by Amy Boyles
Betty heaped a slopping ladle of stew onto my plate. “Do you want to tell us what happened?”
I glanced at Collinsworth, who sat on a stool nimbly munching a carrot.
Yes, in fact I did want to tell Betty. It had been too much to carry around.
“Lori Lou Fick was selling love potions out the back of her store.”
Betty dropped her spoon. “What?”
I pointed my cornbread toward Collinsworth. “She spelled a slew of pies with a giving spell that went crazy. That’s why you’ve been wanting to give things away. Problem was, the withdrawals nearly killed you along with half the town. So that’s what we’d been working on. With Mint and Licky.”
“And the spell worked?” Cordelia said. “With our mothers involved?”
I laughed. “Surprisingly, yes.”
My shoulders felt heavy. Like there was a burden I couldn’t push off for the life of me.
“How do you know all this about Lori Lou?” Betty said.
“The rabbit told me.”
My grandmother chewed quietly. I wasn’t supposed to say it. Normally I could keep a secret, I really could, but this wasn’t a secret worth keeping.
But at the same time, wouldn’t justice work itself out? Wouldn’t it all happen the way it was supposed to? Surely it would.
I guess I’d seen too many movies where an innocent person was convicted. I couldn’t keep it in any longer.
“Garrick said the murder weapon was covered in Carmen’s fingerprints.”
I exhaled, waiting for a bomb to fall on me. I’d promised him. Really promised that I wouldn’t blurt out that information. But I couldn’t keep it in any longer. There was something fishy about it. I knew that. Had to be. My cousin wouldn’t kill.
Correction—she hadn’t killed.
All gazes settled on me. I stared into my bowl. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything.” There was no reason for me to be ashamed for trying to help my family.
I hitched a shoulder. “Carmen wouldn’t have murdered.”
“We all know that,” Amelia said. “But the fingerprints? That’s terrible. Do you think she touched the scissors because she wanted to see how they cut?”
Cordelia rolled her eyes. “No, she touched them because she likes bright shiny things and couldn’t stop herself.”
My mouth coiled slightly. Looked like the old Cordelia was back. Good thing. I actually liked her better than the nice one.
Sue me.
“Ha-ha,” Amelia said sarcastically. “But why would Carmen have touched them?”
“She didn’t.” Betty slurped her soup. “They were planted on the murder weapon.”
“But,” Collinsworth interrupted, “wouldn’t the police have discovered that? Surely they would know the difference between a planted fingerprint and one there naturally.”
“Not necessarily,” Betty said.
I bit down my smile. This was the Betty I knew. The one who was smarter than everyone else.
“What do you mean?” I said.
She tapped the spoon to the side of her bowl. “Someone very crafty, very smart could’ve actually peeled Carmen’s fingerprints from a surface and deposited them on the murder weapon.”
“How would they do that?” Amelia said.
“Very carefully.”
I leaned forward. “I snuck into Becky Ray’s house.”
The look of shock on my family’s face made heat flush my cheeks. “Listen, I’m not exactly proud of it, but if anyone had an actual motive, it was Becky, not Carmen. Seems Lori Lou’s potion making had gotten Becky in trouble before.” I nudged the rabbit. “Tell them.”
Collinsworth cleared his throat. “Yes, it did.”
“What’d you find?” Betty said.
“A shoebox filled with Becky’s own recipes for potions. Seems she was trying to perfect some. With the whole giving potion fiasco, Becky Ray would’ve been exposed once again by Lori Lou. If things got bad, Becky had her own potions and could open a bakery without Lori Lou.”
“So you think that was the motive?” Cordelia said.
“Seems pretty solid,” I said.
“Unless Becky’s the one who placed the giving potion,” Amelia said.
The air thickened. All conversation stopped as we looked at her. My cousin shrugged. “What? All I’m saying is, what if it’s the other way around and Becky Ray put the potion in the pies instead of Lori?”
“Not possible,” Collinsworth said. “It wasn’t Becky.”
I hitched a shoulder. “That doesn’t mean someone didn’t plant Carmen’s fingerprints on the murder weapon. The entire town was at the Thanksgiving Turkey Hunt. We saw the fight the two women had. It wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure out that if you wanted to pin the murder on someone else, Carmen was the next logical person.”
“So Becky still could’ve dosed the pies,” Cordelia said.
“It wasn’t Becky,” Collinsworth muttered. His little paws shook. Was he angry?
“Was Lori Lou seeing someone?” Amelia said. “We could learn a lot if we knew that.”
I turned to the rabbit. “Was she?”
“That is no one’s business.”
“It is our business,” I snapped. “My cousin is sitting in jail. That information matters.”
“So we go back to Becky Ray’s and see if we can figure out if she knew how to steal fingerprints,” Amelia said.
“There are certain potions you need,” Betty said. “You can’t simply steal fingerprints. That’s like trying to steal dust.”
“So what do you need?” I said.
“Cobwebs,” Betty said.
I stopped. Stared at my cousins. “You need cobwebs to steal fingerprints.”
She nodded like it was the most logical thing in the world. “Yes, you need bottled cobwebs. Well, usually they’re bottled. It makes it easier.”
I drummed my fingers on the table. “So all we have to do is find bottled cobwebs and we can at least go to Garrick and give him another suspect, or enough doubt that maybe he’ll release Carmen.”
Amelia smiled brightly. “Sounds like a great plan.”
“Collinsworth?”
He nibbled his carrot. “Yes?”
“Do you know if Becky Ray has bottled cobwebs?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t. She may have kept something like that in her room.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t find anything like that. What about the bakery?”
He shrugged. “Perhaps. We can check again.”
“Oh.” I nearly slapped my forehead. “I forgot to tell y’all that after I made the town a batch of cookies, someone stole the healing potion from the bakery.”
Their eyes almost fell from their heads.
“What?” Amelia screeched. “It was stolen?”
“I figured it was Becky Ray who did it. But it hasn’t been recovered.”
Betty tossed her napkin onto the table. “Girls, we’ve got two things that must be done. The first”—she lifted a finger for emphasis—“is to find the cobwebs. And the second is to find that healing potion. One or both of those will lead us to the killer.”
Amelia clapped. “And then we’ll know that Becky Ray’s the person who tossed the giving potion in all those pies.”
“It wasn’t Becky Ray!” Collinsworth jumped from his seat. His head bobbed side to side like it might pop off. “It wasn’t Becky Ray who put the potion in the pies!”
Cordelia whipped her blonde hair over one shoulder. “Then who was it?”
“It was me,” he yelled. “I’m the one who dropped the giving potion in the pies.”
NINETEEN
And the revelations just keep coming.
“Why would you do that?” I said.
I wanted to pick up the rabbit and shake him. What was wrong with Collinsworth? Why would he have dumped a big old dose of stupid giving potion in the town’s pies and nearly kill half the folks?
The more I thought about it, the angrie
r I got. I jumped from my chair. “Why would you do that?”
Cordelia rose. “Let him explain.”
I pointed a finger at him. “No. This little guy isn’t a rabbit. He’s a weasel. He’s lied at every turn.”
I raked my fingers down my face. I wanted to scream bloody murder. He made me so mad I could spit.
But instead I slowed my breathing and placed my palms on the table. “Why did you lie?”
The rabbit cowered. I shook my head and stared at the ceiling in frustration. He wasn’t going to play sweet little bunny on me. No way would I let him get away with that. He was a charlatan. A freaking liar.
Why was I the only person who could see that?
“I put it in because the whole thing was my idea.”
“Great,” I said. “You said you’d told Lori Lou about selling potions, but the giving spell was your idea? Why?”
“Because I thought…” He pawed his whiskers. “Because I thought if we made everyone happy and giving, they’d give us their money easier and we’d be rich.”
“So you wanted to steal from the nice folks of Magnolia Cove?”
“I’m sorry. Really I am.” He jumped onto the table. “You have to forgive me. I can’t help it. Lori Lou was the only human I ever trusted. She was my best friend. I was only trying to help her. I knew Becky Ray would eventually get mad about something and leave. She’d said as much after the last catastrophe. So I thought…I thought we could get ahead.”
“By spelling the town.” I rubbed a tension knot from the back of my neck.
He looked at me with big watery eyes. “Yes.”
“You’re unbelievable. It’s just one lie after another with you.” I tightened my fists and released them. “Okay. We can only move forward from here. We can’t worry about what was. We can only move to what is.”
Amelia leaned back. “I wished none of this had ever happened.”
Every muscle in my body tensed. I stared at my cousin and held my breath. Would the wish come true? Would all of it disappear? After a few seconds I probed the conversation. It was like touching a sore tooth with my tongue. Or like walking past a cotton field full of dry brown stalks and suddenly realizing I’m thirsty.
Or like realizing the one monogrammed purse with a P on it for Pepper just sold to an elderly woman. Oh, and the monogramming machine is broken.
Seriously, I could go on and on.
But nothing happened. Carmen was still in jail, and I was still sitting across from my relatives. My glance darted to Betty, who too was watching Amelia with interest.
Knowledge hit me like a tidal wave of humidity on an August morning. Betty knew. She knew Cordelia and Amelia were half genie.
I almost busted a gut with laughter.
Of course she knew. The fact that Mint and Licky thought they had pulled one over on Betty was ridiculous. I was pretty sure no one could pull anything over on my grandmother.
It made me proud to be her granddaughter.
“So.” I exhaled deeply. “What do we do now?”
A spark twinkled in Betty’s eyes. “We search the bakery, but this time we look for a bottle of cobwebs.”
Cordelia dragged her spoon through the stew. “And if we don’t find them?”
“Then we figure out something else.” Betty rose. “Come on girls. Put on your black outfits. Let’s go inspect the Sweet Witch.”
It was late by the time we arrived at the Sweet Witch. I glanced across the street and noticed how sad Marshmallow Magic looked. The doors hadn’t been opened in days.
I nudged Betty. “Do you think we should go across the street when we’re done? Clean up for Carmen?”
She squeezed my arm. “That’s a great idea. We’ll do that next.”
I smiled sadly. But there wasn’t time to be worried or sad. We needed to find some evidence that would lock the guilty party—Becky Ray—away for the rest of her life.
I might make sure Collinsworth joined her there for a while. He lied at every turn. Every chance he had. I was positive that he hadn’t killed Lori Lou because he wasn’t physically capable of it. Otherwise I would’ve hauled him down to jail and forced him to confess.
Anyway, we made our way inside and started filtering through the cabinets, opening bottles and vials. Since the first magic cabinet had been pretty much wiped out, there wasn’t much to go through. Collinsworth led us to the back, where there was a smaller stash of magical items.
“This ones not used as often.”
I quirked my mouth. “If Becky Ray had been the person who stole all the original stuff, where did she put it? We didn’t find it in her house.”
Cordelia blew on an amber-colored square bottle. “She wouldn’t have thrown them all away.”
“Why not?”
“Tossing out vials full of magical ingredients is dangerous,” Amelia said. “They can explode, cause a magical catastrophe—all sorts of things.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said.
“Every day you learn something new,” Betty said. “That’s how it is when you’re a new witch. Anyway, your cousins are right. You can’t throw those things in the trash.”
“Then where are they?” A loud crash shook the walls. We gaped at each other in horror. “What was that?”
“If I had to guess,” Collinsworth said snottily, “it sounds like the moonshine man is testing a new recipe.”
“What?”
The rabbit sighed. “He sometimes tries out new recipes. Things explode.”
“I’m going to check it out. He might be hurt.”
I dusted my hands on my pants and stepped into alley. I yanked the door to Magical Moonshine. Red light flooded the place, reminding me of flames. My pulse jacked.
I rushed in and found Parker Moody sprawled on the floor. A vat of clear liquid sat beside him.
I shook him, trying to remember everything I’d ever learned in a CPR class. “Parker! Can you hear me? Are you conscious?”
I slid my fingers to his neck. There was a pulse. I shook him harder. “Parker!”
He jerked like a wildcat. “What? What is it? Am I dead?”
I stifled a laugh. “No. You’re alive. What happened?”
He slid his fingers through his hair and shivered. “It’s embarrassing.” Parker straightened. “I was working on a new moonshine recipe. Let me just say it had a real kick to it.”
I hooked a hand under his arm. “Let’s get you up. Can you stand?”
He brushed me away. “Oh yeah. I’m fine.”
When he was standing solidly on the ground, I pointed to his phone. “Do you need me to call someone for you? Your wife, maybe?”
He shook his head. “She’s kind of mad at me.”
“Oh no. For what?”
Me and my stupid big mouth. These were married people problems and were none of my business.
I wanted to bury my head in a jar of molasses. “Sorry. That was none of my business.”
He hitched a shoulder. I noted dark circles under his eyes. “No big deal. I just haven’t been a great husband lately is all.”
“Oh,” I said flatly. “Well, as long as everything is okay here…”
He gave me a kind, if not scruffy-cheeked smile. “I’m fine. Trust me. It’s not the first time one of my moonshine experiments has gone wrong. Once I was working on a healing moonshine and ended up almost breaking my neck.”
I laughed. “Did you ever get the recipe right?”
“Never did, but it made a great mouthwash.”
I laughed. Poor Parker Moody, he looked spent by whatever was happening between him and his wife.
I shot him a sympathetic smile. “We’re next door if you need anything.”
“Late for y’all to be next door.”
My mouth opened and shut like a fish. “Yes, well we’re working on some things. Anyway, see you around.”
I left the shop satisfied that Parker was okay. If he needed any help, he’d call someone—hopefully his wife.
By the time I made it back to the Sweet Witch, all the shelves’ contents sat on the floor.
“Wow. Have y’all missed anything?”
“I don’t believe so.” Collinsworth hopped forward. “We’ve searched every nook and cranny.”
“What if there are nooks and crannies you aren’t aware of?” Amelia fisted her hip.
“I believe I would know if there were any I was unfamiliar with,” Collinsworth said.
But how would you know if you were unfamiliar with them? Don’t worry, I kept my mouth shut
Cordelia dropped a rag on the floor. “Good. Because we’ve searched every square inch of this place and there’s no sign of a bowl of cobwebs or anything like that.”
Betty pulled her corncob pipe from her pocket and jammed it between her teeth. “We’ve scoured the whole place. There’s nothing else here to find unless one of y’all wants to keep working?”
No one volunteered.
“Let’s get out of here,” Betty said.
We locked up and headed out. Mattie and Collinsworth led the way. I grabbed Betty’s arm.
“Aren’t we going to see if there’s anything we can do at Carmen’s?”
Betty pulled her pipe from her mouth. “Announcement, girls. We’re heading to Marshmallow Magic to make sure your cousin’s store doesn’t need cleaned up. It’s been vacant a few days.”
Cordelia and Amelia complied. When we reached the front door, Betty pulled a hidden key from a ceramic spider and inserted it in the lock. When she opened the door, the overwhelming scent of sugar trickled up my nose.
It pretty much made me want to grab a jar of jelly beans and see how many I could fit in my mouth at once.
Luckily I stopped myself.
“It doesn’t look like anything needs to be thrown out,” Amelia said. “Though I could eat some chocolate.”
“You don’t need any chocolate,” Betty snorted.
Cordelia glanced at Betty. “Are you going to spell the place to keep it in stasis?”
Betty rubbed her chin. “Carmen may already have a spell like that on here. Best to leave it alone.”