by Sharon Pape
“His visit was lucrative for me too,” Lolly said. “Nelson had forgotten how much he loved my fudge. His eyes were as wide as a child’s when he saw all the flavors. He bought a quarter pound of each one. Candy makes kids of us all. Kids with money to spend. And on that note, I should be getting back to work.” Lolly hauled herself out of the chair. At the same time, my phone rang and the door chimes jingled, announcing the arrival of a middle-aged couple I’d never seen before. Lolly and I mimed our goodbyes with blown kisses and waves.
I welcomed the newcomers and invited them to browse—I’d catch up with them in a minute. Travis was on the phone, sounding fine and as if our dinner interruptus was the last thing on his mind. Although I needed to update him on everything I’d learned, it would keep. Customers came first. I said I’d call back when I wasn’t busy. If it came out a little brusque, he could just tuck that in the same compartment of his mind as our dinner.
Chapter 25
“Sorry about that,” I said when I found them in the aisle with liniments and creams.
“No need to apologize,” the woman said. “I’m convinced that my phone only rings when the doorbell rings. It’s nice to know that it’s not just me.”
“Well now that you have my undivided attention, how can I help you?”
“We need something for the aches and pains of living.”
“All of these topical preparations are basically the same,” I said. “Some people prefer the liquid, some the cream. In addition, herbs like ginseng, valerian root and St. john’s wort can be taken as teas to work systemically—throughout the body. I have a variety box of them if you don’t know which one you prefer.”
“Just choose one, for Pete’s sake,” the man said. He was standing behind her, so he didn’t see his wife roll her eyes for my benefit.
“Have you been in the candy shop across the street?” I asked him. “You won’t find better chocolate or fudge anywhere.”
His eyes brightened immediately. “I’ll have to take a look.” He was out of the aisle and headed to the door in five seconds flat. “Melinda,” he called over his shoulder, “if they have your favorites, I’ll get some for you.”
Once he was gone, she told me she’d take the liniment and the variety box of teas. “He’s a good man, my Robert,” she said on our way to the front of the shop. “He’s always thinking of me—even when he’s annoyed with me.” I set her products down, “Listen,” she whispered, as if her husband might still hear her, “Seeing as how he’s not here now, I want to ask you about magick spells. My friend raves about the one you gave her.”
“What type of spell did you have in mind?”
Since I wasn’t whispering, she must have realized there was no point in it. “This may sound silly, but it’s getting harder and harder to cook anything that appeals to Robert. All he wants is fried food, red meat, or cheese, and butter on everything. The doctors tell him he’s courting a heart attack or a stroke, and I nag him about it until I can’t even stand the sound of my own voice. But he refuses to change. The man is as stubborn as a jackass, pardon my French.”
“Generally, a spell works best when the person it’s intended for is onboard with it and knowingly participates. But in your case, that doesn’t seem likely.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Melinda said. “I’ve got to do something to help him. He can be a huge pain in the rear, but I don’t want to lose him.” Tears welled in her eyes.
“That’s why you’re going to try this spell,” I said, wishing I could be more reassuring. Magick didn’t come with any guarantees. We Wildes knew that better than anyone. I set her products on the counter, handed her a pad and pencil from my desk, and asked her to have a seat.
“You’re going to write down the spell. It’s part of the process that helps you connect with it,” I explained when her brows knit together. “You’ll need to rewrite the spell with a pencil before you try to cast it as well.”
“Every time?”
“Yes, for it to work the most effectively.” Unless she had some magickal DNA she hadn’t mentioned.
“You should know that the spell won’t make him hate the foods he loves—that wouldn’t be ethical. It will simply make healthier foods more appealing.” Melinda looked disappointed, but she said she understood. I went through the spell slowly, so she could write it without error:
Healthy foods are drawing you,
Veggies, fruit and fish.
Presented with alternatives,
It’s for them you’ll wish.
“Say it before dinner, before he looks at a restaurant menu, before he goes into a grocery store and before anything else involving food. If the spell is not working, you can repeat it up to five times in a row, but if it still doesn’t work, it’s pointless to continue.”
“Thank you so much,” Melinda said, getting up. “I’d like to pay for everything before Robert comes back and asks too many questions.” After I rang her up, she paid in cash and I handed her a receipt that she dropped into her purse. At her request, it didn’t include the spell. “I hope you don’t think I’m awful for trying this on him.”
“Not at all,” I assured her. “It speaks of love and caring.” At that moment, Robert returned with a shopping bag of his own.
“You will not believe the amazing candy in that store.” He sounded the way he must have sounded when he was a kid. “I bought too much, but I couldn’t help myself.”
“That’s okay, dear,” Melinda said, patting his arm. “We’ll make it last a long time, because it’s too far to come right back for more. On the way home,” she said as they walked to the door, “we should stop at the fish store for some wild salmon and then the farmers’ market for fresh vegetables.”
“You have got to taste the dark chocolate caramels,” Robert said, lost in a sugary high. Melinda was going to have her work cut out for her.
I was about to call Travis back when Elise came in with a jaunty step and a smile. “Playing hooky?” I asked.
“It’s after three and school’s out for the day. Has it been so busy in here that you’ve lost track of time?”
“I guess so.” I came from behind the counter to hug her. She was smiling the way she did when she had some good news to impart. It was a smile that made her look like the teenage girl who’d been my babysitter over twenty years ago. “Okay, I know that look. What’s got you bubbling over inside?”
“Well—I’m here for us to plan a double date.” It took my brain an extra second to make sense of what she was saying.
“With you and Jerry the dentist?”
“Yes, but when you meet him, it would be so much better if you just called him Jerry.” She struggled to keep a straight face, but the dam burst when I cracked up.
“I promise to have it all together when I meet plain ol’ Jerry.” We spent a few minutes checking our calendars and came up with a list of dates we were both available, but we still had to square the dates with Travis and Jerry.
Elise apologized for not having the time to really catch up. She had to take Noah to the orthodontist. She promised a phone session before the end of the week. It made me happy to see her so lighthearted. It was time—close to a year since the huge upheaval in her life.
After she left, I picked up the phone again and finally reached Travis. I told him about Angie and the Monroe Enterprise name and address. It was hard to believe it wasn’t even twenty-four hours since we’d been together. He was psyched about the information. “We have to check out the company, her coworkers, managers,” he said. “I’ll try to find a phone number, otherwise we’ll have to show up unannounced and hope they like surprises. Oh—speaking of surprises.” I heard the change in his tone from determined reporter to wary boyfriend, which put me on alert. Had I been a dog, my ears would have pricked forward and my muscles would have bunched, spring-loaded for action.
“What’s up
?” I asked, hoping the surprise would be a pleasant one.
“My mother called to tell me she and my dad are coming up to the Glen this weekend.” He was clearly trying to sound like it was the best news he’d heard in years. I liked Elise’s news a lot better. “They’ll be here two nights. Can I arrange a meal together so they can meet you?”
I was speechless, even though Travis had told me more than once that they wanted to meet me. I should have known his mother wouldn’t wait forever. From the way he’d described her, she steamrolled through any and all obstacles to get what she wanted. In this case meeting me was her goal—I hoped I didn’t get flattened in the process.
“Sure,” I said, hesitation tugging at the word.
“How about Sunday brunch at the Grotto? That way they have a nice meal with us, and then we send them on their way. No chance for another get-together on this trip.”
“I see you’ve given this considerable thought.”
“Ad libbing where my mother is concerned doesn’t usually end well. But you need to remember that she’s sweet and kind and loving too.”
“We should be able to make it through one brunch without any disasters,” I said doing my best to sound upbeat. I was already trying to remember if there were any spells that could help. If not, I could create one. Of course a spell itself might lead to disaster. Sometimes the best plan was to do nothing, but I wasn’t good at doing nothing. Like most people, in spite of every indication to the contrary, I believed I could manipulate fate.
“Let’s try to get through this without magick,” he said as if he’d been reading my mind. “If we keep it simple, there will be less to go wrong. I think my mother will be amenable to meeting the rest of your family another time—especially the deceased members.”
“Not to worry—Bronwen and Morgana can only manifest in the house and shop.” For which I was enormously grateful. I had a hard enough time keeping Merlin under control. Two energy clouds following me around would be my undoing. I knew Travis wanted me to promise I wouldn’t use magick, but I didn’t feel I could make that promise in good faith. “I’ll make every effort not to use magick, except as a last resort.”
“And I get a veto.” He was playing hard ball, but he knew his mother better than I did.
“One veto and we both pray it never comes to that.”
“Deal,” he said. I clicked off the call feeling like I’d just agreed to have my hands tied behind me during a gun fight.
Chapter 26
Two days later, Travis picked me up for our trip to Eagle Enterprises. With the correct name to go by, he’d had no trouble finding their phone number. That was the easy part. He’d called me in the evening to detail his battle with the company’s automated system. After spending half an hour following prompts and pressing numbers in an effort to reach a human being, he opted to leave a message. The voice mail picked up, stated it was full, said goodbye and hung up. As a result, we were not expected at Eagle Enterprises.
Based on the vague directions Lolly had passed on to me, our plan was to leave no driveway unexplored in a three mile stretch south of New Camel. In a populated suburban area like Long Island or Westchester that would have been a monumental task, but in the rural environs of our town, it was a manageable number, especially going south from town.
I was in charge of spotting driveways. Many of them were overgrown; a few no more than broken macadam or cement where grass and weeds flourished side by side. We followed them to their end anyway. Given the thick vegetation, pot holes and ruts, we were lucky to be in an SUV. By the end of the first mile, we’d found three abandoned houses in various stages of disrepair, as if Mother Nature was nibbling away at them in an effort to reclaim her land. Saplings were attacking the houses from all sides, along with snakelike vines and weeds that stood six feet tall. I wondered what had become of the people who once lived in these houses.
“Depressing,” Travis mumbled as we bumped along the remnants of the last driveway.
“Mile two will be better,” I said, hoping to be prophetic. For once it worked. The only driveway we came to was mostly intact, and the house it served still in excellent shape compared to its neighbors. But it was just a house and we were looking for a larger structure. One big enough to house research and development under a federal contract and a business office with a number of different departments. No way all of that could fit into someone’s basement.
We didn’t come across another driveway until the end of the second mile. At first it appeared to be nothing more than a wide hiking trail. Travis took an informal poll as to whether or not we should explore it—two for and no one against. We turned onto the dirt path, encouraged by how well the foliage had been cut back from it.
Our first surprise came when we rounded a bend out of sight of the road and found ourselves on a paved drive. The dirt path was clearly to thwart unwanted visitors. Eagle Enterprises didn’t want to be bothered. Or maybe it was the federal government that had mandated the security measures for the company.
We hadn’t gone far on the road when we came to a guard house overseeing a vehicle barrier. Travis stopped alongside the security booth that was large enough for two people. That day it was manned by one guard sporting the uniform of a security company. “I would have thought they’d have military personnel in charge of security,” I murmured.
Travis shushed me. “I’ll take care of this.” I understood. If one person did the talking, we wouldn’t risk contradicting each other—still, I didn’t like being shushed.
The guard stepped out of the booth. He was no retired cop gone to seed. He was under forty, tall and muscular with a neck that looked too wide for his head. I could picture him as a linebacker on a football field. He was top notch security with a gun on his hip and maybe a license to kill. Really, Kailyn? Okay, no license to kill, but I was certain if you made one wrong move, you’d be on the ground with his knee in your back and your hands in cuffs. Travis rolled down his window. The guard leaned in.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
“Gee,” Travis said with an awkward chuckle meant to show we posed no threat. “I didn’t know my late cousin worked in an armed camp.”
The guard was stone-faced. “What can I do for you?”
“Can we get a pass to visit the business office?”
He peered past Travis to me. I cranked up a sweet, innocent smile. “Who is it you want to see?” he asked. Oops, now we had a problem.
Travis went with a version of the truth. “You may have heard about Ava Duncan being murdered?” he said with a well-timed catch in his throat.
“Terrible thing, sir, but Detective Duggan has already been here. What exactly is the nature of your visit?” I’d bet Stone Face didn’t even cry when Bambi’s mother died.
“I’m hoping maybe Ava’s coworkers can give us a lead that may have slipped their minds when they were talking to Duggan. He can be formidable.” This conversation was getting us nowhere. Another exchange or two and we’d be asked to backup, turn around and leave. I had a spell in reserve for just such an eventuality. It was a little ditty my grandmother taught me when I was three and my friend’s dog was standoffish with me. Given the situation, I couldn’t say it aloud, so I ran through it three times in my head:
Trust us you can,
Trust us you must
You have no choice,
But to trust us.
“That’s not—” Stone Face frowned and shook his head. “You’re lucky I happen to be in a charitable state of mind. I’ll call the supervisor of the business office and ask him to give you and Miss Wide Eyes there fifteen minutes to talk to some of your late cousin’s coworkers. You pull any nonsense, I’m the one you’ll have to deal with.”
“That’s very generous of you,” Travis said, trying to mask his bewilderment. The moment the guard stepped back into the security booth, he turned to me.
/> “Yes, I did,” I said before he could ask the question.
“Is it okay if I thank you when we’re on the way home with all of our body parts intact?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Stone Face gave us a little map of the building and pointed to the spot where he’d circled the business office. It could be accessed by a separate door from the main entrance. “If you go snooping around anywhere else, you’ll find yourselves in a ton of trouble.”
“We understand,” Travis said solemnly. “Thank you.” Stone Face hit the switch that lifted the barrier arm and we drove through, half expecting him to change his mind and come running after us with his gun drawn. But nothing happened.
When the building came into view, I was surprised by its size. It was hard to believe something that large could be completely hidden from the road. The door indicated on the map was the first one we came to. Travis pulled into the small parking lot adjacent to that end of the building.
When we reached the door, it was locked. There was a red button next to it and a security camera above it. The guard had said the supervisor would know we were coming, so I hit the button. There was a responding buzz, and when I tried the door again, it swung open. We entered a small vestibule, from which it was immediately clear that Eagle Enterprises had spent the bare minimum on its business office. Although it was essential to its continuing operation, the big bucks went elsewhere.
We let ourselves through an unlocked glass door and wound up at the receptionist’s desk where the name plate read: Hannah Overmeyer. The bearer of the name was young and would have been pretty, except for the black kohl eye makeup against her pale skin that gave her a ghoulish appearance.