Candy Canes & Corpses Read online

  “Bathroom?” June asked, she tapped her fingernail on the desk before she swirled it in the air as though she were pointing for directions.

  The receptionist’s phone began to ring and then all the lines started to ring. She pointed down the only hall and shooed June away.

  “Stay here. Make something up if she asks.” June wiggled her brows and darted down the hall.

  “What on earth?” I questioned in a whisper when I noticed the bottom of her bag was glowing.

  Chapter Eight

  June Heal

  “Madame Torres, where is it?” I had little time before that nosy Roxy made her way into the only WLOC office down the only hallway in the building. “Roxy is much smarter than I gave her credit for. If she only knew how good I was at solving murders. Especially with you. There has to be something in here.”

  Madame Torres always worked faster when I complimented her. The mortal world thought crystal balls were on pedestals or much bigger, when in reality, Madame Torres was a palm size glass ball. Crystal balls always picked their spiritual owners. If they never find their spiritual owners, they remain a glass ball for decoration. That’s what Madame Torres would’ve looked like to Roxy, only I needed answers fast and there was no way I was getting rid of Roxy.

  I glanced around the office with a desk and two filing cabinets. I held Madame Torres up in my palm for her to get a good look around.

  The name Debbie Portly floated deep within Madame Torres’s water, warming my palm.

  “Portly,” I gasped when I noticed the similarities between the terms pig and portly. Instantly realizing what the charm was meant for.

  It was unique how spirit worked, and I never questioned it. It always worked for my good.

  The closer I got to the far left filing cabinet, the warmer Madame Torres felt in my hand. When she shut off and went black, I knew I was on the right track. I put her back into the depths of my bag.

  “Portly, Portly,” I repeated the name as my fingers scanned down the filing cabinet to the P drawer.

  I tugged the drawer open. Dragging my long fingernail down the tabs, my finger automatically stopped, letting me know it was the right file.

  “Awwww,” I sighed deeply. “Magic, you are good.”

  I pulled the file out and it was the exact name, Debbie Portly. Inside there was a signed consent form to use her information on the air, just like Roxy said had to be done in order to legally protect the station from getting sued.

  “Piggly Wiggly.” My heart jumped, and I felt it in my gut, telling me my intuitive gift was spot on. “She works at the Piggly Wiggly. This is our girl.”

  I threw the file back in the cabinet and patted my bag.

  “Madame Torres, thank you.” The words fell from my mouth on my way out of the office.

  The receptionist was still fielding all the busy calls I’d sent with a little finger spell after she’d asked us if she could help. I knew it would keep her busy and Roxy wouldn’t have to work so hard at occupying her. Though I did run the risk of Roxy seeing my finger do something weird. I did my best to cover it up as a gesture about where the bathroom was. If Roxy did see something, she didn’t let on.

  “Let’s go.” I grabbed Roxy’s arm on the way out. “Did the receptionist ask anything?”

  “No. It was odd.” Roxy pushed the door to the parking lot open and held it for me. “Her phone continued to ring off the hook. The DJs even mentioned it on the air.”

  Both of us tugged the edges of our jackets around our neck. The cold winter air had whipped up.

  “Did you find anything out?” Roxy stood next to the passenger door waiting for me to unlock it.

  “I did. In fact,” I let myself in the car and reached across to unlock her door. I waited until she got inside to tell her what Debbie’s file said. “ You were right. Debbie did sign a consent form. It had all her information on it. She works at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store.”

  I rubbed Pepper’s head and down Mr. Prince Charming’s tail before I threw the Green Machine in drive, heading straight for the Piggly Wiggly, which was on the other side of Locust Grove.

  “As luck would have it, my dear friend Adeline owns it. And it just so happens, I need to go there for some business.” I did a little flip of my wrist to get us there faster when Roxy blinked, taking advantage of the time. Hopefully, the little spell went unnoticed.

  “Gosh. Everything is so close around here.” Roxy was a little more aware than I’d thought. “A little too close,” she thought she whispered low enough for me not to hear, but she was wrong.

  “Stay here,” I told the animals. Normally, I’d let Mr. Prince Charming do as he pleased. He knew best, but the one little blip was Pepper. How could I explain to them that Mr. Prince Charming could come but not the dog? It was best for them to stay.

  “There’s a red kettle.” Roxy pointed to the Santa in front of the Piggly Wiggly. “I love how your village used cauldrons. It’s a little odd, but neat.”

  “They were left over from Halloween, so we just recycled.” My lies were getting bigger and bigger to keep the nosy honeymooner away from the truth.

  “I’m going to give some money,” Roxy said, pulling out some cash from her coat pocket.

  “I’m going to go in and find my friend.” I waved her off, knowing that I had to find Adeline to ask her about this Debbie Portly.

  The Piggly Wiggly was already busy and it wasn’t even 9 a.m. Roxy and I had done great on time since I’d done the small time warps between our stops. There was a deep-rooted fear in me that made me wonder if Patrick was going to wake up before the potions expired. I had to get Roxy back to Whispering Falls. Oscar would die if he knew I was doing this and snooping around. With the possibilities of Order of Elders showing up in the village, I knew he wanted me to walk the line.

  The smell of Wicked Good Bakery swept around me and tickled my nose when I walked into the sliding front doors of the grocery. Raven’s display was the first thing a customer would see when they walked in. Raven and Adeline had come to a consignment agreement. Raven loved getting her baked goods into the grocery store. It was a win for both sides.

  “June!” The small framed, blonde smiled so bright when she saw me walk in. “I hope you brought me new product. We are selling out so fast. I’m sure it’s Christmas shopping.”

  “Adeline.” I opened my arms and wrapped my pal in a friendly hug. “I actually did come to see what needed to be restocked. I’ll give the items to Faith when she comes back with the Wicked Good Bakery order.”

  Faith worked for her sister as a delivery person. They had their own Wicked Good Bakery delivery car and Faith drove it around to the shops Raven had made consignment deals with and delivered the goods. She wouldn’t mind bringing in a few bottles from A Charming Cure to restock the orders Adeline made with me.

  I’d been very fortunate with my line of products. They’d been picked up by a few stores and national chain. Each bottle had their very own magic and when chosen by the consumer, the potion was ignited. It was my way to reach the masses with love and help for good only.

  “But I also came to ask you about…” I started to say.

  “Debbie something or other,” Roxy Bloom intervened.

  “Roxy, Adeline.” I introduced them since Roxy wasn’t going to just stand there and be quiet.

  “Is something going on?” Adeline asked. When Roxy and I both nodded, Adeline suggested we go back to the office. “Debbie, can I see you in the office?” She asked a young lady in the produce department when we walked by.

  Debbie had shoulder length, coal black hair with blunt bangs. She actually reminded me of me. Or at least the hair was the same. Her eyes were sad and immediately the smell of baby powder surrounded her.

  “Sure.” Debbie put down the apple and ran her hands down the Piggly Wiggle apron tied around her waist.

  All four of us walked back to the office, and Adeline shut the door behind us.

  “Did I do something wrong?
” Debbie asked in a small and timid voice. “You know I need this job.” She rubbed her hand on her stomach.

  “Debbie, do you know this man?” I pulled out Madame Torres from the bag. “Siri, show me Michael.” I tried hard not to look at Roxy, though I could see out of the corner of my eye that her jaw had dropped when my pretend Siri had showed a photo of Michael and Camille from my shop yesterday.

  “Yes.” Debbie’s chin fell to her chest. “Why are you asking me this?”

  ”I hate to tell you that Michael has been killed.” Roxy was ruthless. “He was stabbed to death in Santa’s sleigh in Whispering Falls.”

  Debbie’s face jerked up. A look of utter sadness crossed her eyes. She cried out, throwing her hands over her face.

  “Is he the father?” Adeline asked, putting her hands on both of Debbie’s shoulders, easing her down into the office chair.

  “Yes,” Debbie sobbed.

  “Where were you last night?” Roxy asked.

  “Do you think I killed him?” She looked up at Roxy. “Are you some sort of cop?”

  My intuition told me Debbie had no knowledge of what happened to Michael.

  “No.” I had to stop this line of questioning by Roxy. “We know his fiancée. And Roxy is her lawyer. She’s the police’s number one suspect and we are trying to gather any information we can. Actually,” I bent down between her legs and rested my hand on her thighs. “We heard the radio broadcast of your Second Date Update.”

  “That was over a month ago and it’s just now airing.” She shook her head. “His friends had come in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. Some of them weren’t going to come to town for Christmas. They told me he was having a birthday party when in reality. . .” she fidgeted with her fingers. “It was some sort of bachelor party that I didn’t know about. We had too many drinks but we had a wonderful time.”

  “Did Michael know about the baby?” I asked.

  “After Mike - he went by Mike…” she told us. “After Mike and me calling the Bob and Brenda Morning Show I started dating Rick Wells.”

  “Rick? Really?” Adeline seemed to be caught off guard.

  “Yes. He’s been so kind. But I broke it off a week ago when I found out I was pregnant. Then that stupid Second Date Update aired.” She shook her head. “I begged the station not to air it since I’d found out the truth about Mike being engaged and all. I never wanted to break up a couple.”

  “It’s okay.” I rubbed her leg before I stood back up. “Do you think you can tell the police about this?”

  “I guess now that he’s. . .” Debbie couldn’t bring herself to say Michael’s fate.

  “Great.” I pulled one of Oscar’s business cards out of my bag and handed it to her. “Please call him when you get off work. I’ll let him know we talked to you.”

  “But. . .” Roxy started to talk, but I took her by the elbow.

  “Thank you, Adeline.” I held on tight to Roxy as she tried to jerk away. “Faith will be by this afternoon to drop off that product.” I dragged Roxy out of the office.

  “You didn’t let me question her,” Roxy spat as we proceeded to walk down the snack aisle.

  “Because she’s not the killer.” I knew it intuitively, but I couldn’t tell Roxy that.

  “How do you know? Because she said so?” Roxy questioned me. “Just so you know, everyone who is guilty never admits it at first.”

  “Fine.” I shrugged and headed straight for the door. “Oscar will figure that out. But we have some history about Michael he’ll be able to look into.”

  The front doors slid open.

  “Ho, ho, ho!” The Santa swung the bell in the air in a jerking manner. “Get away from Santa, little cat!”

  “Mr. Prince Charming!” I took off when I noticed Mr. Prince Charming was up on his hind legs, swatting and hissing at Santa.

  Rowl! Rowl! He batted at the jolly man, making the man fall down on his bottom.

  “Stop that,” I shooed Mr. Prince Charming away and stuck my hand out to help the red kettle volunteer up to his feet.

  When our hands clasped, my mind rolled back to the red cauldron Santa that wasn’t Gerald. Our eyes met. He smiled. There was a deep scar in his right smile line just like the one yesterday’s Santa had.

  A sudden shock wave flowed through me, making me dizzy.

  “June, are you okay?” I heard Roxy’s voice, but couldn’t focus on anything but this man’s scar. “June?”

  “Rick Wells,” I gasped, trying to stop the world from spinning. When I tried to pull my hand away, it was cemented to his. The electricity was so forceful. My mouth dried, my eyes watered, and images of him stabbing Michael swirled in my head.

  “Rick Wells?” Roxy asked in repetition.

  “Yes. I’m Rick. Do we know each other?” He asked.

  Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming pounced, landing on Rick Well’s face, sending him back to the ground.

  Rick cried out, trying to get Mr. Prince Charming off of him, but my fairy god cat knew exactly who this man was.

  I’d only wished I’d listened to him yesterday.

  Chapter Nine

  Roxy Bloom

  “Seriously, you should’ve seen it,” I told Patrick while we were packing our things to go back home. “It was like Mr. Prince Charming was a ninja.”

  Sassy and Pepper had decided to go outside and play in the deep snow, catching snowflakes as they tumbled out of the sky.

  “I mean, he pounced on that guy. It scared me so much. The guy wouldn’t let go of June. That’s when I knew I had to call the police. Luckily, everything around here is like light seconds away.” It was the only way I could explain how quickly June and I had gotten everywhere.

  “Are you sad that we have to go home earlier than we planned?” he asked.

  “No. I think we’ve had a very active honeymoon. Besides, we need to check on Aunt Maxi. I can’t believe she fell and broke her hip.” I loved my aunt so much. There was no way I could stay for the rest of the honeymoon when she needed me. I was all she had.

  “They said it was the weirdest ice storm. Just in Honey Springs.” Patrick grabbed the handles of our bags. “But I promise, we will come back when it’s summer and I can’t get snowed in by myself.”

  “You look like you got some good rest.” I noticed he looked really refreshed.

  “I actually slept great,” he laughed. “Go figure.”

  “Yeah, go figure.” It was another odd thing for him to sleep so sound when he rarely did that at home.

  The four of us made our way back to our car from the deep woods. I couldn’t help but look up at the hill where June Heal lived and near there was the big rock I’d seen all of them gathered around late last night.

  If I told Patrick about all the weird things that’d happened while he was sleeping, he’d never bring me back, so I decided to keep those to myself. Besides, this left room for me to explore when we did come back.

  “The snow has really lightened up.” Patrick drove down the main road slowly. I wanted to tell him that there was zero snow in Locust Grove, but knew he’d see that on our way back to Honey Springs.

  “Stop!” I screamed and put my hand out when I noticed Mystic Lights had one of those new Siris June had. “I need to go in there.”

  Patrick and I both flew forward when he slammed on the breaks.

  “You scared me.” He gave me a sharp assessing look.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told him before hopping out of the car.

  The hunter green wooden door was encased in the most beautiful stone archway. The heavy black metal door handles added to the old world charm that lead into a magical inside full of lights and fixtures I’d never seen before.

  Mewl. Mr. Prince Charming appeared out of nowhere and started to do figure eights around my ankles.

  “The town cat is saying his goodbyes?” I asked bending down to pat him.

  “How can I help you?” the lady that looked exactly like Meryl Streep asked when she appeared out now
here, just like the rest of the people in this town.

  “Yes.” I stood up and recalled her from last night. She was the one standing next to June Heal last night when June was waving around that smoke stick.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, clasping her hands and bringing them to rest in front of her.

  “Yes.” I blinked a few times. “I’m fine. I want one of the new Siris you have in the window.”

  “Siri?” she asked me as though she didn’t know what I was talking about.

  Meow, meow. Mr. Prince Charming wrapped his body around the woman’s ankles. She nodded at me with a smile on her face.

  “Yes, the Siri.” She peeled her eyes away from me and looked over at the window. “Please, go pick one out for yourself.”

  I walked over to the window and took the one from the display.

  “Do you have the box for this one?” I asked.

  “Umm. . .” she hesitated.

  “Good evening.” June Heal swept into the shop. “Mr. Prince Charming, there you are.” She pushed her bangs to the side and looked at me. “Roxy, you are buying a Siri.” She looked down at the glass ball in my hand.

  It was heavy.

  “I’m afraid they’ve been recalled.” She turned to the woman behind the counter. “Isn’t that right, Izzy?”

  “Yes. Recalled.” The woman walked around the counter and took the glass ball from me. “That’s why I’m not able to sell it to you.”

  “But I’m sure when you come back to visit, we will have the new ones,” June said.

  I wasn’t positive, but I think she was trying to get rid of me.

  “Plus, we want to thank you for all of your help with solving Michael’s murder. You saved my life.” She turned back to Izzy. “She saved my life. Rick Wells wouldn’t let go of my hand and Roxy called the police just in time.”

  “Did he ever say why he killed Michael?” I asked, figuring I’d read about it in the paper when I got home to Honey Springs.

  “He was so in love with Debbie that when he found out Michael wasn’t going to have anything to do with the baby and she wasn’t going to date him because of it, he went into a fit of rage.” June’s brows dipped, the edges of her lips frowned. “He used his outfit as the red kettle Santa to disguise himself. He’d been following Michael to confront him. The night of the tree lighting, he did confront Michael about his needing to take responsibility for the baby.”