Her frantic eyes went to the seemingly untouched register. “Then why wasn’t anything taken from the cash register? Was something stolen? Because it sure doesn’t look like it. Plus, there’s an alarm she wears around her neck. It’s a necklace, small chain, a pendant with a sapphire-blue jewel in it she can press discreetly and it silently signals a place called Senior Alert. We made her get one when she wouldn’t give up the store because we worried about her and the late hours she kept just to keep this place running. She hated wearing it. She wouldn’t have had to wear it at all if she didn’t need the money her readings brought to supplement her income because the government’s cheap idea of a pension wasn’t enough for a cat to live on!”
Funny, I didn’t remember a necklace around her throat. You’d think for all the jewelry Madam Zoltar wore, she wouldn’t forget something so important. I wanted to ask Liza more questions, despite the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. Something wasn’t sitting well with me—or right—or whatever.
I smiled and attempted another push toward the door, hoping I could get her safely through the crowd. “So she was a hard worker, your nana Tina? Come and tell me all about her, would you? She sounds so interesting. I mean, how many people are lucky enough to have a psychic medium in the family? Let’s grab some coffee. There’s a coffee cafe just next door, I hear. It’s new to me because I’ve been away since I graduated high school and I’m dying to try it.”
Officer Nelson hitched his jaw in the direction of his partner Gorton, stepping in front of us. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to do that, Miss Cartwright.”
My eyes flew to his sharply constructed face as my pulse raced. “Why’s that?”
A voice from behind me answered my question in a cordial tone. “Because you’re coming to the station for questioning, Miss Cartwright.”
Liza promptly dropped my hand, her mouth falling open. “Oh my God! Was it you? Did you hurt her?”
Everyone at the door went silent and looked at me with the glare of a thousand fiery suns.
Oh, seven hells.
Officer Nelson stepped in before I could protest, keeping Liza from me and somehow redirecting her to another officer who’d arrived on the scene.
My stomach sank. I didn’t need this kind of trouble so early on in my return to Ebenezer Falls. It was all I could do not to scream right then and there.
So for sure, when I got my hands on Winterbutt, he was a dead ghost walking.
For. Sure.
Chapter 4
Swallowing around the thick lump in my throat, I widened my stance. “Questioning? For what?” I shouted in disbelief, whipping around to catch my first glimpse of the newest person to enter the fray.
The latest man dressed in blue from Ebenezer Falls’s finest was wide like a linebacker, solid and imposing, but for his openly cheerful face, which was round and pleasant, with ruddy cheeks and lively eyes, all topped with shortly cropped muddy-brown hair. He stopped and gaped at me.
“Stevie Cartwright, is that you? Wow, you look just like you did back in school. Haven’t changed a bit. Well, except you nixed the black lipstick and all that eye makeup you used to wear. Remember me? It’s Sandwich! We graduated together, class of 2001. Holy spitballs, long time no see!” He grinned at me, his eyes swallowed up by his round cheeks.
Nelson cleared his throat and put on his “I’m in charge” face, meaning, quit passing pleasantries with the suspect. “Officer Paddington. Please take Miss Cartwright to the station.”
Sandwich Paddington, who I was still trying to place, tipped his hat at Nelson, his pleasant face going crimson. “Oh yeah. Right. Right. Sorry, Stevie. It’s my job.”
As Sandwich went for my arm to escort me out, I took a step back. “Hold up! Am I being arrested?”
Officer Nelson gave me the policeman’s glare of authority. “Not unless you make me arrest you. We’d just like to ask you some questions in a more formal setting about what happened here, Miss Cartwright. If you’re not agreeable, I can certainly cuff you.”
Shaking my head, I held my hands up. The last thing I needed to do was create a scene in front of the people who would be my neighbors. “That won’t be necessary. I’m happy to answer any questions you have.”
With that, I made my way through the burgeoning crowd, past Chester, who growled at me and snapped his teeth, and out toward the police car, still trying to figure out who Sandwich was.
I’d been cautious about getting too close to anyone during high school. I could do things no one else could—like talk to the dead—and I was still learning how to manage it when I grew into my teens. No one in Ebenezer Falls knew I was a witch, and at that very crucial time in my life, when I was awkward and my self-esteem was at its lowest, I’d put myself in self-imposed isolation.
As we made our way to the curb, the eyes of Ebenezer Falls were on me. Burning a hole into my back, people whispering behind their hands.
I was about to make my way to the passenger door when Sandwich scuffled behind me and gripped my elbow. “Sorry, Stevie. I have to put you in the backseat.”
There was a groan from the interior of my purse I had no choice but to ignore as I got in the backseat, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You want me to put the sirens on?” Sandwich asked, his face smiling at me from the rearview mirror.
“To announce I’m being questioned in the death of Madam Zoltar?”