A Charming Crime (11 page)

“I’m sorry you
waited so long. What is that?” I asked.

He stared at me.

I closed my eyes
hoping some type of homeopathic cure would come to me like it had all day long.

Nothing.

I didn’t know
what happened. I wondered if my spiritual abilities had been zapped.

“What is it?” I
looked into his deep, dark eyes for an answer.

Why did I get
the gift of knowing homeopathic cures instead of something cool like the
ability to read one’s mind?

“It’s the sweet
grass that you asked for.” He unrolled the brown wrapping revealing the long
stems, some brown, some green. “I didn’t come all this way to be shafted. We grow
a crop for you every year. And when the winds blow telling us you need sweet
grass, I bring it.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.
I’m new around here. And this whole spiritualist thing is really something I
just found out about.” I picked up a strand and smelled it. Nothing sweet about
it. “And who did you say ordered it?”

“The wind.” He
crossed his arms in front of him.

The wind? Right.
I grinned. So
the wind had a soul and he could read it?
Geez.
Now I’d heard it all.

I looked over
his shoulders. There was another line forming down the street and he was
holding it up.

“I have just
what you need.” I went to the back and quickly began to mix up bushmaster snake
remedy that has a wide range of uses. And not knowing if this guy was crazy, I
knew it would help get the chemicals in his mind back to normal.

“June?” Izzy
called out from the front. “Do you need some help?”

I walked up to
the front and Izzy was talking to the gentleman.

“It’ll be just a
moment.” I put my finger up. “Business is good today.”

Izzy leaned back
and gestured to the line of customers. “Business is good every day. I see that
the sweet grass is here for the smudging ceremony.” She patted the tall man on
the back.

“Yes.” He nodded
and put his hand out. “I’m waiting on payment.”

“I. . .”I
stammered, looking back and forth between them. “I’m a bit confused. Smudging?
I thought he was crazy.”

Izzy threw her
long blonde head back and laughed so loud it made Mr. Prince Charming wake up
from his nap. He stretched and arched his back in the air before he ran out the
door.

The tall man
also threw his head back, his long black hair falling behind his shoulder, exposing
several feathers that were braided into it. Instantly I knew he was Native
American and delivering herbs for this smudging thing, whatever that was.

“I’m so sorry.”
I took a couple hundred dollars out of the register and handed it to him. He
was obviously the contact for the village on all things we need from the Native
American village.

This was a plus.
There were many times I needed something for a remedy in Locust Grove and
couldn’t get it because no one sold it. If I wanted it, I was going to have to
find a Native American to give it to me. Now I had that contact.

He grabbed the
money, put it in his pocket and left.

“I’m so sorry. I
had no idea,” I apologized to Izzy. She took this village very seriously.

“No problem.”
She looked around. “I’m glad you have put your gifts to work today, and not
wasted them at the flea market.”

“Izzy?” I
stopped her before she left. I looked around the store and made sure no one was
around us. “I’d like to buy that snow globe from you.”

Her eyes shot
through me. “We can talk about that later.” Her words were quick and sharp.

“There was one
in particular. . .”I was going to tell her about Madame Torres, but she cut me
off.

“Have a
wonderful day.” She turned on her heeled-pointy-toed, laced up black boots, the
A-frame skirt twirled, and she walked out.

I was going to
get my hands on Madame Torres with or without Izzy’s permission, but I had to
focus on this smudging ceremony.

I could see the
top of Chandra’s turban weaving in and out of the crowd.

“I wanted to pop
in with a quick hello while I had a person in the mudd bath.” She chuckled, and
then shivered. “A woman came in for a manicure. Of course I read her palm
without her knowing, and talked her into a mud bath. She’s going to need a lot
more pampering with the stress she’s going to have in her life.” She tapped her
long blue nails on the cash register. “Looks like business has been good.”

“I can’t
complain.” Truth be told, I couldn’t wait to see how much I had sold today. I
was sure I had made more today than I had made last year at the flea market.

I was glad to
see Chandra. It gave me an opportunity to ask her a few questions about Ann
while the customers picked up the retail bottles and read the homeopathic
ingredients that was going to cure them.

“You could tell
by my palm that I didn’t kill Ann, right?” I was talking about how she had
looked at my hand yesterday after I had passed out.

“Oh, dear,” she
giggled, “it’s not my place to judge. According to Petunia, Ann hasn’t come
back. And we all know what that means.”

I assumed she
was talking about the whole good soul, bad soul thing. And I didn’t even
understand all of that.

“You and Ann got
along, right?” I leaned over the counter a bit more, pulled my hair behind my
shoulder so I could hear her. “Even after she tried to sue you?”

“No one got
along with Ann.” She tapped her temple. “Gerald did. Once I caught him in here
looking through the honey homeopathic cures? Did he ask you about honey cures?”

I wished Chandra
would stay on the subject, but she was flighty and always nervous. By her
constant laughter, I could tell talking about Ann had made her uncomfortable.
Plus she never answered my question about her relationship with Ann.

“I must go. Many
customers need their nails done.” She smiled. “And a few little life questions
answered for them without asking is a nice touch to keep them coming back.”

I waved goodbye
and helped the next customer.

I wondered if
everyone in the village gave their customers little tid-bits about their life
using their spiritual gifts. Bella did it with the bracelet and Chandra
practiced on her customers. No wonder people came back to Whispering Falls.

I pulled a Ding
Dong out from behind the counter and savored every single morsel while
recalling what Chandra had said about honey.

Why didn’t
Gerald get fresh honey from Petunia? Why would he break in A Dose of Darla? A
light bulb went off in my head. Did Petunia say that Ann was allergic to honey?

Hmm
. . .only one
way to find out. Patience Karima. I had to get her alone, away from Constance.

After all the
customers were gone, I restocked the shelves exactly the way Darla always had,
I had one thing and one thing only on my mind. Patience Karima and that autopsy
report.

I locked the wooded
door behind us, and Mr. Prince Charming and I proceeded to walk down Main
Street. Some of the shops were still open, especially Gollybee Pet Store. I’d
imagine her store was the last one closed every day. Who couldn’t resist a look
at some great animals that cohabit, not to mention the live tree?

I popped my head
in to say hello.

Petunia was
sitting on the grass floor while the animals and customers milled about. I waved
when she looked up. She waved back. There was a bird sitting on her shoulder. A
few days ago I would’ve thought it was strange, it seemed normal. My new
normal.

“You hoo.”

I looked up and
Bella stood on the sidewalk, in front of her shop, waving her hands in the air.
“I’ve got your bracelet.”

I had completely
forgotten that I had left my bracelet there this morning so she could put the
new dog charm on. At this point, I was going to take all the luck I could get. I
hurried down to get it from her.

“That was fast.”
My eyes lit up watching her clasp the charm bracelet on my arm. It reminded me
of the little turtle charm, and how much I longed to have it back.

Which reminded
me of Ann, and the possibility that she was killed by honey. But why would
Gerald want her dead?

“Thank you.” I
admired the bracelet, and then glanced down the street towards Two Sisters and
a Funeral.

The Karima
sisters were scurrying down the street.

Gerald came out of
the Gathering Grove, and locked the door behind him. He tapped his top hat on
his head. He was off to somewhere fast. He didn’t even notice us across the
street.

“Hello,” A
whisper grazed my ear.

“Hello,” I chirped
and turned to see who greeted me. No one but Bella was around me.

“Where is
everyone going?” They all seemed to be heading in the same direction.

“It’s time for
the smudging ceremony. I hope you got the ingredients with you.” Bella’s brows
drew together. She looked confused. “See you there.”

There was that
word again.
Smudging.

Chapter
Twelve

“Smudging
ceremony?” I asked and watched the entire village shut down as if everyone knew
what was going on but me. Even Mr. Prince Charming had gotten curious and
followed everyone that was walking toward the lake. “I don’t even know what
that is.”

Bella touched
her head. “You need to go back to your shop and focus on the smudging ceremony.
You will figure out what you need.”

This was no time
to rely on “you have a spiritual gift speech, use it.” I was a fact kind of
girl. The girl that used Darla’s recipes to come up with her own. I needed a
starting point.

“I will let you
in on a little secret. A smudging ceremony takes place in the wooded area
beyond the lake. There is a large rock that you won’t miss. After something,
um, say negative happens in the village, we cleanse the village of any evil
spirits.” We nodded at passerby’s heading to the ceremony. “Since you are the
new homeopathic spiritualist of the village, you should know everything we need
in order to cleanse the village of the evil spirits. I’m just the astrologer.”

“But.” I was
going to protest, but she left without saying goodbye.

I looked back at
the Gathering Grove, realizing that Gerald and my questions were going to have
to wait. Even the smudging ceremony was going to wait a little bit longer.

I tugged on the
big wooden door of Mystic Lights just in case it was unlocked and if it was did
that constitute breaking and entering? Of course it wasn’t unlocked, so I
headed around the back of the cottage shop to check out any other way in.

Each window was
locked. I glanced at the cellar doors. My hands gripped the handles, my
knuckles white. Without thinking twice about going deep into the eerie basement,
I flung the doors open and bolted down the steps.

It was just as
icky as I imagined a cellar would be. I pulled the string on the single bulb
light. You’d think Izzy would’ve invested in a nice light since it was a light
shop. There were cobwebs everywhere

Phewt, phewt
. I blew my way
through them and pulled them off my face. I could see the faint green glow from
Madame Torres’s globe. It led me to the stairs that would lead inside the
store.

Creek, creek.
One by one the
steps made their own melodic song of eeriness. The glow seeped under the crack
of the door, getting brighter with each step.

Slowly I put my
hand on the knob and tried to turn it, but it was locked. I shook the handle to
jiggle it loose. 

“Damn,” I
whispered. It was not going to budge. I leaned my shoulder up against the door
and pushed. Still nothing.

“Madame Torres?”
I pressed my lips up to the crack. “Can you hear me?”

“What? Where are
you?” Madame Torres snarled from the other side. “Isadora Solstice put me in
the closet. I don’t like the dark.” She let out a cry and the glow was gone.

“Madame Torres?”
I called for her. “Are you there? I need to know who I need to stay away from.
Madame Torres?”

She didn’t
respond and the crack stayed dark. I had to get my hands on her, but how?

I had no time to
try to break in. Evidently I had to perform a smudging ceremony, whatever that
was. I made sure that I closed the cellar doors so Izzy wouldn’t know I was
there. The streets were empty as I made my way to the shop. I couldn’t help but
peer over my back. If I was in danger like Madame Torres said, and someone was
framing me for Ann’s murder, surely
they
were watching me. But who?

After I unlocked
the wooden door, I stood inside of A Dose of Darla and inhaled—deeply. Surely
something was going to come flooding into my spiritualist’s body. Nothing but a
craving for a Ding Dong came flooding.

I opened my
black bag and pulled out a Ding Dong and Darla’s journal.