The Perfect Ten Boxed Set

by Dianna Love

“Testy little guy.” By his purring, I could tell he enjoyed the under-the-chin scratching I was giving him. There was no way I was going to be able to read anymore of Darla’s diary with his persistence.

  “Stop.” I shoved him one last time before I gave up and went into the kitchen to get him a treat.

  I looked out the window, over Whispering Falls. Bella was right. This house had the best view. From a distance, I could see Constance Karima rushing down the street toward the police station. There appeared to be a file in her hand, which made me wonder if it was the autopsy file. Still, it gave me time to get Patience alone and ask her questions.

  I pulled my phone out of my bag and texted Oscar. “Stall Constance. I have some information that I want to confirm with Patience…alone!”

  I put my phone back in my bag and headed straight out the door toward Two Sisters and a Funeral.

  The door was ajar and I nudged it a little bit to fit through. Ann’s casket was still in the middle of the parlor. Seeing it sent chills along my spine.

  “Patience?” I called out a couple times before I heard the shuffling of feet. Within a couple minutes she appeared, looking a little confused. “Hi. I noticed you had given me a strange look when I was here earlier and thought you might want to answer a couple of questions.”

  “I don’t think this is a good idea without Constance.” She wrung her hands together. “I. . .”

  “Really? Hmm. . .” I rubbed my chin. “I thought you were the brains of the two. I guess my intuition isn’t that great after all. I shouldn’t be a spiritualist.” I laughed.

  “Oh, I am the smart one.” She dropped her hands and drummed her fingers on her thigh. “What would you like to ask me?”

  “Let’s start with Ann. Did she have honey in her system?” I was going to bombard her with another one, but she might break under pressure.

  She leaned back and peered out the front door. It was a perfect view of Main Street and if Constance was coming back, we’d be able to see her. “Not the liquid form. But she tested positive for the supplement. We never thought about checking for it until Oscar asked us to.”

  “Is that what killed her?” This was a big question. If it was, then it would prove that I didn’t kill her, but still didn’t explain my charm bracelet that was found in her grips. “You know she was allergic to it.”

  “No. The supplement works different than the actual honey itself. She did have finger marks around her neck, so she was definitely strangled.” She looked off into the distance. “It’s so strange that a crime hasn’t happened here since your dad was murdered.”

  “What?” That couldn’t be true. My father had been killed over twenty-years ago and now that I was a member of the village it had started up again?

  “I. . .” she stuttered, “I’ve said too much, just like I told Oscar about his parents living here.” Her mouth flew open and she raised her hands to cover her mouth.

  “Oscar’s parents were spiritualists?” I was more confused than before. Izzy never said a word about Oscar’s family and Oscar had never mentioned anything about it.

  I recalled our conversation during the smudging ceremony and how he had stood back from the crowd. Plus he told me that no one was talking to him when he asked questions. If Oscar wasn’t going to give me answers, Uncle Jordan just might. Was he a spiritualist?

  “How do you like living in your parents’ house?” Patience changed the subject.

  “My parents’ house?” I looked up the hill and could see the little cottage perfectly. “That’s Bella’s.”

  “Oh, dear.” Patience patted the sides of her short hair down with her fingertips. “I really have to go and work. Please don’t tell anyone you talked to me or Constance will be mad at me.”

  “One more, please?” I put my hands together and begged. “What is your spiritual gift?”

  It was a legitimate question.

  “Oh,” Her eyebrows raised and color came into her cheeks, “we help spirits find the light.”

  She scurried off to the back of the funeral home before I could ask any more questions. I had come here to find out about Ann, but left with a lot more questions.

  My phone beeped from deep down in my bag. I pulled the strap from around my shoulder and dug through it. I pulled it out and there was a text from Oscar. “Sorry, she’s in a hurry. I need to talk to you when you are done.”

  “I bet you do,” I muttered and looked in the direction of the police station. Something wasn’t adding up.

  The streets were crowded with visitors. I weaved in and out of them to get home, only to run smack dab into Gerald.

  He placed his top hat on his head, and with a swift pat, it covered his forehead. “June.” He nodded.

  “What?” There was a slight sarcasm to my tone. I was done with being nice. After all, he had accused me of trying to kill him, when he was the one with more motive than me.

  “Who are you off to kill today?” His masterful expression of distaste shone through.

  There was no way he was still mad. Didn’t he worry that I was going to go before the council and tell them about his little rendezvous with Petunia?

  “How’s Petunia?” I asked, trying to get his goat.

  “Now!” He shook his finger in my face. Of course it had to be right in front of A Cleansing Spirit Spa. Chandra didn’t miss a thing. Although I couldn’t see her, I could see the tip of her turban peeking around the door. “You leave her out of it. This is between you and me! I told them you were nothing like Otto.”

  “Whatever old man! If I wanted you dead, I’d have done more than just blow a little cedar smoke your way.” I huffed back at him. Instantly I knew that I shouldn’t have said that, but I was tired of people talking about my family.

  “Yoo hoo!” Chandra giggled from the entrance of the spa. “You two okay?”

  “Fine,” I said as I stomped down the street toward the police station.

  There was no time to see Oscar. I wondered how well I did know him. Really I had no idea what his police duties had ever been, here or in Locust Grove. We just hung out together. Which made me wonder if he knew all along that we were spiritualists, and for some reason was keeping it from me?

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Come on.” I called for Mr. Prince Charming after I made it back to the house to get my keys to the Green Machine. “Let’s go to Locust Grove.”

  Mewl. Mr. Prince Charming was curled up on the sofa where the stream of sunlight warmed it.

  “Hmm.” I sighed. He had become less active since we moved to Whispering Falls. In Locust Grove he was always on top of me, following me everywhere. I didn’t know his real age, and wondered if he was getting old.

  I didn’t have time to waste, so I let him stay behind while I hopped in the Green Machine and drove back into Locust Grove.

  I parked in the driveway of the old Cape Cod. Someone had cut the grass, but it still looked to be the same…a little in shambles. Which made me question if I was really living in my parents’ house in Whispering Falls. Darla didn’t seem to be the same person she was in Whispering Falls. The house was certainly not the same.

  Jordan Park’s police cruiser wasn’t in the driveway. My intuition told me not to do it, but I did anyway. Before I could stop myself, I had used the spare key under the porcupine shoe cleaner on the front porch of Jordan’s house and let myself in. After all, he did say he was going to have me over for spaghetti.

  Even if he did come home, he wouldn’t find it odd that I would be sitting on the couch watching TV. Many times he’d come home to find me vegged out while Darla was at the flea market or if I went to church with them, I’d hang out afterwards.

  But I was on a mission to find anything out I could about Oscar’s family. We really didn’t discuss his family much when we were kids. They were already dead when we moved according to Darla’s journal, but I was too young to remember. I couldn’t even recall seeing a picture of his parents or him when he was little.

  T
he house was like it always was. Simple. That was one thing I loved about hanging out with Oscar and his Uncle. There were no smells of ingredients, everything was always picked up and put in its place. Not like home with Darla. There was food all over the kitchen, the house reeked of cures, and clothes were everywhere.

  I scoured the bookshelves in the family room looking for a photo album. There were books, but no albums. Hmmm. . .“Living Spiritually.” I pulled the book off the shelf.

  I flipped the pages to get a glance of what this might be about and a picture fell out. The black and white photo was old. I could tell by the clothing and the two little boys standing by tricycles. The man and woman had their arms around each other, which made me believe they were the parents of the two boys. By instinct, I stuck the photo in my pocket and put the book back.

  There wasn’t anything there to help me. I walked back into Oscar’s room and found it funny that I had only been in his room one other time. After I told Darla that I had gone in there, she forbade me to ever step foot in a boy’s room again. And I listened.

  It was exactly like I remembered it. The twin bed was made with a baseball comforter and baseball trophies lined the wall. I had forgotten about all Oscar’s baseball games I went to with him and his Uncle.

  I slid the closest doors open. The balls on the track made a screech like they hadn’t been opened in a long time. A few clothing items hung on hangers, and a few boxes of different memorabilia sat on the top shelf, but nothing stood out to me.

  With my hands planted on my hips I looked around the room. Had I let my thoughts make me crazy into believing that Oscar could be behind all of this? Not necessarily the murders, but did he know about us being spiritual and that’s why he was my friend and when given the opportunity suggested we move to Whispering Falls? It was awfully convenient that he, by chance, had driven into Whispering Falls.

  And it wouldn’t be the first time Oscar Park talked me into anything.

  I snapped my fingers. The bed. I got down on the floor. I use to shove stuff under my bed all the time. It was dark under there. I plunged my hand in my bag, and felt around for the phone. I pulled it out, opened it, and used it as a light. There was a small plastic container with a lid far in the back. I swiveled my body on the floor and shimmied under the bed. With the box in my grip, I pulled myself out from underneath and stood up. The entire front of my clothes was covered in dust bunnies.

  “Eeck!” I screamed and the box and all its contents flew into the air. Mr. Prince Charming stood on top of the bed as if he were there the entire time. “Mr. Prince Charming! You scared me.”

  I continued to brush the dust off myself and wondered how he got there, like I had wondered so many times before.

  “What are you doing here?” I picked up the box and sat down on the bed next to the cat. “More importantly, how did you get here?”

  One of these days, I was going to have to take a day and follow him around, unless I was in jail.

  Meow, meow. He nudged my arm with his head like he was asking for forgiveness.

  I rubbed him. “You are so smart. Okay. Let’s see what’s in here.” I put the box in my lap and took the lid off.

  There were a couple different looking dolls in it. I picked the one with the brown yarn hair up and looked at it. The doll was stuffed with hay and the fabric of the clothing resembled that of a woman. Its yarn hair was long and it wore a hat that looked like a makeshift turban.

  “Owww. . .” I dropped the doll when something poked my finger. With my finger stuck in my mouth, I picked the doll up off the floor and turned it over. There were stickpins stuck in the back of the doll. “What the hell?”

  Hiss, Hiss. Mr. Prince Charming jumped off the bed. I looked out the window and Jordan was standing in front of the Cape Cod. He looked like he was checking out the Green Machine. I quickly grabbed the other doll and shoved them in the waist of my jeans and pulled my top down to cover them.

  I ran into the family room and grabbed the magazine off the table. Mr. Prince Charming was gone. I didn’t have to worry about him. He could take care of himself.

  “Hello there.” Jordan walked in the door. “I was going to walk over to your house. I saw your car over there.”

  “I just got here and I helped myself to the spare key.” I pointed toward the coffee table where I put the key. “And just thought I’d wait.”

  “And read A Cop’s World Magazine?” His brows dipped.

  “Um,” I closed the magazine and looked at the front. Idiot. “I don’t smell any lasagna.”

  “I didn’t know you were coming over, but I’m sure I can whip something up.” He took his holster off and sat it in the chair. He walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator like he was trying to find something to fix. “Is Oscar coming?”

  “No.” I followed him and grabbed a handful of grapes off the vine that was sitting on the kitchen counter. “I really came here to ask you a few questions about my dad.”

  Slowly he shut the refrigerator door. Standing there with his hand on the handle, he just stared at it. I stood behind him waiting for his answer, but he stood in silence.

  “I mean, everyone told me that he and you were responding to a routine speeding stop and it went wrong. The guy pulled out a gun and fired two shots. One at your gut and one at my dad’s chest.” I recalled everything that Darla had told me, there was never a reason to question it until now. My entire existence had been a lie up until a few days ago, and I couldn’t help but hear Patience’s words about ‘no other crime’ since my father died. And if my father died in Whispering Falls, which all of Darla’s journal entries say, then how did Jordan know my dad?

  “I see that you’ve been snooping around.” His voice was jittery.

  “No, I’ve been sitting on your couch.” Oh, my. Fear knotted inside my stomach. Did he know that I took those funny looking dolls?

  “Not here, June. Whispering Falls.” He placed both hands on the counter and took in a deep breath. “I was afraid this was going to happen.”

  He stood up and shook his head.

  “Please tell me. I’m accused of murder, and everything I know up until now has all been a lie.” I begged.

  He pulled up his shirt and the scar from the gunshot wound was visible. He pointed to it. “I did get this from a routine traffic stop. But I didn’t know your father.” He took his holster off of the chair and sat it on the floor. He sat down. “When Darla moved in I felt sorry for you girls. It was just me and Oscar up until then, so I made sure I kept an eye out on you two. After awhile she started to open up about how you guys lived in a village and that your father had gotten killed. I didn’t ask any questions.”

  “Did you know it was Whispering Falls?” I asked. Tears hung on to the bottom rim of my eyelids.

  “No, not until the other day when I went to visit with Oscar and I saw the sign. Darla told me that she owned an herb shop.” He put his hands in his lap. “I put two and two together, like a good cop. The only thing that bothers me is that there are two unsolved crimes. Your father’s and now this other woman.”

  “Ann.” I cringed. The pins from the dolls were beginning to stick me. I made my way to the door. “I better go. I think Oscar got the autopsy report back and I want to see if there is anything that will point the finger at someone else.”

  Jordan followed behind me with the spare key in his hand and opened the door.

  “Oscar has told me a few things and I’m going to help out as much as I can without getting into trouble.” He handed me the key to put back under the porcupine shoe cleaner. “You promise you will let me know if I can help you.”

  I put my Girl Scout fingers in the air. “I promise.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nothing made sense. I looked over at the strange dolls in the passenger seat of the Green Machine. Things were getting more complicated by the minute.

  Oscar seemed awfully suspicious but my intuition said “no way.” I couldn’t discount the nagg
ing feeling that Oscar wasn’t doing all he could to help solve Ann’s murder. Not to mention he didn’t keep Constance busy while I asked Patience a few questions. The Oscar that lived in Locust Grove did everything he could to keep me safe.

  Unfortunately, I was not feeling so safe.

  I couldn’t forget what Patience had said about Oscar’s parents being spiritualists. Hmmm. . .how convenient it was for Oscar to talk me into moving to Whispering Falls.

  And now these. I picked one of the dolls up. All sorts of questions formed in my head, but I wasn’t sure if I could trust Oscar at this point to even ask him about them.

  Putting the doll back on the seat, I leaned a little more and flipped the glove box open. I patted around until I found what I was looking for.

  Ding Dong. I pulled it out from my secret stash and just for a moment, the chocolate goodness made everything feel like it was going to be okay.

  That went away as soon as I pulled into Whispering Falls and Oscar was standing on the porch. I slipped the dolls into the glove box and slammed it shut.

  “Seriously, June?” Oscar scratched his head. “Why can’t you leave solving crimes to the professionals? Uncle Jordan called to tell me you are all worried. And you should be, but I’m doing everything I can. I promise.”

  A little leery, I chose my words carefully, “You don’t seem to be doing anything to help, so I have to do it myself.” I unlocked the door. My eyes narrowed when I saw Mr. Prince Charming sitting in the couch in the sunlight, like he never left. But we both knew better. Oscar followed me in. “You, yourself even said that no one is talking to you.”

  “We might live among spiritualists, but there are rules that have to be followed like in every other city.” He sat down on the couch and Mr. Prince Charming jumped down. “Why does that cat hate me?”

  I shrugged and picked Mr. Prince Charming up, giving him a little love. I was beginning to wonder the same thing. From what I understood, animals had great instincts and could really sense someone that was bad. Mr. Prince Charming didn’t think Jordan was bad, did he?