by Stevie Day
“Well,” he said, standing up. “At least we agree on that. Clearly this has been a waste of time.”
Alice stood up to show him out, but he waved her away. “I’ll show myself out, thank you.”
He stormed out the door and passed Aunt Penny, who was back at the receptionist desk playing pretend. She glanced at Alice, who was now standing at the door of her office.
And then she did one of the most “Aunt Penny” things Alice had ever seen. Just as Dr. Dalton was out the front door, and just as it was about to close behind him, she called out, “Don’t leave town! Ya hear?”
She turned to Alice with a mischievous grin. But Alice’s returned look was one of horror. She shook her head and mouthed, “No.”
But it was too late. Dr. Dalton had stormed back in and was now standing in front of the reception desk. He slammed his hands on the desk and suddenly there was nothing funny to Aunt Penny. Suddenly all the forced attempts at intimidation dissolved and what took its place was a very real and very scary man.
“How dare you!” he bellowed, as his face quickly returned to that lobster red they had seen minutes before. “Who do you think you are?” Spit flew out of his mouth as he yelled.
Alice wondered if the man might give himself a coronary right there on the spot.
“Do you know who I am?” he yelled, once again accompanied with more spit. “Do you have any idea who Janet Lombardi was? What she was to me? And you dare imply—” He looked around wildly, as if trying to find something to punch.
“Dr. Dalton, wait,” Alice said, hoping her return to his preferred title might help calm him down. She ran over and gently put her hand on his arm, somehow finding the strength to stay composed. “Dr. Dalton?”
She squeezed gently at his arm, hoping to get his attention.
Finally he turned and looked at her. His face still wore a mask of rage, but there seemed to be something else there too. Alice couldn’t be sure, but what she thought she was seeing was immense pain. Whatever it was, the situation was too volatile for any kind of extensive analysis.
“Dr. Dalton, this is my Aunt Penny. She’s just visiting me for the day. She’s not my receptionist, she knows nothing about the case and,” Alice turned her attention to Aunt Penny, “she’s not nearly as funny as she thinks she is.”
She winked at Aunt Penny to reassure her she wasn’t angry, simply trying to relieve the tension. Aunt Penny miraculously managed to hold her tongue.
Dr. Dalton looked at Aunt Penny, then back at Alice, then at Aunt Penny again. He let out a pshaw sound, made a hand gesture as if to wave away a fly buzzing around his head, then turned and stormed back out the door.
“Good. Lord.” Aunt Penny stared after him and relaxed back into her chair.
“Wow,” was all Alice could manage as she stared at the front door.
“Alice, I’m so sorry. He just came off as such a jerk. I couldn’t help myself.”
Alice turned and looked down at her aunt, her eyes full of inspiration. “It’s okay, Aunt Penny. You helped more than you know.”
“I did? How?” Aunt Penny looked confused and relieved.
“Because now I finally have a suspect.”
19
Alice toweled off after her long and refreshing shower, then dressed. Although she and Aunt Penny had rescued Danny’s shrimp on time, Aunt Penny had felt it best to cook it all while it was still at its freshest.
The smells coming from her kitchen were once again divine. Alice couldn’t wait to see what tasty dish Aunt Penny had created.
On the table, Aunt Penny had laid out a bountiful feast. Alice’s eyes were immediately drawn to the most colorful dish, a cold shrimp salad mixed with small cuts of celery and onions. Paprika added a bright red on top that made Alice want to grab a spoonful before she even had a plate.
Next to it was a hearty shrimp stew, with carrots and potatoes. Its savory scent beckoned Alice to hover over the table and breathe it in.
The final dish was a simple shrimp cocktail, perfect to cool off after the warm stew.
“Holy cow, Aunt Penny. Have you been taking cooking classes?”
Aunt Penny put her hands on her hips in mock outrage. “What are you saying, kiddo? Hasn’t my cooking always been the most delicious food you ever had?”
“It’s always been good, for sure. I just don’t ever remember a spread like this.”
“Well, Danny gave you a lot of shrimp. So I pulled out pretty much every shrimp recipe I know.”
“Is that paprika?”
“It is.”
Alice glanced suspiciously at her cupboards. “Did I have that or did you buy it when you bought the bacon?”
“Nope, you had some. Never opened, but you had some.”
“Wow. Did you check the date?”
“Date was fine.”
“Whew.”
“All right,” Aunt Penny said, motioning at the table. “Dig in.”
Alice did, and it was delicious. The best dinner she’d had in ages. Aunt Penny had only been there a day, and already Alice was dreading the time when she’d head back home. It had been too long since Alice had a nice home-cooked meal.
“If I knew there was going to be this much, I would’ve invited company,” Alice joked.
“Like Danny?” Aunt Penny prodded, a twinkle in her eye.
“Hmm.” Alice considered it. “Maybe. I don’t know if you can tell, but he kind of has a major crush on me. I hate to lead him on and let him think it’s something other than that, though. So I try to be careful.”
“Just tell him that, then.”
“It’s not that simple,” Alice said.
“Sure it is. Just make it clear you want to be friends and leave it at that. It’ll take the elephant out of the room and free you up to enjoy a friend’s company.”
“But isn’t that kind of pretentious? ‘Hey, I know you’re in love with me, but…’”
“Nah,” Aunt Penny said. “It’s all in the wording.”
“Hmm. Maybe.”
“So this Dr. Dalton guy. He’s a jerk, for sure. But is that enough to suspect him of murder?”
“No, but Able Johnstone said he thought Dr. Dalton was uncomfortably obsessed with Janet. And the visit to the office today was overall pretty strange. Have you ever seen a guy explode like that?”
“I work in an ER, don’t forget,” Aunt Penny said, pointing her fork. “I’ve seen a lot of imbalanced people, and he’s right up there with them, I’ll admit. So what’s our next move?”
“I want to go to Elmdale tomorrow, if you don’t mind. There’s a former employee of his, Barbara Baker, who I tracked down this afternoon. She quit the real estate office without notice a few months ago, and I want to find out why.”
“You think Dr. Dalton scared her away? Maybe he was obsessed with her too?”
“Or just a big enough jerk to make her want to leave. I don’t know. But I definitely want to ask.”
“Cool. So add chauffeur to my list of duties. Now, that’s a separate salary from what you pay me as your receptionist, right?”
“How about we just call you my ‘executive assistant’?”
“Nah,” Aunt Penny said. “I want you to introduce me in whatever role I’m in at the time. Executive assistant is too easy.”
Alice took on a deep and official sounding voice. “This is Mrs. Crabtree, my personal chauffeur.”
“Hello,” Aunt Penny followed, mimicking Alice’s voice. “I’m Mrs. Crabtree, Miss Munroe’s nutritionist.”
Alice gestured at the table. “Actually, that’s not too far off.”
Just then, Mr. Ploppers appeared out of nowhere and hopped onto Aunt Penny’s lap. He twirled in a single circle before plopping heavily down.
Alice gasped and fought the tears that suddenly threatened to spill from her eyes. “It’s weird. He’s right there, but… I miss him terribly.”
Aunt Penny scratched him behind his ears, causing him to purr loudly. “Don’t worry, kiddo. You g
uys will be fine. Just give it some time.”
But time for what? For her magic to return? Or for both of them to adapt to life without it? For both of them to accept they can never really communicate again?
Alice really hoped it wouldn’t be the latter.
That night Alice sat down in her magic room to give meditation another shot.
The room didn’t seem so magical at the moment; it just seemed like a room. She sensed none of the magical energy that had always been so prevalent here. The candles were just candles. The rose that had been growing from the floor was long gone. The air was musty, not ethereal.
She again felt despair and panic threaten to overwhelm her. These things were new to her, and she was horrified at how powerful they were, how easily they dug into her and took hold of her, and how hard it was to resist them.
It’d been a long day and some of it had been quite challenging. But having Aunt Penny around made a huge difference. She was a calming force during a moment of time where Alice found she couldn’t fully find the calm that usually came so naturally.
The calmness that had always made meditating so “easy.”
But just because something was hard didn’t mean she stopped doing it. Her father had taught her that and reinforced the lesson many times over.
It was called meditation “practice” for a reason.
Alice sat crossed legged on her cushion in the center of the room, hands again on her knees. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
Her mind raced and she couldn’t find the calm spot. Thoughts sprang up, and she followed them too easily. But she remembered one of the earliest lessons she’d learned: every time her attention wandered from her breath, she simply had to observe it, then bring her attention back to her middle. So she did. And her mind drifted again and again and again.
So she brought her attention back to her breath again and again and again.
It was tedious, hard, and not very rewarding. But Alice felt it was crucial to making her way back. Back not only to being a witch again, which she so loved being, but also to the person she had become: the strong and capable young woman who already owned her own home and ran her own business. The kind and empathetic person who sometimes felt too much, but was always willing to lend a hand.
After nearly a half hour of struggling, Alice was able to string together a few good moments of calm, focused breathing. It felt good and she could feel her confidence begin to climb as the old familiar rhythm seemed to be returning.
But there was a noise coming from somewhere. Somewhere in the house? In the room? She couldn’t tell, couldn’t pinpoint it. But there it was, threatening to derail her just as she’d gotten things rolling.
She tried to focus, but she could feel it slipping away. The noise was getting steadily louder. And it was in the room!
Alice’s eyes shot open. Staring her right in the face was the disembodied spirit of Janet Lombardi. Once again her mouth grew impossibly wide as the scream that had been building reached a deafening, ear-piercing level. She reached out a hand toward Alice, who scrambled until her back slammed against the door.
“Alice!” the spirit cried. “Why haven’t you helped me? Why didn’t you listen to me?”
“I-I’m sorry. I’m trying!”
“I told you, Alice! I told you, but you didn’t hear!”
“I can’t remember what you said! I’m sorry, I’m trying to remember, but I can’t.”
“Then you’ll never find the one who killed me.”
“I’m sorry,” Alice said meekly. “I’m trying.”
“Help me!” the spirit cried, before exploding into mist and dissolving back into nothing.
Alice, still seated, opened her eyes. She’d fallen asleep while meditating. Had it been just a dream? Or was Janet still trying to talk to her?
Either way, it left Alice shaken. She decided she was done trying to meditate for the night. Whether it’d helped her or not was impossible to say. She still felt disconnected and out of sorts.
And how come she still could not remember the single word Janet Lombardi had spoken to her?
20
It was noon the next day when Aunt Penny and Alice pulled into the Elmdale Bank and Trust parking lot. Alice had been able to reach Barbara Baker via Facebook the night before, explaining only that she was a private investigator who wanted to ask some questions about her time at Dr. Dalton’s Real Estate. Barbara had asked some questions, but Alice kept her responses vague, hoping to do most of the talking in person.
Barbara had suggested they come by the bank she worked at, where they could talk during her lunch hour. Alice could sense Barbara’s skepticism; it made sense that Barbara would want to meet some place public, somewhere more familiar to her than this strange girl with vague questions. And with a nearby security guard to boot!
“Can I come in?” Aunt Penny asked as she turned off the ignition. “I promise I won’t make her turn into the Incredible Hulk.”
“Aunt Penny,” Alice said with a sly grin. “You know better than to make promises you can’t keep.”
Aunt Penny laughed heartily at that, before continuing more seriously, “Alice, the last thing I want to do is mess up your case. I’ll be good, I promise.”
“I know. It’s fine. Of course you can come in. And if you think of something to ask her, by all means, do so. Two heads are better than one.”
“Neat!”
“But definitely follow my lead,” Alice added, careful not to let Aunt Penny get too far ahead of herself.
Aunt Penny saluted. “Aye aye, captain.”
“I prefer major. Major Munroe.” Alice stared off into space, a silly grin on her face. Aunt Penny watched her and smiled, trying to imagine whatever Alice was imagining that was making her smile so much.
“It’s the hat, right?” Aunt Penny asked. “Some silly ‘major’ hat you’re wearing?”
“The hat, the ruffles, the big shoulders. I don’t think what I’m imagining is really a major of any kind. But I like it anyway.”
Aunt Penny smiled. “I sure love you, Alice, you silly thing.”
“Aww,” Alice said. “I sure love you too, Aunt Penny.” They leaned over the center console and embraced tightly. “And I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up when you did. I think I really would’ve lost it.”
“Nonsense,” Aunt Penny said as they released the hug. “You would’ve been fine. I just gave you a little jumpstart.”
“You give me too much credit. I was in a scary place.”
“I know of scary places, kiddo. Trust me. And I think you’re doing just fine.”
“Shall we?” Alice asked, nodding her head toward the bank.
“We shall,” Aunt Penny replied.
“Well,” Aunt Penny said. “It certainly is a bank.”
Alice nodded as they quickly surveyed the scene. There were tellers, tables with deposit slips, and big glass doors where Alice could see brokers trying to sell people mortgages. There was nothing remarkable about it at all. A very typical bank.
“There she is,” Alice said, pointing at the teller with the nameplate that read “Ms. Baker.” She had no customers at the moment, so Alice and Aunt Penny simply walked up to her.
“Miss Baker?” Alice asked. Barbara Baker looked up with the practiced smile of years spent in the customer service industry.
“Good morning! How can I help you?”
“Hi,” Alice continued. “I’m Alice Munroe. We talked last night?”
Barbara’s smile faded… though not entirely. “Oh, you don’t look quite like I had imagined. A bit smaller, but still spunky.”
“Thanks. I’ll take that as a compliment?”
“You should,” Barbara agreed. “Though you should consider having a few pictures of yourself online. You might get more customers that way, since you’ve got such a cute face.”
“I agree,” Aunt Penny chimed in.
“Maybe,” Alice said. “I still worry pe
ople will look at me, a short, long-haired girl, and immediately dismiss me. I’d rather get the business through the door through reputation, accomplishments, and stuff like that.”
“Understandable,” Barbara said. “But you also run the risk of people feeling tricked when they walk through the door and see you instead of the gruff, scruffy-bearded, fedora-wearing gumshoe they were expecting.”
“Fair enough,” Alice said. “I’ll consider it.”
“Good.” Barbara reached up and pulled her nameplate down behind the counter. She turned to the man next to her, told him she was taking lunch, then walked around the counter.
Alice was impressed by what she saw. Barbara was a lady in her fifties who carried herself with grace and professionalism. While the entire bank staff were dressed in similar fashion, Barbara took it to the next level.
Her blonde hair was pulled back in a strict—though not too severe—ponytail. She wore a sharp blazer and over-the-knee pencil skirt with heels so high Alice actually gasped. The woman honestly looked like a mistress; all she was missing was a whip.
“What?” Barbara asked with a grin.
“I could never walk in those shoes,” Alice said, pointing.
Barbara laughed and leaned in. “Yes, you could. And you’d look amazing in them.”
“Alice is more of a dirt-and-sneakers girl, Ms. Baker,” Aunt Penny interjected.
“Miss Baker—” Alice started.
“Barbara, please,” Barbara interrupted.
“Barbara,” Alice continued. “This is my Aunt Penny.”
Aunt Penny glanced over at Alice, but didn’t say anything. They had a whole fun cover story planned, but after meeting Barbara in person, Alice sensed the woman would see right through it.
“She’s in town for a few days. Mostly because my car wouldn’t start and I needed a ride. I hope you don’t mind if she sits in? She’s been following this case with me almost from the start.”
“Sure,” Barbara said, leading them to a loft with various couches and chairs scattered about above the entrance of the bank. “But you haven’t really told me what this ‘case’ is about. Only that it involves Dr. Dalton’s Real Estate. Coffee?”
