A Charming Secret (Magical Cures Mystery Series Book 6) (13 page)

“I’m so grateful I have you to tell me about Darla.” I gave a half smile. The best I could muster up since I was currently in a stressful situation. “I really do wish I remembered when we lived here.”

“You were just a baby.” She turned and headed on down the corridor without looking back until we made it to another set of steps leading up to a door.

Eloise used the flat of her hand and pushed the door up over her head. Light pierced the dark steps from above. I squinted, trying to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. One by one, I planted one foot on a step and then the other, doing it all the way up into the green house of Eloise’s garden.

“Shoo.” Eloise ran her hands down the front of her cloak, brushing off the dust and cobwebs from the tunnel. “That was a close call.”

She picked off different flowers, making her way to the door of the greenhouse. Before opening the door, she picked up the spray bottle and gave a couple sprits to a wilted-looking potted plant, springing it back to life in an instant.

“I really should come in here more often.” A look of satisfaction was on her face. She put the bottle back in its place and opened the door.

We walked through the rows of her garden; the twinkling lights in the tree branches brought the happy, magical feeling back into my soul. These were the times I felt everything just might turn out okay.

The small wooden signs on the garden were painted with the names of the herbs: Rose petals, moonflower, mandrake root, seaweed, shrinking violet, dream dust, magic peanut, lucky clover, steal rose.

“Fairy dust.” I bent down when my intuition stopped me in my tracks. “Do you mind if I pick a few because I want to put some in my dream potion.”

“Of course.” Eloise twirled her hand in the air and clapped twice.

Two one-inch purple fairies twisted and turned, gathering the dust on the plant. With their tiny hands, they blew, sending the dust up to me in little cubes. I picked the floating cubes out of the air and stuck them in my bag.

“Thank you.” I had to stop the nightmares and I was willing to do anything to make it happen. Regardless, they did prepare me for the future and what might happen, but at this point, nothing could get worse.

Meow, mewl
. Mr. Prince Charming darted around my ankles doing his signature figure eight.

“Now you come.” My mouth twitched. He darted toward the gazebo in the garden where Eloise was seated at the small café table. She motioned me over.

“Let’s have a midnight snack.” The three-tiered stand held finger sandwiches and tarts. She picked up the pink china teakettle and evenly poured the liquid into a teacup in front of her and one in front of the empty seat to which she gestured me to sit down.

I did, putting the picture frame of my family and the bag of herbs on the ground. I kept my bag strapped across my shoulder.

“So, tell me.” Eloise pushed the food toward me. She picked up a tart and popped it in her mouth. “Why are you here when Oscar clearly told you to stay in Locust Grove?”

“Yes. I told you to stay put.” Oscar walked down the lighted pathway from the front of the house. “I went back to Locust Grove because I didn’t want you to stay there alone and the fact you insisted I stay in Whispering Falls tonight did give me the idea you had something up your sleeve. So I called Aunt Eloise and sent her to look for you.”

“Oh.” I folded my hands in my lap. “I was summonsed here by Aunt Helena to give up my presidency in a ceremony in the cellar at Mystic Lights. I wanted to get the picture of my family and bring it to Locust Grove. That was it.”

Oscar’s brows rose. “That is the only reason you went to your shop?”

“Fine.” He wasn’t buying it. I said, “When I made it into town, I couldn’t help myself. I looked into Two Sisters where they were having the final cremation for Gwenie. Then I wanted to check out the shop for any evidence because I didn’t do it.”

“Let the law handle it.” Oscar stepped up into the gazebo and stuffed a finger sandwich in his mouth.

“Plus I have my eyes and ears planted around the village.” Eloise put a little ease to my fears knowing I had someone on the inside watching out for me.

Eloise and Oscar finished off the food. I pulled my cloak around me. The night air was getting colder. The sounds of the night engulfed me. They were much different at night then the day. I wasn’t used to the crickets, the lightning bugs, croakers, and frogs, not to mention the bright yellow snake wrapped around the wooden spindle of the gazebo. The beady eyes didn’t stop looking at me.

Chapter Nineteen

“Did you see that snake?” I asked Oscar the next day when we were having our coffee at the table back in Locust Grove. It was a great way to avoid talking about the night before and the situation I’d put him in since he was sheriff of Whispering Falls. “It was huge.” I shimmied, thinking of the big slithery thing. “I’m so glad I don’t have to stay up in the night for my gift.”

“I didn’t.” Oscar dropped the corner of the paper. His big blue eyes looked at me. “But, you know, anything in Aunt Eloise’s garden is not going to hurt you.”

“I know.” I picked up a couple of the bottles and placed them in the cardboard box I was going to use to take my cures to the flea market. “Still, I swear the thing was looking at me. Besides, I don’t like snakes anyway.”

“Is this your way of ignoring the fact you went against the law and making idle chit chat because you know you are putting me in a tough situation?” Oscar wasn’t going to let last night’s mess-up go away like I had hoped.

“No. But nothing happened. I did what I was told and now Petunia is the Village President.” I adjusted a few of the bottles in the box to avoid eye contact. “And if I hadn’t gone to your aunt’s, I’d never gotten these little babies.”

I picked up a couple cubes of the fairy dust.

“These are why I slept so good last night.” I exhaled a happy sigh. “No nightmare.”

“June Heal,” Oscar folded the paper and laid it in front of him. “You make breaking the law a no big deal in your own cute way.”

He reached out, dragging me into his lap, in a mini-make-out session until someone knocked on the door.

“Who is that?” His eyes slid toward the hallway. His brows furrowed.

“Ooh!” Excited I jumped up. “I forgot.” I darted down the hallway, calling behind me, “I went to see Adeline last night and she’s going to help me go to the flea market to set up my booth.”

“Great.” The sound in Oscar’s voice wasn’t so joyous. “You know she’s a mortal right?”

“Of course, silly.” I swung the door open. “Hi!”

“Good morning.” She stuck her hand out with a coffee. “I figured you didn’t do your morning yoga moves I showed you. Coffee is probably just as good for you.” She winked handing me the cup. “Are you ready?”

“Yep.” I held the door open for her. Mr. Prince Charming was on cue, darting across the radiator, his tail jutted out catching Adeline’s attention, waiting for a good scratch.

“You are a good kitty. Yes you are.” Adeline talked baby talk, turning Mr. Prince Charming off.

Growl!
He hissed darting down the hall into the bedroom.

Adeline jumped back. “He’s not very nice.”

“He has his moments,” I called over my shoulder and played with my charm bracelet. It was the first thing Oscar made me put on this morning when we got out of bed.

I bent down and kissed Oscar one more time, knowing I wasn’t going to see him until later tonight after his shift at the station in Whispering Falls. “Have a good day. Find some evidence that isn’t against me,” I suggested in a half-joking manner.

I grabbed the box. Adeline got in her car and I got in the Green Machine. She followed me to the fairgrounds on the west side of Locust Grove where the flea market was set up.

Dust spun off the tires of our cars, creating a thin dirty layer on our windshields. The grass had already turned brown, waiting for Mother Nature and winter to set in. The dull weather made my soul hurt. Whispering Falls was always so colorful. Full of life. We told visitors it was due to being nestled in the mountainous regions of Kentucky when in actuality the magic flowed through the village, bringing everything full of life.

“It’s busy.” I noticed we had to park in the far lot of the fairgrounds.

Adeline had told me the flea market was now open seven days a week. Much different from the weekend only hours I was used to. The idea of me being busy in the shed and making new cures on a daily basis did help put the memories of the nightmares, and dead body, a little more at bay.

 I grabbed the box, Adeline grabbed our coffees, and we headed in for the office to sign up. After a few signatures, everything was ready. They had even given me the same spot I had before moving to Whispering Falls.

“I’m going to grab another cup of coffee from the trailer over there while you start to unpack.” Adeline pointed in the direction of the food trailers, which weren’t there before. “Then you can tell me what goes where.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

I waited until she was out of sight and no one was looking to do my thing. I had made a special potion for this occasion. A “do it” potion where I had visualized what I wanted the booth to look like. I uncorked the top and sprinkled it around the base of the booth. Before I could even dash the last drop out, the booth had already been transformed.

The red shelves lined the two side walls and the back. All the glass bottles were arranged in categories like the shop. One side was homeopathic cures for things like stress, stomachaches, and gout. The back wall was remedies for ailments. And the other side wall was for women’s creams for wrinkles, gooseneck, fingernails and any other beauty aid they might ask about.

The crystal chandelier hung in the middle had over fifty lit candles that were scented in the customer’s favorite smell. Not everyone liked the smell of vanilla bean or pumpkin spice. Some people like chocolate chip cookie dough smell or even pine. So I made the candles a special scent to take on the favorite smell of anyone who walked into my booth, almost guaranteeing me a sale.

The large area rug in the center was tan and brought the gleaming bottles and soft candlelight together. If this didn’t draw in the crowd at least out of curiosity, I had no other idea what would, because looking around was only the typical flea market booths. The people hung their wares from the clotheslines with pins and clips. There was junk strewn around on tables in no particular order. The only booth with somewhat a cohesive look was the belt buckle people with their glass cases sitting on top of the card tables.

“What in the hell?” Adeline nearly dropped the cups of coffee in her hands. “How did you get this done so fast?”

“I’m quick.” I brushed my hands together and clicked the backs of my heels.

I had opted to wear a black A-line skirt and a magenta top. Oscar had always liked the way my dark eyes and hair light up when I had the top on. I was relying on his comments to have the same effect on my customers. I needed all the sales I could get. Not only to pay for my living expenses in Locust Grove, but also for any legal fees I would be incurring with Mac. Which made me wonder why I hadn’t heard from him today.

I was expecting a call from him to make sure I had gone to the releasing ceremony last night. Maybe he was waiting to call when he had some solid leads on the case. I wanted to ask him about the autopsy.

“Quick isn’t the word.” Adeline’s face contorted. She handed off my coffee and made a beeline to the women’s facial creams. “I swear there is something new every time I turn around. Time In A Bottle?” She held it up to me.

“Darnelle, look!” A pudgy blond woman rushed toward me in a very colorful tie-dyed t-shirt making her look much larger than she already was. Her nose was pig-like and when she talked, her blue eyes squinted and her cheeks balled up. “It’s that shop I’ve been looking for. And she has the facial cream now.” The woman jerked the bottle out of Adeline’s hands. “Last time I saw you, you said you didn’t have facial cream.”

The memory of her voice came back to me. Only she was much larger than the last time I had seen her. Her plump face was so full, there wasn’t nearly a wrinkle that hadn’t been stretched out.

“I’m back and I have been waiting to see you.” I took a pink bottle off the wrinkle cream shelf. The one with the Belladonna root.

I had spent years trying to find the root and it was next to impossible. Luckily for me, Eloise grew a big bunch in her garden and she gave me all the supply I needed for the perfect solution for the ever-growing population of women around the world with crows feet nestling on their faces.

“This is exactly what you were looking for last time I was here.” I displayed the bottle in the palm of my hand.

The woman shoved the other bottle back in Adeline’s hands and grabbed the pink bottle out of my palm.

“Darnelle, I want every bottle she has here.” She used the back of her hand to smack Darnelle in the arm. In her deep southern accent, she asked, “Did you hear me?” She berated poor ole Darnelle, who stood there like she had cut off his manhood. “I said,” her lips thinned, her white teeth gritted, “Did. You. Hear. Me?” As though Darnelle was deaf.

“Yes, dear,” Darnelle sounded defeated.

Dang, I was hoping against all hope, Darnelle was going to come back with a zinger, but he didn’t. Darnelle patiently took the three bottles off the shelf and sat them on the counter.

“We will take all four.” He pointed to the three and then the one in his wife’s death grip. “What’s this going to cost me?”

“Eighty dollars.” I had figured she would pay anything for the creams, but twenty sounded like a good amount. Especially since she was buying me out.

“Eighty dollars?” Peony appeared from the next booth over. “It better be a miracle cream.”

“Oh, honey.” The lady held the bottle up to Peony’s face. “It’s all mine. Come on Darnelle.” She fussed, opening the jar and sticking her finger in the cream, slathering it all over her face, but not before taking a few of my business cards and stuffing them in her bra.

“Peony,” I welcomed her. “How did you know where I was?”