by J A Whiting
Sitting at the table, she ate the first bite and washed it down with a swallow of milk.
And then a crash came from the family room and Angie jumped to her feet.
“Mr. Finch?”
Finch’s apartment was off the family room just down the hall.
When Euclid’s fur ruffled and he let out a low hiss, Circe darted down the hallway.
“Is something wrong with Mr. Finch?” Angie chased the cats into the family room and stopped short at the door.
Finch, in his pajamas, sat on one of the sofas, his hands bound behind him and a cloth tied around his mouth. The man named Pete stood behind him holding a gun.
Angie was yanked into the room by Kris Banes.
“What are you doing here?” Angie’s heart pounded hard. “What do you want?”
Kris pushed the young woman into a chair.
“Are you okay, Mr. Finch?” Angie asked with a trembling voice.
“You couldn’t keep out of it, could you? You couldn’t let it go,” Kris snarled. “You had to stick your noses into it.”
“Let it go?” Angie stared dumbstruck at Kris and then looked at Pete with hate-filled eyes. “You killed our mother. We’d never let it go. Never.”
Courtney stepped into the room. “We’d hunt you down until the end of days.”
Kris grabbed her arm, but Courtney pushed the woman back. They tussled for a few seconds until Pete leveled his gun at the youngest sister.
“Take a seat,” he growled.
Angie took hold of Courtney’s hand and looked over to Finch who made eye contact with them and then closed his eyes. He opened them, and then did it again.
Angie knew what he was telling her to do. She squeezed Courtney’s hand, and received a squeeze in return. Closing her eyes, she sent a mental message to Jenna and Ellie. Over and over, her mind formed the words. We need you.
“Praying won’t help you.” Kris gave Angie’s shoulder a shove. “Open your eyes.”
“You’re a paranormal who can hide your abilities from other paras, aren’t you?” Angie asked.
“It comes in handy.” Kris smiled, and then her face turned stony. “The three of you can stand up. Let’s go into the old man’s apartment. It’s time to say goodbye.”
“Then we’ll finish off the rest of the family,” Pete mumbled.
Angie’s heart jumped into her throat. Gigi. Josh. No.
Euclid and Circe leapt up onto the arm of Angie’s chair and they let out terrible, crazy howls.
“Shut them up.” Pete aimed his gun at the cats, and a flash came out of the muzzle.
The two felines jumped down just in time to avoid the bullets.
“Leave the cats alone,” Courtney shrieked.
And then Jenna and Ellie walked into the room.
Angie and Courtney got up and the four sisters stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a cat on each end of their line.
Pete lifted his gun and leveled it at the sisters.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,” Ellie sneered as her hair began to lift up and float around her face. “I’m warning you.”
Pete pressed the trigger and the bullet flew, but it had only gone two feet before it’s movement changed to slow-motion. The bullet stopped in mid-air, and then changed direction and shot into Pete’s upper arm.
Then the gun crumpled and the barrel distorted and twisted so the thing was made useless. Pete dropped it like it was on fire before he fell to the floor.
The cats charged at him and sliced the man with their claws.
Jenna looked at Mr. Finch and when their eyes met, the bonds on his arms broke and the cloth tied around his mouth turned to dust, and then the ropes and the cloth reformed and bound Pete’s arms behind his back.
Kris took a few steps backwards, then she threw her arms out to the sides and began to chant a spell.
Angie and Courtney held hands and used all their strength to counter the spell. When Jenna and Ellie took their sisters hands, the four of them stared at Kris, and within ten seconds, an orange fireball flashed across the room and smashed into the ebony-haired woman knocking her unconscious as she fell backwards onto the floor.
Courtney walked across the room to where the unconscious Pete lay on the floor. “I know I should forgive you for what you did to our mother, but I can’t and I won’t. It’s time justice was served. It’s time you were off the streets so you can never hurt anyone again.”
Just then Tom and Josh raced into the room holding knives and a broom handle.
They stopped their advance when they saw Kris on the floor.
“Oh,” Josh looked at the women and Finch. “I guess you handled it yourselves.”
Angie fell into her husband’s arms.
Tom wrapped Jenna in a bear hug while Finch, Courtney, and Ellie put their arms around one another.
“Good work, fine felines,” Finch said to the cats and they trilled at the man.
“I’ll call Chief Martin.” Angie reached for Josh’s phone while he headed for the hall.
Josh told them, “I’ll go get the officer who’s posted at the front of the Victorian.”
An ambulance arrived as did the chief and two other officers. Pete and Kris were hauled away, and then it was over.
No one went back to bed. Tea was made, more cake was served, and the family sat together in the living room reliving what had occurred until the sun was up.
“We did it,” Jenna said. “We put our powers together and we defeated the bad guys.”
Courtney sighed. “Somehow I thought it would make me happy when we finally avenged our mother’s death.”
“I think a sense of satisfaction is all we can hope for in a case like this.” Finch rubbed at his wrists where the rope had been tied.
Euclid jumped onto Courtney’s lap and rubbed his cheek against hers.
“I only hope that Mom knows what we did and is proud of us.” Ellie ran her hand over Circe’s soft fur.
“I think she is,” Jenna nodded. “I know I’m proud of us.”
Everyone raised their teacup or their coffee mug and clinked them together, happy and grateful to be safe and sound.
25
The sun was strong in the bright, cloudless, blue sky and the day was unusually warm for late June. It was a perfect beach day. The family had set up a canopy to provide shade for those who wanted it and beach chairs had been arranged in a circle. They’d hauled three sunfish sailboats down to the beach which were now being used for races. So far, Courtney and Mr. Finch had one every one of them, and were in the process of winning the current one.
At first Finch sat precariously and unsteadily, but over the course of an hour, he’d mastered balancing with the boat and his screams of delight could be heard up and down the beach as he and Courtney tore over the ocean.
Josh and Tom had placed last in every race and this time, Jack and Rufus had nearly edged out the Courtney-Finch team, but it was not to be.
“Come on. Let’s go again,” Rufus shouted to the two other boats. “We’re just getting the hang of it.”
Tom said to Josh, “I think we might have too much weight between us. That’s why we’re lagging behind.”
“I think we just have to maneuver a little better. I think we can beat them this time,” Josh encouraged. And off they went to their designated starting line in the water.
Mel and Orla sat in the chairs with their feet in the sand.
Mel said, “I’d love to get in one of those sunfishes, but I’d immediately sink the thing.”
Orla chuckled imagining the scene.
Mr. Finch’s girlfriend, Betty, sat with Mel and Orla. “You wouldn’t catch me in one of those things. I’d fall right out as soon as we got underway. I prefer sitting here on solid ground with a cool drink in my hand watching the show.”
Euclid and Circe sat together on a lounge chair, their eyes pinned to Gigi and Libby.
Angie and Jenna had the babies in little floating things attached to a rope and ha
d them floating gently in the little ocean pool of water left behind when the tide retreated. The little girls splashed with their feet and hands and giggled when a tiny wave bumped them.
Ellie, Chief Martin, and Lucille were standing on paddle boards using the paddle oars to move them over the sea. The chief was having difficulty staying on the board whenever a wave came towards him.
“Oops,” Betty said as the chief fell over into the water. “There he goes again.”
As the family and friends found out over the last week, Kris Banes, Jim Appleton, and Pete Withers grew up together in Revere.
Chief Martin learned from the Hamlet detectives that Sue-Ellen’s only living relative was her grand-niece, Kris. Sue-Ellen was unhappy with Kris and believed she was going down the wrong path in life, influenced by her connections to what she called “hoodlums.”
Sue-Ellen had spoken with an attorney to change her will … taking Kris out and naming the town of Hamlet as her beneficiary. One day, Kris discovered the preliminary documents in Sue-Ellen’s office, and enraged at being cut out of her great-aunt’s fortune, she decided to kill Sue-Ellen. Slowly, over time, Kris began to poison her aunt so the woman wouldn’t be able to finalize the changes to her will. It took two months for the gradual decline in Sue-Ellen’s health to reach a crisis point. Dr. Elizabeth Roseland was called in to try and manage the situation.
Kris knew Elizabeth would find out what was really going on so she arranged with her old friends, Jim and Pete, to kill the woman.
The plan was for Pete to bump into Elizabeth early on a workday morning as she walked her usual route to the hospital, and then shoot her to death before she got to the medical center.
Pete was running late that morning, and afraid he wouldn’t be able to park and get back to the corner in time to find Elizabeth, he made up his mind to run her down with the car when, by chance, he saw her step into the street to cross.
Kris knew Elizabeth would have the cabochon with her that morning as she was going to leave directly from the hospital at mid-day to head to Hamlet to see Sue-Ellen. Kris didn’t really want the cabochon … she knew full well that she wouldn’t be able to harness its power. She wanted to kill Elizabeth and take the cabochon so it couldn’t be used to save Sue-Ellen.
Orla had spoken with Magill a few days ago. Magill and the paranormal authorities voted to severely punish Kris by stripping her of all magical powers. The woman would never be able to recover her skills … they were gone, and would never return. Kris and Pete were under arrest and would soon be charged with the murder of Elizabeth Roseland and Jim Appleton.
In order to possibly receive a lighter sentence at trial, Pete told law enforcement that Jim was supposed to murder the family and friends the night he broke into the Beacon Hill home. But Jim lost his nerve, and when Pete discovered the man had not completed his mission, he met him in an alley and killed him.
On the night Kris and Pete broke into the Victorian, they first attacked Finch, bound him, and dragged him into the family room. Kris knew one of the family members’ sleep would have been disturbed by the forces at work and waited for someone to come downstairs to investigate. She wanted to kill the family in small groups so she and Pete could handle them better.
Angie was the first to stir and head downstairs. When in the kitchen, she heard the noise and she and the cats hurried to investigate, thereby stepping into Kris’s trap.
It wasn’t long before Courtney entered the room. Then the two sisters, along with Finch, used their mental powers to awaken Ellie and Jenna. They knew all four sisters and Finch would be needed to defeat Kris’s powerful abilities.
Working together, the sisters and Finch did what needed to be done.
Ellie’s telekinesis came in handy, and the family learned later, that she and Mr. Finch had been working for weeks on strengthening her skill … just in case.
“How come every time you use your telekinesis on someone, your hair gets all whacky and floats around your head?” Courtney teased her sister.
Ellie sniffed. “It’s the telekinetic energy I’m putting off. And, anyway, I’m busy trying to disarm someone. I’m not exactly concerned at that moment about what my hair looks like.”
Courtney laughed at Ellie’s sassy response.
On the beach, with the two cats resting next to them, Gigi and Libby were asleep on blankets under a sun tent.
The sailboats and paddleboards had been pulled ashore and everyone was sitting around on the beach chairs chatting as the sun moved lower in the sky.
Tom dug a hole in the sand and after Josh had set up and lit the tiki torches, the men made a fire in the sand pit to cook hamburgers, hot dogs, crispy barbecue chicken, and veggie burgers.
Ellie, Jack, Courtney, and Rufus set up a long table and removed platters and bowls of food from the coolers containing taco salad, green salad, Mexican street corn, condiments, rolls, sand dollar shortbread cookies, watermelon slices, strawberry shortcake, and the fixings to make mini s’mores later when the sun went down.
Jenna and Angie prepared drinks for everyone, and then all the friends filled their plates from the buffet table and sat around eating and talking.
After the meal, Angie and Josh, holding hands, took a walk along the beach under the darkening sky.
“I’m glad this investigation is over,” Josh said. “It was dangerous and had me worried for weeks.”
“Me, too,” Angie admitted. “I’m happy it’s been solved. I hope Mom can rest in peace now knowing we did all we could to find her killers.”
“I’m sure your mother is proud of all of you.” Josh squeezed his wife’s hand. “I know I am. But I’m always amazed and proud of you.”
Angie rested her head on Josh’s shoulder. “We’re sure lucky.”
“My lucky day was when I met you. That’s when my life truly began.”
They shared a sweet kiss under the starlight, then turned around and walked back to their friends.
“We’re ready to cook the s’mores,” Courtney called to Angie and Josh.
The group stood around the beach fire with tongs and metal holders to warm the marshmallows and pieces of chocolate into a gooey dessert.
Finch said, “I’d never tasted s’mores before I joined this family.” The man took a bite and got strings of marshmallow all over his chin.
When Angie passed Jenna a few graham crackers, a sudden zip of electricity shot between them.
“What was that?” Jenna joked. “You got me with static electricity.”
Angie tilted her head. “I don’t think it was static electricity.” She slowly turned around and looked towards the sea.
Something glimmered several yards from her. “Jenna, is something there?”
Euclid and Circe darted over, stared, and trilled.
Jenna glanced around to look, and her face lit up as a smile spread over her face, right before sparkling tears tumbled down her cheeks. “It’s Mom, Angie. She’s here.”
Courtney and Ellie stepped over to their sisters to see what they were looking at.
“It’s Mom. Let’s hold hands. Maybe if we’re holding on to each other, you’ll all be able to see her, too.” Jenna reached out for their hands.
“Mom?” Courtney could barely squeeze out the word. “There you are. There you are.”
Looking like the spitting image of her mother, Ellie’s lower lip trembled as her shoulders began to shake. “Mom,” she whispered.
Elizabeth Roseland’s form took shape and shimmered under the stars. She looked deeply into each of her daughter’s eyes, then put her hand over her heart. Without moving her lips or saying the words aloud, she sent a mental message to her children.
“Thank you, my sweets. I’m always with you. I love you with all of my heart.”
Euclid meowed, and Circe took a few steps forward as Elizabeth’s body sparked and flashed, and then was gone.
The sisters brushed at their cheeks and hugged one other.
“I can’t believe it.
” Ellie wiped the tears from her face. “We got to see her. We got to see Mom.”
“What’s going on over here?” Tom and Josh walked up to the sisters, and noticed the emotion on their faces.
Angie leaned close and whispered to them what had happened.
With wide eyes, Tom looked at the spot where Jenna told him Elizabeth had been standing. “Gosh. My gosh.”
Angie saw Mr. Finch out of the corner of her eye, and she turned to look at him.
Finch smiled and nodded, his face full of joy.
Rufus called to them. “Come on, all of you. We’re going to play a trivia game. It’s the old people against the young ones.”
“The sides are a little uneven,” Chief Martin said to Mr. Finch with a wink. “But it won’t matter. We’ll beat them easily.” The two men high-fived one another.
The family and friends pulled their chairs over and gathered near the fire pit to play the game … under the stars … with hearts full of happiness, and with two fine felines watching over them.
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Also by J. A. Whiting
OLIVIA MILLER MYSTERIES (not cozy)
SWEET COVE COZY MYSTERIES
LIN COFFIN COZY MYSTERIES
CLAIRE ROLLINS COZY MYSTERIES
PAXTON PARK COZY MYSTERIES