by Tonya Kappes
“Yes.” I confirmed and pointed toward town. “That way is north, right?” I asked, gripping the edges of the book. They knew I was some sort of spiritualist, but I wasn’t so sure they were as welcoming here as Whispering Falls was to our tourists.
“Yep, but not sure if it’s open.” Another man stepped forward. He was younger than the others. “I heard the owner was murdered.”
“Murdered?” another one of the men asked. “Paul Levy?”
“Yep.” Another added. “Damn shame.” He shook his head. Vigorously he rubbed his hands together, brought them to his mouth, and blew on them before sticking them in front of the barrel to warm. “Yancy was leaving him because he just couldn’t get past their loss. I’d heard Paul had decided to get revenge.”
“Revenge?” I asked.
All the men looked at me.
“I mean, I’m not sure if I should go to the toyshop if there is something evil lurking.” I shrugged and looked down when I felt Mr. Prince Charming batting my leg. “But I guess this is none of my business.”
They continued to look at me.
“I will be on my way.” I gave a slight wave. “I’ll see ya.”
The men turned back to the barrel and brought their hands in front of them and carried on their conversation without me eavesdropping.
Not only did I need to figure out something about Paul Levy, Yancy Levy was now on my list. What was the loss these men were talking about? And why was Paul seeking revenge?
There was nothing about him that told me he was looking for revenge. It was only money. Stress.
The streets of Azarcabam were filled with all sorts of merchants and their wooden buggy carts. They pushed their wares through the streets, screaming at people to get out of their way.
Mr. Prince Charming ran ahead. He stopped and looked back at me. When our eyes met, he turned the corner of the building and darted off, disappearing around it.
I hurried to follow him, sticking the book in my bag. When I turned the corner, there it was. A big clue. And I knew exactly what Paul Levy was doing in Whispering Falls.
Chapter Twenty
Dots was a stand-alone shop. The outside of which looked like a mini-castle. The spires of the castle had yellow round balls on each tip with yellow and red flags sticking out of each ball. The flags waved high in the air. Dots was written in black inside a round yellow ball.
“Could it be?” I questioned, stopping in front of the shop to get my head on straight.
My intuition curled deep inside of my soul. The yellow balls, the little boy, the toy store and Paul Levy were all tied together. The ghost boy showed up in Whispering Falls a couple of months ago with a yellow ball. Then Paul Levy shows up.
“Petunia.” I gasped, bringing my hands together. Images of me in Glorybee played in my head like a movie reel. Petunia’s words haunted my soul.
She said that Paul Levy knew about how children kept us up at night. The ghost boy and Paul. . .no. . .I shook my head trying to get the thought out. Only it wouldn’t leave.
The ghost boy had to be Paul Levy’s son. He found the boy in Whispering Falls. And the boy. . .I snapped my fingers. The boy was drawn to Patience because she’s a ghost whisperer and more child-like than Constance, only neither Patience nor the boy knew how to get him to the other side.
But why the carnival? Why was Paul pushing for the carnival? And why did my intuition pick up on money? The stress signal was clear. But the money?
“Hello.” The woman stood next to me. Her long black hair lay in waves down to her waist. Her long thin pale face made her black eyes and red lips pop. Her long eyelashes seemed to brush her cheeks. “Would you like to come in?”
“Yes.” I knew she was Yancy. She didn’t need to know why I was there. I already got the answers I was seeking and now I needed to go back to Patience and have her communicate with the boy. Maybe he had some answers about why Paul would have been murdered.
“Are you looking for something in particular?” she asked. Her long brown cloak swooshed behind her as she walked me up to the toyshop. It was embroidered with orange swirls and yellow dots. It was very lovely and she was even lovelier.
“I am looking for a plastic ball for a little boy.” If I had to go in, I might as well try to get some more information about her.
“You are new to our Azarcabam?” she asked.
I followed her over the drawbridge of the pretend moat. I was totally envious. I had never seen a toyshop like this one.
“I’m passing through.” I kept it as simple as possible.
The inside of the toyshop was amazing. There were three open floors of toys and displays as far as my eyes could see. The right side of the store was interactive. A few children and their parents were milling around. There was a Lego room where children were putting together their own designs. There was a water play area where children were scooping and pouring into different containers. The ball pit was filled with children diving into the squishy fun. Plus many more rooms I couldn’t see.
“You have a very funny traveling companion.” She gestured to Mr. Prince Charming who had found a nice spot in the middle of display of yellow balls.
“Yes I do.” I smiled as my familiar confirmed to me that the ghost boy was in fact the son of Yancy and Paul Levy. “I guess I’ll take one of those.”
“You can never go wrong with a yellow ball.” She woman picked up a ball from the pile and held it to her heart.
My head swam. I felt dizzy. My intuition engulfed my entire body. The grief of the woman overcame me. Tears dripped from my eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Are you?” I asked back. Images of me and Darla rolled around me. Images that I had tucked deep inside my memory.
Darla, I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here in Whispering Falls. My little hand reached up for my mother. I know dear, but your father is no longer here and we need a fresh start. Darla looked back and smiled. I looked back to see what she was smiling at. Eloise stood on the edge of the woods with her hands folded in front of her. We are going to live in Locust Grove where you can go to school and play with other little girls your age. She took my hand. But I don’t want to play with other little girls. I want to play with you and your lotions. She tugged on my hand.
“I’m fine.” Yancy brought me out of my memory.
There was a connection between my memory and . . .my mouth dropped. Yancy Levy was not a spiritualist and they were making her close shop like Whispering Falls had done to Darla after my spiritualist father had died.
“I’m in the process of moving and I hate to leave my shop.” She held the ball closer to her chest. “I’m just thrilled you’d like a ball. My son loves. . .” She stopped and swallowed. “He loved to play with this particular brand.”
“Loved?” I knew the answer but I didn’t want to seem insensitive to her.
“Yes. My son had a terrible childhood illness that took his life a couple of years ago.” She walked behind the counter and punched on the cash register.
“I’m so sorry for you and your husband’s loss,” I whispered, feeling a little guilty that I couldn’t tell her that I’d been playing with her son.
“My husband never got over our son’s illness or death. He sort of went a little crazy and was on a mission . . .” She bit her lip. Her black eyes riddled with sadness. “He divorced me and now he has been killed.”
“Killed?” I asked, though I already knew.
“I’m so sorry.” She smiled and handed me the ball. “I have no idea why I’m telling you all this. Take the ball for payment for being my therapist.”
“Oh no.” I dug deep in my bag to get some money. I pulled out the mojo bag that my intuition had told me to grab before I had left Whispering Falls. “Let me give you this.”
I dangled the cheesecloth bag out in front of me.
“I am a homeopathic curest from Locust Grove, Kentucky and this is a mojo bag with some stress relief.” I handed it to her.
She took it. I clasped both my hands around hers. “I want you to take a bath tonight when you get home. Sprinkle the contents of the bag into the warm water, letting it dissolve completely. Take five deep breaths and then close your eyes. Do not close your eyes when you take the deep breaths. You will want to, but don’t.”
The bag was going to fill her spirit with happy memories of her child and her husband. It would help her move forward in her life and be able to move away from Azarcabam like Darla had done.
“Just talking to you makes me feel better somehow.” A tear trickled down her face. “Please, take the ball.”
“Thank you.” I let go of her hands and took the ball from the counter, sticking it deep within my bag.
My phone chirped. I grabbed it and quickly looked.
Oscar: June, I cannot believe you have put Petunia in this situation. I’m coming after you.
Suddenly I felt sick.
Chapter Twenty-One
There was no way I wanted Oscar to come get me. I had gotten the information I had come for and figured out why Paul had come to Whispering Falls. Well sort of. I knew he had come to find his little boy, but why was the carnival so important? Had someone promised him something if he did bring the carnival? What would that person want from Whispering Falls?
My gut told me that when Paul saw the photo of Eloise, he couldn’t go through with whatever it was he was sent to do. Had this person promised him his son back?
All of these questions floated around in my head. Maybe my time in Azarcabam wasn’t over. Maybe the answers to my questions were here.
I stepped out of the castle and stood on the drawbridge looking down the main street of Azarcabam. The old buildings were dark. I had been in a few of them before and I knew not to go back. There was an old saloon type bar down on the right.
Laughter spilled out into the streets followed by the tapping of tambourines. A group of fiddlers and women twirling around hooted and hollered, dancing in the street. The women’s gold chains that hung around their necks glistened in the dark. The sound of their bangle bracelets jingled along with the clink of the tambourines.
They all had long brown hair that hung loosely in large curls around their colorful faces. The men in balloon pants stomped their bare feet on the ground as they yelled out and got down on their fiddles. The strings of the bow ran across the fiddle in a shrill tone as quickly as they could move their hands.
The women twirled around the fiddlers, kicking their legs in the air with each pat of their tambourines. They wore pink skirts and gold coin chains dangling from their waist and loose blowsy tops draped their top half.
They gave me shivers seeing them dance in the snow covered streets. I slipped out of sight and into the darkness to keep out of sight. My last interaction with them was not one to be repeated.
A hand grabbed my bicep and dragged me into one of the buildings. Another hand clamped around my mouth.
Mr. Prince Charming jumped into the air. His claws out, he grabbed onto the person behind me.
“Ouch!” The hand let go of me and the person stumbled backward. “I swear that cat hates me.”
“Oscar?” My jaw dropped when I recognized him. Mr. Prince Charming sat at my feet. I swear he was smiling.
“I told you I was coming.” He ran his hands down his legs and rubbed out the pain from Mr. Prince Charming’s claws.
“You shouldn’t have grabbed me like that.” I wanted to laugh because I knew Mr. Prince Charming had wanted to attack Oscar for years, but never had the opportunity. “After all he is my familiar and part of his job is protecting me from people who want to grab me.”
“I’m your husband.” Oscar glared at Mr. Prince Charming. The two stared at each other.
“You shouldn’t have come. I got what I needed and now I’m going back to Whispering Falls. No one knows so I’m fine.” I grabbed him by the hand to get him out of there.
“No, it’s not all fine.” His words were sudden, raw, and angry. “Colton has been looking for you because Mac told him about Eloise’s relationship with Paul Levy. He wanted to get some answers from you.”
“Oh.” This meant I was really in trouble for breaking my village arrest.
“So he went to the village president.” His words stung me. “When he found that Petunia had given you immunity without clearing it with the Order of the Elders, he arrested her. The Marys showed up and took away her presidency and put her in jail until they find you.”
“I. . .” I was speechless. I never figured my own lawyer would go to Colton. I figured Mac would go and check out the information, giving me time to get to Azarcabam and get the answers.
“That is the problem. I. I. I.” He shook his head and headed down the back alley, keeping in the shadows. “When you get into a pickle, it’s always ‘I this, I that.’ You never seem to think how your I’s affect everyone around you.”
Before I knew it, we were back at the shack. The train was waiting for us. As much as I wanted to tell Oscar what had happened while I was in Azarcabam and how I found out about Paul Levy’s child, he was in no mood at this time. It would only make him mad. Plus I still didn’t have the answer to why Paul was murdered. I only had the answers to the ghost boy and who he was, the yellow ball and where it had come from, and the fact that Paul put a spell on Orin that might not ever go away.
“You are going to go to jail now. I told them I would bring you in.” Oscar sat on the velvet bench. Disappointment on his face. “You have to stay there until the bazaar is over.”
“The bazaar!” I gasped. “But. . .”
“No buts.” Oscar folded his arms across his chest, rested the back of his head on the glass of the passenger car and closed his eyes.
There was no reasoning with Oscar Park when he got mad. I had known this since we were children. He would get mad at me and not talk for days. Unfortunately for him, we were married now and he had to put up with me. Only, I knew he wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say. I might have had some facts, but nothing got me out of murder.
Mr. Prince Charming was curled between us. The sound of the tassels knocking against the glass was steady, like a white noise, putting me to sleep.
Come on, June! Darla’s voice called between the sounds of ringing chimes and gonging bells.
I want a caramel apple. I pointed to the lady in the pointy hat walking around the carnival that had come to town. She had a sweet smile; her teeth were so white. I was eyeing the tray of apples on sticks that were neatly dripped in hardened caramel. My taste buds were watering.
You know you cannot have any sugary treats. Darla insisted I never eat the bad stuff, as she called it. That was where my addiction to Ding Dongs had begun. Oscar’s uncle Jordan always bought those yummy treats and Oscar and I would eat an entire box sitting under the big tree in his front yard.
But it’s a carnival. I really wanted one of those apples.
No. Darla wasn’t budging. She bent down and looked at me. You stay right here. I’m going to look at that booth.
I watched as she walked off to look at some homeopathic booth.
Would you like an apple? The woman approached me. Her smile so inviting. Go on, have one. She shoved the tray in my face. My mouth watered even more. I reached out to grab the big stick attached to one.
No! Darla smacked my hand away from the tray. When I looked up to see the women’s reaction, she was gone. Darla jerked my hand and without another word, she dragged me home.
“June?” Oscar shook me awake. “Did you just have another nightmare?”
I opened my eyes. The train had come to a stop and we were in the wheat field.
“No.” I swallowed the dream. “More like a memory.”
The mojo bag I had given to Yancy was probably for me, but it was too late. I had already given it to her.
“Memories?” Oscar looked concerned. He drew me close to him.
“Just memories of Darla.” I let him snuggle me. I took a deep breath and let my body curl
into his. Tomorrow I wouldn’t be waking up next to him. I’d be waking up in the jail. Not where I wanted to wake up, but at least I knew I was safe there.
I shivered. The cold chill that had woken me up a couple of days ago had found its way back into my soul. This time my heart beat with fright. The evil was getting closer yet I was no closer to figuring out what was going on.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Whispering Falls was wide awake in the middle of the night. It was as if everyone had come out to see me being dragged off to jail. Animals from the woods were gathered outside, looking into the windows of the police station. The fireflies buzzed around, darting about in an angry fashion.
“June, we will figure this out.” Izzy assured me when I walked into the police station. “We know you had good reason to leave.”
“And I’ll figure that out,” Mac said. “Oscar.”
“I hate this.” He teared up. “You are my wife. This isn’t right for me to be putting you in jail when I should be taking you home.”
“Just as long as you know I didn’t do it,” I whispered and took a step forward to the steel door of the jail cell Colton was holding for me. I handed my bag to Oscar and he set it down on his desk.
The jail only had one cell in the back of the police station and I was happy to see Petunia was my roommate. She sat on one of the twin beds, cross-legged.
She didn’t look at me. She kept her head down.
“Your animals are here to support you.” I tried to make her feel better. Once everyone gave us peace, I’d tell her what I discovered in Azarcabam, hoping she’d be able to help me shed some light on the situation.
She crossed her arms and turned toward the wall.
“I guess I have to go.” Oscar’s hands gripped the cell bars. Colton shut the door and locked it. “Good night, June. I love you.”
“I love you.” I smiled, trying to reassure him that everything was going to be okay.