He nodded. “I would expect nothing less.”
“Now, what is this lot going to be used for?” I demanded.
He frowned at me. “I can’t see how that information will help the investigation.”
“The ways of investigators are mysterious. The fact remains, I need to know. If that skeleton is here because someone wants to sabotage the deal, how can the substance of the deal not be relevant?”
“I still can’t tell you,” he said.
“That isn’t a very good start,” I said sternly.
Already I was roadblocked, and I wasn’t pleased. It was one thing to keep the use of this property from the public; Mrs. Snicks, town librarian and habitual protestor of development projects, was a worthy adversary. She would protest anything, especially if she thought it would also have been protested in the seventies. The trouble was, I was no longer the public, and by the choice of Jasper himself!
“If you don’t tell me you’ll be making this investigation far more difficult,” I told him matter-of-factly.
“I’m going to have to take that risk. We aren’t ready to reveal what we’re using the lot for yet. Can’t you just . . . do that thing you do?” he asked.
“Juggle?” I couldn’t resist the joke.
“Yeah, we can call it that. Like a code name?” he said.
“Jasper? We need you over here,” Tyler Spin called out, his voice carried to us on the wind. He had at least had the good sense to stay close to the mall and not head my way. I could do something witchy if he did.
“Your face really betrays your feelings about him,” said Jasper dryly.
“The feeling where I’d like to plunk him into the river?” I said.
“Yeah, that feeling,” said Jasper. “I’ll see you later. Feel free to come by the Barn with regular reports on your progress. Let me know if there’s anything you need. Besides a new porch.”
He turned on his heel and started to walk away.
“I need to know what the land is for!” I called after him.
Several of the suits heard me and muttered amongst themselves.
He spun around and smiled at me then turned back to Tyler.
Frustrated beyond belief and yet oddly charmed, I went in search of my friends.
They weren’t hard to find.
Charlie was standing next to the Volvo, where she had ensnared a guy in a hard hat. In the distance I could see Hansen talking to the police officer who’d been at the gate when we arrived.
The guy with the hard hat made his excuses as I arrived, and strolled away.
“Thanks for your time!” Charlie called after him.
He just shook his head.
“I think I charmed him,” she said.
“It sure looks that way,” I laughed.
She shrugged. “He didn’t know much. They were scheduled for demolition today. He said a guy showed up to take one last look through the place. I guess he was more thorough than all the other people who had done a look-through before him.”
“The body was in the floor,” I said.
“Curious,” was all Charlie said.
“Where’s Greer?” I asked.
“She went for a walk. She’s trying to be covert. Hansen liked it when she suggested that. I don’t know why,” said Charlie.
“I bet it was funny,” I said.
“Oh, no. Tell me everything quickly before he gets here,” said Charlie desperately.
I glanced back to where Hansen had been standing. He had seen me come back and was now strolling our way. The sunshine was bright on his face and put streaks of gold in his hair. He looked casual and relaxed. Clearly it was driving Charlie crazy.
“I can’t leave him out. He came with us,” I told her out of the side of my mouth.
“What did you find out?” Hansen asked, coming up to us with a smile.
“Detective Cutter showed me a skeleton in one of the former stores. The place is really run down. He wasn’t happy I was there.”
“Why were you then?” Charlie asked.
“Hey,” said Greer, looking a bit windblown as she hurried up to us. I caught her up and then continued.
“Jasper requested my presence. Maybe because it’s technically his property, he can have a private investigator come in? I have no idea. Detective Cutter wasn’t happy about it, but he did it,” I said.
“Mr. Wolf has a lot of power around here. So does Jasper,” said Hansen thoughtfully.
I told my friends the deceased was a man. I also told them about the gold ring. Hansen seemed to think that was an excellent observation. “He shouldn’t be too hard to identify, then.”
“Anything else?” Charlie asked.
“Yes, Jasper was with a guy named Pencil and another one named Paul. I didn’t like Paul,” I added.
Hansen looked surprised. “No one does.”
“You know who he is then?” I asked.
“Sure. Everyone does. He owns the Caedmon Inn and several other establishments in this county.”
“That place is soooo nice,” said Greer. “I’ve been there. My mom loves it. She thinks it’s one of the few places around here where the standard is high enough for her to consider it tasteful.”
“We should probably talk about this somewhere else,” I said as I saw Tom walking toward us. Even from a distance I could tell that he intended to make us leave.
We were about to do just that when a commotion at the gate caught my attention.
Three large black cars were coming through the gate. They sped past the police officer and then past us. Whoever they were, they had proved their point that they were important.
All four of us stood there and watched, open-mouthed. Tom was entirely forgotten.
“Who do you think that is?” Charlie asked.
“No idea,” said Hansen. “They mean business, though. Maybe it’s someone to help with the investigation.
Just as the three black cars pulled up in front of the mall, Jasper came out of the building, Tyler Spin right behind him.
A guy who appeared to be in his sixties hopped out of the driver’s side of the middle car. He headed for the back door of his own car and pulled it open.
At first nothing happened.
Then a pair of impossibly long legs appeared. At the end of the legs were stiletto-like high heels.
Charlie, Greer and I exchanged glances.
No one had to say anything for me to know that they were just as concerned as I was.
A woman hopped out of the car. She thanked the driver, but she only had eyes for Jasper.
She was impossibly tall and beautiful. Even from a distance she looked poised and impeccably together. Her smile dazzled and her eyes sparkled. She wore a black dress with a long black coat over it. Her red lipstick screamed confidence. Her teeth were pearly white as she smiled at my boyfriend.
“Wow,” said someone. I glanced around. All of the construction workers were staring. Okay, most of them were. Some of them were sitting around eating, but even they seemed curious about the newcomer.
The woman threw her arms around Jasper. He returned her delight with a big hug of his own.
I turned away.
The Volvo was ready and waiting. I pulled one of the back doors open and got in, and my friends followed suit. Hansen got into the back seat with me.
“She was pretty,” said Charlie. “I don’t think she was from around here.”
We drove in silence for a few minutes. My heart was beating so hard I was sure everyone in the car could hear it.
“There was something familiar about her,” Charlie frowned. “Can’t put my finger on it though. I would think I’d remember a woman who looked like that.”
“I agree. There was something familiar about her,” said Greer.
“Can’t think why,” Charlie muttered.
With each word of theirs I was growing more upset.
“Do you know who she was?” Greer turned around in her seat to look at Hansen.
; He sighed and shrugged. “Can’t say for sure. I’ll have to do a bit of research. I thought she looked familiar too, though.”
“You didn’t go to Mintwood High School. How would you know the same people that we grew up with?” Charlie said.
“Wouldn’t for the most part. I thought she looked familiar because she looked an awful lot like Jasper. Does he have a sister?”
Jasper Wolf had a sister! I knew he did! We all did! She was older and had left Mintwood a long time ago. I couldn’t remember ever meeting her, but the woman who had stepped out of the black vehicle had the same dark hair as Jasper. Even from a distance I could see the family resemblance now that Hansen had pointed it out.
So Jasper Wolf’s sister had come to town.
Now what?
Chapter Six
Hansen was excited to get to work, and Charlie was annoyed that he was so excited. As soon as we got back to the farmhouse, they both politely rushed away. Charlie went to her room to grab her computer and head to the office, while Hansen had to drive back to the Chronicle’s offices in Caedmon. Neither said much to the other. The competition was taut between them.
Greer and I watched them go.
“Thanks for breakfast,” Hansen said as he headed for his car. “And thanks for letting me tag along this morning. Looks like a really big story. Poor fellow was murdered and hidden in the mall.”
“I’m sure we’ll see you soon,” I said.
Charlie came out a minute later. “Is he gone?” she asked.
“Yes, why are you so happy about it?” Greer asked.
“It’s pretty obvious who the dead body was. I just wanted to wait until after he’d left to say something,” Charlie explained.
“How is it obvious?” Greer demanded.
“Earl Earle went missing while we were in college. Remember?” Charlie asked.
“No,” said Greer.
We were all silent for a minute.
“Maybe he died of natural causes,” suggested Greer. “They haven’t examined the body yet, so they don’t really know for sure that he was murdered.”
“He was young, like thirty-something, and one day he just vanished. Besides, Lemmi said the body was under the floor. You think he kindly put himself there?” said Charlie.
“Maybe not,” Greer conceded.
“I have to get to the office,” Charlie said. “Lena called again and is going to meet me there. She saw you going into the mall building with Detective Cutter and she’s expecting me to have epic information to reveal. Somehow she also thinks it’s fine that I interrogate my friend, but actually she has another thing coming. Clearly the woman does not understand my loyalties,” she scoffed.
“This is a big story. Hayview was already the talk of the town. Now that a skeleton has been found there, I don’t know how the story can be contained,” said Greer.
“Earl Earle has been missing for a while. It’s not surprising that once someone actually went to the property, his body was found,” Charlie pointed out.
“Pretty sure no one else in town is going to see it that way,” said Greer.
Charlie sighed. “I need to get to the office. I have a feeling Hansen knows the same information I do, except the Earle part, since he isn’t from around here. Finally, I’ve got a chance to get a leg up on him! What are you two going to do?”
“Jasper wants me to investigate,” I said. “He knows I can see ghosts. The obvious thing to do is to try and find Earle’s ghost. He wouldn’t be at the cemetery, so I’m going to have to think about where to look. We might have to start with his family. What were his interests? That might be where his ghost is. Do the articles you have say anything about his parents? Or maybe a wife?”
There was no good answer. We said our goodbyes and Charlie went to work.
Paws was asleep on the porch. He didn’t like to be awakened during the day unless there was an emergency. Given that it was Paws, I didn’t think a murder would qualify as an emergency, so Greer and I headed inside without waking him. We had a lot to discuss.
We had barely gotten inside when the house phone rang.
“You’re so popular,” said Greer. My phone usually stood silent for weeks on end. If cellphones had worked better in Mintwood, I might have gotten rid of the thing long since.
“Hello, this is Lemmi,” I said.
“This is Mr. John. I’m calling about Cesar,” said a gruff voice on the other end of the line.
Cesar was Mr. John’s adorable dog. It had taken the pup a while to warm to me, but now that he had, I was always happy to take care of him when his owner went away.
“I’m going out of town tomorrow for a few days. Can you look in on Cesar?” Mr. John asked.
I told him I would. In fact, I was relieved. I hadn’t taken care of Cesar in a while and I kind of missed him.
Greer was waiting for me in the kitchen nook when I got off the phone. We had left that morning without properly clearing the table; Greer had only had time to put away the food that needed to be refrigerated and the rest of the spread was still all over the kitchen. We had shut Charger in the living room so he wouldn’t eat any of it.
Now Greer was busy cleaning up more of the food—by eating most of it.
I joined her and started picking at a chocolate scone.
“Who was that?” Greer asked.
I told her who had called.
To my utter shock, the phone rang again before she could react. Detective Cutter was on the other end of the line. He said very brusquely that they had found ID on the body and that it appeared to be a man named Earle.
“Did you know Earle?” Greer asked when I told her the news.
I frowned. “I definitely saw him around town. He was a young guy with a fiancée. I remember not liking her very much, but I don’t remember why.”
“You didn’t like her because she was the kind of lady who thought she deserved the best of everything. She wanted to be the first in line for the latest fashion. She wanted the nicest seat in the restaurant, that kind of thing. I remember my mom saying that she had Earle wrapped around her little finger,” said Greer.
“How did your mom know them?”
Greer thought about it. “He worked for the Mintwood Real Estate Company, and my parents used them from time to time. I can ask her. Deacon also might remember him,” she said.
“Jasper will probably be talking to Deacon, but if we could talk to your mom, that would be helpful,” I said thoughtfully.
Greer’s eyes sparked. “That sounds fun.”
The phone rang yet again, and Greer and I exchanged looks. Clearly someone had magicked my number out into the universe so that all the phone calls came at once. I leveraged myself out of my chair and went to answer the call.
“Hello, this is Lemmi,” I said.
“Hi, Lemmi. This is Helen from the post office,” said a voice.
“Hi, Helen. How are you?” I asked.
Helen from the post office had never called me before.
“I’m good. I just wanted to say that the Manor Portrait house across the road from your place appears to have a stray cat hanging around,” she said. “I wondered if you could try to catch the fellow. If you could, I’d be happy to care for him. I know you and your roommates have your hands full,” she explained.
The Manor Portrait house across from our place was a falling down mess. My grandmother had claimed that the house was once beautiful, with a nice family living there, but that must have been a long time ago. I told Helen, one of Mintwood’s true cat ladies, that I’d be happy to track down a stray cat.
“How many pet sittings jobs do you think you’ll have by the end of the day?” Greer wondered.
“At the rate I’m going, too many,” I sighed.
“I’ll give my mom a call and ask if she wants to meet us for lunch. How do you feel about going to the Cozy Bucket?” Greer asked.
The Cozy Bucket was where Jasper and I had had our first date, and Greer knew it. Unfortunately, it was
also one of the few restaurants within reach where her mother would dine.
“That’s fine. In the meantime I’ll do some dishes and head over to the Portrait house to see if I can find this cat. Charger will definitely have to stay here,” I said.
The dog lifted his head at the sound of his name, then put it down with a sigh when we both left the room without inviting him along.
Greer wandered off to prepare herself to call her mother. I did a few dishes and cleaned up the kitchen a bit, then went to look for a stray cat.
The spring day had turned sunny but was still cold. I put a jacket on and headed back out into the fresh air. Paws was still sleeping, and there was no sign of the other ghosts.
I had gotten as far as the driveway when I turned around and looked at Paws again. Maybe I did want to tell him what was going on. Otherwise he’d be very surprised when he woke up and there was so much ruckus going on.
“Paws?” I said softly.
“Cheese!” the cat muttered.
“Paws?” I said, a little more loudly.
“CHEESE!” the cat cried again.
I shook my head and turned away. The appropriate time to discuss real issues was not when Paws was dreaming about cheese.
As I walked down the driveway I breathed in the smells, sights, and sounds of the field coming alive in the spring: the buzzing of bugs busily going about their day, the wind rustling the forest and the weeds, the green tips of the meadow plants poking through the winter brown. The sun made every color from the grass to the mud more vivid.
At the end of the road I looked across the street and sighed.
There were no vehicles in either direction.
The Portrait Manor had been dilapidated when I was in high school. Now the place was a downright mess.
I remembered staying at my grandmother’s on weekends. She would spend evenings going over there and yelling at the kids who came to vandalize the place, or the couples who parked there to stay out of the sight of their parents.
Kids would roll their eyes at her, but sometimes, if she was out on a Saturday night, for instance, they got away with their shenanigans. I knew that’s what they were always hoping for.
By now, not even that happened. The place was too close to falling down and too creepy for even teenagers to want to go over there and cause trouble.
Miraculous Mintwood Magic Page 4