A Hint of Magic (16 page)

Off in the corner of one room was a small garbage can.  It was overflowing with wrappers.  Naturally, Clarissa assumed they were junk food wrappers.  But upon closer inspection, she saw they were protein bars.

“This
is
Shane’s room, isn’t it?” she wondered aloud, suddenly doubting her assumption.

She knew Greg had recently moved back home – and he had been extremely into fitness and bodybuilding.  Maybe this had been his bedroom…it certainly looked like it could be.  There was one quick and easy way to find out.

Clarissa walked over to the closet and opened the door.  Inside were a bunch of clothes, all kind of jammed in there in a haphazard, disorganized sort of way.  She grabbed the closest pair of jeans and held them up by the waist to inspect the size.

They were definitely too big to have belonged to Greg.

“Yep, this is Shane’s room,” she concluded as she put the jeans back.  “Hmm, I don’t suppose there’s a bloodstained grim reaper costume just hanging out in here, is there?”  She poked around in the back of the closet for a moment but found nothing of interest.

After shutting the closet door, Clarissa stood in the middle of the room wondering what to do next.  She didn’t really know what she was looking for.  She had simply hoped to find something that could tie Shane to Greg’s murder.

“The cops will love that explanation if they catch me in here,” she whispered to herself.  “Then again, the cops in this town couldn’t catch rain in a bucket.”  Even so, she was anxious to get out of the house as quickly as possible.  She only hoped to find something useful first.

That was when she noticed half a dozen bottles of supplements on Shane’s dresser.  Either the kid was in poor health or he was on a fitness regimen of sorts. 

Clarissa walked over and read the labels.  She only recognized one name, but she knew it was an over-the-counter weight loss pill.  She saw ads for it on TV constantly.

“An overweight kid’s bodybuilder brother comes back to town and it motivates him,” she shrugged.  “It’s not that shocking, really.  I already knew Shane had taken up smoking to try to lose weight, so diet pills aren’t that much of a stretch I suppose.”

She walked out into the hallway and peered into the master bedroom.  It was all frills and lace, with doilies on the dresser and nightstand.  Actually, the floral bedspread and curtains reminded her of the ones her grandmother had. 

That was when it hit her:  she was snooping through someone’s house.  That was so wrong.

Did the end justify the means?  If she found something she could use to bring Shane to justice, would it make what she was doing okay?  What if she
didn’t
find anything? 

Suddenly Clarissa felt ashamed of what she was doing.  She had no right to be poking around inside the Klassen home.  Her heart had been in the right place when she had entered the house uninvited, but she had gone a step too far.

“I should leave,” she decided.

She was at the top of the staircase when the front door of the house opened.

Clarissa froze, barely daring to breathe.  Voices from below drifted upstairs.

“That was a nice service,” Mrs. Klassen’s sister Linda said. 

“Yes.  The slideshow turned out well.” Mrs. Klassen replied.

“It was lovely.”

“Seeing all those old photos of Greg was difficult, but comforting.  He looked so different back then.  He
behaved
so differently back then!  I always thought he would eventually come around and I’d get my old Greg back,” Mrs. Klassen sighed.

“The old Greg was long gone, Mom,” a deep male voice said gently.  “The old Greg had been gone for years.  He left after high school and disappeared forever.” 

Clarissa knew that wasn’t Shane’s voice.  It had to be Ted, the eldest Klassen son. 

It’s still hard to believe he’s gone.”  Mrs. Klassen sounded tired. 

It was interesting to note that she didn’t argue with Ted’s assertion. 

Clarissa had heard from a few people that Greg had changed dramatically in his twenties, his personality transforming as much as his physique had.  The snippet of conversation she had overheard only seemed to confirm that.

“I’m going to go tidy up the yard,” Ted announced. 

“I’m going to go play video games,” Shane said.

“No,” Ted said authoritatively.  “You’re going to come outside and help me rake.”  He sounded very much like a big brother in that moment – perhaps even a father figure.  The way he was stepping up and taking charge was sort of admirable.

Clarissa heard the door slam.  Knowing that Ted and Shane were no longer in the house offered her some measure of relief.  But the two women were still downstairs.  Clarissa’s heart pounded as she tried to plan her escape route.  If only she had left the house five minutes earlier!

“I’m going to go take a nap,” Mrs. Klassen said wearily.

Clarissa’s heart practically stopped at that.  She was standing right outside the master bedroom!  Frantically, she looked around for a hiding spot.  At the same time, she wondered if the floorboards would creak when she moved and alert the women to her presence. 

“Oh, this isn’t good,” she whimpered to herself.

“Let me fix you a bite to eat before you go upstairs,” Mrs. Klassen’s sister said.  “Sit down.”

Oh, thank goodness for Greg’s Aunt Linda!  Relief washed over Clarissa when she realized no one was coming up the stairs after all.  She let out the breath she had been holding and once again began trying to come up with an escape plan.

“Thank you for being here,” Mrs. Klassen said gratefully.  “I’m so glad you came to town as soon as you heard the awful news. I really appreciate all that you’ve done.  You and Teddy are lifesavers.  You’ve been such a help, Linda.”

“It’s what big sisters do,” Linda replied over the sounds of cupboard doors and drawers closing.  “This all must be so difficult for you.  I can’t even imagine.”

“It is, but to tell you the truth it’s also sort of a relief,” Mrs. Klassen admitted.

Clarissa was so shocked by that statement that for a moment, she thought she may have misheard.  She leaned forward, her pretty black beaded earrings dangling annoyingly against the side of her face as she strained to catch every word. 

Mrs. Klassen’s voice was quieter now as she confided in her sister.

“Is that a horrible thing to say?  I’m relieved my son is at peace.  He was never at peace when he was alive.  Not for the past decade, anyway.  The junk he put into his body changed him.  I sometimes wondered if he had something deeper than that going on, too.”

“Poor Greg,” Linda sighed.  “This all must be so hard for you.”

“He’s at peace now,” Mrs. Klassen reiterated.  “Maybe his death was a blessing in disguise.  I feel like a terrible mother for even thinking it.  It’s just…you have no idea how difficult it’s been since Greg moved back in.  He was miserable and bitter and mean.  He acted like a dictator.  I felt like a servant – or sometimes a prisoner – in my own home.”

Linda clucked her tongue in disapproval.  “Try to remember the good times,” she advised.

“I will.  He was such a bright boy, so full of promise.  Of my three boys, Greg was the one I worried about the least.  He was a model student, a chess champion…he was a good boy.  But Teddy is right.  We hadn’t seen
that
Greg in years.”

“Eat your sandwich,” Linda instructed.  “It’s chicken salad, your favorite.”

“Okay.”  There was a moment of silence during which Greg’s mother presumably took a bite.  But then she spoke again.  “I wish I knew what happened that night.  It keeps me up at night, wondering and worrying.  I feel like I won’t have peace until I know how Greg lost his life.”

“Try not to dwell on it.  I know that’s easier said than done, but obsessing over what happened isn’t going to help you move forward.  Let’s talk about something else.  Actually, enough talk,” Linda decided.  “Let’s go eat in front of the TV, what do you say?  Maybe if we’re lucky we can find a cheesy soap opera to watch.”

The conversation ceased.  Then there was a sound of a chair being pushed back from the table.

A moment later, Clarissa heard a sound that was music to her ears. 

It was the sound of an overdramatic D-list actress shouting shrilly before breaking down in tears.  She sounded like a donkey screeching as she fake-cried for the cameras, but audiences everywhere probably lapped it up. 

It seemed the women had found themselves a cheesy soap opera to watch.

It was fantastic news for Clarissa. 

She knew the stairs weren’t visible from the living room, so she finally had an opportunity to get out of the house undetected.  She hoped the sound of the television would drown out any creaking she might make on the staircase. 

Luck seemed to be on her side, but it was nevertheless a tense situation.

Moving as quickly and quietly as she could, she began her descent down the stairs.

She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, not even daring to breathe.  By some miracle, she made it all the way to the bottom of the stairs undetected!  It was true.  She really was the world’s best sleuth! Well, either that or the world’s luckiest.

Clarissa knew she wasn’t out of danger yet.  She could still be caught at any moment, so celebrating her narrow escape was premature.  Determined to slip out of the house as discreetly as she could, she kept her head down and continued walking.

She was nearly at the back door when she walked right into a kitchen drawer that had been left open.  There was, of course, a noise as all the silverware in the drawer rattled around. 

Clarissa was utterly horrified.  Thankfully she hadn’t cried out in alarm but even so, the sound the drawer had made upon impact had been loud.

Maybe the ladies in the living room hadn’t heard it.  Maybe –

“Teddy?” Mrs. Klassen called, demolishing Clarissa’s hopes.  “Is that you?”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Clarissa chanted under her breath.

Then the front door opened.  “Mo – om!” Shane complained belligerently from the other side of the house.  “Ted’s trying to make me go up on the roof with him.  He says there are leaves stuck in the rain gutter and we need to clean them out.  I told him I’m not doing it.  I’ll fall for sure!”

“If you don’t feel safe up there, don’t do it,” Mrs. Klassen advised.  “But at least go hold the ladder for your brother.”

Shane huffed and puffed in indignation.  It was so over-the-top that even Clarissa could hear it!  But after a moment, he turned and went back outside.  And when she heard the front door slam, she knew that was her cue.

Springing into action, she bolted out the back door as fast she could.

She tore across the backyard, probably breaking speed records as she went.  She ran like her life depended on it, not stopping until she reached the gate.  Even then, she only paused long enough to unlatch it.  She ran all the way down the back alley, not slowing until she reached the street where she had parked her car.

She doubled over then and tried to catch her breath, finally able to breathe freely.

Freedom smelled so sweet.

Or was that the scent of freshly baked cinnamon buns wafting over from the bakery?

Either way, her mouth was watering.

“You need to be more careful,” Parker said in dismay a couple hours later.  They were seated on Clarissa’s living room couch.  She hadn’t wanted to risk anyone overhearing their conversation out in public, so they had met at her house rather than going out.

She had just finished filling Parker in on her adventures.  And now he was giving her The Look.

“I’m fine,” she assured him stubbornly.

“I can’t believe you actually broke into the Klassen house,” Parker chastised, shaking his head.  “Well, actually I can.  It sounds like something you would do.” 

“It does not!” she argued.  “What are you even talking about?”

He chuckled.  “Back when I first met you, I admired your work because I thought you were a thorough, ethical reporter –”

“Hey, that’s unfair,” Clarissa interrupted, instantly hurt that Parker’s opinion of her had changed.  “And for the record, I didn’t break in.  Well, not exactly.  The gate wasn’t locked and neither was the back door.  I’m not unethical.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Parker said.  “Back when I first met you, I knew you were an ethical reporter.  But I had no idea you were also a fearless risk-taker.  I had no clue how far you would go to expose the truth.  It’s…really something. 
You’re
really something.”

“You don’t think I’m the worst person in the world for snooping around the Klassen house?” Clarissa asked hopefully.  She was alarmed to realize she couldn’t bear the thought of Parker thinking poorly of her.  Just like her cat, he had grown on her over time.

“I don’t like the thought of you putting yourself in danger.”

“I’m fine,” she reminded him.

“You’re lucky, is what you are.  Also, I’m a bit miffed you didn’t invite me along on your adventure,” Parker admitted.  “It sounds like you could have used a lookout!  But no, I don’t think any less of you.  I don’t think you could do anything to make me think less of you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Clarissa retorted sarcastically without missing a beat.

He paused for a second, looking perplexed.  Then he burst out laughing when he realized what he’d said.  “I didn’t mean it that way,” he assured her once he could speak again.  “It came out very, very wrong.”

“I knew what you meant,” she chuckled.  “I was giving you a hard time, that’s all.”

“You always do.”

“Oh I do not,” she scoffed. 

“I’m not complaining.  You keep me on my toes.”

“Ha-ha, very funny.  But on a more serious note, what do you think we should do?” she asked, her smile disappearing.  “I’m telling you the cops in this town won’t lift a finger unless they know it will be an easy, open-and-shut case.  Do we have enough evidence to convince them?”

Parker frowned.  “It’s basically all circumstantial,” he admitted.  “We don’t have a smoking gun, so to speak.  I think any
good
cop would launch an investigation into Shane at this point.  But I know you’re not exaggerating about how inept the police in this town are,” he sighed.

“I wish I was.”

He nodded in agreement.  “Honestly, I think we need more proof that Shane’s our guy.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” Clarissa sighed.

Suddenly there was a loud thump outside.

“What was that?” Parker asked.

“Mail delivery,” Clarissa replied nonchalantly, glancing at the clock to confirm her suspicion.  “The postman always comes right around this time.  I should probably grab my mail now or, knowing me, I’ll forget all about it.”

She got up and went to the door.  After waving to her postman, she opened her mailbox.  There were three white envelopes in there.  She grabbed them, shut the mailbox with a clank and returned to the living room. 

She tossed the envelopes on the coffee table absentmindedly.  Then she sat back down on the couch, right next to Parker.  There were chairs in the living room too, but for some reason they were both on the couch.  Clarissa didn’t mind.  In fact, she quite liked it.

“Not going to open your mail?” Parker asked, repositioning himself so he was closer to her.

“Later.  It’s probably just bills,” she shrugged, trying to play it cool.

Inside, she was overthinking everything.  Their knees were nearly touching and it was pretty much all she could focus on.  She kept staring at Parker out of the corner of her eye and entertaining crazy thoughts of leaning over to kiss him. 

She hoped his change in position had been deliberate because he wanted to sit closer to her and not because her cat was pestering him.  She wished he was easier to read because she was rapidly developing quite the crush on him.  It would be nice to know whether it was unrequited so she could gauge exactly how pathetic she actually was.

In an effort to stop acting like a bumbling fool, she forced herself to stop looking at Parker. 

Her gaze fell on the coffee table. 

That was when she noticed one of the envelopes didn’t contain a return address. 

Curious, she leaned forward and grabbed the unmarked envelope.  Her address had been scrawled on the front.  If she had to guess, she would say the writing looked rather masculine.  But of course, she was no handwriting expert.

“Hmm…” Clarissa furrowed her brow and ran her finger over the envelope.  There was what felt like a small, hard object inside it.  She tore into it, not bothering to open it up carefully.  Then she shook the contents of the envelope out into her cupped hand. 

When she saw what tumbled out, her face went pale.

“What is it?” Parker wanted to know when he saw her reaction.

Wordlessly, she held up the black beaded earring that was in the envelope.  She raised her hand then and touched her ears.  Her fear was confirmed.  She was only wearing one earring.  The other ear was bare. 

“Someone returned your earring?” Parker asked, clearly not understanding why that was bad.

“You didn’t tell me I was missing an earring,” Clarissa said with mounting horror.

He shrugged and appeared to be mystified.  “I would have mentioned it sooner but I didn’t want to interrupt.  What we were talking about seemed far more important than you only wearing one earring.  Besides, I didn’t know it was a big deal.” 

“It is. 
This
is a big deal,” she said. 

She unfolded her hand to reveal a piece of paper that had been in the envelope alongside the earring.  It appeared to be a small scrap that had been torn out of a notebook.  Scrawled on it was one simple, yet terrifying phrase:  BE CAREFUL.

When Parker read the words, he raised an eyebrow.  “That’s weird.  Who’s it from?”

She didn’t answer.

Parker looked at Clarissa more closely.  “You’re shaking,” he observed with dismay, reaching out to grab her trembling hand.  “What’s wrong?  I’m not following this at all.  Why is having your missing earring returned to you a big deal?”

“I was wearing these earrings earlier today.  I remember having them on when I was investigating Shane,” she said, recalling the way her big, heavy earrings had swung back and forth as she had stood at the top of the stairs eavesdropping.

That got Parker’s attention.  “You’re saying you lost your earring at the Klassens’ house?”

She nodded.  “I must have.  I didn’t think anyone saw me there, but apparently I was wrong.  What if this is Shane telling me he knows I was there, he knows I’ve been snooping?  Parker, what if Shane knows I’m closing in on him?”

“This is bad.  This might be a threat…at first I thought it was a weird note from one of your friends but it sounds like a threat. You could be in danger,” Parker said, voicing her worst fears.  “We need to go to the police with what we know
now
,” he decided. 

“But it could jeopardize the case,” she protested.

“I’d rather jeopardize the case than jeopardize your safety,” he declared without hesitation.

Had Clarissa not been so shaken, she’d have found that endearing. 

“What do we do now?” she asked, grateful she had someone to talk things over with.  When she had first met Parker she had dismissed him as an entitled, arrogant idiot, but she had been wrong.  She knew he had a good head on his shoulders and she valued his opinion.

“Let’s go down to the station and see if we can talk some sense into the cops,” Parker suggested.  “If we can’t persuade them to look into Shane more closely, then I’ll see if I can pull some strings and get a Green City police officer to look into the matter.”

“Wouldn’t the Sugarcomb Lake police have jurisdiction over the investigation?”

“Yes. If a Green City officer got involved, it would be strictly off the record,” Parker confirmed.  “Unlike the so-called police in this town, the ones in the city are mostly competent. They’re always insanely busy in the city, but maybe I can persuade someone to do me a favor.”

She sighed.  “This isn’t how I wanted things to play out.”

“Me neither.  But cheer up,” Parker said, obviously trying to do his best to reassure her.  “This will all blow over soon, I’m sure of it.  In the meantime, I don’t think you should be alone.”

Clarissa nodded.  She liked to be independent and tried to pretend she was fearless.  But the unexpected mail delivery had her really shaken up.  She was putting on a brave face as best she could, but inside she was frightened.

This was one of those times she wished she had a housemate to keep her company.  Preferably one who, unlike her cat, wasn’t afraid of shadows and didn’t hiss at the mirror.  Unfortunately, she was all alone.

“Do you want to stay at my condo until this gets resolved?” Parker offered.  “I know it’s not the same as being at home but for what it’s worth, my sister says the bed in the guest room is really comfortable.”

“I want to say yes,” she admitted, finally letting herself be vulnerable.  “But I have deadlines…”

“Ah yes, the newspaper,” he nodded.  “Is there any way you can work from my place?”

“Not really,” she sighed.  It would be far too much trouble to move everything.

“Okay.”

When Parker didn’t argue or try to tell her to forget about her newspaper, Clarissa could have hugged him.  It was so refreshing to have somebody in her life that understood and could empathize when it came to being a workaholic.

The cat chose that moment to cause a distraction. 

It sauntered around the couch like a little diva, completely ignoring Clarissa.  It thwacked Parker on the ankle with its tail, which insofar as Clarissa could tell, was an act of approval.  Then it hopped onto the couch and plopped down on Parker’s lap for a snooze.

“Am I going to have to share my bed with the cat?” Parker asked good-naturedly.

“Your bed?” she repeated, not following.

“If you’re not leaving your house, then I’m staying here with you,” Parker announced matter-of-factly.  “For the foreseeable future, this couch will be my bed.  Unless you have a spare room?” he added hopefully.

“Sorry,” she told him apologetically.  “I’ve been meaning to buy a new mattress and get a guest bedroom set up, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.  All I’ve got is the couch.  And it’s sort of lumpy,” she added with a grimace.

“No worries,” he reassured her.  “If it’s good enough for the cat, it’s good enough for me.”

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” she told him.

“I want to,” he said firmly.

“Okay.”  She didn’t protest.  Secretly she wanted him there, and it was only partly because she was developing a massive crush on him.  Truthfully, she was also pretty nervous about being home alone after receiving the earring and ominous note in the mail.

“When we get done at the police station I’ll take you out for pie and a nice strong cup of coffee,” Parker offered.  “What do you say?”

“You had me at pie.”