Page 20 of Home Is Where the Witch Is
Rosie pursed her lips. “How long were you gone?”
The woman blew her nose loudly. “No more’n about twenny minutes.”
A twenty-minute window hardly seemed like enough time for someone to get in, commit murder, and get out. She glanced over to the main office of the hotel, where Maude and Maggie were huddled together by her car watching the scene unfold. She turned back to the woman and placed a hand sympathetically on the poor woman’s shoulder. “Can you think of anyone who might want to hurt him?” she asked quietly, trying to keep everyone’s voices down and out of Maude’s earshot.
“The other candidates,” she responded, sniffling. “Some people’ll do anything to get ahead! This just proves it.” The man who had come to stand next to the lady folded her into a hug as she started to cry harder, glaring at Rosie as he took on the role of protector.
The people in the vicinity had erupted. Some were angry, others started to cry. Still others seemed fearful, looking around the crowd as though they almost expected their necks might be next on the chopping block. Some of them crowded around the woman, comforting her, while others watched Rosie suspiciously. They were aware of who she was; that she was on the Council. She walked back to where Maggie and Maude were standing by her car with twin expressions of shock on their faces and gave them a quick overview of the situation.
“Oh dear,” Maude muttered under her breath before pursing her lips and glancing at Rosie. “This is terrible! Vomit stains like that hardlyevercome out.”
If Rosie hadn’t known the older woman better, she might have been put off by Maude’s cold assessment of the situation. As it was, her first concern was for hers, the baby’s, and Maggie’s safety. Her second concern was for notifying the Council.
“Do you need us to wait with you until the Sheriff gets here?” she asked Maude, starting to feel sick with dread. Who would do such a thing? And had Aata known something like this had been going to happen? Was that what he had been trying to warn Rosie about?
“No, you get yourselves out now before you’re dragged into it for hours.”
“Thanks, Maude,” Rosie replied. Her phone was in her hand like lightning, and she fired off a text.
“Emergency meeting at Fox Cottage.Now.”
“Call me if you need me, okay?” She leaned in to press a daughter-like kiss on Maude’s weathered cheek.
“Sure will, though I can’t think what I’d need to involve you for. Unless you know how to deal with those stains.”
“Fresh linen,” Rosie advised sagely.
The restof the Council convened on the tiny house on Oak Street as soon as they received Rosie’s message. It was comical to have all of them cramped into the otherwise cozy living room, but it was the only place in the house with AC and enough space to accommodate them all. After the day she’d had, Rosie refused to spend another minute out in the stinking hot air.
“The clean-up crew is already out at the motel,” Emperia announced in a clipped tone, slipping her tiny silver cell phone back into the pocket of the breezy-looking gown she wore. “So that’s taken care of. The mundane murder investigation will turn up no leads, and the local law enforcement officers will get sick of trying to solve it soon enough.”
“Meanwhile wegotsto solve it,” Hella said, her voice low and expression worried. “The murder of a Council candidate is serious. Poor dude aside, it’s gonna derail the whole election if we’re not careful.”
“Surely the election has to be postponed?” Rosie blinked, looking around the room from the armchair Declan had insisted she sit in before he fetched her some iced tea.
“Not necessarily,” Chaoxiang shrugged. “We still have another seat whose election can go forward unimpeded. And it looks very much as though the outcome for Australia has been decided by the murder.”
“So we just give it to Tya?” Declan asked, incredulous.
“Usually, yes,” Emperia shrugged, totally unphased by the process. “But we have to prove she’s not the murderer first.”
The thought of the other candidates being suspects in the murder hadn’t even occurred to Rosie. She’d never been one for murder mysteries, although now she’d found herself smack dab in the middle of one she couldn’t help but wish she was a little more clued in.
“So what now?” she asked, glancing around the room at her colleagues.
“We need a professional,” Chaoxiang mused. He slid his fingertips down both sides of his mustache, smoothing it out as he considered the possibilities. “Someone with experience in these things who can give us a reliable insight quickly and with a minimum of fuss,”
Hella quirked a brow. “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” There was a slight pause before Chaoxiang nodded his head ever so slightly. The tiny drag queen nodded in a resigned way before standing. “I’ll make the call. Francois and Fabien’ll know how to get in touch with her.”
Rosie’s mind immediately went to the kindly witch and his gorgeous Maine Coon familiar down in Savannah. “With who?”
“Ivy Hearst. The most accomplished spiritual medium we know.” Chaoxiang relaxed back into the sofa, looking rather out of place in his Chinese ceremonial robes.
Rosie was impressed. “So she can just come here and talk to Aata’s spirit and solve the murder?”
“We sure hope so,” Emperia said, stealing a glance at Chaoxiang, “or things are about to get awholelot more complicated.”
It had been decidedthat the best place to set up a portal for Ivy to arrive would be inside of Carol Ann’s place. That way there’d be no nosy Mosswood residents taking note of a woman appearing out of nowhere, and Rosie would claim Ivy as her cousin for the duration of her stay. It also meant they could bring her in that night, ready to get started on the murder investigation first thing in the morning. A few hurried phone conversations to Francois later, and the Council members had left so that Rosie could welcome—and settle in—her impromptu house guest.
