“I love you, too, Orville.”
His eyes widened. Yeah, I’d never quite gotten around to saying that before.
But I still wasn’t ready to give him an answer. Love had never been my issue. Neither had spending the rest of my life with Orville as my man.
I had more thinking to do.
Chapter 11
Gray and Orville stayed most of the afternoon. The kids put on their little magic show, or at least what they had put together of it so far. I remember hearing the others laughing, so I was hoping they might stand a chance at winning their little talent show.
Personally, I couldn’t tell you if their act was good or not. I was far too distracted with my thoughts.
Once they’d left, we all snacked on leftovers from the picnic.
“You okay, Opal?” Kimberly asked.
I must have been even quieter than my usual self. “I will be.”
“Sheriff still putting on the pressure?”
I nodded. “I could sure use some of the Goddess’ guidance right about now.” Then it hit me. The hilltop. Don’t get me wrong, I feel close to the Goddess wherever I am, but never closer than on top of that hill behind my house.
I bundled up and took the walk. Nancy asked if I wanted company, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it. Besides, this was something I needed to be alone for. My decision to make.
Well, I guess I can admit that I had hoped not to be totally alone up on that hill. But I was. The Goddess was decidedly absent. Oh, not in her ethereal everything at once way. She was there in that. I could feel her calming presence, but there was a limit as to just how much that worked with my current situation. I’d hoped for a more upfront and personal visit.
But Her feet stayed firmly planted in the heavens. I was on my own on this one. Which I guess I should have been able to figure out without making the cold, hard trek up the blasted hill. All I got for my trouble was a quick trip over an errant tree root and a loss of energy.
It didn’t help matters when Nancy came running to meet me on my way back. I could tell from her face that something was wrong. Very wrong.
It took the girl a few precious seconds to catch her breath. “What is it, child? What’s happened?”
I took her by the hand and started leading her back down the path. Whatever it was, I needed to be back at the farmhouse, either way. We weren’t making quite the speed Nancy had been going, but we were darn close. She’d just have to catch her breath on the way.
“It’s Sapphire. She called and said for you to come quick. And to bring Patricia if you can.” Her words were halting, but she finally got it all out.
My sister was in trouble. Crapsnackles. This wasn’t good news at all.
I checked in with Kimberly for all of thirty seconds, on my way to grab my purse and my keys, and then I was on the road. Usually, the drive between the farmhouse and my sister’s new mansion was a nice one. It might take a bit of time to get there, but the scenery was nice and calming.
That wasn’t the case tonight. Tonight, I kind of wished I had a little of Archie’s way of speeding up a trip. In that quick check in with Kimberly, I’d asked her to call Patricia for me. No way could I drive this fast and make a phone call too. My sister needed me in one piece, not scattered over the roadside or off the road in a ditch.
I barely got there in time. Patricia beat me, but then she lives a lot closer than I do.
My car wheeled into Sapphire’s round-about driveway, just as the council was taking Archie from the house. His eyes locked on mine as I struggled to climb out of the car. Funny how little things were always harder to do when time was on the line.
A quick glance showed me the trinity they’d sent for this one. Crystal, the council’s leader, Tabitha, who up until very recently had been the number two council witch, and Shaman Gaston Crowe. A very powerful trinity of witches, indeed. But then, they’d known that they were coming up against a pretty powerful duo. Sapphire and Archie were no slouches when it came to magic.
Far from it.
“This isn’t your affair, Opal Ravenswind,” Crystal called out, holding out her palm toward me. “You are in enough trouble with the council right now as it is. Keep your distance, and your magic in place.”
Me? In trouble with the council? Since when?
Then I saw Patricia standing beside Sapphire. She didn’t look happy. Ah, I got it. We were both in hot water with the council for not alerting them to the situation. And it looked like we had good reason not to do that. This seemed like a bit of overkill for the crimes thus far.
But Patricia and Sapphire’s faces told me that I just might not know the whole story.
Stretching to my full height, I stalked over to the trinity now surrounding Archie. I didn’t stop until I was face to face with Crystal herself.
“Back off, Opal,” she said. “And don’t think we won’t be dealing with you and Patricia about this later. You’ve gone too far this time, protecting him. What do you think? That any member of your family is immune to the rule of the council? I’ve had it with your high and mighty ways.”
Crystal and I had butted heads before. More than once. But this? This was too much. Then, Patricia was beside me, her hand on my arm. “Let them take him, Opal.” She put her lips to my ear and lowered her voice. I wouldn’t at all doubt there wasn’t a little privacy magic thrown in there too. “There’s been a murder.”
My eyes flashed to hers. It was the break that the trinity had needed to get Archie past me and to the waiting van. As they opened up the back doors for him to step inside, he glanced back at me. “Take care of her, Opal.”
And then the doors shut behind him.
I was speechless. That doesn’t normally happen to me. But it did now. I just didn’t have the information to go on. But I knew one thing in my heart of hearts. Archimedes Mineheart was no killer. And I’d dang well prove that. The council had better treat him well in the meantime, or they’d answer to me as well.
I hadn’t made a run on Crystal’s position in the council to date because, well, I had enough on my plate without that added responsibility. But if she started making mistakes like this one, that might just happen. Or, better yet, perhaps I could get Patricia to make the run instead. With the Ravenswinds at her back, she just might have it in her.
All this flashed through my mind in an instant. Most likely my mind’s way of handling Patricia’s news. Eventually though, my brain got back on course.
If it had just been Crystal and Tabitha, I’m not sure I would have heeded Patricia’s warning. I still didn’t like them taking him away. But the shaman was a friend. Actually, another member of Team Destiny, as my niece called us. I trusted him. They had done well in choosing him to complete their trinity. Or, just perhaps, that had been his idea. He was a good man and an even better witch.
We watched the van pull out onto the road. When it disappeared from sight, I walked onto the porch to stand beside my sister. “Don’t worry, Sapphire. We’ll get him back. I swear it.”
She swallowed and nodded, her expression determined. “Dang straight we will.”
“Okay, now, if one of you would be so kind, could you please tell me about this murder?”
Sapphire turned to me. “He didn’t do it, you know. No way. My man is not a killer. And besides, he hasn’t left my side all blooming day. We’ve been together.”
“That doesn’t really help, Sapphire,” Patricia said softly. Then she looked at me. “They found Mark Goldman’s body this afternoon. He’s been dead a while.”
Well, crapsnackles. If that was true, then Sapphire’s alibi didn’t mean one little hill of beans. To anyone.
“How long is a while?”
“The authorities don’t know that yet.” She hesitated. “I’m in the loop, though, and I’ll let you know as soon as I hear. Knowing that could help us piece this together.”
My sister was hugging herself, shivering. Part of that, I knew, had to be from the shock of all of this, but part
was the fact that she was standing there in a thin house dress in a late winter in Michigan.
“Let’s get inside where it’s warmer.” I took her elbow and led her to a sofa, Patricia following behind.
“I’ll get some coffee going. It might be a long night,” Patricia said, heading into the kitchen.
A long night. I’d probably better call Kimberly and let her know what was going on. And maybe the sheriff too. Which brought up a good question.
After covering Sapphire with an afghan to try to stop her shaking, I walked over to the kitchen doorway. “Exactly where did they find Goldman’s body?”
She looked over her shoulder at me, and my worry ratcheted up a notch. I was afraid that I would not like whatever it was she was about to tell me.
“Just outside Wind’s Crossing.” She paused for effect. “Sheriff Menard’s district.”
See? I knew I wasn’t going to like that. We’d had dealings with Menard in the past. The man didn’t earn the title of sheriff. Not in any way, shape, or form. He wasn’t high on my list of efficient police officers. If he could pin this all on Archie, he’d be a happy man. Wouldn’t really matter to him whether it was true or not. The man was more about closing cases than getting justice.
Like I said, the man didn’t earn that rank of his.
Patricia motioned with her head for me to come closer. I did.
“The council seems to think Archie might have been involved in those robberies.”
I stared at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right? Why on earth would Archie want to rob a bank? They have seen this place, right? And the firm?”
She nodded. “They’ve seen them, and they know it takes a lot of money to keep them both going too. They’ll be looking at everything about Archie and Sapphire with a fine-tooth comb for the next few weeks. I’m really hoping the two of them are as clean as I think they are.”
“They are. But back to the council, why would they even think that? What put that idea in their heads?”
She hesitated. “I’m not sure, and they’re not telling. But I’m wondering if whoever was leaving me the notes branched out.” She made a face. “The note writer probably sold the two of us out too, just so you know. Let the council know they’d brought this matter to our attention and that we’d done nothing to resolve the issue. I’m not sure the council could have known that otherwise.”
“But we didn’t do nothing. We’ve been investigating this together. If the path had led to Archie, we’d have done the right thing. But he’s being framed. It’s pretty obvious to anyone who takes the time to actually look at the case before acting on it.”
But then, looking before leaping had never really been Crystal’s style. She was an act now, think later kind of witch. The more I thought about it, the more I was dead certain that we needed her off that high perch of hers. She’d been there too long, and this wasn’t her first mistake either.
Patricia didn’t say anything. I walked around to face her. “What are you not telling me?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I have to admit, Opal, all of this is leaving a really bad taste in my mouth. I mean, first Archie takes the case of a pretty dead certain criminal. Something he’s never, ever done before. Then these odd little things happen to people with Archie’s spell mark.” She paused a lot longer than I liked. “I don’t blame the council for trying to make sense of it. If Archie was involved in the robberies, it would be a little clearer.”
I thought about it for a minute, then shook my head. “Maybe if it was just the murder, I’d agree with you.” Then I realized I was still missing a very important piece of information. I was guessing, but knowledge was power. “I take it Archie’s mark was found on Goldman?”
“It was.” The words didn’t come from Patricia. They came from Sapphire, who was now standing right behind me. “I’m not as fragile as the two of you seem to think I am, you know. You might have been working as a team of two up until now, but guess what? Your team just grew by one. Me. I’d appreciate being in on any future conversations about this.” She hesitated. “Any past ones too, now that I think about it.”
I looked at Patricia, and she nodded her agreement. “No problem. Three heads are better than two.” Not to mention the fact that meant a trinity of witches was now on Archie’s side of things.
Kind of evened the odds a bit.
Chapter 12
The coffee finished brewing, and Patricia poured us all big mugs of the hot delight. Which we then took into the living room.
Sapphire was past the shaking stage. I knew my sister all too well. Next would come the anger stage.
I was right.
“They had no right to do this! They wouldn’t even listen to us about the missing spell book.”
I took a deep breath followed by a sip of coffee before I said anything. Dealing with my sister in anger mode was more than a little tricky.
“Exactly where was Archie’s mark this time?” I mean, that meant a lot right there.
Patricia’s worried eyes met mine. “On the man’s forehead, front and center.”
My eyebrows drew together of their own accord. “That just can’t be right.”
She shrugged. “That’s what my source said. And just for the record, my source is a good one. Trustworthy.”
If they were a source to Patricia Bluespring, I didn’t doubt that for an instant.
“Then, in my mind, that right there proves Archie is innocent. No witch in their right mind would murder someone and then autograph their work.”
“Exactly!” Sapphire shouted.
She was really ramping up. Of course, if the situation was reversed, and it was Orville the council had taken? Oh, who was I kidding? If it had been Orville, which it would never be because he wasn’t a witch, they wouldn’t have taken him without a fight.
I was kind of glad that my sister’s routine included a brief spurt of shock before the anger. Otherwise, things could be far messier than they already were. It almost had been with me. Sapphire is a lot more emotional than I am most times. At least with most emotions. With anger? I win, hands down. Not something I’m proud of, but true all the same.
“I’m going to try to see the body,” Patricia said. “We need to see what we’re dealing with.”
“Before you do...” I looked over at Sapphire, “Did Archie ever, and I mean ever, cast a spell on Mark Goldman?”
Sapphire sat back against the sofa, her face triumphant. “Never. That mark is a fake.”
A fake that they had led the authorities to after a week’s worth of false trails with actual spell marks. Whoever was behind this frame-up was doing a bang-up job of it.
“How do we prove it’s a fake, then?” My eyes were on Patricia. She was the enforcer here.
“Oh, it should be easy enough to tell.” She hesitated. “Once I can get to see the body. I know it might sound like me wishing more work on your boyfriend, Opal, but I do wish that they had found the body a few miles to the west of where it was.”
“You aren’t the only one.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. A nasty habit, but one I resorted to when I was frustrated and nervous. Like now, for instance. “Maybe if we’re lucky, Orville can still get us in.”
Then again, we might have just as good of a shot going in without his help. Orville and Menard weren’t exactly fast friends. They weren’t quite enemies either, though, so it was possible that the brothers in law enforcement thing would win out. It was worth a shot, anyway.
I glanced at the clock on the wall, then looked at the others. “I need to call home and let them know what’s going on. I might close the shop for the week, unless Kimberly thinks she can handle it.” Then I remembered Sapphire’s newest venture.
“What about your muffin shop? Are you okay to close it down for a few days?”
She nodded distractedly. “Yes. You know I can’t do happiness and good luck spells when I’m worried sick. I don’t want to infect my mood on the good people of Oak Hill.”
&nb
sp; “Then we’ll make a drive over there later tonight and put a sign up for you.”
She nodded, and I left to make my calls. Kimberly first, but Orville would be a very close second.
I didn’t keep Kimberly on the phone for long. She said she was up to the challenge of both the kids and the shop. Funny how younger people are more apt to make assurances like that. Me? I’d be thinking twice about that heavy of a load. But then the years I’ve packed into my life make a difference in energy level too.
We met in the middle. She’d handle the kids on her own. I knew that my Nancy would be a big help there, and that helped my guilt level a tiny bit. But the shop would go down to a part-time basis for the next week or two. However long it took to straighten this whole mess out. I was hoping it wouldn’t take nearly that long, but at this point, it was anyone’s guess time-wise.
The shop would open at ten, after she dropped the kids off at school, and would close at two. Anyone desperate for a bargain would have a nice four-hour window to do their shopping. I wasn’t all that worried about the money angle. Thanks to the old Pearl, my mom, I had a nice little nest egg in the bank. It was more about making Kimberly feel productive.
The second call took longer, as I had to fill the sheriff in on things. I’d held off on the details with Kimberly. I preferred to tell her face to face. Orville was a different matter altogether.
I got his promise to see what he could do with the coroner on the case, and I went back to join the others.
Pulling my notebook from my bag, I sat down and looked at them. “I know it’s getting late, but I will guess that the two of you are like me and not really up to sleeping right now.”
Patricia snorted. “You guess right. What do you have in mind?”
I waved my notebook. “I think we need to narrow the suspect list down what we can tonight and then start making some calls on people in the morning.”
Sapphire nodded. “I like that idea.”
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