“Show off,” Wanda said. “She’s no amateur.”
“Some witches have a knack and others don’t,” Pricilla said. “That’s not to say that your friends won’t be able to do it.”
“Actually, you must mean recruits. It’s a shame that more witches aren’t allowed into the ranks of Witches Affairs. Witches much wiser should be on hand to guide them in the right path,” Petunia said.
Belinda trembled as she made her way to the takeoff area. She positioned the broom and off she shot, a little too fast and shaky on the liftoff, but she soon soared high and proud. When she shifted for her landing though, she swooped a little low, and plucked Nellie’s hat off and tossed it on the ground.
The other witches clapped and laughed. Nellie pulled out her wand, but Pricilla took it from her. “Now is not the time. You’re next. I’d hate to see you disqualified.”
Petunia was shocked by Pricilla’s actions, but was relieved that she prevented Nellie from knocking Belinda off her broom mid-flight.
Belinda came to a bumpy stop, but at least she landed on her feet, much to the delight of the crowd. Nellie elbowed her in the ribs as she passed Belinda, but that didn’t take the smile from her face, and Petunia doubted anything could.
“I have a hard time believing you didn’t pass last year,” Petunia said.
“I told you that Nellie sabotaged me. She jinxed me!”
“You can’t allow anger to build up. It can destroy a good witch,” Hazel said.
Nellie took off, but the broom acted up, and she wasn’t able to really get it off the ground. She flopped to the lawn. She jumped up, yelling, “It’s all Belinda’s fault! She put a spell on that broom!”
Wanda shrugged as she took the broom from Nellie and hopped on it. She took it for a short, low-altitude cruise.
“What are you doing, Wanda?” Hazel asked. “Show them how it’s really done.”
“I can’t. I’m afraid of heights!”
Hazel slapped the top of her head. “Oh, bother!”
Wanda came to a safe landing and Hazel waddled to her. She glanced at the broom handle and asked nervously, “Don’t you have any larger brooms. I’m not skinny like the rest of you witches.”
“You’ll be fine,” Pricilla said.
Wanda took off, the handle of the broom bowing slightly. She flew at a safe height, but higher than Hazel’s flight. She conducted a fancy maneuver in which she circled repeatedly, but she grew dizzy and fell to the ground during an abrupt landing. The witches applauded her loudly anyway.
Wanda wobbled back with a hand on her forehead. “I forgot how dizzy that makes me.”
“So you can both fly? I really doubted that for some reason.” Petunia smiled.
“Why don’t you give it a try,” Pricilla encouraged Petunia.
“No thanks. I’m a potion witch.”
“I see. Well, that’s good to know. Potion witches have a power all their own, and I’m glad to see another one will soon be among our ranks,” Pricilla said.
Why was she being so nice? Petunia had to speak with her privately and soon.
Petunia led the way back to Aunt Maxine and Noah, and told Belinda, “I’d like you to shake hands with Nellie.”
“But she hates me.”
“Yes, but sometimes you have to play nice with your enemies so they don’t put a nasty spell on you.”
Belinda sighed. “Perhaps you’re right.”
“I’m sorry for snatching your hat like that,” Belinda said to Nellie. “How about we make amends by shaking hands?”
Belinda extended her hand. Nellie sighed, and took Belinda’s hand, and with a jolt, Belinda fell to the ground. Nellie stalked off with a smirk.
“I’m so sorry for suggesting you do that, Belinda,” Petunia said, helping Belinda to her feet. “I thought it would be better to make amends. I had no idea Nellie would react like that. At least we know what witch to stay away from.”
Pricilla shrugged. “Witches can be so bad sometimes, don’t you think?”
“I’m not sure I’ve ever met a bad witch before,” Petunia insisted.
“Of course not, dear. Your Aunt Maxine wouldn’t dream of allowing anyone to harm you, and it’s not as though there are any witches outside your family in Lake Forest.”
Petunia walked over to Noah. “I’m thinking of a way to speak with Pricilla later. I really would love to pick her brain.”
“She doesn’t seem like a bad witch to me,” he said.
“Let’s head to the kitchen and ask the chef whether Danny delivered room service to Marta yesterday.”
“I’ll take Daria and Belinda with me,” Aunt Maxine said. “They’re serving ice cream sundaes in the dining room about now.” Daria and Belinda’s faces lighted. Petunia’s would have too if she had time for a delectable treat like that.
Noah led the way to the kitchen, but they went through the front this time and asked to speak with the chef. A kitchen worker led them to his office, where the chef stared at a computer screen. Without looking up, he asked, “How can I help you?”
“We were wondering whether Danny delivered room service to the Grand Witch yesterday?”
“Danny delivers lunch to the Grand Witch every day.”
“Does he normally carry a laptop with him?”
“Yes. We use it for orders. I upload the orders when I receive them so he knows that he needs to get back soon.”
“Did Danny have a habit of taking longer than expected when he went to her office?”
“Most of the people who deliver room service tend to take their sweet time getting back, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Thank you, Donald.”
They left him to his computer screen.
Noah asked, “So what now?”
“Perhaps it’s not too late to get a sundae.”
Petunia smiled as they made way for the dining room, which was quite crowded. She smiled as they passed the twins Billie and Charlie with Barbara. “I’m glad to see you ladies have the opportunity to leave your desks.”
“Until there’s a new election there’s nobody really in charge,” Billie said.
“Oh, Estelle told me she was in charge.”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “She’s good at posturing, but she has only been in the Grand Witch’s office a few times.”
“Still, she’s acting Grand Witch.”
“If you say so. I only hope that someone else will step up and be placed on the ballot.”
Petunia wasn’t sure what she meant by that, so she simply agreed, “Yes, someone who won’t die mysteriously like the former ones.”
“If you want to know more about that, you’ll have to visit Iris in prison,” Barbara suggested. “I don’t see her as a murderer, especially after Marta’s murder.”
Noah and Petunia sat at a crowded table because Aunt Maxine’s table was overloaded at the moment. Pansy strutted over. “Don’t you love a good ice cream social? They hand scoop the ice cream, they say.”
“I hardly think they’ll serve cats.”
Pansy licked his mouth. “That’s where you’re so wrong,” he said licking the ice cream from his face.
Petunia and Noah ordered hot fudge sundaes and listened to the chatter of the witches at the table, which included Gwendolyn and Yelda from the ferry.
“I hope you left your familiars in your room,” Petunia said to Gwendolyn.
“As it would seem, Herman and Shelly are off to parts unknown. I hope they don’t get into any trouble.”
“What kind of trouble can a tarantula and boa constrictor get into?”
She shrugged. “Witches bring all kinds of exotic familiars to conventions. It’s hard to leave them home and not so easy to secure boarding for them.”
“The last time she tried,” Yelda began, “she was laughed all the way to the door.”
“You should ask your vet. There are some veterinaries that board those types of pets, err, or familiars.”
“I never knew that
,” Gwendolyn said. “Thanks for the tip.”
Noah’s face tensed and sweat appeared on his brow. “I-I think I found Herman.”
He pushed back from the table and a tarantula crawled up his body, jumping on the table.
Chapter Thirteen
“Herman!” Gwendolyn squealed.
Shrieks filled the air around the table as she held out her hand for Herman to crawl into, and she placed him in the pocket of her outlandish witch’s outfit.
The server came over and shook her head. “I’m afraid you’ll have to leave. You’re making everyone nervous. Nobody wants to see a tarantula in the dining room.”
“What about that lizard?” Gwendolyn asked, pointing out a table where a monitor lizard poked his head from beneath the tablecloth.
“This is a regular three-ring circus,” Petunia said with a nervous laugh.
“I’m out of here,” Noah said, jumping up and leaving. Petunia chased after him.
Noah was pacing the hallway when she caught up to him. “I know that couldn’t have been pleasant.”
“I can’t do this! Why did you bring me here?” Noah asked.
“To help Aunt Maxine.”
“Did you know all these strange pets would be here?”
“How could I when I’ve never been here before?”
Noah pressed a hand to his chest. “I need to go back to our room and relax, but it’s going to be hard to get the image of that spider out of my mind, or the feel of him crawling up my body like that.”
Petunia took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “I was frightened enough watching it.”
Noah looked deeply into Petunia’s eyes and she felt her stomach flutter as he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for talking me off the ledge, but I’d still like to go upstairs.” He winked.
Petunia released Noah’s hand and they went back upstairs to relax before dinner.
Noah sank into the sofa as Petunia sat on the much-harder chair.
“I’d almost order room service if we hadn’t been poisoned this morning,” Noah said.
“I’ll have to agree with that. At least you didn’t ingest the broken glass. I must admit that this is a strange place,” Petunia continued, “but we’ve had the opportunity to find out more information than we’d be able to back home. Still, I’ll be happy when we get back to Lake Forest. I’ll welcome, it actually. I can’t even get any cell service to call to see how Melvin is doing or whether Lucy is getting on okay. I have visions that she’ll be transformed into the Jolly Green Giant by the time we return.”
Noah flipped on the television and watched a witchy newscast that aired the highlights of the day’s wand and flying practice.
Petunia was startled by a knock at the door. When she went to answer it, she found an envelope that had been slid under the door. She opened the door and glanced down both directions of the empty corridor. Inside, she sat down again and opened the envelope. She pulled from it a piece of standard paper on which was written, “Meet me in the parlor dining room at six.” It was signed “Pricilla.”
“Good news. Pricilla wants us to meet her at six.”
Noah cocked a brow. “That’s a good thing?”
“I think so, since we need to question her. She wasn’t so receptive when I tried to earlier. I can’t help but wonder why Hazel and Wanda think she’s such a bad witch. I haven’t seen anything that supports their opinion.”
“Perhaps she’s putting on a front,” Noah suggested.
“I have no idea, but we need to find out what she knows and whether she has an alibi for the day of the murder.”
“The suspect list is increasing.”
“Right now I’m still zoned in on Estelle and her strange request for copies of forms she should already have had.”
“I’m still not happy with the doctor lying to us,” Noah added, “but I can’t see why he’d have a motive to murder the Grand Witch. It’s likely that someone wanted her out of the way, but we have no idea who.”
“That’s why we need to interview Iris, but I’m not sure how we can get to her.”
“Get where?” Aunt Maxine asked as she came into the room, Princess and Pansy following her.
Petunia jumped up. “You found Princess?”
“Pansy did, I think.”
Princess’s white fur was quite dirty and Pansy proceeded to help her clean it, much to her displeasure judging by her low growling.
“I wonder where she was?” Petunia mused.
“She looks as if she’s been in the basement, but we didn’t see her down there,” Noah said.
“Why were you in the basement?” Aunt Maxine asked.
“We wanted to look through Marta’s belongings, but we didn’t find anything. Don’t you think it’s odd she didn’t have anything witch-related, a wand, a broom or spell books?”
Aunt Maxine’s face went blank for a moment. “Odd isn’t the word. I wonder whether she had spell books in her office.”
Petunia had all but forgotten about the book they found above the ceiling in the Grand Witch’s office. She opened her purse and pulled out the book.
“We found this above the ceiling tiles in Marta’s office,” Petunia told Aunt Maxine. “We’ve been so busy looking for clues I forgot all about it.”
Aunt Maxine took the book from Petunia, blew the dust from the spine and quickly set it on a table. “I don’t think this belonged to Marta.”
“Why is that?”
Aunt Maxine’s face lighted up. “Because this is a very old and powerful spell book. I’d heard that it was stolen from a witch decades ago, and that she cast a spell on it.”
“Could that be why all those Grand Witches died so mysteriously?”
“I can’t say, but you had better put it back where you found it.”
“If it’s cursed as you say, perhaps it will continue to cause mayhem if it’s in that office,” Petunia suggested.
“I don’t know anything about spells,” Noah began, “but this book might be the reason so many Grand Witches died. It might be the motive for murder.”
Petunia blinked several times. “So you think that whoever killed Marta was searching for this book?”
“Maybe. Didn’t Barbara mention that Danny went into her office after she was murdered?”
“Yes. He could have been searching for the book. But Estelle and Maria were in her office also, trying to get into her computer.”
“Which had already been taken as evidence.”
“I wonder where all the evidence was taken. I haven’t even seen that detective since we arrived.”
“Estelle said he already left Witchataw,” Aunt Maxine said.
“And she shared that with you because … ?” Petunia asked.
“She wanted me to know from the evidence the detective gathered that I was the only viable suspect, and that no matter what you turn up, she’ll make sure I’m found guilty.”
“We’ll see about that.” Petunia put the spell book back in her bag and disappeared into the hallway.
When she heard loud footsteps behind her, Petunia turned to see Noah striding toward her. “Would you slow down?”
“No.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find Estelle and demand some answers.”
“Well, okay, that’s a good idea.”
They took the elevator to the first floor, where Petunia spoke to the clerk at the check-in desk. “Could you please page Estelle? It’s very important that I speak with her.”
“She doesn’t like to be paged.”
“Either you can do it or I will.”
“Fine, but I hope you realize I’ll get into trouble.”
“She’ll understand when you tell her Petunia Patterson wants to speak with her.”
Petunia waited with Noah as the clerk page Estelle. “Take it down a notch, Tiger,” he advised. “We won’t get anywhere if you jump all over her.”
Noah had a point. “I know, but I can’t hel
p but wonder what will it take to clear my aunt’s name if Estelle is so dead set against her.”
Petunia stared over at the woman at the counter who was on the phone. She wasn’t able to hear what she was saying. It never occurred to her that Estelle wouldn’t show up.
“I’m sorry,” the clerk said. “But I’m unable to reach her.”
“And where exactly were you unable to reach her from?”
The woman blinked repeatedly. “I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Perhaps she’s only following orders, Petunia,” Noah tried to calm her.
Petunia’s eyes welled with tears. “But Aunt Maxine’s freedom is at risk here. What if we’re not able to find enough evidence to clear her?”
“I had no idea that you were related to Maxine,” the clerk said. She leaned in and whispered, “Nobody thinks she killed the Grand Witch. And you’ll find Estelle and Maria in their quarters.”
“Thank you. They won’t know you told us.”
“Good luck,” the clerk called after them as they boarded the elevator.
Noah knocked on the door of what had been the Grand Witch’s quarters.
Maria lazily opened the door and spat, “How did I know that you’d show up here? If I didn’t know better, I’d believe that cretin at the desk told you we were here.”
“She wouldn’t tell us anything,” Noah said. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that you two would be holed up here.”
“Now why would we be doing that?” Estelle asked as Maria opened the door further.
“To cover up what you’re really trying to do -- frame my aunt for a murder she didn’t commit!”
“Come inside and calm down,” Estelle ordered. “We don’t need anyone overhearing your wild accusations.”
Petunia and Noah entered the room, but declined the offer to sit. “Where is Detective Winslow,” Petunia demanded, “or did you dispatch him already?”
“What on earth do you mean by that?” Estelle asked.
“My aunt told me you sent him packing.”
“That’s of no concern of yours.”
“Where is the evidence he compiled and Marta’s computer? It wasn’t with her belongings you packed up.”
Meows, Magic & Missing (Lake Forest Witches Book 3) Page 11