Scent to Kill: A Natural Remedies Mystery (Natural Remedies Mysteries)
Page 26
“Yes, I’m angry. Rick was wrong to do what he did. It wasn’t necessary. I loved Rick but I loved Roger, too. Roger and I knew we were soul mates the minute we met each other at NYU. But he loved other women too much. So I married Rick. I know that Roger did some bad things, and I know his family weren’t good people. So, perhaps justice was served. But I will miss him. I’ll miss them both.” She took a sip of tea, then gave me a wry smile. “You know what the worst of it is?”
“What?”
“That Rick killed Roger and I didn’t know. I mean, I was on that estate, sharing my bed with a murderer, and I didn’t have a clue. Some psychic, huh? It’s made me question every assumption I’ve ever had about myself. Now I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
“Maybe it’s like the way doctors are told they should never treat their own family. When you’re too close to someone, you don’t have any objectivity, and you can’t always see the truth about them. It’s not necessarily a reflection on your abilities.”
She reached out and patted the back of my hand. “Well, that’s a very generous take on it. Thank you.”
“I was wondering about something. I had a chance to look into James Russell’s diary, and it said that ‘MJ and R’ had come to visit. I thought it was Rick, but it was Roger, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “I went with Roger to see James. He wanted to talk to him about selling the estate. The house was worthless, but if Roger sorted out his father’s mortgages, the land could be worth a fortune. James, however, wasn’t having any of it. He threatened to sue and told us he would talk to his lawyer, Les Barber.”
So that was LB.
“So you and Roger were having an affair?”
She nodded. “We’d become involved again, but I thought we were discreet. I don’t know how Rick found out.”
“It was probably Amanda. She seemed as protective of Rick as she’d been of Roger.”
“Maybe.” MJ took another sip of tea. “Or maybe Rick had a sixth sense about me. That man spent a lifetime reading and catering to my every mood.”
I got up from the table, went over to the counter, and picked up a box of the Fresh Face cream. “My aunt Claire created this. I want you to have it. I think you’ll find it soothing.” I told her briefly what had happened in June. “I think I could have really used your help.”
She opened the jar and put some of it on her face. “I would have been glad to help you. I can feel the healing and love in this cream.” She put the top back on, put it back into the box, and closed the lid. “Willow, I came here to tell you something. I want you to know that your aunt Claire is well and she is proud of you. I thought you should know.”
I was stunned. “How do you know that?”
“I knew that you didn’t want to do the work with me, so I had a talk with her myself one night. She’s so glad you’ve taken her advice and are living more in balance.”
I could hardly breathe. “Those were the exact words Aunt Claire had used in a letter she wrote to me. Nick gave it to me after she died.”
“I know.”
“So you are a real psychic, after all?”
MJ considered my question for a moment, then said, “I know that Rick and Pierre and the crew are skeptical about my abilities. That’s why he had Amanda use all that hocus-pocus, like the lighting effects and the noises. It’s a TV show, so you need a certain amount of drama. But the bottom line is, I am a true psychic. Sometimes people’s spirits are like trapped energy and just need a helping hand to move on.”
“I believe that, too.” I gave MJ a penetrating look. “So, Aunt Claire, she’s okay?”
MJ took my hand. “She’s fine. And she loves you.”
CHRYSTLE FIEDLER is also the author of Death Drops, the first novel in her charming Natural Remedies mystery series. A freelance journalist who specializes in alternative health topics, her work has appeared in Natural Health, Better Homes & Gardens, Prevention, Vegetarian Times, and Remedy. She lives in Greenport, New York.
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Also by Chrystle Fiedler
Death Drops
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Chrystle Fiedler
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First Gallery Books trade paperback edition February 2013
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fiedler, Chrystle.
Scent to kill : a natural remedies mystery / Chrystle Fiedler.
p. cm.
Sequel to: Death drops.
Summary: “In Scent to Kill, the second novel in the Natural Remedies cozy series, Dr. Willow McQuade must solve the murder of a producer of a new psychic television show”—Provided by publisher.
1. Naturopaths—Fiction. 2. Television producers and directors—Crimes
against—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3606.I327S34 2013
813’.6—dc23
2012032143
ISBN 978-1-4516-4361-9
ISBN 978-1-4516-4363-3 (ebook)