Hazel frowned. “I want French fries.”
Gwyn scowled at her mother. “They don’t serve French fries in the mornings, remember? And besides, after that little stunt you pulled with Harrison the other day, you lost out on that deal we made.”
“Deal, schmeal. I’m sure someone else in this town serves French fries in the morning,” said Hazel gruffly.
“Perhaps,” agreed Gwyn with a nod. “But we’re here. And this place doesn’t cook French fries until lunchtime, and you’re grounded. So you’ll have to pick something else.”
“I don’t want something else.”
Gwyn sighed. “Really, Mom? After everything you put me through last night, you’re going to be stubborn about French fries again?”
Hazel shrugged.
Linda looked at her with a kind smile. “I’m sorry, Hazel. We have hash browns, would you like some of those? They’re potatoes too.”
“Do you have any hash browns in the shape of French fries?” asked Hazel petulantly.
Linda laughed. “I’m sorry, we don’t. Just the regular old shredded kind.”
“Then I don’t want anything,” said Hazel, sticking her nose up into the air in the opposite direction.
“Mom, you’re going to starve,” begged Gwyn. “Girls, tell my mother to eat something other than French fries?”
From the opposite end of the bar, Phyllis craned her neck around Char and Gwyn to see Hazel gazing off in the other direction. “Meh, she’ll live if she goes without a meal.”
Char patted Gwyn on the back. “Hazel, you really should eat something besides French fries, dear. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that you are what you eat?”
“Of course she told me that. Why do you think I eat French fries? I wouldn’t mind being tall, thin, and French,” said Hazel with a dentured smile.
Char and Linda chuckled. Char sighed. “Oh, Gwyn, I think Hazel will be fine. If she’s hungry enough, she’ll eat. Maybe you shouldn’t be so hard on her.”
“Seriously?” asked Gwyn. “I shouldn’t be so hard on her? Do you not recall her running off yesterday and hot-wiring a car?”
Linda looked across the bar at Hazel in astonishment. “Hazel, you hot-wired a car?!”
“Tried,” said Phyllis.
Gwyn looked down the bar at Phyllis. “What?”
“She tried to hot-wire a car. She failed. If she hadn’t failed, she wouldn’t have been caught. I think the problem here isn’t that she got arrested, it’s that she failed to properly hot-wire the car. Maybe this is simply a lack of education, and we should have someone teach her,” said Phyllis with a wicked smile.
Gwyn lowered her eyebrows. “Phyllis Habernackle, that is not funny. You’re encouraging her!”
“The woman’s a million years old, Gwyn. If she wants to eat French fries for breakfast, let her! We’re too old not to get what we want in life. How would you like someone telling you that you couldn’t have … I don’t know. Wine?”
Gwyn buried her head in her hands, then let her fingers comb over her scalp before slamming her palms down onto the counter. “Fine, Mom. Don’t eat. You can eat at The Village at lunchtime. Linda, just one roll this morning, please.”
“You got it.” Linda smiled at her before disappearing back into the kitchen.
Gwyn swiveled her chair so her back was to Hazel and looked at Char and Phyllis. “Okay, now can we please talk about this premonition dream you had?”
Phyllis leaned her forehead on her hand. “I can’t talk about it anymore. It shot my nerves to hell.”
“It was that bad?” Gwyn asked Char.
Char nodded as the smile on her face vanished. “Someone else is gonna bite the bullet soon if we don’t find this psycho.”
Gwyn sucked in her breath. “She saw that?”
“I had this feeling of dread through the entire dream. He’s going to strike again soon. I know it,” groaned Phyllis.
“But you didn’t see a face?” asked Gwyn.
Char shook her head. “Nope. She didn’t see any faces. But she saw the cross.”
“So what does the cross signify? He’s religious?” asked Gwyn.
Char pointed a finger heavenward. “I think it means more than just ‘he’s religious.’ I think we need to go pay a little visit to our loaner priest.”
“Father Donovan?” breathed Gwyn with shock. “You think a priest killed two women?”
Char held up a finger. “Two witches. I think he killed two witches!”
Phyllis leaned down to look past Char at Gwyn. “Are you kidding me, Gwyn? Are you that naive? Priests are human too. They do all sorts of wicked things. You don’t think there’s a priest out there that’s killed anyone before?”
“Well, I mean, I suppose it’s possible, but you really think he could have killed Kat and Maggie?”
“Let’s look at the facts,” said Char, opening one hand on the bar so she could count on her fingers. “We’ve got the fact that he’s completely opposed to witchcraft and thinks witches are pagan spirits. So we know why he might have done it. That’s motive.” She checked off one finger.
“We know he was down at the Falls the night of Margaret’s murder. And we know he came to Aspen Falls right before Kat was murdered. That’s opportunity times two,” she said and ticked off two more fingers.
“Both women were hit with a blunt object. Like that’s hard to find? Kat had a shovel in her garden. Maggie could have been hit with a rock for all we know. There are our means,” she said, checking off two more fingers. “Not to mention the fact that he’s a priest and owns a black robe. Case closed.”
Phyllis nodded her head knowingly. “And I’ve seen him carrying around a messenger’s bag with a black strap on it. That could be where that piece of black nylon came from!”
Gwyn’s head reared back. “Listen, I know Father Donovan was a bit harsh on witches, but do you really think he hates us enough to want to kill us all?”
Phyllis shrugged as Linda appeared from the kitchen again to refill the women’s coffee. “I don’t think we can put it past him. Overlooking him as a suspect might just be the opening he needs to put another witch into the ground.”
Linda topped off Gwyn’s coffee. Then she leaned forward to speak in a hush. “You know, I don’t mind putting a few French fries into the fryer for your mother. I didn’t want to offer it in front of her before because I know you’re opposed to it, but it’s really no big deal, and I hate for her to go hungry.”
Gwyn gave Linda a funny look. Then she turned her head to look over her shoulder at Hazel. When she realized that Hazel wasn’t sitting next to her anymore, she spun completely around to inspect her chair more closely, as if Hazel was actually sitting in it, but she just wasn’t able to see her for some reason.
“Mom?” Gwyn said aloud.
“Where’d Haze go?” asked Char.
Gwyn threw a hand out on either side of her as her mouth hung open. “I don’t know. She was just here.”
“She probably went to use the little girls’ room,” said Char. “Don’t worry. Sit back down. Cut her a break. You don’t have to follow her everywhere she goes. She’s a grown woman.”
Gwyn’s head shook as she boosted herself off her seat. “You don’t understand. Yes, I do have to follow her everywhere she goes.” She ran around the bar towards the bathroom.
Seconds later, Gwyn was back with an ashen face. “She’s not in there. The bathrooms are empty.”
Char sat up a little higher. Surely Hazel hadn’t just run off. Not after last night’s fiasco. She looked at Gwyn in confusion. “Well, surely she’s around here somewhere.”
Char and Phyllis both spun their seats around so the three of them could face the breakfast crowd in the restaurant.
“I don’t see her,” said Phyllis.
“Me either,” agreed Char.
Gwyn headed for the front door without a word to the girls.
“Where you going, Gwyn?” asked Char.
“To look f
or my mother!”
37
“How do you know where to look?” Char asked Gwyn as the women blasted out of Habernackle’s front door.
Gwyn looked both ways down the street. “I don’t see her.”
“How’d she get away so fast?” asked Phyllis, straightening the dark shades she’d just pulled back on.
“I have no idea how she can move that fast when I’m not looking, but it takes her an hour to walk from the bathroom to the chair,” said Gwyn. “Ugh, this woman frustrates me. Come on,” she said and began heading towards the main street.
“Where are we going?” asked Char.
“We’re going to try the cafe down the street. What’s it called?”
“Aspen Falls Eclectic Eatery,” said Char. “Julius Marcel owns it.”
“Julius Marcel from the Paranormal Institute for Wizards?” asked Gwyn with surprise.
Char nodded. “Yes. Julius moved back to town about fifteen years ago.”
“Alright, let’s go check it out. Maybe they serve French fries in the morning. I know my mother, and if she took off, she went to find fries.”
The three women went on a mad dash towards the small eatery. Beneath the striped awning out front was an outside eating area that consisted of a waist-high black wrought-iron fence and matching wrought-iron tables and chairs. The women walked around the fence to the opening and hurried inside the small eatery. Only a handful of customers sat in the booths lining both walls, and the tables in the center of the dining area were empty.
“It doesn’t look like she’s here,” said Phyllis.
Gwyn rushed to the hostess standing near a podium.
“Table for three?” asked the woman as she grabbed a stack of menus from a shelf inside the podium.
“No, we’re looking for my mother. She’s about this tall, white hair, cane,” said Gwyn, holding her hand up to her shoulder. “She would have ordered French fries.”
The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said with a bit of a French accent. “I have not seen anyone here like that today.”
“You’re sure?” asked Gwyn in a bit of a panic.
“Yes, I am sure,” said the woman kindly.
Gwyn nodded. “Thank you.” She turned around and headed back for the door. “Let’s go girls.”
Outside Char squeezed Gwyn’s hand as the panic Gwyn felt in her heart began to bubble up to her face. “It’s okay, Gwynnie. We’ll find her. We found her last night, didn’t we?”
“The police station!” said Gwyn. “We should try there again.”
“She’s only been gone a few minutes, Gwyn,” said Phyllis. “There’s no way she got arrested already.”
“Let’s go back to Habernackle’s,” suggested Char. “Someone else in there had to have seen which direction she went.”
“Good idea,” said Phyllis.
The three women went back to the restaurant and found Reign behind the counter. “Reign,” said Phyllis, curling her finger towards her grandson. “Reign, you didn’t happen to see Gwyn’s mother, Hazel, anywhere did you? Perhaps she wandered into the kitchen in search of French fries?”
Reign smiled. “Mom just mentioned that Hazel wandered off. I haven’t seen her, sorry. But you’re welcome to check the bedrooms upstairs.”
Gwyn sighed. “I’ll check with the men’s coffee table. Char, can you check the rooms? And Phyllis, can you please check with the rest of the customers?” suggested Gwyn.
Char and Phyllis took off as instructed while Gwyn walked over to the men.
“Gwyn, what a pleasure,” said Sergeant Harrison Bradshaw, getting to his feet. “Would you like to join us for coffee this morning?”
Gwyn shook her face, lips pursed. “No, thank you, Harrison. I’m actually looking for my mother.”
“Hazel’s missing?” he asked in surprise. “I could have sworn I saw her at the counter when I came in just a bit ago.”
Gwyn nodded. “Yes, I know. She was there a moment ago. I’m afraid I took my eyes off of her for just a second, and she wandered off. It’s fairly typical of her to do so, but now I can’t find her.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been buried in a political debate with the mayor here for the last few minutes, so I’m afraid I didn’t notice anything.” He looked at the men at the table. “I’ll see what I can find out for you, though.”
“That would be very helpful.”
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” he said, clearing his throat. “Gwyn here is looking for her mother, Hazel. She’s the tiny thing with a cane and the mean right cross.”
Several of the men’s eyebrows lifted as they tried to control their laughter. Sergeant Bradshaw looked at them sternly, and they promptly fought to swallow back their jokes.
“She was just sitting up at the counter, and now I’m afraid she’s wandered off. Did anyone here see which way she went?” asked Gwyn.
Mayor Adams looked up from his Danish. “I saw her heading towards the bathroom only a few minutes ago.”
Benny Hamilton nodded his head. “I saw her heading that way too, just as I was coming back from the bathroom.”
Sam Jeffries, Marcus Wheedlan, and two other men Gwyn had never seen before shook their heads as if to say they hadn’t seen any of it.
“I’m sorry,” said Marcus. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Me either,” agreed Sam.
“Would you like some help looking for her?” asked Harrison, straightening the collar on his polo.
Gwyn smiled politely. She barely knew the man. She could hardly ask for his help in finding her mother. “I appreciate the offer, Harrison, I really do, but unfortunately I wouldn’t even know where to ask you to look.”
“Gwyn, no one saw anything,” said Phyllis, as she came up behind her. “Sergeant, did you fellas see anything?”
He shook his head. “A few people saw her going towards the restroom, but that was it.”
“But I checked both the women’s and then men’s rooms. They were both empty,” said Gwyn with a sigh. “I just don’t understand where else she would go!”
Char came bounding down the stairs. “Rooms upstairs are all empty. Let’s go check The Village. Maybe she caught a ride from someone back there,” suggested Phyllis.
“Good idea.” Gwyn smiled at Harrison. “Thank you for the offer, Harrison, but I think we’ll do a little snooping around town before we call in the Army.”
“Well, if you can’t find her, I’d sure be happy to help!” he said.
Gwyn looked at him coyly. “Even after my mother punched you in the Gruesome Twosome?” she asked, lowering her voice when she said the silly moniker.
Sergeant Bradshaw’s eyebrows lifted up into his forehead. “The Gruesome Twosome?” He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, Gwyn. You are just something else, aren’t you?”
Gwyn felt color flooding her cheeks. Something good or something bad? she silently wondered.
“But yes, even after that. Hazel didn’t mean anything by that little nudge, and I’m quite alright now, so I hope you haven’t been too hard on her. It was my own fault, for trying to show off.”
“Trying to show off?” mused Gwyn.
“I hate to keep you. I know you need to find Hazel. It was good to see you again. Perhaps we’ll bump into one another for coffee tomorrow?”
Gwyn smiled at him. The worry over her mother’s disappearance had vanished in those few moments, and all she felt was a little spin of excitement that welled up in her chest. It was something she hadn’t felt in quite a long time.
“Perhaps,” she answered with a little wave as she followed Char and Phyllis towards the front door.
“I think that man’s sweet on you,” said Char as they crossed the street to Gwyn’s car.
“Oh, stop,” said Gwyn.
“No, I’m serious. I’ve never seen Harrison talk to anyone the way he talks to you, and I’ve known that man for years.”
“Well,” breathed Gwyn, “there’s no time to think about
that now. I have far too many things on my plate at the moment. Like finding my mother, for starters.”
The three women got in the car. “Should we go pick up Loni?” asked Char. “She might want to help us look.”
“Ha!” sputtered Gwyn as she backed the car out of her parking spot. “She was the one who lost Mother last night and couldn’t be bothered to help look for her! Why would she want to help now?”
“Oh, cut her a break. Something’s loose in the attic and the woman’s blind as a bat. She had a rough night too, crashing into that tree and then having to walk home,” said Char.
Gwyn slunk back in her seat. “Oh, fine, we’ll pick up Loni to help us look, but then our one and only priority is finding Mom.”
Minutes later, the women were outside Loni Hodges’s house, honking their horn.
“You really think Loni’s coming outside to us honking?” asked Char.
“I’m not going in there,” said Gwyn adamantly. “You wanted her to come. You go get her.”
Char rolled her eyes and ambled out the passenger door. “Fine. I’ll go.”
Phyllis leaned her head back against the seat back. “Ugh, I feel like hell, Gwynnie,” she groaned, her raspy voice filling the car.
“I’m sorry, Phyllis. We’ll get back to your premonitions as soon as we find Mom.”
“You know, I’ve had premonitions before, but none like this. It was so dark and so ominous. It just really shot my nerves to hell.”
Despite her own anxiety, Gwyn reached back to rub Phyllis’s knee. “I’m so sorry, Phyllis.”
The minute Gwyn’s hand touched her leg, Phyllis’s body went rigid against the seat. “Phyllis?” Concern colored Gwyn’s voice. “Are you alright?”
Phyllis didn’t say anything. She was in some type of paralysis. Her face appeared frozen and her limbs stiff.
“Phyllis!” shouted Gwyn in a panic. She reached around the seat to shake her, but Phyllis’s absent expression didn’t change.
Gwyn let go of her, opened the driver’s-side door, and climbed out so she could go in through the back door. She opened the door and looked down at Phyllis, who was now completely cognizant.
That Old Witch!: The Coffee Coven's Cozy Capers: Book 1 Page 28