Free Lemon Pies and Little White Lies by Ellery Adams

keep researching too, but right now, I need to focus on all things pie.”
    “Is that realistic?” Suzy asked softly. “Can you just flip a switch and turn your other emotions off?”
    Ella Mae thought of the chocolate raspberry pie in the freezer of The Charmed Pie Shoppe. “I have no choice.” Her mouth curved in a humorless grin as she pointed at the wine bottle. “At the moment, however, I think I need a few more ounces of liquid courage. Being a queen kind of sucks.”
    Suzy laughed and filled Ella Mae’s glass. “I’ll drink to that.”
    •   •   •
    The next day, Ella Mae turned on the television and was horrified by the damage Nuckelavee had done. By the time the storm had passed and a timid sun had shone down on the Scottish coast, the landscape was nearly unrecognizable. The waters of the North Sea had swept farther inland than anyone had imagined, flooding towns and villages and causing millions of dollars in damage. Livestock had drowned, crops were obliterated, and houses had been torn from their foundations. Fishing trawlers, ripped from their moorings, ended up on high hills, and cars were scattered throughout saturated meadows like lost sheep. People had been lost too. How many the experts could only guess, but the number was over a hundred and rising.
    Ella Mae watched the coverage until she was too sickened and saddened by the sight.
    In need of solace, she went to church and bowed her head alongside her fellow townsfolk. The congregation prayed for the victims of the storm, but neither the comfortingwords nor the hymns nor the sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows alleviated Ella Mae’s anxiety.
    What if it is possible? she thought on her way home after the service. What if that storm was made to serve a purpose? To destroy groves and create destruction? But why would anyone do such a thing?
    With no answer to these questions, Ella Mae tried to find a release by running for six miles. When she finally stopped, her legs aching and her lungs burning, she felt almost human again. Back at home, she took a very long, very hot shower, ate a huge egg-and-cheese omelet, and played catch with Chewy on the lawn.
    When her terrier grew tired of fetching balls and sticks, she made herself a chicken salad sandwich, wrapped it in wax paper, and drove to the pie shop.
    She entered through the kitchen, pushed through the swing doors leading into the dining room, and gasped.
    There was a jagged hole in the front window and shards of glass were strewn across the pine floor. Resting at the base of one of the café tables was a red brick. Ella Mae quickly scooped Chewy into her arms and carried him back into the kitchen. She then grabbed a broom and returned to the dining room to examine the brick.
    Moving carefully, she cleared a path with the broom and then squatted down next to the brick. She picked it up, feeling its weight, and then flipped it over.
    “What the hell?” she cried, and dropped the brick as if she’d been burned.
    There was a chalk clover drawn on its porous surface.
    She retreated to the kitchen and called the police. After asking Office Wallace to come to the pie shop to investigate a case of vandalism, Ella Mae stroked Chewy. Her agitationwas contagious, and he began to whine and shift back and forth on his feet.
    “It’s all right, boy. It’s all right.” As Ella Mae soothed her dog, her own fright slowly morphed into something else. Anger.
    Unable to sit still while she waited for Officer Wallace, Ella Mae brewed a pot of coffee. She poured herself a mug of hot, strong coffee, gave Chewy a treat, and was just composing an invitation for the upcoming History in the Baking event when there was a knock on the kitchen door.
    “I saw the broken window,” Officer Wallace said.
    Ella Mae led her into the dining room. “Here’s the projectile.”
    “Not very original,” the policewoman said, turning the brick over in her hands. Seeing the clover, she added, “It