A Charming Voodoo (Magical Cures Mystery Series Book 10) (18 page)

“No thank you. I’m going to leave.” I moved around her and headed to the front door.

“Edwin, she’s trying to leave,” she said as I made my way down the hall. I had to get out of there.

“Hi,” the dark-haired man stood between me and the door. “I’m going to have to ask you to stay for a beverage.” His head tilted side-to-side as if he was joking around with me.

“Oh, I can’t, but thank you.” I pushed my hand around him to grab the handle of the door.

“Well, it’s not up to you.” He pulled out a gun and stuck it in my gut.

“I’m pregnant.” The words tumbled out of my mouth.

“Not for long.” He shoved the gun deeper in my stomach, forcing me to take a step back.

The knock at the door threw us all for a loop.

“Oscar is here.” I saw him from the window. He was looking over toward Patch’s house.

“Don’t say a word or I kill you both,” he said in a deep, low voice that told me he meant business.

 Edwin put his finger up to his mouth to tell me to hush and pointed the gun to the other room so I was out of sight when he opened the door. On my way down the hall, I set my bag in view of the door hoping Oscar was observant enough to see it.

Hazel sat in her chair sipping on her cup of tea with a smile on her face and a shotgun at her feet. As sweet as pie, but the devil inside.

“You know that Patch fellow is crazy. I overheard him saying something to Tish about having some kind of psychic power.” Hazel rolled her eyes. “The world is much better off without that quack. He’ll be joining you and his brother soon enough.”

Even though I should be thinking how I could get out of there alive, I was happy to hear that Patch was opening up to Tish and maybe they had a shot of a mortal-spiritualist relationship, even if she was Broussert’s ex-wife and Jo Ellen was his daughter.

Edwin walked back into the kitchen. “Got rid of him. He said he’d gotten your message and the nosy neighbor kid told him you walked over here with her dolly. I told him I was visiting my sweet mom and we hadn’t seen you.” His evil grin curled up on his lips like a snake.

He walked back in the family room and stood in front of the back door, facing me and holding the glass of poison. “Now you must kill yourself, right Mom?”

“Right, boy. Then you can go over to the farm and get rid of that crazy Patch Potter so you can move in next door and take over his job like Broussert had promised you in the first place.” They both stared at me.

In a flash, the glass of the back door shattered as Oscar bolted through, sending shards of glass everywhere, one sticking right in Hazel’s hand that was holding the shotgun and one in the chest of Edwin.

The last thing I remember before it went black was Edwin falling right on top of me and the glass of poison dripping down my leg.

“Good morning.” I’d know those lips anywhere. I smiled underneath the kiss and let Oscar’s sweet voice drift in my ears. “You’ve been asleep long enough.”

“Have I?” I questioned. My brain turned on. I sat straight up. I glanced around the room. “What happened?”

“Smart move on the bag.” He ran his hand down the back on my head before he curled me into his arms. “You scared me. I was at the farm waiting for Broussert to come so I could question him about his wife. Patch was there and he told me that Broussert was going to be late because he was at his ex-wife’s house. He went on, telling me how Broussert said something strange was going on in the agri-hood because the wizard outfit he bought his daughter went missing so I naturally thought you were right about Broussert so I zoomed over to the bookstore because you mentioned something about photos and I’d heard from Colton that you were there earlier when he called to let me know he’d left the jail.” His heart pounded beneath his chest. I was never so glad to hear his beating heart. “Then Ophelia told me about the dark-haired man and again, I thought of Broussert. I raced back to the agri-hood and over to Tish’s house where Broussert was still there and I had a few words with them. I found out that it’s Tish who wants the Crazy Crafty Chick because apparently she understands what it means to marry a spiritualist.”

I pulled back.

“She told you that in front of Broussert?” I asked.

“No, she pulled me aside and told me that she and Patch were in love and she wanted to marry him. He did what we are supposed to do in those situations, gave her a memory spell about the conversation, if the spell erases the conversation from the recipient’s mind, then true love doesn’t prevail. If the recipient remembers the conversation, a spell can’t be put against them because love prevailed.”

“So that’s what happened between Darla and Dad,” I let out a heavy sigh and nuzzled back up against Oscar.

“After I saw Edwin at the door with dark hair and your bag on the ground, plus Mr. Prince Charming sitting on the front porch, I knew you were in there.”

I looked over at Mr. Prince Charming curled up at the edge of the bed. He might be ornery at times, but he did his job.

“I called Colton for backup and I saw you in there on the couch and I had to crash through. Both confessed to the murder. Edwin had planned on pinning it on Broussert—he knew Broussert bought his daughter the wizard outfit so he stole the wands from Ever After Books to tie the murder to Broussert. The voodoo doll was Hazel’s idea because she said he was a freak physic or something like that when Colton was hauling her off.”

“And of course I blacked out.” I laughed.

“Big Edwin landing on you didn’t help, but he only has a few scratches from the glass stabbing him.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’m not sure I’m going to let you help me anymore. You stick to the potion making and being the sweet-natured little witch.”

“We will see.” I pulled away and stood up. I needed to go to the bathroom. The pregnancy test said first thing in the morning. “I’ll be right back.”

I paddled down the hallway and found my purse on the counter. I took out the test and headed to the bathroom.

After a few minutes I looked at it.

Negative.
I held it for a few seconds, taking in my feelings and what exactly that meant.

“June, are you coming to back to bed?” Oscar asked. “We have a few minutes before we have to get up for the All Hallows’ Eve celebration.

“Yeah,” I called back and buried the pregnancy test in the bathroom garbage can before I headed into the bedroom where I found Oscar with a wry grin on his face. “What are you up to?”

“Come here and find out.” He reached for me and curled me into his warm, safe arms. “So are you?”

“Am I what?” I looked up at him. The look of love in his big blue eyes spread to his lips.

“Are you pregnant?” he asked.

“No.” I lowered my eyes. “How did you know?”

“I ran into Adeline at the Piggly Wiggly when I was getting the candy and she asked me if congratulations were in order.” He grinned.

“Are you upset?” I asked.

“Are you?”

“No.” I wasn’t upset. But one thing the idea of being pregnant did give me was certainty that one day I did hope to become a mom. Just not today.

“I think we could use more practice. Lots more practice.” Oscar teased before he clicked off the bedside table light and covered Madame Torres with a pillow.

“Thank you,” Madame Torres muffled with a grateful voice. And Mr. Prince Charming ran out of the room.

Excitement was in the air and there was no denying that All Hallows’ Eve had come. Every shop owner in Whispering Falls had their doors open, their windows decorated, and a bowl full of candy waiting for all the children to come and partake in the ceremonies.

“Hi, June!” Jo Ellen ran inside A Charming Cure wearing her costume.

“Ms. Heal.” Tish reminded her.

“June is fine.” I smiled and noticed Jo Ellen was now a cowgirl. “Another change in costume?” I asked.

“Yes” Jo bounced on the toes of her tiny pink cowboy boots. She held out her Halloween basket in the shape of a horse’s saddle. “I couldn’t leave Miss Princess Charming at home.”

“Miss Princess Charming?” I looked into the basket. The little white kitten was curled up on the bottom. “I thought you named her Snow White?”

“I had to name her after Mr. Prince Charming.” She swayed back and forth.

Mr. Prince Charming must’ve heard his name. He darted out from underneath the table where he’d been all day since I’d put a small bowtie cat collar on him.

“Oh, Mommy! Look.” Jo giggled. “He has on a costume. Can we get Miss Princess Charming a costume?”

“Thanks, June.” Tish glared at me and I laughed. “Maybe next year.”

Jo took it better than I thought and she sat down on the floor of the shop to pet my ornery cat.

“Can I get you an apple cider?” I asked, walking over to counter.

“You know, I’d love some.” She had bent down and patted Mr. Prince Charming. She looked up at me. “That sounds really good.”

The shop was empty because I’d left Faith to hand out the candy for the tourists next to the gate so the parents didn’t have to police their children inside the shop.

“I hear that you and Patch have made a special bond.” I knew that he’d been talking to her about our special village secret and had yet to hear her response. I walked over and grabbed the potion I’d created a few days ago, not really sure why I’d created it, but my intuition told me that Tish needed a little of it.

Not necessarily to fall in love with Patch, but to be open to the idea.

“I mean, you don’t have to tell me.” I slipped a couple of drops in her cider and stirred it with a cinnamon stick that I’d gotten from Happy Herb. It added the extra flavor that gave the cider a little kick. “Just sometimes we girls need to stick together.” I held the cup out for her when she stood up.

“Some of us girls aren’t cut from the same cloth.” She blew on her cider and her eyes hooded as her brows lifted to mine. “I have Jo Ellen to think about.”

“Do you see these two people?” I walked over to the framed photo of my parents. “They are my parents. My father was a police officer here like Oscar and my mother tried to create homeopathic cures. I was a little girl when my father died. Younger than Jo Ellen. My mother had to move away from Whispering Falls into Locust Grove.” I knew the little bit of back story into my history told Tish that my mother was like her. “It wasn’t until my mother died and I was an adult did I find out who I really was along with my heritage.” I rubbed my finger down the glass on the frame. “My mother loved it here. She owned this very shop years before I took it over. And my cottage on the hill,” I gestured behind me, “was their home.”

“I’d talked to Broussert about having a shop here.” She left Jo’s side and walked over to me. “Because I would love to have something here. But according to Patch, and from what he’s told me about your lives, I don’t think I could do that.”

I’d recalled how I’d heard Broussert had wanted to buy Crazy Crafty Chick, but this wasn’t the time to discuss that.

“You never know until you try.” I shrugged and looked over her shoulder when the bell above the entrance rang when the door opened.

“Patch!” Jo jumped up from the floor and ran over into his arms. “Look.”

He looked down into the basket and saw the kitten.

“Miss Princess Charming looks very comfortable, squirt.” He picked her up and held her in his arms. His eye drifted across the shop and melted on Tish’s face.

She caught a breath as though it’d suddenly struck her or my potion just kicked in.

“Hi Patch.” Her voice was soft and sincere. “I’ve. . .I’ve been thinking.”

“Please excuse me for a minute.” I didn’t want to impose on a private moment between them, even though I might’ve helped it along a tiny bit. Deep in my heart, I knew they were meant to be together with or without my potion.

Patch smiled as I walked out the door and stood on the porch.

Faith was surrounded by all the little kids in so many different costumes. Oscar ran across the street from the police station.

“Big turn out this year.” He kissed me. I curled an arm around his waist and clasped my hands together. “Look at all those cute kids.”

“I know.” I sucked in a deep breath, letting the crisp air sink into my lungs and drip into my soul. “One of these days we will have a little one running around for candy.”

“Oh yeah.” Oscar smiled. There was a twinkle in his eyes.

“Yeah.” I had determined that I did want to have children and bring more little Parks into the spiritual world. “Just not right now.”

Meow
. Mr. Prince Charming appeared next to me and did figure eights around my ankles.

“He’s enough for now.” I bent down and picked him up. He purred in my arms and even let Oscar pet him.

“Hi, June!” KJ called from the front of his shop. He was dressed in his real Native American dress. It was perfect for the festivities.

“Hi!” I waved. My mouth dropped when I saw him put his hand on Violet’s back. She looked at me and grinned ear-to-ear.

“Do you still want to take me and Gene to visit the school?” Violet asked.

“Yes. I’d love to.” I was happy knowing she’d taken my advice.

“I think the outfit is working for him.” Oscar joked as we watched Violet and KJ hug, letting the village know they were a couple.

“She loves more than the outfit.” I looked back at Faith.

“There’s just something special about All Hallows’ Eve.” Faith glanced over at Violet and KJ, and then back at Patch, Tish, and Jo Ellen standing behind us.

“’Bye Mr. Prince Charming.” Jo skipped past us with Patch and Tish following closely behind her, holding hands.

“’Bye,” I said.

“Thank you.” Tish mouthed when she walked past.

I looked down the sidewalk at all the children in their costumes and their parents standing near them. All of the spiritualists were dressed with a nod to some characteristic of their real gift.

Chandra had her turban on and a sign around her neck that said
Palm Reader
. Petunia was dressed as herself with a bird sitting on her shoulder. Colton and Ophelia were giving out candy on the steps of Ever After Books, both dressed in Harry Potter robes. Izzy was on the steps of Mystic Lights, dressed as a crystal ball reader. Gerald was too busy serving food, dressed as himself. Of course the line to get a bakery treat from Wicked Good was long and Raven was dressed as a chef. Chandler was outside and dressed in a candle outfit with a fake flame hat. He was talking to Bella and Eloise.