One Poison Pie

by Lynn Cahoon

  “I may be old, but I’m not deaf, you know.” Grans slipped a little on the ice. “Although if you two don’t walk faster, I might freeze solid out here.”

  “James,” Trent called over the whipping wind. “We need you over here.”

  Mia watched as the man hesitated, then turned to Christina. “I guess our clam chowder lesson will have to wait.” He waited for Christina to take his spot next to Grans, then made his way back to the snowcat.

  As soon as the three got into the foyer, they slipped off their boots and coats. The school did keep heat well, and the solar panels on the roof helped when there was sun. But as Mia shut the door, she shivered. “Let’s get upstairs and finish off that chowder. Maybe we can throw some biscuits in the oven too? It looks like we’ll have a full house for the snowstorm.”

  Grans nodded. “I was lucky James arrived when he did. I don’t think Muffy could have walked very far in this storm.”

  Mia followed the women up the stairs. James did always seem to be in the right place all the time. He’d been at the Lodge when Adele was killed; now he just happened to find Grans in a snowstorm. Mia shook off the thought. She was tired and worried and seeing ghosts where there weren’t any. Barney popped into her mind. William had to have lied to them when he said the lawyer stayed in Twin Falls.

  Too many questions and no answers. Right now she just wanted to get into a hot shower, some fresh clothes, and cook in her kitchen. Mr. Darcy stood at the top of the stairs watching her ascent. She scooped him up in her arms and rubbed the top of his gray head. The cat purred his welcome home, warming her as she entered the apartment.

  “I’ll be back out in a second. Tell me we still have hot water.” Mia frowned; would the pipes have frozen? “Water, even?”

  “This isn’t my first storm, missy,” Grans shook her head. “We left water dripping through all the pipes here, and at my house as well. But honestly, I think the plumbing is pretty well insulated here. The board put a lot of money into the school to make sure the building would be weatherproofed. That’s one of the reasons Adele decided to vote with me in selling the building to you rather than the developer. She hated the idea that they wanted to tear down a perfectly solid building.”

  “Thank the Goddess for Adele.” Mia sat Mr. Darcy on the couch and walked the hall to her bedroom. Thirty minutes later, her hair still wet but the kinks from stress easing out of her shoulders, Mia followed the chatter of voices to the kitchen.

  Trent sat at the table with Grans and Christina, but James and Levi were gone. He glanced up and smiled as she entered the room. “Feel better?”

  “Much.” She headed to the cabinet to grab a cup, but Grans shooed her to a chair.

  “I’ll get your tea. You relax.”

  Mia slipped into a chair across from Trent. “The generator up?”

  “All set. I’ll take you there in a few and show you how it works.” Trent glanced at the clock. “I’m waiting for a call from Levi.”

  “I thought he was coming back here.” Mia accepted the cup of hot tea from her grandmother.

  Trent nodded. “I told him to call once he got to the police station.”

  Barney’s face surfaced in Mia’s thoughts again. “You don’t think William could have . . .” She let the words trail off.

  “No use worrying about what we don’t know.” Grans tapped the table. “I did find something interesting in Adele’s genealogy files, however.”

  Any thought of sleep vanished from Mia’s body. “What?”

  “Christina, bring me the brown tote I left in the living room.” Grans looked at Mia. “Where’s your laptop? I need you to look up something.”

  Mia went over and opened the roll top desk she used to hide the papers and mess that came with trying to run a business. She opened the laptop and booted the system. The Wi-Fi connection to the internet still worked, but she didn’t know if it would hold up with the storm in full swing now. All it took was the loss of one cell tower and she’d be back in the Stone Age, cut off from the world.

  Trent’s phone rang. He glanced at the display and answered it. “Levi, what’s going on?”

  Mia watched Trent’s face as he listened to the other side of the conversation. He definitely didn’t like what Levi was telling him.

  “Just get back here.” He clicked off the phone.

  Mia raised her eyebrows. “Problems?”

  “Baldwin thinks it’s too dangerous to send out anyone tonight. Barney’s on his own until tomorrow morning, if then.” Trent tossed the phone on the table. “Maybe he turned back and is hunkered down in Twin Falls. If not . . .”

  Trent didn’t have to finish the sentence. They all knew the danger being out in a storm like this could be to someone who was in great shape. Barney didn’t have a chance.

  Mia heard Grans whisper a protection blessing under her breath for the stranded lawyer. Then she straightened her shoulders and waved her hand over the phone. “No use us worrying about something we don’t know is true. Barney Mann isn’t stupid. If he’s out in the storm, he’ll find shelter, just like the two of you did. He’s been around these Magics too long to let some Arizona tenderfoot get the better of him.”

  Mia listened to Grans’s words, but something about what she said bothered her. Not about Barney; she knew Grans was right about him. Knowledge of the Magic had saved many a stranded townsperson over the years. He might just make it. But William—something was wrong with what she’d said about William. She realized all three were staring at her.

  “What do you want me to look up?” She opened a web browser.

  Grans dug in the tote and pulled out a folder stuffed with papers and photos. She paged through the pile until she pulled out an old picture. Two boys sat on the side of the Lodge pool, feet in the water and arm in arm, grinning at the camera. She turned over the picture. “Here it is. Look up Samuel Jacobs.”

  “Just Samuel Jacobs? There must be a million people by that name.” Mia typed it into her search line hit Enter. As she suspected, pages and pages of entries. “Can you narrow it down a bit?”

  Grans pushed the photo to her and pointed to one. “There are two boys.”

  Mia stared at the boy’s face. A young William grinned back at her. “So that looks like William. I don’t understand.”

  “Now look at this one.” Grans handed her a school picture taken at the same age.

  Mia held up the second photo to the first. “So, this is Sam?”

  “Turn it over.” Grans sat back, waiting.

  Christina leaned closer as Mia turned over the photo. William Danforth III was scribbled in fading ink. Mia turned the picture back over. “This is William—not Samuel.”

  “And the man here in town is not William, but Samuel, posing as William.” Grans nodded. “Adele must have recognized him from the pictures and that’s why she was digging through the stuff on her desk. The man posing as William Danforth is a fraud.”

  “Which is why he was pushing to have the estate finalized,” Trent added.

  Christina picked up the two photos, “So if Samuel Jacobs is here, where is William Danforth?”

  CHAPTER 17

  “The biscuits are in the oven keeping warm and there’s clam chowder on the stove.” Grans pointed Levi to the kitchen when he arrived from the police station.

  Levi smiled, but gestured to Trent to meet him at the door. “We need to talk.”

  “Where’s James?” Trent left the couch, where he’d been sitting with Mia, watching her search the internet for any sign of either of the two men. After graduating from University of Utah together they both seemed to drop off the radar.

  “The dude said he felt safer at City Hall, so he’s hanging with Baldwin for the duration. Did you know the two of them went to college together?”

  “There seems to be a lot of that going around lately.” Trent glanced at Mia as she followed him to the door.

  “Would you go with me through the school to make sure everything’s okay?” She
grabbed a sweater. “I’d feel better knowing we were alone in the building before we turned in for the night.”

  Trent slapped his brother on the back. “You stay here. Levi and I will do it.”

  “I can walk through my own building.” Mia narrowed her eyes at the men.

  “Yeah, but it gives us something to do to feel busy. You don’t want us to feel like we’re not helping, right?” Levi grinned at her, his dimples showing.

  “What are you worried about?” Christina watched the exchange.

  Trent shook his head. “Not worried, just taking precautions. We’ll be right back, and in the meantime I’ll catch Levi up on the William issue.”

  “Okay, but there’s the front door, one in the kitchen, and one in the solarium. But I think there might be some other door or window open. Mr. Darcy seems like he’s disappearing at times.” Mia counted off the possible exits on her fingers. “Maybe I should just go.”

  “Stay here and stay warm. We’ll find the exits. Remember, I used to help with the construction here.” He put his hands on her arms. “Trust me, okay?”

  She nodded and let the two men leave through the doorway. “I’m locking the door after you, so call us if we don’t hear you knock.”

  “What William issue?” Levi followed him into the hallway.

  Trent shushed his brother. He leaned through the crack between the door and the doorjamb. “Don’t let anyone in until we get back.”

  “Like who?” Mia called out after him.

  “I don’t know, but with tonight’s surprises already, it could be anyone.” He grinned at her. “I didn’t expect William to show up at the fishing lodge, did you?”

  Mia returned to her laptop. “Men,” she grumbled as she tried a new search tag, hoping to get a new hit on the two friends.

  “It’s nice having someone to watch over you. Your grandfather used to fuss over me at times. I miss that.” Grans stood. “I’m due for a warm-up of my tea. You want some?”

  Mia shook her head, already lost in thought as she paged through the search results, looking for the needle in the cyber haystack. From what they’d found, she didn’t think Samuel or fake William, as she thought of him now, had a chance in a court fight. Barney would make sure of that. Mia hadn’t gotten along with Adele, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want her money to go to the rightful heir.

  Christina followed Grans into the kitchen. “Is there enough water for some hot chocolate?”

  Mia smiled. Christina’s piercings made it look like she was a badass, but really, deep down, she was still a young woman who enjoyed drinking cocoa.

  Mia watched as a glow grew on the rocking chair. The glow slowly materialized into a shape, and then Dorothy Purcell sat in Mia’s living room. Mr. Darcy, or maybe Dorian, moved over to sit by the chair.

  “Hi, Dorothy.” Mia leaned back, the computer forgotten. She should have been frightened by the presence, but the woman didn’t seem spooky; in fact, during Mia’s hospital stay, she’d calmed her. Not the normal ghost sighting, but what in her life was normal? She pulled her sweater closer; the temperature in the room had dropped a good ten degrees when the ghost materialized. Mia had thought the hospital room had just been cold, but now she realized Dorothy’s presence had been to blame.

  “What a lovely cat.” Dorothy glanced around the room, reaching down to stroke Mr. Darcy’s coat. Her hand jerked away from him almost immediately. “Did you know your cat has a human spirit sharing his body?”

  Mia nodded. “Long story. So what are you doing here? I thought you only visited the hospital and the nursing home.”

  Dorothy leaned back into the rocker, studying Mia. “So, you’ve heard the stories about me.”

  “A few.” Mia waited, but the woman seemed content to rock and look around the room. “Is there a reason you stopped by?”

  “People your age are very direct. It’s almost rude. What happened to polite conversation?” Dorothy shook her head. “No matter, you need to know this. The front door isn’t the only way into the school.”

  “I have several doors here, front, back, side.” Mia held up her hands. “Exactly what are you trying to say? Is someone coming?”

  Dorothy’s face contorted, and for a minute Mia thought the ghost might just cry. Then she sat still. “I said I’d tell you, so I will. There’s a secret passage on the second floor that leads to a tunnel. The tunnel dead-ends into the woods. People can still get in even if the men lock the doors. You must be careful.”

  “How do you know about the tunnel?” Mia leaned forward, trying to will Dorothy to stay until she’d gotten a straight answer.

  “I’m sure I mentioned that I went to school here. We used the tunnel to sneak out at night. ‘Meet up,’ I believe, is the modern term.” Dorothy sighed, and Mia wondered who the woman was remembering meeting as a young girl.

  “I get your drift.” Mia smiled. “Where will we find the tunnel? And who told you to tell us?”

  “Honestly, do you think after all these years I know where the entrance is? It seems to me it started in a classroom. Then the memory swirls into a book I read during junior year.” Dorothy looked up and cocked her head at Mia. “Memories are like precious stones: hard to come by and easy to lose or have stolen from you. Don’t let him steal your memories, dear girl.”

  Noise from the kitchen diverted Mia’s attention, and when she looked back Dorothy was fading. “Wait, you didn’t tell me who sent you.”

  “Your guardian,” the whispered words echoed in the small room, keeping beat with the crackle of the fire on the logs.

  The room quickly regained its heat as the rest of Dorothy disappeared into whatever spirit realm in which she existed. Mia curled her legs under her. A secret tunnel? She wondered if Grans knew more about the tunnel. There had to be some type of local story, true or imagined. For the first time in her thirty years, Mia had been told she had a guardian.

  Could the world get any stranger? Last summer she’d been an up-and-coming caterer living with her chef boyfriend and remodeling their dream house. Two months later she was unemployed, homeless, and learning her witching history from a grandmother who believed in magic and saving the world, one spell at a time. Now she was talking to spirits and apparently had a guardian in the other world, wanting to help.

  Oh, and she and the others were snowed in by the worst storm to hit Magic Springs in a decade.

  “Don’t forget to add poor Adele to your pity party. And Barney.” Grans walked into the room alone.

  “Not a pity party, just a reciting of the facts.” Mia watched as Grans sat in the same rocker Dorothy had just vacated. “You need to stay out of my head. I like my privacy.”

  Grans snorted. “Child, you haven’t had a private thought since you were born. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way in our family. What you know, we know.”

  “So you knew I was stranded?”

  She sipped her tea. “Of course, but Levi was already on the way to rescue the two of you.” The elderly woman paused. “You could do worse than Trent. He’s more like you than you believe.”

  “I’m not ready for a new relationship. Not after Isaac.” Her stomach clenched as she thought about Isaac and his betrayal. How had she let herself get so blindsided? She hadn’t protected her heart or her head in that relationship. Now, Grans wanted her to jump into the pool again. She shook her head. Arguing with her grandmother wasn’t going to help them solve Adele’s murder. “Dorothy was just here.”

  Grans set her tea cup on the table. “Dorothy Purcell? Why didn’t I sense her?” She looked around the room, and Mia wondered if ghosts left trails that people with power could see.

  “She materialized right there.” Mia pointed to the chair where her grandmother sat. Grans stood and sat next to Mia on the couch. “Besides, weren’t you the one saying I must have imagined her in my hospital room? What’s up with that?”

  “She and Adele had issues back in the day. I wasn’t sure she was going to be honest with you, so I need
ed to figure out why she appeared.” Grans shrugged. “Sorry I lied.”

  “That’s it? ‘Sorry I lied’? Are you kidding?” Mia stared at her grandmother.

  “Don’t worry about this. I’ll explain later.” She reached out and held Mia’s hand. “I can’t feel her. I always feel spirits. This is so strange. What did she say?”

  “I’m in danger, my guardian sent her, there’s a secret passage; you know, normal, ghost talk.” Mia’s laugh died in her throat. Grans’s face had gone almost chalk white “What? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “It may not mean anything, but years ago a girl disappeared from the school. The whole town looked for her. The headmaster swore the doors were locked, but when they found her body in the woods, his alibi didn’t hold up.” Grans sighed. “I pulled your mother from the school the day after the girl’s body was found. Even though everyone in town knew the headmaster had killed the girl, I never believed that. Your mother finished out school at Sun Valley High with the town kids.”

  “You think someone stole her through the tunnel?”

  Grans nodded. “The headmaster was a sweet man. He couldn’t step on a spider, let alone kill someone. Besides, his taste in life partners didn’t include the female persuasion.”

  Mia’s heart sank. “Which probably labeled him as different, so the town believed he committed the crime.” How many people who had been falsely accused actually were convicted because of being different? Christina’s words echoed in her ears. People are scared of different.

  “The poor man died in prison. Put a label of a child molester on someone, they won’t survive long there.” Grans stared at the chair. “So if someone came in through the tunnel and kidnapped that girl, he could still be around. Old, but around.”

  “He’d have to be in his fifties. Even if he was young for the first kill.” Mia shuddered. “Very young.”

  “We don’t know if he’s even still alive, but according to Dorothy, someone knows about the tunnel. Someone who may see you as a loose end.” Grans sipped her tea and Mia could see the thoughts racing through her head.