by Morgana Best
She kept making small talk throughout my treatment, but I barely listened to her. I was worried about the entity. I now knew that it could take human form. Was it a shapeshifter? I shuddered.
And what was it going to do next?
Chapter 3
I sat in my car, despite Helen’s stern warning not to sit it any longer than necessary, and called Ruprecht. To my dismay, it went to voicemail. I left a message to call me back, and briefly told him that I had summoned an entity. I then drove to my cupcake store as fast as I could. Thyme would know what to do.
I got out of the car and stood up. I was expecting my back to spasm, but it definitely had improved. The adhesive heat pack stuck onto my lower back was bringing relief, although the pungent smell of herbs wasn’t entirely pleasant.
I hadn’t seen the entity since his appearance in the treatment room, but I knew that he would do something else. Hopefully, Thyme and the others would have experience in this type of thing and would able to despatch him.
There was a customer in the shop, so I wasn’t able to tell Thyme what had happened. Thyme took the customer’s money, and then turned to me. “Hey boss, you’re late!”
“Something happened,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows and fixing her with a look in the hope she’d catch onto the fact that it was a supernatural something. “And I hurt my back and had to go to the physical therapist. And before that, something important happened…”
Thyme interrupted me. “I’m running late for an appointment, so can you wrap these cupcakes for the customer?” She shot the customer a winning smile and then made to walk away.
“But Thyme, something’s happened.”
“You can tell me all about it when I get back.” With that, she took her purse and hurried out the door.
I shrugged, but there was nothing I could do. The entity would have to wait. I only hoped that it didn’t do something horrid before the others could send it back to where it came from.
As soon as the customer left, I tried to call Ruprecht again, but once more it went to voicemail. I was about to call Camino and Mint and ask them to go over to Glinda’s, Ruprecht’s store, to tell him in person, but all at once three customers came into the shop.
To my dismay, two of them were Craig and the obnoxious Kayleen. I had dated Craig briefly before I found out that he was also dating the mail lady, Kayleen, and goodness knows who else. He had turned out to be quite a jerk.
Kayleen and I had never liked each other. She was an awful snoop. In fact, I had caught her reading my mail on more than one occasion. She had taken even more of a dislike to me when she found out that Craig and I had dated.
Craig politely ordered a dozen cherry coconut cupcakes, while Kayleen stood behind him and scowled at me. “Have your cakes poisoned anyone lately, Amelia?” she said with a nasal chuckle.
I forced a fake laugh, annoyed that she said it while another customer was standing right behind them. I recognized him as Scott Plank, the Town Planner. He was a particularly unpleasant man who was full of his own self-importance, and had become a regular customer after the Council Chambers had moved to a building just down the road from my store.
Scott cleared his throat and shuffled, obviously indicating that I should serve him before Craig and Kayleen, even though they had been there first. Today, his face was bright red and he was scowling. “Can I sample that lemon cheesecake mini cupcake!” he said, in a tone that was more of a demand than a request.
I took Craig’s money, and then handed Scott the closest lemon cheesecake mini cupcake. Scott proceeded to answer his phone, and then yelled loudly at the unfortunate person on the other end of it.
I had just finished wrapping Craig’s order, when Scott spat out the cupcake. “It’s stale!” he yelled at me. He threw the rest of the cake on the floor in a tantrum.
Craig clutched his box of cupcakes to his chest as his jaw dropped open. Even Kayleen appeared to be shocked. I’d had bad customers before, but never anything on this scale. “I’ll get something to clean up that mess,” I said in the most even tone I could muster.
I hurried to the kitchen, hoping that Scott would be gone when I got back. This surely would have to be the worst day on record. Perhaps I should’ve stayed in bed. On the plus side, the entity hadn’t reappeared, not yet anyway.
It took me a while to find the dustpan and brush set as it wasn’t in its usual place. I walked back into the store, and could see no heads above the display case. Luckily, the unpleasant Town Planner had left.
When I rounded the corner of the display case, I gasped. All the blood ran from my face, and I clutched the display cabinet. There, lying on the floor, was Scott Plank. He was dead, and there was a length of rope around his neck.
I stood frozen to the spot in horror. Had the entity done this? Had the entity thought he was helping me by killing a rude customer?
I had summoned the entity. Was I responsible for a man’s murder?
Chapter 4
I ran to the street and looked out, but I couldn’t see anyone fleeing the scene. I flipped the sign to ‘Closed’ and at the same time pulled my phone out of my pocket to call the police.
Had the entity done it? Or had Craig and Kayleen? I had left them in the shop with the man. A woman’s voice forced me to turn my attention back to the phone. “What makes you think the man was murdered?”
“There’s a rope wrapped tightly around his neck,” I said.
The voice told me to wait there until the police came. I mean, it wasn’t as if I was going to leave, but I suppose they have to say that to everyone.
Thyme returned and knocked on the door just as I hung up. As I opened the door, Thyme spoke before I could say anything. “Why is the shop shut?” She looked past me and saw the man lying on the floor. “Oh, not again!”
“Yes, again,” I said sadly. “And what’s more, I think I killed him.”
Thyme gasped again. “Oh no, you didn’t do any baking, did you?”
I didn’t know whether or not to be offended. “No, of course not! I have to speak in a hurry before the police get here. I wanted to tell you what happened this morning, but then you left. This is the potted summary. I was gardening and I dug up a tin, and there was a Book of Shadows inside it.”
“A Book of Shadows?” Thyme asked incredulously.
I held up my hand to forestall any more questions. “Quite a lot’s happened, so I have to tell you quickly, because the police will be here any minute. Don’t ask any more questions until I finish.” Thyme nodded as I pushed on, but it was obvious she wanted to ask more. “Long story short, I hurt my back while I was digging out the tin box, and so while I was calling the physical therapist, I read out a Latin spell and it turned out that I summoned an entity.”
“What sort of entity?” Thyme asked, and then slapped her hand over her mouth.
“How should I know?” I said, exasperated. “It looked pretty weird, but then when I was at the physical therapist, she had me on one of those therapy machines, and the entity appeared. This time, he looked like a human, a man, and he tried to get me out of the therapy machine. He said he was my assistant.”
Thyme interrupted me once more. “What do you mean, he looked like a man?”
“That’s just it,” I said. “He looked like a normal human being at that point. I tried to call Ruprecht twice, but it went to voicemail. I’m really panicking, Thyme! What if that supernatural assistant entity thing thought he was helping me by killing Scott Plank?”
Thyme looked confused. “Why would it think killing someone would help you?”
I rubbed my forehead. It was all so surreal. I was having a conversation about a supernatural entity that I had accidentally summoned, while standing next to the body of a murder victim. “Scott Plank came in here in a foul mood, and demanded a sample of a cupcake, and then threw it on the floor. I went into the kitchen to get something to clean it up, and when I came back I found him there. I’m just scared that the entity strangled him because
he was rude to me, or something.” When I said it, it did sound lame, and that gave me a little bit of hope.
Thyme frowned. She patted my shoulder quickly. “I’m sure this thing didn’t do it, Amelia. Don’t worry.” Her tone was less than convincing.
I remembered something important. “Oh, and when I left to get something to clean up the mess, Kayleen and Craig were still in the shop.”
Thyme opened her mouth to speak, but the arrival of the police forestalled her. I recognized Sergeant Tinsdell, but the constable was new, and he had a far more pleasant face than Constable Walker’s. I had heard that Walker had been transferred, but I hadn’t heard anything about his replacement.
Tinsdell sighed heavily when he saw me. “This is getting to be quite a habit, Miss Spelled.” He looked at us both and then nodded at the other officer. “This is Constable Dawson.”
“Well, hello,” Thyme said, looking the constable up and down. “The sticky buns aren’t the only sweet thing in your shop,” she whispered to me.
I elbowed her in the rib. I could only assume that the stress was getting to her.
“We’re here to investigate,” the constable announced.
“You’re not here for a croissant, then?” I said sarcastically.
The constable appeared not to take offense. “You’re not trying to bribe a police officer, are you, ladies?” He beamed at Thyme, who giggled.
Sergeant Tinsdell glared at the constable. “Dawson, a murder has just occurred.”
Dawson looked shamefaced for a moment, before shooting another smile at Thyme when the sergeant wasn’t looking. I had never seen Thyme interested in anyone before, and she sure seemed taken with this police officer. It appeared to be mutual.
“The detectives are on their way,” Sergeant Tinsdell said, “so I suggest we go into a back room and await their arrival. I’ll take your statements. I assume neither of you touched anything?”
Thyme and I shook our heads. “Thyme wasn’t even here when it happened,” I said. “She arrived back here after I called you.”
The police officers followed me into the little office. I hastily wiped the small table while Thyme snuffed the lemongrass candle burning in one corner.
The sergeant pulled out a notepad and a pen. “You know the routine by now, Miss Spelled. Tell me what happened, right from the beginning, and then you can give your statement to the detectives later. We won’t need to take your fingerprints to exclude them from the crime scene, as we already have them on record.” He shot me a pointed look as he said it.
I recounted the events, how I had gone to the physical therapist, and then returned to the shop, replaced Thyme, and then served Craig and Kayleen as well as Scott Plank. I told them how Scott had yelled at someone on the phone and then thrown his cupcake to the floor. I told him that Craig and Kayleen and Scott had all been in the room together when I left to get something to clean up the cupcake remains on the floor, and when I returned, Scott was dead.
“Right,” Tinsdell said. “The forensics team will bag that cupcake out there, and we’ll need to bag all the cupcakes from that batch. The shop will have to be shut until we get the test results back.”
“But he wasn’t poisoned,” I protested. “He was strangled.”
“Just because there was a rope around his neck doesn’t mean that he was strangled,” Tinsdell said in a superior tone. “We can’t make assumptions in this line of work.”
I was seething. It was obvious that Scott had been strangled, given the angry red mark around his neck, not to mention the rope. Still, I had to tell myself that the police were only doing their duty. I suppose they did have to test the cakes, but Tinsdell’s attitude left a lot to be desired.
“How long before I’m allowed back in my store?” I asked him. “I have the opening of the Council building coming up, and I have to cater the cakes.”
“It will take as long as it takes,” Tinsdell said evenly. “You should know the ropes by now.”
“So, I haven’t seen you around before. Have you just moved to town?” Thyme addressed the question to Constable Dawson.
He seemed pleased to be asked. “Yes, Constable Walker was transferred to Byron Bay, and I was transferred here.”
I raised my eyebrows. Next she’d ask him if he had a girlfriend. While I was pleased that Thyme had at last found a love interest, I didn’t think this was the time or place. After all, it was a solemn occasion. Not only had a man been murdered, in my own store at that, but there was a possibly homicidal entity on the loose.
I was wracked with guilt. If I hadn’t summoned the spirit, would the man still be alive?
Chapter 5
The detectives had whisked me straight off to the police station for questioning. Thyme had managed to tell me that the detectives had coincidentally been in the area. She had that information courtesy of Constable Dawson. Still, there was no time to dwell on the possible romantic interests of my best friend, Thyme. At least she was going to be questioned after I was, so she should be able to get in a call to Camino or Mint and ask them to go over to Glinda’s to tell Ruprecht what had happened.
I looked at the detectives once more. They had introduced themselves as Greene and Jones, and they were hard to tell apart. Both appeared to be around fifty, were very tanned, and both had sandy colored hair. They looked more like surfers than detectives, but their attitude was certainly not laid back. I wondered if either of them had ever cracked a smile. In fact, they both looked devoid of any emotion whatsoever. “Would you mind telling me where you have been for the last three hours,” Detective Greene said.
I told him everything in as much detail as I could, a little nervous that a video camera was trained on me. Detective Jones scribbled away furiously the whole time I was speaking.
“Can you tell me anything about his manner?”
I scratched my chin. “He was very angry. I don’t know him well. He’s only been a regular customer since the Council moved close to my shop, and while I’d never exactly call him friendly, he’s never been rude before, not until today.”
“Was he dressed as usual?” Greene asked.
I thought that a strange question. “I suppose so. I mean, as I said, I don’t really know him all that well. He was wearing a suit. I didn’t notice anything strange about it.” I winced. My back was hurting from sitting in the hard chair. I had left the adhesive heat pack at the shop, and now was regretting that decision.
“You do realize your shop will have to remain shut until we have the results on the samples we’ve taken,” Greene said sternly.
I nodded. I wasn’t happy about it, but I knew that they were doing their job, as frustrating as it was.
“This must all be routine to you by now, Miss Spelled,” Greene said.
I shot him a look, but he didn’t elaborate further. Just then, a uniformed officer entered the room. He was carrying a cardboard tray with three take-out cups of coffee. He placed one in front of me, and then one in front of each detective. To my surprise, he then produced a heat pack which he duly handed to me. He turned to the detectives. “Sergeant’s orders. Miss Spelled has a back injury.” With that, he winked at me and left the room.
The detectives exchanged glances. “Who was that?” Jones asked Greene in an undertone. “I haven’t seen him before.”
Greene shrugged and then sipped his coffee. I sipped mine. It was a latté, made just how I like it. A chill ran up my spine. Was the officer the entity?
Detective Greene was still speaking. “Do you know anyone who would have reason to harm Mr. Plank?”
I set down my coffee and shook my head. “As I keep saying, I don’t really know him. I’ve already said that he’s only just become a fairly regular customer. I know he’s the Town Planner, and I’ve never heard anyone with a good word to say about him, but I’ve never heard anyone say they wished him harm or anything like that.”
Greene sipped his coffee before speaking. “What about your fireman friend and his partner?”
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“Craig’s no friend of mine, nor is Kayleen. Are you asking if they had something against Scott Plank?”
“Yes,” Greene said.
“I have no idea,” I said. “I don’t speak to those two. Craig occasionally comes in to buy cupcakes for the other firemen.” I shivered. It was cool in the room, just cold enough to be uncomfortable. I wrapped my hands around the coffee.
“Can you tell me exactly what happened immediately prior to the time that you left the room? Think carefully, Miss Spelled.”
I remembered it only too well. “While I was wrapping Craig’s order, Scott demanded a cupcake sample. I gave him one, and he took a bite and then threw it on the floor. I hurried to the kitchen to get something to clean it up.”
Greene looked down at his notes. “And when you left, where were Craig and Kayleen?”
“Well, they were still in the shop,” I said.
Detective Greene narrowed his eyes. “Whereabouts in your shop were they? Were they walking to the door? Were they standing still?”
I rubbed my eyes. The heat pack was helping my back, but the pain was nevertheless increasing due to sitting on the hard chair. “They were still standing at the counter. They looked shocked at Scott Plank’s tantrum. When I got back from the kitchen, there was no sign of them. I actually ran out my front door to see if I could see anyone fleeing the scene, but I couldn’t see anyone at all.”
“Thank you, Miss Spelled. We’ll leave it there for the time being. We’ll be in touch.”
I stood up, and grabbed my back as it cramped. I made sure I took my latté with me, and went to the waiting room. There was no sign of Thyme, but I assumed they had her in another room.