Саманта Сильвер - The Purr-fect Crime

I didn’t like the idea of hundreds of thousands of extra people coming to Willow Bay a year. Of course, I welcomed the tourist money. For a tourist town, that’s definitely a bonus. But to be honest, I didn’t think there was going to be that much more of it. Ocean Mist seemed like it was going to be a very insular resort, that it would bring people to the town, but that they were more likely to spend their money at the resort than with local businesses.

I sighed. I felt so useless when it came to the Ocean Mist thing. It was done now. There was nothing more to do, Willow Bay was going to change forever.

Four hours later I was home, making black bean burgers and sautéing up some potatoes while Bee tried to steal bits of potato for no other reason than being annoying – the only vegetable she actually likes are carrots.

I was just about to start discussing the day with them, when all of a sudden I heard the front door open.

“Hello, girls,” came the call from Lisa, Sophie’s mom.

“Hey Lisa,” Charlotte called out. “We’re in the kitchen.”

The three of us looked at each other. Lisa never, ever came to the house without calling ahead first. She was the epitome of reliable. When we were kids, we kind of thought Lisa was too perfect. And in the end, it turned out we were right. We found out about a year ago that Lisa is a regular partaker of a certain green herb that’s still illegal in Oregon, and had been for years and years. How she managed to keep that knowledge from us for so long is still beyond me. I suspected some magic was involved, though.

Lisa came into the kitchen, her curly brown hair bouncing on her shoulders.

“Hi mom,” Sophie said, going over to her mom, but she stopped when she saw her mother’s hands on her hips.

“Don’t you ‘hi mom’ me, young lady,” Lisa scolded, and the three of us glanced at each other. We were definitely in trouble, I wondered what for now.

“Sorry?” Sophie offered.

“That’s right, you had better be apologizing,” Lisa said. “I’ve been down to see Chief Gary today.”

“What possible reason could you have had to go see him?” I asked.

“That’s none of your business,” Lisa told me. The woman was like a magician, the way she always knew exactly where she had to go to get the three of us in trouble. I supposed since she was a witch, she actually was a magician. Although as far as I knew, she didn’t actually use any spells to get us into trouble. She just had mom magic.

“Anyway,” she continued, “We’re getting off topic. Chief Gary told me he suspected that the three of you are trying to figure out who murdered that poor man a few days ago.”

“Well I spoke to Chief Gary this afternoon too, and he told me the same thing, and I assured him that we are absolutely not doing that,” I told her. I always felt guilty when I lied to Lisa. After all, she’d taken us in when our parents died. But it was absolutely necessary in this case. Lisa thought life was about finding a good job, with a pension, having a family and dying without any debt. Anything out of the ordinary, anything that might sound a little bit like an adventure was absolutely out of the question. I always thought she was trying to be extra normal to hide the fact that she was a witch.

“I know, I spoke to Chief Gary after you did. He told me that, but I also know that you could tell Chief Gary that elephants grow on trees and he’d believe it. So I decided to come here for myself and make sure that my daughters aren’t getting into mischief, poking their heads where they shouldn’t be.”

“Oh mom,” Sophie told her, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you don’t think Angela was telling the truth. Don’t you trust us?”

“I trust you least of all young lady,” Lisa told Sophie, pointing a finger at her. Sophie pretended she’d just been stabbed in the heart.

“Oh!! Betrayed by my own mother!” she exclaimed, falling to her knees. I laughed, and got a glare from Lisa for my trouble.

“Trust is earned, not given,” Lisa told Sophie. “You stop getting into way more trouble than Charlotte and Angela, and then I’ll begin to trust you. But we’re getting off topic. I still don’t believe you.”

“Lisa, I swear, none of us are investigating Tony Nyman’s death.” Sophie and I both stared at Charlotte, mouths agape, as she made that pronouncement. Charlotte never lied. Ever. Which was a shame, because she was an absolute genius at it. Her wide eyes looked so sincere as she looked at Lisa. And of course, because Charlotte was the “good” child, the one who was never getting into any trouble, Lisa immediately believed her.

“Thank you, Charlotte, for being so honest with me.”

“Hey, we told you the same thing!” Sophie protested.

“Yes but there was a good chance you were lying to me,” Lisa replied.

“But you believe Charlotte!”

“That’s because Charlotte doesn’t lie to me, like my own biological daughter sees fit to do at every opportunity.”

“Whatever,” Sophie muttered. Was I insulted that Lisa had taken my sister’s word over mine and Sophie’s? A little bit. But I was pretty used to it at this point. I supposed being a goody two shoes had its advantages, and I was just thankful Charlotte decided to use her amazing ability to lie like a pro for once.

“Anyway, that wasn’t the only reason I came here.”

“Really? You didn’t just come here to accuse your daughter of lying?” Sophie asked.

“That’s enough out of you,” Lisa sighed. “I raised you to be better than this. I came here to tell you there’s a protest against the Ocean Mist resort. I assume the three of you have heard the news about how they want to be open in under a year?”

“No,” Charlotte and Sophie said in unison, at the same time as I nodded and said “yes”.

Both their heads instantly turned to me, and I shrugged.

“I was going to tell you pretty much right when Lisa came in. I heard about it today at Betty’s. Apparently that lady that runs the whole thing was there telling everyone about how they’re going to be starting construction in six weeks and be finished and ready to open in under a year.”

Lisa nodded. “Exactly. I was at a group meeting of people opposed to it, and we’re planning a major protest for two weeks from now. It’s right before the May long weekend, so there shouldn’t be too much happening in the news as everyone will be getting ready for the holiday. We’re calling in all the local news stations, and hoping to get some major negative coverage for Ocean Mist. Are you girls in?”

“Obviously,” Sophie replied. “Just let us know when and where, I’m always up for a good protest. Especially against something as stupid as Ocean Mist.”

I nodded. “Agreed. I’ll happily join.”

“Same,” Charlotte added. Lisa beamed.

“Good. I knew I raised you girls right. Just because the government says everything is over, doesn’t mean it’s true. We can keep fighting this.”

Unfortunately, in my heart, I knew deep down that no number of protests were going to stop the Ocean Mist people now. Not after how much money they’d sunk into that project. They were coming, and they were going to ruin our town, and there was nothing we could do about it.

Chapter 15

“Bee, I swear, if you don’t stop bothering the customers, I’m going to leave you at home,” I said to the cat, scowling as she lay in her bed at the vet’s office, looking like the picture of innocence. I knew better.

“He attacked me,” Bee whined, not bothering to even turn around and look at me as she lied to me.

“Disco is a very nice dog. I highly doubt he did anything to deserve a swat to the face. Promise me you will not do that again, or you stay at home from now on. I mean it.”