Alice in Murderland

by Samantha Silver

  “Mind if I hang out here?” she asked. “I’d never actually read Sherlock Holmes before, these stories are pretty fun.”

  “Please, help yourself,” I said. “Just try not to set any more of my customers on fire.”

  “I said I was sorry,” Peaches laughed, a blush crawling up her face. “Did you find out what you needed?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know if it means anything yet, though,” I continued, making my way to the computer. I typed the name of both companies into Google, and found that Forrester Incorporated was a forestry company that owned a number of random plots of land in the mountains, presumably with the intention of eventually cutting down the trees on them. Annabel Lee Incorporated, however, was more mysterious. The company had no online presence, and when I did a search for the registered owner it turned out they were using a law firm as a proxy. However, I figured it was a pretty safe bet that Annabel Lee was the owner’s name.

  “Nothing good?” Peaches asked, peering over the top of her book.

  “No,” I replied, shaking my head. “I feel like I’m just chasing the wind around. I thought for sure that if I’d found out who owned the companies that it would suddenly put everything into place. But no dice. Do you know an Annabel Lee?”

  Peaches frowned. “No, the name’s not familiar. Is it someone from Sapphire Village?”

  “Not necessarily. I guess it could be someone from Portland or elsewhere. It’s the name of the company that owns one of the plots of land Ernest Forsyth needs to buy.”

  “Well, I still think Susan McInnis did it.”

  “Possibly, but she said that Edith wasn’t there when she went to meet her.”

  “So? She lied. Simple as that.”

  “Maybe. But wouldn’t it be easier to lie and say that she did meet with her but didn’t poison her? At least then on the off chance someone had seen them together there would still be plausible deniability.”

  Peaches shrugged. “Maybe. I mean, even if you’re right, as you say, we’re completely out of leads and ideas. Maybe Ellie Price was right. Maybe it is a better idea to just leave things to Chase Griffin. After all, he’s a cop. He knows what he’s doing. He’s definitely not an idiot.”

  “Yeah,” I said half-heartedly. I still wasn’t convinced. After all, what was stopping Chase from thinking Cat had done it? She had just as much motive as Susan McInnis, and I was worried for my cousin. Still, Peaches was right about one thing: I was completely out of leads, and had absolutely no idea what to do next.

  Chapter Nineteen

  By the time four o’clock rolled around, I had all in all had a pretty successful day. Three more customers had come in throughout the afternoon, gushing about how gorgeous the store was, and two of them ended up buying books from me. Sure, I had only made three sales in total, but I was proud of those three sales. And I found that I was actually enjoying running the store. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought.

  Around ten minutes after four, Grandma Cee and Sage walked into the store. Sage was dressed almost exactly like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, and yet she looked far more normal than Grandma Cee, who was wearing what I could only describe as a poncho with sleeves, that reached down to her knees, made from what appeared to be shag carpet. Apparently fashion sense ran in the family. Was Peaches the only person I was biologically related to who actually dressed remotely normally?

  Sage burst into a huge smile as soon as she entered the shop. “I absolutely love what you’ve done with the place,” she exclaimed. “Oh it feels so much more open and inviting than when Francine had this shop. There’s so much more light!”

  “Why does it smell like burning hair in here?” Grandma Cee asked, wrinkling her nose. Peaches, who was still sitting on the chair reading her book, carefully moved it up in front of her face, and I hid a smile.

  “Just a little incident early this morning. Don’t worry, it’s not permanent,” I replied.

  “Oooh and you got some new books!” Sage exclaimed, making her way to the leather-bound version of Harry Potter. “I told Francine for years that she should update her stock list, but she always insisted on keeping the old books only.”

  “Yes,” Grandma Cee finally said, looking around sagely and nodding. “I also approve of the changes you have made to Francine’s shop, Alice.”

  “Thank you both,” I said, feeling a blush crawl up my face. I hadn’t really realized it until just then, but I was actually quite thankful that Francine’s mother and sister both approved of the changes I’d made. It made me feel like I wasn’t coming in here and intruding on their family by changing what Francine had done before she died.

  “Now,” Grandma Cee said. “Have you been practicing your magic?”

  “A little bit,” I replied honestly. “I managed to pack up the shelves that were in the middle of the store using magic. And also I, uh, fixed a bit of a situation by making some water appear out of nowhere.”

  Behind Grandma Cee, Peaches was doing her best to meld into the couch and avoid being noticed.

  “Good. The Others are coming. You will need to be prepared, Alice. The Others are not to be trifled with.” I saw Sage roll her eyes as she turned to the bookshelf as Grandma Cee continued. “And I see you have a permanent customer in the form of your cousin. I suppose sitting in a bookshop and reading is as close to working as she gets.”

  “Hey,” Peaches said, opening her mouth to protest.

  “No, no,” I interrupted. “Peaches was just here because I asked her to help for a little bit while I ran an errand.”

  Grandma Cee’s eyebrows rose. “I offered to pay her,” I continued.

  “I hope she refused!” Sage said from her spot by the bookshelf against the right hand wall, where she was looking at the new titles I’d brought in.

  “She did,” I said.

  “Good. Family helps out family. No matter what Grandma Cee says.”

  “That kind of attitude is why Peaches doesn’t have a real job,” Grandma Cee scolded her daughter.

  “We all have a different calling in life,” Sage replied. “Peaches’ is art. And, as her mother, I choose to support her. You know, the way family should.”

  “There’s a difference between support and delusion,” Grandma Cee replied.

  “You already had children to parent, now let me parent mine,” Sage said to her mom, who shrugged.

  “Fine. I’m just trying to help.”

  “You’re trying to meddle, there’s a difference. Anyway, we weren’t talking about Peaches, we were talking about what a beautiful job Alice has done with the shop.”

  “It is an improvement,” Grandma Cee ceded. “I like it. I think the store will continue to do well under your control.”

  “Thanks,” I replied. “I’m glad you like it. I was a little bit worried that you would hate it, and think I was ruining Francine’s hard work.”

  “Oh, sweetie, of course not,” Sage said, coming over and enveloping me in a nice, warm hug. “This is your place now. You do what you want with it.”

  I smiled as I looked around the room. In Miami, everything had always been my mom and I. She didn’t have any family. We were an island of two. And yet here, for the first time ever, I was starting to feel like I truly had a family. A family that fought like crazy and dressed even more insanely, but also a family that supported what I had done to the store. Cat had introduced me to Sapphire Village. Peaches had a set a woman’s hair on fire when she tried to wreck my store. Grandma Cee was trying to protect me from some probably imaginary ‘Others’ who stole witches’ souls, and Sage was supportive of every choice I ever made.

  My heart was filled with warmth, even as Grandma Cee and Sage continued to admire the store. A couple minutes later, Frank walked in. His friendly face burst into a smile when he saw Sage and Grandma Cee.

  “Ladies!” he exclaimed.

  “Ah! It’s Frank Harding!” Sage said, rushing over and taking him into a big hug. “I haven’t seen you in ages!
How have you been?”

  “Yeah, good thanks. Just working, getting a bit of skiing in sometimes. I heard today that Alice had re-opened the bookshop, and I thought I’d come by to have a look. It’s amazing,” he said approvingly, moving toward the shelves. “I love what you’ve done with it, Alice. Oh, and have you brought in some more books?” he asked as he inspected the titles.

  “Yes, I thought adding some more modern works to the store while keeping the same feel to the titles might draw in some more customers,” I explained, and Frank nodded.

  “Good for you. Francine was always opposed to newer works. She said her friend Archibald agreed with her, although I never met the man.

  I smiled “Oh, he’s slowly changing his mind as well. He’s a new Agatha Christie fan.”

  Frank grinned. “There we go! Anyway, while I’m here, can I buy this book? My daughter’s graduating from college with an arts degree and she’s always loved poetry,” he said, handing me one of the new titles I’d ordered from Vasile.”

  “Oooh isn’t it wonderful? You’re already making sales on your first day,” Sage practically squealed in the background. I blushed slightly at her motherly pride as I carefully took the book up to the counter for Frank.

  “Obviously, this comes with the ten percent local’s discount,” I told him as I rang up the sale. Taking some tissue paper from under the counter, I placed the book face-down on the paper, and found myself looking at the back cover of the book, which listed in gold script all of the poems featured in the book. My eyes immediately settled on the bottom poem. Annabel Lee.

  “Is something wrong?” Frank asked.

  “No! No, of course not,” I said, forcing a smile on my face as my mind whirled at a thousand miles a minute. Everything was starting to come together in my mind. I wrapped up the book, placed it in a bag for Frank and handed it to him with a smile. “I hope your daughter enjoys this,” I told him.

  “Thanks, Alice. It’s really nice to see you up and running,” Frank told me as he left the shop, waving to Sage and Grandma Cee.

  “We had better leave you to your business as well,” Sage said. “It’s so nice to see you. Come by anytime,” she told me before the two of them left once more. As soon as they were gone, I started pacing around the room. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I was almost certain I knew who the murderer was.

  “I need to go out again,” I told Peaches. “Can you keep the store open until five?” I asked, glancing at the clock. It was four thirty. I could always wait half an hour.

  No, no, I couldn’t wait. I knew who the murderer was!

  “Sure,” Peaches said. “What’s going on? You’re pacing worse than Muffin does when he knows you’re hiding food from him.”

  “I think I know who the murderer is,” I told her. “I have to go tell Chase.”

  “Who is it?” Peaches asked, but I was already out the door at that point. I practically sprinted down to the police station, and entered the building. Unfortunately for me, it was completely empty.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Chase?” I called out as I made my way through the building. My voice sounded hollow. The place was empty; even the receptionist wasn’t at her desk. Everything felt eerie. I wondered if maybe I should leave and come back when suddenly I heard a voice behind me.

  “Can I help you?”

  I jumped about three feet in the air and turned around to find myself facing Len Forbes, the mayor. He also happened to be the man I thought was the murderer.

  I could feel the blood draining from my face. I was in here, alone, with a man that I was fairly certain had killed Edith Chalmers. I plastered a smile on my face, hoping I was looking reasonably normal.

  “Oh, no thanks Mr. Forbes,” I replied. “I was just going to ask Chief Griffin if he’d had any more problems with a customer of mine from this morning who came in to complain about me.” I hoped my voice sounded more stable than it felt.

  “Ah,” he replied with a smile. “For one thing, please call me Len. Mr. Forbes is my father. So, this isn’t about the murder investigation at all? After all, you did find the body.”

  I shook my head. “No. I found the body, but obviously I’m leaving everything else to the authorities. After all, that’s what they do. All I do is sell books, and I’m not even good at that yet.”

  Len laughed and I almost began to relax a little bit. Maybe he believed me. I could only hope. I had to find Chase. “That’s interesting,” Len continued. “Because I was speaking with Bertha earlier and she told me that a young woman with red hair who looked exactly like a young Jennie Calliope came by asking about the owner of three properties here in Sapphire Village.”

  My blood instantly ran cold. Of course, being the mayor, Len worked only meters away from the woman who had given me the information. And I’d forgotten that gossip was basically a national sport in small towns.

  “Oh, that,” I replied, trying to play it off as nothing. I really wished I’d taken the time to tell Peaches who I thought the murderer was. “I was just reading up on the new development. You know, being a good citizen and all. I figured since I live in Sapphire Village now I should probably learn about the big things impacting the town.”

  “Is that right?” Len asked, his eyes narrowing despite the smile staying on his face. Ever the politician. “Because if you ask me, I think you’ve been snooping around, trying to figure out who murdered Edith Chalmers so your stupid cousin there doesn’t get the blame for it.”

  “Everyone knows Cat didn’t kill Edith,” I protested, jutting out my chin. Len laughed, but it was a cold, hard laugh filled with no pleasure at all.

  “Of course Cat didn’t do it! I did!” he announced. There it was. Confirmation. “But that doesn’t surprise you at all, does it?”

  “No,” I replied coolly. If Len Forbes was telling me that he had killed Edith Chalmers, it meant he didn’t plan for me to leave this room alive. There was no point in denying it anymore.

  “Tell me, before I kill you. How did you figure it out?”

  “I should have realized sooner. It was really when Frank bought the Edgar Allan Poe book of poems from me and I saw that one of them was called Annabel Lee.”

  “Yes, the name of my company.”

  “I had assumed that the person who owned that company was just a person named Annabel Lee, but it was a strange name. When I saw it was a poem by Poe, I knew that it had to be someone who was into literature, and then everything came together. When we first met you said that you had gone to college and studied American Literature with my biological mother.”

  “Yes,” Len said. “I always was a big fan of Poe.”

  “And then I realized what you said at the meeting, that you worked in the National Park in the summer. That means you’d know a lot about the mushrooms that might be used to poison someone.”

  Len’s lips crept up into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Yes, indeed.”

  “But I couldn’t put it together until I knew why you would want to kill Edith Chalmers. After all, Ernest Forsyth told us that you were in favor of the project, and so was Edith.”

  “And the damned woman was going to ruin everything,” Len snapped. “Forsyth mentioned the name of my company to her. Edith has been doing my taxes for years. I always thought I kept my company names out of my records, but I must have let it slip through one year. I was talking with Susan when she got the frantic phone call from Edith. She told her that she had been meeting with Ernest Forsyth, and had found out about a conflict of interest they needed to speak about immediately. I told Susan to go and meet her, but before she had a chance to I called Edith to my office, telling her it was important and I needed to see her straight away. I went into the woods behind the building and found one of the mushrooms. There were some brownies in the office that my secretary had brought for everyone the day before. I sliced one open, put the finely chopped mushroom cap inside of it, then put it back so it looked completely no
rmal.”

  “What did you tell Edith the important thing was?”

  “Edith has a son who has always been getting into trouble. I told her that Susan McInnis had called me that morning and told me that his behavior was growing worse, and that she will be pushing to have him expelled from school. Edith was horrified; I knew her well. I knew she would avoid Susan McInnis for the next little while simply out of shame. A few hours was all that I needed. Six hours later the symptoms began, and I knew Edith would be in too much pain to tell anyone what she had found out.”

  “And by the time she realized her liver was failing and she needed to go to the hospital, it was too late. She was in so much pain she didn’t bother with telling anyone what she’d found out.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So you get to keep the deciding vote for whether or not the development goes ahead, and when it does, Ernest Forsyth pays you a fortune for the block of land your company owns.”

  “It’s a pretty little deal, isn’t it?”

  “I can’t believe you killed Edith Chalmers because she found out about your conflict of interest.”

  “Oh, can’t you? It’s perfect. No one suspects me. Everyone knows Edith and I were on the same side of the development. Your cousin had that public fight with her the day before, and everyone knows Susan went to see Edith the day she died. I can even confirm it; I was with Susan when she got the call requesting a meeting.”

  I shook my head. “But you won’t be able to explain my death.”

  “I won’t have to,” Len said, his cold smile exposing his teeth. “Your body will be found by someone else; no one will know who killed you.”

  “This is a police station, there have to be cameras around here.”