20

It all happened so fast.

Aunt Pearl faced us in a combat stance, her back against the front door.

“Aunt Pearl! Put the gun down!” My arms shot up instinctively. She wouldn’t shoot to kill, but I wouldn’t put it past her to shoot my foot or possibly an arm or leg if I didn’t cooperate. She would rationalize it and repair the damage with witchcraft.

I couldn’t afford to take that chance.

“Hey, that’s Tyler’s gun! What the heck—” Aunt Amber raised her arms as realization dawned. “Pearl, what on earth are you doing?”

My pulse quickened. I scanned the hall for Tyler, but there was no sign of him. He had been right beside Aunt Pearl less than a minute ago. Never mind his gun—what had she done with him?

“We’ve got a killer in our house and Sheriff Gates carelessly left his gun lying around,” Aunt Pearl said. “Someone had to take charge of the situation.” She tilted her head toward the floor. Tyler’s empty holster lay where he had stood moments earlier.

I kept my voice calm. “And that someone is you?”

Tyler had been wearing his holster with his gun in place, I was sure of that. He was always careful with firearms too. If he wasn’t wearing his gun, even for a minute, he locked it up. And if he wasn’t wearing it, that meant only one thing.

Aunt Pearl had gotten it by magical means.

And Tyler was in trouble.

My heart caught in my throat. Where exactly was Tyler?

Aunt Pearl was becoming unhinged, and I had to stop her before it was too late. Freaking out would only escalate the situation. I needed a strategy to disarm her instead.

My eyes met Aunt Amber’s. She was thinking the same thing. She backed away slowly so as to not attract Aunt Pearl’s attention, then slipped out into the living room.

“Put the gun down, Pearl.” Mom stood behind me.

I couldn’t convince Aunt Pearl to disarm but maybe Mom could. Mom rarely confronted her sister, but the current situation demanded action. Mom had my back, literally. I just hoped things didn’t escalate further. Sibling rivalry was one thing. Sibling supernatural rivalry was quite another thing altogether.

I frowned. “It’s not like Tyler to remove his holster, except when we…” My voice trailed off as I felt eyes upon me.

“Except when you what?” The corners of Aunt Pearl’s mouth turned up in a smirk. She held the gun steady. “You want to enlighten us?”

“No.” I kept my voice level and calm. “Never mind. Just put that thing down.”

Aunt Pearl lowered the gun just as Aunt Amber returned, followed by Tyler. He looked tired and disheveled but otherwise unharmed. Aunt Pearl had obviously incapacitated him with witchcraft in order to steal his gun.

“Hey, that’s my gun.” Tyler lunged at Aunt Pearl and within seconds disarmed her. He replaced his recovered gun in its holster and put it on. Then he pointed at my two aunts. “You two, go sit in the living room. Amber, make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”

Aunt Amber clamped a hand on Aunt Pearl’s bony shoulder and steered her toward the doorway.

“Get ready for a lawsuit, Sheriff. This is police harassment.” Aunt Pearl paused in the doorway and swore under her breath.

Tyler ignored her.

“C’mon, Pearl.” Aunt Amber pulled Aunt Pearl into the living room.

Aunt Pearl lunged toward the doorway. “You can’t order me around, Sheriff. I’ll go wherever I like.”

“No you won’t.” Aunt Amber guided Aunt Pearl to the sofa with an iron grip. They both sat down.

I was relieved that Tyler was okay but fearful that Aunt Pearl had taken the extreme measure of tricking Tyler when we already faced a killer in our midst. Witchcraft and weaponry were a deadly combination. Aunt Pearl knew very well that she had taken things too far. What the heck was wrong with her?

“She’s not going anywhere,” Aunt Amber yelled to Tyler in the hall. She turned to Aunt Pearl. “The sheriff hasn’t arrested you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t. You’re under WICCA house arrest, Pearl.”

“You’re arresting your own sister?” Grandma Vi hovered above the dining room sideboard. She looked at her daughters in disdain. “Amber, really…that’s an abuse of power. Can’t you two girls get along for once?”

I smiled despite the gravity of the situation. My geriatric aunts were forever young girls in Grandma Vi’s eyes.

Our bickering woke Brayden but not Dominic and Gail who still snoozed peacefully.

Brayden rubbed his temple and frowned. He had overheard snippets of the conversation. “Tyler gave you his gun?”

Aunt Pearl nodded. “He didn’t give me his gun. I stole it.”

“Tyler! Get over here,” Brayden barked.

Tyler appeared in the doorway. “Yes?”

Brayden turned to face him. “Is what Pearl says true? You got tricked by a little old lady?”

Aunt Pearl glared at Brayden. “I’m not old.”

Tyler began to speak, only to be interrupted by Aunt Amber.

“Leave Tyler out of this,” Aunt Amber said. “You know what Pearl is capable of, Brayden. Aside from that, stealing a gun isn’t the worst thing that’s happened here. Not by a long shot.”

“You mean Merlinda? The sheriff should have prevented that too. Merlinda was killed right under his watch.” Brayden shook his head in disgust.

“You were there too. We all were.” I neglected to mention that Brayden had been unconscious at the time. Because it was a spell, he remained blissfully unaware of that fact.

“Maybe so, but I didn’t do a single thing to contribute to tonight’s tragedy.” Brayden worried about himself first and political fallout second. Anything and anyone else placed a distant third. As far as he was concerned, Merlinda’s tragic death wasn’t really his concern. Death had quickly cured him of his infatuation.

“I strongly disagree. None of this would have happened without you, Brayden,” Aunt Pearl said. “You provoked Dominic, and then he killed Merlinda in a fit of jealousy.”

“That’s a lie. I barely even noticed Merlinda.” Brayden’s eye twitched, a sure sign he was lying.

I glanced over to where Gail and Dominic were still passed out against the wall, nestled awkwardly into each other.

There was no sign of Earl, though. He must have made himself scarce when Aunt Pearl grabbed Tyler’s gun.

“Quit changing the subject, Pearl,” Tyler said. “And keep your hands off my gun. We’ve all had enough drama for one night.”

“Well, next time, don’t leave your gun lying around, sheriff.” Aunt Pearl snapped. “I can’t be held accountable for your carelessness.”

“But I didn’t—oh, never mind.” Tyler turned away. “I’ve got more important things to do than argue with you, Pearl. I know I never removed my holster or my gun.”

Mom frowned. “Keep messing with Tyler and you’ll have to answer to me, Pearl. Got it?”

“Got it.” Aunt Pearl sighed, defeated. She was outmatched by her two sisters for once.

Grandma Vi floated a foot above Tyler’s head. She winked at me and whispered, “Ooh…magic.”

I ignored her. “Let’s talk about Merlinda. We were all here at the table and ate most of the same things. Nobody left the table, except for Merlinda. How could she have been poisoned? By something slow-acting? If so, then she could have ingested it hours earlier.”

Mom and I exchanged nervous glances. I knew that despite Earl’s explanation, she was still a little worried about the flour she had used for the Christmas cake. Mom had absolutely nothing to gain from Merlinda’s demise though. And everything to lose, with a guest dying at our Inn. She would be quickly eliminated as a suspect.

On the other hand, Mom was a known expert in herbal potions, some of which were actually poisonous. She was also the Inn’s cook and had prepared all of Merlinda’s meals. She had the means and opportunity to poison Merlinda but no real motive. Still, the police would have to investigate her in the absence of any other leads. We needed to explore all those leads in order to rule her out.

I flashed back to the green powder that Dominic had given Merlinda. He could have added something to the health food supplement. Maybe it was tainted with a hidden ingredient just like Mom’s cake was.

But maybe Dominic’s powder wasn’t tainted with something harmless like peanut butter. As Merlinda’s husband, he certainly had a motive.

I turned to Tyler. “What about Merlinda’s room? Maybe there is something there that could have harmed her?”

“Let’s go.” He headed upstairs with Mom and me close behind.