Free THE WITCH AND THE TEA PARTY (A Rachael Penzra Mystery) by Elizabeth Shawn Page B

nags inside, and ten minutes later, I was beeped at again. I gave in and got up. The store would still have to be opened and operated. It’s certainly a good thing that life goes on in its usual way, even when tragedy strikes, but it’s never seemed right to me. Something symbolic should be acknowledged. But the fact was that a woman had died. I didn’t know her. My only connection was through my aunt and her friends. Still….
    Patsy, already at the kitchen table, was writing notes as Aunt Myrtle and Dora tried to describe the guests at the party. They were in complete agreement that the outstanding thing about them was that they seemed so mismatched. “I’ve never been to a dinner party,” Dora told us, without any hint of self-pity. “But it seems to me th at you’d invite people you like and who were apt to like each other.”
    “Maybe it was their mutual interest in fortune telling,” I suggested. “Didn’t you say the one woman was going on and on about her horoscope?”
    “Some of them were really interested,” Aunt Myrtle said. “Those two sisters seemed to at least enjoy the idea. I don’t know if they really believed. “
    “That would be Stella Lang and Martha Stone,” Patsy asked, glancing at the list.
    “Most people don’t really believe in their fortune,” Dora said. “They’re superstitious in their own way about not paying attention to a warning, but if you’re told you’re in danger in the next week, you’d be a fool not to be a little cautious and keep an eye out for problems. I’d listen to something like that, even if I didn’t believe, even if it was Moondance telling me.”
    “She’s really good,” my aunt insisted. “You’ve heard all the good comments people make when they come out.”
    “Half of it’s following the instructions in that book,” her friend argued. “Set formulas that work for eighty percent of the time. But you’re right. For some reason, she’s really good at it.”
    “You’re using a book to tell fortunes?” Patsy asked, interestedly. “I didn’t know you could buy something like that.”
    “I don’t think there’s a subject that doesn’t have at least one book written about it,” I put in my two-cents. “Look at the internet. I dare you to think of a subject we couldn’t find lots of information about. And you can bet there’ll be entire books written about it.”
    “Not a bet I’d take,” she conceded. “I’d like to read it sometime if you think she’d loan it to me.”
    “It’s in the store,” Dora said. “We found it at one of the yard sales we went to. Since Moondance was already doing that sort of thing, I grabbed the book.”
    “It’s a magic book,” my aunt added.
    “You mean a book about magic?” my niece responded.
    “No, it’s a magic book. It says so on the first page. We have to treat it with great respect. Moondance keeps it wrapped in purple velvet in a beautiful wooden, covered box. She takes good care of her Tarot cards and the crystal ball, too. We got a perfect stand for the ball there, too.”
    “I’d like to see it ,” I said. Unlike most people today, I believe in magic. And as with everything else, there’s an upside and downside involved. It isn’t anything to be played around with. There are consequences.
    “We can see it later,” Patsy said. She isn’t as convinced about that sort of thing existing, much less being potentially dangerous. “So we have Rita Jasper being involved in horoscopes and probably other stuff along that line. I can understand her being at a party that ended up at the readings. She seemed to be the date of Captain Hastings. John Hastings. There’s something familiar about that name…”
    “I don’t recall the John part, but I think that was the name of a sidekick of Poirot.” I’m a big mystery fan, but I have to admit that names don’t usually stick with me. Still, with the number of books and the many times I’ve read Agatha Christie, some had