Spelling Mistake (The Kitchen Witch Book 4) (6 page)

Chapter 12

I thought the night couldn’t get any worse. As Alder’s car pulled up outside my home, much to my dismay I saw Ruprecht, Thyme, and Mint getting out of Ruprecht’s car outside Camino’s house, which of course, was next door to my house.

Their jaws all dropped when they saw me emerge from Alder’s car. I mumbled my goodbyes to Alder and walked over to them, feeling awfully guilty and at the same time, annoyed for myself for feeling guilty. Alder had not so long ago confided in me that he was a Dark Witch too, and while he had asked me not to tell the others, he had also said I could tell them if I really wanted to do so. I felt in an awkward position, keeping Alder’s secret from my friends.

“Amelia, good to see you,” Ruprecht said, obviously in an attempt to relieve the tension. “Come inside to Camino’s. We have new information.” I saw he was clutching the Book of Shadows to him.

“This is a surprise,” Thyme whispered to me as we walked in behind the others.

“You knew I was having dinner with Alder.”

Thyme winked at me. “I didn’t expect you’d be back so soon.”

I frowned at her. Oh well, I suppose being teased wasn’t as bad as her acting weird that I was with Alder. I chose to remain silent.

Ruprecht knocked once and then turned to me. “I’m returning your Great Aunt Thelma’s Book of Shadows to you.”

“Thelma couldn’t have foreseen that I’d summon a spirit,” I said sadly, just as Camino opened the door. She was dressed as a giant, olive-brown, spotted toad. I squealed, while the others, even the usually unflappable Ruprecht, gasped.

“Is that a new onesie, Camino?” Ruprecht asked her.

Camino twirled like a ballet dancer, as far as one could tell given that she was dressed as a toad. “Do you like it?” she asked proudly through the huge mouth. “It’s a cane toad onesie.”

Everyone nodded, although far from enthusiastically. “Um, aren’t cane toads very dangerous, like, um, venomous?” I asked her. I recoiled from the enormous fake warts on the suit.

Camino laughed. “Exactly! You don’t mess with them! Oh, I don’t spit poison, by the way.”

Well, that was reassuring. We all hurried past Camino into her living room. Camino’s house always made me feel like I was stepping back in time, entering another era. The old-fashioned and drab furniture was nevertheless enlivened by the countless candles placed around the room, and the arcane fragrances that emanated from them.

Camino indicated we should all sit. As she did so, she fell backward over a chair, and her webbed feet pitched skyward. The nearest candles quivered, sending a ripple of shadows across the walls. Mint struggled to right her while Ruprecht averted his eyes.

“Now to business,” Ruprecht said when the toad was sitting comfortably. “Amelia, while you were, err, away, we made a list of suspects. We have Fred, Craig and Kayleen, Laurence Burleigh, and Penny Plank. It’s not a hard and fast list, by any means, but it’s a start.”

I had pricked up my ears at the mention of Penny Plank. “I know the others, but I’ve never met Penny Plank.”

“She’s Scott’s ex-wife,” Ruprecht explained, but I already knew that.

“Does she live in town?” I asked him.

Ruprecht shook his head. “She hasn’t been in town for years, and she wasn’t at the memorial service this morning, but Camino saw her in town today.”

Thyme spoke up. “Are you sure it was her?”

Camino nodded. At least, I think that’s what she was doing. It was hard to tell, given that she was ensconced in a deadly toad suit. “I saw her coming out of the police station late this afternoon, and she didn’t look happy.”

“Well, perhaps the detectives called her in for questioning,” I said. “That’s not suspicious in itself, is it?”

Ruprecht looked solemn. “She lives in Port Macquarie, actually. That’s a few hours’ drive from here. I
do
find it suspicious that she just happened to be in town when her ex-husband was murdered, given that I haven’t seen her here for years. No doubt, the police would share my view.”

“Yes, that certainly does seem fishy,” I said. “But if they have children, then perhaps she was here for something to do with them.”

“It’s entirely possible,” Ruprecht admitted. “We’ll need to find out if she’s here with their children, and if there’s some sporting event or suchlike that they might be attending. If not, then I find her presence in town rather suspicious.”

“What about Laurence Burleigh?” Mint asked. “He takes over Scott’s job, and I heard it’ll be a permanent position. The Mayor himself told me that they won’t be advertising it. That’s a huge jump in pay. Still, it seems like a tenuous motive.”

“Perhaps Laurence had a different reason for wanting to kill Scott,” I said. “He was full of venom when he mentioned Scott this morning. Ruprecht, I can’t say that I w-i-s-h that the murderer will be revealed, can I? Then the entity will reveal it.”

Thyme chuckled. “I wondered why you spelled the word.”

I shrugged. “Just to be on the safe side.”

Ruprecht held up one finger. “No, Amelia, that would be the worst thing you could do. You need to remove that word from your vocabulary for the time being.”

Camino pulled off her cane toad head. It left every last piece of her hair sticking skyward. I did my best not to laugh. “I was suffocating under there,” she said sadly. “I won’t be able to sleep in it. I should’ve bought that long-nosed bandicoot onesie when I saw it online the other day. It should be much more comfortable to sleep in. I’ll buy you one too, Amelia, for your birthday.’

“That’s so kind of you, but my birthday isn’t for a long time,” I said hopefully. “A
very
long time.”

Camino waved my concerns away. “So you haven’t seen Fred again recently?”

“No, he hasn’t been around since this morning.” At least, I hoped that was the case. Had Fred in fact made Alder kiss me? I was fairly certain he had, but I had to put that out of my mind for the minute. “Ruprecht, have you made any progress on finding out anything about Fred?”

He shook his head. “Sadly, I haven’t. Summoning is always easy, even for the most unskilled or novice person, but banishing a spirit is quite another matter.”

I took a deep breath. “Alder showed me his collection of witchcraft books. After what we read, we think that Fred is a haint. Ruprecht, is there any chance that the word ‘haint’ appears as a spelling mistake in the text, in addition to the error you found?”

Ruprecht hurried to his feet. “Let’s have a look.” He carried the book to Camino’s dining room table, where he opened it.

Ruprecht took an awfully long time poring over the Book of Shadows, even by his standards. After what seemed an age, he jabbed his finger at the book. “There! That word there should be
aiunt
, Latin third person plural active indicative of the verb
aio
, ‘I affirm.’”

“Sorry, I didn’t understand a word of that,” I admitted. By the looks on the others’ faces, they didn’t either.

“In a nutshell, the word should be
aiunt
, meaning ‘they affirm,’ but instead it is
haint
. Granted, one is a verb and one is a noun, but I can explain the syntax of the sentence to you in detail.”

Mercifully, Camino prevented him. “No, none of us would understand you, if I’m honest,” she said quickly. “Are you saying that Amelia has summoned a haint?”

Ruprecht nodded solemnly.

“That’s not good, right?” I said. “So Fred’s a haint?”

Ruprecht nodded again. “Yes, he’s a haint, and no, it is not good. Far from it.”

“How do we get rid of him?” was my next question.

“I don’t know. I’m not aware of anyone banishing a haint, simply protecting oneself from one, warding one off.”

“How?” we all said at once.

“Traditionally by the color blue. Haints are supposed to have an aversion to the color. Have you ever seen those Southern homes where the porch ceilings are painted a pretty blue-green or light blue?” He looked at each of us in turn, and then pressed on. “That color is known as ‘haint blue.’ It’s supposed to keep haints away.”

“Why?” I asked him.

Ruprecht shut the Book of Shadows. “No one knows. Some legends say that haints won’t cross seawater, but no one really knows for sure. I’m afraid that knowing Fred is a haint brings us no closer to knowing whether or not he was the murderer.”

Silence settled over the room. “I should light some lemongrass incense,” Camino said, “or perhaps some asafoetida.”

Thyme pulled a face. “Lemongrass would be better. Asafoetida smells absolutely disgusting. They don’t call it ‘devil’s dung’ for nothing.”

“Let me light the incense, Camino,” Mint said. “If the fire gets too close to your onesie, you’ll go up in smoke.”

Ruprecht turned to look at me. “Amelia, you’ll have to banish the haint.”

“Me?” I squeaked. “But how?”

“I’m afraid that’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.” Ruprecht’s tone was solemn. “You’re a Dark Witch, and now is the time for you to recognize your powers and act on them.”

The rest of the evening was somewhat of a blur. I tossed and turned in bed that night, unable to sleep, burdened with worries. Had the haint killed Scott Plank? And had it made Alder kiss me? A selfish thought, I know, given the gravity of the situation, but one I just couldn’t get out of my mind. And worst of all, how would I be able to come into my powers as a Dark Witch? I didn’t even know what that entailed.

Willow and Hawthorn swiped at me as I rolled over in bed once more, annoyed I had disturbed them from their resting place on top of my legs. Willow walked up to my face to glare at me. “What am I going to do, Willow?” Of course, there was no reply, so I tried once more to fall asleep.

Chapter 13

I woke up to the sound of yet another strident battle. The house was up early this morning. Rubbing my eyes, I staggered into the living room to turn off the TV. “Please just let me have coffee first,” I said to the house.

Willow and Hawthorn had followed me every step of the way, complaining loudly that I had the nerve to do something other than feed them the second my eyes had opened. I went back into my usual routine, switching on the coffee and then filling the cats’ bowls with food.

I slumped over the coffee machine and waited for it to do its magic, figuratively speaking. That sound was my favorite sound in the world. Soon, the first hit of caffeine was oozing delightfully through my body. I took up my cup and went back into the living room, where I opened the curtains. To my alarm, I saw Kayleen’s van parked at my front gate. What was she doing here? I had gone to the expense of getting a Post Office Box just to make sure Kayleen never darkened my doorstep again.

I watched as she walked toward my iron gate, resting her hands on it. I set down my coffee cup, wrapped my bathrobe around me tightly, and hurried down the front path.

“Parcel!” Kayleen barked.

“What? I have a Post Office Box now. I’m not supposed to get any mail here.”

“Maybe you should get a redirection order,” Kayleen said in a snide tone.

“I
do
have one, a two-year one,” I said.

Kayleen snickered. “Perhaps
someone
at the Post Office forgot to put on the redirection sticker.”

I crossed my arms and took a shallow breath. Her extravagantly applied and cheap floral perfume was tickling my nose. “Like I said, I’m not supposed to get any mail here. That’s why I paid all that money for a Post Office Box. They’re not cheap, you know.” I was exasperated.

Kayleen thrust a small parcel at me by way of response. “You’re a witch!”

I was taken aback. “Excuse me?” I snatched the parcel from her.

“You heard me!” Kayleen thrust out her jaw in a belligerent manner. “There’s protection incense in there. Only witches use protection incense.”

“You opened my package!” I said accusingly. I could see that only part of the yellow and red sealed tape was still on the package, and someone had hastily covered it over with clear adhesive tape.

“The outside says
Nightfilled Witch Supply Shop
,” Kayleen said, leaning over me and jabbing her stubby finger at the package.

“But it doesn’t say what’s
inside
the package. It’s illegal to open people’s mail, Kayleen.”

Kayleen smirked at me. “Well, what are you going to do about it, Amelia? Australia Post gets complaints like that all the time. They won’t do anything about it. Trust me, I know.” Her eyes narrowed into slits.

I was furious. “We’ve spoken about this before, Kayleen. You say that I’m a witch, so do you think it’s wise to be so nasty to a witch?”

Kayleen hesitated. “What are you going to do about it then, Miss Smarty Pants?” Her belligerent manner had, however, lost some of its sting.

“I’ve already told you that I’ll turn you into a toad.” It was the best I could come up with, and the last time I’d said that to her, she had seemed somewhat frightened.

“Craig says it’s impossible to turn someone into a toad. Anyway, you’re just jealous that I’m dating Craig. You wanted him for yourself. Keep your hands off him. He’s all mine!”

I shook my head. “You can have him.” Just then, out of my peripheral vision, I saw Camino heading for Kayleen. I figured she must be expecting a package. Camino was dressed in her cane toad onesie. It couldn’t be more perfect.

“Yes, Kayleen, you’re right. I
am
a witch, and I
will
turn you into a toad. I’ve been practicing. My neighbor annoyed me, so I turned her into a toad.”

Kayleen snorted. “Oh Amelia, you’re so full of…” She stopped speaking when she saw Camino, a.k.a. a giant cane toad, hopping quickly down toward her.

Kayleen threw her arms in the air, let out a bloodcurdling scream, and sprinted for her van. Within seconds, she was out of sight. I had no idea that old van could go so fast.

Camino lifted off her cane toad head. “Oh no, I was expecting a package today. I was hoping to catch that dreadful woman, because she always cards me.”

After that scene with Kayleen, I had five cups of coffee before I headed for the store. Kayleen had shaken me up, but I don’t know why I thought coffee would help. I was wide awake, but not at all calm. I figured things were about to get worse when I saw Sergeant Tinsdell and Constable Dawson waiting for me at the front door of my store.

I saw at once that Tinsdell looked a bit sheepish, not his usual self. “Can we speak to you, Miss Spelled?”

“Sure.” I unlocked the door, and they followed me inside the shop.

“Is Miss Thyme working here today?” Constable Dawson asked, a little too eagerly.

“Yes, she’ll be here in about five minutes or so,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

Tinsdell shuffled from one foot to another. “We’re obliged to follow up all complaints.”

I nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

“Someone has lodged a complaint against you. She said you threatened her.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Kayleen! Threatened her with what, exactly?”

Sergeant Tinsdell looked over in the direction of the lemon cheesecake cupcakes. “Um, she said you threatened to turn her into a toad.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Yes, I did. I’m sure that’s not against the law, is it?” I said through gritted teeth. “She brought a package to my house, despite the fact I have a Post Office Box and she accused me of being a witch. I can’t believe you actually came here over this.”

Tinsdell had the grace to look embarrassed. “Like I said, Miss Spelled, we have to follow up all claims of threats, no matter how, um, far-fetched those threats might be.”

“And don’t forget, Craig and Kayleen were in the shop with the victim when I left to go to the kitchen. I wasn’t gone long at all, and when I came back, Scott Plank was lying strangled on the ground. I didn’t see anyone else around.”

“Yes, Miss Spelled. That’s a matter of record. Are you saying you believe those two murdered him?”

I shook my head. “I actually don’t have a clue who murdered him. I’m just saying that I think it’s strange that the three of them were in the shop together; I left for a short time, and when I came back, they were missing and he was dead. I told the detectives that. It’s all in my statement.”

“Well, thanks for your help, Miss Spelled.” With that, Tinsdell headed for the door, followed by Constable Dawson who was looking around him hopefully, no doubt for Thyme.

Thyme arrived five minutes later. I was smudging the shop with white sage—after all, a man had been murdered in there—and I quickly brought her up to speed with the day’s events. She doubled over laughing about Camino, the giant cane toad, hopping toward Kayleen, but sobered up quickly to discover she had missed Constable Dawson.

“What can we do to investigate Craig?” I asked her. “He had the opportunity, but what motive did he have?”

“Or what motive did Kayleen have? If either of them did it, then they had to be in it together,” Thyme pointed out.

I washed my hands and then dried them. “Sure, but what motive did Kayleen have? I don’t know where to start investigating those two.”

Thyme slapped her forehead. “Silly me, the hairdresser!”

I groaned. How could I have forgotten that?

Thyme continued gleefully, “Call both hairdressers and see if you can get an appointment right now with either of them.”

“But aren’t you going to go one of them?”

Thyme laughed. “I don’t mean you should go to
both
hairdressers. I’ll go to the other one at some point, but I have to spend most of the day baking, and we both know you can’t do that. Your time’s better spent investigating, by pumping a hairdresser for information about Craig and Kayleen.”

I threw up my hands in resignation. The first hairdresser I called said she could fit me in. She was probably the better choice of the two hairdressers, because I was stuck on the phone to her for fifteen minutes hearing how her children had been late for school and how she’d already had cancelations that morning.

I told her I wanted a trim. Thyme had pointed out it would be no use having a treatment, because the stylist would leave me alone while the treatment was in my hair.

I headed downtown, dreading the appointment. I’d never had any luck having a simple trim—they always cut off far too much. And as much as I wanted to get information on Craig and Kayleen, I did have to hurry back to mind the shop to leave Thyme free to get on with the baking.

The hairdresser’s salon was small and dingy, and I thought I could smell mold as soon as I entered the room. Even the coloring chemicals weren’t able to suppress the damp, musty smell. Paint was peeling off the walls, and it had anything but a cheerful atmosphere.

“You must be Amelia,” the woman said. “I’m Samantha.”

I tried to sum her up. She wasn’t overly cheerful, but she wasn’t as depressed as her surroundings. “Yes, that’s right.”

She motioned me to a chair, and at once fastened a cape around my neck. “So, what are we having today?”

“Just a trim, please. I don’t want much off it at all.”

Samantha clucked her tongue. She selected a strand of my hair, and held it to one side. “But you have
dreadful
split ends,” she said in a morbid tone. “They all need to come off.”

I clutched the armrests on the chair. “Exactly how much has to come off?” I asked.

Samantha indicated the amount on my hair. “This much,” she said firmly.

“No, this much.” I held my fingers in the air.

Samantha looked horror-stricken. “You really need it
all
to come off. There’s absolutely no point just cutting off
some
of your split ends. You have way too many split ends, and they
all
have to come off. Now, I suggest a good shampoo and conditioner, because your hair is so damaged. You’ve clearly been using the wrong shampoo and conditioner for your hair. You need to use a good brand. What brand are you using now?”

I shot a quick glance at the brand she was selling, and named it. I knew she was just trying to sell me the brand she had on hand.

Samantha’s face fell. “That’s a good brand. I don’t know why your hair’s so damaged.” She sighed. “I really need to take all the split ends off.”

I had to think fast. “I’ll tell you what, I’m a bit scared to have it all off in one go. Why don’t you cut off as much as
I
want, and then I’ll call some other time and make an appointment for my next day off, once I check the roster.”

To my relief, Samantha agreed, albeit reluctantly.

I thought it through. It wasn’t going to take her long to cut off the tiny bit of hair I had requested, although I had no doubt she would cut off some more. “I think my hair’s damaged because I’m stressed,” I said after a moment.

Samantha latched onto the explanation like a Labrador to a tasty treat. “Why are you stressed?” she asked me.

“That man, Scott Plank, was killed in my shop.”

Samantha stopped clicking and stared at me in the mirror. “That’s right, and Craig and Kayleen were there as well, weren’t they?”

I had to choose my words carefully, because I didn’t know if they were friends of hers. “That’s right.” When she didn’t respond, but continued snipping away, I decided to risk saying something else. “You know, I’m surprised they weren’t arrested, because the three of them were in the shop together, and I only left to go into the back room for a moment.”

“They did it,” Samantha pronounced angrily.

“They did?” I asked her. “I wouldn’t be surprised,” I added hastily in an attempt to encourage her to say more.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” She stopped snipping and held her scissors in the air once more.

“Did they have a motive?” I asked hopefully.

“Of course!” Samantha raised her scissors even higher for emphasis. “Scott Plank cheated Kayleen over some land deal. Craig is frightened of her, so that’s why he went along with murdering Scott. Craig is a lovely person. He’s just really scared of that, that…”

I could see Samantha was having trouble restraining herself from calling Kayleen some fancy words. I was also surprised that she seemed to like Craig.

“Yes, I don’t know what Craig is doing with that awful woman,” I said. “Do you know Craig well?”

Samantha returned to snipping, a bit more viciously. “Yes, we were dating, but then he dumped me for Kayleen. Of course, he can’t be attracted to her, so she must have something over him. That’s how I know she’s the murderer. I feel so sorry for Craig, but Kayleen would’ve forced him to do what she wanted. That’s just the kind of person she is.”

I murmured my sympathies, and then added, “Do you know any details of the land deal that Scott cheated her over? Because if you did, you could tell the police and then they’d know she had a motive.”