Free Breach of Crust: A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery by Ellery Adams Page A

years,” she told Ella Mae and Adelaide over cocktails on the patio. “It’s been ages since I took a vacation. There are always too many books and manuscripts requiring my attention.” She smiled. “I think my boss was glad to see me go. Without the musty old lady around, I suspect there’ll be parties in the stacks every day.”
    “Well, we’re grateful to have you,” Adelaide had said totheir guest. “Is there anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable?”
    Madge had one request in particular. “I’d like to Facetime my cats once a day. I am a self-confessed crazy cat lady and I won’t be able to work without knowing that they’re being properly cared for. I’d rather speak to them without Miss Lulu or Charleston Chew contributing to the conversation. Is there a quiet place for me to make these calls?”
    “You can use my late husband’s study,” Adelaide said. “The dogs aren’t allowed inside and the walls are very thick. You’ll have all the privacy you need.”
    The last of Suzy’s friends to knock on Partridge Hill’s door was a professor of history from Oxford University. Henry Matthews wore silver spectacles and a bow tie. Upon entering Partridge Hill, he bent over Adelaide’s hand as though he were a knight and she, his lady. A taciturn man in his late sixties, he lit up like a lamp whenever Adelaide was around. Ella Mae took an instant liking to the professor. A brilliant scholar, he described historical events with such detail and passion that she could readily picture them in her mind.
    “Your students are lucky,” she told Henry one evening as she studied another obscure book on floral symbols. “You make history leap off the page by infusing every battle, marriage, and diplomatic treaty with energy and color. The topics I once viewed as black and white—all those dates and facts—transform into vibrant people, places, and feelings. Is that your gift? Being able to make people visualize historical events?”
    Henry had smiled at her. “No, but thank you for the compliment. My ability is being able to catch brief glimpses of the past. This occurs when I touch certain objects.”
    Ella Mae wished Henry had been in Havenwood earlier. He could have touched the items in Bea’s hotel room. Perhaps he’d have seen what happened to her the night she died.Believing his ability might still prove useful, Ella Mae had asked Henry if he’d be willing to touch something belonging to Loralyn.
    “I doubt my gift would help you find her,” he’d answered. “I might see her as a child, as a high school student, or as she was six months ago. Considering she hasn’t touched anything in her house recently, I don’t think I’d be of much use.”
    Ella Mae had replayed that conversation many times since then. Even now, as she sat at the end of the dock with Hugh, she returned to it.
    “You’re drifting away again,” Hugh said, sliding his arm around her waist.
    Caught out, she smiled at him. “Just a little.”
    “What are you thinking about?”
    Taking his hand in hers, she raised it to the star-filled sky. “When you left Havenwood to search for an object to restore your powers, how did you decide where to go first? How did you navigate?”
    Hugh’s jaw tightened. He was still reluctant to speak of his journey. “I’m not as smart as Suzy’s friends, but there are so many Greek myths about magical weapons that I decided to start my search in Greece. I didn’t have access to the materials those book people do, so I had to convince the locals of whichever town I was visiting to trust me. To share their local legends. Loralyn might be doing the same thing. However, she has a magical advantage, and you can bet that she’s using her siren’s powers to get people to tell her what she wants to know.”
    “You were friends with her when we were kids—one of the few people she genuinely liked.” Releasing Hugh’s hand, Ella Mae continued to stare at the stars. “Can you