A Charming Wish (19 page)

“
I…” She paced back and
forth, wringing her hands together. The phone rang. “I’ll be right
back.”

Dang!
It looked like she was going to tell me something.

“
June, I have to go.” She
slipped her feet into a pair of beige flip-flops, while taking a
big ole drink of her tea. She grabbed her keys off the counter.
“There is a mess with the deliveries at the Piggly Wiggly and I
have to go straighten it out.”

She showed me to the door. I sat in my
car until her car was out of view. Jumping out, I grabbed the
feather and the other potion from deep within my bag. Slowly, I
walked around her house, dousing the feather with the potion and
flinging it on the foundation as I chanted, in a low voice,
“Higady, digady, flong. Bring Oscar to Adeline’s and feel something
is wrong.”

“
Who are you?”

I jumped nearly out of my skin when a
voice came from behind me.

“
I’m a friend of
Adeline’s.”
Right now would probably be a
good time to get out of here.
My brain
wasn’t working. How could it? The man standing with his hand
resting on a concealed gun didn’t mind letting me know that he
didn’t care if I saw it or not. It was the man I saw in Adeline’s
office through the crystal ball.

“
You are?” He questioned
me, but there was a sneaky suspicion in his voice that in no way
did he believe me.

“
Yes, I am.” I couldn’t
decide whether to go to the right or left of him to make my
escape.

If I went to the right, I could jump
in the neighbor’s bushes if he started to shoot. I didn’t know
which would hurt worse, the rose bush thorns or his
bullets.

If I went left, I’d just smack into
Adeline’s brick house. Which didn’t sound pleasant
either.

“
You can see she isn’t
here, so you best be getting on your way.” He shooed me away with
his hand.

Without waiting for another wave of
his hand, I darted to the right. I didn’t look back to see if he
had drawn his gun or even watched me go.

The wheels squealed when I put the
pedal to the metal in the Green Machine.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“
You won’t believe what I
uncovered today.” There was no way I was going to tell Eloise about
the gunman. She’d never let me out of her sight then. “I went to
Kenny’s funeral, and. . .”

“
You what?” Eloise put the
metal container on the counter. Her eyebrows dipped as she frowned.
She had to have spent most of the day cleaning out her incense
burners. They were lined up along the counter and on the island.
This was a clear sign she had talked with Izzy about doing a full
Whispering Falls cleanse, but I didn’t ask her. The less I knew
about what was going on outside of my own trauma, the
better.

“
I had to.” I tapped my
stomach. “Something told me I needed to go, and I’m glad I
did.”

“
Did anyone see
you?”

“
No, I used my new powers
to turn into a fairy.” I smiled.

“
A Fairy?”

“
A pink Fairy.” I nodded.
“And I was a pretty good Fairy.”

“
What power are you
talking about?”

I looked up and caught a concerned
look on her face.

“
The new powers with being
the village president.” I reminded her of what Izzy had said during
the smudging ceremony before my life was twisted up like a ball of
yarn.

“
I’m not sure I know what
you are talking about.” She looked me over with a critical eye.
“Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

No kidding.
I brushed the notion that she didn’t know about
the powers when she was standing right there. She did have a lot on
her mind. Not to mention the loss of Oscar.

“
Anyway, go on.” She
picked up the long chain she used to swing her burner and took a
towel to shine it.

“
No one recognized me and
it’s the same ole, same ole with the people here.” I sat down on
the stool and planted my elbows on the kitchen island so I could
rest my head.

I was actually a little tired from all
of the running around and teletransporting I had been
doing.

“
Adeline, the customer
that is always asking me about love potions,” I reminded her, “was
there. Why would she be there?”

Eloise raised an eyebrow. I had her
complete attention. “Go on.”

“
Not only that, but I went
to Locust Grove to ask her some questions. I started at the Piggly
Wiggly, but she wasn’t there.” I leaned in a little. “Faith was
though.”

“
Faith
Mortimer?”

“
Yes!” I smacked my hand
on the island top. “It’s not strange that she would be there
delivering some bakery good for the Piggly Wiggly to sell, since
Adeline also loves June’s Gems.”

Eloise backed up, using the counter
for support. Her mouth was gaped open. “So Adeline ordered some
June’s Gems?”

“
Yes, but that’s not all.”
I continued to tell her about Faith and her little tryst with
George, Adeline’s boyfriend, who she bought the June’s Gems for to
keep him from breaking up with her.

“
She had to have killed
Kenny and broke into Wicked Good.” Eloise rubbed her chin. “But why
did she kill Kenny?”

“
I’m not sure if she or
her shaggy-haired hitman killed Kenny.” I played with my charm
bracelet, wondering where Mr. Prince Charming was, and if he got
out of Glorybee without Petunia seeing him.

“
June.” A heavy sigh left
her lips. “I draw the line at a hitman.”

“
Regardless, I think she
knows George is cheating on her with Faith.” I bit on the inside of
my cheek. Dang, I wish I had a Ding Dong. “So I gave her a sleepy
potion that will cloud her mind and not kill anyone until I get
something figured out, or until Oscar can get some
information.”

“
Oscar?” Her face lit up
like the stars in the sky on a clear, Whispering Falls night. “You
saw Oscar?”

“
I did, and he doesn’t
remember anything about being sheriff of Whispering Falls.” I hated
to tell her that because it meant that he didn’t remember
her.

“
Oh.” Eloise looked down
and picked at the edge of her fingernail. “What did he say about
the case?”

“
I asked him to come here
and ask Raven, Faith, and Petunia a few questions.”

“
He can’t come here!”
Eloise’s deep green cloak swished as she paced back and forth.
“They don’t know he was stripped of his powers.”

“
I know.” I assured her.
“I told him they were going to pretend like they knew him really
well because I talk about him all the time.”

Without a word, disappointment was
displayed all over her face.

“
So I guess I shouldn’t
tell you I put a spell around Adeline’s house that will attract
Oscar.”

“
No you shouldn’t have.”
She grabbed a couple of herbs before she stuck them in a metal
incense container and lit them on fire. She started to chant. The
smoke billowed out as she swung the long chain back and
forth.

She looked like she had gone off into
a faraway place. There was no sense in trying to talk to her, so I
slipped out when I noticed there was a glow coming from my
bag.

I headed out of the house and down the
gravel path. I needed privacy to see who needed what. I couldn’t
tell by the glow if it was Belur or Madame Torres.

“
You are skating on thin
ice.” Mac McGurtle stood up. His black suit was a little more
wrinkled than usual.

Mac McGurtle and Mary Ellen, one of
the Marys, were having a cup of tea in the gazebo.

So much for privacy. I held my bag
close to my body to help shield the glow. I didn’t care if they saw
Madame Torres, but I needed to keep Belur under-wraps. Having to
explain him would look like I killed Kenny to keep the
genie.

“
Mary Ellen was good
enough to inform me that you are leaving the premises.” He looked
over at Mary Ellen, who wouldn’t even look at me.

Traitor.
I eyed her and her fancy black one-piece jump
suit and bright yellow heels. When the sun hit directly on her
jeweled necklace, I had to look away or my eyes would probably have
been burned.

“
It’s for your own good
and the future of this community.” She played with her long black
ponytail that she had pulled so tight it looked like she had gotten
a Botox job.

“
We are lucky she didn’t
tell the other Marys or you would be banned.” Mac walked over and
rested his hands on the front of his suit coat. “You have to let
Gandolf finish processing the evidence before we can start doing a
lot of our own investigation.”

They both looked at me like I should
be saying something back, but I didn’t. I didn’t have time to
process all he was saying, because Mr. Prince Charming was dancing
around the herb garden. His tail was pointing in the direction of
the Gathering Rock.

I held my bag tighter. There was a
warm spot coming from it where the glow was getting
brighter.

“
Fine,” I shouted as I
darted out of the garden.

“
June?” Mac’s voice echoed
throughout the garden. “Where are you going? You’d better not leave
this forest!”

Yea,
yea
. Taking idle threats wasn’t my strong
suit. I kept my eye on a dancing Mr. Prince Charming. He ran like
the wind through the forest and stopped just shy of the Gathering
Rock.

Raven was sitting on the rock, staring
into the woods.

“
Good boy!” She clapped
her hands together when Mr. Prince Charming darted to her
side.

“
Raven?” I kept my toes on
the border of the woods and the edge of the community city
limits.

“
Thank you for coming.”
She stood up and walked over. “I know you can’t cross the line, but
I need your help. Faith needs your help.”

“
Tell me.”

“
I know you didn’t break
into Wicked Good, but I can’t be so sure Faith didn’t do it and pin
it on you.” She wrung hands together. “Ever since she started doing
all the deliveries to other communities, she’s been acting
strange.”

I let her talk, and watched as she
nervously paced back and forth.

“
She has never been out of
a spiritual community. We went straight from our family home, to
Hidden Hall, A Spiritualist University, to here.” She shook her
head. “I should’ve warned her about the dangers of the outside
world, the temptations.”

“
What temptations?” I
couldn’t tell her I saw Faith and she might be in grave danger if
Adeline knows about the affair.

“
I think she met a guy,
because she is doing all sorts of strange deliveries at night.” She
looked up, tears flooding down her cheeks. “I don’t care if she
dates a mortal; what I care about is that she hasn’t made it to any
of the other stops.”

Oh, no!
Did the potion I made for Adeline not work and
did she make it to the Piggly Wiggly and catch George in Faith’s
arms?

“
Don’t worry.” I wanted to
grab her, but I was sure that the Marys might have an eye on me.
“I’ll help.”

She nodded before she ran back down
the hill toward Whispering Falls.

I did want to help. But how was I
going to get out from under the Marys’ prying eyes?

From the edge of the woods, there was
a good view of my cottage and the Green Machine.

Mewl, mewl.
Mr. Prince Charming did his figure eights around
my ankles, letting me know I had to do what I had to do and he was
going to protect me.

“
You’re right.” I looked
down. The glow from my bag reminded me that I had to see who needed
me. Opening the bag, Madame Torres was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
with a not-so-nice grin on her face. I pulled her out.

“
It’s about time.” She
glared; her purple eye shadow matched her cheeks, but not her
bright red lips. “You want me to inform you about things, but you
ignore me. Which is it, June?”

“
I don’t have time to
argue with you.” I held her up, a stern look on my face. “What is
going on?”

The inside of the ball swirled and
twirled like a hurricane. There was anger brewing deep within the
ball. The waves crashed up against the glass. I held her at arm’s
length in fear the ball was going to burst, the maddening water was
thrashing so hard against the glass.

Suddenly the waters calmed and the
waves parted.

“
Faith?” I pulled Madame
Torres closer. Faith was bound and gagged. Her beautiful blonde
hair looked dull and her electric onyx eyes were dark and scared. I
squinted to see if I could see anything else in the globe. A clue
to where she was.

A pair of feet in beige flip-flops
stood next to her, but I couldn’t see the rest of the person. The
tile reminded me of Adeline’s office at the Piggly
Wiggly.

Beige
flip-flops?