Much as that pained me to admit. I really didn’t want to lose the child. Our little family needed her every bit as much as she needed us.
Chapter 15
My little talk with Nancy went better than I’d expected. I didn’t even have to bring it up. She knew she’d messed up. The girl even offered up a suggestion for her own punishment, too. Something far worse than I ever would have suggested. Full kitchen duty for a week. Cooking, cleaning, dishes, the full thing.
Sounded fair to me. That didn’t mean I couldn’t do the spell thing, anyway. I had to have a plan for going forward. She seemed to understand. She gave me her word that she wouldn’t use that eavesdropping spell again on any family member.
I upped that to simply never using it again. It took her a minute, but she agreed. With one caveat. If she needed it to protect her family or friends, she’d use it. She wasn’t budging on that one. Really, how could I ask her to?
And with her Ravenswind word given, the matter dropped.
The next morning, Orville was up early and at the computer. I took my time helping Kim and Gray get the kids fed and all of them out the door before I joined him.
“Where to today?” I asked.
“I’m thinking I want another talk with Freddy Black. See if there’s anything to that rumor about Morgan kicking him to the curb. Seems like that’s our most serious motive at the moment. As hard as I’ve tried, I can’t see hiding a stash of legal marijuana in a guitar that was stolen as a motive for murder.”
Yeah, neither could I.
We walked into the realty office just after it opened. Freddy didn’t look all that happy to see us. Especially me for some reason. His eyes kept darting back to me with just a touch of what appeared to be fear in them. What the heck? Surely the man didn’t really think I’d killed Morgan.
The townsfolk might not trust me all that much, what with me being a witch and all, but murder? Give me a break. Besides, it wasn’t magic that had broken that poor woman’s neck. It had been all too human hands that had done that.
“I’ve already told the police everything I know,” he said. “So maybe the two of you should go and talk with them instead of wasting my valuable time. I have a house to show in half an hour.”
“We won’t take that long, I promise. Five minutes, tops,” Orville said.
Freddy glanced pointedly at the clock. “Five minutes.”
“We heard word that Morgan was about to go solo,” Orville told him. “That she was starting to take listings for houses not under this agency’s umbrella. A whole new name. One that didn’t have Associates tacked onto the end of it. I was wondering how you felt about that?”
Freddy shot me a look, as if to make sure I was still where I was and wasn’t trying to sneak up behind him or something. The man seemed genuinely afraid of me. That bothered me. I wanted respect, dang it all, not fear.
Finally, he looked back at Orville, but he’d turned to where he could keep both of us in his field of vision. “That’s right. I’ve actually been after her to split the agency for a few years now. She didn’t want to. But we had a contract that required her to buy me out after five years, and that contract was ending next month. Morgan tried to get me to extend it, but I said no.”
His hand went up to straighten his tie. “It might sound heartless, but I was tired of being her on again off again boy toy. I wanted something permanent, relationship-wise. I was never going to get that from Morgan. Besides, to be truthful I was the real bread-winner here. Her negligible people skills were really hurting the business.”
I frowned at him. “Breaking up the agency was your idea?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed nervously as he nodded. “It was. Especially as this building belongs to me, not the agency.” Then he reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a business card. He handed the card to Orville. “This is the attorney that was handling the buy-out contract. I’ll call him and give my full permission to answer any questions you may have for him regarding the deal.”
Then, with another glance at the clock, he stood and picked up his briefcase from beside the desk. “And now, I really have to be going. You’ll have to take this up further with the sheriff or with the lawyer.”
Orville took my elbow, and we left without another word. Freddy followed us out, pausing only to lock up behind him before getting into his car and driving away.
I glanced down at the card still in Orville’s hand. “That lawyer is right down the street. Think we should pay him a visit?”
Orville was still staring after Freddy’s car with a thoughtful look on his face. “One less T to cross, so yes, we probably should.”
“You think he’s telling the truth, don’t you?”
He nodded.
Well, shoot. So much for a motive for murder.
FREDDY MUST HAVE CALLED the lawyer from his car because by the time we’d walked into his office, he was expecting us. We weren’t there all that long either.
For once in his history of shady business dealings. Freddy Black had told the absolute truth. The buyout contract had been his idea, and Morgan had not been happy about it. She’d signed the contract, all fair and square, but she hadn’t wanted to.
Kind of made me wonder what Freddy had on Morgan, that she’d agree to sign something she didn’t want to, and I’d be trying to check into that, but I couldn’t see how it would give Freddy a motive to kill Morgan. The man had gotten what he wanted. Now if it had been his body found, things would be different. Morgan would have been the one with the motive for murder.
Freddy, however, came out of the whole thing smelling like a rose.
“I could go for another cup of coffee,” I said, looking over at Orville. “How about you?”
He grinned at me. “You aren’t fooling me one bit, just so you know. Now that you’re off the Raspberry Delight wagon, the cravings are back, aren’t they?”
What could I say to that? He wasn’t wrong. “Well, I wouldn’t complain if a couple of them fell into a sack while I bought my coffee.”
He chuckled. “I think we can make that happen.”
The Flour Pot didn’t have much seating inside, as the owner highly encouraged people to get their food to go. We got lucky that there was a small table for two left in the corner.
I’d barely polished off the first of my two treats when Patty Bluespring walked through the front door.
I nodded to her, expecting her to go to the counter to place an order. She didn’t. Instead, she headed directly over to our little table and pulled over a chair to squeeze between us.
Uh-oh. Something was up.
“I hear you’ve been to see Freddy Black,” she said, looking directly at me.
Orville leaned back in his chair. “Wow, that was fast. Even for this town’s grapevine network.”
Patty grunted. “I didn’t get it from the grapevine. This came directly from Freddy himself.” Her eyes were still boring into mine. “He called my personal number to ask how to go about getting a restraining order on a certain witch I know.”
I almost came out of my seat on that one. “A restraining order? Why I never...” And then the words just failed me. I looked over at Orville.
“I take it he didn’t mention wanting to file one against me?” Orville asked.
Patty shook her head. “It doesn’t appear talking to you bothers him much. Talking to Opal, however, does. A lot.”
“You explained that he has to have a good motive to get an order approved, I hope?”
She nodded. “I did.” Then she hesitated. “But I also told him I’d have a courtesy conversation with Opal here and ask her kindly to stay away from the man.” Her eyes narrowed into mine. “Consider yourself asked, okay?”
I took a deep breath. I was so not okay with all of this. “Did he happen to mention what his problem with me is?”
“He did.” She glanced around the semi-deserted shop, then lowered her voice. “He seems to think your Karma spell might just have gotten Morg
an killed. And he appears to think you might find him guilty by association and cast one on him too.”
“I didn’t do a Karma spell on Morgan.”
“I know that, and you know that. Trying to convince Freddy Black of that, however, appears to be an impossible feat. You should probably know, he’s telling everyone he can think of about you collecting that hair in their office. And then, you know, less than twenty-four hours later the woman is dead. Even you have to admit that doesn’t look good on you.”
“So... what? I can’t talk to the man anymore?”
“Technically, I can’t stop you from doing that. But I would highly recommend that you keep your interactions with him to an absolute minimum. He might not be able to get a restraining order, but the man could always try to file harassment charges. I don’t think you want the red tape of all that to happen. Not when you could just, you know, avoid the man.”
It irked me to no end, but in the end, I gave her a nod.
“Good. Then I think my work here is done.” Then she reached over and nabbed my last Raspberry Delight. “Thanks for the donut.”
It was just as well that she took it.
I’d kind of lost my appetite.
Chapter 16
Once Patty had left, and I calmed down a bit, I realized Orville was staring at me.
“You okay?” he asked.
Anyone but Orville, and I’d have brushed it all off and said I was fine. But I didn’t lie to my man. Not ever.
“No. Not really.” I took a long sip of my coffee to give myself a few more seconds of precious thinking time. I didn’t like admitting that I cared what people thought of me. In fact, up to that moment, I’d have said I didn’t give a rat’s heinie about that. The only people I answered to were myself and my family.
Period. They were the ones that mattered to me. Not the overblown feelings of some two-bit real estate agent.
I’d keep telling myself that, too.
“For what it’s worth, I think the man was way out of line calling Patty in on this.”
“Thank you.” I toyed with the napkin under my coffee cup. “Do you really think he is that scared of me?”
I didn’t like the silence that followed.
“To be quite honest, Opal, you can be a bit scary at times. And that whole hair-taking thing didn’t help your case any. You know that, right?”
I nodded. “I do.”
“Okay, then let’s not dwell on one man’s actions. Let’s concentrate on solving this case so that whatever tongues the man has managed to start wagging in town have the truth to wag about rather than a vicious rumor.”
Sounded good to me. I knew just where I wanted to head, too.
“Kelly Wilson?” I asked.
He just blinked at me for a long minute. Then another. Finally, he shook his head at me. “You know what? Maybe I should go alone for that interview.”
I leaned back and glared at him. “What happened to not dwelling on one man’s actions? Is this going to haunt me going forward working with you?”
He glanced away and then back again. “No. It isn’t. But with the town already up in arms with Freddy running his mouth about you, maybe it isn’t the time to go chasing down another person the entire population of Wind’s Crossing knows you have an issue with right now.”
I drummed my fingers on the tabletop for a minute, thinking. Finally, I shook my head. “I’ll admit it might not be the smartest course of action, but I think that’s the next logical step in the interview process. And I don’t like the thought of Freddy thinking I’m lying low because of him.”
Orville’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not going to talk you out of this, am I?”
“You are not.”
He continued staring at me for a minute or two. I wasn’t about to budge on this one. If I backed down now, then people would start to think they could cow me into submission. And I really couldn’t have that, now could I?
Finally, he gave me a small nod. “All right then, but I lead the interview.” His gaze bore straight into mine, unblinking. “That isn’t up for discussion, Opal.”
“So be it.” I might be stubborn, but I wasn’t stupid.
“Okay, then.” He glanced at the counter. “But I think I’m gonna need another cup of courage for this one.”
“Better get me one too.”
While he bought the two to-go cups, I cleaned off the table and threw away our trash. No sense in making the owner do that. This wasn’t a shop with a lot of employees. People were expected to clean up after themselves. If that didn’t happen, there would likely be no tables at all to sit at soon.
I didn’t want to be the cause of that.
We were halfway to Oak Hill when Orville finally glanced over at me. “I think maybe I need some background here on Kelly Wilson.”
I took a deep breath. “That gathering information so you know who you’re talking to thing of yours?”
He grinned at me. “Pretty much. Plus, I have to admit, I’ve been very curious as to just why she bypassed you on that house deal. Especially when you probably would have paid more than the asking price just to get the place. Why would she take less money just to spite you?”
“Right now, I’m thinking that saying that God works in mysterious ways is right on the money. And I think it applies to the Goddess too.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I believe the Goddess wanted Patience in that house. Did you know she used to live there? She knows more about that property than I do.” I hesitated for a minute. “She needed it more too.”
Orville threw me a quick glance. “So the feud is off, then?”
I had to think about that. “With Patience, yes. Still can’t say I’m overly fond of the way it all went down.”
“Which brings me back to my original question. The one you never answered, by the way.”
“It goes back a lot of years, our little... disagreement. You know how in the movies they always say that you shouldn’t use magic for two things—bringing back the dead and forcing people to love you?”
“Please tell me she didn’t want to bring someone back.”
I chuckled. “No, at least she had that going for her. But she did want a date to the prom. A specific date, I might add.”
“Kelly Wilson came to you for a love potion?”
There was a bit of laughter in that voice of his. It actually hadn’t been a laughing matter at all. The girl, as I recalled, had been rather desperate at the time. Young, unrequited love and all was a powerfully moving emotion.
One that could create a lifelong grudge in one’s heart if you let it grow. Kelly had appeared to water her grudge daily.
Part of that might have been the fact that she never married. Not that she could honestly blame me for that, but in her mind, she most likely did.
I realized Orville was still waiting. “Yes. She did. And I refused. It isn’t right going around messing with other people’s free will. Or their emotions, either, for that matter. The counsel has rules against that sort of thing. For good reason.”
He glanced at me and then back to the road. “And that’s it? The only thing she has against you?”
“Well, there is the fact that the woman is now in her thirties and still single.”
“Ah. I see.”
I could tell he really didn’t, but I wasn’t going to push the subject. He’d asked, and I’d answered.
When he pulled up alongside the curb at Kelly’s house, all I could do was stare for a minute. The house itself was nice enough. Small, but then a single woman wouldn’t really need the room for a big family, would she? Less to take care of too.
And from the look of the outside yard, that was a big issue with Kelly. Not having a lot to take care of, I mean. The yard was in desperate need of a good mowing, and the weeds were taking over the smaller flower garden area at the front of the house. Not a single bloom in sight, either. The weeds had managed to kill any beauty that the woman might have planted there.
It made me half afraid to enter the house. I really wasn’t much of one for being in an unkempt house. It made me, well, a little antsy to be truthful. The longer I was in such a place without lifting a hand to change it, the more my blood pressure shot up. A little dust, I could handle. A total cluttered mess not so much.
Orville looked at me. “You could always wait in the car.”
Goddess help me, but it was tempting. But that appearing to be cowed issue was very real in my head right now. I squared my shoulders. “I can do this.”
He didn’t look so sure, but he didn’t argue, either. I waited for him to open my car door, and then we walked up the overgrown path to the woman’s front door.
Poor Cecil. Having to spend his last few years here had to have been hard. He’d always taken a genuine pride in his property. It would make him sad to see it in the shape it was in now. Another issue I had with Kelly, it would seem. How hard would it have been to hire someone to at least come out and mow the grass?
Then again, things like that cost real money, didn’t they? Maybe she was more strapped for cash than I had at first thought.
A tiny dog tied to one of the small porch’s posts gave the alert that company was coming, and Kelly opened the door before we even got there. She stood in the doorway with her arms firmly crossed against her chest.
And no, she didn’t look thrilled to see me.
“What are you doing here?”
Orville stepped in front of me. “We,” he stressed the word, “are here to talk with you about Morgan Truesdell. You know she was found dead at your old house, right? Murdered, in fact.”
Her eyes slowly went from me to him. “Yes, I’d heard. But I fail to see what that has to do with me.”
I glanced over at Orville, curious as to what approach he was going to use to get us through that front door. Usually, he was the smiling friend you could trust persona. Not this time. He never cracked a smile.
Witch of a Neighbor (Witch Reborn Book 6) Page 9