“Of course, I was. The renovations of the house where we planned to open the orphanage have been in limbo since the theft. I was trying to get through to Medea to return the money.”
“Did you threaten her?” Petunia asked.
“No, I was bidding my time.”
“Did you really expect Medea to return the money?” Noah asked. “She must have believed she got away with it and there was nothing you could do.”
“You must have had a paper trail,” Petunia said.
“Medea handled the finances, as I’ve said. When I pressed her about the documentation for the deposits, she had assured me the finance manager at the bank hadn’t sent them to her yet,” the sheriff said. “I’ve known the bank manager since I was in college. Rick told me that Medea had closed the fundraiser account. That’s when I finally found out she embezzled the money.”
“Were you angry enough to get back at her?” Petunia asked.
“I was heartsick about the whole thing, to be honest. I had every intention of bringing her to justice. Now it appears someone had their own agenda for getting rid of Medea. And the suspect list is so long that I’ll be hard pressed to find the killer.”
“Did they mention how long the factory would be closed?” Noah asked.
“Till tomorrow morning unless they don’t pass an inspection today.”
“So, they’re out there today?” Noah asked. “Do you have any deputies over there to oversee things?”
“OSHA asked us to leave so they can do their own investigation into the accident.”
11
“I hope we’ll be able to get into the factory and poke around. How else will we find out how the accident happened,” Petunia said.
“We could ask Chloe to get her opinion,” Noah offered. “I imagine she’ll have some idea how to access the factory without being seen.”
Petunia hiked her large purse, where the crystal ball was concealed, over her shoulder as she crossed the street. She couldn’t risk someone breaking into her hotel a second time. She didn’t want to think about what might happen if the globe fell into the wrong hands. Petunia wasn’t even sure what that would entail.
“Why do I have to come?” Pansy asked, as he walked across the street with Petunia and Noah.
“We might need you to dart into the factory. It will give us the perfect excuse to go into the factory to look for you. Nobody wants a lost cat in a factory that makes candy.”
“I don’t want to be turned into a candy bar,” Pansy mewed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen, but don’t go walking on a conveyor belt while you’re there.”
The trio entered the shop where Petunia had procured the crystal ball.
Petunia admired the pristine floors and shelves. Globes, figurines, and bejeweled boxes that were supposedly considered magical were displayed in such a way that it was impossible not to pick one up and hold it. Of course, Petunia held back since that’s how she wound up with the crystal ball. She now wondered if she shouldn’t have thrown it away since it appeared to be causing such problems for her.
Emerald hurried over with a bottle of glass cleaner.
“Your windows don’t have so much as one fingerprint on them,” Petunia said.
Emerald forced a smile on her face. “This is why we don’t have any. Magical window cleaner.” Emerald proceeded to walk around Petunia and spray the windows. “Chloe isn’t here. She’s working at the jewelry store with Evie. Lucky witch gets to oversee the store while Evie is busy with her children.”
“I would think you’d prefer to work here. I imagine it’s quite interesting to sell magical items to tourists.”
“Fortunately, not many of the items are actually magical. We can’t have tourists manifesting trolls in town.”
“That would be dreadful,” Noah said. “I should wait outside.”
Petunia’s brow shot up. “We’re not here to talk about magic, Noah, but I’m curious about this shop. Are you certain you don’t remember who once owned the globe?” she asked Emerald.
“Sorry, I got nothing,” Emerald responded with a shrug.
Pansy pranced over and swiped a paw at Emerald. “Why are you chit chatting with that viper?”
“Emerald is not a viper. I think she’s just angry that I knocked over the crystal ball,” Petunia said out loud.
“What?” Emerald asked, as she sprayed the glass cleaner in Pansy’s direction. “Who are you blubbering about?”
“Petunia has a habit of thinking out loud,” Noah said.
Emerald narrowed her eyes as she looked at Pansy until a wicked smile came over her face. “Oh, I know what you were trying to do.”
Petunia turned to Noah and ushered him toward the door. “I think it might be better to wait outside.”
“Whatever you say, Petunia,” Noah said on his way out the door.
“So, he doesn’t know?” Emerald asked, as she moved behind the counter.
Petunia tucked her hair behind her ears. “I don’t think I know what you mean.”
“I don’t suppose you’d want to admit the truth to yourself. You can communicate with animals.”
Petunia busted out laughing. “I most certainly cannot.”
“You’re a more powerful witch than I thought. First, you get a dormant crystal ball to come to life and now this. I can’t wait to see what you can do next.”
“I can’t do anything special in the least.” Petunia wanted to say she could only make potions, one of which that had turned a senior citizen into a much younger version of herself. The woman went on to win a marathon in Lake Forest.
Petunia wiggled her nose as she passed a display of incense. She quickly put a finger under her nostrils but it was too late. Petunia sneezed and bubbles dance around her head.
Emerald popped a bubble that floated to the counter with an ink pen.
“Sneezing bubbles,” Emerald said, as she jotted it down. “Interesting.”
“I hope you’re not writing it down.”
“It’s important to record a witch’s magical powers, especially one who has a crystal ball. I don’t suppose you can tell me what else you can do.”
“Enough about me. Why don’t you tell me what sort of witch you are?”
“A witchy one, as you might have already guessed. I’m nothing like my sisters. I can be quite crude at times and manipulative, although don’t tell them I said that. Chloe has a familiar who happens to be a monkey.” Emerald laughed. “Because I lured him to her apartment with a banana.”
“I knew you did it and now I have proof!” Chloe yelled from the back of the store. She marched forward and waved a finger in her sister’s face, as she struggled to pull a wand out of her pocket.
“Ladies, please,” Petunia screamed. “You can’t actually be thinking about using your wand on your sister, Chloe.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that, but I’m so tempted right now. Don’t think I won’t tell Evie about your evil plot.”
Emerald sat down on the stool behind the register. “It won’t matter. The selection of the familiars is past.”
“I don’t understand what that means,” Petunia said.
“The familiar picks the witch, not the other way around in our family,” Chloe said.
Petunia nearly shared the truth about Pansy, when he trotted over. “Don’t even think about telling them about who I really am,” Pansy said.
“Thanks, for a minute I nearly did. It’s not a good idea that anyone knows, outside of my Aunt Maxine and her witchy friends.”
Emerald changed the subject and said, “Petunia can talk to animals.”
“I already told you I can’t. I’m here to speak to you about something that happened today,” Petunia said.
Chloe blinked rapidly until she removed a wayward eyelash. “Did they find out who killed Medea?”
“Saved by the bell,” Pansy said.
“Just in time, too,” Petunia told Pansy.
“Sheriff Griffin is waiting for the body to be
identified, although from the way she sounded earlier, she knows it was Medea. She thinks Naisha might not have recalled things right.”
“I wonder why the sheriff thinks that,” Emerald said.
“The sheriff might not want to admit that people could think she had a hand in it,” Chloe said. “They worked on a fundraiser together.”
“One Medea embezzled money from,” Petunia said.
Emerald’s eyes widened. “Are you certain?”
“It was confirmed from Medea’s butler and the sheriff. Medea was handling the financial aspect. The sheriff was having a house renovated to open an orphanage, but it’s on hold since the money is gone.”
“The sheriff might have killed Medea,” Chloe said.
“She told me she was putting together a case against Medea so I don’t see the sheriff as a suspect.”
“I had hoped to speak with Evie, too, but you can tell her for me,” Petunia said. “Someone broke into my hotel room.”
The sisters gasped. “No!” exclaimed Emerald.
“Yes, and Pansy was so petrified that I found him hiding under the bed when I got back to my room.”
“Did they steal the crystal ball?” Chloe asked.
“No, but I think whoever it was had planned to, but it rolled behind the dresser. The intruder did ransack my room and suitcase. It was confirmed by the hallway recording that it was a woman. She was covered with a cloak for the most part, but I did see bright red curls that fell out of it. It looked like a wig.”
“I don’t mind you taking credit,” Pansy said. “Not at all.”
“Shhh, they’ll hear you. Emerald already believes I can talk to animals.”
Chloe bit down on her fist. “Oh, my.”
“She was also quite tall. I’d say six feet, at least.”
“This isn’t good.”
“That crystal ball is more powerful than we thought,” Emerald said. “It concealed itself.”
“Pansy might have knocked it on the floor,” Petunia blurted out before she thought about it.
Emerald folded her arms. “I told you Petunia could talk to animals.”
“I’ve never heard of a witch who could talk to animals,” Chloe said. “A familiar maybe.”
“Can we please get back to the break in,” Petunia said. “Do you know of anyone … or any other witch … who fits that description?”
Chloe joined her sister behind the counter where they whispered to one another for a moment.
“We should speak to Evie about this, but now is not the time. I have to get back to the jewelry store and take over for my sister. She’s picking up our nieces from school. We should meet up later,” Chloe said.
“Do you think your store getting ransacked has anything to do with my hotel room?” Petunia asked.
“Oh,” Emerald gasped. “What if they were looking for the crystal ball then, too?”
“How would they know I have it?” Petunia asked.
“Well, I might have made a little slip,” Emerald said, “at the Coven Lantern, but it’s not like anyone knows who you are.”
Chloe elbowed her sister in the ribs. “Good going.”
“I was just so angry it happened. Our family has kept the crystal ball hidden for years.”
“It wasn’t hidden too well if it was displayed in your store,” Petunia said.
“What better place to hide it,” Chloe offered.
“Are you certain anyone is even looking for it?” Petunia asked.
“Believe us they are, which is why we’ve been protecting it. If it fell into the wrong hands … I dare say what would happen,” Emerald said. “Evie will want to know about this.”
“But I thought the globe couldn’t have been brought to life by just anyone.”
“You might not be the only one able to do that.”
“Not that we know of,” Chloe added. “I hope you’re keeping it safe.”
“That’s why I brought it here,” Petunia said, indicating the bag she was holding. “I don’t know of any other place to hide it.”
Emerald backed up and knocked a picture frame off the wall. The glass shattered. “See, this is a sign. It can’t be kept here. You’ll have to figure it out.”
“If you’re so worried it will fall into the wrong hands as you’ve said, I would think you’d want to keep it from getting stolen.”
“Were you able to get the ball working after it rolled on the floor?” Chloe asked. “It might be broken.”
“It came to life all right. I saw Medea’s laughing face in it. It makes me wonder if she’s really dead. Maybe the sheriff is right to wait until the body has been identified.”
“I rather like the thought that Medea is gone … not dead, mind you.”
Petunia gave her number to the sisters. “Call me when it’s a good time to meet with Evie. Noah and I are planning to get into the factory somehow today. That’s why I really wanted to speak with you, Chloe. Are there any places that might not be as secure to enter the building?”
“The loading dock is a good place if they’re not doing any unloading or loading. The lock on the door is broken. It can be shouldered open easily.”
“Talking from experience, sister?” Emerald asked. “Medea might have had a good reason to let you go.”
Chloe doubled up her fists, she then buried them on her hips. “I didn’t do anything to deserve that. You wouldn’t have lasted one hour working for that shrew.”
Petunia and Pansy walked out the door as the sisters continued to argue. On the way out, Petunia deftly tucked her bag containing the crystal ball under the table without the sisters noticing.
At least Emerald had shared some interesting information, Petunia thought. She only hoped that Evie would have more to share about the intruder to add to the very little Petunia knew right now.
Noah drove the golf cart around the factory on a pathway that was covered with sharp, thorny weeds. Pansy was smart enough to cling to Petunia’s feet. When they finally came to an abrupt halt, Noah parked the cart amongst the weeds so it was concealed.
Despite the occasional buzzing mosquitos, she wondered why the factory didn’t use this area.
Noah carried Pansy and Petunia hurried to catch up. Fortunately, the large dock door was closed. Noah easily opened the employee entrance and they slipped inside.
Noah moved to put Pansy down until he squawked at Petunia. “Don’t let him put me down, it might not be safe!” Pansy exclaimed.
“We should probably keep carrying Pansy,” Petunia whispered to Noah. “It might not be safe here.”
Noah handed Pansy to Petunia, who rolled her eyes at him. She couldn’t blame Noah, though. Pansy wasn’t the lightest cat these days. Not that any of her other three cats at home were, either.
Petunia kept close to Noah and he slid behind a melting pot as the sounds of voices drifted over to them.
“Whoever did this really hated—” one man began.
“Medea?” the other offered.
“How would the chute fall apart like that?”
“I feel horrible about the accident. If one of the tourist had been harmed … ”
“A tourist wasn’t hurt.”
“I still don’t know how an accident like this would happen. Our safety record has always been good.”
“Except the last accident that involved the last manager.”
Petunia peeked from behind the melting pot. Two men were conversing and one had a large mole over his eye! She dropped Pansy, who flew into action and raced across the floor.
“Oh, great, we have rats!” one man shouted. “Someone find it and kill it.”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Petunia wailed. “I’ll find him … after you answer a few questions about the accident.”
The man with the mole regarded her carefully. “So, you don’t work for OSHA?”
“No, I’m a tourist and somewhat of an amateur sleuth. I’m curious about exactly how marshmallow would fill the air ducts?”
“Yo
u need to eavesdrop better. I believe I said through the chute. The chute in question fills a tanker truck that is then delivered to another building.”
“The chute may have been tampered with,” Noah said. “It’s quite possible that someone loosened the rivets.”
“So it would break apart,” Petunia added.
“The investigation has just begun,” said the man with the mole.
It was difficult for Petunia to focus on anything else. “Can we speak to you privately? I’m sorry I didn’t catch your names.”
“I’m Frank Collins. I’m the president of the company.”
“He’s also an investor, he means,” the non-mole man said. “We all are, actually.”
“Hugh, I hardly think they need to know all the particulars.”
“I’m Noah and this is Petunia,” Noah introduced. “We’d really like to get to the bottom of who killed Medea. It’s quite apparent her death was set up.”
“Quite elaborately,” Petunia said. “We really need to speak to you privately, Frank.”
“I’ll catch back with you later,” Hugh said. “I, for one, would like to see how the OSHA investigation is going. You can update me later about why these two wanted to speak to you privately.”
“Let’s just hope it’s something pertaining to the accident,” Frank said.
Frank led them down a corridor and Petunia caught sight of Pansy, who Noah promptly picked up.
They walked into a small room that served as a small break room with a refrigerator, microwave, and a sink.
“Please have a seat,” Frank offered, as he sat across from them. “What is this about?”
“We spoke to Medea’s butler and he mentioned you were having a heated conversation with Medea at her house. We’d like to know what it was about,” Petunia said.
“The butler must have made a mistake. I didn’t have any problems with Medea.”
“And you were happy with how she handled her position at the factory?” Noah asked.
“Not in the least, but I wasn’t in the position to remove her. It takes a unanimous vote from the investors.”
“It’s fortunate that you don’t have to bother to fire her now,” Petunia offered.
Meows, Magic & Marshmallows Page 10