I looked down at my phone and saw that Luke had just sent me a text message asking me to call him when I got a minute. There was no time like the present, so I quickly returned his call.
"Sorry, I didn't know if you were free, but I got a tip. We were cleaning up at the fire station last night when … hang on.” I could still hear Luke in the background. "Girls, drop your wands. You don't need magic. Just use a spatula. Girls. Girls? Hey, you're not listening. No magic back here. Don't use your wands. Girls, listen. Wait!" Luke's pleas were answered by the sound of breaking glass, followed by a loud clatter, a couple of shrieks, and a round of apologies. “We’re so sorry, Uncle Luke! Please don’t be mad! We’ll clean it up. It was an accident!”
Guess I knew where the twins and Amelia had run off to.
"My chili is ruined," Luke said to himself more than anyone.
I looked at the clock. The chili cookoff was starting in a few hours. I’d completely forgotten about the town picnic and competition.
“Luke, are you there?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm here."
"How about I come to you? I can help you clean up, and you can fill me in on what you heard.” I could tell Luke wanted to argue, but he did have his hands full, and this would be easier.
"Okay. You'll probably want to be in Village Square anyway once I fill you in."
That sounded intriguing. "I'm on my way." I turned to my aunt. "I'm headed to the Candy Cauldron. If Thomas says anything about Catherine, let me know. I'll be back shortly."
If I had time, I'd take Enchanted Trail, but I didn't. So I drove the short distance around the lake and searched the parking lot for an empty spot. I was tempted to park in the grass after searching in vain for an open space, but I knew I'd end up with a ticket. The town council had set up tents across the street at Wishing Well Park. They were red-and-white striped and reminded me of the circus. The council had also set up rows of folding tables and chairs underneath the tents, giving people a place to sit if they didn't want to unfold a blanket in the grass. Eating chili on the ground could be a bit tricky.
My eyes were drawn back to the parking lot. It took me a second to realize why. "Ah-ha!" I spotted brake lights one row in front of me, a telltale sign someone was backing up. But when I drove around, Terry Dawes's big red diesel truck beat me to it. "Darn it!" I tried not to frown. It wasn't his fault that he got to it first.
I was still idling in the traffic lane, looking for another spot, when Terry approached my car. I didn't see him at first. I was too busy looking out my windshield when he knocked on my driver's side window.
"Ah!" I jumped away from the window and looked over my shoulder at the same time. My heart rate didn't slow down even after I realized who it was. Terry glowered at me. His muscular arms were folded across his broad chest.
I cautiously rolled down the window.
"Hi, Terry. What can I do for you?"
"For starters, you can tell that pretty candy maker friend of yours to stop following me."
"Do you mean Luke?"
"Whatever his name is. He's following me, and I don't like it."
"Oh, um, okay." I wasn't sure what else to say. As far as I knew, Luke had only followed Terry the one time.
"I didn't kill that journalist, and I don't need any trouble. Do you understand?" Terry's words held a threatening undertone.
"Absolutely."
"If you ask me, that man got what he deserved. I take that back. He should've got kicked in the teeth a time or two."
I nodded because, really, how was I supposed to respond to that?
I looked forward and saw someone else backing up. "Oh! If you'll excuse me. I see a spot. I want to nab it before it gets taken." I didn't give Terry much time to respond before I inched off the break and coasted away.
I couldn't help looking over my shoulder as I hightailed it through Village Square. There was no denying it; Terry Dawes scared me.
The girls met me out front of the Candy Cauldron when I arrived. I had originally wanted to stop by and see what Roger's shop looked like, but the fire department still had it sectioned off, and I didn't want to get in trouble going under the barrier. It would just be my luck that Amber would be standing guard or something like that, and I'd only end up making things worse. Besides, there wasn't much I'd be able to garner from looking at the shop. It wasn't like I was a fire investigator. It was more like morbid curiosity.
"Blue!" Beatrice pointed her wand at her sister and changed her hair to a vibrant ocean blue.
"Pink!" Sabrina returned the favor, but only to Amelia.
"Green!" Amelia pointed her wand at Beatrice and changed her hair to the color of lime Jell-O.
"Hey! It's Angelica. Did you find the sapphire?" Beatrice asked. All three girls stared at me in anticipation.
"Not yet, but I know the town council is working very hard on it."
The girls did not look impressed. "I thought you said she was going to find it." Amelia said to the twins as if I wasn't standing right there.
"I thought she would. It's not like Angelica to ignore a case," Sabrina replied.
"Maybe she only likes to solve murders." Beatrice suggested.
"Girls, I'm standing right here," I pointed out.
"It's because that journalist died, isn't it?" Beatrice put her hand on her hip.
“David the Downer. I bet loads of people wanted to kill him,” Sabrina added.
“We heard our mom talking to Uncle Luke all about it. You're too busy working that case, aren't you?" Beatrice accused.
"That's part of it,” I answered honestly.
"That settles it, then. We need to figure out who killed the journalist, and then Angelica can find the sapphire!" Sabrina exclaimed.
"Wait! I forbid you from looking into Mr. Haggerty's death. It is extremely dangerous, and there is no way that either of your mothers would want you anywhere near that case." I pointed my finger at each one of the girls in succession. In hindsight, that was probably the worst thing to do, as they seemed even more eager to crack the case. I had to go about this differently.
"Besides, I have another top secret case that I need your help with." That stopped the girls in their tracks. Unfortunately, it required me to think fast because I could not think of a single thing I needed their help with.
"See, the thing is, it's not really the journalist's death keeping me from searching for the sapphire." I was winging it here.
"It's not?” The girls looked skeptical.
"No, not at all. You see, I'm getting married."
"When?" Beatrice asked me.
"Soon-ish.” I added the -ish part a beat later.
“Uh-huh." Sabrina did not believe me.
"She is. I saw it, except…" Amelia let her words trail off.
"Except what?" I asked.
"It's nothing." But based on the look on Amelia's face, it wasn't nothing. It was something important, and I wanted to know what it was.
"You can tell me. I promise I won't be mad at you," I tried to reason. Amelia bit her bottom lip. She looked like she might cry. I tried to backtrack. "Hey, if you don't want to, that's okay. I don't want you to be upset."
"I want to tell you, but I don't want to make you worry," Amelia's voice wobbled.
I lied. Now I had to know what the poor girl saw. I was going to go nuts until I found out.
I tried to keep my expression as encouraging as possible. "Maybe if you tell me what you see, I might be able to fix it. I'll listen to you, I promise."
"No one ever listens to me," Amelia had such a sorrowful expression, it tugged right at my heartstrings.
"I will this time. That's a promise." I held my pinky out for Amelia to hook hers with mine so I could swear on it.
"Go on. You can trust Angelica," Beatrice said.
"Yeah, she's one of the good ones," Sabrina added.
"Thanks, girls," I said to the twins.
Amelia seemed to make up her mind and latched her pinkie onto mine, and we shook on it.
"Tell me, what did you see?"
"Okay, the thing is, there is someone who doesn't want you to get married. I can't see who it is, but they don't like you, and it's going to make you sad," Amelia winced. Even Beatrice and Sabrina looked like they felt sorry for me.
"And this person is going to try to stop the wedding?" I took a guess.
"Uh-huh,” Amelia nodded. "I'm sorry. I hope you still want to get married."
"You better get married. I like Vance!" Beatrice said.
"I do too. He's handsome," Sabrina said.
"And he's never scared to try our chocolates." Beatrice gave me a level stare. You couldn't get anything past those girls.
"Don't worry, we're not going to call off the wedding. It just means we will have to keep the wedding plans a secret. Do you think you guys can help me do that?" The girls all nodded. "Perfect, because that's what I need your help with. I want you guys to make chocolates for the wedding. Whatever flavors you want. We can pass them out as favors.
"Favors?" Sabrina scrunched her nose.
"It means they'll be a little gift for the wedding guests, and I'll make sure everyone knows you made them. How does that sound?"
"Hang on a minute. We need to talk it over," Beatrice replied.
I tried not to chuckle as the trio turned their backs to me and got into a huddle. Their voices whispered back and forth as they debated my offer.
"How many chocolates did you say you needed?" Beatrice asked.
"Hmm, let me think." I really had no clue, but guests would probably want more than one. "How about two hundred?"
Beatrice turned back around.
Again, there was more whispering; this time, it was Sabrina who asked a question. "Can we make them any flavor we want?"
"Sure, as long as they taste good."
"Well, duh,” Sabrina rolled her eyes.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I was just trying to keep the young witches out of trouble. Making chocolates was far safer than tracking down a killer.
Finally, they were done deliberating.
"Okay, we’ll do it!” Beatrice said.
"We're going to get started experimenting with new flavors right away,” Sabrina said.
They looked back at the Candy Cauldron. Hesitation filled their expressions as they probably remembered the mess they'd recently made. "Maybe we should do it back home?” Beatrice suggested.
"Good idea. Come on, Amelia, let's go." Sabrina hooked her arm through her new friend’s.
Oh, to be young again, I thought as they skipped off. Those girls had boundless energy and enthusiasm.
Inside, I waved to Luke's staff as I slipped my way back to his kitchen.
"I'm impressed. It doesn't look too bad at all." Luke was on a ladder wiping the remaining mess off the ceiling tiles.
"You should have seen it a half hour ago. Those girls are lucky I had two pots of chili and they only ruined one." Luke stepped off the ladder.
"So, what did you want to tell me about?"
"Wait, where did the girls go?"
"They're headed home to make chocolates. I hope that's okay?"
Luke looked up at the clock. "Yeah, their mom got out of work about thirty minutes ago. She should be home by now, but just in case, let me text her, so she doesn't run any errands." Luke did just that and then said, "Okay, so like I was saying, last night we were at the fire station talking about everything, and my buddy Paul saw Mr. Haggerty leave Cassidy’s shop early Saturday morning."
"The healer."
"Mmm-hmm.”
"What was Mr. Haggerty doing visiting her?"
"I don't know, but Paul said it was early, like sunrise early."
I thought about what time the sun was currently rising and figured it had to be just before seven. "Interesting. Okay, I guess I'm going to visit Cassidy."
"Yeah, I thought you might want to."
"If anything, she can help piece together Mr. Haggerty's final hours and let me know if he had that coffee cup with him or not."
"I’d offer to come with you, but…” Luke looked longingly at his pot of chili simmering on the stove.
"No, it's okay. I'll just pop in and talk to Cassidy."
"If you’re sure?"
"I am. Good luck with the cook-off today. I'll try to stop out."
"That would be great. Hopefully, I'll see you in a bit.”