I peered through the small upper windows on the front door. My porch light shone down on the heads of two women I recognized instantly. "It's Nora and Aubrey from Minnie's Wiccan group. You girls go ahead and reheat the apple crisp so Lacey and I can talk to our unexpected visitors." I glanced at Lacey. "They look fidgety, nervous and they are holding a book. Our investigation is about to take a few steps forward."
The rest of the group, looking a little ghost weary and ready for refreshments, toddled off toward the kitchen. I opened the door. Both women were wearing dark clothes. It seemed they had chosen the colors to blend into the night. They looked nervously over their shoulders, as if worried they'd been followed, before scurrying into the entryway for safety.
"Nora, Aubrey, is anything wrong?" I asked. "You two look as if you're hiding from someone. Were you being followed or chased?" I locked the door just in case.
"Here," Nora blurted and shoved the book in my hands, before just as quickly yanking her hands free of it. If I hadn't been holding it, I would have thought the book was red hot with the way she pulled her grasp free. I recognized it instantly as the same book we'd seen on Wanda's table with the brass lock. I ran my fingertip over the embossed title The Book of Curses and Spells.
"This book belongs to Wanda," I said.
Aubrey cleared her throat. "We borrowed it under the guise of wanting to know how to get rid of a pesky rat in the cellar." It seemed like a rather flimsy excuse considering how many products were available for catching rats, but apparently, Wanda had fallen for it and I was now holding her dark arts handbook.
"We thought you might like to see it." Aubrey was the calmer of the two, although neither looked too comfortable with the task they'd set for themselves. Now I knew why. It seemed they had stolen off with Wanda's dark magic book. Aubrey pointed at a dried sprig of lavender being used as a bookmark.
The book puffed out the lingering scent of sage as I opened it to the dried sprig of lavender. The title of the spell was written in fancy calligraphy to make it seem as if it had been written hundreds of years ago when people wrote in fancy, nearly illegible script. The edges of the yellow parchment paper had been frayed and burned to look ancient but I was sure the book was printed recently.
"The lettering is hard to decipher." I ran my finger under the name of the spell. Lacey peered over my shoulder to help figure out what it said. "Asphyxiation Spell," we read simultaneously. The rest of the page was a list of ingredients, including some interesting leg of spiders and tail of lizard types of things along with where and when and how the spell should be cast. Apparently a moonless Autumnal Equinox was the ideal time to kill someone by asphyxiation.
I looked up at Nora and Aubrey. They both nodded a sort of 'told you so' kind of gesture.
"There was nearly a three quarter moon on the night of the Apple Harvest Rite," Lacey wisely pointed out. "The book says it should be a moonless night." I got the sense that Lacey, like me, wasn't believing any of the curse or spell nonsense. It was hardly evidence that would hold up in court.
"Those are just guidelines for the perfect scenario for casting a dark spell. It can still be done. Especially by someone with strong skills, like Wanda." Nora adjusted her rainbow framed glasses on her nose.
I fingered the sprig of lavender. "So, when you borrowed the book, Wanda had this page marked with the lavender? This page specifically?"
Both women shrank down some. Nora's gaze dropped to her feet.
"Well, no," Aubrey finally confessed, "we marked it with the lavender so we could show you that there is a spell for asphyxiation."
Lacey and I exchanged glances. Even if we didn't believe a spell could be cast to deprive someone of oxygen, if Wanda had been looking at that particular spell it would have meant that she was at least thinking about it. Even if she eventually had to find some more mortal means to actually get the job done. But now, it seemed that she just happened to have a book that contained, amongst its many yellowed pages, a spell for asphyxiation. Nora and Aubrey were kind enough to point it out but it didn't mean Wanda had been focused on it.
"Wanda has made herself quite the center of attention now in the coven," Aubrey said. I was trying to read whether there was a note of envy in her tone, but I didn't know her well enough. "She has basically named herself high priestess even though it has not been agreed upon. She is making it very obvious that having Minnie out of the picture gives her the clear and free path to leadership."
"That's why we think she did it," Nora piped up, then shrank back like a turtle receding into its shell.
"But do you have any proof other than this book?" Lacey asked.
"She badly wanted Minnie to step down but Minnie refused," Aubrey said. "That coupled with Wanda's penchant for studying the dark arts makes her a prime suspect, don't you think?"
I shrugged. "She obviously had motive, but I'm afraid the police won't accept this book of spells as evidence. There needs to be something connecting Wanda to the murder, something more concrete." I flipped the book closed and noticed a bookplate on the inside cover. I stopped to read it. "This book belongs to Kate Derricot." My face popped up toward Lacey. "What are the odds of hearing that name twice in the same week?"
"I'd say a million to one with a name like that," Lacey said.
"Do you have any idea who Kate Derricot is?" I asked the women.
Aubrey leaned forward to look at the bookplate. "Kate Derricot, that must be Wanda's real name." She straightened.
"That's right," Nora said, "Minnie told me Wanda's real name was Kate but she decided to call herself Wanda Wonder. She thought it sounded more magical." Nora added in an eye roll for good measure.
Lacey took hold of the book to look at the name. "That's interesting. Minnie's sister was married to a man named Derricot. Do you know if they were related?"
Aubrey rubbed her chin. "Now that you mention it, I think Wanda did mention her Aunt Etta a few times. She's very rich. Wanda liked to brag that her aunt always gave her a hundred dollar bill on her birthday."
"Did Wanda visit her aunt a lot?" I asked.
"If she did, she never mentioned it," Aubrey looked at Nora for confirmation.
Nora nodded. "The only time she mentioned her aunt was when she got the birthday money."
Aubrey pulled her hood up on her head. "We need to head back to Hickory Flats." She reached for the book. "I have to return this to Wanda tomorrow. We just thought you might want to see it."
"Yes, thank you," Lacey and I said.
"It does shine a different light on Wanda." I opened the front door.
Nora and Aubrey scanned the yard before tiptoeing down the steps and scurrying to the car.
I shut the door.
Lacey was already in deep thinking mode. "It's interesting to know that Wanda is related to Etta Derricot, but I still can't figure out how their familial ties would have any connection to Minnie's murder."
"Like I told them, it puts a different light on Wanda. I'm just not sure if it's a spotlight or just a regular old coincidental light."
I locked up and we headed toward the kitchen.