A Charming Crime by Tonya Kappes Read Free Book Online

but Oscar was too busy asking Mr. Alexelrod
Primrose to come in.
    Oscar crossed in
front of me and held the screen door open. Mr. Primrose walked in. Oscar took
him into the family room where Alexelrod made himself comfortable on the couch.
    “Last time I
checked, this was my house.” I shoved past him.
    “This is your answer. Our answer.” He moved in front of me, coming nose to chest. A hard
chest.
    Slowly, my eyes
followed up to his crystal baby-blues, only to confirm my childhood best friend
had indeed grown into a man; something I hadn’t gotten use to or never took the
time to notice.
    “I don’t know,”
I whispered and bit my lip. There was something exciting about selling it, and
moving so I could find the answers to all the unanswered questions about Darla
and my dad. I could probably dig around and find out without moving there. My
intuition, which had never pointed me in the wrong direction, told me to go for
it.
    “Think about it.
It’s what Darla would call fate.” Oscar reminded me of the free spirit Darla
possessed. When things worked out, she’d call it fate. “She had a store there,
and now you’ve found it.”
    “Or they found
me,” I whispered, thinking back to everything Ann had said about Izzy looking
for me. Well. . .that’s what my intuition told me.
    “You know,” I
paused, and then peeked in at Mr. Primrose, “you’re right. I don’t have
anything to lose. If I don’t like it, I will move back. Just not in this
house.”
    “Whispering
Falls won’t know what happened to them.” Oscar laughed and pulled out a packet
from the inside pocket of his uniform jacket. No they won’t know what
happened to them when I start snooping around.
    “Izzy told me
that we have to fill out a membership form and it goes before their city
council.” He shoved the packet toward me.
    I took the
papers.
    “We have to
apply to live in Whispering Falls?” Quickly, I thumbed through the papers and
read a couple of the strange questions.
    “Izzy said it’s
just a formality and we will be fine.” Oscar nudged me toward the family room.
“Don’t keep Mr. Primrose waiting.”
    Before I knew
what was happening, I signed on Mr. Primroses’ dotted line. Not only did his client’s
check list include every single characteristic of my house, it included a real
check for far more money than my house and Mr. McGurtle’s house were worth
combined.
    “Bye.” I waved to
Mr. Primrose as he left. I turned to look at Oscar who was still in disbelief
with the offer, and I waved the check underneath his nose. “Mr. Primrose is my
new best friend.”
    “He’s mine too.”
Oscar raised his eyebrows when he saw the number on the check. “You don’t have
to worry about not being able to afford anything for a while.”
    He was right. I
could really try to make a go of A Dose of Darla in Whispering Falls. There was
even enough money to make a real lab and order new herbs for different cures.
    That was going
to have to wait, because first stop on my list was Mystic Lights. I wanted to
get a better look at Madame Torres. Maybe buy her with my new found money.

 
    Chapter
Six
    The next couple
days I spent cleaning the house and getting ready for the new chapter in my and
Mr. Prince Charming’s life. All the crazy things that had happened in
Whispering Falls were still fresh in my mind. Several times I resisted jumping
into the Green Machine and heading toward Mystic Lights. I didn’t want to bring
more attention to myself, so I knew I had to wait and fit in before I could
show up and start asking questions.
    Sadly, my former
life fit into three boxes. Darla was never one to keep any type of memories.
She said that the best memories were the ones stored in your head and heart,
not on paper or photographs. Though I wouldn’t have minded a photograph or two
of us, a crayon drawing from preschool, or even a report card that showed I was
a straight A student. Or something from our time in Whispering Falls.