by January Bain
I groaned, taking in the piles of foodstuffs laid out on the counter and requiring immediate attention. Not another soul in sight. And where exactly was my promised new helper, James? I sighed, then hurried to wash my hands at the sink, slipped on my apron and got down to the myriad tasks that awaited.
The sound of footfalls hurrying through the café and into the kitchen drew my attention. James Watson appeared in the doorway, looking flustered, his wholesome round face topped by a huge crown of thick brown hair that he kept shaved close at the sides and back. He was wearing a blue and white Jets hockey jersey. He’d been a year ahead of us in school, and I knew his family well. They were hard-working people, so we stood a chance here. I checked the clock—twelve-thirty, making him an hour and a half late. Even his adorable puppy-dog eyes weren’t going to be of much help.
I gave him a silent stare, waiting for an explanation.
“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry, Charm! I would have been on time, but Star needed my help.”
“Oh really.” I couldn’t keep the edge out of my tone, more annoyed by my sister than anything else. “Doing what, pray tell?”
He blushed, obviously nervous. Sympathy welled up, but I forced it down. I had to set the tone now or this would not work out. I needed help I could count on. The next few weeks were going to be insane.
“Star asked me to practice her lines with her. You know, she’s in the movie, Witches and Wolves! But, of course, she would be, right! She’s so beautiful and talented. Oh, I mean, you’re all so beautiful—”
“I see. Perhaps the two of you could arrange to do that after all the work is completed?”
“Oh, yes, of course. It won’t happen again, I promise. And I’ll stay as long as it takes. Don’t even worry about the overtime. I want to make it up to you.”
My resolve softened with his earnestness. Guys could be so easily led astray by my thoughtless sister. “No worries. Let’s just get at it. I’ll have a word with Star.” An idea came to me about how to get the better of a certain Mountie. “Say, your brother casts in metals, right?”
“Yeah, Alex does. Why? You got a project in mind? We’d give you the family rate,” he promised. “Maybe make up for my tardiness.”
“No need. I’ll pay what’s fair.” I explained what I had in mind, even doing a quick spontaneous sketch.
“Are you sure it’s legal?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I was pretty much given permission by our new Mountie anyway. The idea came from him.”
“Oh yeah, figures. He has a thing for you. Whole town’s talking about it.”
I blushed so red my ears felt on fire. “Ah, I think we’d best get down to work now.”
“Good idea. I’ll pass on your request to my brother later. It shouldn’t take him very long, a day or two. What do you want me to do first?”
“Let’s see. We need to prepare food for one hundred and fifty people by noon tomorrow with loads of extras for everyone to munch on all day, so more like two hundred meals in total.” I ticked things off on my fingers. “The veggies need chopping, the salad greens washed, the meat and cheese sliced, the desserts assembled, buns baked.” I stopped for a moment to think of the ideal battle plan. Best to wait to bake the buns in the morning to make sure they’re fresh. “I’ll work on desserts if you’d like to start with vegetable prep?”
“Sure, whatever you need.” A broad smile accompanied James’ words and we settled down to work. Fingers crossed that we can find our rhythm.
When Suzanna arrived a few minutes later, she scoped out the situation and, without being told what to do, just got on with it. Hey, this just might work out after all.
I popped the second batch of death-by-chocolate slice into the oven and straightened, rubbing my lower back. Six-thirty. There was still a lot to do, but we had a real handle on it now. I gave my crew a thumbs-up, congratulating myself on what might be a win-win.
Stiletto heels clicked sharply on tile. I stood straighter. Ivana Petrov. No one else wore shoes that literally drilled holes in the floor. Note to self—Buy more floor putty next trip to Snowy Lake Hardware, and never think win-win. I might have jinxed things. When our boarder was on the war path, the floors took a heck of a beating. Hmm. Ivana, with her bright red Medusa hair and steely gray eyes, would have a lot in common with that guy I met at the Grab-n-go, Guido Morello. Did the Russian Bratva mix with the Mafia? Or were they eternal enemies like lions and hyenas? I loved my nature shows.
Ivana came into view, the expression on her gorgeous face wild. I froze. She was breathing hard, making her spectacular rack move up and down in her low-cut top, threatening full exposure of her assets. It had happened a time or two, and she’d just calmly tucked her bosom back in place. Nerves of steel. I glanced over at James to see how he was faring. He had also stopped dead, his hand poised with a sharp knife over the cutting board. I sent up a quick protection spell. The last thing I needed was him cutting off a finger.
My throat dry, I croaked out a few words. “Ivana, how lovely to see you.”
“I have best news.” She pressed a fist to her breast about where her heart should have been, accompanied by an adoring look.
I let out a deep breath. “Good. Glad to hear it.” For once I wasn’t being taken to task for some imagined slight. She had a few quirks, one being I had to be the one to personally invite her to any event, even if it was assumed that the whole town would be there.
She waited, eyebrows raised.
“Ahh, please, won’t you share the good news with your friends?” I gave a nod of respect, adding a wide gesture with my hand that included my new crew. Suzanna was less impressed by the interruption, still busy assembling mini-quiches, though on closer inspection she’d gone rather pale. Well, at least James wasn’t harming himself by not moving.
“We bunk now. Bosom buddies.”
“Sorry, bunk? Not catching your drift.”
“We sleep same bed.”
“I have a bed. A perfectly good bed.” Mystified, I waited for an explanation.
“I think Ivana means that the movie crew are looking for billets for some of their people. You know, like when hockey players come to town and anyone with an extra bedroom puts them up for the tournament, gratis,” Suzanna said.
“Oh, they don’t have enough trailers for everyone?” The light went on. Hadn’t Star said something about it earlier when I had been a tad distracted? I shook my head vigorously as the scariest thought in the world came on board. “No, absolutely not! I’m not letting out my suite to someone! They can’t be that short of beds that they need mine. Isn’t it enough that I’m going to be up cooking and baking till all hours? I’m not going to be chased out of my own bed, too.”
Ivana blinked. Her lips pursed, her eyes shooting daggers. Really. I could feel them hit numerous places on my body. “Charm not happy with Ivana.”
“No, no, it’s nothing like that. I swear. I’m very happy with Ivana. But this is all a bit sudden—”
She gave a nod of total satisfaction. “I tell them Ivana and Charm bunk together.” She spun around and marched out of the room.
“Ivana, no, please!” I raced to stop her and face-planted on the floor, tripping over my own darn feet.
Chapter Four
James, being the closest, rushed to my aid. He held out his hands, giving me a boost up from the floor.
“Should have used a protection spell for myself,” I muttered, checking if my nose still faced forward. It did.
“You’re so good at magic. Why don’t you cast some kind of a ward-like spell and keep Ivana at a safe distance? The whole town would appreciate it.” He gave me a speculative look, his hazel eyes gleaming with interest. He really had embraced his family’s work ethic. We’d achieved more than I had expected in record time, putting my sisters to shame. Good on him.
“Nah, I can’t do that.” Though I had to privately admit I had been sorely tempted on occasion. “I only seem to be able to produce white magic. Black magic eludes m
e. So, I guess I’ve got a new roommate.” Visions of the Russian mob invading Ivana’s suite terrified me. It was a real possibility.
The back door must have opened during the fiasco, because there stood the Queen’s own cowboy, carrying a picnic basket. I’ve always had a hankering for a man riding free on the range, a sturdy horse supporting his hot bod.
He looked from James to me, confusion furrowing his brow.
“Hey, cowboy,” I said, trying it out.
“Miss McCall.”
My turn to frown at the cold chill of his tone. What did he have against cowboys, for heaven’s sake?
“I brought you something to eat, but I can see you’re busy…” He gave a curt nod at James, plunked the basket down on the nearest counter and spun on his heels.
“No, wait, let’s eat together!” Too late. He’d already vanished through the back door. What was his problem? I could make some time now that I had acquired two fabulous kitchen genii to watch my back.
“I’d better get back to work.” James moved away, picking up the chopping knife. He began slicing the rest of the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. I went over to the basket and opened the lid, curious to check out what Ace had chosen for our supper. Oh, very nice. Sliced pepper steak, potato salad and French bread with two generous portions of chocolate cake and thick buttercream icing made my mouth water. Why had he gone to all this trouble then vanished? I shook my head. Shame to let it go to waste. I dived right in. Dessert first—life was too short to take unnecessary chances.
“Just saw our sheriff driving down the street and his aura’s gone all kerflooey. Bright red and green fireworks streaking in every direction when it’s normally a nice steady true-blue. What did you do to the poor guy?” Tulip entered the kitchen, ubiquitous laptop in hand.
That is weird. “Who’s minding the store? And I didn’t say anything to Ace. He was in a hurry.” I spoke around a mouthful of heavenly cake, using my fork to gesture at her. “And what’s the deal with Ivana wanting to bunk with me? Who planted that bright idea in her head?”
Tulip shrugged. “It didn’t come from me. If I was going to yank your chain, I’d choose karaoke night. Remember the time Auntie T.J. signed you up to raise money for the new Fire Hall? Ha! You really can’t sing, you know, sis.”
I gave her the stink-eye. “I am aware.”
“Oh, talking about embarrassing moments, don’t forget the Bucket Parade on Saturday. Your number’s up this time. You should have said no to being a bridesmaid.”
“No! Tell me the wedding’s not this coming Saturday.” I slapped my forehead, hoping pain would drive away the image of me climbing into a tractor bucket to be escorted to the nuptials like all the rest of the wedding party.
“Afraid so.” Tulip flashed a wicked grin. “Do you need any help? I was just going to close up shop and go home if not. Then I’m heading out to the movie set to see how Star’s making out. The whole town must be there by now. Oh, and I promised Granny I’d bring snacks for tonight. She’s got Book Club. Got anything available?”
I counted to ten. Very. Slowly. “You didn’t think to prepare something, like, I don’t know, yourself?”
“Jeez, I’ll throw something together now. I just thought since there’s so much food already prepared…” She shrugged, giving a cute waggle of her eyebrows, widening her big blue eyes further.
Okay, for Granny. “You can package up an assortment of desserts. That’s what they’ll all want anyway. Just be a complete waste to take a vegetable tray.”
“What time do you want me in the morning?” Suzanna asked, taking off her apron and setting it aside.
“Eight a.m. would be great, if you can manage. We’ll need to haul everything over to the location by eleven and start setting up. Can you make it as well, James?”
“Sure. No problemo.”
The pair left and I finished tucking the last of the food trays in the cooler then set about making a giant batch of overnight buns to bake in the morning. I sterilized the counters, then surveyed my domain with satisfaction, pleased with having everything in order.
The phone rang, jarring my nerves further. If one more person needs one more darn thing from me today, I’m not going to be held accountable for the ensuing mayhem. I stomped over to answer the barking annoyance, picking it up on the seventh ring before it went to the answering machine.
“Tea & Tarot.”
“Charm! Thank goodness! Something really awful has happened. Please, you got to get out here. Now!” Tulip screamed in my ear.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Star…crackle…”
“I can’t hear you! The line’s worse than usual,” I complained.
“Fizz…crackle…dead!”
“What?” My whole body lurched, the universe stopping spinning. The phone went dead in my hand. Star? No!
Chapter Five
Not caring if I got a speeding ticket worthy of an entry in the Guinness World Records book, I thrust Thor’s gas pedal into the floorboards with my heaviest leadfoot. We bumped and lurched our way to Spirit Springs, the location of the movie set. It was right on the other side of the lake our town was named after, down a logging road recently graded—I imagined to allow the moving of heavy equipment in for the production company—which meant it was unbelievably dusty from the overturned dirt and gravel. Having left Thor’s windows down in my panic, I choked on a mouthful when I slammed on the brakes, narrowly missing a white-tailed buck with impressive antlers who was too busy chasing a female doe fleeing some happy-happy to give me any mind. A hazard for any species.
I parked beside an RCMP SUV, half-falling out of the Jeep in my efforts to locate my sisters. I shielded my eyes with one hand against the glare from the setting sun, scanning the area. A sprawling village of tractors, trailers and equipment that rivaled our town in size greeted me. The steam clouds created by the heat and moisture above the hot springs weren’t visible due to the warmth of the day.
Loud noises in the distance alerted me to activity near the springs and I took off at a fast clip down the enlarged path that normally allowed only small terrain vehicles, not dollys and cranes.
“Charm! Over here!”
I stumbled at the sudden edict, turning right around and retracing my steps fifty yards to where my friend Emma stood, furiously windmilling her arms at me.
“What’s going on? Who’s dead?” I asked, half out of breath and worried sick. It couldn’t be anyone close to me, could it? Surely, I would have been getting a premonition if it was?
“It’s that accountant guy, Howard something or other.”
Thank. You. Goddess. I took a deep breath. “Howard Smith. The guy who’s been embezzling funds from the company.” I thought back to the negotiations earlier in the day.
“Really? Do you think that had anything to do with his death?” Her green eyes were like saucers in her face surrounded by springy red curls.
Enough about Howard. “What about Star? Is she okay?” I reached out and grabbed hold of Emma. “What happened? Is she all right?”
“She’s upset, but she’s okay.” My pulse slowed down a few hundred beats a second, dropping below hummingbird status.
“Upset by the murder?” I asked, mystified. “Did she find the body?” I couldn’t imagine why she’d be upset otherwise—we hardly knew the guy.
“How do you know Howard Smith was murdered?” Constable Ace Collins strode up and stood watching me with an intent expression.
“I don’t know for certain, but it was so quick and since he was embezzling—”
“How on earth do you know that?”
“Ah, the usual method.” Ace knew all about my ability to read people. He’d even come around to being somewhat supportive during the last murder investigation when it had been proven useful. “We shook hands on a catering deal this morning. Where’s my sister and why is she upset?”
Ace looked discomforted. “If you mean Star, she’s with Tulip in the nurse’s stati
on. Look, she’s going to be all right—”
“For heaven’s sake! Someone tell me what’s going on, or, so help me, I’m going to…to…” I couldn’t think of a big enough threat to encompass the frustration of being kept in the dark about family.
“She alleges that Howard Smith, the deceased, attacked her,” Ace said.
“Alleges? If Star said it happened, it happened. Take me to her. Right. Now.” My fury spilled over and my whole body began shaking.
“Of course.” Ace took my arm and led me deeper into the camp. Emma trailed along behind us, barely able to keep up the pace. I stomped down the gravel path that led between the trailers and equipment, whipping my head back and forth as I kept a sharp lookout for my sister.
Ace stopped me at a thirty-foot RV clearly marked with medical symbols and a mural of a patient being attending by beaming health personnel in white coats. Similar vehicles drove the highways of Manitoba bringing flu shots, midwifery and medical aid to small prairie towns. “She’s in there. But, Charm, there’s something you should know—”
I didn’t wait but clambered up the steel steps and yanked open the door. “Star! I’m here!”
Tulip popped her head around a curtain at the back, jumped up and half-ran toward me down the narrow aisle of the motor vehicle, her expression not conducive to making me feel any less anxious.
“What’s going on?” I asked, grabbing her by the arms and trying to shake the information out of her.
“Star went to see Howard, the accountant, about her paperwork for getting paid, and he made a move on her. Tried to come on to her. She said he was acting really weird, like he was drugged or something. Spooked her. I guess he pushed it even further, grabbing for her. Her necklace came off in the struggle when she pulled away from him and ran from the trailer. She said he was alive when she left him. But, Charm, he was found dead with her pendant clutched in his hand a short time later. It looks so bad. Of course, she had nothing to do with his death, but people are talking.” Tulip looked confused as she rambled on. Probably in shock.