“You’re bluffing, sonny,” Aunt Pear said. “You can’t have anything on me. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Except maybe the tea,” Aunt Amber interjected. “Even you make mistakes, Pearl.”
“Cut it out, Amber,” Aunt Pearl snapped. “You’re not helping.”
Aunt Amber shook her head. “Blackmailing Pearl is asking for trouble, young man. You have no idea what she’s capable of.”
I tapped Aunt Pearl’s arm. “You’ve said enough for now. Let Tyler handle this.” Sidetracking the conversation could ruin any chance of a confession.
“Don’t tell me to shut up, Cen. Dominic deserves a piece of my mind. And maybe a piece of something else.”
“No, Aunt Pearl…” I protested.
Dominic held his arms up in surrender. “You’re right. I deserve whatever I have coming to me. For lying and stuff. But not for Merlinda’s death. I would never hurt her. I know it looks bad, but I swear I had nothing to do with her death. It’s all a horrible accident.”
Gail glared at Dominic. “Liar. I had no idea what was going on until tonight when I saw you two together. You married her to cut me out of the deal. Marriage was the ultimate way to harness her powers and make yourself rich in the process. Well, that’s not going to happen now, is it?”
“That makes no sense,” Dominic said. “Merlinda is worth much less dead than she was alive. Besides, I loved her. I would never have taken advantage of her like that.”
I was convinced that Gail hadn’t concocted the plan alone without Dominic’s involvement. Whether or not he had ultimately backed out, he had been in on the scheme from the beginning.
“Well, I’m not taking the fall for you,” Gail snapped. “You’re just as responsible as I am.”
Dominic wagged his finger at Gail. “Ah-ha! You admit you killed her!”
Gail’s eyes narrowed. “Of course not! I’m not admitting anything. I know one thing about you, Dominic. You have a backup plan. I bet you insured that poor girl to the hilt.”
Aunt Pearl snorted. “Ooh, so now Merlinda’s a poor girl? You never thought that when you killed her.”
“Stay out of this, Pearl.” Tyler stepped in front of Aunt Pearl and waved her away. He turned to Dominic. “Keep talking.”
“I’ll admit that we—I mean me—planned on getting close to Merlinda,” Dominic said. “The plan was to gain her trust and then kidnap her. That was impossible on Vanuatu. I was outside of her social circle with no way in, no way to get to know to her.
“So, back when Merlinda first left Vanuatu for her first semester at Pearl’s Charm School, I caught the same flight out. I bribed the airline for a seat next to her and charmed her enough to go out with me. I told her I was an entrepreneur with business in the U.S. But I had to eventually return to Vanuatu and my job at the dive shop while she was going to school here in Westwick Corners. That’s how we first started dating. We had a long distance relationship ever since.”
Gail scowled. “You dragged everything on so long that I got sick and tired of all your excuses. You just wanted to keep seeing Merlinda when she returned home on semester breaks.”
“Our long-distance relationship wasn’t enough for me, and Merlinda felt the same way. We secretly got married in Vanuatu during one of her semester breaks.”
Gail gasped. “You got married on Vanuatu? Right under my nose? How could you do that to me, Dominic?”
“He couldn’t exactly invite you to the wedding.” Aunt Amber giggled.
Dominic ignored her, seemingly intent on spilling the rest of his confession now. “We kept our marriage secret, and I stalled Gail. I wasn’t about to kidnap my own wife.”
Gail snorted. “You didn’t need to after cutting me out of the action. You got rich overnight.”
Dominic glared at Gail. “Everything came to a head when Merlinda’s father found out about the marriage. She had to choose: me or Vanuatu. And I had to choose between Merlinda and Gail’s plan.”
“Oh, so it’s my plan now?” Gail’s face reddened. “We were in this together, Dom. Don’t try to get out of it. I’m not taking the fall for you.”
Dominic sighed, exhaustion showing on his face. “I told Gail no, but she wouldn’t hear of it. So, I stalled as long as I could, figuring Merlinda was at least safe here at school. Then Gail said we couldn’t wait any longer. That’s what brought me here. But I couldn’t go through with it.”
“Liar,” Gail said. “You killed her.”
Dominic shook his head. “No. I only ever considered the kidnapping.”
Aunt Amber let out a low whistle. “How do you kidnap your own wife? I’ve never heard of that before. You don’t sound all that innocent to me.”
“It became necessary for her own protection. To save her from something worse.” Dominic let out a heavy sigh. “I really don’t know what I was planning. I thought maybe we could both disappear and make a fresh start somewhere. I never expected this.”
Tyler waved his arm at all of us. “Showing up for dinner is a strange way to abduct someone. All of us are witnesses. Unless the impromptu visit was all part of the plan. Play the loving husband on a surprise visit, and cut Gail out of the picture.”
Dominic nodded slowly. “I guess that part is true. You can lock me up for that. But I didn’t kill her.”
33
“Dominic makes it sound like I forced him into kidnapping Merlinda, but that’s just not true,” Gail said. “He had already demanded $50,000 from Merlinda’s father in a ransom letter. Her father would have paid too. Fifty grand is small change compared to what her father earned off Merlinda’s spells. He needed her to work her magic.”
I turned to Dominic. “Is that true?”
Gail held up her cell phone. “I have a photo of the ransom note right here.”
Dominic waved his hands in protest. “I’ll admit to the ransom note, but I never ended up sending it. I sure as hell didn’t kill Merlinda. I loved her.”
“Yeah, sure,” Gail snorted. “Just like you said you loved me. Maybe we can still work something out, though. Merlinda’s no more, but we can sure put these witchy worker bees to good use.”
“Like hell you will.” Aunt Pearl glared at Gail. “You better hope we don’t do some more work on you.”
Aunt Amber’s mouth dropped open as she looked first at Aunt Pearl, then Mom and me. “Wait a minute, Gail—you know we’re witches? Who told her?”
As if that was the most pressing thing on all our minds.
As if we hadn’t been dancing around the whole witchcraft issue all night with talk of Merlinda’s cargo cult and everything else.
“Of course I knew!” Gail said. “You’re all so obvious about it. You really think you’re so smart, that nobody knows about your ‘special sauce’?” She made quote marks with her fingers. “Of course I knew about Merlinda conjuring stuff up. Just like you people making stuff up. That was the whole point of Project John Frum. Only now, I need a Merlinda replacement. If you want in on the action, I can make it worth your while.”
“We’re not making stuff—” I stopped mid-sentence.
Gail pulled a gun from her purse and pointed it at me. “I think I just found us a new business opportunity, Dom. Grab the old ladies while I deal with this one. We’ll start our own cargo cult right here in Westwick Corners.”
“You’re no match for the Westwick witches, missy!” Aunt Pearl suddenly sprung up between us and, with surprising force, pushed Gail into a chair that had mysteriously appeared behind her. Within seconds invisible hands bound Gail’s hands and feet and tied them to the chair with a magically appearing rope.
Aunt Pearl wiped her hands together as if she had just completed an unpleasant task. “I guess you aren’t as smart as you think you are.”
Gail scowled. “No—I’m smarter than all of you combined. You’re all so busy thinking how wonderful you are. In reality, you’re all so self-absorbed that you don’t even notice other people.”
“Or their dirty tricks.” Au
nt Amber sighed. “I certainly never expected a murder right under my nose. I don’t see how that makes me self-absorbed, though.”
Gail rolled her eyes. “You’re so focused on trivial things that you’re completely missing the big picture.”
“Quit changing the subject, Gail,” Aunt Pearl snapped. “It’s not as easy as it looks, you know. Poor Merlinda had to conjure up all kinds of stuff in advance to feed the demands of the cargo cult scam. She had to come home every semester break and work day and night to rebuild inventory; enough to last while she was away at school. And she did it all under duress. That’s something you could never do.”
Mom nodded. “That girl had to conjure up all that cargo like a supernatural assembly line. I don’t get it, though. Her talents made her worth more alive than dead.”
“Exactly. To all but one person, that is.” I pointed to Gail. “You’re the one who benefits the most from her death. Even without the ransom, you needed to exact revenge on Merlinda for stealing Dominic away. You killed her. Not for money but for love.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gail said. “It was Dominic. He got a big fat insurance policy on Merlinda’s life. He killed her.”
“How much was the policy, Dominic?” Tyler asked.
“It’s nothing like it sounds. Merlinda and I both got life insurance because that’s what married couples do. You make it sound like I had a price on her head or something. I lost a lot more than I gained. I lost the love of my life.” Dominic broke down in sobs.
“Oh, cry me a river,” Aunt Pearl said. “Merlinda told me all about you and your manipulation. She was getting ready to leave you for good. You and Gail are like two peas in a pod.”
Gail snorted. “See? Dominic killed her to stop her from leaving.”
Brayden stirred on the sofa. He slowly opened one eye, then the other.
“Deflecting the blame doesn’t work, Gail.” I held up the empty bottle of Gail’s gas station wine. “You put something in the wine.”
Gail shook her head. “Everybody had some wine, but only Merlinda got sick.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “Only you, Brayden, and Merlinda drank white wine, the kind you brought.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Gail said. “I drank the wine, and I’m still here. So did Brayden.”
I shook my head. “No. You spilled Brayden’s wineglass before he had a chance to take a sip. You never touched your glass, either.”
“Yes, I did,” Gail said. “You were just too drunk to notice.”
Brayden bolted upright into a sitting position. “Oh, my god! You tried to poison me!”
Aunt Pearl dismissed him with a wave. “Stop being so dramatic, Brayden. You never ended up drinking it, so what does it matter? It’s not always about you, you know.”
“It matters a lot,” Brayden cried. “What if I did drink it? I had so much to drink that I honestly don’t remember. And my head is killing me.”
“It’s just a hangover,” Aunt Pearl snapped. “Now, quit interrupting and go back to sleep.”
Brayden opened his mouth but thought better of saying anything. He wrapped his arms around his knees and tucked them close to his chest.
“Well, I wasn’t too drunk to see what you did, Gail,” Earl said. “I drank only a little bit of Amber’s eggnog. I watched you the whole night. Watching you watch everyone else, that is. And watching you not take even one sip from your full glass of wine. I knew you were up to something. I just didn’t know what it was.”
“Liar. I drank plenty.” Gail lunged forward in her chair but the ropes restrained her.
“You wanted to kill Merlinda, but you were willing to poison the rest of us in the process.” Aunt Pearl’s voice shook with rage. “You deserve to die just like Merlinda. I’ve got half a mind to finish you off right now.”
Earl scowled. “I’ve got some advice for you, Gail. Next time reseal the screw top. Nice guests don’t bring already-opened bottles to dinner.”
“Okay, my mind’s made up,” Aunt Pearl said. “You’re history, missy!”
“Whoa...hold off there, Pearl.” Earl pulled Aunt Pearl close and wrapped his arms around her. He was twice her size, but it wasn’t his strength that resonated. It was what he said to her. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
“You’re right,” Aunt Pearl said grudgingly as she turned to Tyler. “Somebody else can do my dirty work for a change. Sheriff? What are you waiting for?”
34
Brayden, Mom, and I stood on the front porch and watched the Shady Creek police van disappear from view. Dominic and Gail were safely in transit to the Shady Creek jail, both charged with Merlinda’s murder.
The roads had reopened an hour ago. Our parking lot was full of police vehicles. The Shady Creek coroner and crime scene techs remained on site processing the crime scene for the next few hours at least. Tyler was debriefing them.
What had started as a crime of opportunity had morphed into a crime of passion. I was never good at geometry, but the intersecting love triangles were obvious now in hindsight. I just wished we had figured things out sooner and possibly saved Merlinda from such a tragic end.
One thing still confused me. Merlinda was anything but ordinary. She was a powerful witch, yet she failed to see Dominic’s true intentions. I guess love is blind, even for accomplished witches. Even Merlinda had been fooled when her heart was involved.
Aunt Pearl had a faraway look in her eyes. “Merlinda was such a powerful witch. Such raw talent. We’ll never see that potential again. Unless…” She turned to me, a hopeful look in her eyes.
“Forget it, Aunt Pearl.” I stepped back and shook my head. “You know I don’t function well under pressure. Spellcasting won’t earn me a living either. I don’t want the weight of the witch world on my shoulders like Merlinda had.”
Aunt Amber sighed. “Even Merlinda couldn’t handle it in the end, now could she? I agree with Cen. So sad. She was such a talented witch but a poor judge of character. You need both to be successful.”
Mom nodded in agreement. “That poor girl. I really thought Merlinda had it all. Yet, it seems she really didn’t have much at all.”
The last few hours had been very telling as we learned of Merlinda’s sad existence. It seemed that everyone had taken advantage of her for their own personal gain.
Aunt Amber shook her head. “I can’t believe Merlinda’s father used her magic to pretend that he had resurrected John Frum and the cargo cult.”
Merlinda had merely been a pawn in her father’s hands. No wonder she had fled to the relative sanctuary of Pearl’s Charm School and Westwick Corners. Maybe she had even delayed her flight home on purpose, hoping to be snowbound.
Dominic had married her for his own benefit too. The very things that gave her power also spelled her demise. Her ultimate cost was her life.
“She made life very profitable for her father,” Aunt Pearl added. “Her witchcraft enriched him and made him a big shot on Vanuatu. I’m going to track him down and lock him up in a cargo container. It’s time I took a little South Pacific vacation.”
As if on cue, Tyler entered the living room. He held up his hand in protest. “Don’t interfere, Pearl. I’ve already been in touch with the Vanuatu police. They’re arresting Merlinda’s father as we speak. He’ll see justice.”
“But he’s the chief of police,” Aunt Pearl protested.
“Not anymore,” Tyler said. “He’s been fired and replaced by a subordinate who was already conducting a secret investigation of his own. Our findings corroborate his. Merlinda’s father won’t see freedom anytime soon.”
“For what? Murder?” Aunt Amber asked.
“No,” Tyler said. “For extortion, fraud, and a few other things.”
“He’s getting off way too easy,” Aunt Pearl protested.
“Don’t count on that,” Tyler said. “I’ve been told he’s got a lot of enemies that were too afraid to speak up before. Now that he’s arrested and fired as police chief, a
whole bunch of accusers are coming forward. That probably means more charges.”
It turned out that the locals never really bought into the cargo cult scam. Some went along with it because they got free stuff. Others just turned a blind eye and enjoyed the annual celebrations, though many thought Merlinda’s father made a farce out of their history and traditions.
Aunt Pearl’s eyes twinkled. “I still wouldn’t mind a tropical vacation. I sense a business opportunity.”
I sighed. “You are not taking over Merlinda’s cargo cult, Aunt Pearl. That’s better left to history. It certainly won’t be well-received by the locals after everything that’s happened.”
“You can come with me, Cen.” Aunt Pearl winked at me. “Consider it an off-campus field trip. Once you see the potential, maybe you’ll change your mind. You know, re-enroll in Pearl’s Charm School.”
“Not a chance.” The primary reason Merlinda was such a talented witch was simply because she had put in more hours of spellcraft than anyone else. I had no desire to follow in her footsteps.
Aunt Pearl suddenly grew wistful. “Poor Merlinda wanted nothing more than to use her powers for good, not just to enrich her father. How ironic that he wanted people to think of him as their benefactor rather than the criminal he actually was. He totally took advantage of her. Whatever goods he didn’t use himself or for bribes, he sold at a profit. That’s how he got rich in the first place.”
“I guess he needed to control Merlinda, otherwise his whole plan and power would have gone up in smoke,” Aunt Amber said. “Merlinda was the key to his success. Even John Frum couldn’t conjure stuff up out of thin air. She was probably relieved when her flight got canceled. She could delay her return.”
“She did miss Vanuatu, though,” Aunt Pearl said. “I warned her not to go back, but she wouldn’t listen. She missed Dominic and said she would just go home for the holidays. I had to act quickly.”
“Oh my god, Pearl,” Aunt Amber exclaimed. “You really did poison her with that tea. I just knew it!”
Christmas Witch List--A Westwick Witches Cozy Mystery Page 17