I sighed. “I know, I know. I was stupid, and we should have stopped to look at them right away. A mistake. Okay?”
“We?” Gloom arched a snowflake tipped eyebrow at me.
I looked at her. “Me. I meant me.” I turned my attention to the snow drifts that surrounded my car. “Looks like we’re walking, guys.”
“Ahem.” Carbon cleared his throat. “There’s shriekin’ lady if anyone’s interested,” he said, nodding to a figure standing just a few steps down from the pub. Adorania Blazier stood, head hung, hands stuffed into the pockets of her long coat.
I tiptoed over to the woman. I could hear her sniffling as I approached.
“Ms. Blazier?” I asked, making my voice soft and non-threatening.
Adorania snapped her head up. Her cheeks were damp from fresh tears.
“Yes?”
“Chimera Opal,” I said with a confidence I didn’t feel. “I’m a herbalist on Glessie Isle. I’m here to harvest some Stillbreath’s, but listen, I overheard you in the bar there, and I just wondered if you might permit me to help you find your sister’s husband?”
Stella’s sister gawked at me.
“I’ve worked a few jobs in my hometown,” I explained. “Nothing serious, by any means, but I’ve been known to find a few missing pets p-people,” I lied. “I’d love to help if I could?”
Adorania blinked. “I-I’m not sure how you could help. Leland’s been missing for three days now. Nobody has seen hide nor hair of him, so what makes you think you--”
I placed a hand on her forearm. “Please. I can help.”
The woman swallowed, and I watched as fresh tears streaked their way through the makeup grime under her eyes.
“It was only me that was supposed to stay away from the funeral.” She croaked. “Not, Leland. And he spent so much money on the wreaths, he … he…” Her voice broke.
“It’s alright, it’s alright,” I said rubbing her arm. “Can you tell me why you had to stay away? Is that something you can share with us?”
Adorania stiffened. She withdrew her arm. “I--I, no. I can’t tell you. But it was in the precepts. I had no choice. I had to stay away!” Fresh tears.
I kept my voice gentle. “Precepts?”
“Warlock tradition.” She waved a dismissive hand. “ It didn’t apply to Leland, anyway. And it’s of no relevance to his disappearance.”
I nodded. “May I ask why you’d think that?”
Adorania Blazier’s eyes flashed. “Because my sister is dead, Ms. Opal. And Stella would be the only person I could think of who would want Leland ‘gone.’”
“Stella would have liked her husband ‘gone?’”
“Leland was nothing more than a scheduling nuisance to Stella.” Adorania’s words were clipped and harsh. “My sister didn’t see Leland for what he was … is. She saw an automaton only. One that she could control.”
“Help me understand,” I said calmly.
“Stella was a control freak. Her life and Leland’s was timed to precision. Stella knew where Leland was every second of every day. She planned his gym time, his games night with friends...his squash lessons.” Adorania drew in a deep breath. “Leland Clavelle should have been set free when Stella died, not … not made invisible!”
I rubbed her arm again. “I’m sure he’s not far, Ms. Blazier. I’m positive we’ll find him.” I paused. “As I understood it, you and your sister got along well. And, yet, talking to you now, it seems --”
“On the surface of it, yes. We’re very different people, Stella and I, but somehow we almost always saw eye to eye on things.” Adorania sighed. “Most things, anyway. And, thankfully, my sister hadn’t yet tried to ‘arrange’ my life the way she had her husband’s. Do you know the first thing Leland did when Stella died?”
I shook my head.
“He went off schedule,” Adorania said, her voice triumphant. “Let’s see, just this Tuesday evening -- the night before Stella’s burial -- Leland, instead of going for his pre-planned six p.m run, he went for drinks at the Apple instead.” Stella’s sister shook her head. “By Brigid, if Stella had been alive to see such flagrant abuse of her scheduling system, she’d have turned in her grave.”
“Was that the last time Mr. Clavelle was seen? At the pub?”
Adorania nodded silently.
“You said ‘most things.’” I said. “You and Stella saw eye to eye on most things.”
The woman looked at me. Her eyes were clear, centered, even though her eye makeup muddied the look somewhat.
“There was a matter of some land,” Adorania said. “It was an old argument, Ms. Opal, and very likely unimportant, but if you must know …”
“Please,” I said.
“Okay, well, short version, then. Included in the Blazier estate is a tract of land, some three hundred acres, that sits at the top of Gothic Wood. That’s the name of the estate too, actually: Gothic Wood.” Adorania took a breath. “So, this land, it’s been sitting there doing nothing for over a century now. My grandfather, the late Modesto Blazier, hadn’t even so much as visited the plot in all the time he was alive, and my father didn’t break that tradition. It was only Stella who had had an interest in the land. A bizarre fascination, if you will.” She looked at me.
“Do you have a manor there? In Gothic Wood?”
“There’s no manor or stately home up there, Ms. Opal. But there is a small crofters cottage; more of a ruin, really. The land is boggy, buggy, dark and full of trees. Only the Godmarsh toad flourishes there. Oh, and the coyotes. Tons of coyotes up there. Stella had had some strange affinity with the beasts. Anyway, the land; it’s depressingly awful. But Stella always loved the place. Even when we were teenagers, Stella would sneak off there if father had applied too much pressure about her exam results or if Stella and I had argued.” Adorania’s eyes became hazy as she recaptured some past teenage quarrel. She shook her head. “Anyway, my point is, is that apart from Stella’s occasional hermitages up there, the land was ...is... never used. For years Leland and I had been trying to convince my sister to sell the land. Do you know of the Dark Elm group?” Adorania asked.
I shook my head.
“It’s a Warlock Hotel conglomerate. You’d have heard of some of their properties. The Lantern? The Best Mages?”
“Yes, of course,” I said. “I’ve stayed at both the Lantern and the Best Mages.” I nodded toward my kitties. “They both have great pet policies.”
Adorania, her mind on bigger things, ignored my cats and continued. “Dark Elm was … is … showing interest in the plot. The group builds properties in unique and haunting locations, as I’m sure you’re aware, so the hotel chain was asking questions about Gothic Wood. They came forward with an attractive offer, and one that won’t come by again, I’m sure.” She shook her head again. “Stella refused to hear of it. We, that is Leland and I, came at my sister in every approach imaginable, but she point-blank refused to part with the land.”
Shade headbutted Adorania’s shin, startling the woman. “Lady, if you don’t mind me askin’, how is it you and Leland even got the time to talk in private? Didn’t Stella, like, manage all of Leland’s time?”
Adorania looked at Shade. “I’ve heard about you talking cats,” she said taking a small step backward. “I’m...I’m not a fan of cats.”
“Hey, I got no hard feelin’s,” Shade said, shrugging a small snowfall from his shoulders. “But, if you could answer this talkin’ cat’s question?” He grinned a toothy smile at her.
“Squash lessons,” Stella’s sister said. “I taught Leland’s squash lessons … my sister and Leland’s estate has a couple of squash courts on site. We talked while we played.”
“Makes sense.” I bit my lip before adding: “Was Stella ever around when you and her husband were playing squash?”
“No, lessons were every Thursday at two-thirty-p.m. My sister doesn’t normally get home from work until about seven ….” Adorania trailed off. “Wait, last Thursday Stella wa
s home early. Leland had been the first to spot her car in the driveway when we came out from the squash courts. We walked up to the house, and Stella had been there, sitting at the kitchen table with a full glass of brandy in front of her. Unusual for my sister. Not the brandy, just the time of day, you know? Anyway, Leland and I were both more than a little surprised to see my sister there.”
“Did she say why she was home so early?” Gloom asked, looking up at the woman.
Adorania shook her head. “No, she didn’t. She just gave us this weird smile, you know? Said that there was a lot of pressure at work and she had to work on a solution. Um, what else…” Stella’s sister pursed her lips. “Oh, yeah, she asked how the lesson was, and if Leland’s drive had improved, and then she mumbled some apology, took her drink to her study, and closed the door. It was strange … I thought maybe she’d heard us…” Adorania stopped and released a deep breath. “Anyway, it’s probably nothing. I’m sure it was just my sister’s workload that had her looking so strained.”
“Lady, are there any other unusual dynamics that you can think of between either you and your sister or your sister and Leland?” Midnight, not one for respecting a human’s personal space, sat on Adorania’s foot as he posed his questions.
“No, kitty, there’s isn’t.” She shook Midnight from her foot and took another step backward.
“Ms. Blazier, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you so interested in finding Mr. Clavelle?”
Adorania stiffened. “Leland Clavelle is family, Ms. Opal. Now that Stella’s gone, and I’m the only living Blazier left, Leland Clavelle is the closest person in my life right now.” She brought her hands to her face and rubbed her eyes.
I eyed the woman’s fingers. “Enjoying some late-season gardening?”
Adorania pulled her hands from her face and stuffed them under her arms, nodding. She looked at her feet and kicked some snow from her boots. “I have a greenhouse,” she said. “It calms my mind. Listen, it’s late, and I need to--”
“Of course,” I said. “I think Iris was right. You need a good night’s sleep. Is there any chance we can resume this conversation? Tomorrow, perhaps? At the Apple?”
“I’m not sure what else I can tell you, really. But, yes, I’ll meet you. Five p.m?”
“Well, you never know what you can uncover from seemingly irrelevant pieces of information,” I offered. “All I need is for you to be honest with your answers, and I’m quite convinced we can get to the bottom of all this.” I smiled at the woman. Adorania gave me a brief nod and walked away.
Leaving the cats and I to face the horrors of Foxley Cottage. In silence, we trudged the rest of the way to our horrendous house with its first-rate view of Silent Meadows.
Chapter Six
“So, like, boss-lady, what do you think is goin’ on around here?” Shade said, flopping on my chest and tucking his head under my chin. Seven black heads pushed their way into the conversation.
We were on a lumpy bed, under damp sheets and musty blankets, in a drafty room of a crumbling cottage. The wind howled its agonized passage through the cracks, holes, and gaps of the dwelling.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Carbon said, looking over his shoulder to check on his recently lit fire in the hearth. His eyes took on the glow of the flames. “Adorania is the one in the photograph behind Stella and Leland Clavelle.”
“She’s got grave-dirt under her nails!” Fraidy choked.
“Yep, right. I nearly blurted it at the bar, but I didn’t, nope. The initials on the bracelet, the A, and the B, which is Adorania Blazier, yeppers.”
“Thanks for not blurting, buster,” I said, reaching down the bed to tussle Jet’s head. I looked at my kitties. “And, we don’t know if that’s grave-dirt, Fraidy. You heard her; she said she’d been in her greenhouse.”
“She was lying!” Fraidy screeched. He hurtled sideward on the bed, back arched, like a furry crab. “Adorania and Stella’s husband were plotting to take that land, that Gothic Wood, and sell it.” My timid cat continued his crab walk. “Stella comes home early one day and overhears her sister and her husband discussing it while they play squash. Hence Stella’s behavior when they found her sitting at the kitchen table afterward. Stella Blazier knew her sister and her husband were plotting to sell the land to the hotel chain, and she acted strangely in the kitchen because she was … Stella, I mean … well, she was …. plotting revenge!”
Fraidy dropped from his crab posture to a cowering, flat slab of fur on top of the covers. We stared at him.
“Wow, that cat might have just said something almost plausible,” Gloom said, eyeing her brother.
“Only one problem with the revenge angle, though,” Shade said, scratching behind his ear. “The person who wanted to ‘do’ the revenge died before she could dish it out.
I held my hands up. “Alright, alright, so let’s leave the conjecture out of it for now,” I said. “We can revisit the revenge angle when we have some basic answers first. So let’s put our vivid imaginations aside for now, and focus on the facts, agreed?”
My cats bobbed their heads in visibly reluctant agreement.
“Thank you,” I said. “Okay, what do we have so far?”
“Leaving the ‘revenge’ angle well alone,” Onyx began. “It does, perhaps, sound likely that Stella overheard one of Adorania and Leland’s conversations about the land, does it not?”
“It does,” I admitted. “But, as I said, let’s talk about what we do know first, okay, buster?”
Onyx dipped his head in a bow so regal that only he could pull it off.
“The fabric,” Gloom said. “In the photo, Adorania was wearing a dress that looked very much like the divine duds we snagged from the wall by the boneyard. And, why didn’t you challenge Adorania on it, human?”
“I want to ask some more questions first, Gloom,” I said. “If Adorania was at her sister’s grave this evening, that’s not exactly illegal now, is it? Besides, if she was kept away from the burial, for some as yet unknown reason, then maybe she just needed to show her last respects ... in her own way.”
“Grave-hugging is a weird way to show your respect,” Carbon said.
“Show some compassion for those that grieve, brother,” Onyx warned. “Grief isn’t a one-size-fits-all experience. It hits how it hits, and if hugging a mound of earth brings some relief to a human, then I would say we should not pour scorn on their suffering.”
“Yeah,” Shade said. “So what if it’s weird. All humans do weird stuff, right?”
Jet’s expression looked thoughtful.“Yep, yep, like they stay awake ALL day, never nappin’, nope.”
“And they mysteriously ignore boxes,” Eclipse said.
Gloom shuddered. “Ugh, it gives me the creeps. The way they walk past boxes as if they’re not even there.”
“Freaky, for sure,” Midnight said. “But, what about the newspaper thing? Now that’s chilling.”
Against my better judgment, I questioned my kitty. “The newspaper thing?”
“Yeah, boss. Humans. They look at newspapers. You’ve gotta admit, that’s weird, right?” Midnight puffed his cheeks and blew out air. “You know, I once spent a whole day with your mother when she had come down with the flu. One of your mother’s neighbors had brought a stack of newspapers over so that Glendonite would have some ‘entertainment.’” Midnight puffed again. “So, I watched. I watched Glendonite and what she ‘did’ with those papers. I watched for a full day, I swear. It was stomach-churning.”
“What happened?” Gloom said, holding her two front paws together in front of her.
Midnight gave his sister a grave look. “It’s what didn’t happen that got me worried.” He paused, shook his head. “Not once. Honestly, not one time did Glendonite lay or roll on the paper. She just looked at it. All day.”
“Not one cat-nap?” Shade asked.
“Like I said, bro. She just looked at it. When she leafed through, I kept expecting her to flop down on the
newly turned page, but, nope.”
Eclipse looked thoughtful “Didn’t you show Glendonite what you’re supposed to do with newspapers?”
Midnight leveled his gaze at his brother. “‘Bro, what do you take me for?” He said. “Of course I showed her what to do. I sat squarely on each page she turned. I stretched, I rolled, I played, I napped on nearly every page of those papers. Not only did Glendonite not get the hint, but she also kept pushing me off. Here I was giving her lessons, and she was disrespectin’ my teaching’s, you know?”
“Makes you wonder what’s going on in their minds,” Carbon suggested.
“Um, I’m right here, guys,” I said, pulling my hands from the covers again and waving them in the air. “If we could just bring our focus back? Hmm?” I leaned back on the pillow and closed my eyes. I picked through the clues that danced behind my closed lids.
“If I might be so bold as to point out that unless Adorania was incredibly distraught, to the point of losing her senses, a satin evening gown isn’t exactly the most tactical choice of attire for one who is about to claw at a muddy grave on a wintery night.”
“It is a strange choice of clothing, Onyx,” I said, not opening my eyes. “Anyone notice what she was wearing under that long coat of hers?”
I felt the cats shake their heads.
“I’m still wondering why Adorania didn’t attend Stella’s funeral,” I said. “And, why is she obsessively hunting for Leland Clavelle, anyway?”
“Dunno, but I get the feeling that all three are connected, somehow,” Shade said from under my chin. “Stella’s death, Adorania not showing for the funeral, and Clavelle’s vanishing act.”
“But, you heard Iris say...as far as everyone knew, Adorania and Stella were the best of friends,” I said.
A clattering noise joined the sound of the wailing wind.
“What was that?” Fraidy sprinted the length of the bed and plopped himself on my head, his claws at the ready in case he really had to latch on. My eyes flew open. “Sounded like it came from a way aways,” I said. “Probably this infernal wind knocking over some trash cans.”
Spells and Jinglebells Page 37