“What are you doing, Harper?” Franklin asked.
“I’m looking for a spare key. Most people leave them under flowerpots, don’t they?”
Franklin gave an impatient shake of his head. “There’s no need for that.”
He strode up to the back door, murmured a few words, and then tapped it with a forefinger. The door swung open.
“Well, that is an extremely impressive spell. Maybe you could teach me that one.”
Franklin looked doubtful. “Perhaps, but it is a little more difficult. Each style of lock requires a different type of spell so I’m afraid years of intense study went into this.”
He shooed me forward with his hands. “In you go. I’m going to go back around the front of the house and keep watch to make sure nobody turns up while you’re inside.”
“And if they do? How will you warn me?”
“I’ll make this noise.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and hooted like an owl. It was surprisingly realistic.
Turning away from Franklin, I took a deep breath and headed inside the house.
It was strange going into the house without Adele. I wondered how she was doing. She had stormed off earlier when we suggested her family could be responsible for her murder, which was understandable. Nobody wanted to believe that of their own flesh and blood. I hoped she’d come round and be back at Grandma Grant’s by the time Franklin and I had finished at her house.
I felt a bit uncomfortable prying around inside, but I didn’t think Adele was being completely honest with us. There had to be somebody who held something against her apart from Grandma Grant. I hoped to discover the clue to who that was within the house. I made my way to the kitchen first. Everything was neat and tidy, white units gleamed and the large silver refrigerator gave a low hum.
I was preparing to make my way into the hall when I heard a noise.
I stayed very still and listened, hard. It was an old townhouse and sometimes floorboards could creak on their own. Grandma Grant’s house was the same, with its own internal symphony of noises. This was different, it sounded like there was somebody in Adele’s house moving about.
I glanced behind me, back to the kitchen and the back door, and wondered if I should just run out now. Or maybe I could teleport myself to the front of the house and Franklin?
But curiosity made me sneak forward. I wanted to know who else was here in Adele’s house. Was it her daughter? That would be understandable…
I moved forward, edging along the hallway until I was level with the door into the living room.
Slowly, I peeked around the opening.
Inside, standing beside the polished cabinet containing Adele’s precious collection of thimbles, was the girl I’d seen in the kitchen.
She had her back to me but I recognized her from her spiky hair and the tattoo on her neck. She was methodically grabbing a handful of thimbles and stuffing them into the large pockets in her black coat.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded.
The girl whirled around, her eyes widened in shock to see somebody else in the house.
She dropped the thimbles she had been holding.
“I asked you a question. You’ve broken into a dead woman’s house and are stealing her collection of thimbles? What sort of person are you?”
I realized that I’d also broken into a dead woman’s house but I felt that was different. I was here trying to help Adele and solve a murder. I wasn’t here to steal from her.
“It’s not what it looks like,” the girl stammered.
“Really? Then why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here.”
“Adele was my friend. She said I could have these thimbles.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. For one thing, they didn’t seem like likely companions to me. I couldn’t quite picture fastidious, stuck-up Adele bonding over a cup of tea with this spiky-haired teenager. And why on earth would Adele say she could have a precious collection of thimbles?
“I think you’re stealing them,” I said. “Did you know Adele died this afternoon?”
The girl nodded. She seemed sad, but I wondered whether that was just an act.
“If your friend had just died, why would you be here gathering up her possessions?”
“I needed the money,” she said.
Well, at least she was being honest now. I supposed we were getting somewhere.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and began to pick up thimbles from the floor, putting them back in the cabinet, and then emptying her pockets and doing the same. “I’ll put them all back. I don’t know why I did it. I’m just desperate, I suppose.”
Despite my determination to be stern, I felt myself softening a little. “Why are you desperate? What’s wrong?”
She shrugged. “I just need the money, okay.”
“No, it’s really not okay. I’m going to have to tell the police about this.”
“You can’t! They won’t understand.”
“I have to. You could be involved in her murder.”
The girl looked shocked. “I would never have hurt Adele. She was really good to me.”
“How did you know her?” I asked.
The girl’s expression hardened. “That’s none of your business.”
She pushed past me, but I grabbed onto her jacket. “Oh no you don’t. You have to wait here for the police.”
I kept hold of her arm and fumbled in my jacket pocket for my cell phone.
I had no idea how I would explain to Chief Wickham and Joe McGrady why I was in Adele’s house. They weren’t going to be pleased, but if this girl had something to do with Adele’s murder then it was my duty to let them know. I’d just have to deal with the fallout as best I could.
But as I pulled out my cell phone, the girl yanked her arm away from me and I lost my grip. She was fast, and she darted out the front door before I could stop her.
I chased her down the steps and along the street, yelling at Franklin to help me catch her.
He jogged along beside me and then said, “Why on earth are you running? Just teleport to a spot just in front of her.”
“Of course, what a good idea.”
Beside me, Franklin disappeared in a hazy mist and I stopped dead still, closed my eyes, and focused on a spot of road just beside a red car.
Then I muttered the spell.
Something had gone wrong. Very wrong.
Rather than being on Adele’s street, I was on the main street, just along from the diner. To make matters worse, I wasn’t standing on the sidewalk. I was on top of a red car.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, beside me were Mr. and Mrs. Townsend and Deputy Joe McGrady.
They stared at me sitting on top of the car, and for a moment, I froze.
“Uh, Harper, what are you doing up there?” Joe asked, looking around as though he could find the answer nearby.
“Oh, I thought I saw a scratch. I was just going to polish that off… umm… yep…” I trailed off and began to polish the top of the car furiously with the sleeve of my jacket as though it was the most normal thing in the world to get on top of a car and try and polish out a scratch, especially when I didn’t even own the car.
“Right, well I’m just about to give Mr. and Mrs. Townsend here a parking ticket so I think you probably should get down.”
My cheeks were flaming as I slid down from the top of the car and tried to walk nonchalantly away, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
“Wait a minute,” Joe called, walking after me.
“If you’re going to give us a ticket, you should get on with it,” Mrs. Townsend grumbled. “I think it’s a disgrace anyway, giving an elderly couple a parking ticket when they’d only stopped here for just a few moments.”
Joe gave a heavy sigh. “Fine, I’ll let you off this time. But you cannot park here again. It’s a loading bay for the shops. Understood?”
The Townsends looked extremely pleased with themselves as they no
dded and got into their red car before driving away. Joe waited until they were gone before speaking. “Harper, are you all right?” he asked.
“Of course, everything is fine,” I said. I had no idea how I could possibly explain the situation so I figured I’d try to make it seem like everything was perfectly normal and there was nothing to talk about at all.
I should probably tell Joe about the girl in Adele’s house, but I really didn’t want him to think any worse of me, and if he’d known I’d been in Adele’s house, he’d be furious.
Joe reached out and, for one moment, I thought he was about to push my hair back from my face in a gesture of tenderness. Instead, he plucked a spiky yellow leaf from between strands of hair and held it up. “Where did that come from?”
Of course it came from the spiky bush in Adele’s back garden, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
I plucked it from his fingers and threw it on the ground. “It’s nothing. I was just gardening earlier.”
“I see. You know, I really am sorry about that business with your grandmother. We don’t really think she was involved, but we have to do things by the book when murder is involved.”
I nodded stiffly, wanting to get away from this humiliating experience.
But if that girl was involved in Adele’s death somehow, then Deputy McGrady needed to know.
“Actually, there’s something that could be important. I need to tell you something that might be related to Adele’s murder.”
Joe frowned. “Go on.”
“Well, I saw a young teenage girl helping herself to stuff in the kitchen during the spring fair and I just saw her inside Adele’s house as well.”
“You were inside Adele’s house?”
“It’s not what you think. I was just passing and saw that the door was open so I thought I better investigate.”
Technically not really true, and probably a blatant lie, but I wanted to save my skin.
“Not again, Harper! You can’t get involved in this case. Your grandmother is already a suspect. You’ll only make matters worse for her.”
I nodded meekly as Joe’s cell phone rang.
I’d never been so grateful for an interruption in all my life.
When Joe excused himself to take the call, I took my opportunity to escape, walking briskly along the main street before ducking into a side street, out of sight. Once I was there, I focused on Grandma Grant’s living room and murmured the spell.
The dizziness whirled around me, and then I yelped when I realized I was knee-deep in freezing cold water.
I looked down to see that I was standing in Grandma Grant’s pond. It was full of slimy pondweed.
Shivering, I waded to the side of the pond, swearing that was the last time I was ever going to teleport myself anywhere.
Chapter Fourteen
I managed to squelch over to Grandma Grant’s house, and when Jess and Grandma Grant saw the state of me, they quickly rallied into action.
“I think you have an affinity with that pond, Harper.”
I glowered at Jess. I hated that pond. I was always the one who had to go and collect the pondweed or the special pond pebbles for Grandma Grant’s spells, and it was one of the chores I hated.
Within five minutes, I was sitting comfortably in front of a roaring fire with my feet in a basin of a potion that Grandma Grant had made. I knew it contained hot water, mustard, menthol, and cinnamon from the smell, but there were some black specks floating on the surface. I didn’t dare ask what they were. But if it stopped me getting a chill, I would be happy.
Franklin pulled up a chair beside me at the fire.
“Unfortunately, the young girl got away, Harper. I appeared in front of her, but then when I realized you disappeared, I went to search for you.”
I sighed. At least Franklin had seen her too, and perhaps he would have a better chance at giving an accurate description.
“If you don’t mind me asking, where exactly did you teleport to? I take it you haven’t been in the pond all this time?”
“No, unfortunately the pond wasn’t the most humiliating incident. The first time I intended to teleport right in front of the girl, beside that red car parked along the street. I ended up on a different street on top of a completely different red car.”
Jess gasped. “Did anyone see you?”
“Unfortunately, yes. It was Mr. and Mrs. Townsend’s car and Joe was in the process of giving them a ticket for parking in the wrong spot.”
“So they saw you just appear out of thin air?” Jess said, her face paling.
It was Jess’s worst nightmare that we’d be discovered and outed as witches. I could understand the fear. It was against the laws of the witches’ council to use magic in front of non-magical entities and we could get in a lot of trouble, plus all the finger-pointing and gossip behind our backs.
“Yes, although they seemed to accept that I just somehow managed to climb on top of the car without them noticing. They were more concerned with why I would be on top of a car rather than how I had appeared out of thin air.”
“I suppose that’s something,” Jess said, perching on the arm of my chair. “Perhaps you should give the teleportation a break for a little while.”
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” I said, leaning back in the chair, feeling sleepy with the warmth from the fire.
“So do you think the teenage girl killed Adele for some reason?” Grandma Grant said, bringing me a hot bowl of soup.
“I don’t know. I think she was stealing, but she said something about Adele being a very good friend to her, which I admit sounded odd, but I suppose we should ask Adele about it.”
Grandma Grant looked around. “Where is she? Has she returned from her tantrum yet?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t seen her since she left earlier. I’m not sure where she is.”
Grandma Grant gave a little huff under her breath. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Now, eat up your soup.”
We all ate our hot bowls of leek and potato soup. It tasted delicious so I was pretty sure Grandma Grant had used a little magic to help the recipe.
When Jess went to wash the bowls, there was a knock at the door.
I was drying off my feet from the strange potion mixture and turned to see Leslie Lightfoot standing in the doorway.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Leslie said. “I just wanted to come round and tell you how sorry I was about this terrible mess over Adele’s death.”
“Come in,” Grandma Grant said, opening the door wider.
Leslie stepped inside, treating us all to a watery smile. She was wearing the same clothes as earlier, the same elegant fifties-style dress, but she had removed her hat.
“I hope you’re okay. It must have been quite awful to be accused of murder.”
“It wasn’t very pleasant,” Grandma Grant said. “Would you care to stay for a cup of tea?”
Leslie said that would be lovely and took a seat beside me and Franklin by the fire as Grandma Grant went into the kitchen to prepare the tea.
She blinked with interest at the bowl of yellowish water I’d had my feet in.
“It’s just a family tradition,” I said. “Probably an old wives’ tale, meant to ward off chills. I got a little wet and cold earlier.”
“Oh, it has been terrible weather, hasn’t it?” Leslie said, arranging the cushions behind her back.
“It can’t be a very nice introduction to Abbott Cove. You and your sister haven’t been here long.”
“I have to say it was quite a shock. I’ve never known anyone whose been murdered before. And Adele was such a lovely person.”
“Oh, did you know her well?” I asked.
“Well, I’d only met her once or twice, but Stacie had grown quite close to her in the short time we’ve been here. They had the baking in common, of course. I think Stacie saw her as a rival and wanted to assess the competition.” She pouted. “It’s just so sad.”
I nodded slowly. Fr
om what I’d known of Leslie and Stacie, I thought the sisters had kept themselves away from much of town life so far.
“I don’t suppose Stacie has any idea who may have been responsible?” I asked. “Obviously it wasn’t Grandma Grant, so we’ve been sitting here trying to think up likely suspects.”
“I think that sort of thing is better left to the police,” Leslie said primly. “But I know that your grandmother couldn’t have done such a thing.”
“Well, I hope they find the culprit soon,” I said.
“I had heard that you are quite the detective yourself. There have been other murders in Abbott Cove, haven’t there?”
I flushed. To an outsider, Abbott Cove must seem like a hotbed of crime. “It’s true, we have had a few murders, but Abbott Cove is quite a nice place really. It’s not as bad as you might think, considering it’s had all those murders.”
“I must admit after we heard about them, we were a little bit worried about moving here. But the surroundings are just so charming we couldn’t resist.”
Jess and Grandma Grant came back into the room carrying a tea tray. “It must have been an awful day for you,” Leslie said as Grandma Grant passed her cup of tea. “I know what you’re going through. My own sister was accused of a murder she didn’t commit. It was a terrible time.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Jess said.
Leslie nodded and took a sip of her tea. “Yes, it was the reason we moved away actually. Poor Stacie was accused of murdering her husband. She didn’t do it, of course, and the police didn’t have enough evidence to charge her, but that didn’t stop people poking their noses in where it wasn’t wanted and whispering behind poor Stacie’s back.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jess said. “It must have been an awful time for her.”
“Yes, it really was, so you see, I knew a little bit of what your grandmother was going through today and just thought I’d come round to offer any support I could.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Grandma Grant said, shuffling Athena over to one side so she could sit on the sofa too. Franklin sat quietly, gazing into the fire. As Jess and Leslie Lightfoot continued to chat about the awful events of the day, I couldn’t help staring at Franklin and wondering what he was thinking.
A Witchy Bake-off Page 9