by Tonya Kappes
“There!” I pointed in the air.
Ophelia opened her eyes and snapped the photo out of thin air and made it physical. She handed it to me.
I held it up and she looked over my shoulder to look at it.
“I don’t see anything.” She squinted.
“There you and Colton are next to the counter.” I pointed to them. Their heads were together.
“That’s when we were fighting.” Sadness hung on the edge of her words.
“Don’t worry about that.” I used my open hand to rub her back. “See the dark-haired guy at the front of the shop?”
She dipped her head forward to get a better look.
“You’ve got good eyes.” She squinted. “I see the silhouette.”
“That same guy is in some of Faith’s photos.” I left out all the details. “I don’t know who he is but I can place him here. And it sure does look like a wand in his hand.”
“You are an angel!” She squealed. “Colton! I think June knows who killed Patty.”
“Whoa.” I stopped her from getting her hopes up. “I don’t know him but I plan on finding out.” I shook the photo. “Can I take this with me?”
“Absolutely.” Her eyes grew. “Go! Figure this out so we can open and enjoy All Hallows’ Eve.”
The excitement in her voice put a little giddy-up in my step. I was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this. And the only way to do that was to visit Patch and ask him who this man was.
The day was getting away from me so I darted up behind the police station and headed straight to the pumpkin farm instead of grabbing the Green Machine. Sometimes by foot was quicker than by wheels.
I tried to call Oscar again, but it went straight to voicemail. Maybe he was listening to his messages and was going to call me back. I left another message to call me because I felt like there was a connection between clues. Patch was in one of the photos talking to the man so I knew he’d be able to at least identify him. My phone beeped to let me know it was dying.
The pumpkin farm was closed and I had to straddle a few pumpkins on my way through it, careful not to trip over the thick vines that seemed to make a thorny maze for me. No wonder Mr. Prince Charming didn’t want to come.
Across the field I heard someone calling my name. Jo Ellen was in her backyard, her arms waving to me over her head. When I waved back, she bent down and picked up the white kitten, dangling her in the air to show me.
I made my way over to her house. I might as well check on her and the kitten like I had promised Petunia.
“How do you like Snow White?” she asked.
“Perfect name.” I took Snow White from her and rubbed my hands down her fur. I looked up at the house. “Where’s your mom?”
“She’s inside with my dad. Fighting.” She rolled her eyes. “They needed parent time. That means they are arguing. My dad actually took my side for once.”
“Oh yeah.” I was curious what that meant. If I was about to become a parent, I needed all the ammunition on how these little people’s minds worked.
“Yeah. He had me a fun wizard costume with little wands and all. But she wanted me to be a princess because my wands are missing.” Her lips turned down. “Daddy brought me new ones today, but Mommy was so mad.”
I glanced up at the house. My gut tugged. Her wands went missing? Tish appeared at the back glass door, a man with dark hair next to her.
“Look at this ugly doll he gave me. I don’t even like dolls,” disappointment rang in her voice.
Turn to the side, my head begged as the knot in my throat nearly stopped my breathing. I didn’t have the effort to look at Jo’s doll.
“Hi, June!” Tish yelled after she opened the door. “Jo Ellen Broussert, come say ’bye to your daddy.”
It took everything I had in my body to wave back and put a smile on my face. Not only did I have physical evidence that Broussert was at the bookstore and the pumpkin farm, he wasn’t on vacation like Oscar had thought. Plus he had a motive to kill Patch from what Hazel said.
I watched as the dark-haired man wrapped Jo in his arms and slid my eyes down to the doll. I reached down and picked up a homemade voodoo doll.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I stumbled across the yard trying to make my way to Patch’s house. If I could make it past Hazel’s yard, I knew Patch would be a safe haven. My theory of Broussert killing Patty believing he was Patch made more sense than ever. Not only did I have the photo evidence, I had the voodoo doll that looked almost identical to the one found at the crime scene.
“Oscar, where are you?” I stopped once I made it over to Hazel’s yard and out of sight of Tish’s back door. I held the voodoo doll up to my face. “I know who killed Patty.”
I took my phone down from my ear and noticed it’d died. I threw it in my bag.
“June? Honey, you okay?” Hazel suddenly stood up from her rose garden. She was rubbing her hand on her hip.
“I’m fine.” I waved the voodoo doll in the air before I stuck it in my bag. I tugged my wrist when my charm bracelet caught.
“Let me help you.” She waddled over and looked at the bracelet. “Oh, honey. My eyes can’t help you.”
“It’s okay.” I got myself free. I pulled away and started toward Patch’s.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked. “Come in for some tea. You look like you could use something. You are looking a little peaked.”
“No thank you.” I shook my head.
“June, if you are pregnant, you need to keep hydrated.” And she had to go there.
I could wait for Oscar to call me back and then go over to Patch’s. As long as I wasn’t with Tish.
“Okay. I could use a refresher.” It was nice to see that I pleased Hazel.
We walked into her house and she insisted I sit on the couch and rest while she got my tea.
I was so nervous I wasn’t able to sit still. I walked around the family room, taking a look outside over the pumpkin farm.
“Have you seen Patch?” I asked.
“Last time I saw him, he was going to the farm to meet Broussert.” Her words were like knives to my ears.
“Oh no.” I gasped, wondering if Broussert was going to take that opportunity to finish the job he botched. I dragged my eyes across the wall to look at her in the kitchen and the photo of her and her grandson and son caught my eyes.
“Oh no, what?” she asked.
An uneasiness spiced with irritation coiled deep in my bones as my eyes focused on the dark-haired man that had the exact same nose as the man in all the photos. I composed myself and walked into the kitchen. Hazel smiled at me as she stirred the iced tea in the glass.
“I’m not thirsty. I’m going to be going. I’m going to be late to meet Oscar.” I gave her a hug and noticed the insect killer in the white bottle sitting on the kitchen windowsill. There was a small white trail from the window to the glass.
“I really think you need to drink for the baby.” She pulled back and glanced in the direction of the bug killer.
Suddenly I felt dizzy as I read the banner across the bug killer. Boric Acid.
“Well, fiddlesticks.” Hazel took a step back. “I was afraid of this. When I saw you with my cute little doll I had made, I figured you weren’t stupid. And now this.” She waddled over and picked up the bug killer. “Broussert promised my son the farm job. He promised me Patch’s property. I’m an old lady and just want to spend my last days with my grandson, son and my roses. I have bad eyes.” She tapped her eye. “So when I offered Patch an iced tea with a little of the boric acid, I had no idea it was his brother until you mentioned it. I honestly thought I didn’t give him enough. After all, he was so tired from the events of the night when I popped over there to see him after everyone left.”
“It’s okay. I understand.” I refused to take the glass as she held it up to me.
“Since you understand, then you should have no problem drinking this.” She held it up to my face.
“No thank you. I’m going to leave.” I moved around her and headed to the front door.
“Edwin, she’s trying to leave,” she said as I made my way down the hall. I had to get out of there.
“Hi,” the dark-haired man stood between me and the door. “I’m going to have to ask you to stay for a beverage.” His head tilted side-to-side as if he was joking around with me.
“Oh, I can’t, but thank you.” I pushed my hand around him to grab the handle of the door.
“Well, it’s not up to you.” He pulled out a gun and stuck it in my gut.
“I’m pregnant.” The words tumbled out of my mouth.
“Not for long.” He shoved the gun deeper in my stomach, forcing me to take a step back.
The knock at the door threw us all for a loop.
“Oscar is here.” I saw him from the window. He was looking over toward Patch’s house.
“Don’t say a word or I kill you both,” he said in a deep, low voice that told me he meant business.
Edwin put his finger up to his mouth to tell me to hush and pointed the gun to the other room so I was out of sight when he opened the door. On my way down the hall, I set my bag in view of the door hoping Oscar was observant enough to see it.
Hazel sat in her chair sipping on her cup of tea with a smile on her face and a shotgun at her feet. As sweet as pie, but the devil inside.
“You know that Patch fellow is crazy. I overheard him saying something to Tish about having some kind of psychic power.” Hazel rolled her eyes. “The world is much better off without that quack. He’ll be joining you and his brother soon enough.”
Even though I should be thinking how I could get out of there alive, I was happy to hear that Patch was opening up to Tish and maybe they had a shot of a mortal-spiritualist relationship, even if she was Broussert’s ex-wife and Jo Ellen was his daughter.
Edwin walked back into the kitchen. “Got rid of him. He said he’d gotten your message and the nosy neighbor kid told him you walked over here with her dolly. I told him I was visiting my sweet mom and we hadn’t seen you.” His evil grin curled up on his lips like a snake.
He walked back in the family room and stood in front of the back door, facing me and holding the glass of poison. “Now you must kill yourself, right Mom?”
“Right, boy. Then you can go over to the farm and get rid of that crazy Patch Potter so you can move in next door and take over his job like Broussert had promised you in the first place.” They both stared at me.
In a flash, the glass of the back door shattered as Oscar bolted through, sending shards of glass everywhere, one sticking right in Hazel’s hand that was holding the shotgun and one in the chest of Edwin.
The last thing I remember before it went black was Edwin falling right on top of me and the glass of poison dripping down my leg.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Good morning.” I’d know those lips anywhere. I smiled underneath the kiss and let Oscar’s sweet voice drift in my ears. “You’ve been asleep long enough.”
“Have I?” I questioned. My brain turned on. I sat straight up. I glanced around the room. “What happened?”
“Smart move on the bag.” He ran his hand down the back on my head before he curled me into his arms. “You scared me. I was at the farm waiting for Broussert to come so I could question him about his wife. Patch was there and he told me that Broussert was going to be late because he was at his ex-wife’s house. He went on, telling me how Broussert said something strange was going on in the agri-hood because the wizard outfit he bought his daughter went missing so I naturally thought you were right about Broussert so I zoomed over to the bookstore because you mentioned something about photos and I’d heard from Colton that you were there earlier when he called to let me know he’d left the jail.” His heart pounded beneath his chest. I was never so glad to hear his beating heart. “Then Ophelia told me about the dark-haired man and again, I thought of Broussert. I raced back to the agri-hood and over to Tish’s house where Broussert was still there and I had a few words with them. I found out that it’s Tish who wants the Crazy Crafty Chick because apparently she understands what it means to marry a spiritualist.”
I pulled back.
“She told you that in front of Broussert?” I asked.
“No, she pulled me aside and told me that she and Patch were in love and she wanted to marry him. He did what we are supposed to do in those situations, gave her a memory spell about the conversation, if the spell erases the conversation from the recipient’s mind, then true love doesn’t prevail. If the recipient remembers the conversation, a spell can’t be put against them because love prevailed.”
“So that’s what happened between Darla and Dad,” I let out a heavy sigh and nuzzled back up against Oscar.
“After I saw Edwin at the door with dark hair and your bag on the ground, plus Mr. Prince Charming sitting on the front porch, I knew you were in there.”
I looked over at Mr. Prince Charming curled up at the edge of the bed. He might be ornery at times, but he did his job.
“I called Colton for backup and I saw you in there on the couch and I had to crash through. Both confessed to the murder. Edwin had planned on pinning it on Broussert—he knew Broussert bought his daughter the wizard outfit so he stole the wands from Ever After Books to tie the murder to Broussert. The voodoo doll was Hazel’s idea because she said he was a freak physic or something like that when Colton was hauling her off.”
“And of course I blacked out.” I laughed.
“Big Edwin landing on you didn’t help, but he only has a few scratches from the glass stabbing him.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’m not sure I’m going to let you help me anymore. You stick to the potion making and being the sweet-natured little witch.”
“We will see.” I pulled away and stood up. I needed to go to the bathroom. The pregnancy test said first thing in the morning. “I’ll be right back.”
I paddled down the hallway and found my purse on the counter. I took out the test and headed to the bathroom.
After a few minutes I looked at it.
Negative. I held it for a few seconds, taking in my feelings and what exactly that meant.
“June, are you coming to back to bed?” Oscar asked. “We have a few minutes before we have to get up for the All Hallows’ Eve celebration.
“Yeah,” I called back and buried the pregnancy test in the bathroom garbage can before I headed into the bedroom where I found Oscar with a wry grin on his face. “What are you up to?”
“Come here and find out.” He reached for me and curled me into his warm, safe arms. “So are you?”
“Am I what?” I looked up at him. The look of love in his big blue eyes spread to his lips.
“Are you pregnant?” he asked.
“No.” I lowered my eyes. “How did you know?”
“I ran into Adeline at the Piggly Wiggly when I was getting the candy and she asked me if congratulations were in order.” He grinned.
“Are you upset?” I asked.
“Are you?”
“No.” I wasn’t upset. But one thing the idea of being pregnant did give me was certainty that one day I did hope to become a mom. Just not today.
“I think we could use more practice. Lots more practice.” Oscar teased before he clicked off the bedside table light and covered Madame Torres with a pillow.
“Thank you,” Madame Torres muffled with a grateful voice. And Mr. Prince Charming ran out of the room.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Excitement was in the air and there was no denying that All Hallows’ Eve had come. Every shop owner in Whispering Falls had their doors open, their windows decorated, and a bowl full of candy waiting for all the children to come and partake in the ceremonies.
“Hi, June!” Jo Ellen ran inside A Charming Cure wearing her costume.
“Ms. Heal.” Tish reminded her.
“June is fine.” I smiled and noticed Jo Ellen was now a
cowgirl. “Another change in costume?” I asked.
“Yes” Jo bounced on the toes of her tiny pink cowboy boots. She held out her Halloween basket in the shape of a horse’s saddle. “I couldn’t leave Miss Princess Charming at home.”
“Miss Princess Charming?” I looked into the basket. The little white kitten was curled up on the bottom. “I thought you named her Snow White?”
“I had to name her after Mr. Prince Charming.” She swayed back and forth.
Mr. Prince Charming must’ve heard his name. He darted out from underneath the table where he’d been all day since I’d put a small bowtie cat collar on him.
“Oh, Mommy! Look.” Jo giggled. “He has on a costume. Can we get Miss Princess Charming a costume?”
“Thanks, June.” Tish glared at me and I laughed. “Maybe next year.”
Jo took it better than I thought and she sat down on the floor of the shop to pet my ornery cat.
“Can I get you an apple cider?” I asked, walking over to counter.
“You know, I’d love some.” She had bent down and patted Mr. Prince Charming. She looked up at me. “That sounds really good.”
The shop was empty because I’d left Faith to hand out the candy for the tourists next to the gate so the parents didn’t have to police their children inside the shop.
“I hear that you and Patch have made a special bond.” I knew that he’d been talking to her about our special village secret and had yet to hear her response. I walked over and grabbed the potion I’d created a few days ago, not really sure why I’d created it, but my intuition told me that Tish needed a little of it.
Not necessarily to fall in love with Patch, but to be open to the idea.
“I mean, you don’t have to tell me.” I slipped a couple of drops in her cider and stirred it with a cinnamon stick that I’d gotten from Happy Herb. It added the extra flavor that gave the cider a little kick. “Just sometimes we girls need to stick together.” I held the cup out for her when she stood up.