Stuck in the Middle Witch You (A Middle Witch Mystery Book 1)

by Danielle Finch

  “Don’t start,” Ember warned.

  “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

  “But you want to.”

  “No, I really don’t.” I kept my eyes on the road, but I could feel her looking at me.

  “You think I have no feelings.”

  I fought the urge to say yes, knowing it would just start an argument.

  “Well, I do,” Ember said.

  “Fine, you have feelings.”

  “I was just trying to lighten the mood, I didn’t mean to upset Raine.” Ember rolled down the window. I could taste the salt in the cool air.

  “I don’t think any amount of joking is going to change how she feels. She thinks Seth’s death is her fault,” I said.

  “But that’s ridiculous! She didn’t kill him.”

  “Why is it so hard for you to believe she feels she’s to blame?” I couldn’t understand why Ember wasn’t getting it. “What if Matt did something like that? Wouldn’t you feel at least partly responsible?”

  “Of course not. If some guy was flirting with me, and Matt got pissed off and killed him for it, that’s his decision. I didn’t make him do it.”

  “But that decision was because of you.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Ember said. “The choice was his to make. I can’t take the blame.”

  I wanted to shake the steering wheel. Sometimes Ember could be so frustrating. What she said made sense, but she was only seeing it from her perspective, not Raine’s.

  “You think I don’t understand, but I do,” she said firmly. “Raine’s blaming herself for something beyond her control. It’s a waste of time, and it just ends up hurting other people.”

  I took my eyes off the road and glanced over at her. She was staring straight ahead, her jaw clenched, and I could see a furrow between her eyebrows. Even though I had seen that expression plenty of times, there was something different this time. It occurred to me that she was remembering something that happened when we were children, even though she was talking about Raine.

  It was that horrible summer after our parents disappeared, and Gigi had blamed herself for their deaths. It had been her idea that they take the sailboat out for their anniversary. She had packed them a lunch, driven them down to the dock with us girls in tow, and waved good-bye, telling them not to worry about a thing. That was the last time we ever saw them.

  The weeks that followed were the worst. Gigi spent most of her time in her bedroom while Ember and I took care of Raine as best we could. Friends and neighbors came by with meals and offers of help, but Gigi refused to speak to anyone. Ember was the one who took the covered dishes with a smile, telling people we were fine, that Gigi wasn’t feeling well.

  Finally, when September came around and we had to start school, Ember had marched up the stairs with the same determined expression on her face she had now. She went into Gigi’s room and stayed there for a long time, while I kept Raine busy playing downstairs in the foyer. I tried to listen for voices coming from upstairs, but I heard nothing until the door to Gigi’s bedroom opened. Gigi came down the stairs, picked up Raine and held her close, then put her down and hugged me.

  I looked up the stairs and saw Ember standing there. Her eyes were red, but she was smiling, and at that moment I knew everything would be okay. I never asked her what had happened between her and Gigi. I didn’t need to know.

  I hadn’t thought about that summer in a long time, but obviously Ember had, and now I could understand why she felt the way she did about Raine blaming herself.

  She must have sensed me looking at her, and turned to face me. “Why are you staring?” she asked.

  “Nobody is going to get hurt,” I said quietly, and looked back at the road. “Let’s just give Raine a break, okay?”

  She didn’t answer, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nod.

  We pulled up in front of the gallery. There was a CLOSED sign hanging in the door, but I could see someone moving around inside.

  “Don’t you want to park around back?” Ember asked. “The kitchen’s closer to the back door.”

  “No thanks.” The thought of walking over the spot where Seth had died gave me the willies. “We can carry the dishes out the front.”

  The door to the gallery was locked, but Martin saw us and let us in.

  “Come in, come in.” He looked up and down the street quickly before he locked the door behind us. “That horrible little man from the newspaper was banging on the door just a few minutes ago. He’s been phoning all morning.”

  “Do you mean Todd Spragg?” I wouldn’t have called Todd a ‘horrible little man;’ he was more your nosy-neighbor type. As a reporter for the Gem Islands Review, a paper that was published on Diamond and covered the news for both islands, Todd’s job was to dig up whatever interesting story he could find. Since Emerald Island didn’t have a lot of those, Todd liked to embellish a little. Last week’s headline was Horde of Heifers Wreak Havoc on Highway. It turned out the ‘horde of heifers’ were two cows from a local farm who’d wandered down to the side of the road in search of greener grass.

  “Did you talk to him?” I asked. Todd must have been peeing in his pants at the thought of a murder happening in our little town.

  “Heavens, no. I kept the door locked and the lights off. I wasn’t planning on opening the gallery today anyway.”

  Music suddenly started playing, and it seemed to be emanating from Martin’s pants. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a phone. He glanced at the screen and turned it off.

  “That’s him again,” he said. “I’m beginning to dislike Vivaldi.”

  I looked at him in confusion.

  “The ringtone. It’s from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi, of course.”

  Of course? I recognized the music—I had heard it in movies—but had no idea who the composer was. “Oh right, Vivaldi,” I said. “Love him.”

  Ember snickered. “I’ll just go get our stuff,” she said, and headed to the kitchen.

  “We won’t be opening the café either,” I said. “We just came by to pick up our equipment. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. I would have tidied up your things, but that policeman was here for quite some time last night and after he left I went straight to bed. I’m afraid my poor gallery is quite a shambles.”

  I looked around the gallery. Nothing had changed since last night. The display model was still in the middle of the room, and half-empty wine glasses and dirty plates were strewn about.

  “Such a terrible business,” Martin said wringing his hands. “I do hope your sister is okay. She seemed very distraught last night.”

  “She was, and still is. She and Jason are good friends—we’re all friends with him.”

  “What a shock it must be to learn that someone you know could do something so despicable. But I understand there was a fight between Seth and Jason?”

  The Potter sisters sure hadn’t wasted any time in spreading the gossip. “It was nothing,” I said firmly. “A minor disagreement.”

  Martin must have caught the tone in my voice. He put his hands up. “I didn’t mean to insinuate—”

  I shook my head. “It’s okay, I just don’t think we should be making assumptions before we know all the facts.”

  “Of course. My apologies. You know,” Martin said, and lowered his voice, “to be honest, if anyone was going to kill poor Seth, I’d have thought it would be his brother.”

  Tell that to Ember, I thought, glad to hear I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

  “But of course, we all saw what happened,” Martin said. “The young man was covered in Seth’s blood.” Martin made a tsking sound and shook his head.

  “I wouldn’t say he was ‘covered’ in blood,” I argued. “And we didn’t actually see Jason do anything.”

  “That’s quite true,” Martin agreed. “Speculation is something we shouldn’t engage in, and I’m sure Deputy Spencer will sort everything out.”

  Ember wa
lked in holding a plastic tub full of dishes. “There’s a bunch more stuff in there, and we need to get rid of the food as well.”

  “I’m sorry, I should be letting you get on with your work,” Martin said, and followed her to the door. He unlocked it and pulled it open. As the door closed behind her, a painting crashed to the floor.

  “Oh!” Martin jumped and his hand flew to his chest.

  I walked over and picked up the painting. It was small, maybe a foot square, and depicted a familiar-looking scene. I brought it over to him.

  “Is this the yacht club?” I asked.

  He took a deep breath and composed himself. “Yes, it is. I painted that last spring. A good likeness, if I do say so myself.”

  “You painted this?” It was a simple painting of sailboats, docks, and a blue blotch that I assumed was the yacht club building only because I could make out the tiny, shaky letters ‘EYC’—Emerald Yacht Club.

  “I did. I like to dabble now and then.”

  “It’s nice,” I said, and wished I had come up with a better word when I saw the corners of his mouth sag. “Very realistic,” I added lamely.

  “Thank you,” he said curtly and snatched the painting out of my hands. He hung it back on the hook and, after he was satisfied that it was hanging straight, turned to me. “I’ll let you ladies carry on. I’ll be in my office if you need any assistance.”

  I watched as he strode to the other end of the gallery and disappeared into his office. I stood there feeling bad that I had insulted his painting and wondering if I should go and apologize, but then Ember came back into the gallery.

  She looked at my empty hands. “Why are you just standing here? Let’s get the rest of the stuff and go.”

  “I think I just hurt Martin’s feelings.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Ember snorted. “He’s got his nose stuck so far up in the air he’d be insulted if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.”

  “Don’t be so mean. He’s not that bad.” Martin did come across as a little stuck-up, but he’d always been nice to me. And now I had wounded his pride. “Maybe I should go talk to him.”

  “Did you really say something that bad?”

  I looked down the gallery at the closed door to his office, and decided I would probably only make it worse. “Never mind, it was nothing.”

  Chapter 13

  Back at the café, we loaded the dirty dishes from the gallery into the dishwasher.

  “Gross,” Ember said as she yanked her hand out of the tub she was emptying. She held it out to show me the blue paint coloring her fingers. She reached into the tub and pulled out a paper napkin. It was stained with paint as well.

  “Why would she have thrown this in here and not the garbage?” Ember tossed the napkin in the trash and rinsed her hands. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her lately, but Raine really needs to get her head on straight.”

  “So you really had nothing to do with that?” I asked. I still wasn’t convinced Ember hadn’t put the tube of paint on the floor last night.

  “No, I never touched it.”

  I gave her a “come on, tell me the truth” look.

  “I swear, I never touched it. As much as I didn’t want to do the catering, I’m sure not going to sabotage it. Do you really think I’d stoop that low?”

  One of Gigi’s favorite adages (one that she rarely followed herself when it came to dealing with Violet) came to mind: Choose your battles wisely. I chose.

  “Remind me to turn that on first thing tomorrow.” I tilted my head at the dishwasher. I was anxious to get back to the house and check on Raine, and I didn’t like leaving the old thing running unattended. It was a relic from my parents’ day, and lately it had been making some odd noises.

  “We’re opening tomorrow?”

  “Yes, unless you have a hidden stack of cash somewhere that’s going to pay the bills.” I picked up one of the tubs, poured some soap in it, and started to fill it with water.

  “I wish. But what about Raine? The condition she’s in, I don’t think she’s going to be much use.”

  “We’ll just have to manage without her.”

  “We could ask Gigi,” Ember suggested, not at all thrilled with the idea of waiting tables on her own.

  “No way,” I said, shaking my head.

  “It’ll only be for a day or two,” she whined.

  “Ember, Gigi spent almost every day here when we were growing up. She worked her butt off for us. I’m not going to ask her to do it again, even if it’s ‘only for a day or two.’”

  “Fine,” she said, exasperated. She stood there watching me rinse out the tub.

  “Are you just going to stand there? Grab a towel and start drying. I want these cleaned before they start to smell.”

  “God, you’re bossy.” She whipped a towel off its hook.

  “And you’re—” The phone rang before I could finish, which was probably a good thing.

  “Can you grab that?” I held up my soapy hands.

  She left the kitchen and came back a few minutes later. “It was Lacey, apologizing for not making the bread delivery today.” Ember picked up the wet tub and started drying it.

  “I wouldn’t have expected one anyway. How did she sound?” I assumed by now the whole town knew what had happened last night.

  “Mellow. As always. She said something about the stars being out of alignment and Jason’s chakra being messed up, or something like that.”

  I laughed. Lacey is a great baker, but she’s definitely wacky. “Well, I’m sure she’ll help him straighten out his ‘chakra’ when he gets back to work.”

  “Back to work? Kind of hard to hold down a job when you’re in prison.”

  “Let’s not go there again,” I warned.

  “Whatever you say, but I think you’re—”

  Someone knocked on the back door. I looked at Ember. “Get that, will you?”

  “Dry the dishes, answer the phone, open the door. What’s next, make you dinner?” She threw the towel on the counter and opened the door.

  Stacey Truman stood there with her clipboard clutched to her chest.

  “Here you are! I saw the CLOSED sign and almost drove past, but then I saw your car.” She strode into the kitchen, her frizzy red curls bouncing with each step. “I’ve only got a minute, but I just wanted to see how you’re all doing. Wasn’t that awful? I can’t believe that happened. It was like we were in a TV show. Your sister must be devastated. I heard about the fight, but who could have imagined it would end like that! Were they dating long? Are you all okay?”

  “Slow down, you’re going to burst a blood vessel or something. How about a glass of water?” I picked up Ember’s discarded towel and dried my hands.

  “Oh, sorry. Yes, please, that would be great. I’m parched.”

  I poured her a glass and watched as she gulped it down.

  “To answer your last question, we’re fine,” Ember said. She took the glass from Stacey and placed it in the dishwasher.

  “And to answer your other question,” I said, “no, Raine and Jason aren’t dating, they’re just friends.”

  “Really?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “But I thought that’s why he killed Seth.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “Wasn’t he in a jealous rage over Raine? I heard they had a fight here earlier in the day.”

  I shook my head. “It was a misunderstanding—the fight, I mean. I don’t know what happened last night. None of us do.” I looked pointedly at Ember. “And I don’t think spreading rumors is helpful.” I turned back to the sink and started scrubbing another tub.

  Ember gave me a frosty look and turned her attention back to Stacey. “Didn’t you say you only had a minute?”

  “Oh yes, that’s right.” She brushed her unruly curls off her face and glanced down at her clipboard. “I’ve got to meet the group in a few minutes.”

  “The group?” I turned off the water and looked at her.

  “Yes, Grant and a few
of his investors are playing golf. It’s only nine holes, so they’ll be done soon.”

  “Seriously? They’re on the golf course, after everything that’s happened?” I couldn’t believe it.

  “Yup. I figured he would have canceled the rest of the trip. His girlfriend and some of the others tried to talk him out of it, but he was pretty adamant that nothing changes.”

  What a heartless jerk. His brother’s body was lying cold somewhere, and he was playing golf.

  “He’s really a horrible man. I wish I’d never taken on this job,” she said. You and me both, I thought.

  “And poor Lydia—I heard that once they all got back to the hotel, Grant followed her to her room, shouting at her the whole way. A security guard had to come and force him back to his room. Lydia was in tears.” Stacey shook her head. “Too bad we can’t choose our family.”

  “Ha! If only,” Ember snorted.

  Stacey looked at her in surprise.

  “Did I say that out loud? Oops,” Ember said. “Just kidding.” She looked at me and winked.

  “Okey-dokey.” Stacey glanced down at her clipboard and tapped on it. “I should get going, but I just wanted to check on you girls.”

  “Thanks,” Ember said, then walked over to the back door and opened it.

  Stacey followed her. “Tell your sister I hope she’s okay. I’m sure everything will work out. It usually—”

  Ember closed the door while she was still talking. I don’t think she noticed.

  “She makes me twitchy,” Ember said, shaking her shoulders. She picked up the towel and started drying the tub I’d just washed.

  “You and me both. I think she was born with that clipboard attached.”

  “Her poor mother, ouch.”

  “Shh,” I said. “What’s that?”

  “What’s what?”

  “I hear knocking,” I tilted my head in the direction of the swinging door. “Out there. “Didn’t you put the CLOSED sign up yesterday?” I asked as I walked out of the kitchen.

  “Yeah, I did.” She put the towel on the counter and followed me.

  Through the glass door, I could see someone knocking, but the CLOSED sign was blocking their face. I pulled it away and was surprised to see Lydia Bateman standing there. She was crying.