Chapter Seventeen

I forced my feet to walk the short distance from the kitchen into the café. I’d had enough shenanigans this week to take me well into Christmas, my favorite time of the year, when everything in the world came to a standstill and people were nicer. Twenty-four hours of bliss. And months away…

I let out a deep breath when I realized it was just Old Charlie and Tom Ferguson having the usual war of words. The pair hadn’t seen eye-to-eye since Tom had stolen Charlie’s girlfriend decades ago at a dance. They circled each other like lumbering bears, vying for a weak spot. Oh, brother.

“What can I get for you two gentlemen?” Ha, not even close, but flattering the customer is always approved of by the owner of the café. And I just wanted to serve them and get on with my investigation.

“Tom’s buying,” Old Charlie said, a gleam in his eyes. “Owes me, big time.”

“I don’t owe you anything, old man. In fact, you should be grateful I don’t just—”

“No one’s buying. It’s on the house.” I set aside my agitation at giving out more free food, but I had no time for their silliness today.

“In that case I’ll have a dozen of the triple chocolate ones. And no poison, thank you very much.”

I blessed Old Charlie with a hard glare, pressing my lips tightly together to keep my thoughts inside my head. Remember he’s a hermit, lost all his manners years ago, maybe a marble or three.

I handed the treats over to the old geezer. Turning to Tom, I filled a box with his favorite gingersnaps.

I managed a squeaker of a smile.

Tom pulled a twenty from his pocket and pushed it into my hand, looking shamefaced. “Sorry, Charm.”

“Nah, I’m paying!” Old Charlie thrust another twenty at me, crumpled up. “I’ll not owe you a damn red cent, Ferguson.”

“I think for the swearing they both owe us, don’t you think so, sweeting?”

Granny walked over, giving the two men a stern glance with the warning.

I accepted the offerings with grace and watched the two men exit the café, praying they weren’t our last customers of the day.

“Good job, Granny,” I said.

“Don’t know why feuds in this town never seem to end.” She shook her head. “I’ll take over now. You have more important things to get on with. We need an end to all this speculation.”

“Thanks, Granny.” I laid a quick kiss on her check then rushed back to the kitchen, intent on seeking out Pastor Evans to see if he could shed some light on recent events.

I was already seated in my jeep when something fluttered under the driver’s windshield wiper fluttered, catching my attention. Wait just a darn minute. Was that a ticket? Mr. Hot Stuff had just left the building. How dare he? Reaching around the front windshield, I tugged the white piece of paper from under the blade, not caring if I tore it to shreds in the process.

I unfolded the now slightly torn paper, expecting a summons for some imaginary offense. I stared in disbelief at the words obviously cut from some magazine and pasted together to craft a crude message. I had to read it a few times before the words sank in.

 

STAY OUT OF IT OR SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY WILL BE NEXT

 

Every drop of blood in my body froze solid. I shivered uncontrollably. Clutching the paper to my chest, I tried to think of what to do. I couldn’t go back in and tell Granny—she might have a heart attack. My sisters were both busy working the final day of the festival.

Yes, of course, I saw clearly what I needed to do. Who I could share this with. I started Thor’s motor with shaking fingers, put the jeep into drive and drove down the alley without being aware of doing it, just miming the actions until I arrived at my destination.

I stumbled out of the vehicle in the curved driveway and lurched toward the front door of the detachment.

Delores took one look at me and rushed to my side. “What’s wrong, dear?” she asked, her voice coming at me through the mind fog.

“This.” My hand fluttered about of its own volition.

She plucked the paper from my hand and read it.

“I’m sorry. It’s going to be okay, Charm. Come, we need to show this to Constable Collins. He’ll know what to do.”

At that moment, he appeared from his office, striding down the hallway toward us. He glanced from Delores to me. “I’ll take over now, thanks, Delores.”

She nodded, handing him the paper.

“Are you okay?” he asked me, his expression concerned. I gulped, nodding once.

I watched him read the offensive words, his brow scrunching. He muttered an expletive under his breath, then looked down at me. “I’m sorry, Charm. But I don’t want you to worry. We’re going to make sure nothing happens to you or your family. Do you have any idea of who could have sent this?” He handed the paper back to Delores, holding it by the smallest bit of one corner between thumb and forefinger. “Get this dusted for fingerprints, please.” She scurried off with it.

I shook my head. “I’ve ruled out some of the suspects. But I really have no idea who could have…sent this.” I took a deep breath, finding it near impossible to imagine such a thing happening in our part of the world. “We’ve never had any real enemies in town that I know of. Just silly stuff growing up. You know, like kids get into.” To think one of our neighbors would do such a thing hurt to the core.

And if not us, who next? The facts of the case made it so hard to keep everyone safe. Poison was a deadly killer. It was hard to know where it would be hidden in time to avoid consuming it. I shuddered again at an image of one of my sisters unknowingly eating the wrong thing.

I forced my mind away from the horrible thought and looked at Ace. “What are we going to do?”

“First off, we’re going to round up your sisters and take them to the café. I want everyone in the same place where it will be easier to watch over you.” His well-modulated tone soothed away my anguish, made me see there was a plan about to go into action. One to keep us all safe. I took a deep breath.

“Okay.” I nodded. Concern for the festival had moved to the back of the line. “I’ll go over there now and get them.”

“I’m going with you.”

“But—”

“No buts. You will listen to me from now on. You want your family to be safe, right?”

Had I caused this with all my snooping around? The thought made my insides clench into a fist and hurt all over again.

“Yes, of course I do.”

“Then let’s go. We’ll take my cruiser.”

We hurried from the station and into the white, blue and red RCMP vehicle with its ‘to serve and protect’ logo. Today I was seeing the words in action.

“Who have you talked with today? Other than Christine Blackmore?” he asked, intently watching the road as he drove. My foot pressed down on the floorboards, wanting the police vehicle to fly over to the fairgrounds. I bit my lip to keep from saying it out loud.

“Today? No one really. Just Mrs. Smith and her daughter Alison and a couple of customers—Old Charlie and Tom Ferguson, but they were too busy arguing to pay me much mind. Then ended up overpaying. Silly stuff.”

“What did Mrs. Smith and Alison want?”

“Alison had lost her engagement ring. Mrs. Smith was frantic about it.” I chewed on my thumbnail, my throat tightening. “I was able to help. See where it was hidden in the carpet under the bed.”

“What about since the first murder?”

“Too many to be useful. But I specifically went looking for Sean Blackmore, Fred Smith, Boyd Thompson, Helen Davis and then ended up seeing her friend Elsie.” I took a deep breath and continued my list. “Mrs. Hurst’s maid Suzanna, and her niece Emma, and of course, a ton of people at the festival.”

“Any readings you think I should know about?”

I shook my head, relieved to see we were turning onto the fairgrounds. “Well, Sean admitted people were being blackmailed by Mrs. Hurst. Boyd, his friend, was talked into giving her a new vehicle for almost nothing whenever she snapped her fingers. You already know about Christine, his wife.”

Ace nodded. “Yes, all too true. There are a number of people with a motive. I’ve gotten the information out of Mr. Blackmore as well.”

My heart sank. He was telling me in his own way that he was right on top of things, that I didn’t have to draw such negative attention to myself. I bit the inside of my mouth, the metallic taste of blood making me grimace.

Soon as Ace cut the motor of the cruiser, we jumped out, striding side-by-side to the Tea & Tarot booth. Everyone else on the fairgrounds became a blur—I was too busy looking for my sisters to care about anything else.

“Hey, Charm,” Tulip greeted me. I rushed to embrace her, so vigorous in my hugging that she began to protest.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, pulling back and looking me square in the eyes.

“Just happy to see you.”

“O—kay.”

“There’s been a threat against your family, Miss McCall. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you and your sister to come with me.”

“What! No. That’s crazy.”

“Where’s Star?” he asked, glancing around the area.

“She went to freshen up. She just finished singing a few minutes ago.”

“Where did she go?” he asked, his eyes constantly scanning the area. He was dead serious about protecting us. Me too. My head spun in circles, keeping watch on everything and everyone at the same time, which was crazy because the murderer was obviously a coward, hiding behind death threats and poison.

“Over there.” She pointed at the ladies’ and men’s bathrooms housed year-round in a squat blue building surrounded by a small oasis of cement. One side of the structure was for the females, one side for the males and another section reserved for families only. It had been built as a permanent structure a few years back, for the fair and other community happenings, including sporting events popular in the different seasons of the calendar. Everything from soccer to football to hockey and curling on our outdoor skating ring were popular in Snowy Lake.

“I’ll go get her,” I volunteered. It was only a hundred and fifty feet away but seemed to take forever. Time had a strange way of slowing down when each second counted.

“No, you wait here with your sister. I’ll head inside,” Ace said, catching up with me at the bathroom’s entrance.

“But it’s the ladies’,” I said, confused, Tulip right on my heels.

“A lawman has clearance for this kind of thing in order to ensure the public safety. You both wait here.”

It was then I realized he was packing heat, unlike me, and if something was going on, he’d be able to handle it, that he was fully trained for such things. The thought sent fear tearing through me and I pressed a hand to my chest. This had become something far beyond anything I could have imagined happening, placing everyone I cared deeply about in danger. Until now, it had been a whodunit for the most part, but now, with my family under siege, it was personal. Darn personal.

“What’s going on, Charm?” Tulip’s eyes had widened in fright. A crowd began to gather around us, but I ignored the looks of inquiry.

“I got a note—stuck on Thor’s windscreen. It said to stay out of things—that my family could get hurt if I didn’t.” The words felt icy cold on my lips. I shivered in the warm afternoon sunshine.

“Really? That’s horrible.” Tulip put her arms around me, and we stood there together, waiting for the lawman to do his job.

I didn’t dare breathe. I had to know that Star was safe and sound. A few seconds passed, and my legs began moving on their own, right in the direction of the door marked Ladies. I pushed it open and ran smack into Ace, Star in tow.

“Ma’am, we’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said in a deadpan manner, making me give a shaky bark of laughter as I backed away from him. I tugged my errant sister into my arms, her body closing around mine the best feeling in all the world.

“You arresting the whole family, Sheriff?” a smug voice rang out in the crowd. I spun around to see who it was. Sean Blackmore. Figures.

Ace gave a huge sigh. “First, I’m not a sheriff, and secondly, no, I am not arresting anyone at this time. The McCalls are just being given an escort to make sure they stay safe.”

“But they are under suspicion, right?” he pressed, earning him a super-sized frown from me.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Star asked, drawing my attention away from the scoundrel and back to her. She was looking confused, chewing on her lip.

“I’m fine now. I got a note today that said someone has it in for us. You know—for the ongoing investigation. We got here as soon as we could.” I gestured at Ace. Murmurs sounded in the crowd behind us, the word threat ringing out loud and clear from a number of people.

“You mean we’re now the target? For your looking into the murders?” she demanded, hands on hips. “When we’ve got a perfectly good Mountie right here to do the job?”

“Charm was only trying to help by getting to the bottom of things, Star.” Tulip spoke up.

“Fine. Whatever. Fat lot of good that did.”

“But you know I had to do something, Star. The evidence was pointing at our family. I couldn’t have that. Look what that could do to Granny—to our business,” I pleaded my case, upset that my loyalty was in question.

She let out a deep sigh, a pout forming on her mouth. “Yeah, I know. It just sucks. Okay?”

“Okay, ladies, let’s go. Time to check on your granny.”

With that we got a fast move on and were soon packed into the cruiser, everything and everybody else ignored. The booth could go to that place down-under for all I cared at the moment.

We hurried into the Tea & Tarot as a pack, looking for our granny. Seeing her there, serving coffee to a customer with a genuine smile lighting her face, made my heart sing. We were all safe—for now. I’d rather be threatened a thousand times over then have anyone think to harm a hair of my beloved Granny or my sisters. Yes. I still had to solve this. It was the only way to keep them all safe. But I had to be smarter about it, much smarter. Not run amok and draw unwanted attention. And the sooner it was done, the better. The clock in my head began to tick again, double time.

“What’s going on, sweetings?” Granny came over to join us. “Who’s looking after the booth?”

“Don’t worry about the booth. It will be fine. And if not—” I gave a dismissive shrug. “But something came up. Something far more important.” I gulped, not wanting to share the next part.

Ace stepped forward. “There’s been a threat, ma’am.”

Her hand fluttered to her neck. “Call me Granny, please.” I saw her throat work to swallow. My eyes began to water and I looked downward at the floor. It needed a good scrubbing again. I’d best get at it. It wasn’t as though Star or Tulip were going to volunteer.

“Granny,” Ace said, nodding respectfully. “I thought it best to have all of you in one place for the time being so that the threat can be followed up on properly. The evidence is being fingerprinted as we speak.”

“A note?” she asked softly, her eyes rounding with concern. The few customers in the café hushed, time seeming to stand still. I hated that she had to know.

“It was very specific. It was intended to keep Charm from investigating the recent murders.”

“I see. Well, that does prove we had nothing to do with them.” She nodded sagely. I waited for Ace to confirm this.

“It would appear so. But we must wait for forensics to have their say.”

“Appear so!” I was outraged at the weak response in defending our honor. “No one in this family could have done this thing, no matter what you or anyone else thinks.” Though I couldn’t vouch for myself doing something in the future, if anyone tried to harm a hair on anyone I loved.

“Now, sweeting. The man is just going about his sworn duty. He needs the space to do so.” Granny tried to placate me. I loved her so much for her wisdom, but in this, she might be off base. Ace didn’t need space so much as he needed a tighter rein to keep him out of my way.