Aconite and Accusations

by Silver Nord

  “Not so fast,” I said, summoning my trusty magical leaf blower and blowing the invisibility spell away.

  Amber Leroux popped into view, her coiffed hair blown all over the place like a horror wig.

  “Sean! I came as soon as I heard you found the young man responsible for what happened to Jon,” she said, pretending that she hadn’t been trying to spy on us. She rushed by me as if I wasn’t there and flung her arms around the detective’s neck. “Did you catch the killer all by yourself?” Amber simpered into his ear whilst trying to manoeuvre her large rear, so that she was perching on Sean’s knee. “You’re going to arrest her, right?” she added, nodding at me.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Hemlock said from the kitchen counter, voicing my own feelings out loud. I glanced across at him and realised he’d finished his tuna and had just eaten an entire cake that one of my aunts must have brought home from the bakery. So much for the empathy.

  Sean swiftly stood up to avoid any further shenanigans. “Why would I want to arrest Hazel?” he asked pleasantly, but his face was a blank slate.

  “She’s done something to my associates,” Amber said, frowning a little as she tried to find a way to explain what we both knew had befallen them. I was sure she’d been to the forest later on and had pieced together the truth from the bloodstains on the grass and the decomposing tentacle.

  “It has to be her. She was supposed to be meeting with my associates to discuss some business,” she continued.

  “Would that business relate to the kidnapping of Minerva Salem and the request for a ransom, with the threat of murder if the request was not met?” Sean asked, as cool as a cucumber.

  Amber took a step away from him, her eyes alarmed for a second. Then she laughed. “What are you talking about, silly? I’m just worried about my friends. I saw her aunt today when I visited the shop with my new friends, Natalia and Aurelia. I thought the boys were out having fun, raising a little hell, but they didn’t come back to the hotel last night and all of today. I’ve been looking all over for you, so I could report it. I’m glad I found you here. I should have known you’d already worked out that she was responsible for it all. I think she might even have killed them.”

  Behind the sugar-sweet voice, there was a flash of malice in her eyes when she looked at me. We both knew she’d dearly love to take her shot, but the time she’d spent in Wormwood was long enough for her to have learned that I was not your average witch.

  She broke off the eye contact and looked around the kitchen, before her gaze settled on Erebus’ bowl. When she looked back I kept my expression unreadable. Erebus was upstairs on my bed asleep and probably wouldn’t wake up, even if there was an earthquake, but I’d keep her guessing.

  “Are you going to arrest her, or what?” Amber prompted, resting a hand on Sean’s shoulder.

  “No, I’m not,” he said, shrugging her off none too subtly. “But you have saved me a journey to the hotel to ask you some more questions about your husband’s death.”

  Amber frowned and stuck her over-glossed bottom lip out. “I thought you caught the young man who did it?”

  “Yes, but there’s also the troubling matter of you attempting to frame an innocent woman for murder,” Sean informed her. He glanced over at me, and I realised that this was what he’d wanted to tell me before Amber herself had sneaked into the shop. He’d finally come round to the truth.

  “What do you mean? I didn’t frame anybody. How could I have done? I was on the bus over here when you were finding my husband’s body. I didn’t even know what had happened to him,” she protested.

  Sean shook his head. “Ah, but you weren’t on the bus, were you? I did some more asking around. Whilst your companions agree you were there, no one else, not even the driver, remembers your presence. I also know you were looking for your husband prior to the buses leaving. You visited the bar after he’d left.”

  “It’s not a crime to go to a bar. I went looking because I noticed he was gone and knew he was going to be late. He was always late for stuff! Sorry I didn’t mention it, but I looked a lot of places before I quit and joined the bus group. I don’t care what the others say, I was on that bus! They must have all been too drunk to notice,” she protested. “Or maybe no one noticed me.” She flipped her blonde hair back and pouted.

  Sean and I exchanged a look. Neither of us really wanted to say it out loud, but Amber Leroux wasn’t a person you failed to notice.

  “This is what I think happened,” Sean said, calm as ever in the face of the psychotic woman. “I believe that when you went looking for your husband, you checked his usual hangout at the bar, and - this part, I’ll admit is a hypothesis - I think you saw something there that alarmed you. Perhaps it was a purple petal or a familiar smell. Whatever it was, I think you suspected something might have happened to your husband. With your knowledge of poisons from your work in pest control, I’m sure you’d have recognised such an easily accessible poisonous plant like aconite. After that, I think you looked for Jon and missed the bus. You ended up wandering through Witchwood Forest into Wormwood Forest and discovered your husband lying dead by the river. In a fit of pique, suspecting that you and your husband’s deceitful ruse to fool an innocent woman into handing over an item you desired had been discovered, you decided to frame Minerva Salem.

  Amber frowned and shook her head. “This is crazy. There’s no evidence at all. You’re just making things up.

  “Well, there is the footprint you left behind on the river bank.” Sean said, looking thoughtful. “I’m willing to bet that searching through your shoes will yield a result that matches. I think you left the footprint in the mud when you placed a sprig of aconite in your husband’s pocket, knowing it would point forensics in the right direction, in spite of the stab wounds to his back. I believe you took that as more confirmation that his death had been revenge for your plot.”

  “Some people are capable of some terrible things,” Amber told him, making sure she looked my way when she said it. She hadn’t given up on getting me arrested.

  “Having doctored the crime scene, you returned to Witchwood, but not empty-handed. Armed with some more aconite you’d found growing in the forest - probably where the real killer found it, too - you boxed some up neatly along with the private note your husband had received from his fake fiancé. Then, you left it in a paper bag outside Witchwood Police Station, before walking all the way back through the forest to meet up with the tour group when they arrived in the town. It must have been a long night, but at least you thought the killer wasn’t going to get away with it.”

  “So what if I even did do all of that?” Amber said, looking a lot more shaken than she had just moments earlier.

  I was still frowning over the revelation about the footprint. Why hadn’t that been brought up sooner in the case? It should have been a major lead!

  “Deliberately attempting to manipulate the evidence in a police investigation is a crime. I also believe there are several witnesses who’ll be able to identify you as being behind a recent spree of attempted robberies around Wormwood. Not to mention a planned bomb attack on this shop,” he told her.

  “What bomb? You can’t prove anything,” Amber retaliated, looking sulkier than ever.

  Sean shrugged. “In truth, I think the citizens of Wormwood just want to see the back of the Witchwood Scorpions. If you were to come with me back to Witchwood, then they might be persuaded to drop all charges relating to the town. Just tell the truth about your husband and the courts will probably go easy on you. You’ve got a history of committing fraud. I don’t think it will be hard to prove. Especially with the footprint…”

  “Fine,” she said. “Take me back to Witchwood and I’ll come clean about sending the flowers and the note. I’ll get a slap on the wrist, big deal. I just want to get out of this town.”

  Sean stood up to cuff her whilst I inwardly celebrated. All along I’d been hoping he would see her true colours. Here they were, on display
for anyone to see.

  Or rather… for me to see. Too late I realised she’d been working on a spell. With a few hissed words, a glass jar lifted itself up and levitated above Sean’s head before dropping.

  “No!” I shouted, diving at him and pushing him out of the way. The jar crashed to the floor. It was swiftly followed by a volley of kitchen knives, that I only managed to stop by some quick thinking with a chair. There was a muffled thunk as they sunk into the wood. I was left looking at multiple pointy ends, just inches away from my face.

  “She’s getting away!” Hemlock called from his place on the kitchen counter, where he’d been watching proceedings (but doing nothing to help).

  “He’ll come for you,” Amber shouted from the door of the shop. “Root knows what you’re hiding, and he knows you’re against him. I’m nothing compared to what he’ll send after you,” she said, baring her teeth in a rigour-mortis smile before slamming the still-broken door behind her.

  Sean struggled to his feet. To my surprise, he didn’t rush after her. Instead, he dusted himself down and pulled me back up to my feet.

  “A taste of her own dirty tricks was just the ticket. I hope she runs a long way from here. With a bit of luck, that’s the end of the Scorpions in both Wormwood and Witchwood.”

  I looked at Sean in confusion. “You weren’t serious about arresting her?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and glanced towards the shop door, still swinging in the breeze. “There isn’t really enough evidence to prove much of anything. She does have a history of these kind of crimes, but with her gang members missing under equally suspicious circumstances and the unorthodox nature of the entire case… well, let’s just say I don’t think it would ever see the inside of a court room.”

  “What about the footprint?” I asked, wanting to know why I hadn’t heard about it before.

  Sean smiled. “If you believed me about that, I must have done a convincing job. There never was a footprint. She just needed a push in the right direction.”

  “You knew she was going to run,” I said, accepting the logic behind Sean’s reasoning that the case would never see the light of day. It was going to be bad enough attempting to explain what had happened to Jon Leroux, Hannah Regal, and the killer himself - who appeared to have been mauled by a wild animal. Trying to convict Amber of framing my aunt and using kidnapping to extort my family was never going to happen, and Sean had known it all along.

  “I just wanted her to tell the truth. Plus… I got my wallet back!” He waved it at me.

  “Did you… steal that?”

  “I’ve picked up a few things in my career. Is it really stealing if it was mine to begin with?” he said, posing a philosophical question.

  I looked from the knives in the chair to the glass on the floor.

  “You should consider hiring a cleaner,” Hemlock told me from the counter. “An emergency twenty-four hour cleaner who doesn’t mind dealing with blood, no questions asked.”

  “You’ve been watching too many thriller movies,” I told him, before turning back to Sean. “Thank you for getting rid of her in the best way possible.”

  “Sometimes, especially in Wormwood, you’ve got to take what you can get. I wanted to tell you my plan, but then it just sort of happened,” he said, looking confused by the knives and the glass jar. His brain was probably telling him all kinds of unusual logical explanations.

  “I dread to think who - or what - Aleister Root will send next,” I muttered. I had assumed that the Witch Council was willing to let Wormwood go down like a sinking ship, but it occurred to me that Root might be so desperate for the weapon, he might not let it go without a fight. He’d sent an entire gang to extract the weapon, proving he cared about it a lot more than the actual people who lived in Wormwood. It was vital that I didn’t let my guard down.

  “In twenty-four hours’ time, the festival will begin,” Sean said, glancing at his watch.

  “You should get out of the town. The murder case has been solved. Go back to Witchwood and sort out paperwork for a few days,” I told him, my heart twisting when I considered how terrible it would be if he were hurt in the turbulent times to come.

  “There are still several suspicious types wandering around town. Not to mention unexplained disappearances, possibly due to monsters,” he added, raising a single eyebrow and turning to face me fully. His grey eyes found mine. I watched their surface swirl with thoughts unspoken. “I’m staying,” he told me. “Until the bitter end.”

  “I hope it’s not a bitter end,” I told him. “We have one last trick up our sleeves.”

  Right on cue, the bell above the shop door rang.

  “We’re ready!” Aunt Linda announced when she pushed open the shop door with a flourish. Behind her, Minerva grunted and groaned, as she attempted to manoeuvre the cauldron closer to the shop front.

  “I hope you’re ready for some fireworks.” Linda grinned.

  “You’re letting off fireworks?” Sean said, looking understandably concerned by the cauldron and the lack of health and safety.

  “No, don’t be silly! Figure of speech,” Linda told him. “We’re releasing an Alarming Airborne Pathogen. Here we go!” She trotted back out to help Minerva. “Ooh, I’d recommend closing all the doors and plugging them with damp towels… unless you want to get the first dose. Although, we could do with some testers…”

  “I’ll get the towels,” I said, not liking the sound of the Alarming Airborne Pathogen.

  “Wait, what are you doing? What’s in the cauldron?” Sean asked, looking alarmed.

  “We just need the wind to blow in the right direction,” Minerva said, waving her hands and causing a breeze to pick up.

  “It’s a chemical weapon,” Linda informed him. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just to cause alarming town-wide symptoms that will require the immediate evacuation of the entire population.”

  “What kind of symptoms? A chemical weapon?” Sean had a hold of his handcuffs again and looked ready to use them.

  “It’s perfectly safe,” I assured him, hoping I was right about that. “It’s just magic, isn’t it?” I asked my aunts.

  They exchanged one of their trademark looks.

  “Yes, magic… mostly,” Linda said. “Bombs away!” she shouted, giving the cauldron an almighty shove.

  “Now look what you’ve done!” Minerva said as the liquid slopped all down her front. The rest of us watched with horrified fascination as it evaporated into a purple-grey gas.

  “Linda…” Minerva growled at her sister in the ominous silence that followed.

  Then it began.

  She coughed… once, and then once again, more violently. Then her breath came in wheezes and gasps. “Antidote!” she gasped.

  “Oh, you’ll be fine in a second. Just help me push this cauldron over,” Linda said, waving a hand at her choking sister. Minerva kicked the cauldron, causing it to splash over her. In an effort to avoid it (but failing to get out of the way) Linda dodged to the side. The entire cauldron rolled onto its side and wobbled down the High Street, spilling liquid along the road as it went.

  “Huh! That went pretty well,” Linda said a second before she was struck down with the same coughing and wheezing. “That is… pretty… bad,” she said to Minerva as Sean and I dragged them both back into the shop.

  “What’s the antidote?” I asked, wondering if this stuff really was dangerous.

  “Alcohol,” Linda said.

  I didn’t know if she was kidding, but I grabbed one of the sloe gins I had in stock and tossed it to her. She took a swig and the symptoms stopped.

  “Really? Alcohol’s the antidote?” Sean said, looking bemused.

  “Unless you’re underage, then water will also do the trick,” Linda told him.

  “Water will do the trick for any person of any age! You just wanted an excuse to have a drink,” Minerva countered, having crawled to the kitchen and sorted herself out with a glass of water. “Now that I can speak again
, I have some strong words for you…” she began, winding up to give Linda a flea in her ear.

  “Not now, it’s working!” my other aunt said, rushing to the window and pressing her nose against it.

  It was with no little surprise that I realised she was correct. The entire cauldron’s worth of potion had spilled and converted into an airborne gas that was now spreading through the street, obscuring the shop fronts from view. I could already hear the first few sounds of coughing and sneezing.

  “Is this really safe?” Sean repeated, still looking horrified by the mysterious gas.

  “There are no long-lasting effects. The Alarming Airborne Pathogen potion is exactly what it says on the recipe. It looks alarming and causes alarming effects, but that’s it. No one gets harmed, but to hang around in the gas is madness. The entire town will have to evacuate,” Minerva explained.

  “And stay out of town until a full health hazard investigation can take place… which will mean that the mayor’s festival gets cancelled,” Linda said, rubbing her hands together as the gas continued to spread and swirl, and the coughing got louder. Someone ran past the window, covering their mouth with terror in their eyes. Another group followed as people tried to flee the unknown gas.

  It was working.

  “Won’t the, uh, gateway thing still open?” Sean asked.

  I let out a little sigh. “Yes, it will. Nothing I can think of will stop that from happening now. This was our last resort. It’s a way to save the people of Wormwood, even if we can’t save the town itself. The gateway will open, but - deprived of the people of Wormwood - there’s a good chance that the mayor may not be strong enough to stop the monsters from destroying everything - including him - before he can absorb the vast power that they will bring by coming into the town and existing in this dimension. That scenario is the dream one, but even if the mayor still gets his power jolt and goes on to take over the world, well… at least we tried?” I finished.

  “Great speech,” Linda said with a good-natured smirk. “Way to sell our supreme success.”