Dying to Make a Fortune: The India Kirby Witch Mystery (Book 5)

by Sarah Kelly

  Xavier leant against the counter. His voice was soft. “You’ll always fit in with me, In.”

  She was surprised that brought tears to her eyes so quickly. She looked back at him, feeling her heart almost break with gratefulness. It was so good to love, and to be loved. For the first time ever, she felt free to give affection and get it back, without inhibitions. “I know.” She would have hugged him tight if they’d been anywhere else, but knew her mother would come bustling in at any moment, talking about ice and hot water. She hurried to put the kettle back in its place and flick the switch. “Looks like I’m back to crazy Mariette’s,” she said, managing a giggle.

  “I don’t envy you that,” Xavier said.

  “Does the tux look good?”

  “Yes. And Elise brought back the lapel decorations or whatever they’re called from the florist. But I don’t care about it. Or flowers. Or cakes. Or anything. I mean, all these things are good and nice. But I just care about seeing you up there. And marrying you.”

  India found tears rising up in her eyes again, but shook them away and smiled. “I think that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard you say. You’re awesome. Did you know that, Xavier Bradford?”

  “And you’re , India Kirby soon to be Bradford.”

  India grinned and played their usual game. “But you’re far more awesomester.”

  “Awesomester?” Xavier laughed. “Is that some kind of term in a school of awesomeness?”

  India gave him a playful slap and he drew her close.

  “I love you, you absolute idiot,” he whispered softly.

  “Complete moron,” she whispered back, then leaned in and kissed him.

  A jangle of keys made them jolt apart. “Enough of that now you lovebirds,” Rose said, opening the drawer and retrieving an ice scraper. “Come on, India. I haven’t got all day to wait around.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “So what do you know about her then, mom?” India asked, watching out the window as people trudged along in the snow, wrapped up to the nines. Cars could only make slow progress, and she knew they’d take a long while to reach Abingdon Fork. When they returned for dinner – probably some kind of Hungarian dumpling soup – it would be pitch black.

  “It’s all second hand information, as I said.” Rose adjusted her leather-gloved hands on the steering wheel. “Why are you so interested, anyway? You’ve never been a big one for gossip.”

  India was beginning to sweat in her enormous coat, with the car heating system blasting out hot air. She undid her seatbelt to wriggle out of her it. “She just seemed like quite an unusual person.”

  Rose looked thoughtful for a moment, her thin face quite serious. “Perhaps. Lillian says she’s wonderful. Much better than her other daughter, now estranged, who lives the other side of the country and never visits. Mariette visits every Friday, so we never meet for bridge on Fridays. Mariette is an artist, Lillian says. Not in the sense that she paints pictures, but in that she is a creative. Alongside her floristry, she’s planning to open a high fashion boutique. And she will design all of the pieces herself.”

  “In Abingdon Fork?” India said, incredulous. “Good luck.”

  “Well, it turns out she had rather a vision for the town.”

  “Really?”

  “She had wanted to rent the empty emporium, you know, the one between Abingdon Fork and Fond du Lac.”

  “But that’s enormous,” India said. “Who does it even belong to?”

  “It’s the mayor’s. Moby Snape. Terrible investment, your father always says. Anyways, her plan was to bring in all kinds of high end storekeepers. You know, perhaps a luxury organic grocery store, a chocolatiers, a hand picked antique shop, a spa. Believe me, I’ve heard all about it at length. Make the emporium a kind of hub for ‘Wisconsin’s local elite’ I believe were the exact words.”

  India giggled. “What local elite?”

  “In any case, the deal fell through. Lillian said the mayor made a promise and didn’t keep it, and it all went down the tubes. She made it very clear that none of the Snape family would be getting Christmas cards. Not even Yasmin, though I fail to see what she has to do with it.”

  “Yasmin? Is that the super stylish girl all in black? Who’s seeing Horatio?”

  “I believe so. I’ve only met the young woman once.”

  India blew out a stream of air. “So Mariette’s son is going out with the mayor’s daughter, after Mariette herself had a big falling out with the mayor? Sounds like drama.”

  Rose nodded sagely. “Best to stay out of it. I’m around in Abingdon Fork a lot more these days, because I’m volunteering for the church. Their administration is a mess and I’m getting it up to speed for them. Or at least making a valiant attempt.”

  “Hmm.”

  “For such a small town, it’s certainly got plenty of rumors and gossip swirling around. I’m glad you and Amy always stuck in Melville. Much tamer.”

  India laughed. “Ooh, yes. Abingdon Fork is the wildest of the wild. Lock the car doors and wind up the windows.” She nodded to an elderly figure hobbling down the street with a walking stick. “That old lady might be a violent mugger.”

  Rose gave her a wry smile. “A whole bucket full of sarcasm, huh? You’re spending too much time with Amy, it seems.”

  “She’s got some amazing things planned for the food, you know,” India said. She chattered away about Christmas cake and roast duck and hot drinks, surprised her mom was even listening. Rose had always been the kind to pick at her food and stay wafer thin. The only time India had seen her eat cake was half a slice at India’s childhood birthday parties. But Rose nodded along, even asking questions and listening attentively.

  Soon they were driving into the salted streets of Abingdon Fork. “Is there parking by the florist?” Rose asked.

  “Not sure,” India said. Since Xavier had left his car back in Florida, they’d decided to get taxis or rides or walk everywhere. She tried to cast her mind back to that morning. “I think so. I think you have to drive in behind the store to get to it.”

  “All right.” India had been right, and a couple minutes later, they were turning into the gap between Fairfax Floral and an old time mom and pop hardware store that certainly didn’t match Mariette’s image.

  When Rose stopped the car, India bundled herself back in her huge warm jacket. It was only a very short walk between the parking lot and the storefront, but India couldn’t stand the way the cold air bit at her skin. She pulled a wooly hat down over her dark hair and halfway over her ears. There was nothing worse than cold ears, she thought. “Mom, I really think you’ll like the flowers,” India said. “For the ceremony, we’re going for white and silver.”

  “Very elegant,” her mother said with an approving nod. “Most people get married in summer. But you’re choosing to be different.”

  India didn’t know if that was a statement or a judgment. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  Rose smiled. “A good thing. You’re not afraid to go your own way.”

  India beamed from ear to ear. Her mother certainly wasn’t the type to gush out praise at every opportunity. Each compliment was sweet and precious and India savored it. “Thanks, mom.”

  When they got out of the car, India linked her arm in her mother’s, something they very infrequently did. Rose gave her a happy smile and they walked to the store front puffed up arm linked in puffed up arm.

  It was India who pushed the door open, and the tinkling bell sounded. Gorgeous flower arrangements with festive themes bloomed everywhere, and Christmas music in a jazz style was playing softly. An abundance of red and gold and green made a smile cross India’s face, and she felt soothed by the soft crooning of the saxophone.

  “Mariette?” she called out. “Horatio? Is anyone here?”

  “This is nice,” Rose said, looking at a potted plant labeled Peace Lily. “Your father killed the orchid in his study. Maybe I’ll get him this instead. Yes, that would be a good extra gift.
He’s so hard to buy for.”

  “I know,” India said. She’d spent hours trawling the internet and searching for ‘good holiday gifts for dads’ on Google and Pinterest, until she’d picked out a set of leatherbound notebooks with an Atlas pattern on the cover. It wasn’t that interesting, but since he was always jotting down notes and making lists about his great number of interests she figured perhaps he could use them. “What’s dad’s project at the moment?” She leant against the counter, thinking that Mariette had probably just popped out and would be back in a moment.

  “House framing,” Rose said. “He’s charged himself with building a summer house in the backyard this spring, without anyone’s help. I’m not even sure he wants a summer house. Just a big project to sink his teeth into.”

  India giggled. “Good for him. Oh my gosh, I just remembered one I’d forgotten about. I think I was about eight. And do you remember, you went away for a conference somewhere? You came back and he’d bought four old junkers, all sitting out there on the driveway?”

  Rose shook her head but laughed along. “Don’t remind me.”

  “But to his credit he actually did learn car mechanics pretty well that year,” India said. “He was always in the manual or under one of those junkers. I think he fixed three of them, right? And one had to go down the junkyard.”

  “Well, let’s just say I prefer the summer house project to that one. Or to the trainspotting phase, where every family vacation had to revolve around somewhere with a railway.”

  India laughed again. “Oh gosh, yes, I’d forgotten about that… Well, he’s certainly one of a kind.”

  “That he is,” Rose said with a fond smile. “I’m going to request he turn that summer house into a library.”

  “What a great idea!” India said. Her parents had hundreds and hundreds of books, many of which India had to shimmy past on the upstairs landing if she wanted to get to her room. Opting for a smaller house than they could afford, they were able to retire early and pursue their own interests, which unfortunately meant less space and many more books. India grinned. “You’ll be able to see the carpet on the landing for the first time in twenty years.”

  Rose raised her eyebrows with a playful expression. “Cheeky.” Then she turned back to the plant. “Yes, I think I’ll get this. I can’t see a price on it, though. Where is this Mariette?”

  India craned her neck to look in the back room, but from her angle couldn’t see anything other than a closed door that looked like it led onto another room. “Mariette? Let me just see if she’s in the back room. Or maybe Horatio.”

  “All right,” Rose said, already looking around at other arrangements and plants in stylishly ironic metal buckets.

  India went around behind the counter, hoping against hope that Mariette wouldn’t chance to walk in from the front door at that moment. She’d probably be accused of stealing from the till, or pilfering secret florist techniques. But as she stepped into the back room, she nearly fell against the door frame. For lying there, among ribbons and blocks of green foam and pots strewn all over the tiled floor, a shelf that had evidently clattered to the floor, and red envelopes reading LAST NOTICE, was Mariette’s body.

  ***

  “I just can’t believe it,” India said. She leant over the steering wheel of her mother’s car, shaking her head. “Will we not get one moment of peace? Not even to enjoy our wedding?”

  Xavier stared glumly out the window at the darkened sky and orange street lights. “It’s like murder follows us everywhere.”

  “No. It follows me everywhere.” She was starting to feel cursed by this whole magic business. It was ever since she’d known she was a witch that people seemed to be dropping around her like flies.

  Xavier’s voice had an edge. “Oh, is that so? So wasn’t I there every time there was an incident? Every time you decided to investigate?”

  “Yes, but it wasn’t like we were solving it together before, was it? I mean the one in Grenada, sure, but the others? I was on my own.” It had certainly felt that way, when she’d had to keep her abilities secret from him.

  A long silence swelled around them. When Xavier spoke, his voice was sharp as a knife. “You were on your own?”

  India hastily backtracked. “I mean, well, obviously you were there, but… I couldn’t tell you about anything. I felt alone.”

  Xavier pushed his jaw forward and hurt shone in his eyes. “And I thought we had been in this thing together the whole time. It’s good to finally know the truth.”

  “I’m not saying I was alone,” India said, frustrated. “Just that I felt alone.” She nearly missed the turning for Fond du Lac, and switched over into the next lane with haste. It was the nearest place with a drive thru fast food joint, which was the only thing India could stomach right then. Even looking at the Polish sausage dish her dad had prepared made her feel ill. She was sure it was very nice, but all she wanted to do was bite into an enormous chicken sandwich burger and stuff her face with fries. Even if the nearest McDonalds was twenty miles away.

  “Maybe we’re not as close as I thought we were then.”

  “Ugh!” India said, striking the steering wheel with her palm. “Would you stop making this about you?”

  “So what? It’s all about you? Because you’re alone in this, and you’re doing this all by yourself? Oh, and there isn’t someone like your fiancé sitting right beside you, in just as deep as you are?”

  “Yeah but you weren’t there when I had to hide this magic thing, were you?” India said, changing gears roughly.

  “And that’s my fault?”

  “I never said it was your fault! I can’t take this, Xavier, I just can’t.”

  “Well, let’s both shut up then,” he said, slapping his arms folded.

  “Fine.”

  “Fine.”

  The silence was enormous and heavy. As thick as syrup, with none of the sweetness.

  “Howdy,” a voice in the back said.

  India was so startled her arms jerked and made the car swerve into the next lane, and Xavier had to grab the wheel and pull, to get them back on track. Horns blared behind them.

  India stared in the rearview mirror, her heart hammering, to see Luis draped over the backseat with a nonchalant grin. He had on a striped wooly hat with a bobble, and a knitted reindeer jumper. “Luis, are you crazy? You could have got us killed.”

  Luis shrugged. “When you’re aware of the energy force fields doing good creates, you wouldn’t get scared of all that kind of stuff. You’ll pass out of this life at the right time. And I will. And we’ll all be rebirthed into a new one at the opportune moment. I hope in the next life I remember this one. That would be awesome, huh? Freak my new parents out, like Mommy, I used to be a magic man called Luis. Ha!”

  Neither India nor Xavier was in the mood for laughing.

  Luis tutted. “Trouble in paradise, huh? If you want your marriage to last, you’ll have to learn to laugh at yourselves. Take that from a man who’s been divorced three times.”

  “How can there even be a marriage,” Xavier said heavily, “when India feels like she’s all alone in this? We’re supposed to be a team.”

  India felt an ache in her chest. “Are you saying you don’t want to marry me?”

  “No, I’m not saying that.”

  “Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock. Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring,” Luis sang. “Ooh, look, there’s McDonalds. Isn’t that where you’re going?”

  “Yes,” India said angrily, and practically slammed on the brake at the stoplight. Then she pressed her forehead against the steering wheel. “I just… didn’t want this to happen. I thought we could just have a lovely wedding, without another murder. Why is that too much to ask? I feel like...” The light turned green, and India made the turn toward McDonalds. “I feel like I’m cursed.” She glanced at Xavier for a moment. “And you’re marrying a cursed woman.”

  Xavier puffed out a long sigh. “Indie, if you’re cursed
, I want to be cursed with you.”

  “Aww,” Luis said. “By the way, do they still do the special holiday menu? That peppermint hot chocolate they had last year was the bomb.”

  India felt a little less alone as they made their order at the drive thru window. Luis got his peppermint hot chocolate, plus a cheeseburger and fries. Xavier got a beefburger and a hot caramel sundae. India went the whole hog, getting a chicken burger with cheese, a large fries, cheese bites, and a chocolate orange McFlurry. She knew she’d feel sick by the time she’d finished, but she already felt bad enough. What did it matter? They were all quiet as they waited for their food, listening to the Christmas music pumping out of the fast food joint. Soon they were parked up in the parking lot, the heater blaring as they hungrily tucked into their meals.

  “Look,” Luis said, wiping ketchup off his mouth with a paper napkin. “India, you’re far from alone. You’ve got this man who loves you more than anything. And you’re both magic now. Plus, you’ve both got…” He made a little flourishing bow. “… yours truly.”

  “I know,” India said, pausing with a cheese bite in her hand. “It’s like… sometimes it’s hard to remember just how much you guys look out for me. I always used to feel alone in my life before that. Old habits die hard, I guess. Maybe on some level I still feel like I have to do everything myself. Like I’m the only one I can count on.”

  Xavier opened his mouth, but Luis cut in quickly. “But that’s not true, is it? Xavier’s been there with you every step of the way, mami.”

  “Yes,” Xavier said strongly. “I have.”

  India looked over at him, at his deep brown eyes. His brows were folded over in anger and hurt, but the man she loved was still right there. “Yes. You have.”

  “And I know it totally sucks to have a murder case just before your wedding. I know it does. But the energy is the energy,” Luis said cryptically. “It does what it wants. All we can do is work around it.”

  India’s voice cracked. “I just want everything to be perfect. Can’t you do something, Luis?”