“Another reason to wish Spring would get a move on.”
“If they really hated the view of the car, they’ve certainly had enough time to take care of it themselves,” Harmony said, facing forward again. “It must have sat there for three years now. If it was outside my place, the council would have their ear chewed off if it hadn’t been towed after a week.”
“I think it belongs to the Prebbletons though,” Willow reminded her. “No council will foot the bill to tow a junk heap if it’s yours.”
Harmony laughed and tapped the side of her nose. “Not if I didn’t tell them.”
“Even if you took the plates off,” Reg said, joining in the conversation with the first enthusiasm he’d shown since they first found him, “once they tracked the ownership, you’d end up with a bill in your mailbox for sure.”
“Spoil my imaginary fun, why don’t you?” Harmony caught Willow’s eye in the rear-view mirror and gave her a wink.
“Isn’t that the Sheriff?” Willow said, turning away to look out the side window as a car went racing past them. “What’s got into him? He must be going twenty above the speed limit.”
“No lights on,” Reg said in a musing voice, increasing the speed of their car as he tracked the sheriff’s progress. “Can’t be too much of an emergency.”
“That’s deputy Hassick.” Willow felt her blood turn to ice as another car overtook them. “Perhaps you should pull over, Reg.”
He eased the vehicle off to the side of the road as another marked car raced past, in a race to join the first two. Willow rubbed her stomach—it felt tight and uncomfortable. “I think—”
Another vehicle sped by, this time with lights blazing and sirens wailing. The sudden influx of noise made Willow jump.
“Perhaps we should have left the farm visit to another day,” Harmony said dryly from the front seat. “I didn’t realize it would be so crowded.”
“What do you think has happened?” Reg wound down his window as though that would help the information to flow. Instead, a cold breeze wafted through, chilling Willow’s icy veins even further. “They wouldn’t send that many vehicles out to a burglary or an assault. I hope no one’s hurt.”
“Do you want to head back?” Harmony looked at Reg who shrugged, then at Willow who shook her head. “I don’t suppose the police are following up on a tip about your friend from last night.”
“No, I—” Reg broke off and frowned. An expression of slow terror spread across his face. “You don’t think the alien killed Tess and Howard, do you? It was headed toward their home when I took off running.” He buried his head into his hands and a second later, his shoulders shook.
“We could drop by the farmhouse to check.” Willow patted Reg on the shoulder and jerked her chin at Harmony. “But perhaps you should swap seats. I’m not sure you should drive, considering how little sleep you must’ve gotten.”
“I’m fine,” Reg snapped, lifting a face with red-rimmed eyes in direct contradiction of the statement.
“You’re not fine.” Harmony’s voice was matter-of-fact, not a ruffled feather in sight. “And if you don’t swap seats, then I won’t give these”—she reached over and plucked the keys from the ignition—“back to you so none of us will be going anywhere.”
With a grumble, Reg got out of the car and Harmony slid over. To Willow’s relief, the first thing she did was roll the window back up, cutting out the cold breeze.
“It’s the next turnoff,” Reg said as he got into the passenger seat. “If you haven’t been before, there’s a fork in the dirt road leading up to the house and you need to take a left there, otherwise, you’ll end up in the middle of the cornfields.”
“Why do they have a road leading into the corn?” Harmony sounded amused as she pulled the car back onto the blacktop. “Do they like to visit with their crops?”
“It’s so they can easily load up the harvest. It can fit three trucks in there when it needs to.”
Willow smoothed her brow as it twitched—her body’s favorite method to display nervous tension. What she really needed right now was a big kitten sitting in her lap. Mavis was the greatest stress reliever in the world!
“It looks like the sheriff pulled up here, too,” Harmony said as she made the first turn, off the road into the Prebbleton farm property. “I can see the lights ahead.”
Reg’s jaw tightened, and he turned his face to stare out the window. “I should have stayed and tried to communicate with the creature.” His voice was stuffed so full of sorrow that Willow’s heart broke a little for him. “Maybe I could have stopped something happening.”
“We don’t know anything’s happened to them,” Harmony pointed out. Her no-nonsense approach to life coming to the fore. “Both of your friends might be fine.”
The unspoken finish to the sentence was the part none of them wanted to think about.
“Look!” Willow leaned forward, nudging Reg on the shoulder and pointing. “Isn’t that Tess?”
Mrs. Prebbleton was standing near the doorway to the farmhouse. She’d folded her arms cross her chest and set her mouth in a firm line. it didn’t look to Willow like the expression of someone who’d been attacked by a sentient being from another planet.
“I don’t see Howard,” Reg said in a strained voice, twisting in his seat to look in all directions.
“There’s somebody inside, in the kitchen,” Willow said. “I can’t make out their face from here, but surely that’ll be him.”
With the three of them in a more hopeful mood, Harmony pulled to a stop near the sheriff’s vehicle, leaving enough space for him to turn around and get out of the driveway if he needed to. Willow waved as Sheriff Wender turned a stony face toward them. The expression on his face didn’t alter in the slightest.
“Morning, Jacob,” she called out in a cheerful voice as they all walked closer. “Is there something happening out here to warrant all the traffic coming through?”
“It’s official business,” the sheriff replied with a sigh. “I can’t tell you anything about it.”
“Tess!” Reg moved over to the woman and gave her a hug. Her arms stayed folded in place despite the gesture. “I was scared something bad had happened to you. What’s going on?”
“Why did you think something terrible happened?” Sheriff Wender asked, stepping forward and twisting the brim of his hat between his hands. “What have you heard?”
“Nothing,” Willow said. “It’s just Reg had an alien encounter out in the fields about here last night and thought some harm might have come to the Prebbletons. We’re just relieved to find everything okay.” She pursed her lips. “Especially with you and your deputies tearing up the highway on our way here.”
The sheriff tossed a scowl in her direction and Willow held her hands up. “I know, I know. You can’t say anything.”
“He mightn’t be able to,” Tess Prebbleton said with a huff in her voice. “But I certainly can. There was a poacher out in our fields overnight who got what was coming to him, by the looks of things. He’s been found dead out by the rear paddock. Nearly gave my poor Howard a heart attack.”
The chill still running up and down Willow’s spine dug in a little deeper. “You found someone dead?” She glanced nervously through the kitchen window, nodding to Howard who was standing inside.
Sheriff Wender gave a deep sigh. “And since you just told me you were out here last night, I suppose you’ll now have to come with me down to the station.” He nodded to Reg and then tipped a hand to Howard and Tess. “Along with you two, of course.” He popped his hat back on his head. “This is going to be a very long day, I can tell.”
Chapter Five
Reg sat numbly in the car, waiting for the sheriff to finish up with the Prebbletons. When they walked out, he tried to show them to the back of his vehicle, but they refused, insistent they take their own car instead.
As the couple pulled away from the garage, Sheriff Wender walked over and bent down to talk to Reg through th
e window. “If you follow me into town, I’ll try not to keep you for too long.”
With a quick wave to her friends, Willow jumped out of the car and hurried over to talk to the officer alone. “I wanted to tell you, Reg is insistent he saw something alien out here last night,” she said in a low voice, hoping it wouldn’t carry. “Whatever he saw, it shook the hell out of him. I really don’t think it’s a good idea for him to sit at your office, waiting for an interview. You know that place freaks him out at the best of times.”
Sheriff Wender gave an exaggerated sigh and rubbed at the side of his forehead. If he was getting a headache, Willow knew exactly how that felt. A throb was building up in her own temples right that minute. “I can pick him up later if you prefer. Keep him at your place until I get there.”
Willow was about to suggest Reg would be more comfortable waiting in his own house, then caught the sharp edge to the sheriff’s expression. She closed her mouth with a snap and meekly nodded. “Thank you.”
Back in the car, she relayed the news to the others and Harmony drove them back to the tea rooms. Although the shop was full up, a glance told Willow that Tiffany and Wendy had everything under control. She whispered to Tiffany to come to get her if she needed anything, then slipped back through the door to her main house.
As Willow ensured Reg sat down and made himself comfortable on her sofa, she caught sight of the high flush of color in his cheeks again. This time, she could fix up the exact brew she wanted, adding three generous teaspoons of hibiscus to the warmed pot before she added a few spices to pep up the flavor.
As the tea brewed, Willow breathed in the strong aroma. She loved the smell of hibiscus, using it plentifully as a backdrop to any of her fruity teas. The color, dull pink which then infused all the way through to bright crimson, made her feel warm even in the depths of winter. When it looked about ready, she brought it out to Reg and insisted he drink the whole thing while she kept him pinned under her watchful gaze.
“That should help you feel a bit calmer,” she said as he showed her the empty cup.
“Knowing what on earth happened out at the Prebbleton farm last night is what will make me calm,” Reg countered. His fingers twisted together, the knuckles jutting out as he clasped them tightly. “I wonder if it’s the alien’s body they found.”
“I’m sure the sheriff would have mentioned if they’d discovered an alien.” Harmony shifted in her seat, then plucked a sugar cookie from the tray. Willow raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Her friend usually stopped at one, so she must also feel the strain of what was turning out to be an extremely unusual day.
“They mightn’t know what they’ve found,” Willow pointed out. “If the body was damaged in some way, it could take the medical examiner some time to work it out at the mortuary.”
She shuddered at the word, not liking the way it felt in her mouth. Out of nowhere, Mavis apparently intuited she was needed, or perhaps just felt she was due some admiration. She jumped up onto Willow’s lap.
“Gosh, she’s getting big!” Reg leaned over and gave the kitten a pat. “I don’t remember our cat getting nearly so large in all her thirteen years.”
“In a few months, if she jumps up into your lap like that, you’ll get bruises,” Harmony said with a wry grin. “You might want to institute an ‘only when Mommy lifts you’ policy now to protect yourself against future injury.”
“She might be large, but she’s light on her feet.” Willow stroked the side of Mavis’s neck, just where she liked it, then bent forward for a kiss. Once upon a time, the same gesture would have left her eyes swollen and itching for days, but the more she spent time with Mavis, the more her body adapted to having her around. That, and the shots the doctor administered to ward off the worst of her allergies had worked a treat.
“Do you think you’ll be okay to talk to the sheriff?” Harmony asked Reg while Mavis basked under their joint attention. “After the shock you had last night, you should be avoiding too much stress.”
“It’ll be more stressful if I don’t voluntarily talk to him and I end up with a bench warrant out for my arrest.”
“I hardly think Jacob would go that far,” Willow said with a short laugh. “It’s not as though you’re a bank robber.”
“I can’t help but feel I contributed to the death.”
Willow gave her friend a long look. “At the moment, we don’t even know who or what has died. You can hardly be responsible for everything that happened on or near the Prebbleton farm last night just because you were in the vicinity. It’s far more likely the owners had some involvement. It’s their land, after all.”
“Or the body they’ve found is as the result of accidental or natural death.” Harmony gave a firm nod. “Just because the sheriff sent everyone in the station down to the farm doesn’t mean it’s definitely murder. A law enforcement official is required to investigate any sudden death, but they’re not all homicides.”
“And if it was your alien, then I think the responsibility probably lies with whatever technology brought him down here in the first place.” Willow lifted Mavis’s paws and jiggled her about in a dancing move. The cat enjoyed it so much that when she let go the kitten repeated the moves again.
“I don’t understand.” Reg rubbed his hand across his forehead as though he was sweating, even though the heating was on low. “How could it be the technology?”
“If I traveled all the way across the Universe to visit another planet, I’d blame somebody if I couldn’t last more than a few hours on the surface.”
“Oh, dear lord.” Reg sat up straight. “The creature made some awful sounds and reached out for me. Do you think it was dying?” He buried his face into his hands again. “How awful if it was in dire straits and I ran away instead of trying to help.”
“Just as well.” Harmony took another cookie from the plate and made short work of it. “I know when people are ill, they often become violent. Ask a paramedic or a nurse and they’ll tell you. They get hit by the folks they’re giving aid to, all the time.”
“You can’t keep second guessing the situation, Reg.” Mavis jumped down from Willow’s lap, leaving her hands covered in light-colored hairs. “And I don’t think you should assign any blame to yourself. Something scared you and you ran away. It’s not a shameful act, it’s human nature and we’re all hard-wired to do the exact same thing.”
“But a man should fight those urges and stand his ground,” Reg insisted. “That’s how I was raised.”
“And how do you think Harmony and I would feel if you were the body they’d found this morning? I trust your initial judgment. Something obviously told your subconscious that staying and facing up to the strange creature was the wrong thing to do. You should trust your instincts on this occasion. Standing and fighting your ground is something to reserve for when you can confidently assess everything involved in a situation. With so many unknown factors in play, it would be a stupid thing indeed to stay there when an alien threatened you. I don’t plan on going to any funerals before I have to, thank you very much!”
Although Reg didn’t look convinced, Willow left it alone. He had the information he needed to draw his conclusions. Anything else she fed to him would just feel like bullying or pushing an agenda. He was entitled to his emotions and if he insisted on experiencing whatever had occurred the night before as shameful, in the end, it was a choice only he could make.
“What time did all this happen, anyway?” Harmony asked, getting the conversation back into the facts and figures with which she excelled. “We should start to put together your memories, so you’ll be able to tell the sheriff what happened.”
“It must have been after eleven,” Reg said, his face creasing with thought. “It was certainly before midnight because I was back home when my watch alarm went off.”
Ever since he’d set up the daily tours—based on the strange phenomena and unexplained sightings that had occurred throughout the history of Aniseed Valley—Reg ha
d made a point of ensuring he got home in time to get enough sleep. A far cry from previous years when he’d sometimes wandered around the entire night, chasing up on anything out of kilter.
“And can you describe exactly what you saw?”
Willow peeked at Harmony without moving, trying to gauge her friend’s expression. It was hard to tell if she believed Reg’s explanation. Well, Willow couldn’t fathom whether she did so herself, so that was hardly surprising. She believed Reg had seen something that scared him badly, but his explanation didn’t necessarily have to be the only one.
“A figure bathed in light came out of the fields down near the road, at the corner of the Prebbleton’s farm. It wouldn’t have been very far from the old rust heap of a car that I pointed out this morning. It shone like a moonbeam.”
“Was it catching the light, or emitting light?” Harmony asked.
“It glowed. I guess the light source might have been inside it or it intensified the natural light in the atmosphere.”
“And what did it do?”
“It reached out for me.” Reg mimicked the gesture, stretching his arms out toward Willow until she gave a small laugh and edged away. “All the time, it was making these strange gurgling noises.” The color flushed into his cheeks again and he tipped his head forward to hide his face. “I couldn’t make head nor tail of what it was trying to tell me, and I didn’t give it very long. I turned and ran.”
“What else had you seen at the Prebbletons?” Willow asked, in an attempt to head Reg off before he fell into a reverie again. “There must’ve been something going on down there to draw your attention in the first place.”
“Not last night, there wasn’t, but I’d noticed a few odd sights and sounds in the previous days. The car. The shed.”
Willow nodded and waved her hand. “Anything else strange happening there?”
“I think the Prebbletons were concerned about something mucking about the place. They keep cattle down in the back pastures and when I asked them for permission to wander around at night, Howard said I should keep a lookout for poachers. They’ve lost a few head recently, and he thought someone might be purposely stealing them rather than the animals just walking away.”
Tea Shop Cozy Mysteries - Books 1-6 Page 44