by Joyce
“Then let’s start here.” He stood back for me to precede him into the kitchen.
The castle kitchen was a large, restaurant-type kitchen with several stoves, dozens of workstations, and long lengths of countertop. There were huge pantries, refrigerators, freezers, and hundreds of cooking utensils hanging from the walls and ceiling. The cooks here made food for hundreds of people every Sunday night. There were dozens of workers running back and forth to do the bidding of the chefs.
Rita was at the center of everything as she coordinated the requests from the people who were staying at the castle along with the residents who lived there. She was a small, energetic woman who seemed to see everything. At least that’s what I’d thought when I worked for her.
“Jessie.” She stared at the three men with me. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking Detective Almond and his officers through the passages.” There was a beautiful ice cream sundae on the counter beside me. I wished I could dive right into it. “They’re looking for information about Isabelle.”
Her face became sharp. “I believe they’ll need permission from King Harold to do that.”
“Excuse me—we already have permission from the king.” Detective Almond sounded impatient. “We’re going through the passages. Please get out of the way.”
Rita jumped in front of the entrance to the passages and spread her arms across the door. “I need to talk to King Harold before you go inside.”
I wondered what was wrong with her. What could she be protecting in the passages? I’d been in there yesterday, and they’d looked like they always did.
Detective Almond signaled to his officers to get Rita out of the way.
Before they could get physical, I asked for a moment to speak to her alone. Maybe if I understood what she was doing, I could help.
“You’ve got two minutes.” Detective Almond grudgingly gave us.
Rita and I went into one of the supply pantries and shut the door. She was still nervous and fidgety.
“He’s going in there whether you want him to or not,” I explained. “Did you kill Isabelle?”
Rita was small, but I knew from experience that she was strong. She could throw fifty-pound bags of flour and sugar into the pantry with no problem. She could probably have managed to throw Isabelle off the terrace.
“Of course not! Why would I kill her? She was mean and petty, but I didn’t want to see her dead.”
“Then what? What are you trying to hide?”
She started crying.
This was going to take way longer than two minutes.
“You asked why I was smoking in the garden. I was . . . meeting someone.”
“Someone from the castle,” I encouraged her to explain quickly. “Who was it?”
“It was Sir Dwayne. I’m worried that he might be accused of killing Isabelle.”
Suddenly I understood. “You and Sir Dwayne were—” I made hand gestures that brought a blush to her face. “Really?”
“Why do you say it like that, Jessie? So I’m not as young as I used to be. Does that mean I have to be alone the rest of my life?”
“No. Of course not.” But Sir Dwayne?
“We met in the garden sometimes when he could get away from Isabelle’s demands. You know how she could be.”
“How does that relate to the passages?”
“He’s been missing since Isabelle died.” Rita twisted her work-roughened hands together. “I thought he might be hiding in the passages. I looked for him, but I couldn’t find him.”
There was a polite rap at the door. “Are you ladies almost finished in there?” Detective Almond asked.
“You have to tell him,” I whispered. “He’s gonna keep sniffing around until he finds out anyway. You’re making yourself look guilty.”
“I can’t,” she muttered. “Everyone will know, and they’ll laugh at me behind my back.”
I took her hands in mine and stared into her tortured eyes. “They already know, Rita. That’s the way the Village is.”
The pantry door opened slightly. “I’m going into the secret passages now,” Detective Almond said. “Is there something I should know?”
I pushed the door open. “Rita has something to tell you. Maybe you could come in here for a minute.”
“I’m not hiding in the pantry, Jessie. Whatever she has to say, she can say out here.”
“Please,” I whispered. “She’s embarrassed to say it out there.”
He wore a look of someone almost beyond their patience, but he came into the pantry and shut the door behind him. “This better be good.”
After Rita had confessed her secret sins with Sir Dwayne, Detective Almond nodded. “So you haven’t seen Sir Dwayne since Isabelle was killed? Are you sure? You’re not hiding him somewhere?”
“No. If I were hiding him, why would I be worried about what you’d find in the passages?” She held her chin high. “I could hide him in a thousand different places that you’d never find.”
“Okay. Let’s go through the passages. If we find him there, I’ll have to question him like I have everyone else.” He looked her over. “You know this could make you a suspect in this case. Maybe you wanted Sir Dwayne all to yourself and decided to take out the competition.”
Rita snorted. “I know many ways to kill someone with food that your medical examiner would never know. I wouldn’t have pushed her off the terrace.”
Detective Almond wrote her words in his notebook. “Good to know. I’m glad I don’t normally eat at the castle.”
She had made her point, though. He didn’t ask her any other questions about Isabelle’s death. He and I, and the two officers, went into the passage from the kitchen. Rita closed the door behind us.
Chapter Ten
Even though there were lights along the edges of the passage, it still took a moment to get used to the dimness. I noticed that the officers were nervous as we started out. They both held their guns, ready for trouble. I led the way with Detective Almond coming up behind me.
It was much cooler in the passages, a relief from the hot summer sun. I walked slowly knowing that they were looking for clues. Or Sir Dwayne. I hoped Isabelle’s last boyfriend wasn’t using this as a hiding place. The passage was too tight for a scuffle with armed police without someone getting hurt.
“Where are we going, Jessie?” Detective Almond asked as I passed an intersection.
“I thought you’d want to go right to Isabelle’s suite. It’s this way.”
“And all these other passages?”
“They go to the other suites, chambers, and various places in the castle.”
“When were these put in? I don’t remember the castle being like this when I worked here.”
“I thought they were designed when it was built.” I shrugged. “I guess if they weren’t, then I don’t know. Maybe Merlin, or the king and queen, could answer that.”
We all heard a sound. The officers flattened their bodies against the cool concrete wall. Detective Almond put his hand over my mouth and gestured for quiet.
“What is that?” he whispered.
I removed his pudgy fingers from my lips. “It’s probably a TV or something. It could be someone talking. You can hear everything from here. It all depends on where you’re standing.”
We listened a few more minutes until it was clear that someone on the other side of the wall was watching an episode of Star Trek.
Detective Almond nodded. “Let’s move on.”
We were almost to Isabelle’s suite when I noticed something on the floor near the secret entrance. It wasn’t big enough to be Sir Dwayne, but it hadn’t been there the day before.
“What’s that?” Barkley pointed.
“Shine a flashlight over here,” Detective Almond told him.
The four of us looked as the bright beam of light picked up a piece of green material. I started to lift it, but Detective Almond held me back. “That could be where the piece of material ca
me from that was in Isabelle’s hand. We need to bag that before it gets contaminated.”
Officer Barkley put on latex gloves and held up the material. “It’s one of those Ren Faire shirts like they all wear, sir.”
“Put it in the bag,” Detective Almond said. “Is that blood on it?”
Barkley and his partner closely examined the shirt. “Hard to tell in this light. But it looks like it could be.”
They were trying to stuff the large shirt into the small bag when we heard a scraping sound from the other side of the wall. The door from behind the bookshelf opened and light poured into the passage.
“I thought I was taking you through the passages,” Chase said. “What happened?”
Detective Almond put together a few nonsensical reasons why he hadn’t waited for Chase. I knew they weren’t true, but I decided not to make a big deal out of it at that moment. I could always explain to Chase later.
I was glad I’d been there for Rita anyway. She might not have been willing to make the connection with Chase that she’d made with me. It was a woman thing.
“Anyway,” Detective Almond concluded. “Now that you’re here, Manhattan, you might as well go through the rest of the passages with us. Thank you for your help, Jessie. I hope you’ll keep what happened here today under your hat. I know how the Village likes to gossip.”
Chase raised his brows in a questioning manner as we exchanged places. I shrugged, hoping he understood that it wasn’t a good time to talk about it.
I was glad for him to finish the rest of the tour with the police. They probably needed me at the museum.
I closed the door and then the bookcase hiding the entrance to the passage. There were still crime scene people and police officers working in Isabelle’s suite. I got out quickly, not wanting to be involved in their investigation.
I made my way back down to the castle entrance, thinking about Rita, Isabelle, and Sir Dwayne. I could understand Rita trying to protect Sir Dwayne, but it was interesting that she thought he could be guilty. At least her confession to Detective Almond put a different spin on who the killer could be—a killer who wasn’t Bill.
Maybe she was just doing what I’d done with Bill—give him a chance if the police started looking his way.
I was happy to share that information with Bill during a brief afternoon break. The museum was packed with visitors when I got back. It was my first opportunity to tell him the good news.
He didn’t take it the way I’d expected him to. “I still feel responsible for that beautiful girl’s death. I know you don’t believe in my magic, Jessie, but it’s real. And sometimes it can be harmful.”
Manny and I exchanged glances. He didn’t remark on the subject, just sipped his green tea that we’d bought at the Honey and Herb Shoppe.
I felt compelled to say something. “We don’t know for sure what happened to Isabelle yet, Bill. But I really don’t think she danced her way off the terrace. I have faith that you didn’t hurt her in any way. Isabelle had a problem with people. I’m afraid it may have finally come back on her.”
“Regardless of what happened, I’ve decided to rid myself of my elf magic before I hurt anyone else,” Bill declared.
That dragged Manny into the conversation. “How do you propose to do that?”
“I’ve heard of a woman here at the Village who can help me.”
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“I’m not sure of her name, but she stays over there in the tent by the Main Gate.”
Manny nodded. “The fortune teller.”
I’d had a few encounters with Madame Lucinda. I didn’t know if she could do what Bill was asking for, but she was a curious resident. Since I wasn’t sure what harm it could do to have her say she’d removed his elf magic, I agreed to the plan.
“I’ll go with you and introduce you to Madame Lucinda,” I offered. “Maybe she can help you.”
He smiled broadly as he finished a honey cookie. “Thank you, Jessie. You’ve been a good friend to me.”
“Just one thing I’d like to know,” I said to him. “Why does your magic work so strongly with some people and not with others? I’m wearing sandals you made, but I haven’t felt the urge to dance out of the museum.”
“I don’t really know. It’s not like my family talks about the particulars. We all know we have elf magic, and that’s that. I think what happens is a connection between me and the person wearing my shoes. Maybe that person has magic of their own.”
I thought about it. “Maybe that’s it. I certainly have no claim to any particular magic. I hope Madame Lucinda can set your mind at ease.”
We went back to the museum where the lines to see Bill’s boots were as long as ever. I felt the first warning of a storm on the way at about three p.m. when clouds started blowing in from the ocean.
It didn’t take long before rain was sweeping in from the Atlantic, with frequent lightning flashes and jarring claps of thunder. The wind rose, pulling at support lines for tents and vendor’s carts. Chase had to close down the climbing wall by three-thirty. The Village had mostly emptied out by four. A few holdouts stuck around to see if the weather would change. They took shelter in the museum and other covered spots.
By closing time at six p.m. the cobblestones were bare of visitors and residents. The sky boiled furiously above us. There were no hurricane warnings up, but the coming evening was vicious enough to keep everyone indoors.
I’d closed the museum at five when the last of the visitors had fled toward the Main Gate. Manny put on a huge poncho and rode to his apartment on his bicycle. Bill and I met Chase at the Monastery Bakery where he was trying to help with a squabble among the monks. There was always some disagreement between the hooded Brotherhood of the Sheaf, the only unpaid workers in the Village. They were only there for the love of the Renaissance.
I didn’t ask what was going on. The mutinous faces of Brother Carl, who was technically the monks’ leader, and Brother John who coveted his position, were enough to keep me out of it.
“We’re going to see Madame Lucinda,” I told Chase. “Bill wants her help to get rid of his elf magic.”
Chase nodded. He was seated on a rough table listening to the monks complain about someone not adhering to the strict baking code they maintained. “I’ll probably be here a while. Stop by when you’re done. Maybe you can rescue me from hearing anymore about what kind of flour they need to use.”
I smiled and quickly kissed him. “Cheer up. Maybe you can keep them from holding a midnight bake-off to decide what action they should take. You know they’d want you to be the judge.”
He groaned. “Don’t remind me. Good luck.”
Bill and I shared a big umbrella to walk from the bakery to the fortuneteller’s tent. We walked past the entrance to Sherwood Forest. It was five acres of trees and rocks where Robin Hood and his Merry Men and Women lived and worked.
Robin, Friar Tuck, and a new Maid Marion, were talking with potential forest folk who’d waited through the storm for a crack at becoming part of their band. Despite the torrential downpour, it seemed that Robin was requiring his recruits to start a fire as part of their aptitude test. The small group of young men and women were doing their best, but it appeared to be a hopeless task. Robin saluted as he saw Bill and me walk by.
I was so glad I was over my fascination with the forest.
Despite the howling winds and rain, Madame Lucinda’s purple tent didn’t so much as shudder. It looked as though it would’ve been blown away by the storm, but there it was.
Madame Lucinda really did have some kind of magic. I couldn’t speculate on what kind it was, but it seemed to involve dragons. To put it flatly, I was fairly sure that the woman was part dragon herself. And there was the matter of a small dragon living with her.
Other people, including Chase, claimed not to see it. Maybe Bill could if he really had elf magic as he claimed. I wasn’t sure why I could see it.
I pulled on Bill’s sleeve befo
re we went inside the tent. I had to yell for him to hear me over the rain and wind. “Are you sure about this? Once your magic is gone, you might not be able to get it back.”
“I’m sure.” He pushed his wet hair off his forehead. I noticed that his hand trembled as he did it. “I’m done with this stupid heritage.” He lifted the purple and gold tent flap.
“Okay.” I followed him in, wondering if he’d be able to see Madame Lucinda’s wonders as I could. He’d said he could see Wanda, another thing Chase couldn’t see. I was excited to find out.
Once the tent flap fell behind us, there was no sound from the storm outside. The tent walls didn’t move with the wind buffeting them. It was as though inside the tent was sheltered from everything outside.
“Lady Jessie.” Madame Lucinda bowed her head respectfully to me. “To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”
She was deeply stooped, with wild gray hair. Her face didn’t show her age to be more than possibly forties or early fifties. Her body appeared much older. She always wore a long purple robe. From the waist up, she seemed to be a normal human, but the bottom part of her was abnormally large and out of proportion to the rest of her.
I remembered why that was from the first time I’d seen her without her robe. Her legs were thick and scaly, and there was a wide tail too. It made me swallow hard thinking about it.
“Madame Lucinda.” I bowed my head in return. “This is Bill Warren.”
She nodded. “The cobbler. Yes. I’ve seen your work. Very nice. What can I do for you?”
Bill was really nervous too. His voice was barely above a whisper. He had to clear his throat to be heard. “Jessie tells me you might be able to take away my elf magic.”
Her eyes were bright as they focused on his face. “You realize what will happen if I take away your magic?”
“Yes.” He looked at me. “No. Probably not. I’ve always had it. I inherited it from my father and his father before him.”
“Yes. I know.”
“Wait.” I glanced between them. “He really has elf magic?”