“Let’s get started,” Grant said briskly. “I got an urgent message that there’d been a murder in town. So what are you all doing standing out here?”
“Did you get the message about the first murder or the second?” Cookie asked. Now that she’d recovered from her surprise, she was returning to her natural state of riddles and obstinacy.
“Second murder?” Grant’s expressions sharpened. Usually circumspect, Grant now looked downright concerned.
“Right behind you,” said Cookie, pointing.
Grant spun around, his eyes searching the darkness for only a moment. Then he caught sight of the scarecrow with its back to us, the one that was now larger than the others by a wide margin, and that looked no more like a normal scarecrow than I did. Stepping around to see the figure from the front, Grant raised his eyebrows. Then he glanced at all of us, but to my surprise his eyes lingered on Clover.
“Did you look at his face?” he asked the peddler.
Clover looked honestly surprised. “What would I do that for?”
He motioned for Clover to come take a look at the dead body. While I waited, I looked down the driveway in the direction from which the sound of sirens would soon fill the air and blue lights would flash. Chief Gray would arrive and the enchanted investigation would be driven underground.
“Clover’s face soured when he saw the scarecrow. “Well, I’d say that Devin Deadly got what he deserved!” barked Clover.
All of us watching this exchange looked surprised. The assistant squeaked while Cookie marched forward. Until this moment she hadn’t showed an ounce of interest in this murder, but she did so now.
“So it is one of the Deadly brothers. I say, was the other Dean?” she asked me.
“Yes,” I told her.
“The first murder?” Grant asked.
“Dean Deadly is also dead?” said Clover.
I glared around at all the supernaturals who were suddenly questioning me. “Yes, he is.”
“How do you know?” Clover demanded. “You said you had no other information!”
I ignored him, but met Grant’s eyes. As usual I couldn’t read his expression.
“Let’s get inside,” said my mom, who had been standing quietly for the last few minutes. “The chief won’t like seeing all these people here. Clover, you’d best return to your tent.”
Clover didn’t have to be told twice.
“Wait a moment,” said Grant. Clover stopped abruptly, and my mom looked at Grant in surprise. She wasn’t expecting him to contradict her.
“What?” Clover barked.
“You traded with the Deadlys, didn’t you?” said Grant. It was more of a statement than a question.
“They were as dishonest as the night hours are dark,” Clover spat back. “I only traded with them before I knew better.”
“But you did trade with them?” insisted Grant. “If I look into your dealings with them, will I find anything suspicious?”
“I’m done with this conversation! Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean I have to answer your questions. I didn’t kill anyone, not even a Deadly, if that’s what you’re asking,” said Clover. With that he spun around and stomped away.
In the distance I saw blue lights.
Now we did make our way into the library, where Audrey had already brought refreshments. I was expecting Grant to leave, but he stayed, obviously wanting to hear all about the first murder, the one he had originally taken to the skies for. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to talk about it privately with the chief about to arrive.
Audrey made sure the food was arranged nicely, then went to bed. She rarely stuck around for gatherings like this. Marsha and Matthew showed up, but when Matthew heard that a civilian was coming from town to ask questions, he disappeared into the back field. Marsha looked perfectly normal and was in fact wide awake, so she stuck around.
“So nice to meet you,” she beamed at Grant as they too shook hands.
Grant blinked a couple of times, then smiled. “A pleasure. I hear you’re an old friend of the family.”
“That’s right,” she smiled. “They’ve been putting up with me for a number of years. To return the favor I visit them every year.”
“It’s the best time of year to be in Shimmerfield,” said Grant.
“The Garbos really do put on the best haunted house,” Marsha agreed.
My mind was a jumble. Suddenly there were two murders to deal with, and here I had been thinking things had settled down. With the Shimmerfield humans involved, I’d have to be extra good at investigating this time. And extra careful.
Grant was clearly itching to start investigating, but we had to wait for Chief Gray to finish asking his questions and leave. It was clear that my mother wanted Cookie to follow Audrey out of the room, but she knew perfectly well that she couldn’t demand that Cookie not be present. Chief Gray would want to speak to the Garbo matriarch.
Just as we were starting to fidget, the doorbell rang. My mother went to get it while the rest of us waited.
While she was gone, Grant and I exchanged looks. His eyes were a deep and beautiful blue. Every time I saw him again I was surprised by how clear and dark they were. He raised his eyebrows slightly and I shrugged in response. I didn’t know what hidden meaning was behind his questioning look. All I knew was that we were in big trouble.
“Here’s the family. I hope you’ll understand that we’ve had something of a shock,” said my mother, ushering Chief Gray into the cozy library.
The heat from the fire, the good food, and the company, all were in stark contrast to what the night outside the windows looked like: dark and stormy, the perfectly creepy night for a murder or two.
Someone else had agreed.
Two Deadly brothers were, well, dead.
In unofficial life, Chief Gray was a kind and mostly pleasant man. I had rarely seen him in official work mode, and now I discovered that his work mode was rather different. He walked in briskly and immediately commanded the space around him.
“I understand that there has been a shock,” he began. “Two murders in a town this small is a big deal. We might have to call in reinforcements. It’s not a good time of year with everything going on around now. Hopefully the investigation will move quickly, but everything has shifted. First things first, I don’t think you should keep the haunted house open at the moment. Could be dangerous to customers,” he said.
“Not to mention the rest of us,” said Cookie.
“Of course, Mrs. Garbo,” said the chief. “Didn’t mean to sound thoughtless. Must take care of such as yourself. Given that you aren’t as young as you once were, I would urge caution.”
Cookie nodded solemnly. She knew she was at great risk because she was old and defenseless against an attacker.
But my mom wasn’t so placid. “What are you talking about?” she demanded, genuinely shocked. The idea that the family was at risk clearly hadn’t occurred to her. Now that it had, I could see the pain on her face.
“There’s a murderer on the loose,” said the chief sternly. “For all we know he might kill again. We can’t have people at risk. I’ve imposed a town-wide curfew. No one is to go out after dusk. That means that no one could come to the haunted house even if it were open. With everyone so jumpy, I assume you wouldn’t want your employees to be at risk anyway. Their lives could be in danger.”
“It would be terrible if one of them died,” said Cookie, raising her wine glass.
Very slowly and so that the chief couldn’t see her, my aunt covered her face with her hand.
Then the chief said, “Mrs. Garbo, do you have any idea what might have happened? I know you’ve been around a lot longer than most people. This is your haunted house, after all.”
Whatever Cookie thought of his question privately, all she said out loud was, “I am clueless.”
“You can say that again,” Lark muttered.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” said Chief Gray, turning his atte
ntion to Marsha.
The witch shot out of her chair to greet him, looking delighted to be recognized. “No, I do not believe we have. I’m Marsha. I’m an old friend of the family, here to help out at the most important time of year.”
“With everything going on, I must say we do need help around here,” said my mom.
“A pleasure to meet you,” said the chief. “We’re always happy to have more visitors here in town. Do you know anything about this murder?” The question was quite forthright, I thought, especially since it was directed at a visitor
Marsha shook her head. “No, I can’t say that I do. I just wanted to be here for moral support.”
“All the support in the world isn’t going to save my morals,” said Cookie, taking another gulp of wine and then examining her empty glass.
“You’ll have to forgive my mother-in-law,” Mom said to the chief. “She doesn’t know when to quit.”
“If I quit, how would you gain exposure to my wisdom?” said Cookie.
“Don’t worry about it,” said the chief, ignoring the byplay. “I would like to speak to everyone who’s been involved so far, starting with Jane.” He turned to me and said sympathetically, “Jane, it is my understanding that you discovered the body?”
For a split second I just stared at the chief. I’d discovered the body because the talking cat had showed me where it was, but I didn’t suppose I should share that part of the investigation. In the background, Grant’s face contorted. We both knew that this investigation would involve treading carefully.
I told the chief that yes, I had discovered it. I further told him that Lark and Pep had been there with me when I had done so.
“Yes, I heard that as well. For anyone who wasn’t there at the time, I might speak to you later. But if you don’t have direct information about the murder, you may go for now,” said the chief.
Grant stood up to leave along with everyone else, since he clearly didn’t know anything about the murder. I wanted to offer him a little help before he left, so I said, “Chief, is there any news on the first murder? Do you think these two killings are related?”
“It’s really too soon to tell,” he said. “It does seem awfully suspicious that they were friends and that they were found in the same way. We will certainly have to be speaking to the driver who delivered the decorations,” he said.
“That would be Ben,” said my mom. “He’s been doing it for years. They were definitely scarecrows and not murder victims when he delivered the holiday decorations. He was supposed to come back and pick them up soon.”
The chief nodded at Mom to acknowledge her information, then said, “Jane, I’ll start with you.”
Everyone else left the library, and I told the story of the past few hours in a straightforward way that really wasn’t much help to the chief.
I told him I’d gone outside to check on things, as we often did when the haunted house was so busy. He took that at face value.
I told him I noticed that the scarecrow looked bigger than it had before. That seemed strange, so, fancying a stroll, I wandered over to check on it. That was when I’d discovered that the scarecrow was no longer a scarecrow at all.
I told him that Pep and Lark had followed me outside and could see from a distance that something was wrong, and that Pep had hurried back into the mansion to get everyone.
The questioning got a bit trickier when the chief asked if I had seen the man before. This required a bit of honesty, but there still wasn’t much I could say. I said I’d seen two men I didn’t recognize in line for haunted house tickets, but that was all. They had been in Lizzie’s line, not mine. He wrote that down and thought it was interesting.
“I’ll speak with your cousin as soon as I can,” he said. Then he muttered, mostly to himself, “Maybe they told her what they were doing. Although I suppose there’d be no need for them to have a reason; the haunted house is famous far and wide as a creepy attraction. They really might have just been here to enjoy it.”
I couldn’t tell him that I knew the two victims’ names. The fact that Peter had let them slip didn’t mean I could reveal them. More accurately, precisely because it was Peter who had let them slip, I couldn’t reveal that I knew them.
Anyhow, we were finished for now. Chief Gray told me I could go, so I went to find my family in the kitchen and to see if Lizzie was around, since the chief wanted to speak with her next.
My mom, Meg, Cookie, Lizzie, Lark, and Pep were gathered around the island, talking with Grant. I felt my heart quicken when I saw that he had stayed. Luckily, he had removed his cape and hat before Chief Gray arrived; they looked a little too warlock-like at the best of times, and I didn’t know how we would have explained them to an ordinary human. Now Grant had removed his jacket as well, and was looking right at home leaning against the kitchen sink.
Our eyes locked again as I entered. Really, couldn’t I look anywhere else when he was around?
I sent Lizzie in to speak with the chief. As she left the room Cookie said sadly, “I wish I could be a fly on the wall while the chief talks to her. But that’s too complicated an enchantment for tonight.”
“Why do you say that?” Lark asked.
“Because it’s a difficult enchantment,” said Cookie.
“I meant, why do you want to hear their conversation?” said Lark.
“Because Lizzie isn’t going to have any idea what’s going on. When Chief Gray realizes that, he’s going to make a funny face. The rest of you all did,” she said.
“If you’re referring to something that happened years ago, I can’t remember,” said Pep.
“That’s plenty all right. I can,” said Cookie, looking pleased.
Chapter Ten
The next morning we were in the Magenta Dining Room eating breakfast when the phone rang.
Cookie went to answer it, then returned to the table and said, “There’s a Jaguar driving through Shimmerfield at the moment. I’ll check my enchantments, but my guess is that it’s coming here.”
Lark had a bite of blueberry and chocolate pancake halfway to her mouth, but she stopped it in midair and said, “Why do you think it’s coming here?”
“The Deadlys had two sons die,” said my mom. “I’m sure they’re sending a representative. They won’t be talking to Chief Gray. They’ll be coming here to find out what happened. Lizzie, can you go get Grant?”
Lizzie nodded and set down her napkin. I tried not to bristle with jealousy.
My mom still didn’t know that Grant and I were dating.
Then I remembered that Lizzie was love-sick for Kip and I felt a bit better.
We’d had a late night the night before, and everyone looked haggard. Mom had gone around telling the supernaturals what had happened; unsurprisingly they were furious and scared.
Mom sighed. “I guess we can entertain a Deadly representative. Remind me how many brothers there were? Is there any reason we would have problems with the Deadlys?”
She was speaking to Cookie as if my grandmother was a normal and helpful matriarch of the famous Garbo witch family. Cookie clearly felt the weight of the situation and responded in a sane manner. For once.
“The Deadlys wouldn’t have a problem with us. We aren’t in the same supernatural business. I would also like to think that they know better than to mess with me,” she added.
Lark and Pep both snorted. “We all know better than to mess with you.”
“Exactly,” said Cookie. “Then again, as the generations shift, the younger Deadlys might be forgetting that we’re all meant to get along.”
“Not only that, but two of the brothers were murdered here,” my mom trailed off. “Did you answer my question about how many brothers?”
“I stopped counting and sending gifts at four. Really, if they want to have the nerve to have more than that they’d better be prepared to marry one of their sons to my granddaughters,” said Cookie.
“That’s ridiculous. You want us to marry into a family
of career criminals?” demanded Pep.
“I didn’t say that was what I wanted. I merely said that was what I expected. Besides, the older you girls get, the clearer it becomes that beggars can’t be choosers,” Cookie shot back. “Now go put some makeup on and get ready for a visitor.”
“I need to get dressed anyway,” said Lark. She pushed her chair back and disappeared upstairs.
“I refuse,” said Pep, crossing her arms over her chest and sitting back in her chair.
Like Lark, I hadn’t gotten dressed yet, so I got up to head to my attic. Pep didn’t like to come downstairs without putting on her clothes for the day, and this morning was no different. She was wearing a pencil skirt, a blouse, and a sweater. She looked like a school teacher. Seeing both Lark and me leave, she relented, as I had known she would.
“I’ll be in Enchanted Bits and Bobs,” she said, and disappeared with a glare at Cookie. Her hair was still wet, but otherwise she looked ready for the day.
Lark and I weren’t upstairs for long. I felt the hum of anticipation for a visitor, even though I knew that the presence of a Deadly representative was dangerous for us. I also knew that they’d probably want to go Down Below, and since I still had to visit Peter, I might now have to do it with a kingpin in tow. That would be annoying, but it couldn’t be helped.
As if these murders weren’t bad enough, now we had a furious and dangerous warlock family on our hands.
I sighed and hurried out of the attic. As drafty and cold as it was, I liked to spend less time there rather than more.
“What’s going on?” Lizzie asked, standing in the foyer with my mom, Meg, and Cookie. She was wearing black leather pants and a low-cut blouse. “Grant wasn’t in, by the way. He’s probably already started his investigating for the day,” she added thoughtfully.
I noticed that Kip, Corey, and Cam weren’t around either. I figured they were outside working on the grounds.
“We’re waiting for a Jaguar,” said Cookie, staring out the window. “Maybe I should go start the cauldron.”
“It would be best if you didn’t,” said Mom quickly. She had no patience for Cookie trying to scare visitors. “I don’t think a representative of the Deadly family is going to be intimidated.”
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