A Charming Voodoo (Magical Cures Mystery Series Book 10) (17 page)

The day was actually turning out to be a nice sunny day. Not only would it be a good day to solve the murder of Patty Potter, it’d be a good day to find out if I was going to be a mom.

After I parked the Green Machine at the cottage, I headed down the hill toward Blue Moon Gallery. I wanted to get a look at the photos Faith had taken and I hoped Cherry had hung them up like Perry said she was going to.

“What do I owe the pleasure?” Cherry greeted me and Mr. Prince Charming when we walked through the gallery door.

“Faith Mortimer’s photos.” It was really great to see Faith’s photos coming to life. “My friend Colton Lance is a suspect in Patty Potter’s murder and I don’t think he did it, so I’m wanting to check out Faith’s photos to see if there was anything suspicious.”

“Oh, June,” she sucked in a deep breath. She had on a long, flowing silk kimono with paint brushes embroidered all over it. At the end of the paint brushes, there were little bursts of fireworks. “You have no idea. I’m so glad you are here.”

Her words didn’t have a happy-to-see-you tone. It was more of an I’m not sure what to do.

“The best photo Faith took is the pumpkin farm. There is nothing unusual in it, but it sends my gift into a spiral.” She gestured for me to follow her. She talked over her shoulder as we walked, “I hesitate to put it out because my gift tells me something is wrong with this photo. Since you are telling me about the possibility that she has captured something, you might be right and that is why I’m questioning the picture.”

Mr. Prince Charming didn’t follow us. He sat under a photo that was hanging from the ceiling.

She stopped at the glass staircase and dragged out a large frame covered in brown paper.

“I went ahead and sent it off to be framed and I’ve yet to look at it.” She ripped the paper off. She shuddered and looked away.

I bent down and looked at it. Faith had really captured the essence of the happiness shown on all of our faces. The pumpkins were bright orange even in the dark. The twinkle lights strung all over the pumpkin farm added to the charm. In the photo she’d captured Jo Ellen eating the candy apple, Oscar hanging out with Hazel as they talked to a dark-haired man, Petunia sitting on a pumpkin petting a field mouse that was perched on her finger, Izzy sitting next to her enjoying a cup of hot cider, the Karima twins eating their own bag of kettle corn, and more of the new citizens I didn’t know.

I looked back at Oscar. The dark-haired man looked familiar.

“I’ll be right back.” I stood up and walked over to Mr. Prince Charming. “This one?” I asked. His tail pointed up to the photo.

It was another pumpkin farm photo that Faith had taken during the day. Next to the shed where I’d heard Patch and Patty fighting stood Patch, Tish, and that dark-haired man.

“Do you have a magnifying glass?” I asked Cherry.

“I do.” She trotted up the glass steps to where her office was and came right back down. “Here you go.”

I held the magnifying glass up to the spot I questioned on the photo. All three of their faces didn’t seem very happy. The faces weren’t very clear, but he had a prominent silhouette with a large nose. The dark-haired man had a finger pointing at Patch.

I took the magnifying glass back over to the photo and looked at the same dark-haired man in the photo. It was a little further away and Faith had used some sort of filter on the camera, but the profile sure did look the same.

“You are the best.” I handed Cherry the magnifying glass before Mr. Prince Charming and I left. I pulled my phone out of my bag and called Oscar. “Hi honey,” I left a message when he didn’t answer. “I wanted to let you know I might have a lead. Call me.”

The street was filled with visitors and the crisp air felt like the All Hallows’ Eve celebration. It was going to be tomorrow night with or without the murder solved. The brochures were in all of the shop windows along with their displays. The costume contest was going to be the cutest. It reminded me that I’d forgotten to get candy.

I called Oscar back and asked him to grab some candy for Wicked Good and A Charming Cure for the trick-or-treat part of the celebration. It was so good to see Ever After Books decorated. It wasn’t open yet, but I knocked on the display window and peeked in covering my eyes with my hands. When Colton saw me, he walked over to the door to let me in.

Mr. Prince Charming scooted on down to Glorybee Pet Shop. He’d probably had enough human interaction for one day.

The bookstore was so magical. The animals brayed, mooed, chirped, and clucked when I walked past the animal reference section. The crying and oohing baby noises crept down the baby aisle. I rubbed my stomach wondering if I was going to have to get one of those books tomorrow. The voices of scholars yelled over each other as I passed by that aisle. The books came to life. The bird books were flying throughout the store and would land anywhere.

“It’s so good to see you two.” I couldn’t stop the smile.

“We are so happy.” Ophelia looked at Colton. He was putting the finishing touches on the fairy tale window. “I let him win.” She winked.

“The window looks great.” I looked around for the camera and photo aisle. “I wanted to get a look at the books.”

“Yeah. I waited until you got here to open. I figured they’d show off for you. Sometimes books can be crabby.” She came from behind the counter and I followed her to the back corner of the shop.

It was fascinating to watch Ophelia Biblio do her thing. She closed her eyes and dragged her finger along the spines of the books that were on the shelves. The sounds of cameras clicking erupted as she got closer. She stopped at a book with a thick green spine. Her finger ran up the spine and she used her fingernail to pluck it off the shelf. The book tumbled down, bounced on its spine a couple of times before it fell open to a page.

With her eyes still closed, Ophelia bent down and pointed to the page. When she slowly stood up, the book flashed photos of the shop with Colton in the back holding a couple of the fake wands in the air.

I stepped over to get a closer look. I searched the photos as the book clicked them through as if it were an air photo album. There had to be some sort of clue in there and it would be great if there were something to tie someone from Faith’s photos to someone in the store.

“There!” I pointed in the air.

Ophelia opened her eyes and snapped the photo out of thin air and made it physical. She handed it to me.

I held it up and she looked over my shoulder to look at it.

“I don’t see anything.” She squinted.

“There you and Colton are next to the counter.” I pointed to them. Their heads were together.

“That’s when we were fighting.” Sadness hung on the edge of her words.

“Don’t worry about that.” I used my open hand to rub her back. “See the dark-haired guy at the front of the shop?”

She dipped her head forward to get a better look.

“You’ve got good eyes.” She squinted. “I see the silhouette.”

“That same guy is in some of Faith’s photos.” I left out all the details. “I don’t know who he is but I can place him here. And it sure does look like a wand in his hand.”

“You are an angel!” She squealed. “Colton! I think June knows who killed Patty.”

“Whoa.” I stopped her from getting her hopes up. “I don’t know him but I plan on finding out.” I shook the photo. “Can I take this with me?”

“Absolutely.” Her eyes grew. “Go! Figure this out so we can open and enjoy All Hallows’ Eve.”

The excitement in her voice put a little giddy-up in my step. I was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this. And the only way to do that was to visit Patch and ask him who this man was.

The day was getting away from me so I darted up behind the police station and headed straight to the pumpkin farm instead of grabbing the Green Machine. Sometimes by foot was quicker than by wheels.

I tried to call Oscar again, but it went straight to voicemail. Maybe he was listening to his messages and was going to call me back. I left another message to call me because I felt like there was a connection between clues. Patch was in one of the photos talking to the man so I knew he’d be able to at least identify him. My phone beeped to let me know it was dying.

The pumpkin farm was closed and I had to straddle a few pumpkins on my way through it, careful not to trip over the thick vines that seemed to make a thorny maze for me. No wonder Mr. Prince Charming didn’t want to come.

Across the field I heard someone calling my name. Jo Ellen was in her backyard, her arms waving to me over her head. When I waved back, she bent down and picked up the white kitten, dangling her in the air to show me.

I made my way over to her house. I might as well check on her and the kitten like I had promised Petunia.

“How do you like Snow White?” she asked.

“Perfect name.” I took Snow White from her and rubbed my hands down her fur. I looked up at the house. “Where’s your mom?”

“She’s inside with my dad. Fighting.” She rolled her eyes. “They needed parent time. That means they are arguing. My dad actually took my side for once.”

“Oh yeah.” I was curious what that meant. If I was about to become a parent, I needed all the ammunition on how these little people’s minds worked.

“Yeah. He had me a fun wizard costume with little wands and all. But she wanted me to be a princess because my wands are missing.” Her lips turned down. “Daddy brought me new ones today, but Mommy was so mad.”

I glanced up at the house. My gut tugged. Her wands went missing? Tish appeared at the back glass door, a man with dark hair next to her.

“Look at this ugly doll he gave me. I don’t even like dolls,” disappointment rang in her voice.

Turn to the side
, my head begged as the knot in my throat nearly stopped my breathing. I didn’t have the effort to look at Jo’s doll.

“Hi, June!” Tish yelled after she opened the door. “Jo Ellen Broussert, come say ’bye to your daddy.”

It took everything I had in my body to wave back and put a smile on my face. Not only did I have physical evidence that Broussert was at the bookstore and the pumpkin farm, he wasn’t on vacation like Oscar had thought. Plus he had a motive to kill Patch from what Hazel said.

I watched as the dark-haired man wrapped Jo in his arms and slid my eyes down to the doll. I reached down and picked up a homemade voodoo doll.

I stumbled across the yard trying to make my way to Patch’s house. If I could make it past Hazel’s yard, I knew Patch would be a safe haven. My theory of Broussert killing Patty believing he was Patch made more sense than ever. Not only did I have the photo evidence, I had the voodoo doll that looked almost identical to the one found at the crime scene.

“Oscar, where are you?” I stopped once I made it over to Hazel’s yard and out of sight of Tish’s back door. I held the voodoo doll up to my face. “I know who killed Patty.”

I took my phone down from my ear and noticed it’d died. I threw it in my bag.

“June? Honey, you okay?” Hazel suddenly stood up from her rose garden. She was rubbing her hand on her hip.

“I’m fine.” I waved the voodoo doll in the air before I stuck it in my bag. I tugged my wrist when my charm bracelet caught.

“Let me help you.” She waddled over and looked at the bracelet. “Oh, honey. My eyes can’t help you.”

“It’s okay.” I got myself free. I pulled away and started toward Patch’s.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked. “Come in for some tea. You look like you could use something. You are looking a little peaked.”

“No thank you.” I shook my head.

“June, if you are pregnant, you need to keep hydrated.” And she had to go there.

I could wait for Oscar to call me back and then go over to Patch’s. As long as I wasn’t with Tish.

“Okay. I could use a refresher.” It was nice to see that I pleased Hazel.

We walked into her house and she insisted I sit on the couch and rest while she got my tea.

I was so nervous I wasn’t able to sit still. I walked around the family room, taking a look outside over the pumpkin farm.

“Have you seen Patch?” I asked.

“Last time I saw him, he was going to the farm to meet Broussert.” Her words were like knives to my ears.

“Oh no.” I gasped, wondering if Broussert was going to take that opportunity to finish the job he botched. I dragged my eyes across the wall to look at her in the kitchen and the photo of her and her grandson and son caught my eyes.

“Oh no, what?” she asked.

An uneasiness spiced with irritation coiled deep in my bones as my eyes focused on the dark-haired man that had the exact same nose as the man in all the photos. I composed myself and walked into the kitchen. Hazel smiled at me as she stirred the iced tea in the glass.

“I’m not thirsty. I’m going to be going. I’m going to be late to meet Oscar.” I gave her a hug and noticed the insect killer in the white bottle sitting on the kitchen windowsill. There was a small white trail from the window to the glass.

“I really think you need to drink for the baby.” She pulled back and glanced in the direction of the bug killer.

Suddenly I felt dizzy as I read the banner across the bug killer.
Boric Acid.

“Well, fiddlesticks.” Hazel took a step back. “I was afraid of this. When I saw you with my cute little doll I had made, I figured you weren’t stupid. And now this.” She waddled over and picked up the bug killer. “Broussert promised my son the farm job. He promised me Patch’s property. I’m an old lady and just want to spend my last days with my grandson, son and my roses. I have bad eyes.” She tapped her eye. “So when I offered Patch an iced tea with a little of the boric acid, I had no idea it was his brother until you mentioned it. I honestly thought I didn’t give him enough. After all, he was so tired from the events of the night when I popped over there to see him after everyone left.”

“It’s okay. I understand.” I refused to take the glass as she held it up to me.

“Since you understand, then you should have no problem drinking this.” She held it up to my face.