“I should. I had a beer, so I’ll have to call in another deputy, but I need to go.”
“I understand,” I said and offered him a smile. “Tomorrow then?”
“Yes.”
He kissed me again quickly, and I walked him to the door. For some reason, I stood in the doorway and watched him walk to his cruiser. I even stayed there and waved goodbye to him as he pulled down the street.
No sooner had he rounded the corner in one direction, before Remy’s car turned onto the street from the other. He pulled into my driveway, and I was happy to see him. I didn’t think things were going to work out between us in a romantic sense. My feelings for Thorn were too strong, but it was good to see my friend. I hoped that we could stay friends.
“Hi, Remy.”
He got out of his car and slammed the door hard before rushing across the grass and pushing past me into the house. At first, I thought that perhaps he was more torn up about Langoria’s death than he’d expected and wanted to get into the house before he cried.
I was wrong. He was clearly angry, and it looked like his fury was turned at me. Remy’s face was bright red, and he was shaking.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know,” he said. “You promised me. You promised you wouldn’t say anything.”
He was talking about his secret. He’s already found out that Annika knew. I guess I shouldn’t have expected any less. It was a small town.
“Remy, I didn’t tell her. Not really. I let it slip that you had a secret. She pieced it together herself,” I said. “I’m surprised she said something to you.”
“You think that makes it better? You promised me, and your carelessness… it…”
“Remy, come in and sit down. We can talk about this.”
“I don’t want to come in and sit down,” he said.
“Well, then at least tell me what happened.”
“I don’t owe you anything. You broke your promise to me so fast, but whatever. I guess you’ll hear it around town anyway. It might as well come from me. We were at the funeral. Annika had just slipped back in after stealing my car. I let that go. I figured she must have had good reason. So after a few minutes, a cluster of the aunts came closer. They were gossipingly loudly. One of them said something to another about what a pity it was that I was so indifferent towards Langoria. It was a snide comment by one of Langoria’s flying monkeys, and it set Annika off. She caused a big scene. Now people are talking about Langoria giving me away. It was a mess, and the worst part is that some of them are acting like my mom did something wrong by taking me in.”
“I’m sorry, Remy,” I said. “I really didn’t mean for this to happen, and I promise you that I didn’t tell her. She figured it out on her own.”
He took a deep breath that came out as more of a sigh. “I can’t be around you right now. This is too much, and it was the wrong day for it to happen. I’ll talk to you later,” he said and left.
I wasn’t sure how my evening had gone from being good to so completely bad in such a short period of time, but it had. I slinked over to the sofa and lowered myself down onto it in a puddle of self-pity.
Meri came down the stairs then. He’d been upstairs napping or doing whatever he did in the walls while I hung out with Thorn and had the exchange with Remy.
“Follow me,” he said, so I did.
He led me upstairs and then stood underneath the pull-down stairs to the attic. I reached up and brought them down, and he hurried up the risers as I trailed behind him.
Meri traverse the length of the library until we were at the wall farthest away from the stairs. He jumped up on a small table that sat against the wall. I watched as he pawed at the space above the table, and a small outline appeared. Meri wiggled his nose, and I realized it was a tiny door. It popped open, and inside was a blue glass bottle. Silver stars spotted the sapphire decanter.
I reached in and plucked the bottle from the small hidden cabinet. “What is it?”
“It’s a magic elixir,” Meri said. “You seemed sad, and you shouldn’t have to be. A little bit of that will make you feel much better.”
But as he said the last part, I’d already unscrewed the cap and taken a huge gulp of the potion. At first, the enchanted concoction just tasted like water, but after a moment, the taste of fresh blueberries blossomed on my tongue. It began to tingle, and then that tingle spread down my throat into my belly.
“Oh, Brighton, that was too much,” Meri said. “You’d better put that back.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
I enjoyed the fresh and invigorating tingle that was spreading out from my stomach to my limbs. It was when the sensation began to float upwards to my head that I knew Meri was right.
“Oh, my,” I said.
It felt as if I was floating above the sadness that had threatened to overwhelm me. I began to giggle and pulled out my phone.
“What are you doing?” Meri asked.
I walked over to a red velvet love seat in the reading area of my attic library and plopped down. Somehow it seemed completely reasonable that if I didn’t sit down, I’d float away.
“I’m calling Thorn,” I said. “I want to talk to him.”
“You shouldn’t call Thorn when you’re like this,” Meri said.
He jumped up on the sofa next to me, but I put my finger to my lips and issued a sloppy, “Shhh.”
Thorn’s phone only rang once before he picked up. “Hello, Brighton.”
It was then I realized he’d left my house to go attend to police business. “Oh, I’m sorry, Shhorn. I forgot you’re working.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m just pulling into my driveway now. Are you drunk?” he asked with a chuckle. “Are you okay?”
“I got into my auntie’s magic elixir,” I said and then remembered who I was talking to. “Oh, crap. I mean, it was her secret recipe.”
“You’re drinking your crazy great-aunt’s homemade liquor?”
“She washn’t crazy, and I only had a little. That’s not why I called you,” I said indignantly.
“Okay,” Thorn began with another laugh, “Please tell me why you did call me.”
“Remy came over after you left.”
“Oh,” Thorn said. “So… Are you calling to cancel our date?”
“No!” I said too enthusiastically. “No, I mean nothing like that. I’m upset because he was really mad at me.”
“He was mad at you? Why? Did he do something to you?”
“Nothing like that,” I said and sighed. “I let something slip earlier when I was talking to Annika. I didn’t tell her anything outright. I just mentioned something about Remy and Langoria, but she put it together. I swear I didn’t tell her.”
“I believe you,” Thorn said. “So what’s going on, then?”
“I guess it doesn’t matter now. Annika made a scene at the funeral about it, and it’s going to be all over town. I’m almost surprised you hadn’t heard about it yet.”
“Brighton, just tell me, sweetie,” he said.
My heart thumped when he called me sweetie. Thorn hadn’t done that before, but maybe it was just because I was intoxicated and acting silly. Perhaps he just wanted me to get on with it so he could go to bed.
“Langoria was Remy’s biological mother. The whole family knew. Well, the older generation. I guess all of the younger cousins don’t know, but Remy knew. The thing was, he didn’t tell anyone he knew. He wanted that part to be a secret. He told me about it after Langoria died. I promised I wouldn’t say anything. But… I don’t even remember what I said, but I didn’t tell Annika. The thing is, what I said, she put it together herself. I didn’t mean for that to happen. Anyway, one of the aunts made a nasty comment about Remy not caring enough about Langoria or something at the funeral. It set Annika off, and she made a big scene. Remy is mad at me. He thinks I betrayed him.”
“You didn’t,” Thorn said. “That’s a huge secret, and I believe it’s too big of a
secret for him to ask you to keep. Especially when it makes him a suspect in Langoria’s murder. Brighton, it wasn’t fair for him to ask that of you. Besides, I believe you. I trust you didn’t tell Annika, and I know you didn’t say something to intentionally help her figure it out.”
“I shouldn’t be putting this on you. I know you didn’t like my friendship with Remy. I’m being unfair,” I said.
“I don’t mind your friendship with Remy, Brighton. I don’t know that I like him getting mad at you about things that aren’t your fault. I don’t like him burdening you with such heavy secrets, but that’s something different.”
“We really were just friends,” I said. “I had thought that there was a possibility for more, but I just don’t feel about him the way…”
“It’s okay,” Thorn said. “You can say it. I have feelings for you too.”
“I’m glad,” I said. “But I’m sad too that I think I lost a friend. That’s why I took the elixir or drank it, what have you.”
“You didn’t lose a friend, Brighton. Remy will calm down and come around, and if he doesn’t, then he wasn’t a good friend to begin with,” Thorn said. “But you had better sleep off that elixir. Make sure you have a big glass of water before bed.”
“Thank you, Thorn,” I said and bit my lower lip. “Are we okay?”
“Of course, we are, Brighton. You can call me about anything. If I’m at work and I can’t talk, I’ll get ahold of you as soon as I can. I’m sorry I ignored you for so long. That was wrongheaded of me, but I won’t do it again. I’m here for you, and I’ll pick you up for dinner tomorrow night. I promise.”
Chapter Ten
I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed despite having drank too much of the magic feel-good potion. After a good stretch and a long yawn, I got out of bed.
Meri jumped down behind me, and we made our way down to the kitchen for breakfast. He stretched out in a patch of sun streaming through one of the windows while I perused our options in the fridge.
“You want an egg?” I asked. “I think I’m going to have some over-easy eggs and toast.”
“Yeah, I’ll take an egg,” he said and stretched.
“You want it over-easy?”
“Sounds good to me.”
While I fried the eggs in butter and made toast, Meri snoozed under the window. It had to be nice to get out of bed and take a nap right away.
Once breakfast was ready, I put Meri’s egg on a small plate and set it on the table next to mine. I didn’t relish having a cat on the table, but it didn’t seem right to make him eat on the floor.
“What are you going to do today?” Meri asked in between lapping his egg yolk.
“I don’t know. I could pull more weeds, but the grass needs to be tackled too. Perhaps I’ll go out the garden shed and see if I can get that old mower working. If I can, I’ll start cutting the grass at the cemetery. I need to do that before I clean the headstones.”
With breakfast done and the dishes washed, I headed out to the shed. Once I’d moved a bunch of tools out of the way, I backed the old push mower out of the shed.
The first time I yanked the cord to start it, the thing barely moved. I had no idea you had to pull so hard to get it started. I put my back into the second pull and got the mower to stutter.
Unfortunately, sputtering was the best I was going to get. Even after several pulls, the mower refused to come to life.
“Come on, please,” I asked it.
When I pulled again, I got nothing. The old lawn mower had given up the ghost.
“I don’t think it’s going to work,” Meri said.
He’d come outside to watch me struggle with the mower. Meri got up from his place under a tree and sauntered over to where I was fighting with the mower.
“Maybe it just needs gas or oil or something. Can’t you do anything?”
“I could if it wasn’t trash, but Brighton, that mower is gone. You’re going to need a new one.”
“I can go buy one, I guess. I should go cash the check. I can use the money to get a new mower. Plus, I better cash it before Remy and Ralph get the contract voided. Neither one of them likes me right now.”
“Remy will get over it, Brighton,” Meri said.
“I’m still going to go cash the check. I guess I’ll be back in a little while with a new mower.”
I went up to the attic and got the check. When I came back down to the first floor, Meri was on the hearth. There was no fire, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Back soon,” I said.
He just swished his tail in my general direction.
I didn’t have a bank account at the bank in Coventry, but it was as good a time as any to open one. Bank of Coventry was located in the town square down from the courthouse before you got to the library. I hoped that it was owned and run by humans because if the Skeenbauers owned it, I wasn’t sure it was safe for me to put my money in an account there.
After parking in one of the spaces that surrounded the common area of the square, I murmured a protection spell over myself and got out of the car. As I walked into the bank, I noted that I didn’t detect any magic at all. It seemed to be a human business after all. Either that or the magic was so good I couldn’t pick up on it.
I waited in the short line for one of the tellers, and when it was my turn, I told the woman behind the counter that I wanted to open an account with the check. She looked it over and then began typing something into her terminal so fast I didn’t think it was humanly possible.
“All right, I’ve got that all set up for you, Ms. Longfield. Just let me run to the back and get you some temporary checks to use until your debit card comes in the mail.”
“But I didn’t give you any of my information,” I said in shock.
“This is a small town, Ms. Longfield. We all know your information. Let me grab those checks.” She came back and handed me a small checkbook. “Did you want to order regular checks too?”
“No thanks, these and the debit card will be great.”
“You have a great day,” she said with a genuine smile. “Come see us again.”
“Thank you.”
I walked out of the bank with my head down because I was looking over the temporary checks and ran right into someone just outside the doors. When I looked up, I realized it was Maximillian. I’d plowed into Langoria’s ex-husband.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I was looking at these and not paying a bit of attention where I was going. Again, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said with a bright smile. “There’s not much that could bring me down today.”
“I’m Brighton Longfield. I moved into Hangman’s House a little while back,” I said and offered him my hand.
He shook it heartily. “I’m Maximillian Quartermayer. It’s good to finally meet you,” he said. “Actually, I need to set up a meeting with you about some town council matters. That business that Langoria was involved in with you. We should get together about that at the courthouse soon. I’ll have my secretary send you a letter with a date and time, if that’s okay?”
“That would be fine,” I said. “Is it bad news or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I’m afraid Langoria gave you cause to worry when there probably was none, but let’s not dwell on that today, Brighton.”
“Oh?” I had to know why he was so cheerful.
“Yes! The sun is shining. The birds are atwitter, and yours truly is going to buy the barbeque grill I’ve had my eye on for a month. After that, I’m going to the dealership to look at my dream truck. That’s why I’m here. I’m about to go get approved for the loan, and then that eight-cylinder Hemi is all mine. Can you believe it? After all this time, I can finally afford the things I want.”
“Congratulations,” I said with a smile.
“Thank you,” he said and walked into the bank whistling.
Maximillian was on cloud nine because he could finally buy the things he wanted. Because Langor
ia was dead? His motive for killing her had just ratcheted up to a thousand.
Chapter Eleven
I was inside of Nailed It looking at their selection of lawn mowers when Karen approached me. I’d been trying to decide between a push mower and a riding lawn mower. Buying the push mower would save me a lot of money, but the newer section of the cemetery was large for the push variety. No one had asked me to officially take over as cemetery caretaker, and I figured that I’d donate whichever model I purchased to the person who did get that job. The money I was using to pay for it was coming from my expense budget, so the mower wouldn’t really be mine to keep.
“I’d go with the riding lawn mower,” Karen said.
I hadn’t seen her walk up behind me, and she’d startled me a bit. “Yeah, they are more expensive, but it would make life a great deal easier for me,” I said.
Karen smiled at me, and I was taken aback by how pleasant she was being. “Hey, I wanted to say that I was sorry for how I was acting the other day. I wasn’t feeling well, and I’m afraid that I wasn’t kind. It’s no excuse for my behavior. Sometimes I think we get a little wrapped up in ourselves around here. That tends to happen when you live in a small town, but again, that’s no excuse. I should have been kinder.”
“I appreciate your apology,” I said. “Maybe we can just start again.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Karen’s smile widened. “In fact, I wanted to invite you to church this Sunday.”
“To church?” For a moment I thought she was kidding. “There’s a church in Coventry?”
“Oh, yes,” she said and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Well, it’s right outside Coventry. Technically, we are outside the town limits, but all of the church folk in Coventry attend there. We were hoping you’d join us this weekend.”
So Karen was a human and not a witch. She obviously didn’t know that I was a witch. I wasn’t really sure how to proceed given that we’d just called a truce.
“We’re going to be having a huge bake sale after the services,” she said when I hesitated. “Other congregants contribute, but I do most of the baking for our sales. I am quite the accomplished baker, according my brothers and sisters of Coventry. The bake sales are really the only times I get to sell my goods, and I give almost all of that money to the church. But I suppose that’s not going to be a problem anymore.”
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