A Charming Crime (18 page)

Jordan Park’s
police cruiser wasn’t in the driveway. My intuition told me not to do it, but I
did anyway. Before I could stop myself, I had used the spare key under the
porcupine shoe cleaner on the front porch of Jordan’s house and let myself in.
After all, he did say he was going to have me over for lasagna.

Even if he did
come home, he wouldn’t find it odd that I would be sitting on the couch
watching TV. Many times he’d come home to find me vegged out while Darla was at
the flea market or if I went to church with them, I’d hang out afterwards.

But I was on a
mission to find anything out I could about Oscar’s family. We really didn’t
discuss his family much when we were kids. They were already dead when we moved
according to Darla’s journal, but I was too young to remember. I couldn’t even
recall seeing a picture of his parents or him when he was little.

The house was
like it always was. Simple. That was one thing I loved about hanging out with
Oscar and his Uncle. There were no smells of ingredients, everything was always
picked up and put in its place. Not like home with Darla. There was food all
over the kitchen, the house reeked of cures, and clothes were everywhere.

I scoured the
book shelves in the family room looking for a photo album. There were books,
but no albums. Hmmm. . .“Living spiritually.” I pulled the book off the shelf.

I flipped the
pages to get a glance of what this might be about and a picture fell out. The
black and white photo was old. I could tell by the clothing and the two little
boys standing by tricycles. The man and woman had their arms around each other,
which made me believe they were the parents of the two boys. By instinct, I
stuck the photo in my pocket and put the book back.

There wasn’t
anything there to help me. I walked back into Oscar’s room and found it funny
that I had only been in his room one other time. After I told Darla that I had
gone in there, she forbade me to ever step foot in a boy’s room again. And I
listened.

It was exactly
like I remembered it. The twin bed was made with a baseball comforter and baseball
trophies lined the wall. I had forgotten about all Oscar’s baseball games I
went to with him and his Uncle.

I slide the
closest doors open. The balls on the track made a screech like they hadn’t been
opened in a long time. A few clothing items hung on hangers, and a few boxes of
different memorabilia sat on the top shelf, but nothing stood out to me.

With my hands
planted on my hips I looked around the room. Had I let my thoughts make me
crazy into believing that Oscar could be behind all of this? Not necessarily
the murders, but did he know about us being spiritual and that’s why he was my
friend and when given the opportunity suggested we move to Whispering Falls? It
was awfully convenient that he, by chance, had driven into Whispering Falls.

And it wouldn’t
be the first time Oscar Park talked me into anything.

I snapped my
fingers.
The bed
. I got down on the floor. I use to shove stuff under my
bed all the time. It was dark under there. I plunged my hand in my bag, and
felt around for the phone. I pulled it out, opened it, and used it as a light.
There was a small plastic container with a lid far in the back. I swiveled my
body on the floor and shimmied under the bed. With the box in my grip, I pulled
myself out from underneath and stood up. The entire front of my clothes was
covered in dust bunnies.

“Eeck!” I
screamed and the box and all its contents flew into the air. Mr. Prince
Charming stood on top the bed as if he was there the entire time. “Mr. Prince
Charming! You scared me.”

I continued to
brush the dust off myself and wondered how he got there, like I had wondered so
many times before.

“What are you
doing here?” I picked up the box and sat down on the bed next to the cat. “More
importantly, how did you get here?”

One of these
days, I was going to have to take a day and follow him around, unless I was in
jail.

Meow, meow
. He nudged my
arm with his head like he was asking for forgiveness.

I rubbed him.
“You are so smart. Okay. Let’s see what’s in here.” I put the box in my lap and
took the lid off.

There were a
couple different looking dolls in it. I picked the one with the brown yarn hair
up and looked at it. The doll was stuffed with hay and the fabric of the clothing
resembled that of a woman. Its yarn hair was long and it wore a hat that looked
like a makeshift turban.

“Owww. . .” I
dropped the doll when something poked my finger. With my finger stuck in my
mouth, I picked the doll up off the floor and turned it over. There were stick
pins stuck in the back of the doll. “What the hell?”

Hiss, Hiss.
Mr. Prince
Charming jumped off the bed. I looked out the window and Jordan was standing in
front of the Cape Cod. He looked like he was checking out the Green Machine. I
quickly grabbed the other doll and shoved them in the waist of my jeans and
pulled my top down to cover them.

I ran into the
family room and grabbed the magazine off the table. Mr. Prince Charming was
gone. I didn’t have to worry about him. He could take care of himself.

“Hello there.”
Jordan walked into the door. “I was going to walk over to your house. I saw
your car over there.”

“I just got here
and I helped myself to the spare key.” I pointed toward the coffee table where
I put the key. “And just thought I’d wait.”

“And read A
Cop’s World Magazine?” His brows dipped.

“Um,” I closed
the magazine and looked at the front.
Idiot.
“I don’t smell any
lasagna.”

“I didn’t know
you were coming over, but I’m sure I can whip something up.” He took his
holster off and sat it in the chair. He walked into the kitchen and opened the
refrigerator like he was trying to find something to fix. “Is Oscar coming?”

“No.” I followed
him and grabbed a handful of grapes off the vine that was sitting on the
kitchen counter. “I really came here to ask you a few questions about my dad.”

Slowly he shut
the refrigerator door. Standing there with his hand on the handle, he just
stared at it. I stood behind him waiting for his answer, but he stood in
silence.

“I mean,
everyone told me that he and you were responding to a routine speeding stop and
it went wrong. The guy pulled out a gun and fired two shots. One at your gut
and one at my dad’s chest.” I recalled everything that Darla had told me, there
was never a reason to question it until now. My entire existence had been a lie
up until a few days ago, and I couldn’t help but hear Patience’s words about ‘no
other crime’ since my father died. And if my father died in Whispering Falls,
which all of Darla’s journal entries say, then how did Jordan know my dad?

“I see that
you’ve been snooping around.” His voice was jittery.

“No, I’ve been
sitting on your couch.” Oh, my. Feat knotted inside my stomach. Did he know
that I took those funny looking dolls?

“Not here, June.
Whispering Falls.” He placed both hands on the counter and took in a deep
breath. “I was afraid this was going to happen.”

He stood up and
shook his head.

“Please tell me.
I’m accused of murder, and everything I know up until now has all been a lie.”
I begged.

He pulled up his
shirt and the scar from the gunshot wound was visible. He pointed to it. “I did
get this from a routine traffic stop. But I didn’t know your father.” He took
his holster out of the chair and sat it on the floor. He sat down. “When Darla
moved in I felt sorry for you girls. It was just me and Oscar up until then, so
I made sure I kept an eye out on you two. After awhile she started to open up
about how you guys lived in a village and that your father had gotten killed. I
didn’t ask any questions.”

“Did you know it
was Whispering Falls?” I asked. Tears hung on to the bottom rim of my eye lids.

“No, not until
the other day when I went to visit with Oscar and I saw the sign. Darla told me
that she owned an herb shop.” He put his hands in his lap. “I put two and two
together, like a good cop. The only thing that bothers me is that there are two
unsolved crimes. Your father’s and now this other woman.”

“Ann.” I
cringed. The pins from the dolls were beginning to stick me. I made my way to
the door. “I better go. I think Oscar got the autopsy report back and I want to
see if there is anything that will point the finger at someone else.”

Jordan followed
behind me with the spare key in his hand and opened the door.

“Oscar has told
me a few things and I’m going to help out as much as I can without getting into
trouble.” He handed me the key to put back under the porcupine shoe cleaner. “You
promise you will let me know if I can help you.”

I put my Girl
Scout fingers in the air. “I promise.”

Chapter
Eighteen

Nothing made
sense. I looked over at the strange dolls in the passenger seat of the Green
Machine. Things were getting more complicated by the minute.

Oscar seemed
awfully suspicious but my intuition said “no way.” I couldn’t discount the
nagging feeling that Oscar wasn’t doing all he could to help solve Ann’s
murder. Not to mention he didn’t keep Constance busy while I asked Patience a
few questions. The Oscar that lived in Locust Grove did everything he could to
keep me safe.

Unfortunately, I
was not feeling so safe.

I couldn’t
forget what Patience had said about Oscar’s parents being spiritualists.
Hmmm
.
. .how convenient it was for Oscar to talk me into moving to Whispering Falls.

And now these.
I picked one of
the dolls up. All sorts of questions formed in my head, but I wasn’t sure if I
could trust Oscar at this point to even ask him about them.

Putting the doll
back on the seat, I leaned a little more and flipped the glove box open. I
patted around until I found what I was looking for.

Ding Dong.
I pulled it out
from my secret stash and just for a moment, the chocolate goodness made
everything feel like it was going to be okay.

That went away
as soon as I pulled into Whispering Falls and Oscar was standing on the porch.
I slipped the dolls into the glove box and slammed it shut.

“Seriously, June?”
Oscar scratched his head. “Why can’t you leave solving crimes to the
professionals? Uncle Jordan called to tell me you are all worried. And you
should be, but I’m doing everything I can. I promise.”

A little leery,
I chose my words carefully, “You don’t seem to be doing anything to help, so I
have to do it myself.” I unlocked the door. My eyes narrowed when I saw Mr.
Prince Charming sitting in the couch in the sunlight, like he never left. But
we both knew better. Oscar followed me in. “You, yourself even said that no one
is talking to you.”

“We might live
among spiritualists, but there are rules that have to be followed like in every
other city.” He sat down on the couch and Mr. Prince Charming jumped down. “Why
does that cat hate me?”

I shrugged and
picked Mr. Prince Charming up, giving him a little love. I was beginning to
wonder the same thing. From what I understood, animals had great instincts and
could really sense someone that was bad. Mr. Prince Charming didn’t think
Jordan was bad, did he?

“Why did you go
see Uncle Jordan? I’m the cop here.” He had an annoyance in his voice.

“I wanted him to
talk to you about getting this case solved.” I lied. There was really no need
to tell Oscar about my dad’s death. That would open a whole new can of worms.
“Didn’t he tell you why I was there?”

“Just that you
were looking around and trying to solve Ann’s murder.” He stood up and walked
back to the door. “I got Ann’s autopsy back and I’m going to go over it with
the council before I can share anything with you.”

“Fine.” I shut
the door behind him. I wasn’t too worried about the council, I wanted to know
why Jordan didn’t tell Oscar that I wanted to know about my dad or that I had
found out that my dad wasn’t with Jordan when he was shot, and that Jordan met
us when we moved to Locust Grove.

I took the two
concrete foot prints out of the pantry where I had stored them. They had the
exact same ridges.

I drummed my
fingers on Darla’s journal that was sitting on the kitchen counter. There had
to be something there. Something concrete for me to go on. Surely there had to
be some advice. Something more than ‘follow your instincts’ because my
instincts were proving to be leading me in the wrong direction.

I went over the
clues about Gerald and Petunia’s little secret with Ann; Chandra and Ann’s
business partnership going up in flames and Izzy’s resentment towards Ann
because she had to take her in. Not to mention all the stuff Petunia told me
about my family and Oscar’s. And then there was Oscar. His lack of gathering
clues, not to mention the funny dolls, were adding up to the fact that Oscar
knew more about this village before we moved here than he’d let on.