“You want it over-easy?”
“Sounds good to me.”
While I fried the eggs in butter and made toast, Meri snoozed under the window. It had to be nice to get out of bed and take a nap right away.
Once breakfast was ready, I put Meri’s egg on a small plate and set it on the table next to mine. I didn’t relish having a cat on the table, but it didn’t seem right to make him eat on the floor.
“What are you going to do today?” Meri asked in between lapping his egg yolk.
“I don’t know. I could pull more weeds, but the grass needs to be tackled too. Perhaps I’ll go out the garden shed and see if I can get that old mower working. If I can, I’ll start cutting the grass at the cemetery. I need to do that before I clean the headstones.”
With breakfast done and the dishes washed, I headed out to the shed. Once I’d moved a bunch of tools out of the way, I backed the old push mower out of the shed.
The first time I yanked the cord to start it, the thing barely moved. I had no idea you had to pull so hard to get it started. I put my back into the second pull and got the mower to stutter.
Unfortunately, sputtering was the best I was going to get. Even after several pulls, the mower refused to come to life.
“Come on, please,” I asked it.
When I pulled again, I got nothing. The old lawn mower had given up the ghost.
“I don’t think it’s going to work,” Meri said.
He’d come outside to watch me struggle with the mower. Meri got up from his place under a tree and sauntered over to where I was fighting with the mower.
“Maybe it just needs gas or oil or something. Can’t you do anything?”
“I could if it wasn’t trash, but Brighton, that mower is gone. You’re going to need a new one.”
“I can go buy one, I guess. I should go cash the check. I can use the money to get a new mower. Plus, I better cash it before Remy and Ralph get the contract voided. Neither one of them likes me right now.”
“Remy will get over it, Brighton,” Meri said.
“I’m still going to go cash the check. I guess I’ll be back in a little while with a new mower.”
I went up to the attic and got the check. When I came back down to the first floor, Meri was on the hearth. There was no fire, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Back soon,” I said.
He just swished his tail in my general direction.
I didn’t have a bank account at the bank in Coventry, but it was as good a time as any to open one. Bank of Coventry was located in the town square down from the courthouse before you got to the library. I hoped that it was owned and run by humans because if the Skeenbauers owned it, I wasn’t sure it was safe for me to put my money in an account there.
After parking in one of the spaces that surrounded the common area of the square, I murmured a protection spell over myself and got out of the car. As I walked into the bank, I noted that I didn’t detect any magic at all. It seemed to be a human business after all. Either that or the magic was so good I couldn’t pick up on it.
I waited in the short line for one of the tellers, and when it was my turn, I told the woman behind the counter that I wanted to open an account with the check. She looked it over and then began typing something into her terminal so fast I didn’t think it was humanly possible.
“All right, I’ve got that all set up for you, Ms. Longfield. Just let me run to the back and get you some temporary checks to use until your debit card comes in the mail.”
“But I didn’t give you any of my information,” I said in shock.
“This is a small town, Ms. Longfield. We all know your information. Let me grab those checks.” She came back and handed me a small checkbook. “Did you want to order regular checks too?”
“No thanks, these and the debit card will be great.”
“You have a great day,” she said with a genuine smile. “Come see us again.”
“Thank you.”
I walked out of the bank with my head down because I was looking over the temporary checks and ran right into someone just outside the doors. When I looked up, I realized it was Maximillian. I’d plowed into Langoria’s ex-husband.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I was looking at these and not paying a bit of attention where I was going. Again, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said with a bright smile. “There’s not much that could bring me down today.”
“I’m Brighton Longfield. I moved into Hangman’s House a little while back,” I said and offered him my hand.
He shook it heartily. “I’m Maximillian Quartermayer. It’s good to finally meet you,” he said. “Actually, I need to set up a meeting with you about some town council matters. That business that Langoria was involved in with you. We should get together about that at the courthouse soon. I’ll have my secretary send you a letter with a date and time, if that’s okay?”
“That would be fine,” I said. “Is it bad news or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I’m afraid Langoria gave you cause to worry when there probably was none, but let’s not dwell on that today, Brighton.”
“Oh?” I had to know why he was so cheerful.
“Yes! The sun is shining. The birds are atwitter, and yours truly is going to buy the barbeque grill I’ve had my eye on for a month. After that, I’m going to the dealership to look at my dream truck. That’s why I’m here. I’m about to go get approved for the loan, and then that eight-cylinder Hemi is all mine. Can you believe it? After all this time, I can finally afford the things I want.”
“Congratulations,” I said with a smile.
“Thank you,” he said and walked into the bank whistling.
Maximillian was on cloud nine because he could finally buy the things he wanted. Because Langoria was dead? His motive for killing her had just ratcheted up to a thousand.
Chapter Eleven
I was inside of Nailed It looking at their selection of lawn mowers when Karen approached me. I’d been trying to decide between a push mower and a riding lawn mower. Buying the push mower would save me a lot of money, but the newer section of the cemetery was large for the push variety. No one had asked me to officially take over as cemetery caretaker, and I figured that I’d donate whichever model I purchased to the person who did get that job. The money I was using to pay for it was coming from my expense budget, so the mower wouldn’t really be mine to keep.
“I’d go with the riding lawn mower,” Karen said.
I hadn’t seen her walk up behind me, and she’d startled me a bit. “Yeah, they are more expensive, but it would make life a great deal easier for me,” I said.
Karen smiled at me, and I was taken aback by how pleasant she was being. “Hey, I wanted to say that I was sorry for how I was acting the other day. I wasn’t feeling well, and I’m afraid that I wasn’t kind. It’s no excuse for my behavior. Sometimes I think we get a little wrapped up in ourselves around here. That tends to happen when you live in a small town, but again, that’s no excuse. I should have been kinder.”
“I appreciate your apology,” I said. “Maybe we can just start again.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Karen’s smile widened. “In fact, I wanted to invite you to church this Sunday.”
“To church?” For a moment I thought she was kidding. “There’s a church in Coventry?”
“Oh, yes,” she said and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Well, it’s right outside Coventry. Technically, we are outside the town limits, but all of the church folk in Coventry attend there. We were hoping you’d join us this weekend.”
So Karen was a human and not a witch. She obviously didn’t know that I was a witch. I wasn’t really sure how to proceed given that we’d just called a truce.
“We’re going to be having a huge bake sale after the services,” she said when I hesitated. “Other congregants contribute, but I do most of the baking for our sales. I am quite the accomplished baker, accor
ding my brothers and sisters of Coventry. The bake sales are really the only times I get to sell my goods, and I give almost all of that money to the church. But I suppose that’s not going to be a problem anymore.”
“Won’t be a problem?”
“Well, you see, I’ve been trying to open a bakery in Coventry for a couple of years. I work here at Nailed It, but I’ve saved up enough to start my business. The problem was, I could just never seem to get the town council to approve my permits. But I guess now that Langoria is dead, that won’t be a problem anymore.”
“It won’t?” I wanted to keep her talking.
“Oh, yes. I’m sure she was the one keeping them from approving my permits, but she’s gone now. So I supposed I’ll be able to open soon. What do you say?”
“About?”
“About joining us at church on Sunday?” she said with a laugh. “You’re a funny one.”
“I, uh…”
But I was cut off by the man who I assumed was her manager. “Karen, I need you back at the register right now. You’ve got a line.”
“Oh, drat,” she said. “Well, I hope we’ll see you on Sunday.”
When Karen walked away, the manager came over to help me. “I’m Lawrence,” he said. “Do you need help?”
“I think I want to purchase one of these riding lawn mowers, but the problem is that I don’t have any way to get it home. Do you have delivery?”
“I can do you one better than that,” Lawrence said with a smile. “I’ve got a pick-up truck. You pick it, and I’ll stick it.”
“What?”
He laughed for a moment. “You pick the one you want, and I’ll load it up in my truck and drop it off at your place. Free of charge. We’ll call it the new in-town special.”
Lawrence was an older man. Not much, but it was enough that it was noticeable. I’d have put him in his early fifties, but I wasn’t going to ask. His hair was gray around the temples, and there were a few lines etched in his tan face. I guessed he’d earned those working out in the sun.
He seemed friendly enough, and I didn’t get a bad vibe, so I decided to take him up on his offer. “Sure, that would be great. I think I’ll take this one.”
“That model will be perfect for the cemetery. It’s the right size and horsepower for the job,” he said with a smile and a nod.
“I had no idea. I picked it because it’s green and the rest of them are red. I guess I liked it because it was different.”
He laughed and clapped me on the back of the shoulder. “Well, your intuition is in fine working order. Let’s go up to the service desk and we’ll get the business end squared away.”
“I have these temporary checks from the Bank of Coventry. I hope that will be okay.”
“It sure will.”
After I’d paid for the lawn mower, I watched as Lawrence loaded it up in the truck. When it was secured, he closed the tailgate on the bed and came over to me.
“You didn’t have to stick around. I know my way to Hangman’s House,” he said.
“I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get it from my house to the cemetery. I always climb over the fence. I haven’t found the gate on that side yet.”
“Huh,” he said and scratched his jaw. “I know where the gate on the new side is located. Oh, wait. Okay. We used to play in there as kids. Scaring each other and stuff. I’ll show you.”
I followed him back to my house. Lawrence pulled his truck over on the side of the road closest to the cemetery. “It’s ready to go, so if you want to mow, I can just pull it in,” he said as I got out of my car.
“That would be great.”
Meri was in the window staring at me, so I went to the front door and let him out while Lawrence unloaded the mower. When he was done, he drove it up to the fence, turned, and followed it along a few hundred yards past some trees.
To my surprise, there was a gate there. It had been obscured on the other side by some overgrown bushes I hadn’t gotten around to taming yet.
“Hang on,” he said. “I’ve got something for those in the truck.”
Lawrence retrieved a machete from the bed of his pick-up. I stood back and watched as he cut down the errant bushes and then pulled the mower through.
“There you go,” he said. “Do you need me to clear out these branches?”
“It’s okay. I can do it. I’ve got a bin for the weeds and such.”
“Naw, it’s all right,” he said and scooped up the branches he’d cut. “I’ll just get it for you.”
“Well, thank you so much,” I said. “I hadn’t expected such personal service. You’ve really gone above and beyond.”
“That’s ‘cause you’re from the city,” he said with a chuckle. “Most of us around here like to take care of each other. I’m glad I was able to meet you and help out. Please don’t be a stranger. I’ve got to get back to the store. Gotta make sure Karen doesn’t run the place into the ground.”
“I won’t,” I said.
As soon as he was gone, I realized I had no idea how to operate a riding lawn mower. Fortunately, there was a little manual that showed how to use the controls. It wasn’t difficult, and within a couple of minutes, I was off and mowing.
Meri had come over after Lawrence was gone. He was sunning himself on one of the larger headstones while I cut the grass. I thought I was doing a pretty good job when an acorn or something hit me on the head.
Except, I’d driven the mower over into the newer section of the cemetery, and there wasn’t a tree over my head when I was in the middle. Also, the nut had hit me in the back of the head. That wasn’t a thing that happened.
I cut the power and turned around to find Langoria’s specter behind me. She began hurling ever larger chunks of broken headstones at my head.
Like an idiot, I started the mower back up and turned it back toward the older section of the cemetery. I put the gas pedal on the thing to the metal, and it jumped to a start.
The problem was, my escape was as slow as molasses. The mower could not go very fast no matter how hard I pushed the petal down. Langoria’s spirit continued to get closer and throw rocks and other detritus at me.
Meri appeared at the tree line that marked the separation between the old and new sections. “Bail out!” he called out to me.
“What?”
“Get off that stupid thing and run,” he said as he darted past me.
He hissed at Langoria, but that time she didn’t disappear. She started throwing rocks at Meri, but he expertly dodged them.
“GO!” he called out to me again.
“I’m not going to…”
“I said GO! Just get out of here. I’ll be fine.”
He was distracting her so I could get away. I had to decide. Was I the kind of witch who would just leave a friend behind? He’d told me to go, but that didn’t mean I had to leave him. Meri wasn’t the boss of me.
I didn’t know a spell to banish a ghost. Or maybe I did but I couldn’t remember it. So I did the only thing I could think of. With my hands held out in front of me, I took a deep breath and hissed at Langoria.
Meri’s head whipped around in shock, but so did Langoria’s. As strange as it was, my attempt worked. She hurled one more rock, but it wasn’t at me or Meri. Instead, it bounced off a gravestone.
When she was gone, I wandered over to the stone and looked. “E. Flowers,” I said as Meri joined me. “I wonder if it’s a clue.”
“Leave it to a witch like Langoria to both try to kill you and get you to solve her murder.”
“It is rather asinine,” I said. “I wonder what the flowers thing means. We found those flowers. Is she trying to say the killer’s name is Flowers? None of our suspects have that name.”
“Maybe she’s trying to get you to pay more attention to the flowers,” Meri offered. “Or maybe she’s trying to tell you Ruby did it?”
“Because she has a garden? Poor Ruby was accused last time around for no reason. I’m going to need more than t
his before I start another round of accusations against her. I’m going to finish mowing.”
“Brighton, that’s a terrible idea. Langoria’s ghost could come back.”
“I need to do the job I was hired to do,” I said.
“You need to find a way to protect yourself before you work out here anymore, Brighton. Some of those rocks she was flinging at your head could have killed you. Plus, she’s destroying the cemetery more. Fine, but we need to think of something soon. I’m not going to neglect this place.”
I found the neutral setting on the mower and walked it back across the street to my house. When I put it in the shed, I couldn’t help but notice the flowers I’d found with Langoria’s body. If she wanted me to look closer at the flowers, I thought that perhaps I should. I was reaching for them when I heard a car pull up in the driveway.
“Another time then,” I said and shut the shed’s door. “Soon, I promise.”
My visitor was none other than Thorn, who wasn’t supposed to be picking me up for several hours. He was smiling when he got out of his car, but it quickly melted when he saw me.
“You look like you’ve been rolling around in graves again,” he said. “And you went all-in with the green.”
“There was a snake in the cemetery.” I didn’t like lying, but it was kind of true too. Langoria was a snake. “I had to escape. Took a few nuts to the head.”
He laughed. “I like the green. You wear it well.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“It goes well with the leaves and sticks.”
“Now you’re just being a butt,” I said. “Did you want to come in?”
“I can’t. I’ve got some work to do, but I was in the area. I wanted to stop in and see if we were still on for tonight?”
“We are,” I said.
“Good,” Thorn said before ducking back into his cruiser.
I waved again as he left. I briefly considered going back to the shed to look over the flowers, but decided I’d do that the next day. I had a date.
Chapter Twelve
After my shower, I put on a little makeup and an actual dress. I didn’t wear dresses often, but I had a few for special occasions. I didn’t want to overdress, so I went with a simple black sundress and a thin cardigan to cover my arms.
Wicked Witches of Coventry- The Collection Page 17