotten a few Edison coil lightbulbs for the lights; it would add to the ambiance of the shop, I thought.

  I gazed around the now empty-looking room. It didn’t have as much stuff in it, but the more open plan made everything look a lot more inviting. I had spent the whole afternoon working on setting things up the way I hoped would set the shop up for even more success, while keeping the framework that Francine had worked so hard on intact.

  Filled with a serene sense of accomplishment, I checked my phone and noticed with a start that it was almost seven o’clock–the meeting Susan McInnis had invited me to, for the people looking to stop the development from going ahead–was starting in fifteen minutes, and I had no idea where the Deer’s Tail building was. I opened up Google maps and found that luckily, it was only about five minutes away, across the street from Cat’s Cupcakes.

  I grabbed my purse, gave Muffin a pat, and hea
ded out the door.

  Chapter Twelve

  Once I made my way to the Deer’s Tail building, which it turned out was one of those hotels that are made up of small apartments for holidaymakers, I followed the signs toward the Jefferson Room, which was a large conference room on the ground floor.

  The room hummed with the sounds of people idly chatting to each other as I walked in. Looking around, I estimated there had to be around thirty, maybe forty people in the room. Along the back was one of those plain folding tables set up with a stainless steel coffee container, a dwindling pile of Styrofoam cups next to it, and some donuts, along with some mini cupcakes that had obviously come from Cat’s place.

  I made my way to the table, taking a mini vanilla cupcake and a cup of coffee, and tried to see if there was anyone here I recognized, so I didn’t look like the person who came to this meeting just for the free cupcakes. Luckily for me, sitting in the back row of seats that had been organized, facing the front of the room where a lectern currently sat vacant, were the back of two heads. One was pastel purple, the other a coral color. I smiled. Surely there couldn’t be two sets of people in Sapphire Village with hair that color.

  I slipped into the seat next to them and said hi to Cat and Peaches.

  “Oh, hey,” Peaches replied. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”

  “Neither did I,” Cat said. “I was going to tell you about it, but then I figured you had probably had enough Sapphire Village crazy for one day.”

  “I ran into Susan McInnis in the grocery store, and she gave me a flyer and told me to come tonight,” I explained, and Cat grinned.

  “That doesn’t surprise me. She’s pretty intense. She works as the science teacher at the local high school.” Cat scrunched up her face. “I still have nightmares about biology class with her.”

  “Oh yeah,” I said, my mind suddenly whirring. A science teacher, especially one who taught biology, would probably know about poisonous mushrooms, right? Exactly like the kind Edith Chalmers had been poisoned with. Plus, with Edith being in charge of the group in favor of the new development, and Susan McInnis being so opposed to it, she had motive, right?

  Before I had much of a chance to think it through any further, Susan herself stepped up to the podium at the front of the room and tapped on the microphone.

  “If everyone could please take a seat, I’d like to get started in a minute,” she said. The crowds of people hovering by the snack table slowly made their way toward the chairs. I saw Frank, the man I’d met at the pizza shop the other day. He caught my eye and waved with a smile, which I returned, as he made his way to the front row and sat down.

  “Why are you here, anyway?” I asked Peaches. “I thought you mostly lived in Brixton Road.”

  “Oh, I do,” Peaches replied, nodding. “But I come to Sapphire Village a pretty decent amount. I do my art down at my place in Brixton Road, but I like to spend most of my free time with the humans. The family can be a bit overbearing. I know that Cat is opposed to the new development, and that’s good enough for me. Plus, on top of that, I come here for the drama.”

  I wanted to ask Peaches what she meant by drama, but before I got a chance to, Susan began to talk.

  “All right everyone, thank you for coming once again to our weekly meeting,” Susan said with authority. Her voice boomed across the room so powerfully she barely even needed the microphone. I could definitely see her being a teacher, and not the kind that would take any sort of crap from students. “I want to start off this meeting by telling you that, as I’m sure you’re all aware, Edith Chalmers was killed the other day.”

  There was a low murmur in the room, but looking at all the faces around, no one seemed particularly perturbed by the fact that one of the residents here in town had been murdered. Maybe there were more suspects in this room than just Susan.

  “And I must say, that is excellent news for our cause,” Susan continued. Ok, so she wasn’t the type to pretend to grieve. I had to admit, I wasn’t the most sentimental person ever, but that seemed callous, even to me. “After all, Edith was one of the main proponents in favor of the new development, and with her gone, I expect the organization of their group to be in much more of a shambles. We need to act fast. We need to act as one. Now is the time to pressure the politicians in this town to do the right thing and deny the permits to ruin the charm of Sapphire Village.”

  Spontaneous applause broke out through the room as Susan took a breath. Looking around, every face in the room was smiling, all eyes on Susan. She had everyone in this room captivated with her words. They were obviously all extremely opposed to this new development. I hadn’t realized just how fanatical a lot of the town was about the topic.

  “Now, our esteemed Mayor has asked me if he could speak to our group. He’s willing to take questions and concerns after he makes his presentation,” Susan said, glaring around the room. I could see how she wouldn’t exactly be a students’ favorite teacher. “I realize that the Mayor’s position is different to ours, but please show him respect while he tries to convince you that his incorrect opinion about the project is the right one. Ladies and gentlemen, Len Forbes.”

  Rather than the rapturous applause that had greeted Susan’s previous words, as the Mayor made his way to the podium, only a few scattered people clapped half-heartedly. The man obviously wasn’t the most popular person in the room right now.

  Len, to his credit, didn’t seem in any way perturbed by the frigid welcome he’d received by his voters. He walked up to the podium, adjusted the microphone, and then flashed a large smile at the crowd. Peaches leaned over to me.

  “Four weeks ago when he was last here someone threw one of Cat’s cupcakes at him,” she whispered, and I giggled. It seemed like a waste of the world’s greatest cupcakes, though.

  “Hello, everyone. I want to thank you all for allowing me to speak again at your meeting. I’m well aware that everyone in this room disagrees with my position on the proposed development in Sapphire Village, as I am in favor of it, but I hope you’ll allow me to explain to you some new information that we’ve received from the developing company that will hopefully change your mind.”

  He paused and looked around the room. I wondered if he was truly trying to seem personable, or just trying to spot any food being thrown at him before it got to him. “As most of you know, I’ve lived in Sapphire Village my whole life. I grew up here. I moved to Portland to go to college, and even then I still spent my summers here, working for the National Parks Service. I moved back here straight after college to take over my family’s business, and eight years ago I ran for city council for the first time. Now I stand here, as your mayor, telling you that I absolutely would not ever do anything that I think would be damaging to this town. I know how special it is, as much as all of you do.”

  “Then why destroy it?” someone called out from the crowd. I looked over and saw Peaches and Cat grinning. This was evidently the drama they had come for.

  “I absolutely don’t want to destroy Sapphire Village; I want it to thrive. By building more amenities to bring tourists here, we’ll be increasing the amount of money being brought into the town from elsewhere. But I understand that a lot of you have issues with the development.”

  “Traffic already sucks on weekends!”

  “We don’t need a mall!”

  “We’re a small town, don’t sell us out to a big corporation.”

  It seemed the people at this meeting were keen to share their opinions before waiting for the question and answer portion of the meeting.

  “I want to address the traffic issues, that’s why I came here tonight to speak to you,” Len said when the shouts finally died down. “I have spoken with Artemis Corp, and they’re willing to build a large parking lot south of town and fund shuttle busses to lead from there to the resort itself. This should alleviate a lot of the parking problems from people coming up on day trips.”

  To my surprise, everyone in the room suddenly start
ed paying attention. It seemed this announcement was a big thing. Buoyed by this newfound–if not acceptance, at least a lack of hostility–Len continued. “They’ve also agreed to a fund that would increase the fleet of busses currently serving Sapphire Village from ten to twenty, meaning we’ll be able to run busses on routes 1 and 2 every ten minutes at busy periods.” Murmuring began throughout the room, it seemed that the people were pleased with this new development.

  “Thank you, Mayor Len,” Susan said, coming back up to the podium and practically shoving him away from the microphone.

  “But Susan, I wasn’t finished,” he protested. “I was going to take questions.”

  “I’m afraid we’re on quite the tight schedule tonight and can’t afford to allow you to answer questions,” Susan continued, as Len, looking confused, was led away from the podium.

  “She’s afraid he’s actually going to change people’s minds,” Cat whispered to me.

  “Will he?” I asked, and Cat shrugged.

  “Maybe. The traffic issue is a big one. If they’ve found a way to solve that, a lot of people’s worries, especially those who live on the western end of town off the highway, will be alleviated.”

  “Now,” Susan said. “I want to thank our Mayor for appearing here tonight, and remind you all that there are far more issues relating to this development than just the traffic issue.”

  “But that’s a pretty big one,” Frank said from his spot in the front row. “You do have to admit that. I for one would like to hear the rest of what the mayor has to say.”

  Before anyone had a chance to respond to Frank’s comments, however, the doors at the back of the room burst open. Denise, Edith Chalmers’ best friend, stumbled into the room. She leaned against a post as she tried to make her way toward the front of the room.

  “Is she…” I asked, and Cat nodded.