by Amy Boyles
“No,” I argued. “I would have been fine, but anyway. I want to talk to Martha about it. There’s something I have that might belong to her.”
“You want to speak with Martha, but you think it was Payne who broke into your house?” Urleen asked, studying me skeptically.
Or was I imagining that she was looking at me that way? Did she doubt me, like the Owens family did when I declared that I had seen the knife sticking from Knight?
“Who else could have broken in?” I said. “I’d just caught him entering Knight’s. Unless Payne had an alibi, he could’ve been at mine first.”
“And when you spoke to him, did you get the feeling that he had killed his brother?” Norma Ray prodded.
“What is this?” I asked. “The Spanish Inquisition?”
“Well, you told us that you mentioned Payne to Earl Granger, so you must think that he is guilty of murder.”
I rubbed my eyes. This was all so complicated. None of it made sense. “I…when I talked to him, I didn’t get that feeling, no.”
My original thought was that whoever was looking for the money had killed Knight, but I didn’t think Payne was a killer. Maybe my theory was wrong. I didn’t know anymore. All I knew was that Lady said it had been a man in my house, and that meant it had to have been Payne.
I yanked the journal from my purse. “Someone is looking for this.”
Lady stepped back as Norma Ray reached for the journal. When she opened it, Norma and Urleen gasped.
“Look at that,” Urleen added.
“I’ve never seen so much dough,” Norma Ray said.
“That’s what Payne was after. I’m sure of it. But after talking to him, I don’t think he killed Knight. I think he loved his brother.”
Norma Ray ran her fingers over the smooth bills. “Do you think anyone would notice if perhaps I snatched a few off the top?”
I took the journal from her before anyone else got an idea of taking any of the money. “Yes, I do. This money belongs to someone in the family, but I don’t know who yet.”
“You know,” Urleen said, “some folks are saying the whole things is a big prank.”
I rolled my eyes. “It is not a prank.”
“So you want to talk to old Martha, huh?” Malene said. “See if she had anything to do with it.”
“She was in that room when it happened.”
“And you want us to tell you where to find her,” she added.
“That would be nice.”
“You’re stirring up a fire-ant bed doing that.” Urleen squinted as she threaded her needle. “That woman might appear nice, but I’m telling you right now that the last thing she is, is nice. She’s a spitfire, a beast. She’s not a quiet old lady who’ll make you cookies and offer them to you on a piece of lace.”
“Okay,” I said, getting annoyed with how Urleen was droning on and on, “I get it. She’s not friendly. She’s a Doberman pinscher of a woman. I still need to talk to her. She gifted Knight some money and wanted it back. That was part of the issue Lynn had with him. He was squandering the money she’d given him.”
“Well, you have a good time chatting with her,” Norma Ray said. “Just don’t mention our names or she’ll think we’re spying on her.”
I glanced down at Lady, who looked up at me, a question in her eyes. “I hate to ask, but why would Martha think that y’all would spy on her?”
“Because we used to,” Malene said gruffly, pushing up her glasses. “We all used to spy on each other. Martha would say she had the best spell for the Spelling Contest, but really, she’d be standing outside our windows at night, watching the three of us while we conjured up spells that we had hunted, trying to make them into new ones or seeing what happened if we split the old spells in half.”
“You can split spells in half?” I questioned.
“Yes, they are like living things, you never quite know exactly what’ll happen if you try to change them,” she said proudly. “Sometimes you end up being delightfully surprised.”
“So y’all would spy on each other,” I said.
She nodded. “Yes. So if you tell her that you’re friends with us, my guess is that she’ll either kick you out—”
“Or she’ll put something in your tea,” Urleen finished.
My eyes widened. Lady slinked over to me and pressed her body against my leg. “That doesn’t sound good, Clem.”
“It doesn’t sound good at all.” Now I was nervous about going over to Martha’s. Should I even do it? “What sort of thing will she put in my tea?”
The women exchanged a long look. Urleen finally spoke. “Well, the last time that I went to see her, she put something in my drink that made my head shrink.”
Okay, that was clearly a big deal. “She shrunk your head? How long did it last?”
“About a week.”
Sweat sprouted from my forehead. “Maybe I shouldn’t go there after all.”
Malene pointed out the window. “Oh, look. Here’s your chance, Clem. Martha’s walking to the post office. If you catch her now, she won’t be able to put anything in your drink.”
I picked up Lady and rose. “Good deal. I can talk to her out in the open. She wouldn’t dare do anything bad to me in public.”
I shouldered my purse and prepared to leave. That was when Norma Ray spoke.
“If she does something to you now, you won’t know about it until later.”
I froze. “I’m sorry?”
“Oh, I’m sure Martha can find a spell that’ll work much, much later, after you’re already home.”
Bile surged up the back of my throat.
“Don’t worry, though,” Malene added. “Just remember not to mention us and you’ll be fine.”
Still feeling a bit nervous, I said my goodbyes and made my way from the library, the whole time praying that Martha Owens wouldn’t turn me into a frog.
Chapter 23
“Martha,” I called.
I strode through the parking lot. The air was muggy, warm. A breeze wafted through, but there was no relief in it. Sweat sprouted on my brow and under my armpits as I made my way over to her.
“Clementine,” she said pleasantly. “How’re you, dear?”
“Well”—I tried to keep my nerves at bay—“I was wondering if you had some time to talk to me? About what happened to Knight.”
She cast her gaze to the ground. “They still don’t know where he is.”
Was her concern all an act? The way that Malene and the quilting ladies made Martha sound, she wasn’t one to be trusted.
I squeezed her arm. “I’m hoping that they will, soon. I know that Tuney Sluggs doesn’t think something bad happened to Knight. But I know what I saw.”
Her gaze flashed to the library window. Martha peered into it. “Who is that staring at us?”
I quickly turned to see Malene and the gang watching us. What were they doing? They weren’t supposed to look so obvious. Were they trying to tip her off?
I jumped into Martha’s line of vision. “I don’t know,” I said quickly. “Looks like some ladies who have nothing better to do than spy on us.”
“That looks like Malene Fredericks and some of her friends.”
“Nope, I don’t think it is.” I pulled Martha away from the window. Apparently, talking to her where Malene and them could see wouldn’t work out after all. “Is there someplace that we can go and talk? There are some things that I need to discuss with you.”
Martha tried to look over my shoulder, but I lifted up Lady and put her in Martha’s face. “Oh look, she’s giving you kisses. Lady likes you.”
That grabbed Martha’s attention. She laughed and stroked Lady’s head. “Yes, we can go to my house. Are you parked nearby?”
“I’m just over there.”
Martha pointed to a gold Cadillac. “Follow me. I have cookies to nibble on.”
A streak of worry shot all the way to my belly button. “Oh, that sounds great,” I said feebly. “I can’t wait.�
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Next thing I knew, I sat on Martha’s floral print couch (complete with lace draped over the back) with a plate of shortbread resting on the table in front of me.
Martha appeared with a teapot on a tray. “Tea?”
Wow. This just got worse and worse. “Sure. Thank you.”
Martha handed me a cup. It had already been poured. Awesome. No telling what else besides tea could be in it.
“Milk or sugar?”
“Both please.”
She doctored my cup and then sat back, her own in her lap. She studied me, her eyes sparkling with interest. Was she waiting for me to sip first?
I started talking. “I wish that I had answers about what happened to your son.”
Martha nodded sadly. “Harlow thinks he’s in the walls.” She made an airy gesture. “I don’t know about that. I think like Tuney Sluggs does, that he disappeared. Faked the whole thing.”
“I don’t know…”
She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. “After all, you’re the only person who saw what you did.”
My throat shriveled. I cleared it, but it still felt pinched. I knew the tea would help, but I wasn’t drinking it.
“I know that no one else saw what I did, but I do believe there was foul play.”
She tucked a long strand of gray hair behind her ear. The emerald ring she wore caught the light. “I think that my son has a flair for the dramatic and had some things that he wished to avoid.”
“Like paying you back the money?”
Martha stiffened. She studied me serenely and sipped her tea. “You know about that?”
“I know some of it.”
She nodded. “My son needed money. For some reason I didn’t do a good job of teaching my children how to deal with their funds. Knight was the worst—always coming to me for cash. Finally I gave him a lump sum.”
“Seems Lynn was pretty angry about it.”
“She’ll be fine. There’s no need to worry about her.”
Given the state of Lynn’s house, I thought there was need to concern.
I lifted my tea and slurped, pretending to sip. “But then you asked for the money back?”
Martha sucked her cheeks. “I did. I found out that Knight was spending it foolishly, so I demanded that he return what remained.”
“But he wouldn’t do it, would he?”
Martha twisted her ring around her finger. “We argued about it, yes. In fact, just before we worked the cleansing spell. At the house, before you arrived, we had an argument. Lynn and Payne both saw it. I’m not proud that we argued, but it is what it is.”
“Can I ask you something?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“If Knight faked his own death and disappearance, where is he now? Where did he go?”
Martha stared into her cup. “That, I don’t know. But I do know that he took my money with him and that he vanished into thin air.”
But he didn’t, I wanted to say. I have the money. Here was the thing—the money rightfully belonged to Martha, but would she have killed her son to get the rest of it back?
“Why are you asking all these questions?” she said, her voice dripping with suspicion. “Is it because you think one of his family members killed him, or is it for another reason?”
“I just want answers to what I saw.”
“Well, out of everyone in that place, Knight was emotionally closest to Harlow. If anyone knows the truth, it would be her.”
“If they were so close, there’s no way that she would have hurt him.”
Martha hiked a shoulder to her ear. “If you believe he truly is dead, then you should think about this—Harlow would have known where that money was because Knight would have told her. And she might have wanted it for herself.”
A shiver of dread raced down my spine. I thought of Harlow, how she had been cleaning the next day—cleaning so furiously, opening and shutting cabinets. I thought of how she quickly accepted that Knight must have been sucked into the house. I thought of her abrupt change in demeanor.
How had I missed this? Was it staring at me the entire time and I just dismissed my thoughts, focusing instead on those who seemed to make the most sense?
Harlow hadn’t been in the house at the time of the cleansing, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t responsible for the ghostly sounds. After all, she had wanted the ceremony. She had the opportunity. During the entire event, I hadn’t known where she was. For all I knew, she could have been standing by the back door and snuck into the kitchen. It was conceivable that she could have stabbed Knight in the gut by reaching around him.
No, it wouldn’t have been easy. But it was absolutely possible. But how did she make Knight disappear? Rufus did say that since we could find spells and harvest them, it was possible that people could regain some of their magic, simply because of the magical proximity.
I rose quickly, knowing exactly where I needed to go next. Lady, who had been lying at my feet, lifted her head. “Come on, girl. We need to get going.”
Martha gave me a satisfied smirk. “Going to talk to your friend?”
The tone in her voice irked me. It was so self-righteous.
“Yes, I’m going to talk to Harlow. If I find anything out, I’ll let you know.”
“You didn’t finish your tea, dear.”
“That’s okay. You can finish it for me.”
With that, I left Martha’s house and headed to speak to Harlow.
I reached the house while Liam and his crew were on a lunch break. I called Harlow on the way over, asking for her to meet me at the house because I had some ideas that I wanted to go over with her.
When I arrived, she was already there. In fact, she was crying.
I found her in the bathroom, sitting on the tub. Shards of mirror lay at her feet.
“What happened?”
She raised her hands. “It was crooked so I adjusted it and the whole thing fell down. Now I’ll have seven years bad luck!”
I smiled. “Don’t you worry. I’ve got something that’ll fix that.”
She sniffled and wiped her nose. “You do?”
“I sure do. I’ll be right back.” I rushed out to my truck and returned with the golden hammer. I brandished it before her. “This will fix the problem.”
It might also break her oven, but I decided to omit that information.
“What is it?”
I puffed out my chest with pride. “It is a magical hammer that can fix pretty much anything. Now, I’ve never tried it on a broken person, and I get the feeling it won’t work on one. However, on inorganic materials it does wonders.”
Harlow leaned back. The mirror’s frame lay on the floor, shards of silver hanging limply from its edge. I gave it one light tap and the next thing I knew, the slivers and slices of mirror had been shoved back into place and the entire piece sat happily back on the wall.
Harlow’s jaw dropped. “Oh my word. That is magical.”
“Yep, but I can’t use it too much or else something will break. So, I try to only call on its powers sparingly.”
Harlow’s eyes filled with lust. She reached for it before stopping herself. “That must be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
I laughed nervously and shoved the hammer in my back pocket. “It’s priceless. I don’t know how much it would go for on the black market, but probably a lot. But like I said—it fixes things but also breaks them, so it’s not exactly the best device to have around. You definitely don’t want to overuse it.”
Which reminded me—I had used it to fix my window and now I’d used it on the mirror, which meant my karmic debt would be due any minute now.
“So anyway, I talked to Martha.”
Harlow lifted an eyebrow. “Oh?”
A pile of sawdust lay at my feet. I brushed it away with the toe of my boot. “You probably don’t know, but my house was broken into last night.”
Her jaw fell. “Oh no, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I tho
ught Payne had done it.”
“Why would he do that?”
I folded my hands and sighed. “I think that someone is looking for something that belonged to Knight—some money.”
Harlow arched a brow, giving me an innocent look. “Oh?”
“For some reason, whoever is searching, they think I might have it. Would you know anything about that?”
Harlow shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
“Were you outside during the entire cleansing?”
“Yes, I was.”
“Did you hear or see anything suspicious?”
She thought about it, her eyes narrowing. Was she actually thinking or pretending to think about it? “No, not at all.”
Hmm. Maybe time for a different approach. “Martha told me that you and Knight were very close.”
“We were. I miss him so much.” She lifted her hands. “But he’s here now, in the house.”
Right. “Did you know about the money that Martha gave him?”
Harlow flipped her silky hair over one shoulder. “We all did. It wasn’t a secret.”
“Did he tell you that she wanted it back and that he was hiding it?”
Harlow’s eyes narrowed. She stared at me for a moment. “Clem, are you accusing me of something?”
“No, no,” I said quickly. “Not at all. But someone did break into my house. Why? I wonder if they were thinking that I had something of value.”
“I don’t like the way this conversation is going.” She folded her arms. “From now on, why don’t I deal with Liam if something comes up about the house?”
I stared into her cold eyes. “If that’s the way you want things.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with what happened here the other night, and I didn’t have anything to do with someone breaking into your house.” She motioned toward the door. “Now I think it’s time for you to leave.”
What had I done? I’d never in my life ticked off a client to the point that they didn’t want to work with me anymore. What had gotten into me? This wasn’t like me. It wasn’t something that I would do.
When we were outside, Lady said, “Well, that didn’t turn out like you wanted.”