Lori started moving to the front in order to catch Matt, as it looked like he was close to finishing off. However, he kept talking to the audience.
”And, I have a more important announcement to make.“ He looked back to the screen where Justus’ photo was still showing and continued. “Professor Sproutley left behind an academic research endowment. And made me the executor. Before he died, we spoke about various options for what to do with the money. Based on our talks, I’ve decided to use the funds to create a mushroom research center, the Mushroom Institute, here in Fennelmoore, and to make this convention an annual event.” Applause broke out spontaneously among the audience, and everyone gave Matt a standing ovation. Even before the clapping started, Lori began jumping up and down with excitement, spontaneously hugging a few delegates around her. This was her dream come true, one she’d had right from the moment she decided to go up against the mayor’s ghost town plan. Fennelmoore now had a new lease on life that would last a long, long time. She stormed out of the hall and found the twins and Hazel, and together they hugged each other, tears of joy in their eyes. When Lori returned to the convention hall, Matt was still mobbed by a throng of academics thanking and congratulating him.
“Call me,” Lori messaged him and included a photo of a picnic basket below the words.
Lori walked home to find Fae and Felicity sitting on the veranda, enjoying the sunset. They were talking like old friends. Felicity was no longer as somber as she’d been when they’d first met, though she was still wearing black. Both smiled when they saw Lori approaching. “Meet the new grownup witch on the block,” Fae said from afar. “She just learned to drive the other day!”
Lori drew up a chair and sat down next to the two ladies. “I knew there was something special about you from the first time I laid eyes on you, young lady. And I was not mistaken.” Felicity patted Lori’s hands. “You’re a brave soul. Thank you for giving me back peace of mind. Now I can let Austin rest.”
Lori saw tears in her eyes as she spoke.
Inside the house, an excited Jasmine accosted Lori. “The mayor wants to meet with you to start planning next year’s convention. And guess what? He offered me a job as the public relations officer for Fennelmoore! This has worked out so perfectly!” She kissed Lori on both cheeks and ran off to tell Hazel the news. Much toasting happened around the dining room table of the Whitewood Manor that evening. Every time someone brought up a scene from the previous night’s dinner, everyone would crack up laughing.
“I’m a little disappointed Ray never got to confess,” Hazel said. She winked at Lori. “Rosie would have liked that.”
Rosie blushed beetroot red. “It’s going to take more than just a truth cookie to get him to confess!”
“Well, bless old Justus,” Fae said when there was a lull in the laughter. “At least he gave this bunch of witches their mojo back.” Everyone clinked their glasses once more. “To Justus,” Fae said, her voice cracking. Walking back to her bedroom after the evening’s festivities, Lori heard a message coming through on her phone. It was from Matt.
“Eagle Rock, 11:00 a.m.”
Lori smiled. It was a good way to finish off the day.
Early the next morning before breakfast, Lori slipped outside to empty the family mail box. She went back inside, sat down at the dining room table with a cup of coffee, and started going through the mail. There were the usual utility bills and catalogs for witchcraft paraphernalia and a copy of the Fennel Times. The front page had a glowing article about the convention, together with a group photo of the delegates with the mayor standing in front, looking proud. She peered at the photo. Someone had decided to crop out Istvan. “Only fittingly so,” she thought.
She stopped at a large, hefty envelope addressed to her and bearing the logo of Harvard Law School. She tore it open and scanned the contents. It took a minute to grasp that her application has been successful. She was going to Harvard. “I should be jumping through the roof with joy,” Lori thought, “but I’m not. Why?” She folded the page up again and put it back into the envelope.
Deep in thought, Lori walked to the lounge to find Fae just waking up in her rocking chair with Trixi fast asleep on her lap. She looked at Lori as she sat down. “What’s wrong Lori? You look like you’ve seen one of the Mayor’s ghosts!” Fae tittered.
“Granny, remember that law school I applied for? It looks like I’ve been accepted.” Fae looked at her granddaughter with a mixture of pride and worry.
“Come here, my girl.” She pointed to a footstool next to her. “Sit down, it’s time we talked.” Lori wasn’t used to her boisterous grandmother being so serious, so she obliged and sat down. Fae put her arm around Lori’s shoulders. “I’m not going to preach to you. You’re not a kid anymore.” She looked into Lori’s eyes. “And no, I’m not about to give you one of those when-I-was-your-age stories. Promise. Now, I have no doubt you’ll make a great lawyer, and later perhaps find yourself a fellow and settle down to earn loads of money. But there’s another law that needs up-keeping, and that’s the law of the witches. It’s a law that’s hard to explain to outsiders, but you’ve seen it working right here,” Fae said and pointed to everything around them in the room. “You and I know there was no way the police were going to solve poor Justus’ murder. ”But you did, with this.“ She put her forefinger on Lori’s forehead. ”You needn’t worry about the family, we’re all a bit too crazy for you. But think about yourself, think about how this town, or the world for that matter, needs you most before you make that big decision.“
Lori took Granny Fae’s hand in hers. ”Don’t worry Gran, it’s not a decision I’ll make lightly. And whatever I choose, I’ll never forget you guys.“ She laughed. ”I can’t exactly stop being a witch, can I?“
Fae giggled too. ”On the contrary, there’s probably a lot more to learn about being a witch than any law school can teach you.“ She dug into her coat pocket. ”And by the way, I have a little present for you.“ She pulled out a weathered-looking, square little silver box and handed it to Lori.
She took it and gently opened the delicate lid. Inside the box lay two small shiny earrings in the shape of cats. Lori couldn’t believe her eyes. These earrings had been in the Whitewood family for five generations, and now Fae was handing them down to her! Wordless she hugged her granny. ”Thanks, Gran, how can I ever thank you?“ she said, struggling not to be overwhelmed by emotion. After leaving the house to go open up the Wholesome and meeting Jasmine who was standing in for her at the shop, Lori walked to the agreed picnic spot, arriving at exactly eleven o’clock.
Hazel had prepared a picnic basket for her filled with yummy snacks and fresh, homemade ginger beer. ”The best path to a man’s heart is through his stomach,“ her aunt intoned. She put the basket down and breathed the fresh air as she surveyed the surrounding fields with Fennelmoore in the distance. It was a sunny day, and the fields were dotted with color like an impressionist painting. When she looked in the direction she came from, she saw Matt walking up the path toward her. He had a tweed-patterned cap covering his brown-copper hair with his familiar brown leather satchel slung over his shoulder. Everything else about him was exactly the same as when she first saw him, right here on the spot she stood now.
”Hi,“ Lori said, a bit uneasily. Matt held out a bunch of wild flowers he’d picked along the way and stuck a few of them in her hair.
”Hey. So glad to see you a bit more relaxed now that the stresses of the convention are over and the killer’s been locked up,“ he said and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
Lori eased up and laughed brightly, resisting the temptation to hug Matt. Instead she took out a cheerful blue picnic blanket and spread it out on the grass. ”Oh yes, much, much more relaxed, and relieved. And you, how are you, star of the show?“
Matt gave an abashed nod and answered her with a smile before peeking inside the picnic basket. ”Looks delicious! I’m looking forward to this,“ he said and settled down next to Lori.
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”So, tell me,“ Matt said, ”just how did you pull off that mass confessional at your house?“
Lori put on a mysterious smile. ”Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it was just the Whitewood ladies’ magic touch.” She got serious. “We were lucky it all worked out. It was very risky, especially in hindsight.“ Lori watched Matt to see if he noticed her innuendo.
”I noticed some of that magic when I caught up with Istvan at the Inn,” Matt said with a little laugh. You were quite a sight, hanging from a broom in the air in front of the moon.”
Lori went ice cold.
Matt took his phone, browsed through it, and handed it to her. Lori peered at the photo, stretching it to see better. It was a dark, grainy photo of her, hanging in midair, astride Fae’s old witch broom. She blinked her eyes. Yes, it was definitely her.
She handed the phone back to Matt, searching his face for emotion. What was his reaction going to be now that he knew she and her family were witches?
Matt hit the delete button and the photo disappeared off the screen. ”Better that way, right?” he said.
“Thanks. Yes, some secrets are best kept,” Lori replied, grateful for Matt’s thoughtfulness.
“I had a hunch that you guys were witches from the beginning,” Matt said. But I thought it was best that you raise the issue yourself, especially since it is clearly a secret here in Fennelmoore.“
Lori felt relieved to have that out of the way. ”I couldn’t get myself to tell you. So many people reject us when they find out we’re witches. I didn’t want to… lose your friendship.”
“You’ll never lose that,” Matt said. “What on earth made you think that?”
Lori drew a deep breath. “There was this guy I fell in love with quite some time ago. He believed witches didn’t exist. I was shocked, and it took me a long time to get over the hurt. Since then, I haven’t let anyone get too close to me. Then you came along, and like him, you’re a scientist. The whole time I was deeply afraid your attitude towards me would like change if you knew I was a witch.”
”His loss,” Matt said. “By the way, last night’s confession still stands.“
To hide her relief, Lori started unpacking the picnic basket and changed the subject of the conversation. ”Now, please tell me where that mythical mushroom is, the one that caused all the trouble.“ Lori had been burning to ask the question ever since Matt had arrived.
Matt took a large bite from a salami sandwich before answering. ”I have it right here,“ he said.
Lori looked at him incredulously. “What? But you never confessed…” Lori wasn’t certain yet whether she should be happy or angry with Matt. After all, if more had been known about the whereabouts of the mushroom specimen, perhaps a lot of what happened could have been avoided.
Matt read the expression on Lori’s face and hastened to explain. “Oh no, no, I didn’t have it at the time of the farewell dinner. I only got it this morning, unexpectedly.”
“You never had it?” Lori was now confused.
“Okay, let me explain everything,” Matt said and wiped his mouth with one of Hazel’s hand printed pink and red napkins. “You know Dr. Crutchley, yes? Well, he and Justus go back a long time. Their parents lived next to each other at one time, and they were school friends. When Dr. Crutchley treated Justus for indigestion on the first day of the convention, Justus confided in him and gave him the Halo mushroom specimen for safekeeping. I believe he knew that it might get stolen because so many rumors about it had started circulating.“
Lori sat spellbound listening to Matt. This all sounded like a spy thriller to her.
”I had no idea what had happened to the specimen until the doctor approached me this morning at the Inn and handed it to me.“ Matt turned and opened his satchel and took out a small glass container with a tiny mushroom inside. It had a round, white head and a long, elegant stem. ”Lori, meet the Halo mushroom,“ he said and handed it to her to take a closer look.
Lori carefully took the container from Matt and held it up to get a better look. ”It looks as if its glowing, almost sacred,“ she said before handing it back. “What will you do with it now?”
Matt put the container back into his satchel. “With all the upheavals, I’ve decided that it’s better that no one knows about it for the moment. When things have settled, we’ll do more research on it at the Mushroom Institute and release the research results when the time is ready.” He smiled. ”So, for now, the only two people who will know of its existence will be you and me.“
”That is, until someone finds another specimen, perhaps even in these forests,“ Lori said, looking over the hills around them.
”No doubt someone will,“ Matt said. ”Perhaps I will, right here, at the Mushroom Institute where I’ll be working.“
Lori’s eyes lit up. ”You’re going to be staying here in Fennelmoore?“
Matt nodded and smiled. ”That’s what I said, didn’t I?“
”Matthew Heath, you’re an amazing man,“ Lori said and threw her arms around him. ”And I have a confession to make, too. I love you.“
”Must be that potion I asked your gran to put in the ginger beer," Matt said with a glint in his eye. She kissed him, and he embraced her. Lori opened her eyes and let her gaze drift across the sky to an eagle that was coasting with the wind, high above them. Everything that had happened had called her to remain right here in her home, Fennelmoore. She knew her place was right here in her family town, and there would be no going away.
THE END
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Also by Agnes Lester Brown
DEATH AT THE CIRCUS
Instead of bringing joy and entertainment to Fennelmoore, the arrival of the Blackwood Circus casts a dark shadow over the picturesque town that is home to the Whitewood Witches. Not all is well at the circus, and before long a grisly murder places an array of colorful, exotic circus artists under suspicion. Gutsy Lori Whitewood has to navigate a dense web of deception, revenge and score settling to catch the murderer. Will her magic skills be enough to protect her from a remorseless and ruthless killer who'll stop at nothing to protect his identity? Will she be able to set her emotions aside and let justice prevail when confronted with impossible choices?
Available on Amazon now!
POTIONS AND PUZZLES
The Whitewood Witches are super-excited when their home, the quaint village of Fennelmoore is chosen to host the celebrity-studded World Crossword Tournament competition. But soon there's disturbing evidence of dark shenanigans in the weird, whimsical world of crosswording that threatens to throw the competition into disarray. Things take a turn for the worse when a corpse with a mysterious crossword tattooed on its back surfaces at the celebrity-studded event. Touched by her brief acquaintance with the murdered man, feisty Lori Whitewood is soon confronted by a deceptive web of greed and deceit while pursuing a twisted maniac before he strikes again. Forced to rely on her witchy wits she has to overcome the belligerent crossword mogul Kermit Greenstone while working with the half-witted Chief Winters to solve a mysterious riddle that holds the key to the truth. And when the dust settles, who will remain standing to become the next crossword world champion?
Available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited now!
AN OLD WITCHES TALE
It’s a little-known fact that Granny Fae lived at the Shady Pastures old age home before she got kicked out and had to move in with her daughter, Hazel and three grandchildren at Whitewood Mansion. Fae has always been vague about why exactly she had to leave in such a hurry, but everyone guessed it had something to do with the murder of the Shady Pastures janitor, Joe Humberton, and Fae’s role in corne
ring the killer. The rest of the family speculated it was all about the clandestine potion factory Fae and her two witch friends, Dinah and Blair were running from the Shady Pastures basement, but Fae has never confessed to that.
This tell-all book lays the story bare in all its gossip-worthy details. If you thought old age homes were tranquil places of retirement, think again…
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Available on Amazon now, or read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
THE CAULDRON COLLECTION (BOX SET)
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Witch extraordinaire Lori Whitewood sits back in her favorite lounge chair and taps her cheek with her forefinger, deep in thought. "If I had to say what were the three highlights of my career as a witch sleuth, I'll have to start with the killer we caught at the Mushroom Convention." She blushes. "That's also were Matt and I met." Then she frowns. "Catching my dear circus owner uncle's murderer was scary. I almost died that time." She sighs with relief. "And thank goodness crossword puzzle champion Alvin Barnsley's death didn't go unsolved. The murderer came very, very close to escaping and going unpunished. Who would have expected..." She puts her hand over her mouth, and when she looks at the reporter interviewing her, she has a mischievous glint in her eye. "Never mind. One day I'll tell my life story in a book, and you'll find out the tricks us Whitewood witches had to use to apprehend the guilty."
The Mushroom Mystery Page 15
