“That’s what got me and Mason shoved out into that tiny little camper next to Nancy and her dad.” She hesitated. “In hindsight, that’s the best thing that could have happened to me. But at the time, trying to keep the lights on and food on the table for Mason, all while being pregnant... well, it didn’t feel like it then.”
I swallowed. The Goddess worked in mysterious ways. She had used a very broken, but good-hearted man to fix a fair few lives in Wind’s Crossing. Not that I believed that violence was the right way to handle the situation. But truthfully, the world was a lot better off without the men he killed in it.
One of those men had been Nancy’s dad. That had led to Nancy getting a new lease on life with a mother who loved her. Namely me. But it had also eventually led me to Kimberly and Mason too.
As I said. Mysterious ways.
“I can understand that.” I paused. “But you don’t seem the murdering type to me. And even if you were, you would have killed the man months ago, not now. Who else had reason to want him dead?”
She shrugged, her concentration apparently totally on the display. I knew better than that. She wasn’t meeting my eyes for a reason.
“I trust you, Opal. I do. But I know that anything I say to you will find its way to the sheriff.” Kimberly took a deep breath. “And to tell you the truth, Reverend Castle had it coming. Ten times over, in my opinion. If it was one of the girls that stepped forward only to have their lives ruined by the man... well, I’m not so sure I want to be the one that rats them out.”
“You don’t really think murder is the right way to solve anything, do you?”
“Maybe not the right way, no. But to some, it might seem like the only way. If no one will listen to you, or believe you, what alternatives do you really have?”
Crapsnackles. The girl had a point. But that didn’t mean we could just let someone get by with murder. Even if the one they murdered was a blight to the human race.
As Orville once told me, that’s how serial killers were born. Once a person has killed, it gets easier for them to kill a second time. And it seems more natural to solve problems that way. To their minds, anyway.
In other words, killing someone changes a person. And always for the worse.
I was seriously hoping that whoever had ended Reverend Castle’s life hadn’t done so with good provocation. I was hoping that the killer was just as bad of a person as the Reverend himself.
That was the only way this was going to end well.
Chapter 6
If we hadn’t so recently had fried chicken, I’d have totally fixed it for Orville. Nothing softened him up like a good, crispy fried chicken breast and drumstick on his plate. If the kids didn’t beat him to all the drumsticks first, of course.
But too much fried food wasn’t that good on the man’s internal workings. Mine either, for that matter. Pot roast, the man’s second favorite meal was out, too, because I just didn’t have the time to get it done before supper. What did that leave?
The man loved his soup beans. And they had them all ready-made at the market too. All I’d have to do would be heat up a jar of beans and top them off with some good, old-fashioned cornbread. That wouldn’t take long at all.
Good thing, too, as our brief respite with shop customers came to an end just after our short conversation. I’d truly like to know who switched on the button for my shop’s sudden popularity. People just didn’t stop coming. Maybe the tourist season was just starting early this year?
Eventually, it would level out. In the meantime, I’d need to be thinking about giving Kimberly some kind of bonus. Should be doing that anyway. Maybe a profit-sharing type deal? Seemed only fair to me.
We managed to get the shop closed up by fifteen after four. It took some doing, and we had to hurry a few customers on their buying process, but we did it.
While Kimberly took baby Pearl and Mason home, Nancy and I hit the market.
“Did you get a chance to tell Kim about Pearl?” She asked the question as soon as the two of us were alone in the car. The shop wasn’t all that safe for private conversations like this one.
I felt my face heat up a touch. “No. I started to, but then we got off of on other things.” The truth, that, even if I had been the one to get us off onto them. “I’ll try again tonight.”
Nancy nodded. “I think maybe you need to tell her soon, Mom. I kind of wondered about some things before, but now that I know... well, I think Pearl’s magic is getting stronger every day.”
She wasn’t wrong.
We were almost to the market on the edge of town when Nancy turned to me again. “Do most witches get their magic that young? Was I a late bloomer or something? Or is it an elemental thing?”
I threw her a quick glance before taking my eyes back to the road. I pulled into the market’s lot before turning to her. “You aren’t a late bloomer. Quite the opposite, actually. Most witches don’t show a spot of magic until they hit their teens. I’ve seen the magic in you. It’s strong. Don’t know yet if you’re an elemental, because I really think you’re still too young to open the flood gates to your power. You understand that, right?”
She nodded slowly. “I guess so. But Pearl isn’t even a year old, and she doesn’t have a generational elemental bloodline. Not that I know of anyway. Do things like that sometimes skip a generation? Could her grandmother have been a witch?”
I hesitated. So far, only Sapphire and I knew the true story of baby Pearl’s soul. I’d kind of hoped to make Kimberly be the third in on the secret. As baby Pearl’s mother, it only seemed right. But I might be needing Nancy’s help with handling baby Pearl.
Who was I kidding? I’d need a lot of Nancy’s help with baby Pearl. I’d need a lot of help with her, period.
I took a deep breath. “You up for a secret?”
Her eyes widened. “As in a Ravenswind, give your word and never tell, secret?”
“Yup.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “I give you my word as a Ravenswind that I won’t share what you are about to tell me with anyone.”
“That’ll do.” And then I told her. Everything. Well, a shortened version of everything. But in the end, her eyes were wider than I’d ever seen them. “Pearl is really THAT Pearl? For real?”
I nodded.
Nancy looked out the window and then back at me. “Do Ruby and Amie know?”
“Nope. Not yet. I was actually planning on telling Kimberly first. She has even more of a right to know than the rest of the family does. She’s the one the Goddess entrusted to give birth to baby Pearl. That says a whole heck of a lot there.”
Nancy drew in a long breath and then gave a big swallow. “Ruby’s told me some stories about her grandmother.” Her ever so wide eyes met mine. “Mom, I think you need to tell Kimberly really, really soon.”
I just wished that wasn’t easier said than done.
It was enough to make me almost skip the market and just go with something I had at home. But that wouldn’t do. I needed to have a long talk with Kimberly, yes, but I had to have a long talk with Orville first.
And for that talk to go over as well as I hoped it would, I needed to fix a good, comfort food dinner. For tonight, that meant soup beans.
We ran in and out of the market in under five minutes. Then we headed home.
I had half decided to put the chat with Kimberly at the head of the line, but I never got the chance. When we made it home, it was to find a note on the door.
“Don’t worry about us tonight, Opal. Gray called, and we’re going up to grill out at his trailer. Tell Nancy I’m sorry. I’ll make sure she comes next time.”
I looked down at Nancy. “Sorry you missed out, kiddo.”
She grinned up at me. “I’m more than okay with it, actually. Gray is cool and all, but a nice, quiet evening with my room all to myself? I’ll take it.” She hesitated and made a face. “Besides, I think things are going to be kind of awkward around her for a little while.”
Yeah, I was afraid of that too.
Nancy opted for leftovers rather than share our delightful dinner of soup beans and cornbread. The girl didn’t know what she was missing.
But by the time Orville showed up, looking dead tired by the way, we had the entire downstairs all to ourselves. Nancy had already eaten and was hibernating in the unnatural state of quiet up in her rooms.
“Where is everyone?”
“Off doing their own thing.”
“Gray?”
I nodded. “Gray.” A slow smile started up on his face. “Now before you go getting frisky, I should tell you that Nancy is upstairs. Not that we’re likely to see her, but still.”
The smile hesitated. He glanced up the stairs. Then he stepped over to me and swept me into his arms, dipping me for an elaborate, movie-style kiss.
When I finally came up for air, I was laughing. “You seem awfully energetic for a man that just had a hard day.”
He winked at me. “Oh, I’m tired, but I’m starting to really like this coming home to you, Opal. Can’t wait until it’s every single night.”
Neither could I.
Then he sniffed the air. “Is that...”
“Yup. Fresh cornbread and soup beans. Although, fair warning, the soup beans are ready-made from a jar. Not the same, I know, but I was in a time crunch.”
“You won’t catch me complaining.”
We sat down to eat, and I let him get a couple of bites in before I broached our first subject for the night. I probably should have started with what I’d learned about Reverend Castle, but for me, that wasn’t the most important topic for the evening.
“How would you feel about a double wedding?”
Orville almost choked on a bite of beans. He took his time getting a drink and getting the coughing under control. I waited.
“Kim and Gray?”
I leaned back. That thought had never crossed my mind. It was way too early in their relationship for them to be talking marriage. Wasn’t it?
“No. Actually, I was thinking Sapphire and Archimedes.”
He tilted his head at me. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t they already married?”
“They are. But they eloped. No wedding. And when I recruited Sapphire to help with the wedding, I could see that she really regretted that. So I...”
“Offered to let them renew their vows with us.” He took a deep breath and arched an eyebrow at me. “Why am I thinking that this is kind of a done deal already?”
“Nope. You and Archimedes both have veto rights. It would be your wedding too.”
Orville grinned at me. “No veto here. I think it’s a great idea. Plus, it would give you some help planning the wedding.” He took another slow bite. “Don’t suppose either of them would know a preacher willing to do the ceremony?”
“I can ask.” But the truth was, we Wiccans didn’t really associate with many of the Lord’s shepherds. Not from any prejudice on our side of things, I might add. But I knew that wasn’t really what he was asking. He was asking if I would add that to our list of things to do. “Are you dead set on an actual reverend?”
He leaned back in his chair and thought for a minute. “You know, now that you ask, I’d have to say no. It would be different if I was holding out for a big church wedding, but I’m not. I just want to get married. Church, hilltop, preacher, or Justice of the Peace, it really makes no never mind to me.”
I smiled at him. “In that case, I think I can handle getting someone for the ceremony.”
Orville blew out a breath. “That would be great. I was starting to sweat it.”
Yeah, tell me about it. “You know, with all this going on, well, just know that Halloween is still an option.”
“No. It isn’t.”
So be it. Then I took in a couple of deep breaths. Now for the hard part. Orville had seemed to like Reverend Castle, and so many people had a problem with the whole talking ill of the dead thing. I was hoping, being in law enforcement and everything, Orville wouldn’t be one of them.
“I have some news about Reverend Castle.”
He just looked at me over the table. “That’s funny. So do I.”
“What’s your news?”
Orville shook his head. “Nope. You started. You first.”
“Well, he might not have been the man you thought he was. From what I heard today, he wasn’t all that shy around the ladies and a fair few people had serious issues with the way he handled their affairs. He wasn’t all that discreet with their confessions and pleas for help.”
He was quiet for a minute. Too quiet.
“Orville?”
Finally, he raised his eyes to meet mine across the table. “I thought you weren’t going to get involved in the investigation, Opal.”
Our gazes locked for a full minute, neither of us saying a word. An old-fashioned stare down. He knew as well as I did that I hadn’t given my word on that. Yes, he’d asked, but I hadn’t totally agreed to follow his direction, now had I?
Besides, I hadn’t ‘gotten involved’ as he put it. All I’d done was have a quiet conversation with Kimberly in the privacy of my own shop. If he had a problem with that, then that was his problem. Not mine.
He blinked first, breaking the lockdown. Huh. What do you know, I still had it. Not that I’d doubted that, mind you. Not much, anyway. After all, it was Orville we were talking about here. He was more than a match for me, any day of the week.
“First of all, I don’t recall agreeing to that request,” I said slowly. “But second of all, I thought it was more to do with keeping away from the station and the official investigation. In that, I respected your wishes. All I did was talk to Kimberly.” Another, much shorter, gaze lock. “She went to your church if you recall.”
Orville swallowed, his cheeks turning a touch red. “Sorry. I guess I’m more on edge about this whole thing than I thought. I just don’t want to give the dissidents at the station any reason to have an issue with how I’m handling this case.”
My eyebrow raised on its own. “Is it getting that bad?”
He didn’t answer me. Which was answer enough for me. It was.
We took another few bites. “So, what was your news about the Reverend?”
“Pretty much the same as yours.” He grimaced. “The things you learn about a person when they’re no longer on the earth.”
“I hope you got luckier than I did with getting names. Kimberly was pretty tight-mouthed about the whole thing.” I took another bite, watching him. “You should know she had major issues with the reverend herself. A good reason for them too.”
Orville sighed. “That’s part of the problem I’m having right now. All the people who had a problem with him... and there are a fair few as you said... had a good reason for it. The man wasn’t the shepherd he should have been.”
No argument from me.
“Anybody coming up on that list of suspects worth noting?”
“I wish I could say different, but no. A lot of them aren’t all that sad that Reverend Castle met his maker. But I can’t see any of them as killers either. Most of their grievances went back years. Why revenge them now of all times?”
“So, this revelation puts you no closer to putting an end to this thing, does it?”
He shook his head. “All it really does is muddy the waters. Makes it harder to see the true culprit.” Orville scrubbed his chin. “And I want to put this to rest before the wedding.”
Now that we agreed on.
Chapter 7
Nancy and I got to share the farmhouse just between the two of us all night long, as Kimberly called to tell us that she and the kids were staying over for a camp-out at Gray’s. They invited Nancy up to join them, but she declined.
There was something to be said about having the farmhouse all to ourselves. I thought about inviting Sapphire over for more wedding planning, but in the end, I decided against it.
The night was better spent one on one with my newest daughter. Good bonding
time.
Saturday morning still meant being up at six, though. I’d gone down to half days open at the shop on Saturdays, and Kimberly and I had taken to trading off weekends too. This weekend was mine. Lucky for me, Nancy was a good little helper.
I went to lock the front door to stop the influx of people ten minutes before close. Sue me, but I was really tired of people busting through the door at five till closing and then expecting us to stay open for an hour or more while they browsed and haggled over items. I was over that. In fact, this whole having a shop thing was growing a bit old. Something I might change once Orville was no longer sheriff and our partnership truly began.
I’d have other things to keep me busy then.
As I stepped back away from the door, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find Sapphire grinning at me.
“Hey, Opal! Wow, the shop’s really busy today.”
I nodded, then had to immediately go to help someone with a question. Sapphire would have to wait a few more minutes.
Once we had the last customer out the door... and yes, I was a little more aggressive with the pushing today... I turned back to her.
“I thought Archie was coming home today?”
“He is, but his plane got delayed because of some kind of freak storm.” She bounced on her heels. “But I did get to talk with him. He’s a go for the idea of the double wedding. Isn’t that great?” Then her bouncing stopped. “You have asked Orville about it, right?”
I smiled at her. So much enthusiasm. My sister never did anything halfway.
“I did, and he’s a go too. Looks like we’ll be walking down that aisle together, sis.” To my mind, that beat having a father walk us down the aisle any day. Not that we’d ever really known our father. Yet another secret Mom had kept from us.
Not that I could say much, as I still hadn’t shared that kind of information with my own daughter yet. It says a lot that she’s never asked too.
“So did you come all this way just to tell me that?” I asked.
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