A Charming Corpse Read online

  TONYA

  KAPPES

  A

  CHARMING

  Corpse

  Magical Cures Mystery Series

  Book Eleven

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to all the June Heal readers! She’s such an amazing character and I’m beyond thrilled that after all of these years, eleven books later, everyone is still loving her and all the gang in Whispering Falls!

  Big thanks to Sheryl Hagan-Booth for her expert editing skills and Jessica Fischer for the cover art and design. I’m truly blessed to have an amazing team on this journey.

  Xoxoxo~

  T.

  List of June Heal’s charms and what they mean.

  Turtle Charm: Be sure and steady on your journey.

  Silver owl: Wisdom, mysticism, and secrets.

  Purple stone in mesh: Clarity and awareness.

  Angel Wing: Guidance from above and protection.

  Dove sitting on a gold circle: Devotions and hopefulness.

  Third eye charm: Peer past illusions.

  Small potion bottle: Harm to none.

  Brass bell: Beware of comings and goings.

  Spiral silver charm: Be aware of your surroundings.

  Leaf charm: Seasonal and transitional changes.

  Hand of the Fatima: Wards off evil spirits.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  About the Author

  Also by Tonya Kappes

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Oh, what a difference a year makes. There was something special about the excitement of the warm weather and the hustle and bustle of the village with all the new shops open for the first time since the winter had woken up. Or maybe it was the smell of the cinnamon and sugar coming out of Wicked Good Bakery every time someone opened the door.

  There was no denying that Raven Mortimer not only had a talent for Aleruomancy, which was the spiritual gift of being able to ask and receive for messages in dough, but for giving everyone who walked into her bakery a satisfied sweet tooth. Wicked Good Bakery was a great cover up for Raven’s gift and still be able to live amongst the mortals.

  That’s the way it is with all the shops in Whispering Falls, Kentucky.

  I needed to grab some sweet treats for a dinner party I was hosting tonight, but the long line of customers Raven had had me detour to The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe. There was nothing like a great cup of coffee to jumpstart my day.

  Mr. Prince Charming, my fairy-god cat, must’ve thought the same thing because he stiffened his tail and pointed it towards the tea shop before he darted in that direction.

  “Good morning, sisters.” I pinched a smile when I saw the Karima sisters huddled together at one of the café tables in front of the Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe. It was a little early for the sisters to be out, I thought as I shuffled my feet a little faster hoping to squeak by them.

  No such luck. The two grey-haired sisters jumped up from their seats. Their matching red housedresses swooshed up and then down.

  “June Heal,” Constance Karima waddled over to me before I could scurry into the tea shop. “Just the person we wanted to see.”

  “Yes. Just the person,” Patience repeated with a sinister giggle. “Yes. Just the person,” she repeated again like she always did.

  It was their thing. Constance made the first words of conversation and Patience repeated her. Or maybe it was just Patience’s way of being seen outside as the more outgoing of the twins, not to mention, Patience was shorter than the two, though not leaner.

  “Good to see you too.” I nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. Mr. Prince Charming rubbed his body in and out between my ankles in a figure 8, assuring me everything was fine.

  “We smell death.” Constance’s chin lifted up and she sniffed the air.

  That got my attention. The Karima sisters had the spiritual gift of Ghost Whispering but it didn’t end there. They were able to smell the ghost before the ghost knew it was going to be a ghost. I gulped and looked down at Mr. Prince Charming for more assurance than just the figure 8. He had nothing to give me. He sat down and drew his paw up to his mouth, giving it a good couple of licks.

  I was going to have to rely on my gift of intuition to test the air. I gulped again, closed my eyes, drew my hands together in a prayer pose, took a deep breath then began turning side-to-side getting air from all directions. The fresh air floated down and seeped into every corner of my body as I grounded into my inner self. A smile crossed my face as the joy of happiness swirled around me.

  “Mmmhmmm, death,” Patience whispered, bringing me out of my trance. Her green eyes snapped at me before she drew them down towards the ground, bending down to take a whiff of Mr. Prince Charming.

  Mewl, Mr. Prince Charming, my fairy-god cat, batted at Patience, quickly making her pop back up to standing.

  “Oh, sisters.” I put one hand on each of their backs and took a few steps towards the counter. I’d decided to go with my intuition. “That’s not death. That’s life. Life of the winter falling away and Mother Nature waking the world up to a new season.”

  “That’s life after death. That’s what it is.” Constance nodded and grabbed Patience by the arm. “Let’s go, sister. June Heal isn’t helping us. As it appears she’s not helping the community.”

  Constance reached over and picked up a flyer off the counter, shoving it in my chest before the two of them waddled off and out of the tea shop. I quickly glanced at the piece of paper.

  “Want to feel better? Are you having trouble sleeping? Trying to lose that extra weight but no matter what you do, you just can’t?” I read. “Try Life Choice Homeopathic today. Come by Crazy Craft Chicks from three p.m. to six p.m. Monday.” I looked up and got lost in thought. “Today is Monday,” I whispered.

  My gut went into a spiral downslide and then into an upswing, causing me to get a little dizzy. I might not have a sense death was knocking on Whispering Falls, but I did wonder if this new homeopathic service was what had made my business slow down.

  “Making the sisters mad?” Gerald Reguila twirled the edge of his mustache with his thumb and finger with a curious look in his eye.

  “Oh, my.” I giggled. “Who doesn’t make the sisters mad?”

  “You are a very wise one.” Gerald winked and tapped his top hat. “Your usual?”

  “I’d like an extra shot of espresso.” I gripped the paper and waded it up in my fist. “Something tells me I’m going to need it.”

  While I waited for Gerald to make my coffee, I walked over to the window and looked across the street at Crazy Crafty Chick. It was a fairly new shop and owned by Leah LeRoy.

  From what I knew about Leah, she was from Alabama and a clairsentience, which meant she was able to pick up sensations and relate messages from sensations.

  “Here you go.” Gerald handed me a mug of coffee. “You can sit here and enjoy.” He pointed to the table next to us.

  “I’m sorry. I should’ve said to-go,” I said, knowing exactly what
Gerald was up to.

  “I should’ve asked.” He gave a sly smile and turned around, the tails on his tuxedo jacket swirled around and flapped with each of his strong strides to the back of the shop.

  Meow, Mr. Prince Charming sat down next to me. Just like me, he knew that Gerald was trying to pull a slick one on me, which wasn’t unlike him. Gerald was a tealeaf reader and he took every opportunity to offer a complementary reading to anyone who came into the shop.

  Though it was Rule Number One in our spiritual by-laws of Whispering Falls, no other spiritual can read another spiritualist without their permission. Gerald always tried to get around that law by having the spiritualist drink from a teacup, paper cup, mug or any other object he served drinks in just so he could happen to get a look at the bottom residue. No doubt in my mind was he trying to see just exactly what was going on between me and the Karima sisters.

  “You need to remind me when it’s 3 p.m.” I told Mr. Prince Charming. “We’ve got a homeopathic party to go to.”

  Rowl, Rowl. Mr. Prince Charming stood up on his hind legs and batted at my charm bracelet dangling. It was the signal he gave me to trust in what he’s given me so far.

  “You know exactly what I need.” I bent down to pat him just as someone opened the door of the shoppe and he darted out the open door.

  “Looks like someone is in a hurry.” Gerald held the cup out and glanced over my shoulder, out the window at Mr. Prince Charming darting across the street.

  “I guess something caught his fancy.” I took the cup. “Give my best to Petunia and Orin,” I said about his wife and baby as a way of cutting off the small talk and getting back to my shop.

  I had about ten minutes to walk down there and open up for the day. Not that I expected a line like Raven and Gerald had with their shops, because frankly, business had been slow.

  It was something I’d chalked up to the cold weather that’d blanketed our little dug out hollow in the state that kept mortals or tourist coming through, but now I wasn’t so sure.

  I took a sip of my coffee and glanced at the rumpled-up piece of paper in my hand.

  I definitely wasn’t so sure now.

  Chapter Two

  The sudden burst of wind caught the sign that dangled in front of my shop and swung it back and forth making a creaking sound. I reached up, stopping the sign from swinging.

  “A Charming Cure, formerly A Dose Of Darla,” I said out loud and wiped my hand across it.

  Darla Heal was my mother and this had been her shop. I didn’t remember much of that time since I was just a child. She was a mortal that’d married my father, the spiritualist. He was a police officer killed in the line of duty.

  Oh, how times had changed. I smiled to myself wondering what it’d been like if the by-laws then had allowed my mother and me to live in Whispering Falls after my father’s death even though it stated that no mortals shall live within the limits of the spiritual community.

  After discovering my true identity as a spiritualist at the age of eighteen and after Darla had died, I moved to Whispering Falls. It was a no-brainer that since I was born with my father’s DNA that I’d reopen her shop and run it the way she intended.

  The small cottage house, I’d left the same. The ornamental gate opened up onto a walkway that lead underneath the most beautiful pergola with beautiful white and purple Wisteria vines. The front of the shop had a window framing each side of the door that was perfect for the sunshine that would be dripping through them in a couple of hours.

  I trotted up the steps and looked both ways before I used the old skeleton key to open the

  door. Once inside, my heart leapt up into my throat and made my lips turn upward into the biggest smile as it always did when I opened up for the day.

  As I walked through the shop, I ran my hands along the tops of the items, saying a small blessing to each one. The presentation was very important to Darla and I’d taken great pride in keeping with the way she did business.

  The shop had two rooms.

  The front room, where all the hard work of my hard was on display, was filled with all sorts of glass bottles of different shapes and sizes. A Charming Cure might sell homeopathic cures, but the true magic was in the bottle, made specific for each person who walked through my shop doors.

  The customer might think they were coming in for a heartburn medication, when in reality they’re suffering from a broken heart. With my spiritual gift, I was able to concoct a true healing remedy and this. . .this. . .I thought as I gripped the flyer that I was still holding, had phony written all over it. At least that’s what my intuition told me.

  The bell over the door dinged a few times as Chandra Shango walked in.

  “Good morning,” Chandra Shango trilled, giving her cape a good tug around her neck, letting it fall around her back. Mr. Prince Charming darted in before she shut the door.

  “Be careful,” I quickly ran across the room to catch the decorative lamp on the table that he’d ran under, having caught the red table cloth with his paws, causing it to shift.

  The lamps were scattered throughout the shop on small tables with a different ornamental lampshade on each one. Mr. Prince Charming had a habit of running under them to hide and he never watched out for what he was doing. He was good at knocking over my potion bottles and the lamps.

  An easy solution would be to take the lamps off all the tables, but it felt homey and warmed the place. If I was to spend countless hours a week in here, I certainly wanted it to feel like home and not a job.

  “How are you this morning?” I asked Chandra and headed back to the counter to get everything ready for opening.

  “Booked, booked, and booked.” She adjusted the black turban on top of her head and drummed her fingers together while looking around.

  I smiled as the perfectly painted green nails flashed with small flowers on each of them. She truly was an artist that, with the help of her spiritual gift, had flourished..

  “I’m all out of hand cream and I’ve got several pedicures to do today.” She exclaimed.

  “You mean foot cream?” I asked, putting the coffee down on the counter and the waded-up flyer. I took my purse that was strapped across my body, and hung it on the back of the chair before disappearing behind the partition that separated the counter into two parts.

  “No. Manicures. I know what I mean.” She corrected me and I didn’t bother asking why. She knew what she needed for A Cleansing Spirit Spa, the shop next to mine where Chandra was a palm reader.

  “Oh, okay. I’ve got some general itchy palm, which means money, and some. . .” I flipped on my cauldron and popped my head from around the partition. “What are you doing?” I asked Chandra when I realized that she’d just bought a whole bunch of cream that should have lasted her the rest of the month.

  “Actually.” She lowered her eyes. “I wanted to know how you were doing.”

  “Then why didn’t you ask as soon as you came in?” I questioned my longtime friend. “Since when did we dance around each other?” I asked and walked around the counter.

  “Since I heard that your feelings could be hurt from the flyer you picked up at the tea shop,” her voice trailed off.

  “Well.” I reached over to the counter and held up my cup of coffee. “I know Gerald didn’t have the opportunity to read my coffee grounds, and I haven’t heard the paper yet, so the Karimas?” I eyed her. She turned away. “But I have to wonder why one of my dearest friends didn’t tell me about this new homeopathic option in Whispering Fall?”

  “Oh, June. You know I adore you and Darla. I’ve loved you since the first day you were born, but this.” She swept across the floor and jabbed the paper with her long fingernail. “This is not of the spiritual realm. This is the mortals trying to capture exactly what you have here.” She drew her arms in front of her as though she were conducting an orchestra.

  “I’m going to see for myself.” I tapped my finger on my watchless wrist. “3 p.m. right, Mr. Prince Charmin
g?” My chin lifted in the air to carry my voice.

  The tip of Mr. Prince Charming’s tail was barely visible from underneath the long, flowing tablecloth. It swept back and forth a couple of times in a slow motion.

  “You think that’s a good idea?” Chandra asked.

  I picked up the chalkboard eraser and walked over to the wall where the chalkboard hung and erased yesterday’s special so I could write today’s..

  “I’d like to check out my competition, yes. It’s a fine idea.” I wrote, Put your spring back into your step with a boost of energy~ Kali Phos.

  “If you insist.” She gnawed on the edge of her lip as her brows drew together. “Do you insist?” She asked.

  “I insist. Now, do you really need hand cream?” I knew she didn’t. My intuition told me so, but I wanted to make sure. It seemed my intuition had appeared to be off since I really couldn’t put a finger as to why my business had slowed down.

  “Well.” She swooped around the shop, fingering all the tiered displays with of my remedies on them.

  While she took her time trying to decide whether it was right for her to purchase something from me, or my competition, I picked up the feather duster from behind the counter and shook it in the air. Cough, cough. I fanned the dust to make way for more to collect on the duster. Walking from display to display, I swiped them each so when the beautiful sun that Mother Nature had promised for today would send in her rays of amazing sunshine to bestow upon the bottles, they would gleam.

  “I think I’m good.” She wiggled her fingers. “Ta-ta.”

  “Mmmhmmmm,” I hummed through my nose and headed to the back room.

  The back room walls were originally lined with every ingredient that I had ever dreamed of, but I moved them to the shelves behind the counter so I could make my potions while watching the shop at the same time.