A Charming Crime (17 page)

“That’s
funny. He seemed fine a few minutes ago.” I slapped my hand over my mouth.
Dang,
I wished my words were muffled from a mouthful of a Ding Dong, but those were
all the way back at my house. Izzy’s eyes lowered, I continued to cover up my
mistake. “I mean, yesterday when he accused me of trying to kill him. He didn’t
look great, swollen and all, but his mouth sure was working.”

“Um,
hum.” Izzy nodded.

There
was no way she was buying my lie. But I had made a promise to myself that I
would figure out the clues and then take them to the council myself. After all,
who was going to take better care of me than me? No one.

“I
better get going.” I pointed off into the distance to Mr. Prince Charming. He
was already in front of Two Sisters and a Funeral. “I need to catch up to Mr.
Prince Charming. Please let me know what the council says.”

I
waved over my shoulder. I might not be able to read palms, or see into the
future, but I had a sneaky suspicion that Izzy knew more than she was letting
on.

“Hello?”
I walked into the parlor of the funeral home with Mr. Prince Charming at my
feet. One rub against the casket and he was out the door. I yelled after him.
“Scaredy-cat!”

“What
can we do for you?” Constance stood a distance away from me with a scared look
in her eye, and Patience was peeking around Constance back. “We are busy.”

“Busy.”
Patience nodded in agreement. Constance shrugged Patience off her. Patience
took a step backwards, crossed her arms and scowled at Constance.

I
pointed to the casket. “Is that Ann?”

Hmmm.
. .I wonder if I looked at her body if something might come to me. .
spiritually speaking, that is.

“It
is.” Constance stood a little taller, and Patience straightened up a bit,
though she was still annoyed with Constance. “The funeral won’t be for a couple
of days. We are trying to find her family from the west coast spiritual village.
That is where she was originally from until she opened the Cleansing Spirit Spa
with Chandra.”

“It
is her.” Patience’s finger made it way around Constance’s thick arm and pointed
toward the wooden box.

“A
Cleansing Spirit? She owned it with Chandra?” I questioned. Why hadn’t anyone
mentioned that?

“She
was an amazing palm reader.” Patience rolled up on her toes and a giddy smile
formed across her face.

It
seemed that there were so many secrets around here and it was hard trying to
keep them straight. I was sure Oscar didn’t know that little tidbit of
information. It was something else to put on my list to ask Izzy.

“Patience,
go get the delivery.” Constance waved her hand in the air.

“Delivery!”
A man walked through the door with a bouquet of flowers.

Patience
scurried off to retrieve the flowers.

“How
did you know you were getting a delivery?” I realized I had no clue what their
spiritual gift was. Around here, asking was the only way someone was going to
tell you something.

“I
had a feeling.” She folded her hands in front of her. “Now, June Heal, why did
you say you were here?”

I
ran my hand down Ann’s wooden box. If they thought I was the killer, I might as
well act as strange as they were. “I didn’t tell you why I’m here. But I want
to ask a few questions about the autopsy.”

“Isn’t
that Oscar’s job?” Constance stood firm. “I’ll have the results to him by
tomorrow. Then he can answer your questions if he wants to.”

She
turned around and met Patience at the doorway leading into the part of the
funeral home that was off limits to the public. Patience clasped her hands and
looked back over her shoulder. We made eye contact. For some reason, I had a
feeling that if I got Patience alone, she’d sing like a canary.

I
hurried back to the shop. The mojo bags seemed to be a big hit and Patience
would be the type that would love one. Especially if I could tell her it would
protect her.

I
quickly added a few good luck items in one of the makeshift bags before I
grabbed my cement foot print and headed home. There were a couple of hours to
kill before I made my way back to pay Patience a visit, giving me enough time to
read a little more of.

Mr.
Prince Charming was on the front porch when I got home.

“There
you are.” I rubbed my hands down his back which was warm from the sun. “I can’t
believe you were scared of the Karima sisters.”

The
sun felt so good that I went inside and grabbed Darla’s journal off the side
table and a Ding Dong on the way out the door to sit next to Mr. Prince
Charming.

I
flipped open the journal. I wanted to know more about Darla and her days in
Whispering Falls. Maybe it could shed some light on how I could embrace this
crazy village.

Otto
questioned if I had been hanging out with Eloise. I told him the truth. He was
angry at first that I had been keeping this secret from him for so long. He
knew something was up because A Dose of Darla has been thriving. He knew the
remedies that I had made weren’t as potent as the ones being sold in the shop.

Eloise
is a dear friend. June loves it there. She is so good while we are working. She
doesn’t bother anyone there. Otto warned me to be careful. He said that he
can’t protect us outside of the village, and to keep June in the village.

“Keep
me in the village?” That seemed odd since she moved me out of the village after
my dad died. Plus my curiosity was up. Who outside of the village did he fear
would hurt us?

Meow,
meow.
Mr.
Prince Charming batted at the dangling charms when I turned the page. I pushed
him away, but he only came back and batted at my fingers for pushing him.

“Testy
little guy.” By his purring, I could tell he enjoyed the under-the-chin
scratching I was giving him. There was no way I was going to be able to read
anymore of Darla’s diary with his persistence.

“Stop.”
I shoved him one last time before I gave up and went into the kitchen to get
him a treat.

I
looked out the window, over Whispering Falls. Bella was right. Her house had
the best view. From a distance, I could see Constance Karima rushing down the
street toward the police station. There appeared to be a file in her hand,
which made me wonder if it was the autopsy file. Still, it gave me time to get
Patience alone and ask her questions.

I
pulled my phone out of my bag and texted Oscar. “
Stall Constance. I have
some information that I want to confirm with Patience…alone!”

I
put my phone back in my bag and headed straight out the door toward Two Sisters
and a Funeral.

The
door was ajar and I nudged it a little bit to fit through. Ann’s casket was
still in the middle of the parlor. Seeing it sent chills along my spine.

“Patience?”
I called out a couple times before I heard the shuffling of feet. Within a
couple minutes she appeared, looking a little confused. “Hi. I noticed you had
given me a strange look when I was here earlier and thought you might want to
answer a couple of questions.”

“I
don’t think this is a good idea without Constance.” She wrung her hands
together. “I. . .”

“Really?
Hmm. . .” I rubbed my chin. “I thought you were the brains of the two. I guess
my intuition isn’t that great after all. I shouldn’t be a spiritualist.” I
laughed.

“Oh,
I
am
the smart one.” She dropped her hands and drummed her fingers on
her thigh. “What would you like to ask me?”

“Let’s
start with Ann. Did she have honey in her system?” I was going to bombard her
with another one, but she might break under pressure.

She
leaned back and peered out the front door. It was a perfect view of Main Street
and if Constance was coming back, we’d be able to see her. “Not the liquid
form. But she tested positive for the supplement. We never thought about
checking for it until Oscar asked us to.”

“Is
that what killed her?” This was a big question. If it was, then it would prove
that I didn’t kill her, but still didn’t explain my charm bracelet that was
found in her grips. “You know she was allergic to it.”

“No.
The supplement works different than the actual honey itself. She did have
finger marks around her neck, so she was definitely strangled.” She looked off
into the distance. “It’s so strange that a crime hasn’t happened here since
your dad was murdered.”

“What?”
That couldn’t be true. My father had been killed over twenty-years ago and now
that I was a member of the village it had started up again?

“I.
. .” she stuttered, “I’ve said too much, just like I told Oscar about his
parents living here.” Her mouth flew open and she raised her hands to cover her
mouth.

“Oscar’s
parents are spiritualists?” I was more confused than before. Izzy never said a
word about Oscar’s family and Oscar had never mentioned anything about it.

I
recalled our conversation during the smudging ceremony and how he had stood
back from the crowd. Plus he told me that no one was talking to him when he
asked questions. If Oscar wasn’t going to give me answer, Uncle Jordan just
might. Was he a spiritualist?

“How
do you like living in your parent’s house?” Patience changed the subject.

“My
parent’s house?” I looked up the hill and could see the little cottage perfectly.
“That’s Bella’s.”

“Oh,
dear.” Patience patted the sides of her short hair down with her finger tips.
“I really have to go and work. Please don’t tell anyone you talked to me or
Constance will be mad at me.”

“One
more, please?” I put my hands together and begged. “What is your spiritual
gift?”

It
was a legitimate question.

“Oh,”
Her eyebrows raised and color came into her cheeks, “we help spirits find the
light.”

She
scurried off to the back of the funeral home before I could ask any more
questions. I had come here to find out about Ann, but left with a lot more
questions.

My
phone beeped from deep down in my bag. I pulled the strap from around my
shoulder and dug through it. I pulled it out and there was a text from Oscar. “
Sorry,
she’s in a hurry. I need to talk to you when you are done.”

“I
bet you do,” I muttered and looked in the direction of the police station.
Something wasn’t adding up.

The streets were
crowded with visitors. I weaved in and out of them to get home, only to run
smack dab into Gerald.

He placed his
top hat on his head, and with a swift pat, it covered his forehead. “June.” He
nodded.

“What?” There
was a slight sarcasm to my tone. I was done with being nice. After all, he had
accused me of trying to kill him, when he was the one with more motive than me.

“Who are you off
to kill today?” His masterful expression of distaste shone through.

There was no way
he was still mad. Didn’t he worry that I was going to go before the council and
tell them about his little rendezvous with Petunia?

“How’s Petunia?”
I asked, trying to get his goat.

“Now!” He shook
his finger in my face. Of course it had to be right in front of A Cleansing
Spirit Spa. Chandra didn’t miss a thing. Although I couldn’t see her, I could
see the tip of her turban peeking around the door. “You leave her out of it.
This is between you and me! I told them you were nothing like Otto.”

“Whatever old
man! If I wanted you dead, I’d have done more than just blow a little cedar
smoke your way.” I huffed back at him. Instantly I knew that I shouldn’t have
said that, but I was tired of people talking about my family.

“You hoo!”
Chandra giggled from the entrance of the spa. “You two okay?”

“Fine,” I said
as I stomped down the street toward the police station.

There was no
time to see Oscar. I wondered how well I did know him. Really I had no idea
what his police duties had ever been, here or in Locust Grove. We just hung out
together. Which made me wonder if he knew all along that we were spiritualists,
and for some reason was keeping it from me?

Chapter
Seventeen

“Come on.” I
called for Mr. Prince Charming after I made it back to the house to get my keys
to the Green Machine. “Let’s go to Locust Grove.”

Mewl
. Mr. Prince
Charming was curled up on the sofa where the stream of sunlight warmed it.

“Hmm.” I sighed.
He had become less active since we moved to Whispering Falls. In Locust Grove
he was always on top of me, following me everywhere. I didn’t know his real
age, and wondered if he was getting old.

I didn’t have
time to waste, so I let him stay behind while I hopped in the Green Machine and
drove back into Locust Grove.

I parked in the
driveway of the old Cape Cod. Someone had cut the grass, but it still looked to
be the same…a little in shambles. Which made me question if I was really living
in my parent’s house in Whispering Falls. Darla didn’t seem to be the same
person she was in Whispering Falls. The house was certainly not the same.