A Charming Wish (13 page)

“
Let’s start with the
facts.” Leaning over me, Oscar opened the glove box and searched
through it.

“
What are you looking
for?” I questioned as he pulled out a napkin.

“
Paper. Don’t you have any
scrap paper in here?”

“
Where is your little
pad?” I noticed he didn’t have his usual cop stuff out, including
that annoying notebook he writes in.

“
They took it.” He found a
chewed up pen in the there as well. “They took
everything.”

“
This is a good thing.” I
had to find a light in the tunnel. “Besides, you never really
learned how to use your sorcery powers or even went to
school.”

“
I was never very
comfortable with the whole idea. I like old school investigations.”
He held the pen and napkin up in the air, and then slid back over
to the driver’s seat. “Let’s get started. There isn’t much
time.”

Oscar reconfirmed my fear…not much
time.

It was just like old times, watching
him take notes as I answered all his questions about where I was
when all the incidents took place.

And then came the explosive
question.

“
Why in the world would
you ask all over Whispering Falls how to get in touch with Kenny?”
He waited. I bit the corner of my lip, wondering if I should just
come clean about Belur.

There wasn’t a reason I shouldn’t tell
him now. He wasn’t the sheriff in charge. He was just my boyfriend
trying to help me out.

“
Have you ever seen the
show I Dream of Jeannie?” I put my hands together and placed them
over my head like a genie and bobbled my head side-to-side. He
nodded. “Well, I think Kenny accidentally left a genie in the sage
pile he left at A Charming Cure because I’m now the master of
Belur, a big purple genie. Turban, pointy shoes, bottle and
all.”

“
Why is that a
problem?”

My eyes narrowed. There was something
going on within Oscar’s body that I wasn’t able to
pinpoint.

“
Who wouldn’t want a
genie?” He tapped the pen to his temple. “I’d love to have him.
Wish to find the killer.”

“
I can’t wish a wish like
that. It’s against all the spiritual rules and I’d hate to see what
they’d do to me.” I shudder at the possibilities.

“
What who would do to
you?” Oscar asked. He was all sorts of confused.

“
The spiritual community.”
I laughed. This decision of leaving his powers had to be affecting
him more than he wanted to admit.

“
June, don’t tell me you
believe in all the witchcraft, voodoo crap.” Vigorously he wrote on
the napkin and then pointed to the word ‘genie’. “You really
believe that you believe in genies now.” He scoffed. “Let me guess.
. .” he rubbed his chin, “…big guy in Tone Loc pants?”

“
We do live in Whispering
Falls.” I reminded him. “And yes, a genie.”

“
You do, but I live in
Locust Grove.” He put the pen and paper in his lap and looked at
me. He was serious. “Where I have always lived. You went to
Whispering Falls to open the shop. Are you sure you can, for sure,
one hundred percent, say you didn’t kill that guy? You might be
sniffing too much of those herbs you call cures.”

“
I...I...” Suddenly, I
realized that without his spiritual gift, Oscar had no recollection
of the past year and a half. It was as if he was slipping back into
the Oscar Park I knew before we moved to Whispering Falls. The
pre-spiritualist Oscar Park. “Of course I didn’t kill him and that
is why I came to you. I need your help.”

“
And you have it.” He put
the Green Machine in drive and headed into Locust Grove. “I’ve got
to get to work. The chief is going to kill me for being
late.”

Oscar talked on and on about the new
projects Locust Grove police station was doing and told all of
these stories as if he had never left. If this was the case, did he
not know that I was a spiritualist, a witch of sorts?

“
Thanks for breakfast.” He
put the car in park right in front of his childhood home, across
the street from Darla’s and my old house. “Spending time with my
best friend is a great way to start the day. Especially, since you
barely have time for me since you moved and work all
day.”

Breakfast? Best
Friend?
His memory of the past was being
replaced right in front of my eyes.

“
Yea, you’re welcome.” I
slid over to the driver’s side when he got out. My heart sunk to my
tippy toes.

“
I’ll call you later this
afternoon so we can work on this little murder thing.” He gave me a
strange look before he slammed the car door. “Try not to
worry.”

I watched him walk into the
house.

Rowr,
rowr
. Mr. Prince Charming jumped down from
the dashboard and planted his paws on the windowsill, looking at
the house.

Just a few days ago when I had gone
into Locust Grove to go to the Piggly Wiggly, I had passed our old
houses. Both of them looked run down and unkept. Today they are
vibrant and welcoming.

“
So I guess Oscar’s memory
of being a spiritualist was wiped out when he decided he didn’t
want to leave me and our. . .” A lump settled in my throat. Tears
welled in my eyes, “he doesn’t remember our
relationship?”

Meow,
meow
. Mr. Prince Charming sat down on the
passenger side, dragging his tail along the seat.

“
I will get him back.” I
vowed before putting the Green Machine in drive and heading into
Locust Grove.

Chapter Seventeen

The Piggly Wiggly parking lot was full
of cars, which really shouldn’t be a surprise since it was the only
grocery store within twenty miles of Locust Grove.

“
Ugh!” I sighed when there
weren’t any spots near the front of the store, and parked in the
last spot way in the back of the lot. “Okay, Madame Torres.” I
pulled her out of my bag. Resisting the urge to ask her about
Oscar, I asked to see Adeline. The ball glowed green with black
electric lines like a spider’s web. The glow dampened to a pale
yellow as Adeline’s office inside the Piggly Wiggly came into
focus.

She was sitting at her desk shaking
her fist at the same person I had seen in my crystal ball before.
By the look in her eyes, I could tell she wasn’t happy and they
were arguing. I had to get in there and see who he was.

I couldn’t help but think he was part
of the missing June’s Gems that I was sure Adeline had stolen in
order to keep George. She would do anything to keep him and she has
proven that over and over by coming to A Charming Cure for potions
dealing with love, or at least that was what my intuition told
me.

“
Oh, no!” I held Madame
Torres inches from my face. “Is all of this my fate since I used a
love potion on Adeline?”

“
Yes!” A puff of smoke
gave way to Mary Ellen, the younger of the three elders, who was
sitting cross legged in the passenger seat with Mr. Prince Charming
in her lap.

Purr, purr.
He was happily curled up.

“
I’ve always adored you,
Mr. Prince Charming.” She continued to scratch his ears. “Yes, you
are in a tad bit of trouble.”

“
And you appear just like
that?” I waved my hands in the air.

“
Of course.” She smiled,
her eyes narrowing. “We are a lot alike. I was a village president
at one time as well as young and fun and got in trouble a time or
two.”

“
I didn’t do anything they
are accusing me of.” I tried to get an intuition reading from her.
“We are nothing alike. I wish I had the cool powers you had, plus
your fashion sense.”

She had exchanged the leopard print
coat for a long red form-fitting cloak that showed off her curves
perfectly. Her long black hair, which was straight when I first met
her, lay in loose curls across her shoulders.

“
We have a lot more in
common than you think. You will find out soon enough.” She picked
up Madame Torres and tapped the ball. True to form, Madame Torres
didn’t appear. She didn’t like too many people other than me.
“She’s a wicked one.”

“
She is.” Carefully I took
Madame Torres from her. The last thing I needed today was a mad
ball.

“
Anyway,” she brushed her
hands together as if Madame Torres made her dirty, “you had
distinct orders not to perform spells on any other spiritualist,
which you went ahead and did with Faith.” Her eyes darkened. “Not
to mention the little love stuff you are helping Adeline with.” She
pointed toward the Piggly Wiggly.

“
I guess you do know all
that I have done.” I hung my head in shame. The edges of my hair
tickled my chin, making me want long hair like Mary
Ellen’s.

“
We all do. I’m the only
one willing to help you.”

Just as quickly as she appeared, she
disappeared, only this time the smoke was hot pink.

“
Just like you to leave in
style!” I shouted out into the air.

Mary Ellen’s cackle echoed in the
Green Machine, making me laugh. I had to assume she would show up
when she had something to tell me or let me know how she was going
to help me. I wasn’t holding my breath.

“
I’ll be right back,” I
assured Mr. Prince Charming. Surely if he thought I was in danger
he would have tried to stop me, but he didn’t.

The Piggly Wiggly was busy and I was
happy I wasn’t grocery shopping. Taking a detour down aisle five,
just in case there happened to be any Ding Dongs, I made my way
back to the office. I only hoped I wasn’t too late to see who she
was talking to.

Putting my ear to the door, I
listened. I didn’t hear anything. I tapped on the door and heard
footsteps.

“
June?” Adeline
questioned. “What are you doing here?” She held the door tight to
her body. The crack was too small for me to see in the room, but I
rolled up on my tippy toes to peer in just in case.

Nothing.

“
I wanted to ask you about
yoga.” I rolled up and down on my toes again. “I’m sure this is
some sort of yoga move.”

I did my best to cover up my strange
behavior.

“
Sure, come on in.” She
opened the door revealing she was the only one in the room. “There
really aren’t a lot of options out there. I have been
looking.”

She plopped down on the ground. Her
legs outstretched in front of her. She bent one leg, placing her
heel under the opposite thigh, and repeating the same move with her
other leg, crossing them. She positioned herself with her spine,
neck and body erect. I wondered what she was doing as she placed
her hands on her knees, with her palms up.

“
Ohoomm. . .” she moaned
with her eyes closed. “This is Sukasana pose. It helps clear a busy
mind and creates inner harmony.”

Inner harmony?

“
Is your harmony off?” I
questioned. “I can give you a …er…remedy for that.” I tried to tap
into her intuition, but was drawing a blank.

Her eyes popped open, “Not that I
don’t think your remedies work, but George is right. I can’t rely
on you for all of my quirks.”

“
Why not?” My nose got a
whiff of chocolate. Throwing my head in the air, I took another
sniff as my intuition led me near Adeline’s desk. The scent was
stronger and my gut pulled. I had no idea what I was looking for
and had to keep questioning her to find whatever it was. “They
aren’t necessarily remedies. They just sort of help you
cope.”

She was busy looking for inner harmony
with her eyes closed and she didn’t notice me searching
around.

“
You are kind of my go-to
pal for all things I have problems with. So maybe we should do more
things as friends.”

My eyes widened and my stomach churned
when I saw the half-eaten June’s Gem in the trash can. How did she
get it? When did she get it? More importantly, why on earth would
she not finish it?

“
June?” Suddenly she was
standing next to me.

“
Uh. Huh?” Startled, I
jumped around, trying to figure out what was going on. My mind was
cloudy.

“
I said we should do more
things as friends instead of the therapist type of relationship we
having going on.” She put her hand on her desk and leaned on it.
“Like yoga. It seems like we could both use a little stress
relief.”

Keep your friends close,
but your enemies closer.
Darla’s
tried-and-true words to live by rang in my head. Sometimes Darla’s
little quotes came in handy, but I didn’t always agree on her
natural way of living, especially with food.

I looked up as if Darla could see me,
and wondered what she was thinking about the whole Ding Dong
situation. I couldn’t help but think that she was happy. She hated
the chocolatey goodies.

“
June?” Adeline’s eyebrows
rose as she put her face inches from mine. “See, you aren’t really
here. You are out in la-la land.” She poked my shoulder. “That is
why you need yoga.”

“
Well, I did come here to
ask about it.”