“Here you go, Remy, sign here.” Sandra pushed the ledger towards him.
“Sandra, listen, I was really sorry to hear about Sherwood.” Cassidy thought, perhaps uncharitably, that Remy must have a heart.
“Thank you, I will miss him terribly. He was the only family I had left.”
“Remy, did you have a key to the mansion?” Cassidy asked without thinking. He opened his mouth, but didn’t have time to answer.
At that moment, a loud crash reverberated through the store. Cassidy looked up to see that Lissa had managed to knock down the entire display case of Halloween masks. She was holding one of them in her hands; a black one with whiskers and ears.
“Nice,” Remy said, no doubt not intending to help clean up the mess. “Lissa, I have one of those at home, let’s get out of here before you knock anything else over.”
Remy and Lissa left without so much as a good bye or thanks for everything. Cassidy groaned and went to clean up the display while Sandra served coffee to the guests who had just entered. The rest of the day was uneventful or the most part. Thomas did visit, but since Cassidy didn’t know what to think of what Kairi had repeated last night, she kept her distance and made no promise to see him again.
When she went home that night, it was already dark. She stepped inside and locked the door behind her. After hanging up her coat and opening Kairi’s cage door, she decided to make herself a cup of tea to relax her from the long day. After cleaning up the masks, the store and coffee shop had both been bombarded. And she still didn’t know what to do about Thomas.
As she poured the hot water from the teapot into her mug, she glanced up and out the window of her kitchen. Since it was mostly light in the kitchen and dark outside, she couldn’t see much, which is why it surprised her to see the glowing figure of Claire Fontaine walking across her back yard. She gasped and dropped her mug at her feet, splashing hot water onto her toes. She shrieked at the stinging pain, but forced herself to look out the window once more. She had to make sure that Claire was not coming anywhere closer to her house.
She saw nothing. No glowing form, no blackened form. She even tried turning off the light in her kitchen to get a better view of outside. It was to no avail. She finally convinced herself that she was going crazy and went to bed.
Chapter 6:
“Good morning, Cas.” Wylie said as he pushed her favorite drink across the table toward her.
“Thanks Wylie. I am so glad you had time to catch up with me.” Wylie and Cassidy had known each other since grade school. When Cassidy’s parents decided to move, they had hatched a plan to try to convince Wylie’s mom to let her move in with them. It didn’t work, of course, but when Cassidy moved back to town a few years later, their friendship picked up where it had left off, with maybe a bit of non-platonic confusion thrown into the mix.
“I’ve missed you, Claire. I’m so glad you came back, but I feel like you are just as far away with our grown up jobs and stuff.”
Sometimes, Claire wondered if Wylie had feelings for her, but she always pushed the thought aside. It annoyed her how two people couldn’t simply be friends without all of the confusing hormones getting in the way. Still, she reflected, Wylie did have a certain boyish charm. He had dark blonde, shaggy hair and blue eyes. He was slight, but still taller than Cassidy. The best part about him, though, was that Cassidy knew she could always count on him to be there for her. Right now, she leaned forward and whispered to him.
“You didn’t tell the department that I already knew Martin was dead.” She said, plainly.
“No, I knew you didn’t do it, so I thought there was no harm in failing to mention I had seen you earlier.” He said, his eyes shining.
“Thank you, sincerely from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I owe you one.”
“I am pretty sure you owe me like ten. I just keep saving the day.” He said this with a pompous look on his face, much like one a cartoon superman would make. Cassidy giggled a bit.
“So I wanted to talk to you about Martin. Who are the suspects?”
“Well, the department has looked at Sandra, of course, but we really don’t have many others. At least not that I know of.” He shrugged. “I don’t know everything though.”
“Okay, so here’s what I have. I don’t think Sandra did it. But say she did. The artifacts aren’t worth much outside of this town, and insurance isn’t going to give her any money for it. Anything she got would have to go straight into the trust, right?” Cassidy was leaning forward.
“I suppose that sounds about right.” Wylie answered.
“The next guess, and believe me, I know this sounds crazy, but my next guess is Claire Fontaine.” Cassidy said the name quietly so as to not alarm anyone else currently in the café.
“Claire Fontaine has been dead for years, Cas.” Wylie said. Apparently his loyalty did have its limits.
“True, but Wy, she was a witch. You saw her book. It has to be a book of shadows. The black dress? And everyone in town knew it. That’s why it even made it into our local history books. What if she came back?” Cassidy was getting a little too excited now. Even though she had convinced herself otherwise the night before, she would rather believe that a ghost had been in her back yard than that her new boss was capable of murder.
“Cas,” Wylie said, his voice trailing off, but his tone indicating that she sounded a little crazy.
“Okay, I know. How about Remy?”
“Remy Caldwell? Why?” Wylie made a face to indicate that he didn’t much care for Remy either, but it still seemed unlikely that he committed the robbery slash murder.
“Well, mostly because I just don’t like him. But he does have access to the house. I just don’t know what his motive would be.” Cassidy bit her lower lip, trying to think of some reason Remy might rob the mansion. Her eyes lit up, “Plus he admitted to having one of those cat masks like the one found at the scene!”
“I still think you’re reaching,”
“Okay, I have one last suggestion.” Cassidy took a deep breath. “Thomas Caine”
“The developer? Yeah I don’t like him much either, but I can’t imagine what he’d have to gain by breaking in up there and taking a few old things.”
“Well, he wants the estate to build a hotel and stuff on.” Cassidy said. “He’s been bugging Sandra to sell for a long time, now. And he was talking on the phone by Kairi and said something about the ‘old man’ being ‘out of the way’,” She held up her hands to make finger quotes at this, so Wylie knew what she meant.
“Wow, you might be onto something. Is Sandra willing to sell now?”
“I don’t know, but without having to worry about what Martin will do might make her more willing. “
“How do you know all this? And how did he meet Kairi?” Wylie asked.
“Well, I kind of had a date with him. He just asked me to show him around town.”
“Ha! He thinks he’s getting a date and here you are trying to pin him for murder. Sweet, Cas, real sweet.”
“Oh don’t make fun of me. I didn’t have most of those facts until halfway through the night.”
“I might bring that up to the chief. I am sure he knows already, but it can’t hurt. Now, this is depressing, tell me what else is going on.” Wylie leaned back in his chair, and the conversation continued like this for a while. For Cassidy, no one was as easy to talk to as Wylie.
Chapter 7:
Cassidy was set to open the store the next day, which was Saturday. She let herself in and started her tea, then flipped the open sign over. She didn’t expect to see anyone too soon, so she was surprised when a group of teenagers, three girls, two boys, walked in, the noise that usually accompanies a group like that followed.
“What can I get for you?” Cassidy asked, noting that one of them had black, blonde, and pink in her hair. “Lissa, is it?” She smiled warmly. She felt like Remy had been a little hard on her the other day. The mask thing was just an accident, Cassidy hoped.
&
nbsp; “Just a coffee,” Lissa answered. Cassidy got busy making everyone’s orders. As she did so, she overheard one of the girls mention the name Fontaine, and her ears perked up.
“I hear they are trying to pin it on the lady who owns this place.” The girl in the red shirt said.
“Well it serves her right, she’s got to be a witch too, I mean look at this place.” The boy in blue followed.
The banter went on like this for a while, but Cassidy noticed that Lissa was quiet throughout the whole conversation. Cassidy also noticed that Lissa had a stack of books with her, one of which was bound in light brown leather. ‘I wonder…” she thought. She decided to bide her time for the moment, waiting until she might be able to get Lissa alone. She got her chance when Sandra came in. All of the other kids in the group left, but Lissa had stayed behind, still sipping her coffee. She looked glad to not be surrounded by the energy of her peers.
“Hey, can I talk to you?” Cassidy asked, her voice gentle, like she’d speak to a scared animal.
“I should probably stay with my friends.” Lissa said, her voice surprisingly strong for one who had kept so quiet while surrounded by her peers.
“It will just be a minute.” Cassidy said as she signaled to Sandra that she was taking her break and led Lissa to the two overstuffed chairs in the center of the room. She shooed the resident cat, Miska, off of one of the chairs before sitting down. Once they had settled, she started asking questions.
“Do you know anything about what happened to Mr. Martin?” Cassidy asked first. Lissa’s eyes widened, but she shook her head, no. Cassidy continued. “Well, I didn’t think you would know, except for a few things. Do you want to hear them?”
Lissa started turning pale, but she was glued to her seat, and did not attempt to move for the time being.
“Okay, first, the means. You could have stolen the key from your father, so getting in would be easy. I bet he had the security code written down too. That, or you were already in the room when the alarm was first set?” She paused, waiting for some sort of movement from Lissa. When she got none, she continued talking.
“Well then, I also know that your dad has a mask just like the black one that was found at the mansion. Unfortunately, since those are sold here, right now I could just as easily be accusing Ms. Shaw with the same evidence.”
“But then a girl or woman with blonde hair has been seen wandering around town in the missing dress. I know your hair is not entirely blonde, but there is enough blonde in it and a light enough shade to pull off the appearance of a full blonde when covered with a veil. Ms. Shaw has black hair, so she could only have pulled that trick off with a wig. The only reason I don’t believe that is because she is quite a bit taller than the person I saw walking through town.”
“So, Lissa, all that leaves is motive. I hardly think you just stole the dress so you could wear it and not tell anyone about it?” this time Cassidy stopped talking altogether and just waited. She took a moment to pat Miska on the head while she waited.
The tactic seemed to work well, because Lissa started singing like a canary.
“Ok, I did it. I snuck in. The old man was supposed to be asleep. I didn’t do anything to him other than show up with a mask on so, just in case he did see me, he wouldn’t know who I was.” Tear started streaming down her face. “When he fell, I didn’t know he had died, honest. I just grabbed the stuff as quick as I could then got out. I knew the alarm would trigger and help would be there for him soon. I didn’t know he’d died!”
Cassidy waited while Lissa tried to calm herself before asking the next question.
“I understand how you did it, but why? Other than a neat dress, what did you have to gain?”
“They dared me. I couldn’t not do it or they wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore.”
“Those kids that just left dared you?”
Lissa nodded. “They dared me to steal the dress and the book and walk down Main Street wearing them. When I walked down Main Street, I didn’t know Mr. Martin had died. I am easily manipulated, not stupid,” She tried to smirk but it seemed more like a grimace through her kohl streaked face.
“Okay,” Cassidy said, “One more and then we’ll go to the police station together to turn yourself in. Why were you in my back yard in that dress?”
“Well, I heard you asking my dad all those questions about if he had the key. I wanted to get your suspicions off of him. He has enough trouble. I thought if I could look scary enough you’d think it was really Claire, and you’d back off.”
“Well, thank you for your honesty. I am not ashamed to say you had me really scared. I almost did believe Claire Fontaine was back from the dead. But how did you glow?”
“I took the liquid out of a glow stick and covered the dress in it. I hope it didn’t hurt it. I’ll put it back. You can’t even see the glow stick residue in the daylight.”
Together, Cassidy and Lissa went to the police station.
Chapter 8:
“I have to admit, Thomas, I had thought it was you for a minute.” Cassidy told him over dinner. She had finally agreed to go out with him again. Though she admitted she had ulterior motive.
“I thought you might when I heard your bird repeat everything I said. I’m really not that cold, I promise.” Thomas said. “I was just thinking from a business standpoint that it couldn’t hurt my cause. So when was it that you realized it was Lissa Caldwell?”
“When I saw she carried the book with her. I honestly think she wanted to be caught. It didn’t take much on my part. She had to have been terrified, honestly. And all for a stupid prank. Thank goodness the cops were decent to her. She still has to stand trial, but it won’t be for homicide. Mr. Martin was old and might have been killed in the same manner if a mouse had run across his feet.” Cassidy paused to take a sip of her wine.
“I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen to her, though. I do hope they’re easy on her. She has to be terrified.”
“I know I would be,” Thomas said. He reached his beautifully manicured hands towards Cassidy. “You were really very smart in how you handled it too. I imagine she felt at least a little better knowing she had someone at her side while she wrote her confession.”
“I’m sure. And I know Sandra is glad to be free from suspicion too. She’s already something of a pariah to some. I don’t think she needs suspected murder hanging over her head as well. Now she can bury her old friend in peace. Did you know Claire loved him too?” Cassidy changed the subject abruptly.
“No. I knew from touring the place and from what you’ve told me that he loved her though.” Thomas replied.
“She did. It was in her book. I peeked before I returned it to the house. I have always wanted to see what kinds of spells she wrote about in her spell book. Turns out, it was just a journal. She may have added a recipe or two in there, but there was no magic involved. It’s actually kind of depressing when you think about it, though. I wanted her to be a witch because we all grew up believing she was one. Anyway, before the fire happened, she was supposed to marry Jack Shaw. As you and everyone else knows, her sister Veronica supposedly stole Shaw from her. What actually took place was Claire had fallen for Sherwood, and she begged and begged her sister to woo away Shaw so she could be free to marry Sherwood. Veronica didn’t much care for Shaw either, but I guess she grew to love him over the years.”
“That’s quite a remarkable story,” Thomas said, leaning forward now with interest.
“Anyway, Sandra has had a hard time coming to terms with some of this, particularly the part about how her mom forced herself to marry her dad. But she recalls they were happy together, so she seems to have found some solace in that.” Cassidy had finished her entire meal in between talking, as had Thomas. He led her out of the restaurant, and together they drove up towards her cottage. When they passed her drive, she asked what they were doing.
“I wanted to show you something,” Thomas said, “Promise you’ll let me finish before saying
anything.”
He pulled into the parking lot of the Fontaine estate, but the sign had been altered to the name LeFontaine Hotel. Cassidy opened her mouth in protest. She couldn’t stand to hear that the mansion was to be torn down. Thomas held up his hand, urging her to wait a bit before commenting.
“Listen, your love for this place has inspired me to look at it a different way. Sandra contacted me to sell, finally, and I accepted. I will be making some changes, but this place might actually turn out to be more valuable to me as it stands.” He got out of the car, then walked around to open her door and help her out. Together, they walked in through the main door and into the great room. The library still stood, though the books had all been removed from the tall, wooden shelves. The display case remained, but it was empty too.
“I have decided to keep the library and museum in here, but I am rebuilding it to fit in more with the original architecture of the house. In fact, Sandra has offered the remainder of Veronica’s trust to make the changes. She has seen and approved all of them.” He clenched his teeth a bit at that. “In fact, she insisted upon seeing the pans before signing the final paper, but she was pleased with what I had drawn up.” Finally, he paused, waiting for Cassidy to speak.
“It’s lovely,” she said as she bent her head over the plans. He had designed the book shelves to run along the perimeter of the room with decorative columns separating the different sections. There was an out ring that was being placed along the existing wall, and an inner ring. Tall slide ladders were going to be attached to make reaching the higher books possible, and the new arrangement will allow the center of the floor to be opened up into a ballroom, which was the space’s originally intended use. “So, what about your golf course or tennis courts?” She asked
“Do you object to those?” Thomas looked concerned.
“Not at all. Besides, if I did say I objected, would that stop you?” she asked.
The Estate Murder: A Cozy Mystery (The Witch Mysteries) Page 3