magical cures 07 - a charming fatality (8 page)

Rowl!
Mr. Prince Charming jumped on top of the machine, whacking the button with his tail, starting the belt again.

The machine made the awful screeching sound setting the conveyor belt in motion. Both the security guard and myself covered our ears. We watched as the belt slowly came to a stop. Sticking out from underneath the flaps where the finished product rolled out was not a Gentle June Stress Free Lotion bottle, but a pair of shoes, attached to feet, and attached to legs and attached to one dead Burt Rossen.

“The black butterfly,” I gasped, remembering how the symbol of death had floated out of Petunia Shrubwood’s hair as she stood in A Charming Cure.

Chapter Ten

“I swear I don’t know anything about it.” I bit my lip and glanced over Oscar’s shoulder to get a better look at the dead body of Burt Rossen. Someone had shot him dead.

“All I know is that woman was over there doing some sort of voodoo crap in the corner with that snow globe glowing and this place with filled with smoke. Lots of smoke.” The security guard’s fat finger was pointing at me.

“I was not doing voodoo.” I had to shut that train of thought down quickly. The last thing I needed was any type of rumors running around about me, though he was sort of right. “I’m the owner of this product and I wanted to make sure all the bottles were completely filled before they were shipped.”

“And you were in here with that, that, and him.” He pointed to Madame Torres, Mr. Prince Charming who was too busy cleaning himself to help me out. . .some fairy-god cat. And he gestured to the dead body. “I came in here, cleared the smoke and shut down the machine.” The guard took his hat off and shook his head. He leaned in and whispered more toward Oscar’s way, “I don’t know how that cat did it, but he jumped up on the machine and hit the on button with his tail. If it weren’t for him, this woman would’ve left and Mr. Rossen, God bless his soul, wouldn’t have been found until Pearl started her shift.”

“Pearl? Pearl!” I snapped my fingers. My intuition told me Pearl was the name of the woman I had met this morning and who really wanted my bottles to be used and not the cheap ones. “Yes. Pearl would know me.”

“Then I called the sheriff’s department with this baby pointed at her the whole time.” The security guard patted the billy club on his belt. “She tried to talk her way out of this, but I know a witch when I see one.”

“Witch?” Oscar’s eyes drew. “You believe in witches?”

“Hell, no, but I’ve seen plenty of people do some weirdo things and she was doing some weirdo things.” The guard’s mouth pinched as did his eyes when he looked my way.

“Did you see this woman pick up Mr. Rossen and put him on the conveyor belt?” Oscar asked. The man shook his head. “Did you see her knock him on the head with whatever blunt object caused the gash on his head?”

“Um . . .no.” As the coroner rolled Burt Rossen’s body, the guard watched, his face flushed, turning white.

“Then I’d say leave all the speculation to the sheriff’s department.” Oscar nodded and excused himself, tugging on the sleeve of my shirt to follow him.

In the corner of the packing room, Oscar decided to question me.

“What in the world are you doing here?” His eyes held a questioning stare. He was able to drown out the world around us, but I wasn’t.

“I was going to tell you earlier, but then the whole wedding thing.” I rolled my eyes.

“What are you doing here?” His voice more demanding this time.

“Burt had decided, against my contract, that he was going to use a different bottle than the ones I had sent.” I lifted my brows and slowly moved my head forward.

“The magic is in the bottles?” Oscar had never really asked how I got the magic in the new line for Head To Toe Works and it was an unspoken rule not to question how another spiritualist used their gift.

“Yes.” I sucked in a deep breath and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “That is how the stress free lotion will work. The lotion is all the homeopathic herbs, but when the recipient touches my bottle, not the fake plastic one, their touch activates the right ingredient they need for their specific stress.”

“Burt didn’t use your bottles?” He was putting two and two together.

“When I came in to work this morning, they had these bottles going through the assembly line, squirting my lotion into them.  I refused to let them continue to bottle my lotion in the cheap non-magical bottles.” My head jerked when I heard the shriek of Tiffany Rossen.

She was standing in the window overlooking the assembly line floor with the palms of her hands planted up against the glass. Her palms fisted and she screamed inaudible words while banging the glass.

Over my dead body
. Her words from earlier floated around in my head.
Burt is not in charge of my company.
I recalled her angry words from when Ronald had refused to let me in. And why wasn’t I on the list? Did Burt deliberately leave me off because of the bottles? What about that security guard? He was quick to blame me. Did he know more than he was letting on?

My wrist felt warm and I glanced down at my charm bracelet. The liquid in the little potion bottle was bubbling again. I rubbed it with my other hand.

“June,” Oscar spit my name out in a hushed whisper, “I asked you a question.”

“I’m sorry. What did you ask?” I looked back up at Tiffany where she was on the floor completely in grief. There was a woman bending down next to her.

“First off, did you get the magic in the plastic bottles?” Oscar was so cute trying to make sure our deal with Head To Toe Works went exactly as I had told them it would.

“Yes.” I leaned over and whispered so no one would hear me. “Unfortunately, the guard did see me smudging.”

“Smudging? I thought Aunt Eloise told you to do that this morning. First thing.” His face was a glowing mask of rage. I didn’t have to say anything for him to read my face. “And you wonder why he called you a voodoo witch.” Oscar ran his hands through his hair. “When are you going to learn to listen to our elders?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged.

A veil of grey cloud hovered over the conveyor belt of the assembly line. Three faces appeared in the haze. My gut dropped. It was bad enough that Burt was found dead in the mortal world, but seeing The Order of Elders here was another thing, making an even more terrifying realization wash over me.

“Why are they here?” I swallowed hard, trying to manage the answer to my own question.

It was never a good thing when the Marys, the Elders, showed up.

“Oh no.” His expression stilled and grew serious. “Don’t say a word here. Do you understand me? People are watching.”

I did what he said and just nodded my head.

Chapter Eleven

“Oh, June! I told you to smudge first thing.” Eloise wrung her hands together. The hem of her cloak swished against the hardwood floors of Full Moon Treesort. “I even heard Petunia had a black butterfly fall out of her hair. That was sign enough that you needed to smudge.”

Full Moon Treesort was big enough for everyone to gather in the only hotel sort of shop in Whispering Falls. Full Moon Treesort had all the fine luxuries of the fanciest hotels in the world. It was owned and operated by Amethyst Plum. Her spiritual gift of Onerirocriticy (dream interpretations), perfectly fit with her being the owner of Full Moon.

She was able to tell when one of her guests was having a dream, good or bad, and alter their stay to make it very enjoyable.

“I was afraid my dream was going to come true.” Amethyst pushed her long black curly hair behind her shoulders and drummed her fingers together. She stood behind the bar top in the kitchen.

I sat on one of the barstools along with Gerald, Izzy, and Chandra. Petunia was in one of the comfy chairs near the fireplace, nestling baby Orin in her arms. The Marys were huddled in the corner as though they were having a meeting.

Mary Lynn stood in the middle of them and they were bent down to accommodate her four-foot tall frame. She wore a black dress that hung down to the top of her black pointy laced-up witch shoes. Her tight silvery hair was tucked under a small black pillbox hat with lace hanging around the edges. There was a fox stole wrapped around her shoulders and clipped on by the teeth of the creature. Only it wasn’t dead.

She ran her hands down the fur and snapped her fingers. The fox uncurled off her neck and jumped down, finding a hook on the coat rack across the room. Mr. Prince Charming lifted his head off the hearth of the fireplace and watched.

Mary Ellen was much younger than the other two Marys and the most stylish. She wore a one-piece bright red jumper and cheetah print high heels.

Mary Sue was what Mary Ellen called the “old coot” of the Marys. She was the typical witch type that wore the long sleeved black dress, the pointy black hat, and black lace up boots. She really did take her job seriously. She was the most brash of the three and her deep voice made me take notice when she talked.

“What dream?” I asked Amethyst.

Her eyes darted between me and the three Marys. She leaned on the bar top on her elbows. “When Tiffany and Burt stayed here during Christmas, Tiffany had a dream that Burt died. Of course I didn’t say anything because I was afraid my dream was off due to the stress Tiffany caused me with her complaints. I was having a hard time distinguishing if it was her dream or my dream to implicate her in some way. After they were snowed in a few nights, the dream was more vivid than ever.”

“Is that why you told me to have June smudge the headquarters?” Eloise asked her.

“And shouldn’t I have know about this?” My mouth dropped. “This would’ve been some pretty important information.”

“After you had given Tiffany the stress relief, the dream didn’t occur anymore. So I figured everything was working out and there was no need to step in.” Her eyes drew up and stared at me. Her long flashes created a shadow on her cheeks. “Do you remember the soup I had made for the guests with Eloise’s organic vegetables?”

“I do and it was delicious.” I recalled how Tiffany had complained about Full Moon and how she didn’t think Amethyst was using organic vegetables. I had gone to Eloise and asked her to donate some veggies to the Full Moon and she had.

“I had a special spell to put in there to help fix her dream of the death of her husband, but the dreams stopped.” Amethyst pushed herself back up on her feet and took the dishcloth, wiping down the counter.

The coffee pot had brewed and she took five cups off the hooks on the wall and filled them up with the brew. One by one, she went down the counter setting a cup in front of each of us.

Izzy, Gerald, and Chandra kept to themselves. They were on edge because they were waiting on the Marys to make a decision on what we as a village should do. Petunia continued to care for baby Orin. Since she was the village president, the Marys would go to her first, and then they would call a meeting at The Gathering Rock for the others to join.

“I didn’t get her stress wrong, did I?” I asked with doubt in my head.

Tiffany was so stressed out about Christmas and making deviled eggs of all things. Burt’s mother was a stickler for the eggs and since Tiffany was hosting the family dinner, she knew his mother would complain if they weren’t just right. I gave her the stress free potion to help her get through and not worry about the eggs. She said it had worked and that was how I got the deal at Head To Toe Works.

“Oh no, she had stress about those darn eggs,” Amethyst’s eyes were compelling, magnetic, drawing me into her dream. “Her dream really captivated her heart. With each stir of those egg yellows, she envisioned stabbing Burt with the fork tines.”

“Death by fork?” I made a half-witted joke to break the unnerving glare in her eyes.

“You see where it has gotten us. It has come true,” her words trailed off. Her face turned to see who was coming into the room.

“Everyone.” Oscar took his Locust Grove sheriff’s hat off and greeted everyone, but his eyes were on me. He walked over and hugged me.

“What is this for?” I squeezed back feeling safe in his embrace.

“That could’ve been you,” his husky voice broke. “I don’t know what would’ve happened if you walked in a few minutes earlier.”

“I swear there wasn’t anyone in there. The only people I saw were the security guards.” I rested my head in the crook of his neck. He pulled me away.

“Don’t tell me anything else.” He spoke loudly. His tone felt strange to my ear.

“By the Orders of the Elders,” Mary Ellen floated above me. Her long black hair hung past her shoulders. Next to her were the other Marys. “You will not speak of this to Oscar Park since he is the official officer on duty. And we will be accompanying you to work.”

“That is not a good idea.” I kept one of my arms curled around Oscar’s waist. “Besides, I didn’t do it.”

“We know that but others are going to try to accuse you of it.” Mary Ellen floated down and planted her leopard print heels firmly on the ground. “And we want to be at the ready.”

“I get that. I do, but how am I going to explain three floating women?” I asked.

“We aren’t going to be there, be there,” she explained.

“Okay.” That was fine. I would be able to work around them. “Then what about Oscar?”

“I agree that you don’t need to say a word until Mac gets here.” Oscar referred to our village lawyer Mac McGurtle.

Mac was also my next-door neighbor in Locust Grove. As a child I just thought he was a nosy neighbor who always looked over the hedges when in reality he was keeping an eye on me for the spiritual community as I lived in the mortal world.

“I have summoned him from one of the western villages where he is helping a family transition into the mortal world.” Mary Sue stood in between me and Mary Ellen. “I told him to get his a-double-s here now.”

Mary Sue was the more brash and honest of the three Marys and more masculine. Her voice was raspy, harsh at times and definitely deeper.

“He did send a telegraph saying he was going to meet June tomorrow at the Head To Toe Works Headquarters for the rescheduled meeting.” Petunia stood up.