Potions and Puzzles

by Agnes Lester Brown

  Lori couldn’t find words to retort with. Obviously Kermit had known Alvin much better than she did. She admitted that much. She’d only met him once. Perhaps he’d just been messing with her mind.

  “This isn’t a matter for the police at the moment, Lori,” Chief Winters said, his arms folded across his chest. “The most we could do from our side was to arrange for the transfer of the body to the coroner. May he rest in peace, like Kermit said.”

  “Thank you, Bob, I much appreciate your help and assistance,” Kermit said. “I’m sure Alvin is in a happier place now. If you’ll excuse me, please, as you’ll understand there’s a lot of work to do.” Chief Winters gave Lori an “I told you so” look and followed on Kermit’s heels, leaving Lori standing alone.

  Chapter Eight

  Lori spent the rest of the day wandering aimlessly around in the Misty Hills Inn. She helped Hazel in the kitchen for a while, carrying snacks to the VIP lounge. Inside their lounge, competitors sat around on comfortable sofas doing newspaper crosswords, playing games on their phones, and discussing Alvin’s death in subdued conversations. She nibbled listlessly on one of Hazel’s homemade cheese puffs and then wandered on.

  For a while, she sat down at the registration desk, where Jasmine was busy typing up a media release about Alvin’s death.

  “is Kermit blaming you for taking Alvin away from the inn yesterday? What do you think he’s going to do now?” Jasmine asked.

  Lori shook her head. “Strangely enough, no. He doesn’t seem angry at all. I was expecting him to come down on me like a ton of bricks. But he never even mentioned it after I spoke to him on the phone. He’s convinced Alvin’s death was suicide and seemed keen to put it behind him and get on with the show, in a manner of speaking.”

  “His death is a real shame,” Jasmine said, pausing her writing for a moment. “When I registered Alvin, he was really nice about it. He looked and acted like a guy in a boy band, giving me compliments, flirting a little, and generally just being cool. Such a contrast to that monster of a woman.” Lori knew she was referring to Brenda.

  “Well, I suppose I better make myself handy,” Lori said, feeling guilty about not contributing much in the line of work. She got up, felt a bulge in her front pocket and instantly remembered what it was—Alvin’s wallet. She’d wanted to give it to Chief Winters, but now that Alvin’s death was no longer “police business,” there was no reason for her to do so. She took it from her pocket.

  “Whose is that?” Jasmine asked, pointing to wallet.

  Lori sat down again and opened it. “It’s Alvin’s wallet. He forgot it in Mrs. Barkley’s house after they had dinner.” She took the baby photo out and showed it to Jasmine.

  “Oh my word. No, don’t tell me he had a kid,” Jasmine gasped and leaned over the desk so she could get a better look at the photo.

  “Dunno. There’s nothing on the back, so we’ll have to ask around a bit more. He’d just broken up with Camelia, so maybe she knows.”

  Jasmine took the wallet and photo from Lori, turned it around and squinted at it. Then she took off her glasses and looked at it once more.

  “There’s something printed here, but I can’t quite make it out.”

  Lori waited for Jasmine to say more. She’d forgotten that her cousin had a sixth witch sense—what she called her “x-ray vision.” She could see things invisible to normal people. That was why she wore those heavy glasses, or else seeing through clothes, walls and cars would drive her crazy.

  “Hmm… I think we need to powder it with a bit of Granny’s anti-invisible potion,” Jasmine said, replacing her glasses. “That would help clarify it, but from what I can see, it looks like some sort of emblem or logo.”

  “That might help to find out who the baby is, yes,” Lori said.

  Jasmine’s curiosity got the better of her. “What else is in there?”

  “Curiosity killed the cat, but take a look for yourself,” Lori said, giving the wallet to Jasmine, who proceeded to delve through the rest of the contents while Lori looked on, feeling uneasy about what Jasmine was doing.

  “Gosh, the man had a full deck of credit cards,” Jasmine said. “Must’ve been nice to have had unlimited cash.” She took out and unfolded a sheet of paper Lori hadn’t noticed before.

  “What’s that?” Lori asked, trying her best to read past Jasmine’s hand.

  “It’s a letter addressed to Alvin,” Jasmine said and started reading it to Lori.

  She read on until the end of the second paragraph and then abruptly stopped midsentence and held out the letter to Lori.

  “I think you better give that to the police, Lori.”

  Lori took the letter from Jasmine, scanned it, and then, taken aback by what she was reading, gasped.

  “You’ve made me feel stupid for the last time. You’ve turned my love for you into raging hate. You’ve soured every sweet thing we ever had. But you won’t get away with wiping me away like a piece of dirt. I won’t rest until I’ve destroyed you, Alvin Parkinson. You may have scorned me, but I will have the last laugh. I will make you suffer.”

  The letter was signed “C” at the bottom.

  Rosie joined them, and Lori gave her the letter to read.

  “Yikes, that’s horrid,” Rosie said, taken aback. “Who’s ‘C’?”

  “Must be Camelia Ashbury. Apparently she was his ex,” Lori said.

  Hearing that, Rosie dove under the desk and retrieved a thick binder, which she opened on the desk.

  “These are all the participant registration documents,” she said as the paged through the binder. “Let’s look and compare the handwriting in the letter to Camelia’s registration paper.” After she found the document she was looking for, she laid it side by side with the letter.

  “It’s her handwriting, all right,” Lori said, and the other two nodded. Even the pen ink was exactly the same.

  Just as Lori put the wallet back into her pocket, the loud clicking of stiletto heels on the tile floor made her look up. It was Camelia walking by, looking downcast and pale.

  “Excuse me,” Lori called after Camelia and picked up the baby photo off Jasmine’s desk. Camelia turned around.

  “Yes?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Lori saw the other two looking at here with wide eyes. But she had to take a chance.

  “I know this may sound strange, but do you know recognize this baby?”

  Camelia looked at the photo for about two seconds. “No, no idea. Whose baby is it?”

  For a moment, Lori weighed her options. “Someone left it here at the registration table. We’re trying to find out whose it is.”

  Camelia shook her head, then turned around and walked on without saying another word.

  “She’s lying,” Jasmine said as soon as Camelia was outside of earshot.

  “I suppose a no was be expected,” Lori said, and she got up, walked outside and headed for the police station.

  Lori almost collided with Ray at the top of the stairs in the Fennelmoore police station.

  “Sorry, Ray, wasn’t watching where I was going,” Lori said apologetically. “Is Kojak in?”

  “Morning, Lori!” Ray smiled as he greeted his future sister-in-law. Lori liked Ray. He was a good fit for Rosie. He treated her well, and they were happy together. She just wasn’t sure how the jovial country-boy policeman would react the first time he saw Granny Fae riding her broom across the skyline of Fennelmoore.

  “Yup, the chief came in a few minutes ago. What’s it about, Lori?” Ray asked, hoping to be helpful.

  Lori still wished Ray had gotten the job of chief when the previous incumbent, Stan Lambert, had left to re-join the Navy. Ray was easy-going, good-natured and a passionate cop. Instead, much to her chagrin, that clown Bob Winters had gotten the job.

  “I need to speak to him about Alvin Parkinson’s death,” Lori said. “You’ve no doubt heard the details?”

  Ray thought for a moment. “Can’t say I have. Who’s Alvin Parkinson?�
��

  Lori shook her head in disbelief. Why was Chief Winters keeping Ray in the dark? “Let me fill you in later, Ray. I’ve got to go.”

  She found Bob Winters behind his desk, talking on the phone about livestock theft to a colleague in a neighboring town. He had a lollipop in his hand and gestured with it for Lori to sit down. Then he continued to talk on the phone for another ten minutes before hanging up.

  “Sorry about that, Lori. We’ve been having cattle disappear again. Anyway, good to see you. Don’t tell me you’ve come to report that your aunt Hazel has burned down the Misty Hills Inn with all her cooking going on there.” Bob held up his arms in a mock hands-up. “It’s a joke, just a joke.”

  Lori chose to ignore Bob’s lame gag and took out Alvin’s wallet. She opened it and handed Bob the letter.

  “I got Alvin’s wallet from Mrs. Barkley. He forgot it in her house. Have a look at this letter his ex-girlfriend Camelia Ashbury, also a contestant at the tournament, wrote to him after he broke up with her.”

  Bob took the letter from Lori. A pained expression spread over his face as he read it.

  “Ooh, nasty. Very nasty. Ouch, sounds like she really had it in for him, hey? I’d have run a mile if I was Alvin.” He handed the letter back to Lori.

  Surprised, Lori looked at Bob. “You don’t agree this is a reason to look into Alvin’s death a little deeper?”

  “That letter is nothing but a lovers’ quarrel. Lovers get into fights every day, all over the world. Sure, this may have been the final straw that pushed Alvin over the edge. But that’s not a crime.” Chief Winters folded his hands behind his head and sat back.

  “Bob, think about this,” Lori said, leaning forward onto his desk. There are millions of dollars at stake here. “Millions. Of. Dollars. We’re talking huge prize money here. Then the reigning world champion, and the guy expected to win this tournament once more, is found dead. Next, this letter from his ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be one of the top three competitors and who stands to gain from his death, pops up. Bob, this is like vultures circling a fallen beast.”

  Chief Winters stopped rocking his chair back and forth, taking in what Lori had said.

  “I’m not convinced, Lori. Do you know how much—” Just then his desk phone rang, and he picked up the receiver.

  Lori tried not to listen to his conversation, but she could hear that it was Nick Dupont he was talking to.

  “No, Nick, wait. Listen to me. That’s not a police matter. Yes, I realize it’s a lot of money. But you need to get a lawyer to straighten that out for you. Okay, pleasure.” He muttered to himself as he put down the phone and looked at Lori.

  “Sounds like Kermit Greenstone paid Nick Dupont’s inn with a rubber check. Now he wants me to be his debt collector. Can you believe it? Like we don’t have better things to do.”

  Lori could almost hear the trap snap shut around Bob Winters’s leg. She looked at him, a slow smile forming on her lips. “What better things to do, Chief? Catch a murderer in your town? Or chasing make-belief cattle rustlers?” she asked, her face pure innocence.

  “Fine, fine,” Chief Winters grumbled, knowing he’d been cornered. “I’ll send Ray to talk to this Camelia lady. And I’ll track down the coroner’s report, though I still don’t believe we’ll see anything untoward in it.

  “In the meantime, let’s keep this quiet, okay? Kermit would not be happy if he knew we were doing any sort of investigation, especially not with all the media around. I promised him I’d keep this whole thing simple. Let’s hope the coroner finds nothing untoward, or else there’s going to be a lot of work to do. If he confirms that it was suicide, you’ll promise to let this rest?”

  Lori nodded solemnly. “Thanks, Chief.” She smiled sweetly.

  Lori left Chief Winters’s office with butterflies in her stomach, not sure whether she’d scored a victory back there or not. It would have been so much easier to just let Alvin rest in peace. Now she might just be opening a can of worms that she’d regret later. On the other hand, it looked like more than one person had a compelling reason to want him out of the way. The question was, had they been desperate enough to kill him?

  Outside, the sun had already set when Lori started walking home. When she was a block away from Whitewood Manor, she started smelling Hazel’s cooking. She stood still and sniffed the air. There’d be roast chicken and a fried-onion-and-potato side on the dining room table tonight, she guessed. Her mouth started watering and she quickened her pace.

  When she entered the living room, Flynn was sitting on the sofa, paging through one of the family’s photo albums. Lori had taken a liking to Flynn. Not only was he a gentleman, but he was easy to relate to, compared to his eccentric fellow competitors in the tournament.

  “You’re becoming part of the furniture here, Flynn,” she teased after he’d gotten up and greeted her. Flynn gave a shy laugh and blushed.

  “So sad about Alvin,” Flynn said as they sat down.

  Lori nodded. “Yes, his death must change the whole competition completely going forward. Who do you think will win now?”

  “Things have indeed changed, yes. Before, everyone accepted that Alvin would walk away with the championship, but now the field is wide open. I think everyone will be pulling out all the stops to get the upper hand. Alvin will be sorely missed. Watching him do a crossword was pure magic.”

  Lori couldn’t help but smile at Flynn’s choice of words.

  “Did you know Alvin well? What was he like as a person?” she asked.

  Flynn grimaced. “Alvin was distant and snobbish. No wonder he and Kermit got along so well. He was selfish, egotistical and not the sort of guy you want your daughter to marry. Perhaps he was different before he became famous, but the money and the adoration went straight to his head, if you ask me. In public he was the perfect guy, but in private he treated everyone around him like dirt. He was a brilliant mind, probably had an IQ off the charts, but with an ego to match. I don’t think he ever noticed me. Most of the time when we were in the same room, he’d look right through me. He needed to win at all costs. He was probably at the pinnacle of his career, and no doubt the most successful crossworder the world had ever seen.”

  “Why would he commit suicide, then, if he was doing so well?”

  Flynn shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. He was under a lot of pressure, like most superstars are, you know. They have to be at the top of their game all the time. I think he just buckled under the strain.”

  Lori next asked the question that had been burning in her mind the whole day.

  “What about him and Camelia?”

  Flynn leant forward and looked ready to impart some gossip. “From what I’ve heard, Alvin saw her at a fashion show in Paris and became obsessed with her. She’s smart, beautiful and streetwise. He introduced her to crosswording, and she took to it like a house on fire. But she’s equally egocentric and self-important, and they’d fight all the time. Just look at the tabloids and you’ll see what I mean.”

  “I heard when they broke up, it was a pretty nasty scene,” Lori said, prodding Flynn to keep talking.

  Flynn laughed. “Oh, they broke up every other day. Camelia’s a drama queen. I don’t think he’d go and kill himself over her.”

  Lori grew more and more worried as she listened to Flynn. It seemed like the Alvin she had seen was a persona of his that few people knew. Flynn was confirming what Chief Winters had said, that the breakup letter from Camelia was nothing extraordinary. It had been just an emotional outburst, nothing more. Her stirring up Chief Winters to dig deeper might just do more harm than good. If she was proven wrong, and the police investigation turned out to be a damp squib, this tournament might just be the last one Fennelmoore ever saw. There was no way Kermit would have it return here when she was constantly meddling and causing trouble for him.

  Hazel’s dinner call came from the kitchen, and the two of them got up to join the others in the dining room.

  “The only
thing that bothers me is something I heard about Kermit,” Flynn said, lowering his voice and putting his hand on Lori’s arm confidentially. “There’s been a rumor that Alvin was about to retire, but Kermit offered him a substantial bonus to keep him in the game since he’s the star attraction. But since Bingles Ice Cream withdrew their sponsorship a month ago, I don’t know how he was going to afford to pay Alvin anything extra. Apparently Kermit’s now in financial trouble after parting ways with the sponsor. All this is hearsay, but it makes you think.” He gave Lori a meaningful look before they walked into the dining room.

  Lori was grateful for the lighthearted atmosphere around the table as everyone dug into their meals. A small part of her wished she’d never spoken to Flynn. She didn’t really want to know about the tournament’s dirty laundry. It was none of her business.

  “Gosh, these crossword people are fussy eaters,” Hazel complained. “This one doesn’t eat red meat, the next one is gluten intolerant, and so it goes on. It’s impossible to keep all of them fed and happy.”

  “Don’t worry Hazel, I’m your biggest fan,” Flynn said as he dished up seconds for everyone. “This cucumber salad is so fresh you can still hear it grow. More pumpkin soup, Grandma?”

  Fae smiled sweetly and held out her plate for Flynn to fill. Lori noticed her Granny was being remarkably nice to Flynn. Aunt Hazel must’ve given her a good talking-to.

  “Now with Alvin out of the way, are you going to win the crossword competition, Flynn? I could do with a rich son-in-law,” Fae asked. The twins sniggered, and Hazel blushed as red as a beetroot at Fae’s tactless quip. Trust Granny to come up with something like that just when everyone believed she was behaving well, Lori thought as she suppressed the giggles about to overcome her.

  Fortunately Flynn was good-humored and niggled her right back. “Oh, yes, of course I intend to win. And you and I are eloping to the Bahamas as soon as I do!”