“Won’t be a problem?”
“Well, you see, I’ve been trying to open a bakery in Coventry for a couple of years. I work here at Nailed It, but I’ve saved up enough to start my business. The problem was, I could just never seem to get the town council to approve my permits. But I guess now that Langoria is dead, that won’t be a problem anymore.”
“It won’t?” I wanted to keep her talking.
“Oh, yes. I’m sure she was the one keeping them from approving my permits, but she’s gone now. So I supposed I’ll be able to open soon. What do you say?”
“About?”
“About joining us at church on Sunday?” she said with a laugh. “You’re a funny one.”
“I, uh…”
But I was cut off by the man who I assumed was her manager. “Karen, I need you back at the register right now. You’ve got a line.”
“Oh, drat,” she said. “Well, I hope we’ll see you on Sunday.”
When Karen walked away, the manager came over to help me. “I’m Lawrence,” he said. “Do you need help?”
“I think I want to purchase one of these riding lawn mowers, but the problem is that I don’t have any way to get it home. Do you have delivery?”
“I can do you one better than that,” Lawrence said with a smile. “I’ve got a pick-up truck. You pick it, and I’ll stick it.”
“What?”
He laughed for a moment. “You pick the one you want, and I’ll load it up in my truck and drop it off at your place. Free of charge. We’ll call it the new in-town special.”
Lawrence was an older man. Not much, but it was enough that it was noticeable. I’d have put him in his early fifties, but I wasn’t going to ask. His hair was gray around the temples, and there were a few lines etched in his tan face. I guessed he’d earned those working out in the sun.
He seemed friendly enough, and I didn’t get a bad vibe, so I decided to take him up on his offer. “Sure, that would be great. I think I’ll take this one.”
“That model will be perfect for the cemetery. It’s the right size and horsepower for the job,” he said with a smile and a nod.
“I had no idea. I picked it because it’s green and the rest of them are red. I guess I liked it because it was different.”
He laughed and clapped me on the back of the shoulder. “Well, your intuition is in fine working order. Let’s go up to the service desk and we’ll get the business end squared away.”
“I have these temporary checks from the Bank of Coventry. I hope that will be okay.”
“It sure will.”
After I’d paid for the lawn mower, I watched as Lawrence loaded it up in the truck. When it was secured, he closed the tailgate on the bed and came over to me.
“You didn’t have to stick around. I know my way to Hangman’s House,” he said.
“I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get it from my house to the cemetery. I always climb over the fence. I haven’t found the gate on that side yet.”
“Huh,” he said and scratched his jaw. “I know where the gate on the new side is located. Oh, wait. Okay. We used to play in there as kids. Scaring each other and stuff. I’ll show you.”
I followed him back to my house. Lawrence pulled his truck over on the side of the road closest to the cemetery. “It’s ready to go, so if you want to mow, I can just pull it in,” he said as I got out of my car.
“That would be great.”
Meri was in the window staring at me, so I went to the front door and let him out while Lawrence unloaded the mower. When he was done, he drove it up to the fence, turned, and followed it along a few hundred yards past some trees.
To my surprise, there was a gate there. It had been obscured on the other side by some overgrown bushes I hadn’t gotten around to taming yet.
“Hang on,” he said. “I’ve got something for those in the truck.”
Lawrence retrieved a machete from the bed of his pick-up. I stood back and watched as he cut down the errant bushes and then pulled the mower through.
“There you go,” he said. “Do you need me to clear out these branches?”
“It’s okay. I can do it. I’ve got a bin for the weeds and such.”
“Naw, it’s all right,” he said and scooped up the branches he’d cut. “I’ll just get it for you.”
“Well, thank you so much,” I said. “I hadn’t expected such personal service. You’ve really gone above and beyond.”
“That’s ‘cause you’re from the city,” he said with a chuckle. “Most of us around here like to take care of each other. I’m glad I was able to meet you and help out. Please don’t be a stranger. I’ve got to get back to the store. Gotta make sure Karen doesn’t run the place into the ground.”
“I won’t,” I said.
As soon as he was gone, I realized I had no idea how to operate a riding lawn mower. Fortunately, there was a little manual that showed how to use the controls. It wasn’t difficult, and within a couple of minutes, I was off and mowing.
Meri had come over after Lawrence was gone. He was sunning himself on one of the larger headstones while I cut the grass. I thought I was doing a pretty good job when an acorn or something hit me on the head.
Except, I’d driven the mower over into the newer section of the cemetery, and there wasn’t a tree over my head when I was in the middle. Also, the nut had hit me in the back of the head. That wasn’t a thing that happened.
I cut the power and turned around to find Langoria’s specter behind me. She began hurling ever larger chunks of broken headstones at my head.
Like an idiot, I started the mower back up and turned it back toward the older section of the cemetery. I put the gas pedal on the thing to the metal, and it jumped to a start.
The problem was, my escape was as slow as molasses. The mower could not go very fast no matter how hard I pushed the petal down. Langoria’s spirit continued to get closer and throw rocks and other detritus at me.
Meri appeared at the tree line that marked the separation between the old and new sections. “Bail out!” he called out to me.
“What?”
“Get off that stupid thing and run,” he said as he darted past me.
He hissed at Langoria, but that time she didn’t disappear. She started throwing rocks at Meri, but he expertly dodged them.
“GO!” he called out to me again.
“I’m not going to…”
“I said GO! Just get out of here. I’ll be fine.”
He was distracting her so I could get away. I had to decide. Was I the kind of witch who would just leave a friend behind? He’d told me to go, but that didn’t mean I had to leave him. Meri wasn’t the boss of me.
I didn’t know a spell to banish a ghost. Or maybe I did but I couldn’t remember it. So I did the only thing I could think of. With my hands held out in front of me, I took a deep breath and hissed at Langoria.
Meri’s head whipped around in shock, but so did Langoria’s. As strange as it was, my attempt worked. She hurled one more rock, but it wasn’t at me or Meri. Instead, it bounced off a gravestone.
When she was gone, I wandered over to the stone and looked. “E. Flowers,” I said as Meri joined me. “I wonder if it’s a clue.”
“Leave it to a witch like Langoria to both try to kill you and get you to solve her murder.”
“It is rather asinine,” I said. “I wonder what the flowers thing means. We found those flowers. Is she trying to say the killer’s name is Flowers? None of our suspects have that name.”
“Maybe she’s trying to get you to pay more attention to the flowers,” Meri offered. “Or maybe she’s trying to tell you Ruby did it?”
“Because she has a garden? Poor Ruby was accused last time around for no reason. I’m going to need more than this before I start another round of accusations against her. I’m going to finish mowing.”
“Brighton, that’s a terrible idea. Langoria’s ghost could come back.”
“I nee
d to do the job I was hired to do,” I said.
“You need to find a way to protect yourself before you work out here anymore, Brighton. Some of those rocks she was flinging at your head could have killed you. Plus, she’s destroying the cemetery more. Fine, but we need to think of something soon. I’m not going to neglect this place.”
I found the neutral setting on the mower and walked it back across the street to my house. When I put it in the shed, I couldn’t help but notice the flowers I’d found with Langoria’s body. If she wanted me to look closer at the flowers, I thought that perhaps I should. I was reaching for them when I heard a car pull up in the driveway.
“Another time then,” I said and shut the shed’s door. “Soon, I promise.”
My visitor was none other than Thorn, who wasn’t supposed to be picking me up for several hours. He was smiling when he got out of his car, but it quickly melted when he saw me.
“You look like you’ve been rolling around in graves again,” he said. “And you went all-in with the green.”
“There was a snake in the cemetery.” I didn’t like lying, but it was kind of true too. Langoria was a snake. “I had to escape. Took a few nuts to the head.”
He laughed. “I like the green. You wear it well.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“It goes well with the leaves and sticks.”
“Now you’re just being a butt,” I said. “Did you want to come in?”
“I can’t. I’ve got some work to do, but I was in the area. I wanted to stop in and see if we were still on for tonight?”
“We are,” I said.
“Good,” Thorn said before ducking back into his cruiser.
I waved again as he left. I briefly considered going back to the shed to look over the flowers, but decided I’d do that the next day. I had a date.
Chapter Twelve
After my shower, I put on a little makeup and an actual dress. I didn’t wear dresses often, but I had a few for special occasions. I didn’t want to overdress, so I went with a simple black sundress and a thin cardigan to cover my arms.
“You look like you’re trying too hard,” Meri snarked.
“You’re kind of a jerk,” I retorted. “But do I really look like I’m trying too hard? I don’t want to give that impression.”
“I was just being a jerk,” Meri said. “You look beautiful.”
“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. Thank you.”
“Whatever,” Meri said and disappeared into one of his holes in the wall.
“Whatever,” I called out after him.
Thorn arrived right on time. When I opened the door for him, his jaw dropped.
“You look beautiful,” he said as I stepped outside.
“That’s what Meri said too.”
“Your cat?”
“I’m kidding.” I would have to be more careful.
“If nothing else, you certainly know how to keep me on my toes,” Thorn said as he took my hand.
When we got to his car, he opened the door for me. “That’s kind of old-fashioned,” I said, but I had to try and hide my smile.
“If it’s old-fashioned to treat a lady like a lady, then I’m old-fashioned,” he said with a wink and shut the door.
“I like it,” I said as he slid into the driver’s seat.
“I hope you don’t mind if we drive a couple of towns over. There’s a little Italian place I like in Winterfield. They have the best fettuccine.”
“I don’t mind at all,” I said. “I’m not from around here, though. How far is Winterfield?”
“Ah, about twenty minutes or so,” he said.
The restaurant was nice. The lights were dim, and there were candles on every table. The rich scent of garlic hung in the air and made my stomach rumble.
“You recommend the fettucine?” I asked as we looked over our menus.
“I do. It’s good with chicken or shrimp,” he said. “Oh, it looks like you can get it with steak and gorgonzola too. I think that’s what I’ll have.”
“I’ll have the same,” I said and handed him the menu.
When the waitress came, Thorn gave her our orders. When she was gone, he turned his attention back to me.
“Have you heard from Remy?”
“Not today,” I said. “But that’s okay.”
“It’s okay?”
“I just don’t want you worrying about him,” I said. “I’m here with you. I want to be with you.”
“You want to be with me?”
“I guess that sounds more forward than I intended,” I said and blushed. “It’s not like you’re asking me to be your girlfriend or anything. You just asked me out on a date.”
“What if I did?” he asked.
“What if you did what?” I kinda thought I knew what he was hinting at, but I wanted him to come out and say it.
“What if I wanted you to be my girlfriend?”
“You don’t think that’s moving too fast?” I asked and took a sip of the soda the waitress had set down on the table.
“I think I waited to long to ask, actually.”
Logically, I thought that I should tell him to slow down. We should get to know each other more before we made any kind of commitment. But then there was that other part of me. My heart had skipped a beat when he asked. The way he looked at me made butterflies dance like crazy in my stomach. If I didn’t know he was a human, I’d have thought he put a spell on me.
“Yes,” I said and tried not to sound too enthusiastic. “Yes, I think I will be your girlfriend, Thorn Wilson.”
After that we chatted about our day. It was mostly me listening to Thorn talk about traffic stops and helping a little old lady who’d called him because she’d dropped her wedding ring down the garbage disposal. He didn’t have the heart to tell her he wasn’t a plumber, so he’d spend a couple of hours getting the ring out of the disposal. She rewarded him with a homemade pie.
“You’re going to eat a whole pie yourself?”
“I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to come over and watch a movie after this? We could have a slice of the pie.”
“Now that doesn’t sound very old-fashioned, Thorn,” I teased.
“No, I really mean Netflix and pie, Brighton. Scout’s honor.”
“Well, all right,” I said. “As long as you can assure me that my reputation will not be soiled, I’ll come over for a movie and pie.”
About halfway back to Coventry, my curiosity got stupid. I’d been wanting to ask Thorn about the case, and I had relaxed so much that I let a dumb questions slip.
“Thorn?”
“Yes?”
We were holding hands while he drove, and he kissed the back of my knuckles. It was a sweet gesture, and I almost held back from spoiling things by asking about Langoria’s murder.
“I was just wondering if you’d considered Maximillian as a suspect in Langoria’s murder.”
“Brighton.” His voice had that edge again.
“I just want to know.”
“Of course we’d considered it, but we don’t have any evidence it was him. Why?”
“No reason.”
“You brought it up.” There was more irritation in his voice.
“Okay, fine. I ran into him at the bank. He was especially gleeful about being able to buy a new barbecue grill and a new truck. I’m guessing he could buy those things because she’d dead and he doesn’t have to pay alimony anymore.”
“I’ll look into it,” he said gruffly.
“Can I come along when you do?”
“Brighton, stop. I’ve told you that you need to stay out of this. I don’t know why you can’t. I really don’t know why you had to do this tonight.”
Neither of us said anything for a while. My heart sank when I realized he was taking me home instead of over to his house for a movie and pie.
“I thought we were going to go watch a movie,” I said as he pulled into my driveway.
&nbs
p; “I think it’s best if we call it a night for now,” he said and got out.
Thorn came around and opened my door for me. “I’m sorry,” I said as I got out.
“I don’t want you to be sorry, Brighton. I just want you to let me do my job, and I need you to stay out of it.”
We stood there for a moment, and I hoped that he’d change his mind about ending the date. After a minute, he leaned in and planted a hasty kiss on my lips.
I could still feel the tingle of where his mouth had touched mine as I watched him get back in the car and drive away. I waved, and he slowed down for a second. But in the end, he left.
After I changed into my pajamas, I poured myself a glass of wine from the bottle of Riesling I found in the fridge. My phone buzzed a few minutes after I’d settled in on the sofa with Meri.
The text was from Thorn. I’m sorry I cut our date short. I need to learn to be more flexible. Please check your front porch.
I opened the door and found a plate with a piece of pie on it wrapped in plastic. There was a note taped to the top.
Brighton, I hope that you’ll give me another chance to take you out soon. You really did look beautiful tonight, and kissing you is always the highlight of my day. Even if I am being a big, dumb ogre. Do you still like me? Please check one.
_ yes
_no
I saved the note, but I did text Thorn back. We’ll figure this out. And for the record, kissing you is the highlight of my days too. Thank you for a lovely dinner, and I look forward to going out again.
He texted back a minute later. – Good night, beautiful.
Good night, butt face. – was my response.
:-) – was his last text.
Chapter Thirteen
“I need to get back to work,” I told Meri the next morning over breakfast. “So we need to figure out something.”
“Well, I had a look at your protection amulet, and it didn’t seem that Langoria had a chance to tamper with it before she died. So that’s a start. We can also put a salt circle and some iron around the edge of the graveyard. Though the salt will have to be refreshed frequently.”
Doom and Broom Page 8
