by Tonya Kappes
I pushed open the doors and took a quick peek inside. One of the rooms had a messed up bed, so I figured that one was Patch’s. Another room was a bathroom. And the other room was a bedroom where the bed was still made and there was a suitcase on the floor.
I looked back over my shoulder and could hear Oscar consoling Patch, but didn’t see them following me. I walked inside and did a quick scan of the room to see if there was anything I could find or something that would alert me to why someone would want Patty dead. Namely any of my friends.
On the table next to the bed was a half full glass of water beside a photo of younger versions of Patty and Ophelia, both wearing a uniform. I picked it up and took a closer look. They were standing in front of a building and other people with variations of the uniform were behind them, but not part of the picture. It was like someone had snapped their photo together. Both of them smiling at the camera.
I slipped the photo into my jeans pocket when I heard Oscar’s voice a little closer. My intuition tugged and told me to get out of there. I hurried down the hall where I noted I had been right, the big room was a large family room with a vaulted wood-beam ceiling and the back wall was shaped in an A-frame with floor-to-ceiling windows with the perfect view of the pumpkin patch.
“Nice view.” I realized it wasn’t probably the right thing to say when Patch and Oscar walked in, but I had sincerely meant it.
“Yes. I picked this lot for that reason. I knew when the Order of Elders opened up the village to new businesses, that I had to be part of it. Especially in Kentucky with all the seasons. It’s perfect to grow pumpkins,” Patch said.
“Where is your coffee?” I asked and walked over to the kitchen.
The cabinets were grey and the countertop was concrete. His house was very masculine and fit his personality.
“In the cabinet above the coffee pot.” He sloppily gestured. “Just make yourself at home.”
He eased himself on one of the stools at the high top counter and Oscar sat down next to him.
“Do you have any clues who might’ve done this?” Patch propped his elbow up on the counter and held up his head with his hand.
“That’s how I’m hoping you can help.” Oscar began to ask his questions while I found all the stuff to make the pot of coffee. “Do you know anyone who might’ve wanted to hurt him?”
“He has a big mouth. There are plenty of times he’s gotten himself into scuffles when he should’ve let stuff roll off his back. But you saw him with Colton.” He shrugged.
“Why would he and Colton have gotten into a fight?” I asked and leaned my backside against the concrete countertop, folding my arms.
“They had gone to the wizard academy together. Didn’t you go?” he asked Oscar.
“Actually, I didn’t. But tell me about their time there.” Oscar and I both had had no idea we were spiritualists until we were adults, so we got the fast track education. Oscar took out a pad of paper and began to jot down what Patch was saying.
“Colton’s father and my father were both police officers and had gone to the academy together as young boys. They were very competitive and Colton’s father got the Medal of Valor.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s the highest medal awarded to one student in the academy. That student gets to pick whatever spiritual community they want to run. As a stab to my family and from the competition with my father, Colton’s father picked our family’s spiritual community in the west.” Patch bit the edges of his lip. “He did it purely out of spite. He could’ve picked anywhere. But he didn’t. He wanted to have more competition with my father. My father had to work under him as a deputy. My father had terrible working hours. Got the worst cases. It was a nightmare. But my father had to stick with it since it was our only income and he had sent Patty and me to the best boarding school.”
“Is that where you met Ophelia Biblio?” I asked.
The coffee pot beeped that it was finished and I searched the other cabinet next to the coffee pot to retrieve the mugs.
He continued as I poured three cups of coffee, “Yes. It was apparent that the competition didn’t just stop with my father and Mr. Lance.” Patch reached for the cup as I set it down. He curled his hands around it. “Mr. Lance had heard where we were going to school and he enrolled Colton there as well.”
Oscar and I sipped our coffee as the story unfolded, giving Colton a motive to kill.
“Not only did Colton win the Medal of Valor, but he also won Ophelia’s heart.” Patch twisted his body to look out over the pumpkin patch beyond the windows.
“You mean to tell me that Patty and Ophelia were a couple?” I asked.
“They weren’t just a couple. They were engaged. Ring, dress, date and all.” He turned back around. The corners of his eyes dipped along with his lips. “It was more of a family arrangement but Patty was head over heels in love with her but she wasn’t in love with him. Don’t get me wrong. They were good friends and had a great time, but the day Colton showed up, Patty said he could see it in her eyes that she was smitten.”
“So your family lost out again to the Lances.” Oscar was putting together the puzzle pieces of the past and a reason for murder.
“If you’ll excuse me. I think I need to go to the bathroom. I think I’m going to be sick.” Patch jumped up and headed back down the hall.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Oscar asked. I flinched at the tone of his voice.
I pushed myself off the counter and walked over to the bar where Oscar was sitting. I leaned over and whispered, “Did Patty go see Ophelia at Ever After and try to steal her back? Make her confused since she isn’t married to Colton and that’s why she asked Colton for some space? Colton figured out or she told him that Patty was in town and that’s. . .”
“A reason for Colton to murder him,” Oscar finished my sentence. His voice was absolutely devoid of any emotion and it chilled me.
Chapter Nine
The town was abuzz with the news of Patty Potter’s death. Even though he wasn’t a citizen, it was still hard for everyone to process that there had been a murder. Word spread fast in the small spiritual village.
“Good morning,” I tried to put on a cheery face when customers walked through the door.
Since Petunia was the Village President, she got in touch with the shop owners to let them know it was business as usual and the police had everything under control. She knew as well as I did that Oscar had no idea who’d done this, but there were suspects and motives.
My thoughts swirled around to Ophelia. I couldn’t imagine her killing anyone, but the creepy conversation I’d overheard her and Patty having in the woods gave her motive. If he wasn’t going to leave her alone, she had motive to force him to.
“Excuse me,” the customer waved her hand in front of my face.
“I’m so sorry.” I blinked. “I haven’t had enough coffee this morning. How can I help you?”
“My doctor said I’ve got a rotator cuff problem.” The woman did windmills in the middle of the shop. When she turned to face the light, I noticed it was Hazel Jones.
Mr. Prince Charming ran underneath the table, the tip of his white tail stuck out from underneath the red tablecloth.
“Hazel.” My face spread into a smile. “Welcome to my shop. I met you last night. June Heal.”
Hazel squinted her eyes. She returned the smile. “Oh, honey. Of course, you are married to that hunky police officer of our town.”
“I sure am.” It was so refreshing to see new faces living in the village.
The spry old woman didn’t waste any time getting down to business.
“Now, if it was a rotator cuff, I don’t think I could do this.” She wind-milled her arms the other way.
“May I?” I reached out to touch her arm.
She didn’t hesitate. She jutted her arm out and pulled up her sleeve.
“I’m not a doctor or anything.” I put my hands around her arm.
My intuition took over and a strong smell of roses curled around my nose. I moved my hands up her arm and grazed her shoulder.
“Sometimes I hate to see summer end.” I gazed at her. “I have the prettiest rose garden at my home and sometimes it makes me sad to see them die in the fall.”
“I have a rose garden.” She squealed and rolled down her sleeve. “I work in it all day long.”
“I love working in mine.” I rubbed my deltoid muscle. “Sometimes I get really sore about here.”
“That’s where my pain is. The doctor said it’s radiating from the rotator cuff and wants me to get a MRI.” She shook her head. “I’d heard about your shop and decided to come see if you got any homeopathic stuff to try before I go under the knife.”
“We don’t want that to happen, do we.” I smiled and took the bottle from her hands. “I’ll be right back.”
I glanced around the shop to make sure everyone was okay. I was more than happy to disappear behind my partition and concoct a potion for my customer. It was a great distraction from what had taken place a couple hours earlier. I snagged my apron off the hook next to the counter and put it on.
Mr. Prince Charming jumped up next to the cauldron and watched as I ran my hand down the ingredient shelf. The Calendula glowed, letting me know it was the perfect ingredient to add to my potion for Hazel’s pulled deltoid. It was a wonderful homeopathic ingredient to help heal wounds.
I sprinkled a dash of the orange ingredient into the cauldron. The thick murky liquid rolled to a boil. The ladle stirred in a counter-clockwise circle three times before changing course to stir in a clockwise circle.
The moving liquid deep in the cauldron swirled the potion to a pink with red accretions on the bottom. It smelled of the most fragrant roses.
“Hmmm.” I took a nice long whiff. It was one of the most fragrant potions I could remember. I smiled, knowing how much Hazel was going to benefit from the special potion.
This was one of the main reasons I loved being a witch. To actually be able to help people with their real problems.
The bell over the door dinged and I stuck my head out from behind the partition to see Faith making her way back to the counter, only to be stopped by Hazel.
I put a sprinkle of Bellis perennis in the cauldron for good measure. As it aids in healing cuts and wounds it would give Hazel a boost to her immune system, not that she needed it.
The baby blue bottle from the shelf glowed. The pink butterfly on the bottle lit up and sparkled, letting me know it was the perfect bottle for Hazel’s potion.
Gingerly, I picked it up off the shelf and smiled. I remembered the day the bottle appeared and I had wondered who the special bottle was meant for.
My eyes slid down the shelf, taking in all the bottles that had appeared in my life. Some days there were more bottles appearing than I had space for, but if they showed up, then I knew they were for me to use on someone special.
When I made a special potion for someone, the bottle that was intended for that potion and that person aligned and would glow so I knew it was meant to be.
I uncorked the top and let it dangle from the brown cord attached to the neck of the bottle and held the bottle over top of the cauldron, allowing the potion to magically transfer from the cauldron to the bottle.
I quickly grabbed the spray bottle that held the cauldron cleaner and spritzed the inside so it would be ready for the next time I needed it.
“I see that you two have met.” I walked around the counter where Faith and Hazel were still chatting.
“Yes, we were just getting acquainted.” Faith looked at me. “Did you know that Hazel lives in the new development?”
“I did. We met last night.” I held the pretty butterfly bottle to her. “She’s got a rotator cuff issue and her doctor said she might need surgery, but we are going to try rubbing this on morning and night. All over your shoulder, down your arm and under your armpit.”
Hazel repeated the direction.
“Don’t worry.” I stuck my hand in the front pocket of my apron and pulled out a card with instructions that just so happened to appear as I need them. I loved how that happened. “Here are the directions in case you forget.”
“Can I take your photo for the art gallery?” Faith asked.
Hazel proudly held the bottle up to her face and smiled real big for the camera as Faith clicked away.
“Now, you two need to come by and see my rose garden. I’ll make up a pitcher of tea.” Hazel paid me for the potion. “Stop by anytime. No need to call!”
Faith and I waved Hazel goodbye.
“I’m so glad you are here.” I glanced around the shop to make sure no customers needed me. I motioned for Faith to follow me behind the counter. “I heard your report in the paper about Patty.”
Since Petunia had notified everyone, I knew everyone knew and it could be discussed outside of Oscar’s pending investigation.
“It’s terrible,” she said. “But he was a little nasty. He threatened me to stop taking pictures.”
“Really?” I asked as if I hadn’t already known. “Why?”
“Didn’t you hear him at the fight between him and Colton?” She shook her head. “He was so mad.”
“Oh that’s what you meant when he threatened you?” I asked again to make sure.
“Yeah. I guess he didn’t want anyone to see him fighting. But I’m sick over Colton.” She shook her head.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You can’t tell me that Oscar doesn’t think Colton is who killed Patty.” She drew back and held the camera snug to her chest.
“I don’t know. You know Oscar.” I pish-poshed her thinking. “He doesn’t tell me anything that goes on outside of the office.”
“You’d better get going.” Faith tapped the watch on her wrist. “You are going to be late for your own smudging.”
I looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed it was already time for the council meeting.
“I figured I’d watch the shop so you didn’t have to close.” She walked around me and put the camera down on the counter.
“You are right.” I was thankful for Faith being there to help out. She was a great part-time employee. I untied the apron and hung it up. “Do you really think Colton killed him?”
“Absolutely.” Her quick-to-judge answer rang deep in my soul. “What?”
I didn’t have a very good poker face.
“I don’t know.” I grabbed my smudging materials from underneath the counter and stuck them in my bag. “Patty and Colton had words, but I just don’t see Colton as the killer.”
Though I had the information about Patty and Colton’s history, my intuition told me there was more to the story. By no means was it telling me that Colton didn’t do it, but it also wasn’t jabbing me to say he did.
“From what I heard,” Faith leaned in. “Ophelia was leaving Colton for Patty.”
“Who did you hear that from?” I was curious as to where the gossip mill had started.
“You tell me.” Faith shrugged and began to straighten the bottles on the display table in front of the counter. “I heard you were with her last night.”
“Gerald?” My brows lifted. He was the only person who saw us last night.
“Gerald?” Faith tsked. “He’d be the last person to gossip.”
“Then who?” I asked.
“Patty Porter.” Her eyes darkened.
“June,” the voice called from the door of the shop. It was Chandra Shango from the shop next door, A Cleansing Spirit Spa. “Do you want to go together?”
A cool morning breeze shuffled a few leaves across the floor. Mr. Prince Charming scurried across the room and batted at them as if he were playing a game.
She referred to the council meeting. We usually left our shops the same time and walked up the hill together.
“You talked to Patty last night after he got into a fight with Colton?” I asked.
Faith nodded her head.<
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“Well?” Chandra stuck her hands on her hips, hiking up the side of her cloak.
“I’ll be back.” I held my finger up in the air. “And I want to hear everything he had to say.”
“I’ve got you covered.” Faith walked over to another table and straightened more of the displays.
There was a purple mist that hung over the mountainous background. The sun was trying to burst through to give a little warmth to the crisp fall day.
“I think I need to hire someone.” Chandra made simple conversation. “I’ve been so busy and having these meetings in the middle of the day makes me close down and I simply can’t afford to have that reputation with the new citizens.”
Reputation? Her word struck a chord with my intuition.
“Chandra.” I kissed her on the cheek on our way up the hill to The Gathering Rock. “You are a genius!”
Colton and Ophelia might be the obvious suspects, but that was too obvious for me. I couldn’t forget the fight I had heard between the brothers and Oscar didn’t seem to take that into consideration. He assumed it was just a tiff between brothers. But a tiff didn’t involve words over my dead body as Patch had promised.
I was definitely going to stop by and see Patch again. This time alone and try to figure out what exactly their brotherly love consisted of.
“Good afternoon.” I smiled at the village council members that included Petunia, Gerald, and Izzy, while Chandra joined them.
They stood at the front of The Gathering Rock. I placed my smudging items next to the rock and got them set up so when all the members of our spiritual community showed up, we were ready to go. I was on a mission to get back to the shop and see exactly what Faith had to say and then make another trip over to the new development.
“June, may I speak with you for a moment?” KJ appeared next to me. He stood in his traditional headdress and loin cloth clothing I was used to seeing him in. He tilted his head to the side and slowly walked into the wooded area next to The Gathering Rock space.
The ceremony wasn’t ready to begin and there were spiritualists still climbing the hill, so I walked over to him.