by Tonya Kappes
“Here you go.” Adeline had an armful of bottled water and each one of us took one.
I watched as Beth declined and said she was going to set up before the other store managers got there. Brent took a couple of drinks before he tossed it into the public trashcan outside of the employee break room.
“I’ll take that,” I muttered to myself and grabbed a tissue out of my bag before I carefully took out his bottle of water. “I need your DNA.”
Without telling Adeline that I was leaving, Mr. Prince Charming and I got back in the Green Machine and headed straight back to Whispering Falls, not stopping until we pulled in to Two Sisters and a Funeral.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Why? Why can’t you just check the DNA from this water bottle with the DNA of the baby?” I asked Constance Karima.
“Because you aren’t the law.” She waddled out of the autopsy room. The blue plastic apron was tied so tight around her girth, she looked like she was about to be cut in half. “Besides, when we were seeking confirmation on smelling death, you were quick to dismiss us.” She tugged on the edges of the yellow rubber gloves that were pulled all the way up to the crock of her elbow.
“Dismissed us. Mmmhmmmm,” Patience ho-hummed as she leaned over top of Gabby’s body that was lying on the steel table with a big spot light hanging over her.
“Such a charming corpse.” Constance smiled at the dead girl.
“That’s an odd thing to say,” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “Especially since she was blackmailing Leah LeRoy.”
“She was what?” Constance looked at me. Her eyes grew bigger from behind her magnified glasses. “Blackmailing?”
“Blackmailing?” Patience took an interest too.
“Did I say that?” I drew my hand up to my lips as if I let something slip, but in reality, I knew I had to entice them with something to get the information I needed to make sure my intuition was right. Not that I wasn’t listening to my gift, but when you accuse someone of murder and get it wrong, it’s a big deal.
“What is it you want again?” The little bit of gossip peaked Constance’s interest.
“Oscar told me that Gabby was pregnant. I have reason to believe that her best friend, Beth Phipps, is the killer.” I pulled out the bottle of water from my bag.
Constance walked a little closer. Patience put down the scrapple and hurried over to see what was in the bag.
“I believe that Beth’s boyfriend is the father of the baby.” I held the water bottle up in the air. “The boyfriend drank from this water bottle and I’d like to know if the baby shares the same DNA because if it does, then Leah LeRoy could be off the hook.”
“Why aren’t you letting Oscar do his job? Leah is a spiritualist.” Constance wasn’t budging.
“Leah is accused of killing a mortal. Which means that their laws are completely different and if we don’t get this figured out, they will send in a prosecutor who will be here getting DNA and disrupting our little secret village.” I wondered if I could tap into her emotional side of living here and how we have our special world, that she’d do it for me.
“Yes. The mortal police will be here, sister,” Patience nodded. She reached out for the bottle.
“Don’t touch it!” Constance instructed her. Patience quickly drew her hand back. “What is it about the blackmailing?”
“Gabby saw Leah doing some magic. Since then, Gabby has been blackmailing her to go public with it if Leah didn’t agree to host a Lifestyle party here in Whispering Falls. She’d been trying to get in here for a long time.” I looked between them. “Long story short, I traced back some yarn Leah had sold to a mortal man with a light brow. I found a baby blanket deep in the woods using the same yarn and,” I rotated my wrist and hand in the air, “using my gift, I know this was a baby blanket made with that yarn sold to that man for this baby.” I pointed to Gabby.
“How did you get the bottle?” Constance asked, she held her hand out in front of Patience, who was once again going after the bottle.
“Oscar asked me to look into some things and I took a job at Lifestyle so I could get in. Beth had tried to undercut Gabby at a few shops and when I was setting up for a party about an hour ago, Beth comes in with this light brow guy. My gift went nuts inside of me and that’s when I knew it had to be him. He drank from the bottle and I took it.” I jabbed the bottle out in front of me again for them to take it. “Listen, I know Leah LeRoy didn’t kill Gabby Summerfied. This is our only hope if we are going to keep her out of mortal prison.”
“Listen to June,” Oscar said when he walked into the door. “I heard what you did.”
“I know you’re probably not happy that I went undercover, but I was going to tell you before you told me about Sonny.” I held the bottle towards him. “This has the DNA on it. Plus now they have the blanket.
“If we can get his DNA to match the baby, then we can put the two together.” He looked at Constance. “If we can prove Beth not only was jealous of how well Gabby was doing with the Lifestyle and had been trying to undercut Gabby, then to find out her boyfriend cheated on her with Gabby and add to that a baby,” Oscar’s voice trailed off.
“Sister,” Constance said to Patience and pointed to the bottle.
Patience reached up and gripped her hand around the bottle. There was a gleam her eyes that compared to a glassy volcanic rock. The corners of her mouth started to curl that grew into a thin-lipped smile before her mouth flew open, her head flew back, and scornful laugh came from the depths of her body.
“I don’t know who killed me but I do know that I don’t regret what Brent and I did. We are in love and he never loved Beth. When he told her about the baby, she went crazy and I don’t care what she says, she’s not my best friend.” Patience’s sweet and quiet voice had turned into an evil squeal.
She squeezed the bottle so tight, the top popped off and the water shot out in an arched stream, hitting Gabby’s belly, disappearing inside of her.
“She’s gone.” Patience’s head dropped as the bottle fell from her hand, hitting the ground next to her.
“What was is, sister?” Constance wrapped her arms around Patience. “What did you get?”
Oscar and I stood there in silence, not sure what had just happened.
“He is definitely the father. He didn’t kill her.” Patience’s eyes drew up from the ground and she looked at Oscar. “Beth.”
“Beth did it?” Constance questioned her.
“Beth did it. Mmmhhhmmmm. Beth did it,” Patience repeated and began to act like her normal self.
We waited until Patience seemed to be completely back to normal from her ghost reading of Gabby, and to make sure they did a real DNA test on the bottle and the baby so that when Sonny did come from Locust Grove to Whispering Falls that we’d have all the mortal question T’s crossed and I’s dotted.
“This could get a little tricky,” Oscar said when we got into the Green Machine to drive it back to the house. “I’m going to have to let Leah go but keep her on the suspect list. I think we’ve got plenty of evidence against Beth to bring her in on suspicion. Since that gives me a mortal and a spiritualist, maybe the Marys won’t come.”
“It’s not the Marys I’m so worried about now. It’s the Locust Grove sheriff department coming in here and putting a spotlight on our village.” My concern and motivation for solving the case had definitely changed.
“When were you going to tell me about the teaching position?” he bowed his head and asked in a murmur.
“How did you find out?” I put the gearshift in park when we pulled up to the house. “Not that I wasn’t going to tell you. I was going to wait until we solved Gabby’s murder.”
“Your Aunt Helena stopped by.” He put his hand on the door, then swung around to look at me. “She was ever so happy to tell me about it.”
“She shouldn’t’ve done that. I’m sorry.” I went to place my hand on his shoulder, but he jerked to get out of the car. “Are you mad?” I fo
llowed him into the house.
“No. I’m hurt. I love you and want you to follow your heart, but to find out from someone else, that hurts.” He leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed.
“When I was with those young witches today, it was so natural to me to show them the correct way to really use their intuition to create the perfect potion, not just any potion.” I found myself smiling at the memory.
“You already took the job and taught a class?” He asked, with furrowed brows, throwing his hands up in the air.
“No. No.” I shook my head. “It came out wrong. I went to Hidden Hall to get some cauldron cleaner.” I bit my lip and realized I’d not checked on Leah. I looked past Oscar’s shoulder, out the window, and down the hill, focusing my sights on A Charming Cure.
“While you were there, you decided to go to intuition school and teach without telling me?” He was more accusing me than asking me. He pushed himself up to stand and started to walk down the hall towards our bedroom.
“Oscar, aren’t you going to let me explain?” I asked but my words met his hand, palm out.
“Stop.” He shook his head. “I’m tired. I worked all night last night and I’ve got a big day ahead of me tomorrow.” He turned back towards the bedroom. “I know you’re going to the shop right now. I saw you looking out the window. Be sure to tell Leah that she’s not the only suspect. That should make her feel better. You and I can talk in the morning.”
He took a couple of more steps until he reached the bedroom. He shut the door behind him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The look on Leah LeRoy’s face when I went back to the shop and told her about what I’d uncovered about Beth Phipps, was priceless. I wished I could’ve been as happy as she was, but my little tiff with Oscar about the teaching position was what was taking up my time.
I wanted to let Oscar sleep, so I sent Leah home, closed the shop and restocked the shelves like I did every night.
Mr. Prince Charming was standing at the door when I looked up from rearranging a few bottles on a display table near the front of the shop.
“You. Where have you been?” I asked when I opened the door and juggled a couple of bottles in my hands.
The rush of a wind swept across my head, making me duck. I dropped the bottles and they scattered on the floor.
“What in the world?” I stood up, ignoring the mess as the owl hovered over me with its wings spread as wide as the shop.
Mr. Prince Charming did figure eights around my ankles. This helped ease any sort of anxiety or worry about the owl.
“You must be KJ’s owl,” I whispered. My heart stopped beating as rapidly and my breathing returned to normal. I’d never used this form of spying, so I had no idea how this played out.
The owl didn’t bother looking at me. It was the wings where I found my answers. They were still and the feathers began to blend together in a white canvas just as the images of the past twenty-four hours of Beth Phipps life had begun to play like a movie.
It showed Beth leaving Whispering Falls, after I’d told her about the baby, in a hurry. There were a couple of times that she almost drove her car off the road. After she’d made it back into Locust Grove, she went to a house that I didn’t recognize. It was more in the affluent area and since we were on the poor side, I never even ventured over to that side of the town.
The door of the house opened, and Brent walked out. Before Brent could get a word out, Beth smacked him right across the face. The two were arguing. Beth was pacing while Brent was swiping his hand through his hair and gesturing as if he were trying to explain. Beth looked fed up and got back in her car. She continued to drive erratically through the town until she got to the strip mall where Lifestyle was located. She was all smiles as she put her packages in the trunk of her car. She’d gone back to her house where she got ready for what appeared to be a Lifestyle party. She made a few phone calls after the party, one of which I bet was the sales numbers to Nina, the other I didn’t know. But she went to bed. The next day it seemed like it was typical. She got up. Brent came over. She didn’t look like she was forgiving him, but then they got into her car and parked at the Piggly Wiggly.
I was about to just tell the owl I’d seen enough when I noticed she and Brent hadn’t gone back to her house. They’d gone to another house where they were tearing up the insides. Beth was rummaging through drawers and Brent was going through the closet. When I noticed Brent pick up some of Leah’s crocheted bags, I knew they had to be at Gabby’s house. When they left the house, the owl had focused in on the street address. The owl wings returned to normal as he hovered over me and Mr. Prince Charming.
I walked over to the door and opened it. The owl’s wings drew in and he was sucked out into the dark night sky.
“What are we waiting for?” I looked over at Mr. Prince Charming. “We have go to Gabby’s to see what they were looking for.”
He darted out ahead of me. I locked the door behind me and we darted up the hill to the house. The lights were off and I knew Oscar had really gone to bed. There was no need to wake him up. He was tired, and I had no idea what I was going to find, if anything, so Mr. Prince Charming and I jumped into the Green Machine and sped out of town.
The normal thirty-minute drive was only about twenty since I’d found my heavy foot. Mr. Prince Charming had sat still in the passenger seat and stared out the window like he was a person.
“She must’ve been making good money.” I bent my head down to see better outside of the windshield at the two-story home with the circular drive and waterfall in the front. “No wonder Beth was jealous of the income and clients.”
I pulled the Green Machine down the street and parked. I’d not been real successful at breaking and entering, so I wanted to think that I was just there to help out a friend. Leah LeRoy.
Mr. Prince Charming went ahead of me. I put my back up against the shrub line to help blend in with the shadows of the fallen night. If I’d planned a little better, I should’ve brought some sort of spells with me, but when my intuition kicked in, it was hard to listen to common sense and be prepared.
I’d walked around to see if I could see if anyone was home, but all the lights were out and there weren’t any cars pulled into the drive or the garage.
Mewl, mewl. Mr. Prince Charming alerted me to the back of the house. When I made it around there, he was standing underneath a cracked window. The problem was the window was much higher than I was tall. I turned around and looked to see what I could find that I could stand on so I could hoist myself up.
He ran deep into the dark night and I followed him to an old planter in the back near the brick out building. Next to the building was a full garden that Darla and Eloise would love to see. It was the lushest plantings I’d seen in a residential area. Gabby was really starting to impress me. I wonder why she’d resorted to blackmailing Leah.
“I guess this is what you want me to use.” I sighed and dumped it over, dragging it underneath the window. “It sure does look like the perfect height.” I stood back and looked at it after I’d flipped it over. “Here goes nothing.”
I stepped up on the planter and lifted up the window before I hoisted myself up and over, falling into the laundry room.
It didn’t look like she did any sort of laundry because there were so many dry-cleaning bags hanging on the bar. They were suits and pants that I didn’t see Gabby wearing.
Meow. Mr. Prince Charming had jumped up on the window and balanced himself on the sill.
“What do you think Gabby had that Beth wanted?” I asked him before I turned to go into the house.
With a quick sweep of the first floor, there wasn’t anything that stuck out to me. She lived a lavish life and I was a bit taken back. The furniture was first class and high dollar leather, marble, and tile. She’d spared no expense.
Mr. Prince Charming headed up the stairs and stopped to make sure I was following him. I tiptoed up the steps out of habit of sneaking around
and went into the room where Mr. Prince Charming had disappeared.
I flipped on the light and realized I was in her office. As I walked around, I noticed she’d had some framed photos of Brent. The left-over yarn from the baby blanket was in the seat of one of the chairs. In the corner were a couple of boxes like the ones I’d seen at Lifestyle.
Rowl, rowl. Mr. Prince Charming screeched from the door.
“If you wanted my attention, you just got it.” His yelp made my heart jump and go right back into the rapid beating.
He ran down the hall and I followed him to a bathroom. It had marble tiled flooring with one of those claw-footed tubs and stand up shower surrounded by glass walls. The double-sink counter was the exact same marble with very fancy gold knobs.
“What’s this?” I looked down into the bowl and noticed there were a few empty bottles of Lifestyle in the sink. In the other sink, there were full bottles of Lifestyle. On the floor was a box like the ones I’d seen at the Lifestyle office.
I picked up one of the full bottles from the sink and noticed an oil line. I held it up to the light. There was a very distinct line between the oil and what appeared to be water. My eyes darted from the box, to the empty bottles to the full bottles and back again until I finally got the nudge that told me I was now on the right track.
“Was Gabby making so much money because she was watering down the product?” I asked myself and laughed at how ridiculous that sounded. I looked down at the bottles. “Why would she be watering down the oils?”
I brought the bottle to my nose. Geranium, Fennel, Carrot Seed, Palmarosa, and Vitex swept along my nose hairs and deep into my soul.
“Baby.” I took another sniff. “Was she worried about the baby or maternity leave?”
I gripped the bottle in my palm and squeezed, trying to get anything from my intuition about what was going on in Gabby’s bathroom. I knew this had something to do with her death, but not sure what.