A Witch Before Dying: A Wishcraft Mystery (29 page)

Okay, then. “You’re leaving him?”

“It’s a long time coming, don’t you think?”

I didn’t have an answer to that.

“Darcy, thanks for your concern, but I’m all right. I just finally decided that I didn’t want to live the rest of my life being second best. I should have realized that years ago. It would have changed a lot of things.” She squeezed my arm. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

With that, she got into her car and drove off.

I was left staring after her.

And when I looked at the house, I was taken aback to see Roger standing on the front porch.

He glanced at me with a look of such sadness that it nearly broke my heart, turned, and went into the house.

The front door closed with a soft click behind him.

I
lay facedown on my belly in the grass. “Do you see her?”

“All I see is your head,” Marcus said. “Can you move a little to the left?”

I wiggled left and felt Marcus shift next to me. We were peering under Patrice’s back deck.

Marcus made kissy noises, and I glanced at him.

“Respect the process, Darcy.”

Smiling, I
respected
while he continued to make the kissing sounds.

“Should I leave the two of you alone?” someone asked from behind us.

I rolled over and saw Elodie watching us with a smirk. Standing, I dusted myself off and nodded to Marcus. “He’s cat whispering.”

“Oh,” Elodie said. “He can do that?”

“It’s his true calling.”

Marcus levered up on his elbows and peered at me. “Are you mocking me?”

“Never,” I said, straight-faced. “I’ve seen your work.”

“You two should take a step back. You’re interrupting my mojo.”

Grinning, we stepped back.

“Here, kitty, kitty,” Marcus crooned.

Nothing.

“She’s a stubborn one,” he said. “I’m going to have to play my best card. Prepare yourselves.”

“Should we be worried?” Elodie asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said.

Marcus gave us a withering glare and cleared his throat. He began singing about black and orange stray cats sitting on a fence.

I burst out laughing. “You can’t be serious! ‘Stray Cat Strut’?”

Marcus ignored me and kept on singing. “‘I’m a ladies’ cat, a feline Casanova…’”

My eyes were watering from trying so hard to keep my laughter in.

Suddenly, Elodie elbowed me. “Look!”

An orange head had popped out from beneath the deck, followed quickly by another—that of a small kitten.

“Awww,” Elodie said.

Marcus gave us a triumphant smile as another kitten and another trotted out. It was like he was the Pied Piper of cats. They all circled around him, and the mama cat even climbed into his lap.

He kept up the harmony of his pop song but changed the lyrics to, “Please go get a box. I think they have fleas.”

Elodie ran inside and found a box. She brought it out, and Marcus carefully loaded each cat into it. When they were all inside, he closed the top, picked up the box, and said, “My work here is done.”

“That was amazing,” I said, completely in awe.

“What will you do with them now?” Elodie asked.

“Bring them to a vet friend of mine for a checkup. Then find them all homes.”

I couldn’t wait to tell Harper about this. If this didn’t seal the deal on a date between the two of them, there was something seriously wrong with my sister. “Can you
tell if the cat is a familiar?” I asked. I’d been harboring the notion that the cat might be the spirit of Patrice….

“It’s not,” Marcus said.

“How do you know?” I didn’t think there was a way of telling by looking.

“Familiars can’t procreate,” he said simply.

Ah. I hadn’t known that.

Elodie and I saw Marcus off, and I pulled hand sanitizer out of my tote bag and lathered up with it. Inside the house, I said, “I’m surprised to see you here today.”

“I’m going stir crazy at home. I thought I could help. And…,” she said.

“What?”

“I got a call from Zoey Wilkens this morning.”

“Oh?”

“I haven’t heard from her in forever, but she said she thought of me last night—because of a conversation your cooking class was having about love at first sight. She mentioned that she could use a friend right now.”

I imagined so, what with Jonathan being so ill and all. I folded a shirt that still had its tags and looked at her. I had a feeling I knew where this conversation was going. “Do you believe in it?” I asked. “Love at first sight?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Love is hard work. It doesn’t happen instantaneously. It has to be babied and nurtured.”

I added the shirt to a pile of clothes in a “Yard Sale” box. Once we were done sorting Patrice’s house, we were going to have the biggest yard sale the village had ever seen. “Then how do you explain what happened with Zoey and Jonathan?”

Softly, she said, “I think you already know the answer to that question.”

I picked up a dress—it also still had its tags. “I think I do, but I’d like to hear it from you.”

She let out a deep breath and leaned against the wall next to the shadowbox holding her baby footprints, rattle, and hat. “Did you ever think you were doing something so right only to find out how terribly wrong you were?”

Once I’d tried to keep Harper’s (slightly) criminal past from the people of the village. That had been a mistake that had almost cost me my relationship with Nick. “Haven’t we all at one time or another?”

“Did you know my mother dated Jonathan for a while?”

I nodded.

“What she didn’t know—or didn’t want to realize—was how much of a womanizer he was. He cheated on her left and right. It made me sick. I had to do something. So one day while she was in the shower, I snuck into the bathroom and borrowed the Anicula. It was the only time she ever took it off. I made a wish that Jonathan and Zoey would fall madly in love with each other.”

“You were the one who stole the Anicula?”

“Not me! I borrowed it. I returned it before she even knew it was gone.”

I wasn’t sure I believed her. “I understand why you chose Jonathan—you wanted him permanently out of your mom’s life—but why Zoey?”

She sighed. “Honestly, I thought I was doing her a favor. She grew up in Glinda’s shadow. Can you imagine what that was like?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t quite imagine growing up as Dorothy’s daughter, either.

“Zoey was never pretty enough, talented enough, smart enough. It really shook her confidence. She’d never even had a boyfriend before Jonathan. I—I was trying to help her. Plus, I thought it would make their lives easier if they were together.”

“How?”

“Before she and Jonathan were married, she overheard him having a huge argument with my mom. Mom had gone to see him, to beg him to come back to her. When he wouldn’t, she accused him of using her for the Anicula’s powers. They discussed the Craft openly and Zoey overheard. Later, when Zoey asked him what he had been talking about, he admitted he had tricked my mom into using a wish to get rid of those rats.”

It sounded to me like the biggest rat around might have been Jonathan.

“The Elder summoned both of them immediately. Jonathan lost his powers and Zoey’s memory was cleansed of everything she overheard about the Craft.”

“Jonathan lost his powers?”

She nodded sadly. “It’s why the restaurant is failing. Zoey’s a good chef, but not good enough to keep the place going. It’s lost its magic. Plus, whenever Jonathan cooks now, he tends to give people food poisoning.”

Oh. My. That explained a few things. “But I’m confused. It sounds like Jonathan hadn’t intentionally told her everything about the Craft. The Elder said in cases like that, a Crafter wouldn’t lose his power.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. He lost his.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “I’ve made a mess of everything. My wish helped no one. It only ruined people’s lives. Don’t you see, Darcy? My mother wasn’t the one who was cursed. It’s me.
I’m
cursed.”

Putting the dress in the box, I said, “Why do you think that?”

“It turned out that my mother didn’t just like Jonathan; she loved him. It nearly killed her when he broke up with her. And when I confessed it was my fault, that I’d made a wish, we had a huge argument and didn’t talk for months. I don’t think she ever really forgave me.” She paced in what little space she could find. “And then Jonathan lost his powers and started poisoning people because
he can’t get it through his thick head that he can’t cook anymore. Then stuff started happening with my wedding. Venues canceling. Lost orders. The date kept getting postponed. Then my mom went missing.” She burst into tears. “It’s my fault my mom was murdered.”

I crossed over to her and gave her a hug. “You aren’t to blame.”

“I am. It’s my fault. I know it.”

“You didn’t kill her.”

“Maybe not literally. But I might as well have. And now”—she sniffled—“I’ve doomed Zoey to a life of loneliness.”

“Why? She’s happy with Jonathan.”

“True enough. But when she called me, she admitted that Jonathan is really sick. He has ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and he’s in its final stages. If only I knew where that Anicula was—I could wish him back to health.” She shook her head. “No! I’m done trying to change destiny. I hate that Anicula. If you find it, it’s yours. I don’t want it. In fact, I never want to see it again.”

I
spent the whole day at Patrice’s house, sorting and organizing, and even though the living room was still a mess, at least every box had a contents label. There were dozens of garbage bags to be put out to the trash next week.

I’d found soup from years ago, a box of Waterford crystal, a purse stuffed with one-dollar bills. What I hadn’t found was the Anicula. I’d tested each and every stone I came across. None yielded my wish of a hot fudge sundae.

When I came home, I was happy to see Mrs. P and Mimi visiting with Ve, who looked remarkably better. I had come home at lunchtime to find her fully recovered, and I couldn’t have been happier.

They were playing a game of poker with peanut M&M’s as ante. By the looks of it, Mimi was cleaning house. But she didn’t look too happy about it.

“You look like someone stole your magic wand, Mimi.” It was a phrase Harper had introduced to the family.

She dropped her head in her hand and ate some of her winnings. “I’m fine. I’m going to take Missy for a walk. Is that okay?”

“As long as you stay on the green,” I said. Where it
was well lit. Technically, there was still a Peeper on the loose.

As soon as she went out the back door, Ve said, “She’s been like that since she got here. I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Mrs. P said, “She was fine earlier.”

I went to the back door and looked out. Mimi was just crossing the street. Missy trotted along happily next to her. “Maybe Nick’s hours are getting to her.”

“Maybe,” Ve said.

I spotted the wedding file on the counter. “Is Sylar doing any better?”

“Still can’t keep anything down,” Ve said,
tsk
ing. “But I’m sure he’ll be just fine for the wedding.”

I wasn’t sure that was a good thing, so I said, “I’m going to run upstairs and change. I have decades of dust covering me.”

I took a quick shower and gathered up my towels to throw into the wash. “I’m going to do a towel load,” I called down the stairs. “Do you want me to wash yours, too?”

“Sure,” Ve said.

I went into her bathroom and grabbed her towels. Still hanging from the bar was the handkerchief I’d seen the other day, the paisley one.

I tipped my head and stared at it, feeling like I’d seen it somewhere before. It was an unusual pattern…. I waited and waited for it to come to me, kind of an aha moment.

Nothing.

Try as I might, I couldn’t place it. As I went about tossing the laundry in the wash, making dinner, and trying to cheer up a still-moping Mimi, I couldn’t get that pattern out of my mind.

Or keep the notion that it was
very important
that I remember at bay.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Harper asked later that night.

“I’ve been thinking,” Mrs. P said absently, “that I should get a Taser. I heard about how Glinda took down Roger with one zap. A Taser might be handy if I come across that Peeper.”

Until that statement, I’d been having trouble keeping my eyes open. Now, I was wide awake. It was a little past eleven and the three of us sat on the bakery floor, waiting for Dorothy Hansel to make an appearance. Evan and I had made sure the whole village knew he’d “re-created” Ve’s wedding cake today—and that it was a showpiece worthy of such a lovely couple.

Now, while Evan was at the cast party, all we had to do was lie in wait. And confront her when she showed up to steal another cake.

“You don’t need a Taser,” I said.

“What if the Peeper attacks me?” Mrs. P asked.

“Yeah,” Harper said.

I eyed her in the dim glow of the security lights. “The Peeper is looking for the Anicula. I think you’re safe. Unless either of you has something you want to tell me?”

“Trust me.” Harper stretched her legs. “If I had that Anicula, I’d wish I was home with my new kitten.”