Read Online A Charming Crime by Tonya Kappes - Free Book Online Page B

few hours of memories crept back into my head. “Mr.
Primrose is a psychic?” I recalled how strange it was that he would just show
up at my house with an offer I couldn’t refuse. “Why do you want me to live
here so badly? Was Darla. . .psychic?”
    Psychic
or not, I didn’t want to be here anymore. Selling remedies at the flea market
was looking pretty good right about now.
    Fear
knotted in my stomach. How could Darla, my mom, be psychic and me not know it?
We were poor. We were at our flea market booth every day trying to make ends
meet.
    “No,
she was not. But your dad was.” Izzy’s words were lagging as she carefully
picked them. “He was a spiritualist and your mother was not. But she had a
wonderful spirit that was very welcoming to the village. We loved her store.”
    Oscar
didn’t seem as taken aback as I was.
    “Did
you know this?” I asked him.
    “Not
until today.” He looked at Izzy for approval. She nodded for him to continue.
He held up a manual of sorts. It was thick. “Izzy felt it was important for me
to understand how the spiritual village laws work.”
    Izzy
and Chandra set a cup of tea and plate of cookies in front of me as if I were a
child. It was all crazy to me and something I couldn’t even begin to
understand.
    “Your
father was our police officer. By Whispering Falls law, there can be only one
shop per spiritual family and that includes if you are dating, living, or
married to a spiritualist. One shop.” Izzy took the packet from Oscar and
flipped it open. She pointed to Number Three under the Bi-Laws page. “Your
mother opened a little shop and sought some outside spiritual guidance since
she wasn’t psychic. She made the perfect cures.”
    Was
she talking about my Darla? Darla couldn’t find half the ingredients her
recipes called for and then she’d substitute. Most of her remedies didn’t work.
    “Outside
guidance?” I questioned.
    “Someone
who doesn’t live in the village.” She handed the packet back to Oscar. “You
don’t need to worry about that. Anyway, when your father passed,” Izzy looked
out the window like she was playing it in her mind like a movie, “Darla, your
mother, tried to keep up the shop, but it was hard with a toddler. You.”
    “You
were so cute.” Chandra’s adjusted her turban. “So cute.”
    “When
you got older, she realized you didn’t have any spiritual gifts, and wanted you
to have a normal life. That is when she decided to open the booth in the flea
market.” Izzy ignored Chandra and watched me, intently.
    I
tried not to show any unusual facial features or freak out. Who was I fooling?
They were psychics.
    Chandra
took my hand and followed the crease along my palm.
    She
closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Joy bubbled in her laugh and shone on her
face.. “We thought you didn’t have any spiritual gifts, but your palm says
differently.”
    I
pulled my hand away and tucked it under me.
    “You
have the gift of homeopathic remedies like your father.” The pleasure was
apparent in Izzy’s smile. “Have you noticed how your remedies really work much
better than Darla’s? She tried to imitate Otto’s, but it was fruitless.”
    Otto. I
hadn’t heard my dad’s name in years. Darla never talked about him. Now I know
why.
    “When
Otto died, Darla really wanted to make your life whole. Complete.” There was a
relief in her eyes. She sat down and gently crossed her legs. “She left the village
and continued to keep the shop open because we all used and relied on her
homeopathic remedies.”
    “Not
that they ever worked.” Tee-hee, Chandra paced nervously in the round
room.
    Izzy
shot her a look that would make Mr. Prince Charming shudder. Chandra
disappeared into another room.
    “Mac
told us about you making all these new concoctions and how the flea marketing
booth was flourishing.” She nodded to Mr. McGurtle. “That is when I suspected
you might be a spiritualist.”
    Spiritualist? That didn’t’
make sense. Just