Chapter 20
Ms. Vine stayed in the library until I’d blended a special mix, infused it with a spell that should calm Candice’s mind, and boxed it up.
The instructions didn’t have to be as closely followed as with most of Aunt Violet’s magical recipes, because I’d only used a sprinkle of the less orthodox ingredients, to prevent things from going wrong if Candice didn’t stick to the step-by-step list. The spell itself would have to do the heavy lifting.
I came down with the wrapped and addressed parcel and Cosmo at my heels.
Ms. Vine spotted the address. “That’s the other woman?”
“You make her sound like a jezebel.”
“That wasn’t my intention. I think it’s commendable how you’ve moved on.”
“That’s not exactly that hard, once you’re over the first shock. In my case, I also believe my new chapter is a huge step up.”
She lowered her glasses she used in private. “Don’t get mad, get magical?”
“Always.” I weighed the parcel in my hand. The delivery issue was looming large in my mind until Kyle Hansen walked in, in sweatpants and his baseball jersey. He’d just graduated high school and now was college-bound.
Despite his quintessential jock looks, he was one of my most loyal readers, and one of the most interesting characters in Willowmere.
He had befriended little Noah, pulled a few stupid stunts like a joyride in the hope they’d put an end to any Ivy League application his wealthy family planned for him.
He was dead set on staying as close to Willowmere as possible, and he seemed to be on a personal quest.
A while back, Cosmo and I had discovered powerful crystals in the library.
With a secret lair dedicated to spellbooks and witchcraft paraphernalia hidden behind a bookcase, any use of occult aides was instantly suspicious, but Cosmo had figured out that Kyle had put them there and reassured me that the young man was a decent guy and that all would be revealed in good time.
That time hadn’t arrived yet, but Kyle had gotten his wish. In the fall, he’d start university in Portland, so he could come home for the weekends. As for now, he still lived under his parents’ roof and played baseball in Cannon Hill.
“Do you have a game tonight?” I asked him as he dropped off a stack of Terry Pratchett and James Herriot books. He’d read both authors again and again. I used to wonder why he didn’t simply buy his own copies, until Kyle told me that he loved coming to the library.
“It’s only a training session.” He flashed me a smile.
“Can you do me a favor? I need something dropped off in Cannon Hill.”
“No problem.”
“Great.” I handed him the parcel and a cookie of the non-magical variety.
He eyed the jar.
“Do you want another one?” I asked him.
“You wouldn’t happen to have enough for the team, would you?”
I pushed the jar over to him. “Can you return the container tomorrow?” It seemed a small price to pay for his services.
He left with the parcel, cookies, and a book on folklore tales that had been among the tomes Ms. Vine had dug up.
I sent her home with many thanks and finished the remaining part of the shift with tidying and admin tasks. Keeping my hands busy allowed me to let my subconscious work away.
For a change, the coven came to my place.
Harper and Reina supplied sushi and fruit skewers. “We want your honest opinion before we put these on the menu,” Harper said as we settled in my living room.
Ange had brought the dogs, because Nick had been called out to Serenity Springs. They only had a nurse on duty day and night, but Nick or one of his partners took care of any emergency.
When we all had something to nibble, Reina asked, “What have you found out?”
I brought out the whiteboard on wheels that served as murder board, and created three columns for motive, means, opportunity.
“As far as we can tell, Candice and Skye could match all three categories,” I said and wrote down their names.
“How so?” asked Harper.
“Candice is obvious. She had a fight with Tim and could easily have arranged to meet him when the fair closed and only buyers and sellers were around,” I said and repeated what the beehive lady had told us.
“That’s a lot of people,” Harper said.
“Yes, but they wouldn’t all be in that area.
The chest was in a remote area, and from my experience most people would simply see the delivery guys and book a spot without taking them around to see every single item.
We also know that the workers used to go on break together, giving our killer a window of opportunity.
It wouldn’t have taken long to stab Tim and stash away his body. ”
“How long do you think?” Reina asked.
“We could role play it.” Ange rubbed her hands.
“We don’t have a chest,” Harper pointed out. “Unless …”
“We’re not going to use the real one.” I shuddered. “It’s currently giving me the heebie-jeebies. We’ll improvise instead. If we had an idea how far away from the chest the murder happened, we could narrow it down to a few seconds, but we should be able to come close anyway.” I scanned my friends.
Ange was the tallest. “You’re the victim,” I said.
“Tim was a lot heavier,” Harper said.
I shrugged. “We can’t reconstruct everything the way it most likely was. I think the killer knew about the chest. It would have been easy enough to case the joint while the fair was open to the public.” I pulled up Ange from her seat and stationed her next to a low side table where Cosmo resided.
He obligingly moved on to the floor, where he snuggled up with the dogs.
“Harper, you’re the killer. You stab Ange and she sinks to the floor.”
“Do I catch her?”
“Probably. Wait for my sign.”
“What do I do?” Reina asked.
“You take the time, starting now.”
Harper mimed stabbing Ange. Ange folded. Harper grabbed her. “And what happens next?” she asked.
“Can you keep on holding Ange without hurting yourself or her?”
“Sure,” Harper said.
“If you hurry. It’s no fun for my ribs,” Ange added.
I mimed lifting the lid of the chest. “That takes me about 30 seconds. It’s heavy and I want to make sure it doesn’t slip from my grip and slam shut. I don’t want to create any noise. Right. Now the chest is open, and you roll the victim over the side, or in our case, arrange Ange on the table.”
When Ange lay prone, the dogs woofed. “It’s okay, my darlings, I haven’t fainted.” she called out.
“How long did we take?” I asked Reina.
“Two minutes, max.”
“Afterwards, all the killer had to do was stroll out, with nobody the wiser,” I said.
“Great,” Ange said. “That’s progress.”
“Except, we don’t know the motive. Blackmail or fear? A woman scorned?” I wrote the possibilities down in their columns and added Candice and Skye where appropriate.
“What about the other guy?” Ange asked. “You know, the one he stole Skye’s affection from? She said Tim liked to win, no matter how. It could have been revenge, or someone who had their business torpedoed by Tim.”
“That potentially opens a wide field. What did he do for a living?” Reina asked.
“According to the internet, he was a business consultant, which these days can mean anything. He was an early investor in a commercial real estate development, together with Charles Martin Pratt aka Champ. Pratt sold his stake to invest in other projects,” Ange said.
She took a piece of sushi and ate it, enjoying our attention.
“I thought it would be good for us to have that intel.”
“I should have thought of that,” I said.
“We’re a team. We divide up jobs.” Ange wiped her mouth. “Both sushi and fruit skewers get my vote.”
“Mine too,” I said.
Harper beamed.
Reina didn’t listen. She repeated, “Candice and Skye. I thought you’d excluded them both.”
I grimaced. “We had, until we discovered that Skye lied through her teeth about not having been to Cannon Hill, when it’s obvious that she was there at exactly the right time. We’re certain she did Linda’s mehndi. And while revenge is a possibility, no other name has popped up yet.”
Ange bobbed her head so fast she startled the dogs again. “What if Skye’s the one Tim met at the motel? She wouldn’t be the first to believe that’s the way to win back a man’s heart, and something pulled you toward the motel units.”
Now, all eyes were on me. “True, but my witchfire waves are an indicator, not a science. And I had a much stronger response to touching the chest and the motel card.”
“But wouldn’t that be normal, if you were only standing outside, instead of having physical contact with something in the room?” Reina suggested.
“It would be interesting to know for sure if he’d been there, and in that case, when and in whose company.” Ange rose, took the whiteboard marker, and wrote, Sweet Haven Motel.
“Leave that to us,” Harper said.
The dogs had enough of resting and started to explore the living room. Cosmo stayed where he was, but his head moved to keep track of what Mrs. Miniver and Mr. Chips were doing.
Mrs. Miniver fished one of Cosmo’s balls out from underneath the sofa and sent it flying across the floor. Mr. Chips chased after it, onto the landing, and bumped against the door to the old-fashioned broom cupboard. The door flung open, and my broom fell out. The dog jumped back.
“Sorry about that,” Ange said. She went to close the cupboard, picked up the broom, and carried it over to us to inspect the birch twigs that were bound with natural cord. “I had no idea you had a proper besom.”
“A what?” Reina asked.
“A witches’ broom. Unless you ride on it, Bex?” Ange wiggled the broomstick.
“It used to be my aunt’s, and I only took it up here for a joke. Although I wish I could fly.”
“Don’t we all.” Harper took the broom and pretended to ride on it. “It needs a saddle.”
I took it from her. “It needs to be put away.”
“I wonder.” Reina paused.
“Go on, sweetheart,” her wife said.
“Don’t rush me. I might have the glimmer of an idea.”
“Fair enough. Before we head back to take care of our own business, what’s the game plan?” Harper returned the broomstick to the cupboard.
I recapitulated. “Tackle Skye about her lies.”
Ange lifted her hand. “I’ll do that, and you do your human lie detector thing while I make her open up like a clam that’s breathing on the beach.”
We all grinned at that picture. “Check out the motel connection,” I continued.
“I told you, we’ll take care of that,” Harper said.
“Which leaves me with another visit to see Trey Stone. Candice says the police in Cannon Hill had a search warrant for her room. I’d like to know what they were searching for, and with any luck he can help me there.”
We agreed to regroup after lunch. That gave me a chance to take care of my own duties for once and visit the detective.
I only wished we had other suspects than Candice and Skye. I didn’t want to see the henna artist guilty, but she’d lied to our faces. She wouldn’t get away with it again.