by K. M. Waller
The doors swooshed open to chaos. Samuel Chase and his entire miscreant squad of Ghost Getters thugs hovered at the nurses’ station. The local Channel 8 news crew had apparently also gotten wind of a story worth pursuing. Mayor Henry primped beside the reporter, telling her version of the tale with swooping hand gestures. Dara’s mother, sister, and half the guests from the wedding shower milled around the waiting area.
Jordie stood in the middle of the group, dressed in an oversized black suit that made him look like he’d stepped right out of the Men in Black movie, his overwhelmed expression screaming for a reprieve.
Lex linked fingers with Amira and pulled her through the crowd toward Jordie. “Why hasn’t security been called yet?”
Jordie shrugged and gestured toward Chase. “That dude is promising the nurses autographs and swag if he’s allowed to stay and wait for Dara. The mayor literally shushed me when I asked the news crew to pack it up. No one listens to me. I’m not trained for this.”
Lex caught Amira’s gaze and nodded toward Jordie. “This is my assistant, Jordie.”
Amira reached out her hand. “I guess you already know everything about me.”
Jordie shook her hand and wiggled his fingers against hers. “Are we cool?”
She nodded. “We’re cool for now.”
Lex listened to the different conversations going on around them. The mayor’s voice rose above the rest, confirming that the movie in the park event would be held as scheduled that evening. She invited all the viewers and praised the town’s finer qualities. At least someone benefited from the fiasco.
“Who’s with Dara now?” he asked.
“Goth-beauty got here a few minutes ago before you guys. The mayor insisted she go back to attend the princess. I don’t think her mom or sisters want to deal with her. She made a nurse cry.”
“Goth-beauty?” asked Amira.
“I think he means Shelby.”
Amira smoothed back her hair. “We need to get back to see Dara too.”
Jordie pointed to the nurses’ station. “They aren’t letting anyone else past those double doors without a keycard.”
Lex unlinked his fingers from Amira’s, immediately missing their connection. “Stand by the door and be ready.”
Her eyebrows knitted together, but she didn’t argue.
He leaned in close to Jordie. “I need you to cause a diversion. One big enough to distract everyone in the room, including the nurses.”
A smile curved his young assistant’s lips. “I got just the thing.”
Lex moved closer to the nurses while keeping his back turned to Chase and his gang.
A high-pitched scream filled the air, followed by three yelps. Jordie twirled in the middle of the room and then ran toward the elevators. “I am possessed by Satan. I am possessed by Satan. The power of holy water compels me.”
Jordie picked up his running speed to sprint and without hesitating smashed face first into the wall. He hit the ground with a thud.
Blood streaked from his nose.
One of the women in the room shrieked. “It’s another possession. Just like Dara!”
Lex sighed. The stunt didn’t help their allergy narrative, but Jordie got high marks for inventiveness.
Anyone with a camera or phone ran toward Jordie, who did a funky-chicken dance on the floor. One of the nurses grabbed a first aid kit and followed the cameras. As soon as the last nurse rounded the corner, Lex stepped behind the semi-circle desk and hit the button to open the door. Amira passed through and held it open until Lex joined her.
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like that. Is he going to be okay?”
Jordie burst out laughing and pointed at his audience. “Suckers!”
The nurse with the first aid kit slipped on a pair of latex gloves and pushed him back down to the floor.
Lex smiled. “He’ll be fine. Come on.”
He led her down the hallway, peeking in each room until they found Dara propped up in a hospital bed. Shelby stood by the window, her arms crossed in a posture of irritation.
Amira tugged on his shirt. “Wait a second.” She stepped inside one of the other rooms and reappeared with a vase of flowers.
“Did you just steal flowers from another patient?” God knew he’d done worse on a case, but coming from her, the action caught him off-guard.
“Borrowed them. I’ll apologize with fresh baked scones when they wake up, but we can’t go in to question someone like Dara empty-handed.”
He nodded when she pushed the bouquet into his hands. “Good idea. Any other suggestions?”
“Don’t greet Dara first. She likes to be the center of attention. Say hello to Shelby and let Dara fight to be noticed. Then she’ll answer any question you ask. I’ll stand guard by the door and let you know if anyone’s coming.”
Lex shook his head slightly. Determination radiated from her fierce blue eyes. In the last couple of hours since they’d teamed-up, she’d already proven smart and resourceful. He’d appreciated the business-minded and sweet Amira, but investigative Amira sent a ripple of awareness through him like he’d never felt.
Amira pushed the door open for him and he passed through, forcing his for-the-camera smile. He walked toward Dara’s bed but didn’t make eye contact. Setting the flowers down on the table beside her, he turned to Shelby. She’d changed from her pink tea dress into all black. “What an eventful afternoon, huh? How are you holding up, Shelby?”
“How is she holding up?” Dara’s voice cracked and her tone raised an octave with each word.
Shelby had opened her mouth to speak, but after being interrupted by Dara’s shrill voice, the girl pressed her lips together. She shrugged one shoulder and focused her attention back out the window.
Dara sniffled. “My bridal shower was ruined. My fiancé is out of town and won’t be back until tomorrow night. This hospital is full of incompetent staff.”
Lex trained his gaze on Dara, stilling his features. He’d met the woman two times and he could see how she might quickly grate on the nerves of the people who had to deal with her on a daily basis. He sat down in the chair beside her and handed her a tissue from the box on the bedside table. “That must have been such a harrowing experience for you.”
Dara dabbed her eyes. “The doctor said I’m lucky to have survived such a violent seizure.”
A small snort came from Shelby.
Dara narrowed her eyes at the girl. “Shelby, dear. Would you please find out what’s taking my mother so long to bring me a real nightgown?”
Shelby stalked to the door, a slight tremor in her hands proving the girl had a massive amount of restraint when it came to her future sister-in-law.
Amira peeked around the window and made a face that he interpreted to say, “Hurry up.”
If vanity and attention drove Dara, then perhaps that was how he could start his line of questioning. Much like trying to close a real estate deal. Flattery to find the weakness and exploit it. “I’m sure no one else in that room will ever have a bridal shower that garners this much attention.”
Dara stared at the ceiling, a dreamy expression softening her features. “Everyone is already so jealous that I’m marrying the mayor’s son.”
“All your bridesmaids must be beside themselves with envy. I think I heard someone as I passed through the lobby indicate you might be faking this for attention.”
That statement drew a gasp. “That has to be Barbara. She’s been giving me stink face since I announced the engagement. She dated Patrick back in high school and she’s never gotten over him.”
“Patrick’s ex is one of your bridesmaids?”
“She’s skinny enough to look good in the dresses I picked out.”
Lex glanced at the door, relieved Amira couldn’t hear his next words. “I hear that one of the Walker sisters used to date him too.”
“Ugh. Ris Walker. What a weirdo. I hated she was in the room to witness my seizure. She’s probably the only one in
Burberry who enjoyed seeing me at my worst.”
Lex glanced back at the window and Amira’s full face filled the glass. She jerked her head toward the hallway and waved her hand.
Time was up, and he really hadn’t garnered any new information. Ris remained the prime suspect.
Lex stood and smiled down at the drama queen. He sympathized with Dara being the object of a spell gone wrong, but if he was right about her, she’d use all the attention to her advantage.
One last thing. “I’ll let you get your rest, but before I go, there’s a man out there from some ghost show who is spreading vicious lies about what happened to you. It’s all really negative stuff meant to make you look bad. If I were you, I wouldn’t let him past the nurses’ station.”
Dara fluttered her eyelashes, still heavily covered in black mascara. “I’ll have him thrown out. There have to be some perks to being the future daughter-in-law of the mayor.”
Lex left Dara’s room and led Amira down the fire exit stairs.
“What did she say?” she asked for the fourth time since he’d come out of the room, her whisper still loud enough to echo in the enclosed area. He didn’t want their conversation overhead and motioned her to keep following him.
On the first floor, they walked into the main lobby. Lex stopped to text and waited for a response. His phone buzzed shortly after. “Jordie’s meeting us in the cafeteria after he gets patched up. Let’s wait to talk until he gets here so I only have to repeat it once. By the way, you were right about how to handle Dara. Good job.”
“Thanks.” She rubbed her eyes. “I could use a cup of coffee. Do you want anything?”
Lex’s lips curled into a half smile. “Isn’t that cheating on your tea?”
“Ha ha. I serve gourmet coffee at the tea shop, but I can drink the cheap stuff.”
“I’d love a cup of the cheap stuff. Thank you.”
Amira moved to the end of a long line on the other side of the hospital cafeteria. Lex folded into a plastic seat at a booth table.
It didn’t take long for Jordie to bounce into the seat on the opposite side. He held an ice pack to his nose. “It’s not broken.”
“Glad to hear. I have another assignment for you.”
He lolled his head back. “I’m not even done with the other assignments.”
“We can finish the FDA angle later. I want you to break into Ris’s house and look for evidence of spell books and witchcraft. It’s the only house we haven’t been inside.”
Jordie glanced over at Amira. “She know about the searching?”
“I’ll keep working other angles with her, but she’s compromised when it comes to her sister. I’ll keep her distracted until you’re done.”
“I don’t feel right about this.”
“This is no different than anything else we’ve been doing since we arrived.” Lex leveled his gaze on Jordie, channeling Gramps. He’d hate himself for it later. “I’ve given you an order. If you want to continue as my assistant, you’ll follow it. If we find nothing, there won’t be a problem.”
His phone buzzed another text from Sparsh. Now that a human had been harmed, the LSP and Council grew impatient for results. He’d promised Amira no more hidden agenda, but time was not on their side. This was for her own good.
Sometimes the easiest answer is the right one.
∞∞∞
Amira took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She checked her phone again. Nothing from Ally or Ris. The silence scared her more than the possibility of going in front of a big bad council. Focusing on the back of the head of the person in front of her, she fought the urge to keep looking back at Lex. The “real” Lex didn’t appear to be much different from the man she’d met only a few days ago. She’d expected a complete change in personality, but other than knowing the truth about him, nothing had changed on the surface. It worried her how much she wanted to put her faith in him. At least he’d listened to her about how to handle Dara. She hoped something useful came from their short interview.
She paid for the coffee and when she returned to the little table, Jordie sat opposite Lex with an ice pack pressed to his nose. The two were deep in conversation, but stopped when she set down the cups.
He said he wouldn’t start without her. She narrowed her eyes and waited.
Lex didn’t waver under her glare. “Jordie and I were discussing some other details I need him to take care of.”
She scooted in next to Jordie and took a sip of coffee. The miracle drink warmed her lips as she let the caffeine infusion do its work. She glanced at her watch. It was only three in the afternoon of one of the longest days of her life. Only a few more hours until they hit their agreed upon deadline.
“Dara mentioned one of the bridesmaids dated Patrick Henry too. Her name is Barbara. Do you know her?” Lex asked.
Amira leaned her elbows on the table. “She and Ris used to be close before Ris started dating Patrick.”
Lex’s lip curled. “Patrick gets around.”
Amira chuckled. “What? It’s a small town and the mayor’s son is a really good catch. All the girls between eighteen and twenty-four fought for his attention.”
“Do you think Ris would’ve told Barbara about your witchcraft?”
She wrapped her hands around her cup. “No way. And if you have a conversation with Barbara, you’ll see why.”
“Did she ever hang out at your house?”
Amira closed her eyes and thought back to before Ris had moved out. “It’s possible. We didn’t have a lot of friends come over when the aunts lived with us.”
He snapped his fingers. “Then it is possible she could’ve come upon the books at some point and waited until now to use a spell against Dara.”
Highly unlikely, but any theory other than her sister was one worth pursuing. His enthusiasm surprised her. “Right now, I think anything’s possible. Should we go talk to her?”
He turned to Jordie. “Is she one of the guests you’ve already spoken to?”
Jordie shook his head and focused on the top of the table. “Hadn’t gotten to her yet, but she’s one of the visitors still upstairs.”
“Great. We’ll go back and interview her.”
Amira grabbed her cup and stood, surprised when Jordie stayed seated. “Aren’t you coming with us?”
Lex answered for him. “He has another assignment. Remember we’re putting out several fires here before Samuel Chase gets evidence of the real story.”
Amira nodded and followed Lex back to the elevators. She’d noticed a shift in the mood between Lex and Jordie, but not knowing either of them well enough to speculate, she decided she’d focus on one situation at a time.
For the second time, they entered the elevator together. “What else do you know about Barbara?”
Barbara. What did she remember about her other than the girl talked a lot? “She and Ris went through their angst-y teenage years together, although I’m not sure Ris has graduated from the angst. They’d both worn a lot of black eyeliner. Honestly, I can’t remember more than that other than the girls had stopped talking when Ris started dating Patrick.”
“How did Ris and Patrick break up?”
“At first, only Ally and I worked together to deflect the love spells from ourselves. We hoped the aunts would focus on us at least until Ris turned twenty-one. The engagement was more of a promise ring thing last year. On a whim, Ris decided to join us one day. She wanted to prove that Patrick really loved her without being magicked. We performed our spell, and soon after, he broke up with her. And now here we are.”
Lex reached forward and placed a hand on her arm. He caressed her skin with his thumb, the zing back in action. She wondered what the amulet made him feel on his end.
“It must have been hard for you to watch her disappointment,” he said.
“As the oldest, I’m responsible for them both.”
“At some point, you have to let go though, right?”
The elevator announced the t
hird floor and this time the doors opened to a much more subdued atmosphere. The news crew had left and so had half of Samuel Chase’s gang. Unfortunately, not Samuel. As soon as she stepped through the doors, he honed in on her with a fake smile. “Miss Walker, so nice to see you again.”
She shooed Lex toward a group of women in flowery hats. “I’m here to check on Dara.”
Samuel moved into her personal space so she backed up two steps.
“For her food allergy seizure,” she emphasized.
His smile never faltered, but the glare in his eye made her uneasy. He whispered, “Uh huh. Well, just so you know, my crew is doing research on you, your family, and the tea room. I didn’t come all this way to lose out on a good story. Anything my people dig up about you is fair game. And I’m not afraid to use it.”
Amira poked him in the chest and shouted, “Are you threatening to blackmail me if I don’t lie for your story?”
Samuel’s complexion turned a greyish-white. He snapped his fingers at his cameraman and glared at her on the way to the elevator.
He could research all he wanted. If he found information on the Walker witches, it would now look like he dug it up to keep the story going. Amira hoped he’d take the hint and find a fake ghost story somewhere else.
She joined Lex and Barbara on the other side of a row of brown vinyl chairs. Barbara poured out her life history to Lex, barely stopping to take a breath.
“…and that bad luck continued through the third grade and into the fourth. Did I mention that my mom said I’d been born with the mark of the devil? It’s on the underside of my foot.” Barbara took her shoe off to show off her heel and a purple birthmark the size of a quarter.
Lex glanced at Amira and mouthed the words, “No way, not her.”
Amira wasn’t ready to give up so easily. Barbara was their only other real suspect. From what she could tell, everyone else tolerated Dara and her acerbic personality, but had no real reason to hate her or ruin the bridal shower.
“So you think it’s your bad luck that ruined the bridal shower?” Amira asked.
“It has to be. There’s simply no other explanation. I was just telling Lex about all the bad luck things that have happened to me over the years. Starting with my birth.”
