Murderous Matrimony(16)

Luckily Chase couldn’t hear her. He ducked a hot plate of spaghetti that she threw his way when he ignored her.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him outside.

“Wanda?” He looked as though he was ready to believe that she was real now.

“Yes. She’s stronger, and learning to do new things every day.”

He pulled out his radio and called for backup. “This can’t go on. People will stop coming to the Village.”

I hated to sound smug, but I’d been trying to tell him since the day she’d appeared at our apartment in the Dungeon. “There is nothing we can do until the sorcerer comes to get his bracelet back.”

He stared at me. “What?”

I shrugged. “That’s what Madame Lucinda says. She told me we can ask him to take her with him. That’s all we can do, unless I want to wish her on someone else. It’s like she’s linked to me.”

It got quiet in Polo’s Pasta. I saw Wanda fly out and throw me a kiss.

“She’s gone now. I suppose it wasn’t any fun once everyone else was gone.”

“I’m going in to see if Morris is okay. You stay here.”

Chase’s reinforcements had arrived, and carefully stepped into the restaurant. I could already see the visitors who had been in Polo’s spreading the tale via Facebook and Twitter. If Wanda wanted to cause trouble, she was doing a good job.

“What was that?” Merlin asked from behind a privy. “More to the point, is it over?”

I sat on a pretty purple bench in the shade. “It’s over for now. Or at least she’s gone for now. It was Wanda. She’s blue, angry, and back for an encore.”

He crept to the bench, surveying the spot before he sat down. “How do you know this, Jessie? Can you see her? Can you communicate with her?”

I laughed so hard that tears came to my eyes. I told him all about my last two terrible weeks with Wanda. “She’s getting much worse.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Chase asked as he came around the corner. “I thought something was wrong with us. I don’t know. Wedding jitters. Cold feet. Change of heart.”

I got up and threw my arms around him. “Never. I would never change my heart about you. I was worried you might change your mind about me.”

“You said Wanda was hanging around.” He kissed me. “You didn’t say all those other things were happening that you just told Merlin.”

“I was embarrassed.” I was glad it was out in the open. “And I didn’t think you believed me.”

“Yes, yes. Of course he believes you and you two still love each other.” Merlin got to his feet, his pointy hat crooked on his head. “Now what can we do about Wanda?”

*

I told Merlin what Madame Lucinda had told me. He stormed away to speak with her, determined to force her to make Wanda leave the Village.

The security people helped Morris and Lynda clean up the mess. Morris was okay— just a little bruised and battered. He didn’t want to go to the hospital. He also demanded that Chase find some way to get Wanda out of the Village.

Wanda had made him a true believer.

Chase and I got large pretzels from a nearby vendor for lunch. We sat on the bench outside Polo’s Pasta and ate them with mustard. It was good to be able to really talk to him about Wanda’s ghost, and my feelings about the wedding.

“I don’t know what we can do about the wedding,” he admitted. “This is a big deal for the Village. We both love it here and want to stay. If it helps them, it helps us, doesn’t it?”

“We could elope first,” I suggested. “Then the big wedding would only be another weird event at the Village. I could be Lady Jessie and you could be the Bailiff. I want to start our lives together as Jessie Morton and Chase Manhattan. I hope that makes sense.”

“Let me see what I can do.” He wiped a smear of mustard from my chin. “I love you. We’ll work something out. And we’ll find a way to take care of Wanda.”

“I love you too.” I knew there probably wasn’t anything he could do. I knew I was stuck with the big wedding. I was just having a hard time adjusting to it.

The team of security guards, all dressed as peasants, started coming out of Polo’s Pasta. They were shaking their heads and complaining about cleaning up the mess. Each of them was covered in tomato sauce. They smelled delicious!

Chase got a call from the castle and frowned. “There are reporters at the gate. Someone took pictures of the stuff flying around in Polo’s. They want to walk through the haunted Village with their cameras and see if anything else happens.”

“Well, Halloween at the Village is always popular. Maybe real spooks will be good for business too.”