The Pink Pumpkin Party

by Vella Day

  “How sad to come home to bad news.”

  “That’s the thing,” Steve said. “His whole family included his father, Peter Upton.”

  He wasn’t making any sense. “I don’t understand.”

  “The man who dated your aunt and who called himself Peter Upton from White Plains, New York with two sons named Adam and Josh isn’t the real Peter Upton. Your aunt’s boyfriend stole that man’s identity.”

  My chest caved. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I compared our dead man’s face to the Peter Upton from White Plains, and they are not the same man.”

  I can’t believe Aunt Fern had been duped. “Could there be two Peter Uptons?”

  “I had thought that, but would both Peter Upton’s have the same address?”

  My mind spun. “Then who was he?”

  “I haven’t run his prints yet. I did go to Upton’s office to see if his secretary could offer some help, but she’s gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “Yes. The whole office has been cleaned out. No computers or anything. I asked the offices next to his, and they told me she’d just vanished.”

  “That is really strange.” My poor aunt. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “The best thing you can do is to make sure your aunt is okay. She seemed rather upset.”

  “Of course, she would be. Lying is the worst offense.”

  Steve stood. “Thanks for trying to help Nash and Hunter.”

  “Of course.”

  With that, he left.

  Jaxson slipped next to me. “Do you want to talk to your aunt?”

  “I guess I should, but I’m so confused. Who was this guy, and why would he come to Witch’s Cove of all places?”

  “Learn the answers to those questions, and we might solve this mystery once and for all.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I knocked on Aunt Fern’s door and then entered. She was standing by the window, looking out at the ocean, apparently deep in thought. “Aunt Fern?” I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible.

  She swiped a finger under her lids and turned around. “You heard, I guess.”

  I nodded, walked over to her, and then enfolded her in an embrace. “I’m sorry.”

  “I should have known. He was so good-looking and successful.”

  I could see where this was headed. “Stop right there. He was lucky to be with you. If he wanted a cover for being here, he could have picked anyone, but he chose you.”

  “I suppose.” She briefly smiled. “We did have fun.”

  “There you go. That’s all that matters.” I was going to say she was better off without him, but she might not take it well. I led her over to the sofa. “Can you think of a reason why he would have borrowed another man’s identity?”

  “He had to have been running from someone. He must have been a criminal.”

  I tended to agree, but we had no facts. “Steve is still looking into who he really was. Once we learn that, we might know why he was here.”

  She sniffled. “Thanks. I have figured out one thing. I’m never dating again.”

  I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I’ve said that a million times myself, but then I’d meet someone else and give in.”

  “Like Jaxson?”

  I had yet to admit where I saw our future going, but I wanted to give her hope that there was someone out that for her. “Yes, like Jaxson.”

  “I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks.” I wasn’t sure what else I could say to make things better. My aunt needed some time to absorb this news. I was sure that Aimee would be chiming in, but when I looked around, I didn’t see her. “Where is that pretty cat of yours?”

  “I honestly don’t know, but she doesn’t stay out too long.”

  “She might have some insight.”

  Aunt Fern chuckled. “We’ll see.”

  I stood. “Jaxson is waiting for me, but you know where I am at night. Come over any time you want to talk.”

  “I will.” My aunt stood. “Be careful out there. This whole mess is not over.”

  “I know.” I hugged her goodbye and then walked across the hall to my place.

  Jaxson was watching TV with Iggy. “How did it go?” he asked.

  “As well as can be expected. She’s upset that she was duped. I’m hoping this makes his death easier to take.”

  “I take it she had no idea who he was?”

  “No.”

  “I doubt his identity will remain a secret for very long. Steve will get his fingerprints and put them in some database. If this guy is a criminal, he should show up somewhere.”

  “I agree. I hope he’s not a horrible person.”

  Jaxson studied me for a moment. “Because that will make your aunt think she lacks the ability to read people?”

  “Yes.”

  “I get it. I do.” Jaxson stood. “I need to head back to the office.”

  I showed him to the door. I appreciated that he wanted to keep Rihanna safe, but I needed him, too. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my cheek to his chest. “Thanks for coming with me to the forest. I don’t think I could have done it by myself.”

  He leaned back and lifted my chin. “Of course.”

  Because those men were still out there, I let Jaxson go. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading, but my mind refused to stop going over all of the clues. My biggest issue was who was the fake Peter Upton and was he involved in any way with the other three men? If my arrival dates were right, my aunt’s boyfriend arrived in Witch’s Cove a few weeks before the other men. Coincidence or planned? What was really bothering me was whether this guy was a werewolf? If he could cloak himself, no one would know if he was one or not, and he certainly wouldn’t have confided that tidbit of information to my aunt. I could only hope his prints came up in the system.

  As I was heading off to bed, my cell rang. I rushed out to the living room to answer it. “Hey, Hunter. How are you?”

  “Doing a lot better, thanks to you.”

  Hearing his voice bolstered my energy. “That’s fantastic. I take it your wolf is healing you?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “And Nash?” I held my breath.

  “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

  “Really?” I honestly didn’t think breaking the curse had worked, let alone work this fast.

  “Glinda?” It seemed as if our deputy might not be out of the woods—no pun intended—because he sounded weak, but at least he was alive.

  “I’m glad to hear you are on the mend.”

  “It will take a while. I just want to say… keep up the good work.”

  Even those few words seemed to tire him out. “Get some rest. Don’t worry about a thing. Steve has everything under control.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I should be going home tomorrow,” Hunter said after taking back the phone.

  “I’m sure Penny is worried about you.”

  “About that. I told her I was out of town on a case. I hope you didn’t say anything.”

  I’d been too busy to talk to her. “No, I haven’t.”

  In the background, I could hear Dr. Sanchez say something to Hunter. “Thanks. Gotta go.”

  “Sleep well.”

  I spun to face Iggy. “My spell worked.”

  He sat up. “Thanks to me.”

  “Without your help, I never would have been able to perform the spell, so thank you.”

  He did his little victory dance. If it hadn’t been so late, I might have called Levy, but I would do that tomorrow.

  Even though Hunter, or Nash, probably had called Steve to give him the good news, I thought I’d stop over at the station and tell him. First though, I called Levy to thank him for the spell.

  “I’m so happy it worked,” he said.

  “Me, too. Please thank everyone, especially Camila.”

  “Will do”

  I hung up and headed over to the sheriff’s office. When I wa
lked in, Pearl was at her desk with a plate of cookies off to the side. “Did you hear the news?” she asked with a big smile on her face.

  “That Nash and Hunter will be okay?”

  “Yes. I spoke with Hunter last night, and I hear we have you to thank.”

  “A lot of people helped. Is Steve in?” I didn’t want to get into the spell and how I thought I’d seen my grandmother again.

  “He sure is but take a cookie. I don’t want to be tempted.”

  I doubt grabbing one cookie from a plateful would help, but I did love my sweets. With my treat in hand, I knocked on his door and then eased it open.

  “Glinda, just the person I want to see.”

  That was a surprise. I slipped onto the chair in front of his desk. “Yes?”

  “The lab returned the glove that you found.”

  I waited for some information about the results, but he didn’t add anything. “Did you learn something?”

  “Yes. It belonged to Travis Knowlton. There was Peter’s blood—or who we thought was Peter Upton—on the glove, as well as some skin cells that belonged to our other dead man, Travis.”

  “I take it, that’s proof enough that Travis killed my aunt’s boyfriend?”

  “For now. Considering Travis can’t be prosecuted, we’re not going to pursue it. I’m convinced his two cohorts did him in. I don’t know why they killed him, nor do I have absolute proof, but the evidence points to it.”

  “Evidence? Beside the fact that these men were cleaning out Travis’ house, what do you have?”

  “Let’s say it’s more like circumstantial evidence. Yesterday afternoon, I was able to track down Travis’ car. Turns out, someone sold it to a kid in Ocean View for almost nothing. Being young, he was a bit out of control and got into a fender bender.”

  “That’s how you learned about the car sale?”

  “Yes. The officer in Ocean View called about it since Travis lived here. Anyway, when I showed this teen the photos of George Fredericks and Tony DeLorenzo, he identified them as the two people who sold him the car.”

  “Because they were in possession of Travis’ car, this sort of proves that these guys killed their friend and were trying to make it look as if he’s still alive?”

  “That was my thinking,” Steve said.

  The evidence was rather thin. I hope he was trying to find more. “They must have thought that by clawing at his face, we wouldn’t be able to identify him.”

  “That’s my guess, too. I have to say, I am surprised Travis didn’t have a record. I searched using not only his name, but also using his fingerprints. The guy was clean.”

  “Since neither Hunter nor Nash saw the faces of the two werewolves who attacked them, we can’t be certain it was these men.”

  “No, but Misty has sent her officers to the forest. They will check all outgoing and incoming cars. So far, the blue truck is still parked at the forest. When she finds them, she’ll bring them here for questioning,” Steve said.

  “Who’s to say they won’t leave the forest at some other location and hitchhike somewhere?”

  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” he said. “In case it does, I’ve asked other law enforcement agencies to check the border crossings.”

  “That sounds excellent.”

  “While I’m certain these men are the werewolves who killed Travis Knowlton and who also attacked Hunter and Nash, I need real proof, and that’s where you come in.”

  Steve had asked for my help before, but twice in a row? “What can I do?”

  “For starters, I’d like you to see if maybe one of your psychics can get a reading off the glove.”

  “We already know that it belonged to Travis and that he killed the fake Peter.”

  “Yes, but who’s to say she won’t learn more?”

  He made an excellent point. I didn’t know much about psychic visions. “I’ll give it a try. Anything else?”

  “Yes. If they don’t come out of the forest anytime soon, we’ll need to find these men. Since you were able to reverse the curse that prevented Hunter and Nash from healing, maybe you can reverse the cloaking spell that prevents other werewolves from sensing their presence?”

  The hope in his eyes almost hurt my stomach. “I’ve asked Gertrude to find such a spell, but I haven’t heard back from her yet.”

  He lifted the plastic bag that contained the glove. “I’m sure she’ll come through. Maybe if you give her this, we’ll see what she can make out of it. Levy’s group might be able to help with the other spell. I know I don’t need to stress that we are under a time constraint.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “If I didn’t say so before, thank you for helping Nash. I spoke briefly with him this morning, and I think he’s going to be okay.”

  I smiled. “I think so, too.”

  The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that my grandmother had helped with the spell. I grabbed the evidence bag and left, but not before snatching one more cookie.

  “Wish me luck, Pearl.”

  “Luck for what?” she asked.

  “With everything.”

  With that cryptic note, I left and headed across the street to see if Gertrude was there. To my delight she was. Since Steve had asked that I have Gertrude do a reading on the glove, I decided to turn the receipt over to the Witch’s Cove sheriff’s department. I didn’t earn enough to pay for everything.

  “You have the glove, I see,” Gertrude said as soon as I stepped into her office.

  “I do.” I told her who it belonged to and that Steve believed this man killed Peter Upton. “Did you hear Peter Upton was a fake name?”

  “No. Tell me more.”

  I couldn’t tell if she was pulling my leg or not, but I let her know what Steve had said. “Hopefully, the sheriff will learn why he really was down here.”

  “Your poor aunt. I’ll have to stop by and see her.”

  “I’m sure she’d love that.”

  I handed her the glove. “You can take it out of the bag if need be.”

  Gertrude settled herself on the sofa, placed the bag on her lap, and then put the glove on top. Neither of us knew how much blood was on it.

  She closed her eyes, and when she began to sway, I had the sense she was either connecting to the owner or trying to find him. A couple of times she shook her head and then grunted. I only hoped this wasn’t too much for her.

  About a minute later, her shoulders sagged, and then she opened her eyes.

  “Well?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. I saw the number four very clearly, but I also saw some kind of pyramid. The top was red and the bottom black and white.”

  Okay, that was quite out there. “What do you think that means?”

  “I honestly have no idea.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Gertrude just had a psychic connection with the glove yet didn’t know what it meant? That wasn’t really helpful. “There were three men who came to the party who were friends, not four.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m seeing the number four.”

  Then it dawned on me. Could Peter Upton be part of the group? “Actually, that gave me an idea. Thank you. I don’t know what the pyramid has to do with anything, but the number four could mean something.”

  Gertrude smiled. “I hope it makes sense at some point.”

  “There is one other thing. Did you find any kind of spell that would reverse a werewolf’s ability to be detected? Or maybe it was a witch’s spell that gave them the ability to avoid being identified?”

  “I did. Actually, Levy’s coven unearthed it. The spell doesn’t seem to be too difficult to perform, but you’d have to be fairly close to them to do it.”

  I sagged. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “Where are the men now?”

  “We believe the two who attacked Hunter and Nash are still hiding in the woods.”

  “You don’t think they’ll come out t
o eat at some point?”

  I really needed to learn a bit more about werewolves. “I honestly don’t know. I figure they would kill a rabbit or something.”

  Gertrude stood and retrieved something off of her desk. She handed me the paper. “This is the spell. No potions needed. No candles to light or anything.”

  “Thank you. I need to figure how I can implement this without being caught. Do you know how long this spell lasts?”

  “No.”

  “I suppose any length of time would be good enough. Thank you.”

  After we chatted a bit more, I left and paid, making sure to get a receipt. Once I was back at the office, I called Steve to let him know what Gertrude had said.

  “I like your idea that our fake Peter Upton might have been part of this gang. The timing of his arrival and their arrival seems to work, but what does the pyramid mean?”

  “Gertrude didn’t know, and I can’t even guess,” I said.

  “It’s very possible that your aunt’s friend was a werewolf who was able to cloak his scent. I do think it’s possible he was friends with the other three. But if these men are still in the forest, I don’t want you going in there. And that’s an order.”

  Sheesh. I wasn’t stupid. “Don’t worry. I’ve seen first-hand what wolves can do to flesh. If they figured out I was trying to stop them from hiding, they’d take me out in a heartbeat.”

  “I’m glad you understand.”

  “I’m not going to give up, though. I’ll find a way.”

  “Just be safe, Glinda.”

  Steve sounded quite sincere. “Thanks.”

  Iggy waddled out from under the sofa. “Maybe I could go into the woods and say the spell. They couldn’t catch me.”

  I almost chuckled, but then I thought better of it. “I wish you could, but I’m not sure you have the magical skills. I will keep you in mind if I can’t come up with a better solution.” It wouldn’t hurt if he went, but there were dangers in the woods that I didn’t want to expose him to.

  He stared at me for a bit, probably unsure of whether to be insulted or not. “Okay.”

  “Where’s Jaxson, by the way?” I asked.

  “He left you a note. It’s on your desk.”

  Jaxson probably instructed Iggy to tell me right away. Withholding information was his way of being passive aggressive. I went over to my desk. The note said that he was running errands for Drake and would be back in a few hours.