“You know what?” Emmie quickly pats her lips with her napkin. “I think I’ll go put together a platter of my snowball cookies for dessert.” She looks my way. “Don’t hate me, Bizzy. I promise all will be known soon enough.” She takes off for Mack and they share a quick embrace—just like old friends—or new friends.
“Wow,” I say. “That escalated quickly. I guess Mack is in need of someone to lean on and she found that in Emmie.” I frown over at the two of them. “Do you think she’s plotting her escape from my brother? She is his fourth wife. I bet she’s feeling the heat. I should probably check in with Hux and see how things are going.”
Jasper shakes his head. “I don’t know. I saw them the other day right here in the café and they looked pretty content.”
“So weird,” I say, pulling out my phone. “Okay, I think I’ll take my mind off of my brother and my new sister-in-law for a moment by cyberstalking Fern Tuttle.”
Leo nods to Jasper. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that your wife finds it soothing to deep dive into an investigation?”
Jasper’s chest bounces. “And that’s exactly why there’s not another soul for me in the world. What did you find, Bizzy?”
“Her band has a schedule of their next performances on their website.” I quickly scan it. “How about that? They perform five nights a week at the Merry Frog, and yet tomorrow night they’ll be out in Glimmerspell at a place called Fae Gardens.” I quickly look up the venue online. “Dinner, dancing, live music, and magic.” I glance over at both Leo and Jasper. “Clear your schedule, boys. Sounds like an enchanting night will be had by all. Let’s hope Fern Tuttle is willing to spill all she knows about the Buttonwood sisters. If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s someone keeping a secret from me.” I glance over to the counter where Mackenzie is whispering furtively to Emmie.
It seems secrets abound these days.
Let’s hope all things are revealed sooner than later.
I don’t know how much more of Mack’s antics I can take without trying my best to pry into her mind. And I don’t know how much more I can take of Morgan’s secretive behavior either.
Whoever killed Mabel Buttonwood might think they’re keeping one heck of a killer secret under wraps, but that’s one secret I’m determined to unravel. And once I unravel that secret, I’m turning them over to the Seaview County Sheriff’s Department—no matter who the killer turns out to be.
Chapter 13
Suffice it to say, once word got around that I was headed to Glimmerspell for dinner, a rather unexpected small crowd decided to follow me over.
Okay, so that was mostly my fault. I went over to Two Old Broads this afternoon to see if there was any uptick in business for the two old broads in question, and sure enough, there was a line just to get into the store. And as it turns out, there was a line to get into Macy’s soap and candle shop across the street as well.
I may have mentioned to my mother, Georgie, and Juni that I was heading out this way for dinner and the three of them quickly invited themselves.
Good thing, too. Emmie called and let me know there was a small emergency and she wouldn’t be able to make it. Then Leo backed out. And then Jasper said he was running late because there was a break in that drug ring case he was working on earlier and that they needed all hands on deck. But he did say if they wrapped up early he would let me know.
And that’s what brings Juni, Georgie, my mother, and me standing right in front of a rather extravagant looking theme restaurant. I knew coming to this place would be magical, and so far Fae Gardens does not disappoint. The outside walls are covered with smooth stones, the windows are round, and the glass shimmers an iridescent blue.
“Ground rules,” I say before we ditch the snow for warmer pastures. “No guns, greasy men, or graffiti.”
“Graffiti?” my mother balks while snug in her peacock-colored winter coat. “If I were you, I wouldn’t go giving these two any more bright ideas.” She hitches a thumb toward Juni and Georgie.
“Pfft,” Georgie spits the word out quite literally in my mother’s direction. “I’ll have you know my bright idea brought in sales numbers today that we haven’t seen since Christmas.” She smacks me on the arm. “What’s with the graffiti, kid? I’ve got a cache of spray paint back at my cottage that would allow us to paint this entire town red, the old-fashioned way.”
Juni nods. “I’m a pro at graffiti murals. I spent years working on them.”
“I didn’t know that,” I say. “Did you actually paint them?”
“No, I was cleaning them up as a part of my community service. But boy, I admired ’em. It takes a lot of skill to color in the lines like that. And those artists really knew their way around the neon color palette.”
“Fascinating,” my mother says. “Now let’s get inside before my toes fall off.”
“Not so fast.” Georgie holds an arm out, blocking her path. “We need a game plan. The perp has already seen us once before. She’s gonna know we’re hot on her tail. Don’t worry, Biz. I’ve got Thor in my purse, and I’m not afraid to use him.”
“Actually, you can save the rubber bullets,” I tell her. “I’m here to quiz the woman about someone else, so I don’t think she’ll mind if I said I tracked her down.”
Mom is quick to nod. “Honesty is the best policy. That’s how I raised you.”
Juni scoffs. “And a lot of good it did her. I’ve seen this woman lie, cheat, and steal.”
Georgie nods. “Don’t forget kill.”
“I might be moved to kill myself.” Mom’s body bucks as if she were laughing, but she does not look amused.
“Wait!” a voice wails from down the street, and we look over to see a feisty blonde trotting through the snow as quickly as her high-heeled boots will allow. “I’m here,” Macy pants. “Oh good, I didn’t miss anything,” she says out of breath. “Well, don’t just stand there looking at me. Let’s get inside.”
And with that, we head on in.
A tall woman with light blue skin and a pair of poufy white wings next to her ears greets us as we follow her through what looks to be a lush forest with a bona fide waterfall in the back of the expansive room. There are dark rock walls, tall evergreens, and hundreds of exotic looking flowers embedded in the faux forest surrounding us. There’s a stage up front where Fern Tuttle is already belting out a song, and the scent of fresh grilled burgers permeates our senses.
Fern’s crimson locks are teased to heaven, she’s donned a shiny silver dress that looks as if it’s solely comprised of broken mirrors, and she’s paired it with sparkling pink high heels.
There’s a reason I’m an innkeeper. I wouldn’t last five minutes in those shoes, and maybe not that dress either.
“This place is so fun,” Mom beams as we take a seat at a table that looks like the stump of a tree.
“It is fun,” the waitress says as she passes out the menus. “While Fae Gardens does its best to celebrate fae culture, we have added menu items to please the werewolves and vampires among you as well. We get a lot of those around here, especially at the bar.” She gives a sly wink before taking off.
Georgie shakes her head. “I dated a werewolf once. Wolfgang Lycan.”
“I remember Wolfie.” Juni stares off dreamily. “He had a hot son named Alabar.”
“Ooh.” Macy’s shoulders do this odd little wiggle. “He does sound hot.”
Juni nods. “He had a prehensile tongue and a hankering for walks in the moonlight.”
Georgie slaps her hand down onto the table. “So did his father.”
Mom scoffs. “If you were both that crazy about the furry beasts, you should have hung onto them.”
“We tried.” Georgie looks exasperated at the thought. “But you can’t keep a good werewolf down, Prep.”
“Prehensile tongue?” Macy cranes her neck toward the bar. “Hates monogamy? Excuse me, ladies. I’ve suddenly got the hankering for something tall, handsome, and hairy.” She darts off before we
can stop her.
“I’ll order you a burger!” Mom calls out.
We peruse the menus and we all come to the same beefy conclusion, so it’s burgers all around.
Fern is still belting out her bluegrass music, and my toes tap along to the cheery beat. I can’t help but note all the waiters and the waitresses in this place look as if they were professionally transformed into the blue, pink, and lavender hued beings they are. Their features are dainty, and there’s a beauty that exudes from them that looks otherworldly. Each one has a set of iridescent wings clipped to their back, and some of them have wings near their ears and by their ankles, too. The bartenders, a group of three men, look more or less human, but I’ll admit, they look hairier and oddly taller than any men I’ve seen before.
“Boy, they’re really pulling out all the stops here,” I say. “The waitstaff look impeccably made up.”
Mom nods. “And judging by the way their wings are fluttering, I’d bet good money they were real.”
“It’s all real, Toots.” Georgie doesn’t look all that impressed. “This place is a cover for the paranormally-inclined among us. Glimmerspell is where the fae, the werewolves, and the vampires can be themselves among the humans. And people like us think they’re being entertained,” she says that last word in air quotes. “Watch out, ladies. The werewolves are nothing but bad boys, and the vampires have a way of entrancing you into doing their bidding. Whatever you do, don’t look either one of them in the eyes or the show is over. They’ll land you horizontally, and then they’ll have you grinning and glowing before the sun comes up.”
Juni grunts, “And how is this a bad thing?”
“Who said it was bad thing?” Georgie shoots back.
“Don’t worry about me,” Mom says, slipping out of her coat and revealing a plaid dress with a collar that’s popped and hovering around her ears. “After that fiasco at the Merry Frog, I won’t be hitting the dance floor anymore. I don’t care how hairy his ears are or how pointed his teeth are. It’s going to take a menace or a miracle for a man to lure me away from this seat.”
A shadow darkens the table and we look up to find a tall, deathly pale man with chiseled features in a gray suit. His dark hair is slicked back, and he has a dark smile blooming on his lips to match. His eyes are laser-focused on my mother, and the entire lot of us gasp at the sight of him.
“Come, my love.” He holds out a hand her way, and she’s quick to clasp onto him. “We’ll start with a spin on the dance floor, and then we’ll see where the night spins us off to next.” He sheds a slow smile and exposes us to a set of knife-sharp canines.
Mom jumps out of her seat, and the next thing we know she’s indeed spinning on the dance floor with the beguiling stranger.
“And that escalated quickly, too,” I say.
“It’s not fair,” Juni whines. “Both Macy and Ree are getting their paranormal groove on, and I’m trapped at a table with a married woman and my mother.”
The song quickly comes to an end, and Fern zips over to the bar. Cheery country music filters through the speakers, and the people on the dance floor just keep right on grooving, including my mother. Here’s hoping my mother leaves with every pint of blood she came with.
“Sorry, ladies,” I say, ejecting myself out of my seat. “But I have the sudden urge to wet my whistle.” I bolt for the bar, and both Juni and Georgie are right there with me.
Fern is fanning herself at the end of the counter while chatting it up with one of the wild and wooly looking bartenders, and I spot Macy sitting a few seats over, drooling over a hairy-scary man caressing her over the arm.
I head over and give Fern a friendly wave.
“Great set,” I say.
Her eyes round out over me as if she can’t believe what she’s seeing.
“Bizzy?” She inches back as if I was about to attack. What in the heck is going on? Don’t tell me she’s pegged me as the killer. “What are you doing here?” Her face brightens a notch, but it looks forced. I can tell I’ve rattled her. I don’t think there’s an excuse she can give me that I’ll believe. She’s here to hold my feet to the flames, and I don’t doubt that for a minute.
“Actually, I was hoping to talk to you. I found your schedule on your website, and once my friends figured out I was coming to this place, there was no stopping them.” Who said I needed an excuse? The truth works, too—or at least it does in this case. “I wanted to ask you a few questions about Mabel Buttonwood.”
“Mabel?” She cocks her head to the side and squints as if she was baffled. Maybe she’s not here to peg me as the killer. “What about her? Is she okay? I just saw her a few hours ago at the bookstore.”
“She’s fine,” I say, taking a seat on a nearby stool, and she does the same as Georgie and Juni fall into the seats to my left.
“Barhop,” Georgie crows until a tall, dark, and hairy bartender appears, and I can’t help but note how much follicular activity he has going on.
It’s hair, hair everywhere, even on his knuckles, especially on his knuckles.
It’s all for show, right?
Georgie nods his way. “I’ll take whatever the blonde on the end is having.” She points over to Macy. “And I’m not talking about the drink.”
“Fern”—I say to the sassy redhead next to me—“this is my friend, Georgie, and her daughter, Juni.”
She laughs. “I remember you both from the other night. Isn’t this place wild? I’m half-convinced these people aren’t playing a part. Everyone in this town has a creepy vibe to them.”
Georgie shakes her head. “I’m not playing a creepy part either, although I’ve been accused.”
Juni nods. “I’ve been paid a nifty nickel to play a creepy part a time or two while on a hot date.”
“Yeah?” Georgie scoffs. “Well, I’ve howled at the moon with the best of them.”
“And I’ve barked at it,” Juni snips back. “You shouldn’t try to go toe-to-toe with me, Mama. I can out howl, out bark, and out bite you at every turn.”
Georgie winks over at Fern. “Who says I didn’t raise her right?”
“Speaking of howling, barking, and biting.” Fern leans in and hitches her thumb at the man currently accosting my sister. “I had a few hot and heavy dates with that knuckle dragger. And let me tell you, there’s not a wilder man on the planet.”
“Except maybe my husband.” My shoulders bounce at the play on Jasper’s surname.
“Ah ha!” Georgie breaks into a spontaneous applause. “So you read the book I got for you.”
“Every last page.” I smile over at Fern. “We picked it up at the Haunted Book Barn. I know you’re in a hurry, so I’ll be brief. I just have to know if Mabel and Morgan had always gotten along.”
She blinks back. “Hey, you don’t think Mabel offed Morgan, do you?”
“What? No! Not at all.” My goodness, do I? Maybe, but in reverse, of course. “I just heard a rumor that the sisters had a falling-out, or a rift—something to do with their father’s will?”
“Oh.” Her face washes with concern. “That actually does sound like a rumor. I’ve known those girls for years and they were always close.” Not that they didn’t argue now and again, but there’s no way I’m feeding into the asinine idea that poor sweet Mabel would ever hurt Morgan. Now if it were the other way around, well, maybe.
A breath hitches in my throat.
“My sister and I are close, too.” I nod over at Macy while that knuckle dragging beast only seems to grow oddly hairier by the moment. And—is he gnawing on her neck?
“That’s your sister?” Fern looks almost sorry for Macy. “I’d keep an eye out on her, if I were you. In fact, I’d keep some silver bullets on me, if I were you.”
“I’ve got access to an entire cache of rubber bullets,” I tease.
She belts out a warm laugh. “Those will work in a pinch. So did you really come all the way down here to see if Mabel and Morgan argued? What gives?”
“I ju
st wondered if they quibbled about the estate after their father passed. Even the closest families can blow apart when it comes to money.”
“Don’t I know it.” Richie might be my fiancé, but we’re about to blow apart because of money. I can’t stand that he’s taking this so far. I can’t stand him or the Backwood Boys any longer.
Backwood Boys? Why does that sound familiar? I bet he’s got his own bluegrass band, too. No wonder she went for him. Birds of a feather and all that good stuff. That’s exactly why Jasper and I are together.
I rack my brain in the event there’s anything else I can mine her for. “So there were no issues with their father then? Or maybe their stepmother?”
“Mmm, I don’t think so. Those girls loved their dad. And Brenda, she treated the girls like they were her own children.” She takes a quick breath. “There were rumors she wasn’t kind, but I mean, they were like any family. They hit a rough patch. They weren’t crazy.” Her eyes bug out. That’s right! I forgot all about that detour to the psych ward when they were young. Morgan mentioned it once but swore me to secrecy. Now which one was it they locked up again? Morgan? Mabel? I can never keep them straight.
Psych ward?
Every inch of me sits up at attention.
“Anyway.” I shrug. “I had heard some nasty rumors about them being unstable.” I shake my head as if it were absurd. “But Mabel seems as sweet as pie.” Morgan, I’m not so sure about.
“Unstable?” She shakes her head. Not going there. “Don’t know about that.” Fern knocks back the rest of her drink. “Woo-wee.” She sucks in a breath through her teeth. “I’d better get back up there. I guess I’ll see you at the inn this Friday. That’s really brave and sweet of Mabel to put together a tribute for her sister this Friday.” Lord knows I didn’t have the nerve to propose a deal to Mabel like the one I had with Morgan. But Friday is a new day. I think now that she’s alone in this world she’ll find some added security in doing business with me. She sighs as she looks at the stage. I’m so tired of struggling. And Mabel Buttonwood just might be the key to propelling me to where I need to be. “Take care of that sister of yours, Bizzy.” She bounces back onto the stage before I can get another word in.
A Winter Tail of Woe Page 12