by Raven Snow
“So, why do you think Crispin was here? You said he and Dom were close. Do you think he was here on his behalf or something?”
“What? To like report back to him on how the funeral went?” Destiny shook her head. “I doubt it. Probably he just wants to see if she donated any money to the library. That’s a pipe dream if you ask me.”
“Is it any more unlikely than her leaving money to the marina?”
“Touché.” Destiny paused as if considering the question a little more carefully. “I don’t think either is particularly likely but I guess she did donate books sometimes.”
“If Dom and Crispin are so close, why didn’t he come for the will reading? It’s more likely he inherited something, right? You said he wouldn’t want money from her. Why not give it to Crispin if that’s the case?”
“Now you’re asking me questions I’m not qualified to answer. Don’t ask me how Dom’s dumb mind works. I don’t know.”
“Is Crispin really that hard up for money?”
“You’ve been in that place, right? The library, I mean?” Destiny waited for a nod from Lady before continuing. “You’ve seen how big the place is. From my understanding, he practically runs and micromanages the place on his own. He has trouble keeping anyone on full-time. I don’t know how much the town helps with funding, but I don’t think it’s enough. I hear he goes out of pocket a lot.”
“Geez.”
“Yeah, I feel for him.”
“Then why don’t you work at the library instead of the marina?” It seemed like an easy choice to Lady. She would much rather work at a library than out in the heat.
Destiny snorted like that wasn’t even an option. “I’m pretty sure I’d receive a pay drop. Besides, I like my job. My element is the sun, remember? Not sure how much time you get to sunbathe working at a library.”
“Fair enough.” Lady and Destiny said their brief goodbyes in the shopping center parking lot. They would be seeing each other again soon once they arrived at their destination.
Lady drove back to the funeral home and picked up Ms. Poole as well as Crispin. “He’s riding with us,” Ms. Poole explained. “We’ll drop him back off at his car after the reading.”
“You know,” Lady began, slowly, carefully. “I hear you’re really overworked at the library, Crispin. Ms. Poole, if you ever want me to go help out down there, I—”
“You already have plenty of work,” Ms. Poole said immediately and with a note of finality that didn’t leave room for arguing her case. Lady was struck with the unpleasant vision of working for Ms. Poole until the day she died. How many people would come to her funeral? Probably not many. Probably none. Who would pay for her funeral? Lady sighed and did her best to focus on driving.
Chapter Three
It was odd. Lady didn’t have a photographic memory or anything of the sort. Still, she would bet money that the mansion she was looking at in that moment was identical to the one she had seen in the book she’d checked out. They had driven up a large hill to get there. A gate had been at the bottom. It was open for the moment, a long line of cars filing through it.
There were woods surrounding the house that were dense and green. Mostly they seemed to be there to shield the house from being seen on the road. Either that or someone had just let nature take the surrounding area back.
Lady had worried that there wouldn’t be anywhere to park at the house. There were so many cars going up the driveway. There couldn’t be enough room for all of them, could there? Lady expected to stop suddenly and be forced to park inside the traffic jam their procession had made. It would be a mess trying to get out of here, driving backwards, waiting for people to no longer be blocking you in.
Thankfully, people had made do. A makeshift parking lot had been formed on the grass. The mansion’s front lawn was very spacious. Lady drove to the end of one of the rows, parked beside a red pick-up truck, and cut the engine. They all piled out and headed for the front door. Everyone was still in their Sunday best, either converging on the front door or parking. Shannon was easy to make out. She was standing apart from the crowds, openly upset about something or another. Lady could see her moving her hands around a lot for emphasis.
“I never said anyone could park like this. They’re ruining the lawn. They’re ruining it!” Shannon was complaining emphatically to a short, stout little bald man in a fancy gray suit. “I can’t believe this.” Shannon looked away just in time to make eye contact with Lady. She tried to drop her gaze, but it was too late. Shannon reeled her into the conversation. “Can you believe this? Lady? Millie? They’re ruining the grass!”
Lady heard Ms. Poole give a little huff. She didn’t like people using her first name. Lady wasn’t quite sure what to say. She glanced over her shoulder and then back to Shannon. “Should I, uh… Should I move our car? Everyone was parking there, so I thought it was okay. I’m sorry.”
Shannon opened her mouth to say something, but the little bald man spoke before she got a chance. “It’s fine. You’re fine.” He shot Shannon a look when she opened her mouth with what was most certainly going to be an objection. “The damage is already done. Having people leave while people are still coming in would be a mess. Besides, where are they going to park if not there? Why don’t we just get this reading over and done with?”
“I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit,” Shannon complained. She crossed her arms over her chest and began tapping her foot.
The bald man didn’t look phased by her reaction. He gave Lady and those with her a smile. “Go on inside. The reading will begin shortly.”
Lady took that opportunity to escape the situation. She picked up her pace and headed for the front door. “Slow down,” said Ms. Poole, but Lady didn’t do any slowing down until she was inside.
The house was as breathtaking inside as it was out. “Geez,” she breathed, stepping into the foyer and looking up. There was a sweeping staircase and, at least three floors above them. Hanging from the high ceiling was a crystal chandelier. It was incredibly large and almost certainly very, very old. Lady was struck by the sudden fear that it would fall at any moment and crush her. At least she would be impressed in her last moments, she reasoned.
“I lived here for some time as a girl,” said Ms. Poole without prompting.
Lady looked to her right, startled. “Really? Why?”
“Lucette’s parents and their parents before them used this place as something of a boarding school. They were very insistent about creating a safe place here. They wanted to cultivate young witches. They wanted us to interact, and they felt school curriculum should go hand in hand with magical skills.”
“That sounds pretty awesome,” Lady conceded. “Wish I’d been in magic school. Only special school I got put in was alternative school.” She looked to Crispin. “Did you go to magic school?”
Crispin was quick to shake his head. “No, they took in mostly girls. Plus, it was gone before my time, so…’
Ms. Poole nodded. “Lucette closed it down after she inherited this place.” She sighed and shook her head disapprovingly. “Such a waste. All the space, the potential. It all comes down to greed, if you ask me. That Lucette always did think she was better than everyone else.”
“Hey, um, let’s maybe not talk bad about the woman on the day of her funeral, during the reading of her will,” Lady suggested, quietly.
Ms. Poole just snorted. “Why shouldn’t I? Everyone dies. What makes her so special?”
“Okay, well, I’m going to go find us seats.” Lady hurried away, putting some distance between them before Ms. Poole could react. It was easy to figure out where they were supposed to be going. She followed the people still steadily trickling in.
The room meant for the will reading was large and full of chairs. There was a mahogany desk at the front of the room. A lot of people were already seated. It was doubtful there would be enough room for everyone. As large as the room was, there was still the furniture that had been pushed up a
gainst walls. People weren’t squeezing in close either. They were leaving an empty chair or two between themselves and people they didn’t know. Lady walked around the perimeter of the room, only stopping when someone yelled her name.
“Hey! Lady!” It took Lady a moment to spot Destiny. She was stretched out in the front row of seats. Her arms were even over her head, taking up an extra seat. People were glaring at her, not that she seemed to notice. Maybe she just didn’t care. “I saved us seats.”
“Nice.” Lady swooped in to help her out. She took a seat next to Destiny. Destiny sat up and popped a leg over the two seats directly to her left. “Feels like high school, except I’m seeing it from the other side.”
Destiny smirked. “You’re a glum lady, Lady. I like you.”
“Thanks?”
“You’re welcome.” Destiny lowered her voice. “Did you see the front lawn on your way in here? Are people still tearing it up? I bet they are.”
“They are.” Lady sighed. “I didn’t know we weren’t supposed to park there. I mean I wouldn’t have if I’d known.”
“Everyone else was doing it. You couldn’t have known. Besides, what did they think was gonna happen? There are too many people here. Where were they all gonna park? The garage?” Destiny had to bring a hand over her mouth then. “I was the first car to pull off into the grass. This is kind of hilarious.” She was smiling. She snorted trying to suppress a laugh.
“You’re awful.”
“Yeah… well… that’s fine. I can live with that.”
“I assume these seats are for us?”
Lady looked up to see Ms. Poole and Crispin standing in front of them. “Of course.” Destiny dropped her leg from the chairs.
“Thank you, dear.” Ms. Pool sat down on Destiny’s left. She glanced at Lady once with a frown. No doubt she had noticed that Lady had chosen not to sit beside her and was resentful of that. She didn’t say anything about it, at least.
“Are there still people pulling in?” Destiny asked. “Does it look like they’re going to get started any time soon?”
“I think so,” said Ms. Poole with a nod.
“There are less and less people coming in,” added Crispin. “Given how annoyed Shannon seems about where everyone is parking, I wouldn’t be surprised if she locks the gates back after the line is depleted. Stragglers won’t be able to get inside.”
Destiny snickered but didn’t actually say anything. Lady noted that a smile was tugging at the corner of Ms. Poole’s mouth as well. Geez, the both of them really did dislike Lucette.
***
Thankfully, the doors didn’t take too long to close. Everyone quieted down and looked about. Shannon, her daughters, and the bald man were all walking toward the front of the room. It seemed there were some folding chairs stashed away under the mahogany desk. The bald man took them out and opened them up, sitting them to one side of the desk so that Shannon, Adora, and Fabia would all have somewhere to sit. Lady still couldn’t tell the sisters apart.
“If everyone will be seated.” The bald man flashed a smile at all those gathered. There was a large manila envelope in his hand. He sidled behind the desk and sat down. Lady had thought at first that he might be Shannon’s husband, but it appeared that he was the lawyer. Where was the mayor then? He was married to Shannon, wasn’t he? It seemed like a big deal to attend your mother in-law’s funeral, even if you didn’t much like her in life. “Is everyone settled? Good.”
The lawyer pulled some documents from the envelope. He tapped at his pockets and then opened a couple of drawers in his desk before finding a pair of reading glasses. He slipped them on before beginning to read. His voice carried through the room with ease. The place had good acoustics. Maybe it had been used for teaching large classes back in the day.
There was a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo to get through before arriving at the stuff everyone was there for. Lady had never been to a will reading. She found herself drifting off to sleep a couple of times. She snapped to attention when they got to the heart of the matter. The list of what went where was surprisingly short and more than a little alarming. “Everything I own will go to the person who can figure out who murdered me.” A murmur went up in all corners of the room. Shannon and her daughters sat up straight, exchanging baffled looks. “In the event that no one can conclusively determine who murdered me, everything goes to my daughter.”
The murmuring went on. Lady saw that the lawyer’s mouth was still moving, but no one could actually hear him anymore. Even the Antonies at the front of the room had converged on the desk and were demanding answers.
“She was murdered?” Lady looked down the row at Destiny and Ms. Poole.
Destiny shook her head, though her flummoxed expression didn’t look so sure. “I heard it was heart failure. She died in her sleep.”
“I didn’t hear anything about a murder,” Ms. Poole added. “She always was dramatic, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if she put that in just for this, just for shock value. She’s trying to make herself into an urban legend here. “No one will find the murderer, but people will always wonder.” Ms. Poole shook her head with a huff. “She didn’t leave me my money.”
“She didn’t leave anyone money really,” Lady pointed out. “Anyone could figure out who murdered her, right? Anyone could inherit… well, everything.”
“Weren’t you listening?” Destiny asked, inclining her head toward Ms. Poole. “There’s no way she was murdered. This was just a grab for attention. Just wait. The cops will exhume her body. They’ll come out officially and say her death was natural causes. It’ll all be settled after that. Everyone’s going to be running around trying to solve a crime that doesn’t exist. Don’t play into her hand like that.”
“There must be some mistake.” Shannon was behind the desk with the lawyer. She was grabbing for the will, desperate to see it with her own eyes. “What does this even mean? Murdered? That’s ridiculous.” Her daughters flanked her, craning their necks to get a look at the will themselves.
Lady jumped when Ms. Poole reached out and tapped her on the back of the hand. “We should get going before a traffic jam starts. I do believe Shannon is only a few minutes away from kicking everyone out all at once.”
“That sounds like a good idea to me.” Destiny stood and headed for the door before Lady could. She waited for Ms. Poole and Crispin to stand then tried to make her way to the door as inconspicuously as possible. She wasn’t sure how well she actually did. They were in the front row after all.
“Well, this was a waste of time,” Ms. Poole said once they were all outside. “I suppose I ought to have known better.”
Lady shrugged. “It’s done with now.” She returned a wave from Destiny who was climbing into her canary yellow SUV. “And, who knows? Maybe there’s something to this. Maybe she was murdered. I know you didn’t like her much, but she didn’t deserve to get murdered, right?”
Ms. Poole gave a noncommittal hum. “I’ll believe it when the police confirm it.”
“I don’t know,” said Crispin. He spoke haltingly, like he was wary of saying something stupid. “If everyone waits for the police to make an official announcement, there may not be time to solve the case.”
“What do you mean?” asked Lady.
“Well, everything goes to Shannon in the event that no one solves the murder, right? I didn’t hear anything about a time limit. If I was her, I would try and get everything through probate as fast as possible. After that I’d liquidate everything to tie up loose ends. That way I could keep the money.”
“Huh.” Lady considered that. That made sense and certainly put a time limit on things. “I guess we should start looking into it immediately, huh?”
“Get in the car,” snapped Ms. Poole. “You can look into the matter on your own time, though I honestly can’t see much point in it. You should really listen to that Destiny girl. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders.”
“What? I just think it’s worth looking int
o!” Lady got into the car as directed. “You’re with me on this one, right Crispin?”
“What?” Crispin was in the back seat. He looked up from buckling his seatbelt. “Yeah… I mean, I guess?”
Ms. Poole looked back to her nephew with a frown on her face. “I thought you had more common sense than this.”
Crispin shrugged helplessly. “I mean… I wouldn’t, but I need the money. It would help out a ton at the library.”
There was a sigh from Ms. Poole. “I suppose I can’t fault you too much for that.” She nodded to Lady. “Now hurry up and get going. It looks like people are being turned away. Just drive and keep driving. They’ll get out of the way.”
Lady looked to the front door of the mansion and saw that people were pouring out of the double doors as quickly as possible. “Yes, ma’am,” she said before putting her foot down on the gas.
Chapter Four
Lady still had to work when she got back to the Fisherman’s Inn. She didn’t much care for that, but she was thankful for a chance to change into more comfortable clothes. That was the very first thing she did when she got back, changing out of her Ms. Poole garb and into a tank top and shorts.
Afterward, she was put to task cleaning out the storage room she had been working on for quite some time. She very nearly had it finished. At this point, she was just dreading getting done with it only to be instructed to immediately begin work on an even more cluttered room in the back hallway.
Lady had scrubbed the shelves and the walls. Ms. Poole had had her clean everything on the shelves and replace it. It was all Lady could do to keep from killing her when she was told to take everything back off the shelves. She was told to separate it into different boxes. Evidently, Ms. Poole wanted to go through what she did and didn’t want to keep. God only knew why she couldn’t just survey the shelves and say what she wanted to throw away. No, everything had to be put in a box and brought to her.
Oh, well. What was the point in complaining really? If she wasn’t doing this, Ms. Poole would just find her another job. Lady assembled her boxes and got to work. Lion sat on one of the empty shelves and drowsily watched her work. Lady got into a meditative rhythm after a while. She was humming fractured pieces of songs and so zoned out that she didn’t notice when someone stepped into the room.
