He stared, stone-faced, at me and just when I was sure I was going to have to search for a new deputy, he offered a weak smile. “Can’t choose family, can we?”
“Wouldn’t that be a blessing?” I pointed in the general direction of the village commons. “I’m going to do some interviews. I realize this has been an obsession for me this week, but I feel like I’m closing in on answers and want to finish this.”
“Works for me. Go, be a Sheriff.”
“Thanks, Martin.”
Meeka and I power-walked down the Fairy Path and straight to Treat Me Sweetly. Sugar and Honey were the first interviewees on my list.
As usual, the shop was busy. From behind the ice cream counter, Honey gave us a little wave and called, “Good morning, ladies.” Then she slapped a hand over her mouth. “That was disrespectful.” She cleared her throat and tried again. “Good morning, Sheriff and Deputy Meeka. We’ll be right with you.”
I cut through the crowd, leaned in, and in a hushed voice said, “We’re here for official reasons. I need to speak with you and Sugar.”
Honey paused, as though trying to guess at what that might mean, and then said, “Well then, let me make a few staffing tweaks. Go on through to the office in back and have a seat. We’ll be right there. Can I bring you anything?”
I contemplated an ice cream cone. “Thanks, I’m fine.”
“Coffee? We give Violet scones, and she provides us with a blend that goes perfectly with anything sweet.”
“That sounds good. I’d love a cup of coffee.”
“Go on and make yourself comfy.”
I’d never been in the sweet shop’s office. Giant cookie and candy stickers covered the walls. The telephone on the desk looked like a big banana split with the ice cream scoops as the receiver. I couldn’t help but smile. I settled into a chair in front of the desk and a minute later, Sugar appeared with two steaming mugs in hand.
“Honey is getting the staff organized. She’ll be right here.” She sat on the other side of the desk and pushed a mug across to me. “Official business, hey? What’s going on?”
Before starting, I took a sip; Honey was right, this blend was amazing. I turned on my voice recorder and set it on the desk. “That’s so I don’t have to take as many notes. Tell me everything you remember about the night Priscilla died.”
She sat in silence for a moment. “Good Goddess, I haven’t thought of that night in years. How did you uncover that?”
“I finished reading Gran’s journals from 1979. Effie and Cybil corroborated what Gran wrote.”
“Of course, they did,” Sugar said. “Lucy and Effie were peas in a pod. There wasn’t a thing one wouldn’t have done for the other. When they realized what had happened to Priscilla and who did what, your grandma wouldn’t consider any other option than to save Rae.”
“What are we talking about?” Honey joined us then, sliding into the chair next to her sister’s.
“The night Priscilla died,” Sugar informed.
Honey gazed down at the mug of coffee in her hands and remained silent for a moment. “We were just little then. I was ten, Sugar twelve.”
“So, you were there?” I asked.
“For a while,” Sugar said. “Your dad made us leave. He didn’t want us getting in the middle of something that might turn ugly.”
“But we didn’t leave,” Honey added with a grin. “Remember? We hid in the trees with Willie.”
“Willie?” I asked, shocked. “You mean Blind Willie?”
“He wasn’t there,” Sugar said.
“He most certainly was,” Honey insisted. “I remember very clearly. Dillon made us leave, Willie found us hiding in the trees.”
Sugar squinted, thinking back, and then shook her head. “I don’t remember that. She’s the one you want to talk to, Jayne. She’s got a memory like a beartrap.”
Following their conversation was like watching a hummingbird flit about. “All right, Honey, tell me what you remember.”
“I remember everyone gathering around the fire pit,” she began. “The group split in two, like they always did at that point. Dillon, Briar, Laurel, and Gabe were on one side of the fire pit. Horace and Karl were on the other. Flavia, Priscilla, and Rae were in the middle.”
“Hang on.” I did a mental inventory of the group. “Where was Reeva?”
“She wasn’t part of the group anymore,” Sugar said. “After Rae and Gabe got together—and especially when Flavia set her sights on Horace and Karl, whichever was paying attention to her at the moment—Reeva basically disappeared.”
“Reeva really liked Karl,” Honey explained and then frowned. “She liked Gabe first.”
Sugar swatted a dismissive hand. “All the girls liked Gabe.”
“Of course they did.” Honey placed her hand to her heart and batted her eyelashes. “He was so cute! Anyway, Reeva couldn’t handle watching Flavia go after Karl, too, so she just stopped coming around.”
Unfortunately, I understood sister issues. Rosalyn flirted with Jonah one New Year’s Eve. She couldn’t handle champagne; claimed the bubbles did weird things to her. That night, the bubbles made her ultra-flirty. I found her in the kitchen, backing Jonah into a corner, telling him, in this little sex-kitten voice, that she wanted “just one little New Year’s kiss.” Jonah still loved me then and pushed her away. To this day, I wasn’t sure I could trust her.
I shook my head, realizing I’d let my mind wander and the interview get off track.
“Why, exactly, was everyone at the Meditation Circle? What did Flavia tell you to get you all there?”
Honey crossed her arms and pouted. “No one told us anything. We were the little kids so got left out of the big kid stuff.” Her pout turned into a giggle and she glanced at Sugar. “We used to sneak around all the time. Remember that?”
“Our secret missions?” Sugar grinned back. “I remember.”
I leaned across the desk. “What secret missions?”
“We knew for weeks that Flavia and Priscilla were up to something,” Sugar began. “The whole group, I mean, not just Honey and me. The two would be off by themselves, talking behind their hands and looking over at the group. Finally, we decided to enact Operation Little Girl.”
“Operation Little Girl?” I asked.
Sugar nodded, looking as pleased as her younger sister did. “Honey was only ten and she was a tiny little thing.”
Honey stood, wiggled her backside at me, and said over her shoulder, “Two decades of making ice cream has taken care of that.” Then she blushed at her own actions. “We’re supposed to be professional, aren’t we?” She sat back down with her hands clasped around the coffee mug in her lap.
“Because she was so little,” Sugar continued, “no one noticed when she was around. We decided that Honey would join Team Flavia and I would stay on Team Dillon.”
I looked up from my notebook at Honey. “You weren’t really on Team Flavia, were you?”.
“Good Goddess, no,” she insisted. “I just hung out near them and acted like I was playing when they were having their little meetings.” She pushed her shoulders back and held her head high. “I heard everything.”
“What did you hear?” I asked.
“Flavia told Priscilla that she should be Gabe’s girlfriend. Priscilla said she didn’t like Gabe, she liked another boy.” Honey glanced at Sugar. “The baby’s father, we assumed. Whoever he was. She never did tell us.” Sugar nodded her agreement with this. “Anyway, Flavia kept insisting and coached Priscilla on what she had to do. She said Priscilla needed to promise Gabe things. She needed to get him alone and then flirt and stuff.”
Ten-year-old Honey was in front of me as surely as forty-something Honey was, and ten-year-old Honey was blushing a brilliant shade of berry at this memory.
“Why would Priscilla agree to this?” I wondered aloud. “If she liked someone else, why wouldn’t she tell Flavia she didn’t want to do that?”
“She was under Flavia’s spe
ll,” Sugar said. “That’s the only way to explain it.”
That would be a figment of speech anywhere else. In Whispering Pines, being under someone’s spell could be a literal thing.
“Are you saying that Flavia cast a spell that would make Priscilla obey her?” I couldn’t believe I even asked that question.
“Guess that’s possible,” Sugar considered. “Not what I meant, though. It was more that Priscilla was so desperate she would have gone in any direction someone pointed her in if they guided her.”
A scared teenage girl, possibly suffering from postpartum depression, does as she’s told. Sad, but believable.
“Priscilla was desperate,” I echoed, “that’s why she did what Flavia said. What about the other side of this? Rae and Gabe were already tight. Why wouldn’t Rae just walk away? Why fight that night?”
“The thing about Rae,” Sugar recalled, “she was real prideful and real angry. The Wiccan kids acted like they ruled the village.” She held up a hand. “Before you say it, yes, we’re Wiccan, but we never teased anyone.”
“Except in the pulling pranks way,” Honey added with a mischievous grin.
Sugar glared at her for a second and then broke out in her own grin before turning serious again. “The others teased the fortune teller kids something awful.”
“It wasn’t pretty,” Honey agreed. “The thing was, Rae didn’t even want to be a fortune teller. She said she never had a vision in her life, but the older tellers insisted it would happen if she practiced, or whatever they do to turn it on.”
That sounded a lot like Lily Grace’s story.
“Rae couldn’t just walk away,” Sugar said. “She had people telling her from every direction what she was and who she was. I think that night was her chance to stand up for herself.”
“All right,” I said, “everyone is gathered at the Meditation Circle. Then what happened?”
“Willie made us leave.” Sugar slapped a hand on the desk. “I remember now. When it became obvious this wasn’t going to be a nice, calm discussion, he took us home.”
Seriously? “Neither of you saw anything after the initial gathering?”
Honey shook her head. “Nothing. Willie said the big kids were about to get into trouble, and we didn’t need to be around for it.”
“I’ve got to be honest,” I said, “this is kind of a letdown after all that buildup, but you did give me some good information. Bits here, bits there, and soon I’ll have the whole story.”
Honey rushed back to help with customers, and Sugar stayed in the office while I gathered my things.
“I warned you, didn’t I?” she asked.
I tucked my notebook into a pocket and reached for my voice recorder. “About the muck and my beliefs being rocked? You did.”
“Not much good comes from digging up the past. Maybe you should have left well enough alone.”
Morgan’s words about Sugar sounded in my ears. Goddess bless her, she means well, but Sugar’s words are often double sided.
“Maybe. But first, nothing about this is ‘well.’ Second, if you didn’t want me to go digging, you never would’ve said anything. Would you?”
Chapter 25
After leaving Treat Me Sweetly, Meeka and I cut through the pentacle garden to go to The Inn to talk with Laurel next. I was almost to the negativity well, the garden’s midpoint, when I heard someone call my name. I turned to find Morgan coming my way.
“You’re in a hurry,” she said when she caught up to me.
“I need to talk with Laurel about the night Priscilla died.”
“Such a gloomy topic,” Morgan said with a frown. “It’s two o’clock and I still haven’t had lunch. Care to join me for a bite at The Inn’s restaurant?”
“I could eat.”
Even two in the afternoon during the summer tourist season meant we had to wait for a table. Once seated, Meeka took her standard spot beneath the table, Sylvie took our order, and I asked if she had seen Laurel recently.
“Recently?” Sylvie tapped the toe of one knee-high boot that was part of her all black Oktoberfest beer girl/Wiccan high priestess uniform. “That’s subjective. We’ve been super busy today. Got a big party of some kind coming in tonight that we’re prepping for. Anyway, I saw Laurel an hour ago . . . or maybe it was three hours?” She shrugged. “I’ll track her down and send her over.”
“Are you closer to putting together the pieces of that night?” Morgan asked once Sylvie had walked away.
“Closer, but nowhere near the full picture.” I gave her some of the details on what I’d learned so far.
“I knew Flavia had a dark side, but I never would have guessed she’d do something like that.”
“I’m trying to only gather statements and not draw conclusions yet, even about Flavia. Honey and Sugar only knew a portion of what happened that night, so a lot is missing.”
Sylvie arrived with a house salad and cup of vegetable soup for Morgan, and a side salad and basket of deep-fried cheese curds for me.
“Laurel’s just finishing up with something,” Sylvie said while topping off our iced tea. “She’ll be here in a jiff.”
“Salad and cheese curds?” Morgan asked.
“What? That’s balanced.” I held my hands out like a scale. “Healthy and yummy.”
We were halfway through lunch when Laurel pulled up a chair to our two-top table. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to sit for a few minutes. Whatever you want to talk to me about, take your time.”
“That looks good,” I said of the burger she’d brought with her. “What is it?”
She held up her plate and turned it side-to-side. “Burger topped with corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing.”
“A Rueben burger.” It sounded like something Tripp would make.
“You got it,” Laurel said. “It’s not on the menu, but it should be.”
Since she wanted to sit, I gave her a few minutes to relax and eat. I finished my cheese curds, slipping a couple to my furry friend beneath the table.
“I wanted to ask,” I began, “what do you remember about the night Priscilla died?”
She paused in mid-chew with her eyebrows arched. “Priscilla? You mean the girl who lived here a long time ago?”
“Right.”
“Can’t tell you anything. Well, I can tell you what happened after the fact, but I wasn’t there that night.”
“Sure, you were. I just talked with Honey and Sugar, they said you were there.”
Laurel smiled, amused. “They were such troublemakers. I swear they were everywhere at once. You realize they were just little girls at the time. They probably think I was there because I usually was.”
“You’re positive?” I confirmed.
She leaned in a little bit and lowered her voice. “I knew Flavia was up to no good that night. She’d been causing trouble for weeks between Rae and Gabe. Then there was the drama going on in the group. I was sick of it all so didn’t go that night.” A far-off look shadowed her face as she shoved the last bite of her burger into her mouth. “The group used to be so much fun. We did everything together. Really. None of us were ever alone unless we wanted to be. And then Rae and Gabe hooked up.”
“I understand that Flavia liked Horace and—”
“Just Horace,” Laurel supplied.
“I heard she couldn’t decide between Horace and Karl,” I said.
“She wasn’t interested in Karl.” Laurel shook her head as she wiped burger residue from her fingers with a napkin. “She only paid attention to Karl because Reeva really liked him. Have to say, I’m glad Flavia and Horace got together; that settled her down for a while. It’s heartbreaking how everything ended with him dying in that bear attack. The way Reeva and Karl ended was devastating, too.”
“Sounds like Flavia and Reeva were competitive,” I said.
“Reeva wasn’t at all competitive. She’s one of those people who’s naturally good at everything she does. Fl
avia struggles. That’s why Reeva stepped away from the group. She decided to let The Pack be the thing Flavia had that was all her own.”
“You sound sure of that,” I noted.
“She and I were close. Not best friends; Reeva and Rae were best friends. We were close, though.” Laurel’s expression took on a faraway look. “Reeva’s biggest flaw is self-sacrifice. She left the group not just for Flavia, but also to make things easier on Karl. Flavia went after him more when Reeva was around. She did the same thing for Rae.” Laurel glanced at her watch. “Is that really the time? I’ve got to get back to work. Got a family reunion coming in tonight. They booked the entire inn.” She spoke faster. “As for the night in question, Dillon and Briar stopped by to let me know there was a gathering that had something to do with Priscilla, Rae, and Gabe. I told them I was done with it all and didn’t even want to hear about anything else. Next thing I heard, Priscilla was dead. Wish I could tell you more, but I honestly can’t.”
“Every little bit helps.” I tried to hide my disappointment but probably failed. “Whether it helps me understand that night or not, understanding what makes Flavia tick can only be a good thing.”
Laurel gathered together her plate, napkin, and water glass. “If I think of anything, I’ll let you know.”
“I appreciate that,” I said. “Thanks for talking.”
She put a hand to her lower back with a pained expression. “Thanks for letting me sit.”
She gave us a little wave and disappeared into the front lobby. I returned my attention to Morgan.
“I can’t say that was a strikeout, but it was far from a home run.”
“You may have more than you realize,” Morgan said. “Maybe it’s time to talk to Mama. What are you thinking about?”
“The statement Sugar and Honey gave me. They were just little at the time; they can’t possibly remember the events accurately. The only thing I can take from their interview was that the gathering happened.”
“That’s something.”
Morgan, always ready to offer encouragement.
“Laurel gave insight to some of the other kids, but nothing helpful for that night. I already talked to Flavia. As for kids who were at the Meditation Circle that night, I’m down to Reeva and your mom. Reeva wasn’t there so she wouldn’t be any more helpful than Laurel.”
Original Secrets: A Whispering Pines Mystery, Book 3 Page 20