“Who are you?” she snarled. “Mind your own business.”
“I was just walking by when I heard you being a total butt to the woman working in this shop. So, I thought I’d come by when I saw you throw those books on the ground on purpose.”
“So? It was an accident. You can’t prove otherwise.”
“Oh, I don’t need proof to know you’re a horrible person, I’ve met you for more than a minute. Now get out of this shop and leave this poor woman alone.”
The woman stuck out her lower lip. “Make me.”
“Seriously, lady?” Peaches exclaimed. “You’re like, what, fifty? Stop acting like you’re in high school.”
“I am not fifty, that’s insulting!” the woman replied. I watched the exchange silently, not knowing if this was about to turn to blows, but incredibly curious as to what was going to happen next.
“Yeah, well, either way, you’re old enough to know better. Now get out of here.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll make you.”
“I’d love to see you try,” she snarled, taking a threatening step toward Peaches. Peaches suddenly lifted her finger, and I gasped as the woman’s hair began to smoke, and then suddenly burst into flames.
“Uh oh,” Peaches said, looking terrified.
“What on earth…” the woman started, putting her hand to her hair. When she realized what had started happening, she began to scream. “Oh my God! I’m on fire!”
I stared in a combination of awe and horror as the woman began to run around the room, screaming her head off, an increasingly thick trail of smoke following behind her.
“I can fix this,” I heard Peaches mutter, but I shook my head at her. Peaches was definitely not someone that I wanted to see try and fix her magic.
I stared at the woman and imagined a pile of water falling onto her. I imagined it as hard as possible, then waited for a split second until she was in the middle of the room, away from any books, and pointed my finger at her.
A torrent of water appeared out of nowhere and fell onto her, the cries of panic being washed away into gurgles as the fire was extinguished. A minute later the woman stopped. She was completely drenched from head to toe, but at least she wasn’t on fire anymore. That was the important thing, right?
“What the hell did you do to me?” the woman sputtered, water dripping from every inch of her and pooling onto the floor of the shop.
“Your hair caught fire on one of the bulbs in the bookshelf, and she saved you,” Peaches said, coming up with a quick explanation that didn’t involve magic.
“I look like a drowned rat!” the woman spat at me, and this time, I couldn’t stop myself.
“I think it’s an improvement,” I replied. I thought the woman was going to attack me, but instead she turned on her heel and strode toward the door. “I’m going to the police! You’re going to pay for this! You set my hair on fire, and then you assaulted me with the water! My clothes, my Louis Vuitton bag! They’re all ruined!”
A minute later, she was gone. As soon as the woman was out of earshot, Peaches burst out laughing.
“Oh my God! I didn’t even mean to set her hair on fire, I was just trying to make her extensions fall out! But her reaction!”
“She’s going to the cops, Peaches! How are we going to explain it?” I asked, suddenly starting to panic. Chase Griffin was going to come over here, ask me how and why we set a woman’s hair on fire, and then he was going to arrest us, for sure.
“Relax, Alice. There’s no proof for anything she’s said. We’ll just say her hair caught fire from one of the bulbs, and that you put it out with some water. It’ll be fine.”
I looked down at the large puddle of water on the floor. At least it hadn’t touched any of the books. And it was true; the woman probably did deserve something bad to happen to her after how rude she had been.
“You have to be more assertive with rude people,” Peaches told me as she put the books the woman had dropped back on the shelf.
“What about that whole customer-is-always-right thing?”
“Well, she was never going to be a customer. Not someone like that. And besides, that only applies to employees. You’re the boss now, you can be as rude to idiots as you want.”
“I’m starting to see why you work as an artist instead of around people.”
“Well hey, at least you accept that what I do is work. That’s more than I can say about the rest of the family.”
I laughed. “By the way, I really like what you’ve done with the store,” Peaches added, motioning around. “It looks great!”
“Thanks,” I replied with a smile. “I was worried you guys would all be mad that I’d changed things in Francine’s shop.”
“Oh God no, not at all! It’s your place now, to do what you want with. Besides, Francine was really cool and into books and stuff, but a lot of what she liked was just so old. I like that you’ve added Harry Potter to your stock, and stuff like that.”
I was about to reply when all of a sudden Chase Griffin walked into the store. It should be illegal for the man to enter places without a warning sign; he was so stunning he almost took my breath away when I first glanced at him. Chase looked around, nodding approvingly.
“I like the new décor,” he said, looking at me, and I felt a flush begin to crawl up my face. Stop it, body, I scolded myself.
“Thanks,” I said. “But you’re not here to check out my new re-opening, are you?”
“No,” he replied with a small smile. “Unfortunately. There’s a woman who just visited the police station telling me that you set her on fire.”
Peaches rolled her eyes. “That lady was overreacting. Alice didn’t set her on fire, she was being an idiot and her hair touched one of the light bulbs and caught on fire. You’ll notice from the water on the ground that we also put the fire out, too. Not exactly the actions of a wannabe murderer.”
Chase smiled at Peaches. “Yeah, I figured it was something like that.”
“She wasn’t exactly the nicest person to you either?” I asked. “Just before she did it she had been purposely knocking books off my shelves because I didn’t have the James Patterson paperback she wanted.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I can definitely see that. Ok, thanks ladies. Maybe think about getting a lamp shade for that bulb. You know, try not to set anyone else on fire until at least the second day you’re open,” he added with a wink to me, and again I felt a blush crawl up my face.
“Oh, you’re not supposed to set customers on fire?” I joked. “Sorry, this is my first time running a store; I guess I’ll learn that sort of thing with more experience.”
“I might just be a simple small town cop, but getting the police called on you within two hours of opening generally isn’t the best business decision,” Chase joked in reply.
“Sorry you had to come out here,” I said.
“No, she’s not sorry at all, Alice is happy to see you,” Peaches replied, and I shot her a glare. “But that lady really is awful.”
“I’ll go settle things down with her now,” Chase said. “Don’t worry, I’m not charging you with anything. Accidents happen, and you obviously had a good reaction time and put the fire out quickly. In a room full of paper, that could have gone very bad, very quickly.”
“And I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again,” I said, removing the bulb that we had pretended caused the fire.
“I’ll see you ladies around,” Chase said, waving as he left.
“Don’t hesitate to come back!” Peaches called after him.
“What on earth was that?” I asked her when he left.
“Oh, like you don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?”
“The tension between the two of you! It’s like being in the middle of a Tesla experiment, there was so much electricity flying around here.
“That is so not true,” I stammered, feeling the blush crawling up my face once more. “Besides, I’ve
sworn off men. I’m not interested. I had a bad experience, and I don’t want to repeat it.”
“Something tells me there’s no way Chase Griffin would give a woman a bad experience, if you know what I mean,” Peaches said seductively, and I rolled my eyes.
“Well, let me make one thing clear: I am so not interested in Chase.” And I wasn’t lying. I absolutely, one hundred percent was not in the market for a new boyfriend.
“I saw the way you reacted when he looked at you.”
“A girl can window shop without wanting to buy the goods,” I replied, sticking my tongue out at her, and Peaches laughed. Just then, her phone buzzed.
“Cat says that we can meet with Ellie Price in 45 minutes if that’s ok with you.”
“Sure,” I replied. “After all, I’ve made one sale, and had one customer go to the cops. I’m not exactly drowning in sales here.”
“Sorry about that,” Peaches said sheepishly. “I wasn’t planning on setting her on fire; I just wanted her extensions to fall out. I figured the embarrassment would make her leave. It’s a good thing you’re way better at magic than Cat and me. How are you that good, anyway?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. Up until like three days ago, I had no idea I had any magical powers at all.”
“Well, I’m glad, personally. If it wasn’t for you being here, Grandma Cee definitely would have found out about this, and I’d be in for even more lessons. Mind if I hang out here until we have to go meet Cat?”
“Sure,” I replied, motioning to the groups of new chairs I had set up. “As long as you promise not to use any magic on any more customers.”
“Deal,” Peaches grinned.
Chapter Eighteen
We met Ellie Price at Cat’s Cupcakes, where Cat had kept a table in the back for us. She was nursing a coffee and a mocha cupcake–my mouth watered at the sight–and Cat waved at us when we came in.
Slipping into the seats across from her, Ellie smiled at me.
“You’re Alice, Jennie Calliope’s daughter, right?”
I nodded.
“You have her eyes. I knew your mom well, we were the same age and were good friends growing up. I was sorry to hear about her death, but I’m glad you’ve decided to come back to live here.”
“Thank you,” I said, warming to Ellie instantly. She was tall and lanky, with sandy blonde hair that framed her friendly face, and blue eyes that twinkled as she spoke.
“So, what did you ladies want to talk to me about?”
“We were speaking with Ernest Forsyth last night,” Cat said, and Ellie’s face turned into a scowl.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. He had a meeting with Edith Chalmers the day she was poisoned, we wanted to know what they spoke about. He said that Edith told him that she thought she could actually get you to change your mind on the project.”
The scowl on Ellie’s face quickly turned into a laugh. “Oh, dear. Edith, rest her soul, was so incredibly insistent. No, there was never any chance that I was going to change my vote. In two weeks we vote, and I have been one hundred percent certain since the start that if I were ever to vote in favor of the Sapphire Renaissance project I would leave the town in shame forever.”
“So there was no chance you would change your vote?” I asked.
“None at all. I’m the head of the Sapphire Wildlife Protection Group. This town and the development already causes enough conflicts with black bears, deer and other wildlife. The Renaissance project doesn’t take into account the severe impact it would have on the wildlife in the area, which I am entrusted to protect. On top of that, the housing issue in this town is not being addressed and will only get worse–businesses have a hard enough time finding employees now because of the lack of housing supply. I know they plan on introducing shuttle busses and they just announced the re-opening of the Oregon Express to help with traffic, but I’m not sure that will alleviate all the problems.”
“So why would Edith think that you might change your mind?” Peaches asked. Ellie smiled.
“She came to see me about a week ago. She told me about the new plan for shuttle busses from a large parking lot south of town. She also told me that she could get Forsyth to agree to a new refuge for animals. I was completely non-committal, especially since I wouldn’t expect Forsyth to follow through on a plan like that at all, but I see Edith was a little bit liberal with her explanation of my reaction.”
“Hmmm,” Cat said, obviously dejected.
“You girls are trying to figure out who killed Edith, aren’t you?”
“Is it that obvious?” I asked sheepishly, and Ellie’s eyes twinkled.
“You’re young, you live in a small town where nothing interesting ever happens, and Denise already accused one of you of being the murderer. It’s not hard to figure out that you’d want to play detective.”
“I guess this is the part where you tell us it’s a bad idea?” Peaches said.
“It is a bad idea. Chase is a former marine; he’s much more adept in handling people willing to kill others. But, I also don’t expect the three of you to stop just because I’m telling you to.”
“Good, because we’re not going to,” Cat said, making Ellie smile once more. “Unfortunately, we are out of leads.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll think of something. If you have any more questions, please, don’t hesitate to ask. I have no idea who might have killed Edith, unfortunately.”
“I can tell you it wasn’t me!” Cat said.
“I believe you,” Ellie replied. “I just hope Chief Griffin figures it out before the three of you do. No offense, he’s just much better equipped to handle murderers.”
“None taken,” I said. “It was nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Ellie said, taking her leave. The three of us sat at the table and said nothing. We all knew we had absolutely no idea what to do now. We were out of leads, and out of ideas.
“So we have no proof that Susan killed Edith, and no real reason for her to do so,” Peaches said.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I want to know why Edith thought it was so important to talk to Susan that day.”
Cat shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe she just wanted to rub in the fact that she thought Ellie was going to change her vote.”
“Maybe,” I said, but I was unconvinced. A few minutes later I made my way back to the bookshop–along with a delicious salted caramel chocolate cupcake for energy–and sat down at the counter while I waited for the next customer to make their way into my shop. I really hoped my next customer wasn’t going to go straight to the police after leaving my shop.
I took out a notebook and made a list of everything we knew about Edith Chalmers’ day when she had been poisoned. There had to be something we were missing, and I didn’t know what. No matter what I thought about, I couldn’t get past the fact that immediately after having breakfast with Ernest Forsyth, something made Edith Chalmers make an immediate appointment with Susan McInnis, and made her give her secretary the rest of the day off.
Going over my notes, there was one thing that stuck out to me: the names of the people Ernest Forsyth had to buy land from before the deal could go forward. He hadn’t mentioned their names, but he had given us enough information that I figured if I made my way down to city hall I could probably find the owners.
I sent Peaches a quick text, asking her if she was around. Three minutes later she made her way into my shop.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Do you mind watching over this place for a few minutes?” I asked. “I want to go check something out. It’s probably nothing, but it has to be done during business hours. I’ll pay you.”
“Sure,” Peaches replied, grabbing a book off the shelf and making herself comfortable on the small loveseat I’d bought from Amazon. “Don’t worry about paying me, what’s family for?”
“Thanks,” I said, shooting her a grateful look. “Just for that, I’m not even going to make a joke about not setting anyone on f
ire,” I said, and Peaches laughed as I made my way back out into the streets of Sapphire Village. I was in such a focused hurry that I barely noticed the warm sun glowing on my exposed skin, a feeling I just absolutely loved back in Miami.
A few minutes later I was standing in the entrance to the city hall side of the building shared by the municipality and the police department, with an older woman with grey hair sitting at a desk reading a romance novel.
“Yes, dearie?” she asked, looking up when she noticed my presence.
“Hi,” I said nervously. I hadn’t really thought through how I was going to ask for this information. “I’m wondering if you can tell me who owns a few plots of land here in Sapphire Village.”
“Well of course, dearie,” she replied with a smile. “Do you have the address for them?”
“Well, not exactly,” I replied shyly. “I mean, I know what plots they are, I just don’t have an exact address for them.”
“All right, well let’s see what you have, and maybe I can fill in the blanks for you. After all, I have been doing this for a long time.”
“Thanks,” I said, pulling out the notebook where I’d written down everything from the conversation with Ernest Forsyth. “There’s the large plot of land on the far side of Sapphire Lake,” I started, and the woman nodded and wrote something down on the notepad next to her. “Then the forest behind Hallman Farms.” Again, more scribbling. “And finally a large plot of land on the other side of the mountain from the ski lifts. I’m afraid that’s all I have, sorry.”
“That’s all I need, I know what plots you mean,” the lady said, typing quickly on her computer. A couple of minutes later, she handed me a post-it note. On it were three addresses, and below them, the registered owners.
The forest behind Hallman farms was owned by Robert and Patricia Hallman. The plot behind the lake, which didn’t even have a street address, only a lot number, was owned by a company called Annabel Lee Incorporated. And finally, the large plot of land behind the ski lifts was owned by Forrester Incorporated. I thanked the woman for her time and made my way back to the shop, where Peaches was still happily reading away.
Alice in Murderland Page 11