That Olde White Magick. Sharon Pape
clapping, and others soon joined in.
Caught up in the spirit, Merlin let out with a rousing “Huzzah! Huzzah!” The men knew they were beaten. They let go of the chair and stalked off in different directions, no doubt wondering how they’d lost control of the situation.
“I, too, should like a seat,” Merlin announced when things quieted down. He and I were standing along the side at Tilly’s row. “I could easily encourage one or two people to vacate theirs,” he added. “It would be no bother.”
“No magick,” I warned him.
“Then you would have no objection were I to yell, ‘Mouse’? Women on the TV are always running from the furry little creatures. We would have our choice of seats in no time at all.”
Before I could answer him, Rusty entered the gym, pushing a hand truck loaded with chairs. Curtis must have urged him into action. It had been years since I’d seen Rusty around town. Or maybe I simply hadn’t recognized him. He’d aged a lot since my childhood. Most of his distinctive red hair was gone, and his once-round cheeks were sinking into bloodhound jowls. People who greeted him received a quick bob of his head, but his lips stayed compressed in a grim line. Back when I was in school, my mother used to say he was the youngest curmudgeon she’d ever known. He’d apparently grown into his personality.
He got right down to business. As fast as he was unfolding the chairs, people were claiming them. It was like watching a game of musical chairs, minus the music and fun. One woman sat before Rusty could snatch his hand away. He yowled like a cat and treated her to some words I’d never heard him use when I attended the school. Another woman slid onto a chair at the same time a man was sitting so that he wound up in her lap. After those kerfuffles, Curtis came over to supervise the rest of the chair setup. I would have expected Amanda’s murder to foster more civility among the citizens of New Camel, but tensions, which had already been running high in anticipation of the board meeting, had warped into something uglier after her death.
Lolly Donovan chose that moment to rush into the gym, her face all pink and shiny and wisps of dark hair that had escaped her barrette stuck to her cheeks and forehead. She stopped dead in her tracks, clearly confused by the scene before her. She’d expected to find the town board meeting in full swing, not a bunch of grim-faced townies milling restlessly around the room or talking in tight clusters. I told Merlin not to move, and I made my way across the floor to her.
“Kailyn, what’s going on here?” she asked, latching onto my arm as soon as I reached her. “What happened?”
I explained about Amanda, trying to break the news gently. She’d known Amanda much better than I had. They’d lived on the same street for years. Lolly fell back a step. I grabbed her arm, afraid she was about to faint.
“No, that’s...that’s not...possible,” she sputtered, her eyes welling up with tears. “I just saw her this morning as I was leaving for work. First Jim and now Amanda? How did we go from never having a murder in this town to having two in as many months? It makes no sense.”
I let her go on for a while, trying to wrap her mind around this latest tragedy.
“Why is everyone still here?” she asked, finally running out of steam. “What are they waiting for?”
“Detective Duggan. We can’t go until he’s cleared everyone. Curtis is holding down the fort until he arrives. I’m sorry, Lolly,” I said. “I should have called and told you not to come. With all the turmoil, I didn’t think of it.”
I’d known she was going to be late. She had one of her fudge-making classes after closing. The date had been booked weeks before by a women’s club from Watkins Glen. As important as the town board meeting was, business considerations trumped it. And now that Lolly was in the building, Curtis would never let her leave. In fact, her late arrival might be seen as incriminating. Duggan would want to know where she’d been at the time of Amanda’s death.
“It’s okay,” Lolly said, “I probably would have forgotten my name under these circumstances.” Biting her lip, she glanced around the gym. “Maybe I’ll just scoot back out before anyone realizes I’m here.”
“Too many people have already seen you. You don’t want to give Duggan any reason to think you’re evading him. The best thing you can do is cooperate. You have nothing to worry about. The women in your fudge-making class will vouch for you.”
“You’re right. What was I thinking? Can you see me as a suspect on the lam?”
I would have laughed if I weren’t so worried about my aunt’s situation. Merlin and I might be the only ones who saw her go outside and knew she wasn’t out there long enough to kill anyone. But how much weight would our statements carry, being family and all? Then again, who would seriously consider Tilly capable of murder? I had to remind her not to say too much. Lawyers are always telling their clients to answer questions succinctly. The more you embellish, the more likely you are to hang yourself, even if you aren’t guilty. Tilly had done all right the last time, but that was no guarantee. She had a tendency to ramble, especially when she was nervous. My thoughts were tripping over each other, pinging around my brain like balls in an old-fashioned pinball machine.
“Where are you sitting?” Lolly asked.
“Tilly is over there on a chair,” I said, pointing in her direction. “Merlin and I don’t have seats yet. He’s waiting on the sidelines near her.”
And judging by the empty hand truck, we weren’t going to have seats anytime soon. Lolly spotted Merlin and waved. He waved back enthusiastically, possibly hoping she’d brought along some of her wares. To no one’s surprise, Merlin had embraced her chocolate with as much gusto as he had pizza. One evening he polished off an entire pound of the candy while waiting for Tilly to finish preparing dinner. After that, she started hiding her personal chocolate stash at my house.
Lolly and I were still talking when Duggan arrived. He marched into the gym, a man on a mission. His craggy face was set in an attitude that didn’t invite greetings. Curtis met him halfway across the floor and led him the rest of the way to the podium, where they put their heads together to confer privately. I saw him give the detective the list of names he compiled. After a couple minutes, Curtis stepped down to the gym floor, appropriated two chairs, to the chagrin of the men already in them, and dragged them to an unoccupied corner of the room. Apparently Duggan deemed him competent enough to handle some of the interviews. Or he realized that without the younger man’s help, we could all be holed up in the school for days.
Given the options, I would have preferred Curtis talk with my aunt. He was younger, more affable, less threatening, and therefore less likely to give Tilly a stroke. But I had no illusions. Duggan, himself, would be questioning Beverly and her. Lolly excused herself to find a seat in the bleachers. We hugged and wished each other an easy time of it.
Duggan settled himself in one of the chairs originally meant for the board members and glanced at Curtis’s list again. I could only imagine what he was thinking when he saw Tilly’s name there.
“Matilda Wilde,” he said in that clipped, military tone meant to strike fear into the hearts of miscreants.
I knew from experience that it did a fine job of rattling innocent people too. She rose from her seat and sidestepped out of the narrow row, trying not to stomp on anyone’s toes. With surprising agility and grace, Merlin swooped in and took possession of the vacated chair. I gave my aunt the crook of my arm to hold and escorted her up the few steps to the podium.
The detective scowled at me. “You can’t remain here with her.”
Tilly’s arm tightened on mine like a toddler on the first day of preschool. I felt a tremor move through her as I helped her into the chair next to him.
“It’s been a really hard night for her, Detective,” I said in what I considered a deferential tone. “Maybe I could sit somewhere behind her for a bit of emotional support, you know, somewhere I wouldn’t be able to influence her responses?”
“Good try,