Cooking Up Murder

by Miranda Bliss

  The lobster, not Peter.

  Of course, all that ambiance has a price. Old Town attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year. Maybe millions.

  I swear, that Sunday afternoon when Eve and I arrived, every single one of them was there.

  And we were all looking for a parking space.

  “There’s one!” I nudged Eve and pointed down North Patrick to an empty spot on the street. But by the time we mauevered our way to it, up a one-way street and down another, the spot was taken.

  I collapsed against the passenger seat and sighed. “Are you sure this is worth it? We could just go home.”

  “And miss this opportunity to do a little more investigating?” Eve’s gaze swiveled from one side of the street to the other, her parking-spot radar on maximum. “Not on your life. Besides, when we talked on the phone this morning, I thought you were all for this.”

  “I was. I am.” It was true. I may have lied to Jim the night before, but at least I wasn’t trying to fool myself anymore. Idid want to investigate. Not to prove I was smart, and certainly not to get back at Tyler Cooper like Eve was trying to do. Not so people would look at Eve and me and think we were some sort of whiz kids when it came to solving crimes, either. And not to show up the professionals. I had all the respect in the world for the men and women who did this sort of thing for a living, and I had no doubt that even as we cruised the streets of Old Town in vain, they were out doing some investigating of their own and probably having more success than we were.

  But the time I’d spent with Jim the night before had done more than just stir up my hormones. (And believe me, being with Jim really stirred up my hormones!)

  As crazy as it seemed, our conversation had pulled something out of me. Something that had been hidden so deep, even I didn’t know it was there.

  Maybe it was because he was such an honest guy, and I couldn’t be anything less than 100 percent aboveboard when I was with him. Maybe these thoughts and feelings had been there all along and were just waiting for the right moment to emerge.

  Maybe…

  Maybe I couldn’t explain it, and maybe I didn’t want to. Maybe I didn’t even have to try.

  Maybe it was just time for me to accept the facts: I really wanted to figure out who killed Drago. Not for anything or for anybody, but for me, so that I could prove to myself that I could do it, and more importantly, that there was life beyond the walls of my bank branch. I had to go out on a limb for once. I wanted to take a chance to do something different and exciting. Somewhere along the line, I’d forgotten that there was a big world out there, and for the first time since Peter descended into heavy-on-the-starch madness, I realized I wanted a little piece of it.

  Of course for now, I’d settle for a parking space.

  “There!” Eve hit the accelerator, and we shot toward a black Volvo that was just pulling away from the curb.

  I dug my fingers into the upholstery. “Parallel parking makes me nervous.”

  Eve laughed. “Parallel parking is a challenge. Like love. And speaking of that…” She poked the car into reverse, turned the wheel, and slid into the parking space as if it was made for her three-year-old red Mazda. “What’s up with you and Jim?”

  My cheeks got warm. “Nothing. He just wanted to talk. About Drago.”

  “Uh-huh.” Eve punched the car into park and reached in the backseat for her purse. “You’re lying to yourself if you think that’s true.”

  “You think so?” Even though a relationship with Jim was all I’d thought about all night long, I couldn’t allow myself to consider the possibility in the cold light of day. Not without getting all fizzy. I twitched away the sensation that tickled up my back like champagne bubbles in a crystal glass. “I’m not so sure,” I said.

  Eve squealed out a laugh and slapped me on the knee. “Oh, honey, you are blinder than a one-eyed jack! Come on.” She got out of the car, and I followed. Her legs were longer than mine, plus she knew where she was headed. I had to scramble to catch up.

  “You think he really is…” I felt myself blushing as I tried to get the words out. “Attracted to me?”

  “Like bees to honey.” She gave me a sidelong look and grinned. “Didn’t you know that? Right from the start? Haven’t you seen the way he’s been looking at you since day one?”

  “No.” Maybe. Was I that unconscious?

  We were just walking past a town house where geraniums and petunias overflowed from boxes on every window, and I paused, taking in the riotous color. “You think so?” I asked Eve. “You really think Jim is-”

  “Oh, Annie!” Eve looped her purse over one shoulder and hooked her other arm through mine. Laughing, she steered me toward King Street. “You’ve been asleep ever since that lowlife Peter up and left you. It’s time to wake up, honey! Welcome back to the world.”

  Welcome back to the world.

  I liked the sound of that.

  As I walked along toward wherever Eve was headed-and the next phase of our investigation-I realized that I was smiling from ear to ear.

  CALL ME CRAZY, BUT THE SIGN OVER THE FRONT DOOR didn’t exactly inspire confidence that the person inside could help us solve a murder.

  It was purple and silver. There was a cute-as-a-button, smiling angel in one corner and loopy cursive across the rest.

  Angel Emporium.

  When Eve reached for the brass doorknob, I tugged her back. “I don’t know,” I said. “It doesn’t look-”

  “What?” She wrinkled her nose the way she always did when she was impatient. “I thought you said you wanted to investigate. I told you, Annie, this lady can help us.”

  I pressed my nose to the front window, but it was hard to see anything beyond the crystals that hung just beyond it, catching the afternoon light and shooting it back at us in a million, colorful pieces.

  “We need a poison expert to figure out what’s in that vial you stole from Beyla,” I reminded Eve. “Not someone to put us in touch with our higher selves.”

  Her shoulders stiffened. “I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it,” she said, firmly ignoring my objection. “And besides, it was all in the line of duty. This vial…” She reached into her purse and pulled it out for me to see. “This vial is a major breakthrough in our case. We would have been crazy to ignore the opportunity to appropriate it.”

  I didn’t point out that her use of the wordwe wasn’t exactly accurate. I also didn’t mention that the simple fact that Eve had even used a word likeappropriate meant that she had been spending far too many hours in front ofCourt TV. One of us had to stay levelheaded. And even though I’d made the decision to continue with our sleuthing, I knew that one-now and always-had to be me.

  “Major breakthrough or not, we have to find out what’s in the vial before we move forward,” I reminded her. “Maybe a doctor would be able to help us. Or the police. I’ll bet the police know plenty about poison.”

  Eve’s upper lip curled. “You want us to go to Tyler and ask him for help? You’ll have to boil me in oil before I’ll do that. Or make me wear polyester. It’s not going to happen, Annie. Not in this lifetime.”

  “OK, I get it. I agree, no police. But the Angel Emporium?” I could just about feelcute ooze out of the shop and wrap around us where we stood at the front door. “Are you sure?”

  Eve nodded. “You said we needed an expert, right? That’s why we’re here. I know Rainbow can help us.”

  If I was going to buy into this scenario-and at this point,if was a pretty crucial word-my confidence evaporated right then and there. “Rainbow? That’s not her name, is it? You haven’t brought us all the way here and made us parallel park just so we can talk to someone named Rainbow?”

  Bless Eve for not knowing sarcasm when she heard it. As always, she took my questions at face value. “Rainbow DayGlow. Is that a great name or what? You’ll really like her. Come on.”

  Because she knew I wasn’t going to budge without a little more urging, she opened the door and stepped into th
e Angel Emporium. I followed her inside.

  No sooner had the door closed behind me and the little angel-topped wind chime above us announced our presence than I was overwhelmed by the mingled smells of incense and scented candles. There was a fountain to our right, and the sounds of trickling water provided a liquid counterpoint to the New Age music playing softly in the background.

  “Blessed be!” a woman’s voice called to us from somewhere beyond the beaded curtain that partitioned the main part of the store from what was probably a storeroom or office. “I’ll be there in just a moment. Look around, why don’t you.”

  She didn’t have to tell me twice. I was already checking out the place.

  The wall next to the gurgling fountain was stacked floor to ceiling with candles that had names like Morning Prayer and Angel’s Kiss. The counter to my left was filled with beaded jewelry, incense that made my nose itch, and angels of all shapes and sizes. Angels graced everything from buttons to brooches. Angels perched on scrunchies and were emblazoned across the fronts of T-shirts and night-gowns and tank tops. Straight ahead was a huge quilt filled with brightly colored fabric angels, all of them pink-cheeked, bright-eyed, and as cute as… well… as cute as little angels.

  Did I mention that I was losing confidence in Eve’s plan?

  My level of trust dipped a little more when the owner of the chirpy voice that had greeted us stepped out from behind the brightly colored beaded curtain. Rainbow DayGlow was middle-aged, as short as I am, and twice as round. She had a head of springy red curls and wore a flowing tie-dyed skirt that touched her ankles. Her matching top, though it was loose and wide, did not disguise the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra. She smelled like patchouli (or was it sandalwood?). Her feet were bare; her toenails were painted purple.

  “Blessed be!” She caught sight of me and smiled in an angelic sort of way. What else had I expected? “Can I help you with-” Rainbow’s gaze moved past me to where Eve was checking out the display of books with titles likeGetting in Touch with Your Angel Guides andTalk to Your Angels and They’ll Talk Back. “Eve! Hey, girlfriend, what’s shakin’?”

  Eve stepped forward. She was still holding the vial of herbs, and she used it to point my way. “This is my friend, Annie,” she said. “We need your help.”

  “Help?” Rainbow looked around the shop. Outside, Old Town was wall to wall with tourists, but right now, it appeared that none of them was in need of heavenly guidance; we were the only ones in the shop. “You mean-”

  “You got that right.” Eve hurried toward the beaded curtain, and because I wasn’t sure what else I was supposed to do, I marched after her. Rainbow got there before either of us. She held the curtain and stepped aside to allow us into the back room ahead of her.

  Did I sayroom?

  OK, let me correct that right here and now. The place we walked into was less like a room and more like a cave. Dark walls. Dark ceiling. Dark floor.

  In fact, the only light in the place was the single black candle burning in the center of a pentagram painted on the floor in the same silver paint that had been used on the smiling angel on the sign up front.

  I screeched to a stop just inside the doorway and plucked at Eve’s sleeve. “Are you sure you-”

  Rainbow was right behind me, and she prodded me forward, one hand on the small of my back. “The only magic going on here is the white kind. You don’t have a thing to worry about.”

  “But how-?” I gathered my thoughts and my composure. Whatever I had expected when I looked inside the Angel Emporium, it sure wasn’t this. “Eve, how do you know about this place?”

  It was too dark in there to be certain, but I swear Eve blushed. Since it’s not something she does often, I was more curious than ever. Rainbow spared her the effort of an explanation.

  “I’ve known Eve for years,” she said. “We took belly dancing classes together back in ’95. Remember that, Eve?” Rainbow laughed and did a couple of quick moves that made her hips sway in dizzying ways. Even after she stopped, they kept shaking. “Since then, I’ve been able to help her a time or two. As a matter of fact, Eve, I’ve been wondering how that latest spell worked out for you.”

  The color in Eve’s cheeks deepened. She gave me a sheepish grin, and I knew right then and there that I didn’t have to ask what kind of spell Rainbow was talking about. Or who that spell was intended to bewitch.

  “You’ve used love spells? On Tyler?” My voice cracked over the words. “Eve, I can’t believe you. Why didn’t I know about this? How could you even begin to think that this kind of nonsense-”

  “Now, now, don’t knock it until you try it.” Rainbow moved past me and flicked on a light, and for the first time, I saw that the room wasn’t as bare as I thought. The wall just behind where she stood was covered with shelves. Each shelf held glass containers on it, and each and every container was filled with some kind of dried herb or powder. Rainbow gave me a knowing grin. “If I’m not mistaken, you look like you might be in the market for a love spell yourself.” She reached for one of the jars and held it out to me. “Eye of newt?”

  When I went pale, she laughed.

  “Just kidding, kiddo!” She replaced the jar and stepped around to the other side of the long counter that was parallel to the wall. “So tell me what you two are up to. You’re wearing that serious face of yours, Eve. The one you showed up with the day that son of a bitch Tyler broke up with you. Don’t tell me my spell didn’t work. Are you sure you did what you were supposed to? Did you sprinkle that powder I gave you all around his house? Every nook and cranny?”

  Eve’s silence was answer enough. And that was OK with me-I really didn’t want to know the details.

  She put Beyla’s vial on the counter. “We need to know what this is,” she told Rainbow. “It’s important.”

  There was another light nearby, the kind that clamps onto the corner of a desk. Rainbow snapped it on and held the vial up to it. She twirled it around in her fingers, looking at its contents from every angle. “Where’d you get it?” she asked as she popped the cork and took a sniff. “Do you know what you’re dealing with here?”

  “Is it-?” I swore I was going to keep out of it, but I couldn’t help myself. The suspense was killing me. I swallowed down the tight ball in my throat. “Is it foxglove?”

  “Oh, you’re good!” Rainbow looked at me with something like admiration, but in a second, that expression dissolved into concern. “Digitalis purpurea. You’re not messing with this stuff, are you?”

  “We’re not,” Eve said. “But we think someone else is.”

  “Then I’m glad I don’t know that someone else.” Rainbow took another whiff. “Foxglove is not something to fool with. Fresh or cooked in with food, just a smidgen of this stuff can kill a man.”

  “We think maybe it already has,” I told her.

  Rainbow’s eyes went wide. She put the cork back in the vial and handed the foxglove to me. “I won’t have anything to do with that kind of thing. It’s nasty, and it works quick, twenty to thirty minutes tops. Did you know that to a person who’s been poisoned with foxglove, everything looks blue? Weird, huh?”

  Plenty weird.

  I tucked the foxglove in my purse. “So where would a person get foxglove?” I asked Rainbow.

  She shrugged, a motion that caused her breasts to settle on the counter like tie-dye-draped pillows. “Lots of places. Plenty of people grow it and don’t have a clue how dangerous it is.”

  I glanced at the shelves behind her. “And you sell it, here, too. Right?”

  It was just a guess, but I knew I was spot-on when Rainbow backed away from me, her hands out like she was a cop stopping traffic. “I’d never sell it to anybody if I thought-”

  “That’s not what we’re saying. Honest.” I did my best to relieve her fears. “We’re just trying to get a handle on things.”

  She looked at my purse as if she could see beyond the faux leather to the little glass vial inside. “It could be mine,”
she said.

  “And the woman who bought it?”

  Just as Eve asked the question, the little wind chime at the front door jingled.

  “Blessed be!” Rainbow called out, and she headed back out into the shop.

  Eve went out after her, and I brought up the rear. But not before I stopped to blow out the candle. I may have been a new woman with a new outlook on life, but there was no use taking foolish chances.

  I brushed aside the beaded curtain, stepped into the shop, and stopped dead in my tracks.

  The customer who’d just walked in was Beyla.

  She looked at Eve. She looked at me. And she took off out the front door like a bat out of hell.

  Twelve

  HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I’M NOT EXACTLY ATHLETIC?

  Eve is, of course. Or at least with her slim body and long legs, she could be, if she made the effort. And if she thought that physical fitness was about more than Botox injections and electrolysis. Of course, all things considered, no matter how heart-healthy she was, it probably wouldn’t have done a whole lot to overcome the issues that are bound to arise from trying to run in three-inch heels.

  I scrambled around a display of angel greeting cards, trying to reach the front door before it slammed behind Beyla. Eve high-stepped after me. I ducked under a mobile, but she smacked right into it and sent the shimmering heavenly messengers that hung from it dancing. I darted out the front door, leaving her behind me grumbling words that never should have been used in a store full of angels. By the time we were both outside, we were breathing hard.

  And Beyla was nowhere in sight.

  “Now what do we do?” Eve asked. But I’d already formulated a plan.

  I pointed to the right. “You head that way,” I told her. “I’ll go the other way. At least maybe if we can find her, we can talk to her. Ask her what she’s doing here and why she ran when she saw us.”