The Pink Pumpkin Party

by Vella Day

  I know that failure had pained her. The last séance we’d done here had my grandmother appearing in her ghost form instead of talking through one of the people at the table. “I’m game if the rest of you are.”

  Everyone nodded. I was happy that Jaxson didn’t make some excuse to leave.

  Gertrude pointed to the table in the corner. “Jaxson, if you could pull that table over here, we can get started.”

  Rihanna stood. “I’ll get the candelabra.”

  Gertrude asked me to close the drapes, saying the dead didn’t like a lot of light. “Iggy asked if he could participate. I hope that won’t be a problem.”

  Gertrude looked down at my familiar. “I’m sure his energy will be welcome.”

  Oh, boy. Now, I’d never hear the end of how amazing he was. I’m sure he was the first iguana in history to take part in a séance. I placed Iggy on the table between me and Rihanna. Jaxson sat down between me and Gertrude.

  Our host dimmed the overhead lights using the remote. “We are here to connect to Peter Upton who was taken suddenly and brutally from us. Place your fingertips to the person or animal next to you, and then close your eyes while you open your mind.”

  It was a bit tricky to do that with Iggy, but we managed.

  “Peter, if you can hear us, please help us bring justice to this tragedy. Tell us what you can,” Gertrude incanted.

  The candles flickered, or at least they seemed to twinkle through my closed eyelids. Whoa. The table just moved. Okay, that could have been my imagination, but it sure seemed real.

  “Thank you for trying to help me,” said a very deep voice that came from across the table. The strength of the voice implied it wasn’t Gertrude pretending to be him, but the real Peter Upton.

  My pulse soared. I wanted to open my eyes and see if Gertrude’s lips were moving, but I didn’t want to chance ruining the spell.

  When my grandmother’s ghost had appeared, I could talk to her, but I wasn’t sure if I could with Peter.

  “Do you know who killed you?” Rihanna blurted.

  Bless her heart.

  “No, but I felt a presence behind me right before someone grabbed my shoulder. Before I could turn around, this sharp pain stabbed me in the back.” The voice wobbled. “He…ah…said that I shouldn’t have messed with them.”

  My palms sweated. “Mess with who? Do you know who he meant by them?” Fine. I couldn’t help but ask.

  “No. I swear. I make people’s lives better, not worse.”

  A loud thump sounded across the table from me, and the air pressure in the room seemed to drop, forcing me to open my eyes. Gertrude’s forehead was on the table.

  “Gertrude?” I choked out.

  Rihanna pushed back her chair and stepped over to her mentor. She placed her hands on Gertrude’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. This is what happens when she does one of these.”

  What? Why didn’t Rihanna warn us? Gertrude was about ninety-years old. She should have asked Rihanna to lead the session, especially if this happened often. Passing out couldn’t be good for Gertrude’s heart. However, even if my cousin had taken the lead, who was to say Peter wouldn’t have spoken through Gertrude anyway?

  Gertrude sat up. “What happened?”

  She honestly didn’t seem to know. “Peter talked through you.” I wasn’t sure if that was the right term.

  “Good. Did he say anything of value?”

  I looked at Jaxson, Rihanna, and Iggy. I assumed we all heard the same thing, but I’d like confirmation. “Jaxson, why don’t you tell us what you heard.”

  “I’ll get Gertrude some tea,” Rihanna said.

  “Just that the person who stabbed Peter seemed to be there for revenge. Apparently, he believed Peter had messed with them, whoever them is.”

  “Right,” I chimed in. “Only Peter said he never messed with anyone. He doesn’t know what the man was referring to.”

  “Or he isn’t admitting it,” Rihanna said as she handed Gertrude her drink.

  I shook my head. “Peter is dead. It’s not like he can be arrested for a crime now. No, I don’t think he was the intended target.”

  My cousin sat back down. “We’re back to the idea again that Spiderman meant to kill me or Levy?”

  “Or Nash,” I added.

  Gertrude sucked in a breath. “If I may speak as a non-psychic for a moment, you and Levy did interfere with one of Levy’s coven members.”

  “Enough for them to want to kill either one, just because we caught some guy in the act of robbing a house?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but possibly. Putting back on my psychic’s hat, I’ll need more information.”

  “What kind of information?” I asked.

  “Perhaps something that belonged to the killer. I realize that’s a tall order, but if you have a suspect, perhaps you can bring me an item he’s touched.”

  “We’ll try. Or maybe Levy can help,” I said.

  “Maybe.” Gertrude didn’t sound happy about that.

  “We need to meet with him tonight,” Jaxson said. “We can’t afford to wait too long. The killer might learn that they murdered the wrong person and return.”

  “He probably knows. It’s been on social media already.” Rihanna held up her hand. “And not by me.”

  Social media. Just what we didn’t need. Thank goodness Aunt Fern wasn’t into that kind of thing.

  Gertrude nodded. “Okay. I’ll call and ask him. I’m sure he’ll want to help.”

  We discussed possible times. After Gertrude contacted him, he agreed to come over at seven since he had a meeting to run first. Whether he could add anything to this bizarre crime, I had no idea.

  By dinnertime, the Tiki Hut was open for business, but since Aunt Fern wasn’t manning the cash register, I assumed she was resting. I had gone over there to order our evening meeting snacks for the six of us: me, Jaxson, Rihanna, Levy, Penny, and Hunter.

  Between us, we should be able to figure out what happened last night. I suppose we could have invited Nash since he’d worn a vampire costume, but I didn’t want him asking us to stay out of the investigation. This was too important to stop now.

  I debated telling Steve what our victim told us about the murder being an act of revenge, and while he might—and that was a big might—believe us, he’d just say there was nothing he could do with that additional information. His job as an officer of the law was to investigate why someone would want to murder a wealthy venture capitalist.

  In truth, I was happy he was working that angle. There was no way Jaxson and I could have looked into all of the leads without the ability to get a search warrant.

  After I paid for the food, I rushed back to the office. No sooner had I set out the snacks than Penny and Hunter showed up.

  I hugged my friend first and then Hunter. “Thanks for coming.”

  “I wish it was under better circumstances, but tonight is a good night. Tommy is with his father.”

  “Good timing for me, too,” Hunter said. “After the wolf attacks a few months back, the county gave me an assistant who will be staying late tonight.”

  “That’s great. You can use the help.” Those wolf attacks weren’t from real wolves but rather from werewolves. “Does your new assistant know what he’s up against?”

  Hunter smiled. “Why, yes she does.”

  My eyes widened. “A she?”

  He chuckled. “Yes. I told them I had a great person for the job. Heather Langley is from our clan in Montana.”

  “Your clan? She’s a werewolf?” Rihanna asked. Her eyes sparkled, but her open mouth implied she was shocked and maybe not all that happy.

  Hunter looked over at me. “You didn’t tell her?”

  She hadn’t been ready—or maybe I was the one who wasn’t ready to tell her. “Not yet.”

  “I’m not ready?” Rihanna asked. “Were you going to wait until I’d turned twenty-one before telling me? Don’t you think you should have said something before now?”
/>   I could feel the ground sinking beneath me.

  Jaxson stepped up next to me and then turned to Hunter and Penny. “I guess Glinda forgot to mention that Rihanna can kind of read minds.”

  “My bad. I think you mentioned that, but I forgot,” Penny said.

  “I’m cool with werewolves and all,” Rihanna said. “I mean, if I can handle people being able to disappear and moving locks with their minds, I can deal with a person changing into a wolf, I guess.”

  My cousin was a trooper. When Hunter didn’t say anything, I felt the need to move this conversation along. “Please have a seat. Our resident warlock should be here soon.”

  Both Penny and Hunter were well aware of how Levy had helped in the last case. Everyone grabbed a drink and some chips.

  “Do you have any leads?” Hunter asked.

  “Yes and no.” I told them about the séance. I probably should have waited until Levy arrived, but if he had a meeting, he might be running late.

  “If you believe Peter never attacked anyone, then he wasn’t the target,” Hunter said.

  A knock sounded, and Levy came in. “Sorry, I’m late.”

  Jaxson, Rihanna, and I were pressed together on the couch, while Penny and Hunter sat in chairs across from us. Iggy was wandering around somewhere. I was sure he’d put in his two cents when he had something to offer.

  “No problem. I was getting Penny and Hunter caught up about the séance your grandmother held for us this morning.”

  “She told me what Peter Upton claimed. But that still begs the question whether them—the term the killer had used—referred to Steward Winthrop’s coven or not.” He sat in the remaining chair.

  “If we’re opening up this discussion to clans, he could have been referring to Nash’s clan.” Hunter glanced over at me.

  “Neither of them knows about our deputy either,” I said, referring to Rihanna and Levy who never had the need to be told anything about werewolves. Rihanna had been working to get over the death of her father, and I figured a teenager could only deal with so much at once.

  Her eyes widened. “Really? Nash is a werewolf, too?” Her mouth opened slightly as she swiveled her head to Hunter. “I guess it makes sense.” She looked at Levy, probably daring him to read her mind.

  “Hunter and Nash are werewolves?” He laughed, but no one joined in.

  “I could demonstrate, but I have no desire to end up naked in front of our impressionable teenager,” Hunter said.

  I didn’t want that either, but this time I didn’t voice my opinion.

  Levy held up his hand. “That’s okay. I believe you. That does open up a whole new path of issues. If the killer meant to take out Nash, I’m assuming you can’t tell who’s a werewolf and who isn’t?”

  “We absolutely can tell who is and who isn’t. That is what has me thinking our kind wasn’t being targeted. I don’t think the killer is one either. I would have sensed him.”

  “If the killer was targeting Nash, he’d have to have been a werewolf, right?” Levy asked.

  I held up my hand, almost as if I was back at school. “Maybe this has nothing to do with any clan business. Hunter, you worked with Nash back in Montana. Maybe he arrested someone from a group of thieves or drug dealers or something, and this person wants to get back at him for that. This person might not even be aware of your kind.”

  Hunter cocked a brow. “It is possible, but would someone come all the way from Montana to exact revenge?”

  “I don’t see why not. If the killer isn’t from around here, he could leave without much notice.”

  Levy nodded. “She has a point.”

  “We’ll need to mention that to Steve tomorrow,” Jaxson suggested. “In order to speed things up, I will offer my time to research some of the one hundred people at the party.”

  “That’s a great idea,” I said.

  “Guys, we may be looking at this all wrong. Maybe the killer hired a witch to do a spell that prevented him from sensing another werewolf and vice versa,” Rihanna said. “Gertrude has been teaching me about love potions—and no, I’m not going to use one on Gavin. She said that the sense of smell is very powerful.”

  I could see where she was going with this. “That’s brilliant,” I said. “The killer could be a werewolf. He could have requested a spell be put on him so that Nash, Hunter, my dad, or any werewolf couldn’t identify him. The downside would be that he wouldn’t know they were one either.”

  “Hold on,” Rihanna said. “Uncle Stan is a werewolf?”

  “Yes. Long story. I’ll fill you in later.”

  She twisted toward Jaxson. “Are you one, too?”

  He chuckled. “I might be Superman, but I’m no werewolf.”

  For that, I was glad. “Rihanna has a point though. We have to consider the killer is a werewolf. Then again, it’s also possible he isn’t one.”

  “Great,” Jaxson said. “We can’t even decide if Peter Upton was the target or not.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Levy said.

  “What do you mean?”

  Chapter Seven

  “For the record, let me say that I don’t know much about werewolf physiology,” Levy admitted.

  “Anything you’d like to know, feel free to ask,” Hunter said.

  “I appreciate that. You can normally sense another wolf, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe this killer is a warlock—or a witch—who is also a werewolf,” Levy said.

  My blood almost turned cold. “That combination would be sincerely deadly.”

  “Exactly,” Levy said. “Not all warlocks can cloak themselves with an incantation or open locks in seconds. I’m guessing the same might be true for werewolves.”

  “You’re implying only a special kind of werewolf can cloak his scent like a warlock can cloak his body?”

  “Precisely.”

  We sat there in silence for a few seconds, trying to absorb that new concept. “Let me make sure I understand all this cloaking stuff,” Jaxson said. “You’re saying that the killer might be a werewolf who can disguise his scent, which possibly prevents him from scenting any other werewolf. To the general public, he’s an ordinary human.”

  Levy nodded. “Yes.”

  “In that case, he could have been targeting Nash because of some transgression he’s done either in Witch’s Cove or in Montana,” Jaxson added.

  “That would be my guess.”

  I never could stop my mind from looking at alternatives. “On the other hand, the killer could be a regular human who was targeting Peter. If not Peter, then maybe he was interested in Rihanna or you, Levy.” I chugged the rest of my drink that I wished had been a glass of wine. “All that boils down to is that we have squat.”

  “Not completely,” Penny said. She’d been rather quiet up until now.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  “I know that Hunter and I let in one Spiderman during the time we were taking money.”

  “And I know for a fact that Jaxson and I took in one. That makes two.”

  Iggy crawled out from under the sofa. “I saw three.”

  All but Hunter could hear him, so I told Hunter what my familiar said and what he’d seen after the lights went out.

  “I’ll play the devil’s advocate here,” Hunter said. “Suppose we let in three Spidermen who might or might not have been working together. One of them killed Peter who may or may not have been the target. In case anyone saw him, he could say it wasn’t him but rather one of the other Spidermen.”

  It was logical. “Why change their outfits after the kill? Why not just leave?” I asked.

  “Easy. Leaving would have made them persons of interest,” Hunter said.

  My shoulders slumped. “All this means is that we have endless possibilities. Or am I wrong?”

  “You’re not wrong,” Jaxson said.

  “We could sit here for a few more hours and debate whether the killer was a werewolf and who he might be after, but I
don’t think we’d reach any consensus,” Hunter said.

  Levy slapped his thighs. “I agree. I’ll ask some of my coven members to see if they’ve heard any rumblings about a group wanting revenge for us putting Winthrop and his partner, Phil Dimitri, in jail.”

  “Good idea.”

  Hunter waved his hand. “I’ll talk to Nash to see if we can come up with some groups who might want to target him. Nash spent years in Montana arresting people. For much of the time though, he and I went after the clan members who didn’t treat ordinary humans with respect.”

  Penny placed a hand on Hunter’s arm. “Does that mean you could be in danger?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  I doubt that answer would satisfy Penny for long. I inhaled deeply and then blew out a long breath. “Okay. I’ll email everyone so we can stay connected. If you learn anything, please share.”

  We chatted a bit more, and then everyone left. My mind was exhausted, as was my body. Not sleeping last night was catching up to me. I couldn’t help but yawn—for real this time.

  “Let me walk you home,” Jaxson said.

  “Thanks.”

  After collecting Iggy, we left. This time I didn’t need to warn Rihanna to lock up after us since she seemed sufficiently afraid not to take any chances.

  “What’s your main takeaway from our group meeting?” Jaxson asked once we were away from the office.

  “Whoever killed Peter was smart. The murder seemed planned—other than possibly killing the wrong person.”

  “That’s smart?” he asked.

  “How many people can kill someone then hide in plain sight and not get caught?”

  “Probably not many. If he was part warlock, he might be able to cloak himself.”

  “That’s an even scarier thought.” I shivered. “I really, really want this guy, whether he’s a werewolf, warlock, or human.” I looked up at Jaxson. “The worst part is that we have too many suspects and no clues.”

  He rubbed my back. “We’ll get some.”

  “How?”

  “Glinda, don’t worry. Steve and Misty are on the case. Something will come our way.”

  “I hope you are right.”