Lori stood inside the lobby going over the day’s tasks with Hazel and Nick. They were both happy that the delegates were out of their hair for the morning. Hazel had prepared lunch packs for them to take on the field trip, and Nick took the opportunity to give the lecture rooms a thorough cleaning. When they’d finished, Lori headed outside to join the field trip group. She too was looking forward to the prospect of spending some time in the outdoors.
She ducked back into the lobby when she saw Mayor Riley, hoping to avoid him. But he’d already spotted her and was walking toward the inn’s front door with long strides, beaming from ear to ear. She groaned. The mayor might be a ball of positive enthusiasm that she appreciated most of the time, but right now it would be too overwhelming for her. Behind him following at a trot was Jasmine, who’d been assigned to keep the communication lines open and keep him informed about the murder investigation. “Hello, Mayor,” Lori said in a honey-laden voice and smiled broadly. “Anything we can do for you?”
Mayor Riley looked around to see that no one was listening to them, and then whispered excitedly to her, “Lori, I must congratulate you. I knew you would pull something out of the hat! Why didn’t I ever think of turning Fennelmoore into a murder mystery town! How did you convince that old nag of a grandmother of yours to play a part in this? This is fantastic, my girl! And best of all, the businesses in town are thriving!”
Astounded, Lori listened to him while struggling to keep a straight face and trying to decide whether the mayor was serious or not. Before she could set things straight, the mayor continued, “When are the first bus tours arriving? I can’t wait for the next instalment of this exciting drama!” Behind him Lori saw Jasmine gesturing madly towards the door where a group of delegates were waiting.
Jasmine grabbed the mayor’s arm. “Mayor Riley, I’m afraid we have to go. A group of delegates would like to speak to you and thank you for supporting the Convention.”
The mayor turned briefly to Lori. ”And I’m definitely joining in on that field outing you’re having once we’re done." He grinned and winked at her before following behind Jasmine. One of the country’s leading botany experts has been murdered in this town, and its mayor thinks it’s a reality show. Life has surely taken a few unexpected changes in the past few days.
Lori went outside and searched for Matt among the delegates. She recognized him by the knapsack he wore and the yellow gloves he was carrying when they first met. She put her sunglasses on and walked towards him, noticing that quite a few town residents who’d caught an interest in the convention were joining in as well.
“Shall we set off?” Lori asked, and they led the group out of town towards one of the footpaths that led to the Emerald Forest. The first section of the path meandered among fields covered in multicolored wild flowers gently swaying the wind. Lori stopped often and waited patiently as everyone took photos and admire the vistas over Fennelmoore.
Every now and then someone would exclaim in delight as they discovered a rare type of flower, and soon most in the group sported flowers in their lapels and on their backpacks. After a few more minutes of walking, the open fields gave way to patches of trees until they reached Emerald Forest, their destination for the day. Here the earth below the towering trees was covered in moss, and patches of mushrooms flourished between the rocks and below the undergrowth. For Lori, this was a magical place where she often came to meditate. She was uncomfortable with so many strangers gathered here, but at the same time, she was happy to share this special place with enthusiasts who clearly knew and respected nature.
Matt pointed to where a large, red mushroom with a white stem had sprung up after the short downpour of the previous day. Lori smiled, she knew it well. She sometimes walked this way to gather mushrooms for Hazel’s delicious soups or collect other types for the potions they made in the backroom of the Wholesome.
“That’s Fly Agaric,” Matt said. “Really?”, Lori responded, looking at the mushroom and feigning ignorance.
“It’s commonly used by…” Matt carried on but stopped before he could say ‘witches’ as Professor Istvan Deklev caught up with them and struck up a conversation.
“Enjoying the outing?” Lori asked Istvan as Matt walked ahead to join a few other academics studying a patch of fungi growing from a tree trunk. Istvan grinned and nodded.
“I’m in my element,” he said, pausing to rest on his walking stick.
Lori was curious about the lanky man whom she’d heard was a leading authority in botany. She’d listened briefly to his presentation the day before when he’d shown slides of beautiful Alpine landscapes in Europe. “Are you enjoying the convention, Professor Deklev?” she asked.
“Yes, very much, and please call me Istvan.” He spoke perfect English with a slight accent that made him sound like a foreign movie star. “I’m so impressed with the variety of mushrooms growing here in your forest. Back home we have very similar forests but with only handful of different types of mushrooms.”
* * *
Lori listened in awe as he spoke passionately of his journeys to remote parts of the world to gain a deeper understanding of plant life in jungles where few people ever tread. Lori had a long bucket list of places and countries she still wanted to visit that she kept in her diary. Istvan’s relaxed and courteous manner set Lori at ease, and they chatted away until the group stopped for something to eat and drink in a clearing beside a small waterfall. Lori walked over to where the mayor and Ray were sitting at the base of the waterfall. Mayor Riley clearly wasn’t used to hiking. He was breathing heavily and kept wiping sweat off his forehead, but he managed a weak smile when he saw Lori. “I never knew there were such lovely places so close to us,” he wheezed, and Ray nodded in agreement.
Lori was curious why Ray was here. “Are you here as the mayor’s bodyguard?” she teased, fishing for information.
Ray gave an embarrassed laugh. “I’m off duty, so I thought I’d join in for fun. We police officers don’t have much time to enjoy nature, you know.”
“Yeah, right,” Lori thought, unconvinced. “You’re here on the Chief’s instructions, no doubt.”
Matt came to fetch her, and they walked around as he introduced her to more of the convention delegates. All were friendly and happy to be in Fennelmoore, speaking highly of its hospitality. Lori was proud of her home town. She’d miss it when she moved somewhere else.
“This is Dr. Gillian Caldwell,” Matt said as Lori shook hands with a large, jolly-looking blonde woman sipping fruit juice.
”Nice to meet you,” Gillian said. “Matt said you’re the owner of that cute little health shop in town?”
“Well, my family owns the shop,” Lori corrected her.
“I definitely have to come by,” said Gillian and patted Lori’s arm. “Sitting all day at the convention has given me all kinds of aches and pains. I’m sure you’ll have remedies there I can use.“
”Yes, please do, I’m sure we’ll have something that can help.“ Lori nodded. The two of them started talking about homeopathic remedies and were soon lost in conversation, leaving Matt to wander off.
After a while, Gillian pointed to a group that was gathering some distance away. ”Look over there, it seems like Matt and Austin have found something. Let’s go see.“ They got up and walked over. Matt and Austin Pearce were on their haunches examining a small, pearl-colored mushroom. Istvan looked on closely.
”This is amazing,“ Matt said. He gently lifted the mushroom out of the ground and held it in his gloved hand. ”Could this be…?“
He looked up at Austin, gauging his reaction. ”Impossible!“ Austin barked. ”Justus had found a new sub-species but this one looks like the…“ He looked around at his colleagues listening to him speak. He abruptly waved his hand dismissively in the air. ”It’s a common button mushroom, anyone can see that.“
Matt drew a photograph from his pocket. It showed a small, white mushroom similar to the one he was holding in his hand. ”This is the Ha
lo mushroom Professor Sproutley found, possibly in this very forest.“ He pointed to the stem of the mushroom in the photo. ”See here, and here? The stem is different from any of the similar, known mushroom species.“
A murmur went up from the group of gathered academics. ”Where did you get this photo?“ Austin demanded. ”I’ve… I’ve never seen it before!“
”It’s from the data file on the new sub-species Justus had in his hotel room,“ Matt said, putting the photo away. “The file details all the results from the research he’d done on it.”
“Data file? Justus had a data file?” Austin asked, as if this was news to him.
“You’re right, Austin, this is a common Agaricus bisporus,” another delegate wearing a traditional Scottish cap said, examining the mushroom Matt had found.
Austin puffed his chest out. “See? There you have it. We were close colleagues, Justus and I. He would have shared his find with me.” He took the mushroom from the man holding it up against the light and threw it into the undergrowth. “Shall we carry on walking now?”
“I was skeptical too from the moment I saw that mushroom Matt found,” said Gillian pointing toward the bushes. “There have been so many rumors about Justus discovering a new type of mushroom, but we’ve never seen one in real life. Perhaps that photo Matt had was real, but a photo can also be doctored. I guess we’ll never know if Justus discovered anything new.”
Lori looked at Dr. Pearce, his face now dark and clouded over. She could imagine the little gears in his head turning at a fierce pace. No doubt he was thinking of ways to lay his hand on the file with the Halo mushroom’s data in Justus’ room. The group moved on, walking along a footpath that led back to town. “Very, very sneaky, Inspector Heath,” Lori whispered to Matt as they walked out of the forest and back into the sunshine.
Chapter Eleven
On the way home from the field trip, Lori and Matt left the group and sat down where they’d met the first time. Munching on sandwiches Hazel had packed for them, they talked about the incident that took place minutes ago.
“I think he took the bait,” Matt said with a little bit of self-satisfaction in his voice. “Even if Austin didn’t kill Justus to get to the mushroom — which I think he did — he’ll definitely now go back to Justus’ room to find the data file.”
Lori nodded, remembering the purple file she saw Justus had with him when he returned to his room after falling ill.
There’s just one thing that puzzles me,” Matt added between bites of his sandwich. “Chief Lambert said Pearce had an alibi. What sort of alibi?”
Lori shrugged. “Do you think Chief Lambert was bluffing to discourage us from meddling in the case?”
Matt shook his head. “I don’t know him that well, but he doesn’t seem like the vindictive type. He may not trust us, but he won’t try and mislead us. No point in doing that. He has his ego to protect, and he knows we have information that might help him solve the murder. No doubt what happened today will make its way back to the chief via Ray, and who knows what he’ll make of it.”
Lori started packing their leftovers into her daypack. ”Are you really going to rush back home?“ Matt asked. He was lying back with his eyes closed and clearly in no rush.
Lori shook her head, stood up, and held out her hand to help Matt up. ”Come on, lazybones. Dr. Pearce’s going to react soon to what he saw today, and we need to be ready to catch him in the act." Matt took her hand and pulled hard, causing Lori to almost fall over on top of him. Giggling, she gave him a mock slap and he reacted with an exaggerated cry of pain. She had to concede, spending time with Matt was becoming something she looked forward to. But she’d never say that out loud. She started walking home, Matt following her reluctantly down the foot path into Fennelmoore.
Today was Thursday, the one day of the week Lori would have liked to scratch from the calendar if she could. Every Thursday the family gathered in the backroom at the Wholesome to pack the week’s orders that had come in from clients of their witch potion mail order business. The room was a small, low-roofed space with walls covered in bunches of drying herbs and sacks of twigs and roots hanging from the ceiling. An old refrigerator in the corner brimmed with packets of freshly picked mushrooms and flowers. Archaic measuring scales, cutting knives, and mixing bowls littered the roughly hewn working benches. Preparing the potions was a grinding, boring job: picking ingredients, mixing, adding a sheet with instructions and a spell to make the concoction work, and packaging and mailing it out.
Sometimes Lori wondered whether their products had any effect, but then again, she had seen a few potions and spells wreak havoc in unfamiliar hands. They vetted and chose their clientele carefully. From time to time, a poorly prepared potion caused unforeseen effects, like the health elixir that caused a woman to grow a beard that would be the envy of ZZ Top.
Lori had to remind herself that the income from their secret business kept them financially afloat, so she focused on getting everything done by the end of the day. She breathed in the heavy, herbal aromas that hung in the air. Behind her, the twins were spending more time checking Facebook on their phones than packing, busily chattering away about the latest trends in hip-hop and R&B music.
Fae was dozing in a rickety wicker chair with a well-worn stone pestle and mortar on her lap. Lori and Hazel seemed to be the only ones being productive. “Managing to keep the delegates fed and happy?” Lori asked her aunt to try and take her mind off the brown mushrooms she was chopping into fine pieces.
“Yes.” Hazel gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness, everything’s going well. We don’t need another case of food poisoning. How was the field trip?”
“The whole thing was meant to smoke out a few murder suspects, really,” Lori confessed.
Hazel looked impressed by her niece’s cunning detective skills. “And did it work?”
“It looks like there might be more to Dr. Pearce than meets the eye, and Matt’s hunch about him being the bad guy might be correct,” Lori said as she dumped a bowl of chopped mushrooms onto a scale. “He got very agitated when Matt almost duped him into believing he’d found a specimen of the legendary Halo mushroom Justus had discovered and showed him a photograph of it. We believe he may just try and break into Justus’ room to steal the data file.”
“Yes, I saw him at the inn when you guys returned from the forest.” Hazel leaned towards Lori, switching into gossip mode. “He was looking about to see if anyone was around, but he didn’t notice that I could see him in the lobby mirrors from where I was in the kitchen.”
Lori’s interest perked up. “And then what did he do?”
“He went behind the reception counter and did something there before coming out and sticking something into his jacket pocket. It looked like he might have taken something, but I couldn’t see what it was.”
Without hesitating, Lori headed out of the backroom and out to the street and started dialing her cell phone. Matt answered her call immediately.
“Matt, Hazel spotted Dr. Pearce taking something from the reception desk when he thought no one was around. I’ll bet he took Justus’ room key.”
“That could mean he’s up to something, especially if the police have finished up their work and the room is no longer a crime scene,” Matt responded. “I’ll check up on that, but in the meantime, I have an idea. Let me get back to you.”
Lori looked up to see Gillian walking up to her, smiling a broad, friendly smile. “Remember me from the field trip? Well, I thought I’d come by to see if you can help me with something for my back spasms.”
Lori smiled in return and led the way into the Wholesome. She wondered whether Gillian had overheard her conversation with Matt. If she had, she wasn’t letting it show. All Gillian seemed interested in was getting rid of her backache. For the next few minutes, they browsed among the shelves while Lori suggested a few remedies that might help and gave her the details of a nearby masseuse she was fond of. She took an instant liking to the large, frien
dly woman who didn’t have the airs of so many of the other academics.
“Would you like a cup of chamomile tea and a slice of cake, Gillian?” Lori asked. She gestured to a coffee shop table where she sometimes served hot beverages and cakes for special clients.
“Ooh, that’ll be wonderful, thank you,” Gillian said and sat down at the small, round table decorated with a paisley table cloth and a little bowl of freshly picked yellow blossoms. The two of them chatted about health remedies for a while, and then the conversation drifted to the murder of Professor Sproutley.
“If Justus had discovered a new mushroom species, do you think someone would try and steal it?” Lori asked.
“Possibly,” Gillian said. “But it would have to be a very, very well-planned scheme. The academic community is a close-knit one, and there’s little doubt that anyone trying something shady would be ostracized.” She giggled. “And having known Justus for so long, I’m sure he’ll come back and haunt anyone who did something disrespectful like that!”
Lori persisted, “So, there’s no real reason for someone to steal something like that, because they wouldn’t get away with it?”
She shook her head. ”Nope. We academics don’t like cheats. Unless there’s a hidden motive,“ she added. ”Something like industrial espionage. You know? Real cloak and dagger stuff.“ She shook her head once more. ”But that’s highly unlikely. I know the guys here, and they don’t have the stomach for something like that.“
Lori nodded. She thought back to what Matt had told her about Justus’ research discoveries. If someone knew about it and wanted to steal it for their own benefit, the whole saga would by worthy of a James Bond movie.
The Mushroom Mystery Page 8