Willow piped up. “I’d be happy to help you find something for her. Follow me.”
Connor smiled weakly at Molly and then followed Willow, leaving Amber alone with the snake.
“And what about you?” Amber asked when Molly just stood there glaring after the retreating pair.
Molly snapped out of it and scanned the shelves around her. “Did you inherit this place from your parents?”
“Uh … no,” Amber said. “A woman named Janice Salle owned it before I did and she left the place to me in her will.”
Molly’s nearly white brows arched. “You must have been very persuasive to convince her to leave it to you.”
Amber pursed her lips. She’d only just met Molly recently, when Amber had gotten pulled into a murder investigation in Marbleglen last month. She hadn’t come to like Molly over that time, per se, but she’d respected the woman’s tenacity for finding out the truth. That tenacity was just … a lot when it was aimed directly at you. “I didn’t persuade her to do anything; I was just as shocked as anyone when I found out she’d left me the store.”
“Did you choose to work here because Janice didn’t have any living relatives?” Molly asked, running a finger along one of the pyramid-shaped bookshelves. “Like how young busty women ‘fall in love’ and marry old rich men with one foot in the grave? Grandpa drops dead and then Candy gets a mansion?”
Amber gaped at her.
A man nearby coughed in an effort to cover up a laugh and quickly walked away.
What on earth did Connor see in her? Amber had to assume Molly had a nice side. Amber had yet to see it.
Amber crossed her arms, taking on a stance that she had no doubt mirrored Willow’s from earlier. “Is there a destination for this very rude line of questioning?”
Molly shrugged. “Just making conversation. I’m sure your parents would be proud of all you’ve accomplished over the years.” She picked up the horse Connor had been eyeing earlier. “The way you’ve honed your skills in such a unique way, you know?”
Connor, sans Willow, reappeared then. He held up a bag with The Quirky Whisker logo on the front. The bespectacled top-hat-wearing cat winked at Amber. “Got a really good selection.”
Molly put the toy back. “Nice talking to you, Amber.”
Connor led the way out the door. Willow joined Amber a few seconds later, and they watched as the pair walked past the front windows of the shop. They were headed in the opposite direction of the restaurants on Russian Blue Avenue, as well as the parking lot. Molly was speaking a mile a minute while Connor listened intently. Neither one glanced back.
“What was that about?” Willow asked once they were out of view.
“I have no clue.”
What are Connor Declan and Molly Hargrove up to?
Find out in Pawsitively Betrayed RIGHT MEOW!
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Continue the series with:
Pawsitively Betrayed
Other books by Melissa Erin Jackson:
If you’re looking for a slightly darker tale, consider The Forgotten Child, a haunting paranormal mystery starring a reluctant medium.
The dead can speak. They need her to listen.
Ever since Riley Thomas, reluctant medium extraordinaire, accidentally released a malevolent spirit from a Ouija board when she was thirteen, she’s taken a hard pass on scary movies, haunted houses, and cemeteries. Twelve years later, when her best friend pressures her into spending a paranormal investigation weekend at the infamous Jordanville Ranch—former home of deceased serial killer Orin Jacobs—Riley’s still not ready to accept the fact that she can communicate with ghosts.
Shortly after their arrival at the ranch, the spirit of a little boy contacts Riley; a child who went missing—and was never found—in 1973.
In order to put the young boy’s spirit to rest, she has to come to grips with her ability. But how can she solve a mystery that happened a decade before she was born? Especially when someone who knows Orin’s secrets wants to keep the truth buried—no matter the cost.
About the Author
Melissa has had a love of stories for as long as she can remember, but only started penning her own during her freshman year of college. She majored in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UC Davis. Yet, while she was neck-deep in organic chemistry and physics, she kept finding herself writing stories in the back of the classroom about fairies and trolls and magic. She finished her degree, but it never captured her heart the way writing did.
Now she owns her own dog walking business (that’s sort of wildlife related, right?) by day … and afternoon and night … and writes whenever she gets a spare moment. The Microsoft Word app is a gift from the gods!
She alternates mostly between fantasy and mystery (often with a paranormal twist). All her books have some element of “other” to them … witches, ghosts, UFOs. There’s no better way to escape the real world than getting lost in a fictional one.
She lives in Northern California with her very patient boyfriend and way too many pets.
Her debut novel, The Forgotten Child, released in October of 2018, and the first three books in the Witch of Edgehill series, Pawsitively Poisonous, Pawsitively Cursed, and Pawsitively Secretive are out now. All books are available in audio!
You can find out more about her upcoming books at: https://melissajacksonbooks.com
Acknowledgments
It feels exceedingly silly to apologize for this book releasing “late,” but it turns out that writing during a pandemic is hard. Who knew! So a big thank you to my friends and readers for sticking with me when my panic over, well … everything … derailed my writing plans. Hope you enjoyed your time in Edgehill, even if it was delayed!
Thank you a million times over to my beta readers! I love working with all of you. Thank you, Mom, Krista Hall, Margarita Martinez, Brittany Gray, Christiane Loeffler, Jennifer Laam, Lauren Sprang, Garrett Lemons, Lindsey Duga, Jasmine Warren, Kara Klemcke, Bobby Lewis, Mary Studebaker, Samantha Lierer, Kimberly Ann Shepard, Quinn Nicols, Jesse Olson, and Cynthia Sandusky.
Thank you, Maggie Hall, for the lovely cover, and to Michelle Raymond and Clark Kenyon for all the cats and paw prints.
Thank you to Justin Cohen for being my favorite persnickety proofreader.
Many thanks to the crazy talented Victoria Villarreal. Your reading of Chief Brown is still my favorite thing ever.
Thank you to Sam for not only being the emotional support I need to get through writing, but for helping to keep me sane during quarantine. Well, sane might be a stretch for us both. But I’m glad I have you with me while we ride out all this madness. I still kinda like you a lot.
And, as always, thank you to my readers. Thank you for pre-ordering, reading, reviewing, and telling your friends about my books. I’m so glad I get to share my stories with you. I can’t wait to dive into the final book of the series. Thank you all for being on this journey with me.
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