Thinking of Harriet made me miss her, and I wished she was there to give me some guidance.
The field was big; it took a long time to reach the edge of the property. I glanced back at the farmhouse just once, to where it looked warm and inviting in the distance. You could hardly see the tilt of the porch at all.
“How shall we do this?” Scarlett asked.
“We should get our wands out,” said Josephine. “Then, a simple line motion should be the easiest way to start. The reason we need more witches is that I don’t think we have enough magic to make a long enough circle. But we can try. This’ll be practice. Ready? On three.”
She reached into her cloak and pulled out her wand, which was beautifully decorated with a line of jewels running down what I thought of as its spine. It was made of very smooth, very expensive-looking wood.
Once Scarlett and I had our wands out as well, the three of us held them in front of us.
“One, two, three, go!” Scarlett said.
We spent the rest of the evening out there. We managed to form several long strips of sparkling green stars that danced around us and over our heads, forming a canopy of sparkle that was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.
The only trouble was that it only stretched about twenty feet. In order to perform a protective spell that would keep the entire property safe, we obviously needed a lot more magic than that.
What’s more, even that much effort was tiring. Though the stars we produced were small, about the size of my hand, I loved that they seemed to have fallen down from the sky and turned green. To my great relief, Scarlett and Josephine seem to be having as much fun as I was, clearly enjoying performing spells out here in the forest.
As usual, there was one individual who was not having fun. Paws had plopped himself in the grass to watch, and every time we failed at performing a spell properly he’d make a comment. Josephine finally tired of it and started sending hot sparks his way every time he got sarcastic.
“All of this dashing around avoiding your magic is helpful. Keeps me in good shape,” said Paws.
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do, help,” said Josephine. The second her concentration slipped, the stars collapsed and we stood in darkness again.
“I think I’ve had about enough for tonight,” sighed Scarlett. “This isn’t working. I think we do need my grandmother and another witch besides her, but I’m glad we came out here anyhow. It’s a beautiful farmhouse and this practice helped.
“I agree,” said Josephine. “I’m tired too, but we’ll come back. As soon as Sicily finds someone else to help, we’ll try again.”
“Thanks so much for all of it,” I said.
As the three of us turned back, I made a point of ignoring the cat.
Chapter Seven
After the previous night’s failed attempt at a séance, Charlie and I met the next morning at breakfast to discuss options for the day. Unsurprisingly, Greer was still sleeping.
“I really don’t know how Greer can stand to get up at noon every day. So much of the day is wasted,” said Charlie, buttering a slice of burnt toast. She was wearing her fluffy pink robes and the slippers with turtle heads on them. I was still wearing the shorts and T-shirt I had slept in.
“She stays up late. I’m sure she gets a lot done at night after everyone else has gone to bed,” I said.
Seated across from Charlie in the breakfast nook, I had already finished eating. Now I cradled a cup of hot coffee in my hands.
“But there’s no sun then,” Charlie said.
We were sitting in the breakfast nook, basking in the sun streaming into the window.
I shrugged. Ever since Charlie had moved in she’d been skeptical about Greer’s sleeping habits. On the other hand, Greer didn’t understand Charlie’s love of notebooks. In those two respects they were almost like mirror images of each other.
Charlie was so obsessed with her new investigation that we hadn’t even begun to discuss what had happened the night before.
My witch friends would have to come back with reinforcements. Since I was leaving for the weekend, protecting the farmhouse would have to wait . . . much to my dismay.
“Maybe it’s a secret society of copy editors, those people who sneak around at night and correct the grammar on signs,” Charlie mused. She peered into her coffee cup and swirled the dark brown liquid. After a moment of quiet she said, “Maybe it’s a secret society of coffee lovers.”
“If that’s the case, all three of us should have been invited to join,” I replied.
“You have a point,” said Charlie, biting her lip. “I just wish we knew the name of one member of the society. That might give us a direction to go in. It would also give us someone to question.”
“Don’t you think it’s likely that Mrs. Barnett is a member? They’re meeting in her café, after all,” I said.
Charlie sighed, looking out the window again. “Probably. But we only think that because it’s her establishment. Someone else who has a key might be a member too, now that I think of it. In fact, we know at least two other people who have that key,” she said, brightening.
I knew she was thinking of Fearne and Frannie, who ran the hardware store.
“But if anyone else on Main Street is involved, why aren’t the meetings at their establishments?” I mused. “It doesn’t seem like it could be the hardware store, it’s more likely it’s something specific to the Daily Brew.”
“I agree it would be very strange if it weren’t specific to the Daily Brew. The fact remains, we have no idea what it is,” Charlie said.
“You didn’t find any records?” I asked.
“I didn’t really know what to search for. City Hall keeps records of official clubs that meet around town. For instance, over the years the library has had a gardening club. That’s on record, but it’s the wrong meeting time. They meet in the evening or on weekends. None of this midnight stuff,” she said.
“That whole midnight thing does make it strange,” I said.
Both of us got lost in thought for a few minutes. I glanced through the Mintwood Gazette, but Charlie was right, news was slow. The front headline talked about how much fun it was to swim in the lake. As if we didn’t know. The article was fine and maybe even interesting for some people, but it wasn’t what I would call riveting.
I was just about to take a sip of coffee when I gasped. Charlie’s eyes flew open and she looked at me. “What is it?”
“What if it’s a secret meeting about an election campaign? What if someone is planning to challenge the mayor or someone on the town council?” I suggested.
Charlie was nodding her head. This was the first time she’d been remotely enthusiastic about a theory.
“Political intrigue. You could be onto something. The mayor has been in office forever, and there surely must be people who want to challenge him. But he was just re-elected, so I doubt the meeting is about him. More likely it’s someone who wants to run for town council. Those elections are coming up,” she said.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure Mrs. Barnett has someone picked out that she wants to win those elections,” I said.
“Exactly. She’s probably sponsoring them. That’s why she’s letting them use her space,” said Charlie.
“It could be Mrs. Barnett herself,” I mused. There was always a chance that the owner of the bakery and coffee shop had political ambitions.
“She’ll probably say you can’t get anything done under the current regime. I’m sure she thinks backroom deals and offering a free cup of coffee gets her more of what she wants,” said Charlie. “It could also be meetings of business leaders, but since Liam isn’t involved, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. I have a feeling that Mr. Wolf isn’t involved, either.”
I found the mention of my boyfriend’s grandfather’s name jarring. “It might be that. I still like my election idea.”
“I agree it might be something to pursue,” said Charlie. She took another sip of coffe
e and glanced at her watch. “I should really get going. I have a lot to do before we leave.”
That night was the rehearsal dinner for the Stumper wedding. Unlike most other rehearsal dinners I’d heard about, everyone was invited to this one. They had reserved a large campground and told everyone to bring something to eat. With a potluck wedding, they didn’t have to worry about buying everyone’s dinner. The one concession they’d made was that there would be an open bar. It was safe to say that Deacon was very excited about that. But it meant that we had to leave right after Charlie finished work on Friday to get to the campground on time.
Luckily, the venue was close by. Like almost everything else we ever wanted to do, it was no more than twenty minutes away. Charlie had already packed her weekend bag, but I hadn’t even started.
I had to check on the animals at some point that morning, but then I intended to spend a lot of the rest of the day preparing for the weekend. To say that I was nervous was an understatement.
For one thing, I was worried about leaving the farmhouse unoccupied with Ellie threatening. Like a dark cloud hanging off in the distance, she gave me the feeling that she could attack at any time. All she needed was a little bit of wind to blow her in my direction and the rain would start.
On the other hand, the wedding was for a good cause. You know, people’s happiness in the world is important and all that. Also, this weekend would be my first date with Jasper to a big public event.
“Given that most of the town is going, it shouldn’t be hard to get more information about the secret society while we’re there,” said Charlie.
“Given that we don’t have any information at all at the moment, you’re right. If we uncover even a single fact, it will be more than we currently have.”
“I have a feeling that if we find out one thing we’ll find out everything,” said Charlie. “Like I said, we just need to know who one member is.”
She finished her cereal, went to get dressed, and headed out.
I wasn’t as confident as she was that this case would be easy to solve. I had the distinct feeling that we might even be wrong about the secret society angle. It certainly wasn’t a gathering of witches. When covens got together things could get volatile, and boyfriends could even be threatened.
I’d found that one out the hard way.
After Charlie left, I went off to carry out my pet sitting duties. I had never expected to be so busy with pet sitting, but I’d had a steady stream of work all summer. Keith of Mintwood Mountain Mucking sent a lot of business my way, since he knew everyone who was leaving to go camping and fishing. Keith couldn’t believe how much the animals liked me. Of course, he didn’t know that I was a witch and that spells could sometimes help. If I ever had a problem with my charges, I just performed magic and they settled right down.
After taking care of my animal care duties, which included feeding a goat, I was a bit muddy. Being outside in the cool sunshine had done me good though. I felt more ready to tackle the rest of the day.
Left to my own devices I definitely would have stayed indoors on the couch, waiting for Greer to wake up so we could pack together, as planned. But Greer still wasn’t up when I got home from feeding the animals, so I decided I might as well head downtown while I had some time.
I waved to Liam as I passed by the Twinkle Costume Shop. I could see several people inside, so I figured he must be busy.
The hairdresser’s salon was right next to the Twinkle, so I couldn’t help but pay a visit to Miss Violetta. I wanted to let her know that Charlie was on the case, but she was with a customer when I arrived. She gave me a big wink and a nod while she continued to chop off inches of the woman’s hair.
I smiled in return. The customer whose hair she was cutting looked confused when I just walked in, smiled, and left, but that wasn’t my problem.
My last stop was going to be at Mintwood Mountain Mucking for supplies, but I wanted to check in at the coffee shop first.
“Hi, Mrs. Barnett,” I said. The bell tinkled as I entered, and as usual the place smelled like coffee and freshly baked biscuits.
“Afternoon. I see you didn’t brother to bring Charlie with you. Are you tired of her asking nosy questions too?” Mrs. Barnett arched one fluffy eyebrow.
“Charlie always asks the questions she thinks she needs to,” I said.
Mrs. Barnett sniffed. Knowing that I wasn’t going to change her mind, I went about getting my coffee. I was just about to leave when the doorbell tinkled again.
“Lemmi!” a woman’s bubbly voice said. I froze.
For years that voice had been my torment, but after high school I had tried to forget it.
I had failed.
Mrs. Barnett smiled and turned away from me, the traitor. I knew she’d still listen to every word.
I spun around to look at Gracie Coswell, a Barbie doll come to life, a tall blonde with a perfect body. I figured she must be one of those people who got facials once a month and a manicure once a week. Involuntarily, I balled my hands into fists. No one should see my cuticles right now, and Gracie Coswell was the type who would look.
She came forward and performed two air kisses in the vicinity of my cheeks.
I tried to pull away while not looking as if I was pulling away.
“It’s so good to see you,” she gushed.
Whenever someone sounded that happy about something, I always assumed they were lying. I knew it disappointed my grandmother that I didn’t see the best in people, but I’d rather be right.
“How are you?” I asked.
She smiled brightly at me, having entirely missed the fact that I didn’t say it was good to see her back.
“To be perfectly honest, I’ve been better,” she said. Her shoulders drooped and she suddenly looked sad.
Instantly my sympathetic feelings stirred. I shouldn’t be mean about Gracie. She was a relation of one of my ghosts, after all. Mrs. Goodkeep was her great-great-grandmother and the one who had first alerted me when Gracie went missing. Because that case had been my very first as the Witch of Mintwood, I would always remember it fondly . . . kind of.
“What’s wrong?” I asked Gracie now.
“This whole Stumper wedding this weekend,” Gracie began. “It’s really putting a cramp in my style. I mean, who wants to have an outdoor wedding? It just seems terrible. I can’t wear the right dress and it’s impossible to find heels to walk over rocks in.”
“I didn’t realize you were invited,” I said.
“Of course. Our families go way back. I never pinned her for this type of bride, though. I always thought she’d have to get married in a church,” she said.
“So you’ll be there for the whole weekend?” I asked. Mrs. Barnett shot me a look of evil amusement over her shoulder.
“I suppose so. I already said I would, although I’m regretting it. Going to just the wedding is different from going to the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, and the reception. Not to mention the after-wedding breakfast on Sunday. It all just seems too much,” Gracie rambled on. “I would think that if the two of them really loved each other they wouldn’t have the ceremony in the woods. I mean, can’t we measure the success of a marriage by how much is spent on the wedding? If they don’t spend more, the marriage will never succeed.”
“I’m pretty sure millionaires get divorced too,” I said.
“Of course. That’s because one of them wasn’t a millionaire to begin with,” Gracie explained.
I took a long sip of my coffee. It was still too hot to drink, but I didn’t care. I also wondered why I had saved Gracie in the first place.
After a series of uncharitable thoughts, I told Gracie I’d see her that evening at the dinner and left as quickly as possible. I hoped she’d be seated at one of the important front tables. That dining vantage point was unfamiliar to me, so maybe I wouldn’t in fact have to talk to her again this weekend.
If I was really, really lucky.
The last thing I did downtown
was to go and buy a tent at Mintwood Mountain Mucking. We three roommates had been assigned a cabin for the weekend, but we had agreed that we didn’t want to risk the cabin springing a leak. Charlie especially felt that it was best if we went prepared. If it rained, and water came through the ceiling, we wanted a way to protect our belongings. My grandmother owned a tent, but she had unintentionally donated it to the moths over the past ten years. After going to some trouble to pull it out of the attic, I had decided that it was unfortunately unusable.
Keith was also invited to the Stumper wedding. I had to spend ten minutes listening to him talk about how excited he was before I was allowed to leave his establishment.
“It’s two people really celebrating that they care about each other. They’re doing what they love. I think it’s wonderful,” he said, dabbing his eyes. For a large man with a beard, he made quite the spectacle weeping over a wedding.
Greer would have translated his tears into delight in all the business an outdoor wedding was drumming up for his shop. Pretty much everyone who’d been invited to the Stumper wedding had had to go to an outdoors store like Mintwood Mucking to buy something for the campground weekend. It was almost as if Keith was in cahoots with the bride and groom.
In reality, I knew he was too honest and straightforward to be in cahoots with anyone. I didn’t feel the least bit cheated when I bought the tent.
Chapter Eight
As soon as I got home I went looking for Paws. The grumpy ghost cat wasn’t in his usual spot on the porch crate, so I figured he must be out indulging in his other favorite activity: chasing ghost mice.
Greer was awake and reading in the living room when I came in. She had even gone to the trouble of getting dressed in boyfriend jeans and a white T-shirt. I showed her the tent I’d bought and she was impressed.
“That’s pretty nice. Did I miss anything this morning?”
I told her about my attempts, along with Charlie, to come up with theories about the secret meetings. Then I told her about my trip to town.
Witch of Mintwood Mysteries 7-9 Page 44