Mystic Pieces

by Ada Bell

  “Why did you take the ball and trophy when you left?” Rusty asked, drawing Benji’s gaze to him. I shifted slightly, getting my hands behind me. Julie did the same.

  “No one knew I’d been in the house. I needed to keep it that way. Do I look stupid?”

  “No.” Scary, yes. Stupid, no. “Why did you bring the ball back here?”

  “That’s the last place Thelma saw it. If it showed up in Earl’s house, that would be more suspicious than it remaining where she’d left it.”

  “Okay. How did Julie get the ball?”

  With Benji’s attention squarely on Rusty, I finally got my hands on the rope tying her hands together. Hopefully Benji wasn’t kinky. The last thing I needed right now was a vision. It was difficult to undo a knot without seeing it, but I’d been a Girl Scout. I’d get it eventually. As long as Rusty helped keep Benji talking.

  He snorted. “Plain bad luck. It was on the shelf with all the other stuff the league players leave here. She just happened to pick it up when she got here, and you thought it belonged to her. I still don’t know how you realized what happened. I thought I’d cleaned it pretty well before putting it out.”

  “So you walked out of Earl’s house carrying a bowling trophy, a ball, and a giant frying pan?” Rusty asked.

  “Nah. The pan was in my trunk from the last time we all went fishing. I found it and saw an opportunity.”

  An opportunity to ruin Olive’s life, all because Thelma didn’t love him. What a waste. He could have just told her the truth. Instead, Earl was dead, Thelma was mourning the loss of a man she thought wanted to marry her, and Benji was holding the rest of us hostage.

  This couldn’t be happening. I was only twenty-one years old, and I was about to die in a bowling alley surrounded by used shoes. Finally, the knot came undone. Julie leaned over and undid Carlos’s ropes. She reached for me, but I motioned for their feet instead. I might be able to keep Benji talking, but in a fistfight, I was useless.

  In a heartbeat, they were both free. Benji was still on the other side of the counter, where only his voice told me where he was. Julie crept to the edge, Carlos inches behind her.

  “Maybe you and Thelma can still be together,” I said desperately.

  He continued, “Anyway, I got a new plan. I can’t let any of you go, since you know what I did. But it doesn’t matter. There’s going to be a tragic accident. A gas leak, here at the alley, killing every customer in the place.” He spoke as if talking to news reporters, looking into the distance at an imaginary camera while clutching his hands over his heart. “Thank goodness it was a slow night. Only four lives lost. I was so fortunate to escape right before the explosion—god thing I was taking out the trash, huh? Thelma will be beside herself at the danger I was in. She’ll offer to comfort me and finally, we can be together. I’ll use the insurance money to buy her a new bowling ball and take her on a nice, long vacation.”

  “That’s never going to happen, Benji,” Rusty said.

  In a flash, Julie disappeared on the other side of the counter. Carlos followed. A yell of rage filled the air, followed by a thud.

  The gun went off.

  Julie screamed.

  I fainted.

  Epilogue

  The next morning, the news broke that Benji had killed Earl, and he’d shot Carlos in the arm when he got found out. Carlos got four stiches, and Benji would spend many, many years in jail. At my insistence, Julie and Carlos accepted all the credit for cracking the case. After all, they were the ones who saved me and Rusty. No one had any idea that Kevin or I had anything to do with it, which was exactly how it should be. The last thing we needed was any scrutiny around us or Kyle.

  With the entire town talking about murder, Missing Pieces was busier than ever. It only took about seven random people dropping in to “just look around” before I realized that they wanted to see Olive. When I’d come to last night, Doug promised me the charges would be dropped as soon as he got back to the station. Unfortunately, my boss had yet to put in an appearance, so I was on my own.

  If I’d just spent the day in jail for a murder I didn’t commit, I might want to spend about three weeks showering before going back to work. My plan was to simply keep doing my job. I’d promised Sam I would open, so here I was. If I didn’t hear from her, Maria, or Sam by lunch, I’d call and see how they were doing.

  Julie came in around nine. “Did someone order freshly baked scones?”

  “Uh, well, no, to be honest, but those smell amazing.”

  She smiled as she placed a crisp white bag on the corner, next to my rapidly-cooling latte that I’d yet to get a chance to drink. A second later, a large takeout cup joined it. “Oh, I know. I placed the order to have an excuse to come over here. How are you?”

  “Now that you’ve brought me coffee? Thinking about kissing you.”

  The moment the words left my mouth, I wanted to call them back. She smiled impishly. “You didn’t get enough action from my barista last night?”

  “Shh!” I picked up a scone and stuffed one into my mouth, taking advantage of the need to chew to glance around the store. Unless I was imagining things, at least three of the customers had inched closer to the counter. One of them was Thelma, so no surprise there. Another looked like our actuary/taxidermist, whose name I could never remember. Probably because I enjoyed the way “actuary/taxidermist” rolled off my tongue. “We’re, uh, keeping things quiet for now.”

  What a stupid thing to say. Now the entire town would think Rusty and I were having a sordid affair before lunch. But at least that was better than them knowing what really happened. Rusty was cute. I enjoyed his company, when we weren’t nearly getting killed. But if we decided to date for real, it would be nice to let things develop naturally, without the involvement of the entire town.

  “Anyway, good for you,” she said. “I thought about setting him up with someone a while back, but for some reason, I got the impression he wasn’t into women. Ah, well. Carlos is sweet. And he got shot protecting me.”

  She was acting breezy and casual, but the longer I looked at her, the more I suspected she was putting on a good show. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, hidden under expertly applied makeup that most people probably wouldn’t notice—but Julie rarely wore makeup. She wore her hair pulled back, as if she hadn’t taken time to wash it that morning. Made sense. After being kidnapped and held at gunpoint by a murderer, I hadn’t slept so great, either.

  “How are you?” I asked. “Those moves last night—wow.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you,” she said. “Baking is my way of saying thank you.”

  “There is no better way. Peach blueberry are my favorite.”

  “Oh yeah?” Her wide-eyed innocence didn’t fool me one bit. “I had no idea.”

  My face grew warm. Julie was so nice. I felt terrible for thinking she’d killed Earl, even though she didn’t know it. Eating her scones and listening to her talk like I was some kind of hero when she was the one who saved my butt only made me feel worse. I mumbled, “Don’t mention it.”

  By now, Thelma had completely dropped the pretense of examining the selection of impulse buy items we kept near the register and openly listened.

  “Hey, let me walk you out,” I said to Julie. “I want to ask you something.”

  As soon as the door closed behind us, I lowered my voice. “Remember that day we ran into each other at Maria’s Self-Defense?”

  She nodded briefly.

  “Is everything okay? I know this is going to sound bizarre, but I heard you talking about how someone had threatened you, and saying they weren’t a threat anymore. For a minute, I swear, I thought Earl was stalking you, so you killed him.”

  She barked out a laugh that turned into a strangled sound. Tears prickled her eyes.

  “Oh, man, Julie, I’m sorry. I don’t really think you killed anyone. It’s just that he bought this fertility statue from Missing Pieces a few days
before we died and he was mad at Olive because it didn’t work—”

  “I beg you to stop talking,” Julie said. “Earl was my father.”

  My mouth dropped open. “That…was not the answer I expected. Rusty said he didn’t have any kids.”

  “No one knew. My mom left town before I was born.”

  “Nicole. Your Nicole’s daughter?”

  She nodded. “That’s why I moved here. I’d never met my dad, and I wanted to be near him.”

  “You didn’t even tell your cousin?”

  She shook her head. “At first, I couldn’t figure out how, and then later… I guess I still couldn’t figure out how.”

  “You should tell him. Losing his favorite uncle was a big blow. Plus, he did help me find the killer.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “Anyway, yeah. He wasn’t threatening me, and he definitely wasn’t hitting on me. I’ll see you later.”

  She was gone before I could ask who had been threatening her. I made a mental note to check in on her in a couple of days. It would be nice to have a friend in town who wasn’t my brother or my boss.

  Back inside the shop, Thelma stood near the counter, chatting with our actuary/taxidermist and finishing my scones. Grrr. If I wasn’t careful, Missing Pieces would turn into the hottest new water cooler in Shady Grove. No, thanks. I’d had my fill of gossip and people hanging out in the shop with no intention of buying anything. I wondered if I could pointedly offer my “customers” some tea and then remind them where to get it. Not here.

  Before I’d decided exactly what to say, the back door flew open.

  A gasp escaped me as I spun around. Only three people used the rear door, other than me. Sam never came in like a whirlwind, and Maria should already be at I Will Survive. Before I’d even finished the thought, someone catapulted into me.

  The familiar scent of roses and patchouli touched my nose. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how much I missed feeling like I was in a mystical garden whenever I stepped into this store. Long arms wrapped around me. When I opened my mouth to grunt, I inhaled a mouthful of hair.

  “Olive? I can’t breathe.”

  She pulled back, grinning from ear to ear. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m giving you a raise. Double your pay.”

  “I appreciate the offer but as the person who’s been keeping the books this week, you can’t afford that,” I said. “So it’s over?”

  “It’s over. All charges dropped. Benji gave a full confession when confronted with Julie’s and Carlos’s statements. And now, all of my earthly goods are yours. You saved me.”

  “I don’t need huge bonuses or double pay,” I said. “I do have a favor to ask, though.”

  “Anything. Need a kidney? My first-born child?”

  That gave me pause for a second. An arranged marriage might be okay. But then I shook it off. Julie and Carlos has been right. I really needed to get out more. Just not on fake bowling double dates. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be an issue now that the bowling alley’s owner was dead.

  Olive looked at me expectantly. I flushed, hoping she couldn’t guess the direction my thoughts had taken. “Can you teach me how to use my powers?”

  “Of course. You see the benefits now? Ready to look for a way to help others?”

  “Sort of.” I took a deep breath. “I want to find out what happened to Katrina.”