Free magical cures 06.5 - a charming christmas by tonya kappes

mystery with Oscar and the romantic dinner that never took place was solved, my gut still felt uneasy. My intuition told me I needed to figure out who was the Whispering Falls Grinch.
    “I bet it was.” He helped me up the steps of the shop and turned to me before we opened the door. “Do you mind if I go catch up with Colton about the vandalism?”
    “Not at all.” I gave him a kiss on the lips. “Go save the day.” I batted my lashes. “My hero.”
    He grinned a sexy smile and darted down the steps and across the crowded street. The Whispering Falls Grinch didn’t seem to have an affect on the village tourists, they only seemed to be targeting shop owners and the decorations on the outside. But who?
    Instead of going inside the shop, where I knew Faith was in total control, I glanced down the street. The sun had melted the snow on the sidewalks and I wondered if there were any clues under the snow as to who could’ve done such a thing.
    Bella’s Baubles was the furthest shop from me, so I would start there and work my way down.
    “What are you doing?” Bella asked from her shop door.
    I was squatting on my knees, looking around for anything. I had no idea what I was looking for, but my gut told me to keep going.
    “I thought my intuition was ablaze about Oscar, but I was wrong.” I stood up and dusted my hands off. “Something tells me I have to get to the bottom of whomever the thief is.”
    “I hope you do.” She shook her head. “I’m sick over it. Do you think it’s a tourist?”
    “Like Petunia says, the holidays bring out stress in people. And stress makes people do funny things.” My eyes zeroed in on something shiny. “Misery loves company, and if they don’t enjoy Christmas, they don’t want to see others happy.”
    We moved out of the way of a group of women shoppers going in her shop.
    “Let me know what you find out.” Bella walked back inside.
    I glanced around me, making sure no one saw me pick up the shiny object.
    “Jingle bell,” I groaned, noticing it was different than the other ones I had collected. This one was larger and only one hole in the top. Not like the regular jingle bells.
    That wasn’t much of a clue. Everyone had jingle bells on around here, including my fairy-god cat. I looked down the street toward Magical Moments and Ever After Books. I was missing something but what?
    My intuition nagged.
    I hurried my way down the street to Magical Moments. Arabella wasn’t going to notice me snooping around. She was too busy picketing with Patience in front of the police station. A small crowd had gathered, watching the two Looney birds. 
    It didn’t take long for me to find a jingle bell that matched the one from Bella’s Baubles in the mess the thief had left behind. I held it in my grip. I knew if I found the owner of the jingle bell, I would find the thief. But I had to find some evidence across the street at Ever After Books in order to take my accusations to Oscar. He had to have hard evidence; at least that was what he said. I believed in my intuition. And my intuition told me these two jingle bells weren’t yet enough evidence.
    I ran across the street and stood in front of Ever After Books, taking a nice long look up and down the steps where the carolers had stood and the garland was ripped off. Exactly like I expected. There was a large jingle bell with one hole on the top among the melting snow.
    I grabbed it, placing it in my hand with the other two, hoping to get any reading off of them.
    Madame Torres! A light bulb went off in my head.
    “I’m not talking about him,” I vividly remember her saying in the midnight hour after my shop decorations had been robbed. She might not have been talking about Oscar; she was talking about rule number one. I couldn’t use her to read other spiritualists. Did she think I was going to ask her to show me who stole the decorations? All the decorations?
    I scurried behind the cottage of Bella’s Baubles and pulled my