Read Moonlight Murder: An Inept Witches Mystery Online

Authors: Amanda A. Allen,Auburn Seal

Tags: #cozy murder mystery

Moonlight Murder: An Inept Witches Mystery (17 page)

BOOK: Moonlight Murder: An Inept Witches Mystery
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Emily raised her eyebrows.

Only 99%? You losing confidence in your truth-serum?


Not exactly. But I

m not ready to believe that Gabe loves me so I

ve got to allow some wiggle room for that stuff not working.

Emily smirked.

Ah, I see. Denial then. Okay. At least you

re honest.


He loves you?

Kimmie grinned at them.

And you witch-drugged him to find out? How would I go about getting some truth serum? My husband is raising the hairs on the back of my neck lately. Is he cheating? Is he fired? Is he

what? I need to find out for

well

reasons and stuff.


Yup,

Emily drawled.

Yup. I understand completely. We

ll hook her up, right?


This stuff,

Ingrid said,

is flying out of my cupboards like hotcakes right now. But
I

ll see what I can do after I get some more.


Thanks!

Kimmie said.

You know where I live.

She lived, rent-free, in the complex Ingrid and Emily owned. The conniving wench had out-blackmailed Ingrid during the last murder investigation.

Kimmie finished up their pedicure, they paid, leaving their usual generous tip, and stepped out onto Main Street.


Now what?

Ingrid asked.


Phones. I can

t go another second without being able to text. Someone. Anyone. And Facebook. I haven

t checked my account in days.


You know you could check it online from your computer, right?

Emily shot Ingrid a flat look.

Of course I know. It

s just when I

m home, I want to sleep or drink wine. Not get on the computer. Facebook is for killing time when I

m out and about. You never know, it could help us solve a murder every now and then.

Ingrid sighed.

This better be the last dang murder we have to solve. This is starting to feel too much like a job. Plus, we would need like a badge or something.


Witch Police?

Emily teased.


Please.

Ingrid laughed.

We might convince someone to give us the job, but we

d be fired in a week. Possibly two.


Phone,

Emily whined.


Phone,

Ingrid agreed.

How else am I going to torture Gabe with pictures of my toes?


I don

t want to know about your little games,

Emily said.

I have said this.

Chapter 8

Death Magic

 

Thursday

 


Em, it

s Hazel.

The home phone was ringing, interrupting Ingrid and Emily as they relaxed in Ingrid

s apartment. They

d intended to get phones but swung home for Emily to change since she was finally freezing.

Should I answer it?

Ingrid asked.


You might as well. I don

t think we

ve done anything lately to make her mad. Not answering it might provoke her.

Ingrid nodded and answered the call.

Hi, Aunt Hazel.

Emily watched Ingrid

s face change as Hazel spoke. She really wished she knew how to do a spell that would allow her to eavesdrop. She made a mental note to learn that and in the meantime tried to interpret Ingrid

s facial expressions.


No. I know. Yes.

Ingrid let out a long sigh and Emily could see the legit heartbreak in her eyes.

Damn that idiot sheriff, Emily thought. I

m going to have to knock some sense into that fool.

Ingrid spoke again.

Yes, we broke up. I

m sorry I didn

t tell you. I was sort of hoping we could work it out before I had to talk about it.

More blathering from Hazel

s side of the conversation, then Ingrid

s eyebrows shot up.

Uh, yeah, okay. See you in a few minutes.

Ingrid hung up and jumped to her feet, all traces of their relaxing morning vanishing.


Hazel is coming. We are supposed to meet her downstairs. She wants to have a word with us about the bookstore. It sounded like a not good sort of word. Like possibly a lecture. Or maybe even an order.

Emily groaned.

Ugh. I hate words that require work. Ingrid, the bookshop is a freaking disaster. We can

t let Hazel see it in this condition. She

ll lose her mind and remind us how Aunt Danna would roll over in her grave. She

d continue about how you don't have to practice death magic to know that Aunt Danna

s spirit would be angry with us for the way the store looks right now.

Ingrid nodded.

I know. Hurry, let

s take the stairs. It

s down instead of up.

Emily snorted.

I refuse to walk up those stairs. Not even to avoid Hazel

s wrath. But down? Down I can do.

They raced downstairs and into the bookshop. Hazel was right in her imaginary lecture. The one they

d be getting shortly. The shop was a disaster. Dust everywhere. Piles of books stacked haphazardly on every imaginable horizontal surface.


Damn. This is going to take forever.

They hadn

t been in the bookstore since they

d gone to St. Maarten

s. It had been so easy to just plan to do it the next day and then the next and then the next. So months had passed.

Ingrid looked smug.

Nope. I

ve been practicing useful magic. Cleaning. Watch this.

She mumbled something and pointed her fingers toward a bookshelf. Emily watched in amazement and excitement as sparks of magic flew from Ingrid

s fingertips toward the shelf.

Ingrid explained.

That is a dusting spell.

The glimmers of light flitted toward the shelf and got brighter and bigger as they reached their destination. There was a loud crackle and then the entire bookshelf fell, spilling books all over the ground.

Emily covered her ears and yelled over the commotion.

Uh, that

s an interesting way to dust.


Damn. Damn. Damn,

Ingrid shouted.

That was supposed to work.

Emily smiled.

Yeah, that

s what we always say.

Then she saw something move behind the fallen shelf.

Ingrid. Did you see that?


See what? The bookshelf fall over? The bookstore being messier than ever. The future when Hazel shows up and tells us what idiots we are?


No, I think I saw someone. Or something.


In here?

Ingrid asked, alarm in her voice.


Yeah, you know, I swear it looked like Dickhead.


Your ex? No way. Oh, come on, Universe. What did we ever do to you? We don

t kill puppies, we try to be nice to people. Why, why? Why do you have to let Dickhead Owen show up and haunt our bookstore?

Emily listened to Ingrid complain to the universe. It would have been hard to believe before they

d started driving the Camaro. But now

She wanted to move toward the apparition she saw. Wanted to make sure what she saw was not in fact her dead husband. It wasn

t that she was particularly opposed to ghosts. She was just vehemently unwelcoming of her cheating douchebag ex-husband in her bookstore. This was her space. Hers and Ingrid

s. Just because he

d died there didn

t mean he had the right to hang around.


No. We need to get him out of here. You keep an eye out for him. I'm gonna find one of our grimoires. I know I saw something one time about capturing spirits. I

m not gonna let this guy mess with my life from the freaking grave. Screw that. I

ll find a way to kill him all the way dead this time.


But Aunt Hazel. She

ll freak about the condition of the shop.


Whatever. I don

t care about that. Owen is way worse than the wrath of my aunt.

Emily went to the back of the store where they kept all their reference books, none of which they

d ever bothered to read. She searched through several volumes before she finally found a leather-bound one that had a symbol of a reaper

s scythe on the spine.


This is it.


You found it? Like for real?

Ingrid asked.

How

d you find it so fast?


Well, Owen here, our not-so-friendly ghost, is dead, right?

Ingrid looked irritated.

Yeah, obviously.

Emily went on.

So that means that we need death magic. I remember this book from when I was a kid. My mom had a particular fascination with necromancy.


Necro

what? Isn

t that where people have sex with dead people? That is just disgusting, Emily. I never knew that about your mom. I

m not sure you and I can continue to be friends. I mean, you are related to a total pervert. Your mom was one sick dove.

Emily rolled her eyes.

Gross, Ingrid. That

s a necrophiliac. Totally different thing. A necromancer is someone that can do death magic.


Oh, right. Still sounds creepy, but at least your mom wasn

t some sort of sex-freak.


Anyway, I especially like this book because the pictures are pretty awesome.

Ingrid peeked over Emily's shoulder as she flipped through the book.

Um, if by awesome you mean gruesome and horrific.


No, look at this one. We can totally torture Dickhead beyond the grave. We just have to use this spell to trap him, then we can have our way with him.

BOOK: Moonlight Murder: An Inept Witches Mystery
4.66Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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