Witch of a Neighbor (Witch Reborn Book 6)

by Belinda White

  “I’d say it potentially has a lot to do with you, Ms. Wilson. I’ve been told that you had serious issues with Ms. Truesdell. Something about feeling she took an unfair amount of commission on the sale of your property?”

  Kelly glared over at me. “This is her doing, isn’t it? Trying to implicate me in a murder investigation. What a witchy thing to do.”

  I opened my mouth, but Orville spoke first. Probably best, at that.

  “Actually, Opal had nothing to do with that. We got that little bit of information from another source. A direct witness to what they called a very heated argument between the two of you.”

  She made a face. “Let me guess. Freddy Black.”

  Orville stood tall. “I’m not at liberty to say at the moment.”

  Kelly looked at him, then me, then finally stepped back inside. She left the door open. Obviously, she didn’t have it in her to actually invite me into her home. But an open door was invitation enough, wasn’t it?

  I followed Orville in, bracing myself. The bracing didn’t work much. I stood for a second in shock. The inside of the house, at least the part I could see, was pristine. White glove test pristine. Not a speck of dust to be seen anywhere.

  In fact, it made the farmhouse look like a disaster. I wasn’t much on dusting.

  Trying out the offering of an olive branch, I told her as much. “You do a wonderful job housekeeping. Your home is lovely.”

  Her eyes shot over to me, probably thinking I was egging her on. She must have seen I was sincere because her glare faded and a look of pride took over.

  “I try.” She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. “I don’t do so well with the outside, though.” She hesitated. “Would you believe I have an honest to God allergy to grass? Grass. Who would have thought that possible? But it’s true.”

  Now it was my turn to hesitate. “I have a good potion for allergies. I’d be happy to brew you up a fresh batch. Might help with that.”

  Our gazes met for a very long minute in dead silence. Orville was a rock. Unmoving. Most likely, I’d surprised him even more than myself with my offer.

  “You’d do that?”

  “Of course. Giving someone relief from allergies isn’t against one of the laws of magic.”

  She swallowed. “There are laws of magic?”

  I nodded. “There are indeed. They can create hard feelings sometimes too.”

  Another long pause. Finally, she nodded. “I’ll just bet they do at that.” She hesitated. “I think I’d like to try your allergy potion, if you don’t mind.”

  “I’ll whip it up and deliver it myself by the end of the week.”

  She led us over to the sofa, and we all sat. Kelly turned to Orville. She looked a lot more tolerant of our presence now. I could only think that was a good thing.

  “So what do you want to know about me and Morgan?”

  Orville leaned forward. “For starters, is it true the two of you had issues over the sale of that property?”

  She nodded. “It is. I mean, Patience Goodheart went to her to facilitate the purchase. I didn’t have it listed yet or anything. All the woman did was draw up a few papers and attend the closing. And for that, she took a full six percent of the purchase price! That’s highway robbery any way you look at it. Who in their right mind expects to make thousands of dollars for a few hours’ work?”

  “That had to make you angry,” Orville said.

  “No, it didn’t make me angry. It made me livid. I wanted to kill the b...” Kelly must have realized what she’d just said, because she clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening.

  “But you didn’t, did you?” I asked quietly. Orville looked over at me in surprise. So be it. My witch’s intuition was firing on all cylinders. Kelly Wilson wasn’t our killer. I was sure of it.

  “No. But I will fully admit that the thought crossed my mind.” She hesitated. “May I ask how she died? Was she shot, or...?”

  “Her neck was broken,” Orville said.

  She gave a shiver and drew her arms tighter against her chest. “That’s awful!” Then she paused. “But in a way, that pretty much proves I didn’t do it, doesn’t it? I mean, I wouldn’t even begin to know how to do something like that. Surely that narrows the suspects down, right?”

  He shook his head. “Not as much as you might think, no. But for what it’s worth, it most likely happened very quick. Morgan probably never even saw it coming.”

  “Well, that’s something, I guess,” Kelly said. “I didn’t much care for the woman, but I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer.”

  I believed her. And what’s more, I was starting to almost like the woman. How was that for a one-eighty? The Kelly Wilson of today was a far cry from the woman I’d met in the store only days ago.

  I’d be making up a batch of that allergy potion for sure. Might even ask Sapphire to add a touch of healing power to it, too.

  Make it double strong.

  I’ll admit that after that, I kind of tuned out the rest of Orville’s questions. Sure, I was listening, but only half of my mind was on it. Once my witch’s intuition had ruled her out as a suspect, I rather thought we were just wasting time here.

  Besides, I kind of had things to do at home.

  For once, however, my distraction paid off. Big time. As Orville and Kelly talked, I took a closer look at the room around me. Eventually, my eyes were drawn to a rather singular item. A small and very ornate ceramic vase.

  It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But its beauty wasn’t what was drawing my eye to it.

  I pointed to it and butted myself right into the middle of something Orville was saying. “Where did you get that?” For a minute there, I doubted my witch’s intuition. I didn’t much like that feeling, either.

  Kelly followed the path of my pointing finger. Then she shrugged. “It came in the mail a couple of days ago. The card said, ‘A thank you gift from Morgan Truesdell and Associates’ or something like that.” Kelly’s eyes narrowed at me. “Why do you ask?”

  Instead of giving her an answer, I looked over at Orville. He was staring at the vase now, too. For good reason.

  The two of us had seen that vase before. In the burglary case files.

  Kelly Wilson had received stolen property. I’d bet my broom on it.

  Chapter 17

  Kelly was nice enough to let us take the vase with us. Sealed up in an evidence bag with the date and her signature on it, too. We weren’t about to take any chances with this one.

  From there, we did a few errands in Oak Hill before we headed home. It didn't make much sense to waste a trip to the bigger city when we were already right there.

  Of course, when I say we headed home after the errands, I really meant I headed home. However, as the two of us were in the same car, that meant Orville did too. Only he didn’t stay.

  The man was on a mission to try to determine who had sent that package to Kelly. Which, of course, meant another visit to Freddy Black. One I was not invited to.

  Normally, that would have rankled me, but today it didn’t. That’s because I really did have things to see to here at home. Namely, getting ready for our monthly coven meeting. The full moon was tonight, and our coven wasn’t much to miss an opportunity for a bonfire coven gathering under a full moon. Pretty much the only times we had them anymore.

  More’s the pity. There wasn’t anything much better than being up on that hilltop, being showered with the Goddess’s blessings. Pretty much heaven on earth, that.

  And tonight we’d be sharing it with Patience Goodheart for the very first time. I debated calling the girls to let them know we’d have a guest, but in the end, I decided to just surprise them with it. As High Priestess, that was my call to make.

  Besides, I couldn’t see the girls having an issue with Patience, anyway. It would be different if that weren’t the case.

  I had a big pot of soup beans on the stove cooking and cornbread muffins in the oven. I figured I’d have Orville hel
p me lug the heavy pot up that hillside prior to the meeting. Then we could set it up over the bonfire to keep it warm.

  If Orville was really nice, I might even let him eat a bowl before going back home.

  Ah, who was I kidding? Of course, the man would get a bowl. Maybe two. But then again, it might be a smarter move to just leave a small pot on the stove here for him.

  Orville tended to get more than a tiny bit nervous on that hilltop in the light of the full moon. Couldn’t imagine why.

  I grinned to myself. Yeah, that last part was a total lie. I knew very well what Orville’s problem being on that hilltop on a full moon night was.

  A bunch of naked witches. Even if they were family. Actually, maybe especially because they were family.

  Although, for the past few years, the girls had taken to wearing bikinis for the event. There were sometimes errant gawkers who managed to find a way to spy on us. I didn’t much care for that thought, but it didn’t bother me all that much either.

  As far as I was concerned, there wasn’t anything inherently wrong in showing off the body the good Goddess gave me. Some people, however, felt far different about that.

  Orville being one of them. The whole law and order thing, most likely. Naked women in public could mean trouble for a lawman. I got that.

  I was just taking the last batch of muffins from the oven when Kim’s van pulled into the driveway. A few minutes later, Baby Pearl came walking into the kitchen.

  Mom always had been a fan of beans and cornbread.

  Unfortunately for me, that wasn’t her immediate concern. She lifted a chubby little finger and pointed out the kitchen window. “Go!”

  My heart skipped a beat, even as my eyes flew to look out that window. Was there something wrong up on the hilltop? I started moving toward the door, but Baby Pearl reached out and grabbed my hand, stopping me.

  I looked down at her. When she saw she had my attention again, she pointed at herself, then at the window. “Pearl go!”

  A slight movement caught my eye, and I realized Nancy was standing just on the other side of the kitchen doorway, her school backpack still in her hand.

  “Is there something wrong on the hilltop?” If there was, I was wasting precious time. The girls always headed up early to start the bonfire. They didn’t always check in with me first, either.

  She shook her head, and I breathed a whole lot easier. My heartbeat started slowing down a bit, too.

  I took a deep breath. “So you’re talking about the coven meeting tonight?”

  Baby Pearl nodded. Nancy wasn’t budging, either. The Gemstone Coven had a long-standing rule. No one was formally admitted into the coven until their eighteenth birthday. It was a rule my sister and I had enforced rather rigidly. For a long time, Sapphire and I had been a coven of two. That hadn’t changed until the girls had crossed that birthday threshold.

  Only now, I found myself wavering. I mean, it wasn’t as if Baby Pearl would be there as a practicing witch, now was it? She’d only be an observer. A baby observer at that.

  Then Nancy stepped up. “If Pearl goes, I go. I’m a heck of a lot older than she is.”

  I looked from Pearl to Nancy and back again. “Now see what you’ve started?”

  It’s hard being of two minds. And right then, that was the case with me. The coven (namely my sister and I) had highly enforced the age rule when the girls were growing up. No. They hadn’t been too happy about it, either.

  Also, while I know that my mother’s soul inhabited Baby Pearl’s tiny body, Baby Pearl was just a toddler. As such, she needed rules and a firm hand. Rules were meant to be enforced, dang it all. It might not be such a good thing to let her win this one.

  So that was one of my minds. The other one was saying how hard this first coven meeting might be on Patience. How nice would it be for her to see a small, friendly face there welcoming her?

  Baby Pearl stamped a little foot. “Go!”

  I arched an eyebrow at her. “That little attitude isn’t going to get you what you want, you know. In fact, right now it is very much working against you.”

  Baby Pearl glared at me, but I could see the wheels turning inside her head. She was a very expressive child.

  Nancy wasn’t saying another word. She didn’t want to jinx what might be her golden opportunity. I looked over at her, then smiled when I realized the girl wasn’t just being quiet. She was holding her breath.

  I sighed. “Breathe, child, before you pass out.” My shoulders dropped as I turned my eyes to Baby Pearl. “I’ll allow the two of you to attend tonight’s meeting on one condition. You will observe only.”

  I knelt down so that I could look the toddler directly in the eyes. “No negotiation on that. The very first teensy, weensy sign of magic use from you, and I’ll cart your little heinie right back here to the farmhouse, and I’ll up the coven’s minimum age to twenty-one. Is that understood?”

  Big green eyes stared into mine in silence for a long minute. I waited.

  Finally, she nodded before turning to toddle off.

  “One more thing,” I said.

  She stopped and turned to look at me. A wary look in her eyes. No, I hadn’t changed my mind. But then again, I wasn’t the only one that had to give permission for this to happen, now was I?

  “Your mother has to agree, too, you know.”

  Her little lips pouted out, but she didn’t say anything. Not that I expected her to. She’d probably already spent the daily amount of words she gave herself.

  She left, and Nancy walked up to me. “You’ll really let me come?”

  I grinned at her. “Of course, child. But the same rules apply. Absolutely no magic from you.” She nodded in agreement. “Good. Oh, and I’ll be needing you to watch Baby Pearl for us too.”

  That, she didn’t look too sure about. Most likely she was afraid Baby Pearl would do something that would come back to bite her in the end.

  I didn’t blame her. Knowing that toddler as I did—and trust me no one knew her better than I did—if I were Nancy, I’d be worried too.

  THERE WAS ANOTHER ISSUE about the night’s coven meeting that had me unsettled.

  Witches these days were pretty much divided right down the line on the whole dancing naked in the moonlight thing. Or as we call it, going Sky Clad.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t know which side of the issue Patience fell on. I knew the girls generally wore their swimsuits, which didn’t amount to much difference in my mind. But still. It was all a matter of appearances.

  I didn’t want Patience to feel out of place. Well, any more than she already would. If I went in a swimsuit and she went Sky Clad, that would make her the odd duck out. Then again, if I went Sky Clad, and she showed up in a swimsuit, she might think I would judge her commitment to the Goddess.

  I wouldn’t. But she might think that all the same.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t an easy decision to make. I was still undecided when it was time to start walking up that hill. As Patience had access to that very hilltop from her new property, she was going to meet us there.

  Also unfortunately, Orville didn’t show back up in time to cart the big pot of beans for me. The Goddess works in mysterious ways all right. Because, what with me granting Baby Pearl and Nancy observer rights for the evening, I had someone to help me.

  We divided the beans into two pots, and Nancy carried one for me. We put the cornbread muffins, which didn’t weigh all that much at all, into a toddler-sized backpack and let Baby Pearl do her part too. Child labor at its finest.

  Everyone carried their own weight around here. Or at least a small portion of it, anyway.

  By the time we made it up to the hilltop, Ruby and Amie had a good bonfire going and had already set up the tripod for the bean pot over it. It was a simple thing to redistribute the beans back to the single pot and hang it over the fire.

  We were just finishing that up when Patience showed up, completing our little gathering. There were now four adult witches on t
hat hilltop, ready to receive the Goddess’s blessings.

  Yes, four. My sister, Sapphire, had taken to celebrating the full moon blessings in her own backyard with her new husband, Archimedes Mineheart. One could do that when one’s husband was a witch as well.

  Not an option I had, as Orville had shown no interest in the whole witch thing. Well, other than an interest in me, of course.

  Like the rest of us, Patience was wearing a long cloak. Walking through the woods without a covering wasn’t the smartest of things to do. That didn’t mean we planned to wear them long once we got there.

  I nodded to Patience and made the introductions, explaining the Goddess’s request. I hadn’t expected any trouble from the girls about Patience, and I didn’t get it either. In fact, Patience’s presence probably quelled any scene they might otherwise have made about the two younger visitors to the meeting.

  Not being blind, I’d noticed their rather disturbed glances at them. Yeah, we’d drummed that age rule into their heads from a very early age. But I’d deal with the repercussions from that later.

  Right now, I had a different problem taking up space in my head.

  The girls dropped their cloaks, and, sure enough, they each had on a swimsuit. A skimpy one, but all the pertinent parts were covered. For the most part.

  Patience glanced at them and swallowed, then looked at me. I looked right back at her.

  It became pretty obvious pretty quickly that neither of us wanted to be the first to drop our cloak.

  Finally, I shook my head. “You’re naked under that, aren’t you?”

  She blushed and then nodded. “I am.”

  I grinned at her. “Give me a minute.” I’d erred on the side of caution and worn a simple one-piece suit under my cloak. Even I couldn’t magic up clothes, so it had simply seemed the safest option. Now, all I had to do was reach under the cloak and shuck it off, then toss it to the side.

  “It’s really good to have a witch after my own heart back in the coven again,” I said, dropping the cloak covering my now Sky Clad body.

  She grinned back and dropped hers as well. I tried not to stare, but it was hard. Maybe it was a good thing that my man was uncomfortable being around naked witches.