Murder by Misadventure

by B. T. Lord

  The young woman blushed deeply. “I’m not really a witch. Not a fully-fledged witch, anyway. I was just curious. I mean, I love all those witchcraft shows on TV, you know? I thought it would be fun to learn about it, cos of our history and all. When I found out we had a real live witch living in Twin Ponds, I figured it was fate. How often do you hear about a witch living up here? Someone who doesn’t just dabble in it like everyone else around here, but really lives it? So I went and it was like, I don’t know. Like I belonged right away.”

  Cammie asked, “Are both Torri and Clarisse witches?”

  Emmy nodded, “But Torri is the head priestess. She can do things. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

  “Like what?” Rick asked.

  “It was raining one night, and she made it stop. Another time, Beth – she’s one of the girls from the coven – was having trouble coming up with her rent money. Torri gave her a money spell and she won the lottery! It wasn’t a million dollars or anything. But it was enough to pay her rent for two months. Lately, Lydia – she’s another member of the group - has been complaining that she keeps misplacing things. Torri gave her a memory spell.”

  “Has it worked?” Cammie asked despite herself.

  Emmy shrugged. “I guess so. She hasn’t mentioned it in a while. Then Torri gave me--” The young woman abruptly shut up.

  Cammie saw Emmy glance at Rick, her face turning tomato red with embarrassment. She made a mental note to question Emmy later when Rick wasn’t around.

  “After Marcy died, we had a ceremony for her, which was nice considering she’d insulted everybody in the coven at least once, if not more. Torri prepared a special tea with lemon grass, rosehips and a touch of cinnamon. She said it was stuff Marcy liked. We all drank it and we were fine.”

  “That’s because it didn’t smell like old socks,” Rick muttered. Emmy gave him a quizzical look.

  “Did you ever see her give Marcy or Todd any tea to take home with them?” Cammie continued.

  Emmy shook her head. “I didn’t.”

  “But that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have at some other time?”

  “She could have, I guess.”

  “Tell me, Em, have any of the teas you’ve had at Torri’s smelled like old socks?”

  Emmy looked from Cammie to Rick. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that.”

  “Apparently salvia timor has a distinct odor,” Rick replied.

  Emmy wrinkled her nose. “Sorry, but Torri’s teas always smell and taste really good.”

  “Did you happen to tell Torri or Clarisse that you’d given me some of the tea?”

  Emmy blushed again. “Torri takes so much pride in her teas. I knew she’d be happy to hear that her tea helped you and Jace with your headaches.”

  “I’ll bet,” Rick muttered under his breath.

  Cammie threw him another look before turning her attention back to Emmy.

  “Did you say anything else to Torri and Clarisse that might have spooked them?”

  Emmy thought for a moment. “I knew they were friends with Todd. I offered my condolences, just as I did when Marcy died. Clarisse got all nasty, saying you suspected them of doing something to Todd. Torri told her to be quiet, that you were just doing your job.”

  “Are you sure that’s all you said?”

  Emmy looked up into Cammie’s eyes. “Why?”

  “I don’t want to scare you, but we can’t be sure if the tea that was left on your desk was meant for you or me.”

  Emmy’s eyes widened and she grew so pale, Cammie thought the young woman was about to faint. Her response though surprised the sheriff. “It’s too obvious. If she put something in the tea, it would make her more suspect, wouldn’t it?”

  “Maybe she’s getting desperate in case we end up figuring out that she did have something to do with Marcy and Todd’s deaths,” Rick replied.

  “What is her motive though?” Cammie asked. “If she is responsible for putting the salvia in Marcy and Todd’s teas, why? What does she gain?”

  “Well, with Todd, she gained $50,000,” Rick pointed out.

  “Did she spike his tea because she was afraid he’d tell someone that she may have been blackmailing him? And what of Marcy? Why spike her tea? Did Marcy know something about their past?”

  They all looked at each other, but no one spoke. Finally, Cammie held up the baggie of tea. “I’ll get this over to Doc and see what he finds. I can’t prove that Torri deliberately tried to kill Todd and Marcy by putting the salvia in their tea, but if this bag contains it, it certainly points to someone trying to hurt one of us in this office.”

  “If Torri is responsible for all this, you need to actually find that salvia stuff in her house, don’t you?” Emmy asked. When Cammie nodded, she said, “I’ll take care of that. I’ll get her to give me some more.”

  “No,” Cammie exclaimed emphatically. “I don’t want you arousing her suspicion.”

  “Well maybe I can call and thank her for leaving the tea on my desk. Depending on what her reaction is, I’ll know if it was her that left it.”

  Once again Cammie shook her head. “It’s bad enough if she actually did try to drug you. If she is desperate like Rick said, she may do something worse. Promise me you’ll let this be. I mean it, Emmy. Do not involve yourself. It’s too dangerous.”

  Emmy hesitated, then nodded. “Okay, I promise.”

  She was happy to see that Cammie completely missed seeing her fingers crossed in her lap.

  “I think it best that we keep what happened to me quiet. Emmy, when is your next coven meeting?”

  “Not until next month.”

  “Hopefully we’ll have some answers. Until then, as much as I hate the idea of you having anything to do with Torri and Clarisse, we need to act as though you don’t suspect them of anything. If they are responsible and they know you’re onto them, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”

  They spent a few minutes discussing other business. As they got up to leave, Cammie asked Emmy to stay. She waited until Rick was gone before turning to the young girl.

  “What else did Torri give you?”

  Emmy blushed deeply. “What – what do you mean?” she asked, completely unconvincing in her attempt to look innocent.

  Cammie got up and closed her office door. Leaning up against her desk, she regarded the young woman. “Emmy, I know how you feel about Rick.”

  Emmy jerked her head up, her mouth agape with terror. Cammie raised her hand. “Don’t worry. Rick doesn’t have a clue, and I would never tell him.”

  “How – how do you know?”

  “I’ve noticed how you look at him. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. This stuff happens.”

  Unfortunately, Cammie knew, it would never happen between Emmy and Rick. Her receptionist had picked the one man in Twin Ponds who thought of commitment the way people thought of flying to moon. It was pretty much impossible. And if, by some miracle, Rick ever did decide to settle down, it wouldn’t be with Emmy. As sad as it was, she just wasn’t his type. He seemed to go for the tall, willowy, anorexic types. Emmy was short, chubby and loyal to a fault. He’d only break her heart. And that was one thing Cammie hoped never to see.

  Emmy hesitated. Then sighed deeply. “She gave me some herbs to mix in with Rick’s favorite cookies. She said it would make him start to notice me.”

  “Did it?”

  Emmy nodded. “It sure did. He made me my morning coffee, and actually bought me lunch.”

  “Were these cookies Rick’s favorite macaroons?”

  Emmy nodded again.

  “Rick would do somersaults for those macaroons,” Cammie gently reminded her. She neglected to add that he would probably sleep with Emmy without any spells if she would make him those cookies at least once a week. “Do you still have the herbs?”

  Emmy shook her head. “I threw them away. I realized how stupid I was being. It was dumb to try and make Rick--” The words trailed off. “If I ever stand a cha
nce with Rick, I want it to be because he finds me attractive. Not because I put something in his cookies.” She glanced up through her eyelashes at Cammie. “Does – does Rick need to know?”

  Cammie came around and sat back down at her desk. She smiled reassuringly at the young woman. “No, he doesn’t. Obviously there wasn’t anything dangerous in what Torri gave you. Nor do we ever need to talk about this again. Now could you please write up everything you know on the women who make up your group? When you’re done, the three of us will go over it.”

  Emmy nodded and Cammie watched her walk out of the room. She felt sad for the young woman. Rick would never give her what she wanted. She only hoped Emmy would realize that in time and move on. A few moments later, Rick popped his head in.

  “I’m doing a lunch run. You want anything?”

  “I do. But before you go, let me ask you something. Did you have to react with such disgust to Emmy’s announcement about Torri being a witch?”

  “Sorry. It’s just that Emmy – well, she--”

  “She’s not a kid, if that’s what you’re trying to say. She’s a grown woman who has a natural curiosity about witchcraft. People could say the same thing about you and your belief in shamanism.”

  “That’s different.”

  “How?”

  He sputtered a few times, then hung his head. “Okay, I get it. Maybe I was just reacting to her getting mixed up with the Jackson sisters.”

  “She had no idea what they were like. Heck, we don’t even know what they’re like.”

  “They tried to kill you. If I didn’t hate tea so much, they could have easily killed me. What’s to say they didn’t kill Todd or Marcy?”

  “We think they did. There’s no proof yet.”

  “You drank the tea.”

  “A tea that was left anonymously on Emmy’s desk.” She paused. “I asked her to make up a list of the members of her coven. I want you to do a background check on each one of them. Emmy may be too close to the situation to be fully objective. I also want to bring Torri and Clarisse in for questioning. One way or another, I’m going to get to the bottom of this mess.”

  A half hour later, Emmy returned to Cammie’s office with a few sheets of paper in her hands. “This is everything I know. Some are more talkative than others, but that’s everything I remember.”

  Cammie and Rick were finishing up their lunch. Wiping his hands on a napkin, Rick took a look at the list and whistled under his breath. “Jeez, Erma Wittinower is part of your group? She’s old enough to be my great grandmother.”

  “She’s sixty-five, Rick,” Cammie pointed out.

  “And Jessie O’Connell? She used to babysit me when I was a kid. How many people in Twin Ponds are witches that I don’t know about?”

  “Calm down,” Cammie ordered. She turned to Emmy. “Be honest with me, Em. Is this group really into the witchcraft stuff or is it more a social group?”

  Emmy thought about it for a moment. “Well, Torri and Clarisse talk about the gods and goddesses, and the different holidays and what they mean. And they do lead us through some rituals and offerings. But I guess you’re right, Sheriff. It’s more of a gathering where we sit, and drink tea, and talk about all kinds of stuff. As a matter of fact, whenever we get together, Jessie knits while we talk. And Erma shows us the latest pictures of her grandchildren who live in Michigan.”

  “Jessie and Erma are widows, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  Cammie turned to Rick. “You see? This is probably a place for two lonely women to go and be with other women. There’s nothing evil about it.” She turned back to the list. “I bet Lydia and Beth have the same curiosity you do.”

  Emmy nodded. “They’re into the same movies and TV shows I am that talk about witches and ghosts and all that cool stuff.”

  “I’m sure it was loneliness that drove Marcy to join the group as well.”

  “Yeah,” Rick murmured. “She was lonely because she was a nasty human being.”

  Cammie cocked an eyebrow at him. “He’s right, Sheriff,” Emmy spoke up. “She didn’t say very much in the meetings, but when she did, it was usually to shred somebody. We all walked on eggshells around her. She actually yelled at me once because she didn’t like the color of my sweater.”

  “Do you know if any of the women on this list make their own teas?”

  “I know Beth tried, but it was so awful tasting she ended up throwing it out. Edna did too, but hers was too bland. It had no flavor at all. I think they both decided to leave the tea making to the expert.”

  “Do you know if Clarisse makes teas?”

  “I don’t really know, but I kinda doubt it. She doesn’t do much when we go over. Just sits around looking bored. It’s Torri who runs around and gets everything organized and leads us in all the rituals and conversations.”

  “Emmy, please continue your search on the internet for anything on Torri and Clarisse. I can’t believe there isn’t something out in the ethers about them. Meanwhile, Rick and I are going to visit the ladies on this list and ask them some questions.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  After dropping off the baggie of tea with Doc, Cammie and Rick decided to divvy up Emmy’s list; Rick went off to interview Erma and Jessie, while Cammie sought out Beth and Lydia. She had to wait for the young women to finish their workday, Beth as the administrative assistant to the school administrator and Lydia as a kindergarten teacher, but they too admitted they enjoyed the camaraderie of the group more than anything else. When Cammie asked Beth about her attempts to make tea, she covered her mouth and giggled.

  “It was awful. It tasted like dirt and grass clippings.”

  Lydia shook her head when asked. “I like drinking the stuff, but I can’t be bothered making it.”

  Cammie quietly glanced at the holes in the multi colored hat Lydia wore. If she was as talented at making teas as she was at knitting, she was probably doing the world a service by not creating her own teas.

  Meeting up afterwards, the two officers concurred that the coven was more of a gathering place where the women could gossip and socialize. They decided to interview Torri and Clarisse’s neighbors. Unfortunately, the nearest home to their trailer was over a mile away and elicited no useful information. They now sat in Cammie’s Explorer, feeling both frustrated and in Cammie’s case, impatient for Sean to get back to her.

  “All roads seem to lead back to Torri,” Rick replied.

  “Yeah it does.”

  He peered at her. “You’ve got that weird look on your face again. Like you stepped in something.”

  Cammie put the vehicle in drive and started down the road. “If the something you’re talking about is the stupidity of Torri to do such an obvious thing like put the salvia in the tea she left Emmy, then you’re right. I did step in something and I don’t like it.” She paused. “If there’s one impression I’ve taken away after talking to Torri, it’s that she’s not dumb. In fact, she’s quite savvy. So why would she risk everything by putting something in a baggie of tea for Emmy?”

  “As you’ve told me, everything starts with a trigger – something that gets the ball rolling. We just need to find out what the trigger was.”

  Cammie remained silent as her mind continued to whirl. A moment later her cell rang. Looking at the display, she saw it was Doc.

  “Hey, what’s up?” she asked, putting him on speaker.

  “I’ve got some good news for you. The toxicology results came in. They found traces of salvia timor in Todd’s system, as well as a large amount in the beer bottle you bagged. According to the findings, Todd didn’t have enough blood alcohol to make him legally drunk.”

  “So it was the salvia that sent him racing through the snow.”

  “Testing on the baggie you gave me found copious amounts of the salvia. If you wonder if it was responsible for Todd’s behavior, just remember what it did to you.”

  Cammie had to agree.

  “So, it’s imperative I find that stuff
in Torri’s trailer.”

  “If she is responsible for this, she’ll never willingly give it to you,” he warned.

  “I know.”

  “Can you get a search warrant?”

  “I can try. But I think I’m going to need something more substantial than gut instinct to get Judge Drury to issue me one.”

  As she hung up, she grew pensive. “This is only conjecture, but I wonder if Todd spilled the beer on himself when the salvia started to take effect. That’s why we smelled booze on him and jumped to the conclusion he’d had too much to drink.”

  “If he saw even half of what you saw, I’m surprised he didn’t spill the entire bottle on himself.” Rick looked at Cammie. “Do you think it’s time to get Torri and Clarisse in for questioning?”

  “Not yet. But soon.”

  After dropping Rick off at HQ, Cammie had one more stop to make before she headed back to Doc’s.

  As she pulled into Paul’s driveway, she found him, as usual, waiting for her. She followed him into his cabin and was soon seated by the window, her hands wrapped around a warm cup of chamomile tea.

  She smiled as she indicated the mug in her hands. “I’m beginning to get the heebie jeebies about drinking this stuff.”

  “Can’t blame you,” he agreed. “But I think you’re safe with the store bought teabags.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Unless Lars decides to spike his tea supply.”

  “I don’t think he’d leave his TV set long enough to spike anything.”

  Everyone knew how dedicated Lars was to watching Law and Order reruns on the small TV he set up next to the register at the Grocery Emporium. He was so obsessed with the show that he now believed himself an expert in criminal law.

  Cammie explained what Doc found in Emmy’s tea.

  “So it was salvia timor that made you see the Giwakwas?” Paul asked as he took a sip of tea.

  “Apparently so. We think it’s also responsible for Todd leaving the safety of his cabin and Marcy seeing aliens. Ever heard of it?”

  “Went to a shaman gathering once where it was offered. Works a bit like ayahuasca.”