Meows, Magic & Murder (21 page)

Wanda did a belly laugh. “Oh, Maxine told them all right, but they didn’t believe her. Even went so far as to say she was keeping the secret all to herself.”

“If I had something like what you gave to Lucy, I’d be an even a richer woman by now,” Aunt Maxine said with a sly smile.

“And have half the town your age signing up for the Lake Forest marathon?”

“Is Lucy still doing that? I was certain I had convinced her to not make a spectacle of herself.”

“She promised to be low-key, but I just don’t believe we’ll be able to keep her away from that marathon. Unless you can find a way to convince her, since it’s tomorrow, you know.”

“I suppose I could ask her again, but she’s dead set on it. She told me it’s about time someone our age shows those youngsters how it’s done. Maxine was always quite active in her younger years. She ran regularly and was quite the swimmer, until the arthritis struck her down. I’m glad you gave her that salve, Petunia, but the results are nothing short of miraculous.”

“I’m quite shocked. I had no idea that salve would actually work. I mean I had hoped it would, but I was just worried about what might happen. I have a history of misfiring.”

“Magic is like that sometimes. You need to work on perfecting your spells.”

“You mean potions. It’s not magic.”

“Any recipe you followed in that old book Anastasia Cuza left to me is quite magical and it takes a good witch to pull it off. Changing a man into a cat took some doing. I can’t wonder if you did that on purpose. Who would ever guess one of your cats used to be the most randy man in town?”

“I knew it!”
Pansy shouted.

“Not now, Pansy,”
Petunia said. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Aunt?”

“You’re a natural, Petunia, and a witch just like me.”

Petunia had to lean against the counter, nearly hyperventilating. “What?”

“You’re smart, Petunia. I’m sure you must have figured it out by now on your own.”

Petunia’s mind was reeling. She had been trying to deny what she had felt in her heart the whole time. And suddenly, it was finally validated. She was a witch. “I did wonder, but you never told me I was a witch and neither did my parents before they died.”

“No, they disapproved of my lifestyle and wanted a better life for their daughter. I was very saddened when they died, Petunia.”

“And their car accident had nothing to do with witchcraft?”

“Not that I’m aware of, but unfortunately, it led to the rumor that there’s a curse against our family. It’s not true and you don’t need to be afraid of being in a car.”

Petunia straightened up now. “I’m not afraid of riding in a car, just driving one. I even rode on Noah’s motorcycle.”

“I’m glad to hear that. But Anastasia wasn’t just anyone you know.”

“I know. She’s a witch, or was one.”

“Yes, it runs in the family. Why else do you think everyone in town thinks we’re witches?”

“It might have something to do with that big, black house on the hill that you inherited from Anastasia.”

“No, actually it doesn’t. She was my mother.”

“Your mother? Are you serious?”

“Very. I’m sure your grandfather never mentioned that our father was married once before and that it ended in divorce. It was unheard of in those days, but it did happen. The marriage was annulled through the Catholic Church, but it was known to your grandfather about who our real mother was. My step-mother made sure of that. She never did treat us the same as her children. In my teen years, I was quite unruly, although my brother and I were quite close as children. I thought I had it all figured out in those days. I was unhappy at home and, like most women in the 1950s, I hoped to marry young to get out of the house.”

“So is it true you got pregnant as a teenager.”

“Who told you that?” Aunt Maxine asked shocked.

“My grandfather. He also said you went away to have the baby, but didn’t come back to town with one. Is Nancy Patterson your daughter?”

Aunt Maxine shook her head sadly. “I image your grandfather filled your head with plenty of stories, but Nancy most certainly isn’t my daughter, nor was Helen Patterson my granddaughter.”

“She went out to Sunnybrook to question my grandfather. She told him that she was your granddaughter, but Nancy told me that Helen became interested in you, Aunt Maxine, after the newspaper ran that story about your successful shop.”

“I first met her when she asked me to read her tea leaves, but after she showed up at my house, I began to suspect she was up to something. That’s when she tried saying she was my granddaughter. She tried to get money out of me, even tried to steal one of my potion books. My bookshelf has many of them, but none of them are the type of books anyone should be messing around with. Luckily, I was able to retrieve it from her before she left. I think she took me as being senile, but I was on to her.”

“How can you be sure that she wasn’t your granddaughter?”

“Besides that she tried to get money out of me? She doesn’t look like anyone in the family and certainly doesn’t have the heart-shaped birthmark on her wrist like you and I have. Anastasia also had the same birthmark and only females in the family have it.”

“Did you give up your child for adoption?”

“Yes, and I tried to find my son once, but the adoption records were sealed, even back then. I was able to finally obtain records and sent my son, Jacob, a letter with my intent to meet him, but my letters were returned unopened.”

Petunia had to ask, “According to Helen’s mother, it was a coincidence that we have the same last names. But what I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me that Helen tried to get money out of you?”

Aunt Maxine frowned. “I didn’t want to bother you, dear.”

“But my grandfather told me she was asking questions about me.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t surprise me that she went after Jeremy after I refused to give her a dime and told her outright that she wasn’t my granddaughter.”

“Except that Jeremy didn’t want to date just one woman, but many.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,”
Pansy said.
“I was sowing my oats.”

“What are you, a horse? Oats, indeed.”

“What is it with you women, anyway? You’re all trying to entrap a man into matrimony. Isn’t that why you gave me that love potion?”

“No, it’s not. I-I don’t know exactly what I was thinking. I guess I thought if you fell in love with me, that you’d…”
Petunia sighed.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry I ever did that and I swear I’ll try to make it right somehow.”

“Did you have anything to do with Helen’s murder, Aunt Maxine?”

Wanda shook her head sadly. “You’re questioning your own aunt about murdering a woman who tried to get money out of her? Shame on you Petunia.”

“Now, Wanda, that’s a reasonable question,” Aunt Maxine said.
“
But I’d never kill anyone. Change them into something, perhaps. Sorry. I couldn’t resist, Petunia.”

“I never thought that, but I had to ask to be sure, even though it doesn’t line up with the other two victims. Both of them I had problems with in high school and someone gave them each a letter, supposedly from me, asking them to meet them at Lake Forest beach even though it’s been years since high school.”

“Sounds like someone went to quite a bit of trouble to make you look guilty, Petunia.”

“Yes, and I’d like to know one more thing.”

“Ask away.”

“If you and your brother were so close when you were children, when did you have a falling out?”

Aunt Maxine sighed and Petunia knew she didn’t want to say.

“Let’s just say that I gave a girl that he was interested in a love potion on his behalf, but …”

“What happened?”

“I accidentally turned her into a-a—cat.”

“Cat? Did you use the same potion I used?”

“It appears that must be the case, although I swear it was a love potion, too.”

“And you made me think I was the one who did something wrong.”

Aunt Maxine sighed. She went behind the counter and opened a safe, pulling out the potion book. When she set it on the counter, she thumbed through the pages until she ran across the recipe Petunia had used.

“That’s odd. I never noticed that before.”

“Noticed what?” Petunia asked.

“As you can see, the heading on this recipe had faded and it looks like someone wrote love potion on it. But that must have been an error.”

“An awfully big one if you ask me.” Petunia took the book and examined the table of contents, tracing it back to the page of the recipe. “Ah, this recipe was for human transformation. Are you positive you used the same recipe to make the potion you gave that girl?”

“Quite.”

“And where is this cat?” Petunia asked, and then said, “It’s Princess, isn’t it?” Princess was her aunt’s tabby cat. She’d had her for more years than most cats had lived and now Petunia knew why.

“Does she communicate with you?”

“Oh, yes, and believe me, Princess had plenty to say. But through the years, we came to an understanding. In time, she became adjusted to her new form.” Aunt Maxine went on to say, “I told my brother that I didn’t know what happened to the girl, but I’m afraid he didn’t believe me. When he pressed me on the matter, I finally admitted what I’d done, leaving the part out that she had been transformed to a cat. I told him she was changed into a butterfly, instead, and that she had flown away. I don’t think my brother would be able to handle the
real
truth.”

“I can’t blame you, there. And he never forgave you?”

“No. I’ve tried to visit him many times, even asked him to come and stay with me, but he eventually refused to see me at Sunnybrook and outright was upset that I’d have the gall enough to even ask him to live with me after what I did.”

“Why did he have a need to stay anywhere? Didn’t he have a home of his own?”

“Yes, until his home burned to the ground. He used to be in the CIA, never really settled much of anywhere after the fire. He married one time, but the marriage didn’t last. You can’t just leave a woman and your son to fend for themselves while you’re abroad for years at a time. Your father was his only child.”

“I see. Well, he certainly seems busy at Sunnybrook, but thinks he’s doing some investigation out there.”

“For all I know, he very well might be.”

Petunia didn’t want to even think about that. She was too busy now focusing on Pansy as he fell to the counter and covered his head with his paws. “
Is that it? You’re all witches and I’m doomed to roam the earth as a feline. No … I won’t accept it. I can’t,”
Pansy said.

“I’m so sorry, Pansy. I mean, er, Jeremy. If I could undo it, believe me, I would. This is no fun for either of us. I’m a suspect in your disappearance.”

“Serve you right to be arrested and incarcerated for your crime.”

“Sure, you say that now, but who would take care of you if I’m in prison?”
Petunia said out loud.

“That won’t do. I’m not about to take on another cat with angst. You tell him, Petunia.”

“Tell your aunt that I can hear her loud and clear. I’m not an idiot. I just can’t communicate with anyone, but you.”

 
“Why can Pansy understand what everyone says, but is unable to speak to any of them besides me?”

“It’s your spell, dear. Princess only communicates with me, too.”

“I wish I could talk to them,” Hazel said.

“Me, too,” Wanda quickly added.

“Believe me, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be,” Petunia said.

Petunia pushed the broom then and swept up while Hazel and Wanda cleaned off the counters. Petunia vowed that somehow, she’d find a way to ease Pansy’s life as a cat.

As Petunia swept the debris into the dust pan, she said, “Perhaps we should introduce Princess and Pansy. She might be able to help him adjust to being a cat.”

“Okay, if that’s what you want, but I somehow can see them plotting our demise,” Aunt Maxine said with a laugh. “I’m being quite serious, dear.”

“If I’m a witch, does that mean I can zap up things?”

“Not hardly, dear. Our power comes with our potions. You, for instance, have created something that really works. You just have to modify it so that you don’t end up with another Lucy.”

“Tell me about it. Whatever will I do if that potion wears off for her? I’d hate to see her back in pain.”

“Exactly. But for all we know, it might be permanent for her.”

“I hope so, but talk her out of entering that marathon. She claimed she was in the seventies and up group, but I have my doubts. I think she has something to prove.”

“I told you I’d try and I will. Do you have any more questions about begin a witch?”

“Have you told anyone you really are a witch?”

“That’s something you should never do unless you’re ready to come out as a witch.”

“I was just wondering about Noah. I think he suspects something. I spoke to Lucy privately after she asked him to wait outside for me. When I met him outside, I swear he suspects something. Besides, just about everywhere I go, people are calling me a witch.”

“Let them talk. I’d recommend not telling that handsome man unless you wish to risk him running the other way.”

“Well, I barely know the man. He’s just helping me to clear my name.”

“Oh, and there’s nothing odd about that? Why would he care if you were arrested or not?”

“We did discover a body together.”

“Still, I noticed how that man looks at you. He’s attracted to you, otherwise why go to so much trouble to help you out?”

“In the beginning, it was me investigating, but so was he. We just combined forces, is all.” Petunia put the broom and dustpan into the closet and returned, asking, “Is everyone in our family a witch? What about grandfather? Is he a warlock?”

“No, the only people that are witches in our family are the ones who bear that heart-shaped birthmark on their wrist.”

“Why didn’t grandfather say anything to me?”

“He probably didn’t want to or hoped that you wouldn’t follow in my footsteps.”