Jingle Spells

by Rose Pressey

  Conrad nodded. We took off in a sprint toward the end of the hallway. The sound grew louder and came from the right. We ran into the room on the right. Tom and Mildred were sitting on the floor. They’d been bound by rope and tape covered their mouths.

  “Oh, my gosh,” I said as I dashed over to Tom.

  Conrad ran to Mildred.

  I ripped the tape from Tom’s mouth.

  “Ouch,” he yelled. “Elly, you’re my hero.”

  Chapter 24

  “How did you find us?” Mildred asked. “I thought we’d never get out of here.”

  “It was a lucky guess, I suppose,” I said.

  “More than that,” Conrad said. “Elly is one smart cookie. She figured out that Laura brought you here.”

  “It was a lucky guess. We found her journal and she wrote about wanting the café to be hers. She discussed decorating for Christmas because she never got to as a kid. That was when I remembered someone put the lights on the school. I figured it might have been Laura.”

  “Good thinking, Elly,” Tom said as he stood from the floor. “I told you that you’d make a good detective.”

  Conrad helped Mildred to her feet.

  “We should get out of here before Laura finds us,” I said.

  “We have backup on the way. As soon as Laura and her brother are found they’ll be arrested,” Conrad said.

  We hurried out of the school and down the steps toward the car. Unfortunately, we only made it a few more steps when Laura called out from somewhere behind us.

  “Stop right here,’ she demanded.

  We spun around and saw Laura and Kris Kringle standing at the edge of the building.

  “You didn’t think you’d get away that easily, did you?” Laura asked.

  “I assumed I would,” I said with a bit of cockiness.

  “Don’t antagonize too much, Elly. Remember she’s obviously the one who shot at me. She probably has a gun,” Tom said. “And she took mine so…”

  “She had a gun,” I said with a smug smile. “I found it in her bag and took it.”

  “What did she do with the one she took from Tom?” Mildred asked.

  I suppose I hadn’t thought of that. It was the chance I’d have to take. A roll of the dice. Now I needed to get the gun from Mrs. Evan’s car. I knew by the look on Laura’s face that she realized I’d taken the gun. She looked at Mrs. Evan’s car. Was she planning on running for the car? There was no way I could let her do that. Laura made a dash for the Buick. I took off after her.

  “What’s happening?” Mildred called out.

  Laura and I reached the car at the same time. I wished I’d remembered to lock the doors. However, I’d been in a bit of a hurry when we arrived. Laura reached for the door handle, but I jumped on her back. It was the only thing I thought to do at the time. Conrad, Tom, and Kris Kringle reached the car now. Kris Kringle tried to pull me off Laura. Conrad and Tom managed to wrangle him off me. They landed on the ground in a giant heap. No wonder Kris Kringle had been able to kidnap Tom. He was incredibly strong.

  Laura somehow managed to get the door open and reached for the gun that I’d left on the car’s console. No way would I allow her to get that gun in her hands. Why hadn’t I hidden it? I’d been so frantic to get to Tom and Mildred that I hadn’t been thinking straight. I used all my strength and knocked Laura back.

  She landed on her butt on the ground too. Tom and Conrad were still wrestling with Kris Kringle. When I reached in the car again, I grabbed the gun. I spun around and pointed it at Laura. I had no idea how to use the thing. With any luck she wouldn’t realize that. Her eyes widened when she saw the gun aimed at her.

  “I want everyone to freeze,” I yelled.

  Mildred lifted her hands in the air.

  “You don’t have to do that, Mildred. You can put your hands down,” I said.

  Kris Kringle stopped fighting with Conrad and Tom. Conrad and Tom stood from the ground and rushed over to my side.

  “Do you know what you’re doing with that thing?” Tom whispered.

  It wasn’t like I could actually answer him right now. Of course I didn’t know what I was doing. That was the case for about ninety percent of things in my life. Apparently, I never let that stop me though. I wasn’t about to change now.

  “All right, I want both of you to stand up slowly,” I said as I tried not to allow my hand to shake.

  Kris Kringle and Laura eased to their feet while holding their hands up in the air.

  “No sudden movements either,” I said.

  Just as I was about to ask Tom what had happened to the other detectives, the cars sped into the parking lot. Police cars arrived after the detectives’ arrival with lights swirling and sirens wailing.

  The police and detectives raced over to us. Tom and Conrad instructed them to put Laura and Kris Kringle in handcuffs. I hated that it had to end this way. Even though Laura had explained everything in her journal, I hated that she had actually gone through with her wacko plan. It was pure luck that no one was injured or killed.

  “You can give me the gun now, Elly,” Tom said with his hand outstretched toward me.

  “Oh, right,” I said as I handed him the gun.

  My legs wobbled as soon as I released the weapon.

  Tom grabbed me. “Are you all right?”

  “Just a bit stressed, I suppose. It’s the adrenaline leaving my body.”

  Tom helped me sit on the car’s passenger seat.

  “Why don’t you rest here for a bit,” Tom said.

  “I’ll be fine in a minute,” I said.

  Tom waved at the other detectives, indicating that he’d be with them in a few seconds. I watched as the police placed Laura and Kris Kringle in the back of the police cruiser. My mind still couldn’t wrap around what had happened. Wait until I told Mary Jane about this. To think we had the enemy with us in the kitchen the whole time.

  After a couple minutes the police drove away with Laura and Kris Kringle. Now maybe I could relax. Just knowing that they were still in close proximity made me nervous. Like they could somehow get out of the cuffs and come after us again. Tom and Mildred approached me.

  “I just wanted to thank you, Elly,” Mildred said. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t saved us.”

  “I just did what I had to do,” I said with my face blushing a bit.

  “I meant what I said,” Tom said. “You really are my hero.”

  My stomach danced as Tom and Mildred stared at me. Actually, now I was speechless. That didn’t happen often.

  “Will I finish showing Mildred the spells now?” I asked.

  “If you’re still up to it,” Tom said.

  “I like to finish what I start,” I said. “Do you like to finish what you start, Tom?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  “You still haven’t explained everything to my satisfaction.”

  “What do you mean?” Tom asked again, trying to act innocent.

  Acting innocent never worked for Tom.

  Chapter 25

  “You know what I mean. Are you going to tell me now what Mildred was really doing that made you need to bring her all the way to me?”

  “It was kind of embarrassing,” Mildred said. “That’s why I didn’t want anyone to know.”

  “It couldn’t be any more embarrassing then what happened to me when I first started magic,” I said.

  “Similar. Very similar,” Tom said with a smile.

  Tom looked to Mildred

  “It’s okay, you can tell her,” Mildred said.

  “Well, some spells had been stolen from Mildred. She wrote them and that’s why I felt maybe she needed some expertise from you.”

  “Clearly that was the wrong decision, wasn’t it? Since I had a spell stolen from me too. Now I know that Laura was responsible for that.”

  “And Kris Kringle took the spells from Mildred. Of course, now we know they were a team,” Tom said. “I had no ide
a you were writing spells too.”

  I shrugged. “It just came to me and I thought I needed to give it a try.”

  “You obviously have a talent for it,” Tom said.

  Now I was blushing again.

  “Mildred does too,” I said.

  “Now if I could just learn to add the spells to the food successfully,” she said.

  “Didn’t you recognize the spell I found at the cottage?” I asked.

  “I’d actually never seen the spells Mildred wrote. Remember they were stolen before the organization sent me to investigate,” Tom said.

  “Oh, I forgot about that. Anyway, how did you allow Kris Kringle to take you, Tom?” I asked.

  He ran his hand through his hair. “I was acting differently. Nothing made sense to me. It hit all of a sudden when I got inside the bookstore.”

  “The bookstore owner was weird. Do you think he was involved?” I asked.

  Tom shook his head. “Laura admitted to me that he wasn’t part of her plan. Though he unknowingly helped. She slipped me a spell.”

  “But you didn’t eat the cookies that I brought,” I said. “They were switched and given to Mrs. Evans.”

  Speaking of Mrs. Evans, where was she? I’d left her in the car and now she was gone.

  “I ate the cherry pie,” Tom said.

  “And Laura put a spell in the pie,” I said finally figuring it out.

  “You got it.” Tom punctuated the sentence with a point of his index finger.

  “All the time I had Laura right in the kitchen with me and she was able to do whatever she wanted with the magic spells.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Elly,” Tom said. “You had no idea.”

  “I was too trusting. I shouldn’t be so nice,” I said.

  “She gave you no reason to doubt her,” Tom said.

  “That’s true,” I said.

  Tom looked at the Buick. “Whose car is this?”

  “Mrs. Evans! I keep forgetting about her.” The car keys were in my pocket, so it wasn’t as if she could have driven away.

  “Who is Mrs. Evans?” Tom asked.

  “A cranky woman who will be beyond cranky now,” I said.

  I jumped up from the passenger seat and headed around the car.

  “I’m almost afraid to ask how you got her car and where she is now,” Tom said.

  I motioned for Tom, Conrad, and Mildred to get in. “I’ll tell you while we’re searching for her.”

  Tom grimaced. “This should be good.”

  After they’d gotten into the car, I cranked the engine and hurried out of the parking lot. Once again, the back tires spun slightly as I whipped the Buick out onto the main road.

  “I hope nothing happened to her.” I said as I corrected the car.

  “I hope nothing happens to us,” Tom said as he gripped the car’s door. “At least you’re not driving my car like this. How did you end up with her car?”

  I explained the whole story to Tom about stumbling on Mrs. Evan’s house. It was as if fate had brought us there. Unfortunately, I also had to tell him that I’d driven his Mercedes and left it an abandoned house.

  “You drove my car?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “A little, yes,” I said.

  “She only slid in the snow a couple times,” Conrad said.

  Maybe he meant to help, but his comment didn’t ease Tom’s fears about his car.

  “As soon as we find Mrs. Evans I’ll figure out how to get to your car,” I said.

  “My car’s back at the cottages. I’ll drive you if we ever make it there,” Conrad said.

  Up ahead I spotted the silhouette of someone walked down the sidewalk. From a distance it looked like Mrs. Evans, but I couldn’t be sure until we got closer. If she was walking, then that meant she was furious with me. I wasn’t sure how I would handle this situation.

  “Is that her?” Conrad asked.

  “I think so,” I said as I eased up off the gas pedal.

  We were driving along right beside her now. Mrs. Evans didn’t have a coat. We’d rushed out of her house so quickly that she was still in her pajamas, rope, and slippers. Now I felt terrible. This was all my fault.

  She turned and glared at us. “You.”

  I stopped the car.

  She rushed over to the driver’s side. “You took my car. Was that your plan all along? Have people come to my house and scare me. Drive around like a maniac with me in the car?”

  A vein appeared on her temple.

  “Calm down, Mrs. Evans. You’ll give yourself a heart attack,” I said.

  ‘I suggest you give me my car back before I call the police and report it stolen.”

  That would be bad. I didn’t doubt for a moment that she wouldn’t call the cops either.

  “Can you drive us back to that house? We’ll get his car?” I gestured toward Tom.

  Tom waved. “We’d really appreciate it, ma’am.”

  “No, I certainly won’t give you a ride back. Now get out of my car, every one of you.” She motioned for us to get out of the car.

  “Are you serious?” I asked.

  She glared at me again without saying a word.

  “I think she’s serious.” I said.

  “Let’s just get out of the car, Elly, you don’t want to make it any worse than it already is. Maybe I can explain things to her more when we’re out of the car,” Tom said.

  “Something tells me she’s not going to listen,” I said.

  We opened the car doors, and all got out. Tom moved around the back of the car and headed toward Mrs. Evans. But before he opened his mouth to speak, Mrs. Evans got into the car and took off, leaving us standing right there in the middle of the road. Snow continued to fall around us.

  “That went well,” Tom said.

  “I told you she was cranky,” I said.

  “Now what do we do?” Mildred asked.

  “I’ll ask Lenny or Ellis to pick us up,” Tom said as he pulled out his cell phone.

  “I think we should keep walking,” Conrad said. “While we’re waiting on them to pick us up. It’ll keep us warmer if we walk toward the cottages.”

  “He’s right,” Tom said as he ended the call. “Let’s go in that direction.”

  The four of us moved over to the sidewalk and headed in the direction of the cottages.

  “Well, at least we’re not as cold as Mrs. Evans. I feel so bad for what happened to her.” I rubbed my hands together to warm them.

  “You had no way of knowing that she would take off walking without her car,” Tom said.

  “No, I suppose I didn’t know, but I did what I thought was best. If we’d stayed at her house I’m not sure things would’ve ended the same. Laura and Kris Kringle were determined to do something bad,” I said.

  Because of the hour of night and the weather conditions there were no other cars on the roads. Soon headlights appeared, coming down the road toward us. I hoped that it was Lenny coming to save us.

  Lenny pulled the car up to us. He didn’t even ask why we were walking down the side of the road. He probably had a good idea it was because of me after the stories Tom had obviously told him. Tom would probably fill him in later.

  We all piled into the car and headed back over to the cottages. I couldn’t wait to be home, warm, and put all of this behind me. Though I had no idea what was happening next with Tom and specifically with Rory. Where would Tom go next? When was he leaving? Would Rory ever talk to me again?

  Since we’d already walked a good distance, it wasn’t a long drive until we reached the cottages. I said goodbye to Mildred with instructions that we would pick up the cooking lessons in the morning. I just hoped that everything was safe at the cottages. Even though I’d seen the police take Laura and Kris Kringle away, I was still a bit antsy.

  “Thanks for everything, Conrad,” I said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you.”

  He gave me a big hug. “You’re one in a million, Elly. I’ll
see you before I leave town.”

  “I count on it. I have to give you some cherry pie. It’s special,” I said with a wink.

  “Not too special, I hope,” he said with a laugh.

  Lenny gave us a ride over to the abandoned house. With any luck Tom’s Mercedes would still be there. I had no idea if Laura had done something to it.

  “I still don’t know why she was here and what this house means,” I said.

  “I know why,” Tom said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “This was her childhood home.”

  “Well, that makes sense, but how did you find out?” I asked.

  “Laura was giving another crazy rant when she was getting into the police car. She was talking about the house and the Christmas decorations. Plus, still wanting the café. The same stuff that she put in the journal basically,” Tom said.

  Soon we pulled down the drive to the old house and immediately it brought back bad memories. Thank goodness Tom’s Mercedes was there and still in one piece. The house looked even more creepy now that I knew why Laura had been here.

  “Thanks for the ride, Conrad,” Tom said as he opened the car door. “I’ll call you in the morning.”

  “I hope someone is giving me a ride home,” I said.

  “I can drive you home,” Lenny said. “Or maybe not.”

  Tom had obviously given him a look.

  “Of course, I’ll take you home, Elly,” Tom said.

  “Bye, Lenny,” I said as I got out of the car.

  “See you, Elly,” he said with a smile.

  Tom and I got into the Mercedes. As I buckled my seatbelt, he looked around as if he was searching for any damage. Of course, I wasn’t driving this time. I was going to miss this car.

  “I see you got the hang of the car quickly,” Tom said as he turned the ignition.

  “It was a piece of cake,” I said with a wave of my hand. “The car is fine. I took good care of it.”

  “Oh, I know, Elly. I appreciate you taking care of it while I was missing. And I owe you a lot,” Tom said.

  “You owe me nothing,” I said.

  “How did you meet Laura?” Tom asked.

  “She came into the café and applied for a job,” I said.

  “And you hired her on the spot?”