Chapter Sixteen

Tom stared at his old nemesis with the oddest of expressions on his face. I just sat there, suddenly too tired to speak, praying that the spell held. My job was done. I needed to go home. If I didn’t eat and rest before the Northern Lights Coven gathered tonight, I didn’t think I’d be able to make it, my body needing a time-out. Oh fudge, I still needed to invite Jennifer.

Tom scratched his head and started up the old Ford, forcing the standard transmission into gear with a loud thunka-thunka that didn’t bode well. I sat slumped. It would take an earthquake to get my attention in the state I was in. A giant one at that.

“You sure are quiet today, Charm,” Charlie said. Tom turned his pride and joy onto Main Street, a giant puff of exhaust smoke heralding our arrival.

“Just tired, Charlie. You coming in?” I asked, when Tom pulled up in front of the Tea & Tarot café, leaving the motor running.

“No, I’d best get home.”

“Charm, did you place a spell on me and Charlie just now?” Tom asked, turning his head my way and giving me a piercing look with his faded blue eyes. His scant gray hair was combed flat against his pink scalp, giving him the look of a cherub. A very unlikely cherub, to anyone that knew his past.

“Just a little one to make you both see sense,” I said with a shrug. A bit of thanks would be appreciated. Duh. Not going to happen.

“I don’t need no spell put on me.” Charlie puffed up with indignation at the mere suggestion. “Save that rigamarole for those that need it. I know my own mind.”

“Okay then,” I said and crawled out of the Ford. Every bone in my body ached.

“You sure you’re all right?” Tom asked, rolling down his window and calling after me as I did a spectacular imitation of a slug creeping across the sidewalk to grasp at the door handle of the Tea & Tarot.

I waved him off and made my way inside.

“What’s the matter with you?” Tulip said, flicking me a glance from her laptop.

“Nothing,” I said, shuffling with as much dignity as I could muster across the stadium-sized floor to slump down in a booth. “I just need a quick forty winks.”

I woke up to being shaken like a rag doll. I swiped the drool from the corner of my mouth with my hand.

“What’s up?” I asked with a giant yawn. I sat back and gave Tulip a grimace. “Why’d you wake me?”

“You have company.”

“What? Who?” I wiped the sleep from my bleary eyes and looked around. Ah, perfect. “Jennifer Morgan as I live and breathe,” I said, swallowing my mortification at being caught sleeping. Why, oh why couldn’t I have an early warning system at times like these?

She stood near the door, looking fine in a pair of khaki shorts and a sleeveless white blouse. And there I sat rumpled, though the catnap had helped. I stretched my spine, grateful that the exhaustion had vanished.

“Charm, sorry for interrupting. I’ll come back later,” Jennifer said, looking to leave.

“No, that’s fine. Join me. What can I do for you?” I reached up and straightened my hair, tucking wayward strands behind my ears. I should have crawled upstairs, tired or not. My stomach growled loudly, reminding me of another basic instinct.

“Would you like coffee, tea, something to eat?” I jumped up and grabbed a couple of blue and white mugs with the fancy imprint of golden stars on them and filled one, looking at her to see if she wanted the other. She nodded and sat in the booth.

“Please, just coffee.”

I filled her mug, grabbed a couple of cheese scones, three molasses cookies and joined her. Adding a generous dollop of cream to the coffee, I took a bite of the first cheese scone. Heavenly. I polished if off and began on the second one.

I washed them down with coffee, my body finally satiated.

“You were hungry,” Jennifer said with a brief smile.

“First chance I’ve had to eat in hours. Been some day.”

“You live quite the life. You’re lucky.”

“Yeah, I think so. What can I do for you?” I took a gulp of coffee. “Oh, I was sorry to hear about your trouble.”

“Ace tell you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“No, but he did ask me to pass this along. Would you like to come to our Northern Lights Coven meeting tonight?”

She shrugged. She didn’t exactly look too cut up by the recent break with her fiancé. Ace had done a good job of making her feel better. Fast work.

“Maybe. When is it?”

I glanced at the wall clock. Seven p.m. “Ah, about thirty minutes from now.” Jeez, where had the day gone?

“Okay, it should prove interesting. Never been to a witches’ meeting before.”

I didn’t like the way she said it, as though we were some kind of group she’d like to put under the microscope. “We’re not a witches’ coven per se. We just believe in the goddess and doing things that improve the state of our existence, for us, and for others. Being one with nature is healing for the soul.”

“Well, nice that you found enough like-minded people in Snowy Lake.”

“Yes, very. Would you like to wait here? I need to shower before the meeting.”

“Before you go, I just had something I need to ask you.”

“I’m listening.”

“You’ve just met Ace, right? Only known him for a few weeks. How do you think he’s doing? You know, adjusting to small-town life.” She said that as if it must be the hardest thing in the world. Offended? Not much.

“He’s doing great, far as I know. Fits right in. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” I caught movement out of my peripheral vision then Tulip was reaching over and giving a swat at Jennifer’s hair left loose on her shoulders today, making it fly in all directions.

“Ouch!” Jennifer raised a hand to her head.

“Sorry, you had a huge bug caught in your hair.” Tulip gave a nod of satisfaction and marched away.

“On second thought, I’ll have to skip the meeting. Thanks for the invite, but I forgot I have somewhere to be tonight.” Jennifer got up and made her escape.

The angels made a scathing good-riddance sound, but maybe that was just my imagination. I was about to get up when Charlie and Tom came in, surprising me. They hurried over to my booth and sat down, both quite animated. Hmm, now what?

“Hey, Charm, I forgot to tell you something,” Charlie said.

“Go ahead. I’m running late, but I can take a few minutes.”

“Me and Tom were out near Spirit Springs today to look for those darn beavers that are damming Miller’s Pond and causing the water to back up into Johansson’s meadow, and we ran into some of those movie guys in the woods.”

My ears pricked up. “Go on.”

“Well, we suspected you’d be wantin’ to break the case about that accountant fellow, so we thought we’d better share what we overheard. You know, it might mean something, eh?” Tom said.

“That fancy pants who works for the director, and a couple of guys dressed in coveralls, like stage hands, were arguing. They didn’t see us. You know, we’re darn good in the woods, hunting and all,” Charlie said with a satisfied grin.

“I’ve heard that,” I said by way of encouragement. “And the assistant’s name is Bryce Stanford.” I couldn’t disagree about his fancy clothes.

“So, you’ve met him. Anyway, this Bryce guy says to the two guys, ‘You agreed to it. Now you ask for more!’ He was real mad, red in the face.” Charlie gave a chuckle.

“Did he say what they had agreed to?” Ricin. Maybe the two guys had been paid to plant it?

Charlie shook his head. “No, but then one of the guys said it was risky business and they wanted more money and the other fellow backed him up. The guy, Bryce, wimped out after they suggested they had the goods on him.” Charlie pursed his lips, looking more than pleased with himself.

Hmm, could just mean they were working on a dangerous movie stunt and Bryce wanted to keep it quiet. But my gut said they were talking about the poison.

“Thanks. Would you recognize the two men again?”

“Maybe. They had their backs to us the whole time, but I did see that one of them had a ponytail, kind of grayish. The other wore a New York Rangers hat—backward.” He gave a look of disgust accompanied by a quick Bronx cheer, otherwise known as the raspberry. Tom and I followed suit—the hat didn’t belong to our beloved Jets hockey team based in Winnipeg, after all. The whole town had begun doing that regularly since Corner Gas, a popular Canadian television show where the whole town always spit on the ground when the next town over got a mention. And wearing a hat backward was almost as cardinal a sin as wearing the crotch of one’s pants at one’s knees. That one could get the victim tossed in the creek, pants and all.

“Tomorrow, could one of you go out to the set with me if they reopen it? See if we can spot him?”

“I could go, nothin’ much planned,” Charlie said. “Well, we’ll be in touch then.”

I watched the pair walk out together, the angels over the door sighing with sweet contentment as they swayed in the breeze, announcing the men’s departure.

“What was that all about?” Tulip asked, looking up from her laptop.

“Nothing important. I gotta go clean up.”

I left Tulip in charge of the café and headed into the back. The kitchen was deserted, but it was obvious that everything was ready for the morning. That was, if we needed it. What was the deal now that the set was quarantined? I had no time to worry.

I raced up the stairs, my energy restored by carbs, and hit the showers. Twenty minutes later, I tiptoed out of my apartment, not wanting to disturb Ivana. She usually didn’t attend our meetings. Why bother her? She had enough on her plate dealing with her crazy Russian family.

“Charm, bosom friend! We go together, yes? I want to learn—what they called? Pippets? Peppets?” Ivana’s idea of the perfect outfit for a coven meeting clashed somewhat with mine. I wore a simple yellow sundress with flats, Ivana a tight red lace number with five-inch heels, her hair up in a swirling mass of fire-red curls that would defeat any man’s attempt to mess with. Her beautiful face made up to perfection, her bosom heaving from the strain of being pushed up to the rafters, she oozed sexuality like a hound dog howls for the chase.

“Poppets. Spirit dolls.”

“Dolls, yes. We make voodoo, yes?”

“Not voodoo. Spirit dolls are to send out into the universe to create good karma for someone, a vehicle of pure energy. At least that’s how the Northern Lights Coven will use them, I’m certain. It’s empowering. You know, help someone be healed or protected, make a connection between your desire for good, and its manifestation? They can bring great joy to someone you love. You go about making them by saying a little verse, As I stitch thee, So I wish thee.”

She narrowed her eyes at me, her head quirked sideways. “You use them banish, right? Get rid bad pests?”

“Ah, that’s not the best intention for them, Ivana, though in history they have been made for that purpose.” I shook my head, trying to dissuade her from such a bad idea. “Not in modern times. Not in Snowy Lake, we don’t.” I was pretty certain I spoke for everyone in this regard.

“Hmm,” she said, giving me a squinty-eyed look. “I use them best. For Charm.” She struck her hand over her heart in a closed fist with a loud thump, making me wince. It was her way of signaling that something really mattered to her and was not to be taken lightly. Not that I ever took anything Ivana said lightly. I’m not that crazy.

“Good.” I hoped she meant to use them to send out good vibrations, not the way she thought best, but I couldn’t get too focused on making sure or we’d be running late.

“Time to go. Want a ride to Christine’s?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“Go best bosom, yes.”

“Let’s go then.” Well, she did have a great set, lots larger than mine, and I was rather endowed.

As I drove Ivana over to Christine’s, my thoughts kept circling around the day. So much had happened. What did it all mean? And what else could my gift do? A deep sense that the whole world was about to open up left me breathless. And spooked. I shivered.