The door to the flower shop opened into me, knocking my phone to the ground.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Katherine. Are you okay?” The mayor gave me a brilliant smile and bent to retrieve my phone for me.
“I’m fine, Mayor Pembroke. I should’ve been paying more attention.” I had a hard time looking away from her knee-high boots which had enchanted scarlet spiders scuttling across them.
“Oh please, I’m always telling you girls to call me Soo-jin or Sue.” She straightened her orange scarf, which had black cats and witch hats on it, then passed me a warm pancake with a slightly orange hue from a box in her hands. “Here, have a hotteok. I made them fresh this morning.”
“Oh, thanks.” The mayor often made Korean food and passed it out around town or at town meetings. If she wasn’t mayor, I was fairly sure she’d have opened a rival bakery inspired by Korean treats.
I took a bite, and the subtle sweetness filled my mouth. It tasted like she’d added pumpkin puree to the dough and used a black sesame filling.
Mayor Pembroke pulled her box of goodies back against her sweater, which had a haunted house and skeletal trees with branches whipping in a fake breeze, then handed my phone back with a quick glance at the screen. “That poor boy.”
“Graham?” I asked. I’d been looking at a picture of Caleb, but maybe she’d gotten them confused or couldn’t see it well.
“Well, of course Graham too, but I meant Caleb,” she continued. “I’m sure things are hard for him with Graham’s death.”
“Why would things be hard for Caleb?”
“Because those two used to be thick as thieves.”
My mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”
Mayor Pembroke leaned forward conspiratorially, latching onto my interest like a cat with a bowl of cream. “I haven’t seen them together much lately. I believe something happened between them last year.” Her bat necklace swung free of her sweater, the wings flapping weakly, the spell cast on it clearly dying.
“What happened?”
“It wouldn’t be proper for me to talk about Graham now that he’s passed, of course.” She waved at someone across the street. “Oh, I see the Dashwoods over there, and I need to say hello and see if they want any hotteok. So good to see you.” She gave me a quick hug, then strode across the street.
I stood there, my mind spinning. Why had Graham never mentioned that he and Caleb had been friends before? Clearly something had happened that drove awedge into their friendship. The spellbinding question was whether that something had been reason enough to kill.
Chapter 6
Aheadyfloralscenthit and variety of autumn colors greeted me as soon as I walked into Bewitching Blossoms. Roses, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and many more whose names I didn’t know filled the shelves and vases to my left under a sign calledAutumn’s Harvest, their petals ranging from red to orange to yellow. There was even a section of black, orange, and white flowers called “Boo-quets” but once you made it past the fall-themed things, blues, purples, pinks, and greens also popped up in the store.
“Wow,” I breathed, stopping to take it all in. I passed a row of silvery flowers, and when I brushed my finger against the velvety petal, the flower crooned a lullaby.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Riley said.
I jumped at his sudden appearance. “You really need to stop popping out of nowhere.”
“Or you need to pay better attention.” He grinned.
“You’re in an awfully good mood.”
“That’s what a delicious cup of coffee will do to a person.” He presented a bouquet of white lilies, rust-colored chrysanthemums, and flowers with golden petals that slowly curled and uncurled. He also held a single red tulip that didn’t quite seem to go with the others. “What do you think?”
“That you drink too much coffee.”
“I meant about the flowers.”
“They’re beautiful.”
“Perfect.” He walked toward the check-out counter.
The employee, a woman whose name tag read Mrs. Martin, smiled at us as we approached. “What a lovely selection you have,” she said as she wrapped the flowers. “Do you want these all together, or do you want the tulip separate?”
“Separate, please.” Riley leaned an arm on the counter and selected a card. “It was difficult to choose a bouquet considering all the flowers you have here are lovely.”
