A Charming Crime (13 page)

“Mr. Primrose,
how do the new owners like my old house?” I was curious to see how they were
getting along.

“Um. . .June
dear, that was bought by the village. We need you here, so you can visit
anytime you’d like.” His face turned red. “I’m not good at lying. I’m sure it
would be fine with the council if I told you the truth.”

If they didn’t
sell my house, then maybe there were some clues to what happened to my
bracelet. I had the bracelet on when I went to bed on my last night there. I
didn’t have it on when I was packing the boxes.

“Hello, June!”
Bella shouted from behind the counter once I got to the front of the line.
“That bracelet was meant for you.”

I lifted my hand
up and admired it with her. It was a perfect fit, but I still missed my turtle.
Though I wasn’t sure if I wanted it back because it had been in the clutches of
a dead hand.

“What are you
doing here?” I asked. There had to be a reasonable explanation. “Where’s Gerald?”

She looked
around before she answered. She leaned over the counter and whispered, “He’s
ill. But hopefully will be back tomorrow. Quick frankly, I’m surprised to see
you here.”

That was now the
second person to tell me that in less than ten minutes.

“Everyone seems
to be surprised to see me.” I was beginning to believe there was a rumor going
around about me that I should be in jail.

“You tried to
kill me!” Gerald screamed from across the room. He rushed over. His bottom lip
quivered. Or what was once the outline of his lips. His eyes were swollen so
much that all I could see were little slits. With his fists clinched to his
side, he growled, “You do not belong in this village. You are nothing like Otto
or Darla!”

I tried to kill
you?
My eyes bulged. I was unable to think, and nothing was coming out of my mouth.
Everyone stopped drinking their tea, and eating their goodies. All eyes were on
me.

“I. . .” I
gasped for air.

“I. . .I what?
Didn’t think you’d get caught? Well, I’ve got a call into that police officer
from Locust Grove, checking into your background!” He shook his fist at me.
“You will not be able to practice your spirituality here until you are found not
guilty! Order of the council!”

A collective
gasp filled the air. My legs felt like they were filled with lead, unable to
move.

“Don’t do that
to her, Gerald.” Bella moved from behind the counter and took me into her arms.
“She didn’t know that you are severely allergic to cedar.”

Cedar? I quickly
recalled my specifically getting into the cedar portion of last night’s
smudging ceremony. I especially fanned the smoke near the members of the
council to show them that I might know what I was talking about with the
spiritual stuff. But truth be told, I was winging it the entire time. Why in the
world did I listen to my gut like Darla said in her journal?

“If she’s a
spiritualist, she’d know.” His jaw clinched and he glared. “Get out! I will let
you know when the committee is going to meet.”

I ran out
without looking back. I slammed into someone, knocking them down.

“June?” Izzy was
laid out flat with her purple skirt flung in the air. She fought the skirt
tooth and nail to keep the crinoline down, but it was winning.

“I’m so sorry,”
I gasped reaching for her hand to help her up. Instead I fell on the pavement
next to her and burst into tears. “I’m a failure. I’m not a spiritualist. I
should’ve never moved here.”

“That is
nonsense.” She stood up and brushed herself off. “Get up and come with me.”

I did exactly
what she told me to do. By the time we made it down to Mystic Lights, a crowd had
gathered outside the Gathering Grove and everyone was staring at me.

I briefly told
Izzy what had happened in the Gathering Grove, including how I picked the herbs
out for last night’s smudging ceremony.

“First off, you
didn’t try to kill anyone. We rushed you into moving here.” She unlocked the
gate to Mystic Lights and once inside she locked it behind us. “Secondly, that
is what a spiritualist does. You are listening to your instincts, the higher
powers are telling you what to pick. And it worked! I had Eloise confirm it
this morning.”

“Eloise?”

“Yes, she is a
spiritualist who uses the power of incense to cleanse or empower the client.
She’s amazing.” Izzy talked in a rush. “She said that everything is going to
fine in the village. Just a hiccup or two. Maybe Gerald is one of those
hiccups. But as a spiritualist, you know you can’t read another spiritualist
unless they let you.” She tapped the crystal ball sitting on the counter. It
wasn’t Madame Torres. I wished it were.

The face
appeared from the dark liquid and didn’t take her long-lashed eyes off me.

Was the person
in the crystal ball wanting to read me? I’d never believed in any of that
stuff, like Darla—until now. I glanced around Mystic Lights to see if I could
find Madame Torres, but the glass globe wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Focus, focus.
I peeled my
eyes off of the shadowy face from the other crystal ball.

“Can you tell me
a little more about Eloise? And how to find her?” I asked. The face in the
crystal ball continued to watch me and every move I mad.

“She only visits
every once in a while. There’s no need to worry about Eloise. I’m sure you’ll
meet her one day.” She tapped the crystal ball with her long fingernail.

“It’s just that
Darla had some kind of agreement with her.” I shrugged, and lied. “I only want
to find more out about my past.”

That really
wasn’t a lie. I wanted Eloise’s help. If Darla trusted her, maybe I could trust
her in helping me clear my name.

“Really,” Izzy’s
voice boomed, “there is no need to contact Eloise. I don’t recall her ever
knowing your mother.”

Liar!
I wanted to
shout and point, but she wasn’t going to budge. One way or another, I was going
to find Eloise.

“What about the
crystal ball I want? Where is it?” I looked around again.

“That old thing?
It’s probably been put away. I can’t remember. You need a new one. Once you
settle in and we get this whole murder thing behind us, I’ll give you a
lesson.”Izzy walked over to the gate.

I wasn’t
interested in a lesson. I was interested in what evil spirit was out to get me.
Right now, Gerald seemed to be the only evil spiritualist out to get me. Or was
he the one framing me? There was no way I was going to ask the relationship
between Gerald and Ann. Izzy made it very clear she wasn’t interested in
helping me.

“Anyway, why
don’t you take the day off and let me talk to Gerald when he calms down.”

She patted my shoulder and nudged
me toward the door. “I will let you know what happens. Just take some time for
yourself today.”

A customer
hurried through the door.

Sure you will.
I was beginning
to realize I couldn’t believe a word that came out of Izzy’s mouth. I was going
to have to solve this thing on my own if I wanted to be clear. She was right
about taking time off. Not only was I going to take the day off, I was going to
drive back to Locust Grove, see if there are any funny footprints around my old
house.

I turned back
around to face Izzy when I remembered what Gerald had said about me not being able
to open my shop until I was found not guilty.

“What about my
shop?” Lines formed between my brows.

“Oh, that.” She
grabbed the crystal ball off the counter and shooed me off so she could help
the next customer.

I took it as a
cue to wait on her to talk to Gerald. I couldn’t leave the shop closed for
long. It was my income. It was how Mr. Prince Charming and I ate.

“Are you going
on a trip soon?” Izzy asked the customer as she rolled the cloudy, round glass
in her hand.

“Yes.” The
customer drew back. “How did you know?”

“Let’s just say I
see sailboats in your future.” Her eyes lit up when a smile curled on her face.
“Be sure to get some Dramamine from your doctor. You are going to have a
fabulous time.”

The customer
nodded and they continued to carry on a conversation. I was sure Izzy was going
to be dishing out even more advice.

Chapter
Fourteen

I pulled up to
the old Cape Cod, and my heart sank for Darla. Even when Darla died, I had always
felt a presence. I didn’t feel that in Whispering Falls. Maybe it was the
memoires that made me nostalgic. I could only hope the journal would help fill
that void.

The Green
Machine seemed to groan with happiness when I turned it off. Mr. McGurtle’s
house was as lonely as mine. I wondered if he ever came home or just stayed in
Whispering Falls since I wasn’t his responsibility anymore.

I grabbed my
black bag and strapped it across my chest. I walked around what was left of the
shed before I went in the house. Just a few boot prints from the firefighters
and ashes were all that was left. Not even a piece of the test tubes I used to
mix my crazy concoctions could not be found.

I pulled on the
screen door and it was unlocked just like it always was. Instantly a familiar
smell consumed my soul. . .home.

The old floor
creaked as though I’d never left, and the furniture was still in place.

I wiped a tear
that had fallen down my cheek.
Home sweet home,
I sighed. Only I
couldn’t come home until I cleared my name in Whispering Falls.

With my shoulders
back, I inhaled. I came here to do a job, and to find any evidence that someone
had taken my bracelet.

I went back
outside and looked around, especially underneath the windows. The only way
someone could break in, at night, would be to climb through one. That was
exactly how Oscar use to get in.

Many times I’d
wake up and he’d be standing there without me ever hearing him come in. Darla
finally caught on when she had some of her herbal pots in every window of the
house, and the one in my room had been trampled.

She never
planted grass under my window because of Oscar. It became a joke that Oscar
never came in the house through the front door.

I bent down and
looked at the dirt. There was a little earth scuffed up, and I took a better
look. It sure looked like the shoe print in the mud at the lake where they
found Ann.

I took my phone
out of my black bag and flipped through the photos to find the one that I had
taken of the lake shoe print.

“Hot damn!” I
clicked the phone to camera and took a couple shots of the print.

I ran back into
the house and down to the basement. Once Darla wanted to be creative and make a
cement mold with color broken glass. She said it was all the rage. Apparently
not in our flea market. She never sold one. But I knew there was still cement
mix in the basement.

I mixed up a
small batch and before I headed out the door, I remembered I had left a stash
of Ding Dongs under the last basement step in case there was ever an emergency.
I stuck my hand under the old wooden basement step and felt around until I had
the round delicious treat in my finger tips.

Heaven.
I held it in
one hand and the mixture in the other. I trotted up the steps to the first
floor and out the door to get the evidence I needed.

I poured the
wet, grainy liquid on the shoe print. The package said that it would take an
hour to set. Since it was so old, I figured it would take two.

I was mentally
exhausted and nothing sounded better than my Ding dong and a good nap in my bed.
I flicked my shoes off, put my bag next to the bed and got out my Ding dong.
Comfort set in as I curled up and savored every single chocolaty morsel. Before
I knew it, I fell asleep.

Turn over, turn
over…
I
begged the victim to show me their face. The hands continued to squeeze around
the victim’s neck.

“Turn over!” I
sat straight up in my bed. I brushed my bangs to the side. Sweat had plastered
them to my forehead.

My heart was
pounding and my hands were shaking. My cell phone was ringing. I dug in my bag
to get it. It was Oscar and I sent him to voicemail.

I didn’t feel
like re-hashing what happened in the Gathering Grove or tell him that I had
another nightmare.

“June?” I heard
a voice call out from the front porch screen door. “June?”

With my purse in
hand, I slipped my shoes on and went to the front door. Jordan Parks was standing
there in full uniform.

“Hi.” I opened
the door and stepped out on the porch. “I was going to come see you.”

“You were?”
There was tension in his face. “I was going to come to Whispering Falls to see
you.”

Gerald’s words
rang in my ear,
“I already called Officer Jordan Parks to find out about
you.”