by Rose Pressey
“Did you leave a letter in my office? Actually a couple letters, but the one today asked me to meet you.”
He stared at me from a moment, expressionless. Then he laughed. “Are you crazy? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I placed my hands on my hips. “Are you sure about that?”
I expected another snarky comeback, but instead he surprised me and took off running. I stood there in shock. I hadn’t seen that turn of events coming. There was no way I would be able to catch him, so I didn’t even try. People stared as he ran through the crowd and disappeared into the casino. I was surprised security hadn’t stopped him to find out what was wrong. I wasn’t going to hang around to find out if they kicked him out though.
It wasn’t as if he would give me an honest answer if I asked him again. Had I really scared him off? Derek wouldn’t believe it if I told him. I suppose now I would have to tell Derek I’d been here. He didn’t need to know why though. He would ask, but I’d have to make up some kind of story. I couldn’t get over the Justin’s expression and how he’d dashed away from me. I needed to find out why he’d reacted that way. Maybe I was tougher than I’d thought. Maybe he knew that I was on to him.
I turned around and walked out toward the parking lot. A few times I looked over my shoulder to see if he was back there. He was nowhere in sight. When I walked out the exit toward, I spotted Agatha one more time and waved. I thought she’d been leaving. Maybe she’d decided to stay a little while longer. I turned around to ask her if she needed a ride, but she was gone. As I got in my car and took off, my thoughts turned to what I would tell Derek. It had been quite an eventful morning.
When I arrived back at the office, I discovered that the door was unlocked. Immediately my heart sped up and my mind started going over what I would do if I caught someone in the office. I eased the door open and poked my head in. Nothing seemed out of place. I halfway expected my office to be trashed. George hadn’t returned yet and I wasn’t expecting him for another hour. As far as I could tell no one was in the office. At least that was what I’d thought at first.
I inched into the office. If no one had broken in then and that left only one person who could be here. Speak of the devil. Derek’s voice carried across the room. Where was he? He wasn’t at his desk. There was only one place he could be and that was one place that I’d told him to stay out of. He never listened to me. I didn’t want him in my office snooping. Everything was a joke to Derek. What did I have to do to get him to take me seriously? I marched over to the office.
When I neared my office, I paused. I didn’t want him to find any of my witchcraft supplies. I shouldn’t keep them in there anyway, but sometimes it was necessary to do a spell while at the office. If Derek was snooping in my stuff, I would let him have it.
As I moved closer, I paused with my hand on the doorknob. There were two voices coming from office. He was in there with someone. If he had a girl in my office using the place as his love nest I would flip my lid.
I liked to give Derek more credit than that, but I never knew with him. I inhaled a deep breath and twisted the knob. I had to be prepared for what I might see. As soon as I opened the door, I heard the words “Witchcraft should really help solve cases.”
Oh my gosh. What was going on? Why was Derek discussing witchcraft with this woman? I’d never seen her before. She wasn’t part of my coven. Granted it was a small coven, but how would she know about the witchcraft? Was my secret out now? It was time for damaged control.
“What’s going on, y’all?” The more upset I got the more my accent came out.
Without thinking, I grabbed Derek’s arm and escorted him out of my office. I suppose I had been freaked and not really in my right mind. Now that I thought of it that didn’t seem like the most professional thing to do in front of a potential client. But that was neither here nor there now. I’d have to come up with a way to smooth over my frantic actions.
The brunette stared at me with wide eyes. For some reason she was sitting behind my desk. Why had Derek allowed her to do that? Who was in control of this meeting anyway?
“I was just having a talk with the new client,” Derek said on his way out the door.
I didn’t even give him a chance to finish the question.
When I closed the door, I turned to her and said, “I’m sorry about that. Is there something I can help you with?”
I needed to take back control of this situation. I moved over to the desk, hoping she’d take the clue and get up. I didn’t want to have to tell her, but I would if I had to.
“I was just telling the man how I think witchcraft is great to help you solve cases.”
“You told him I use witchcraft?” I asked in a bit of a panic.
She frowned. “Well, I suppose I didn’t specifically say you.”
Whew. Now maybe I’d be able to get myself out of this one.
“How did you find out about me?”
“I know one of your coven members. Sue.”
Oh, I thought I’d told them that I didn’t want anyone to know.
“And what kind of case do you have?
“I think my husband is cheating on me. That dirty rat.”
“I told the handsome young man all about it.” She stood from the desk and grabbed the file on the edge of the desk. “He had me fill out these papers. I’m all ready for you to take the case. I really would rather not go over the horrible details again.”
I took the file from her outstretched hand. “Sure, I understand.”
"Everything you need is there. You’ll be in touch?” she asked as she walked toward the door.
I followed her. “Yes, I’ll contact you as soon as I know anything or if I need more information.”
She paused and turned to me. “You really should tell him about the witchcraft.”
I attempted a smile. I wanted to be nice to the clients, but I really couldn’t follow that advice. “I’ll certainly think about it, but in the meantime, please don’t mention anything to him.”
She studied my face for a moment and then said, “Sure thing.”
She opened the door and stepped out. I followed her. Derek was kind of near my office door. Had he been listening in? I couldn’t judge by his expression. If he’d been listening he’d surely have to say something.
When the woman left, I moved back over to my office door.
Derek grabbed my arm. “Not so fast.”
Oh no. I paused, but didn’t turn to look at him.
“What was that about?” Derek asked.
I released a deep breath and turned to face him. “What was that about? You’re the one who took her case you should know.”
“Yes, but she was acting strange, mentioning witchcraft.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Witchcraft? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
That was sneaky of me. At that moment, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to hide this from Derek forever. For now though, I would try to keep up the façade that I was just a normal girl. Derek was staring at me for an answer.
Instead of coming clean about the witchy hobby, I said, “I found another letter.”
He furrowed his brow. “What? Where?”
“Right here in the office.” I pointed. “As a matter of fact, it was on the floor. The thing is… the door was locked. I don’t know how the person got in.” I folded my arms across my waist and waited for a response. This should be sufficient enough to distract him from the previous topic.
“Where’s the letter?” he asked.
Hmm. I hadn’t thought about the fact that I would have to show him the letter. I could say that I’d lost it, but he would never believe that. He knew that I kept everything organized. I reluctantly stepped into my office and pulled the letter from my bag.
Derek looked at it and then said, “Did you go the Paris?” He held up his hand. “No need to answer that. I can tell by the look on your face. What were you thinking? You should have called me. What happen
ed? Who was it?”
“At first no one showed up.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “At first? Then what happened?”
As I was leaving, I saw the loan shark.
Derek frowned. “The loan shark has a crush on you?”
I shook my head. “No. But what if he was just leaving this letter to lure me out of the office?”
Derek leaned against his desk. I think there would be better ways to get you to meet him. He could have called and told you he had information about the case.”
“True, but what if he didn’t want me to know it was him?” I asked.
“So what did you do? What did he do?”
“He saw me and then he took off.”
“What do you mean he took off? Like you lost him?” Derek asked.
“He actually ran away from me.”
Derek laughed. “Why would he do that?”
I smirked. “Maybe I’m intimidating.”
Derek eyed me up and down. “I can see where someone might be intimidated. After all, he knows we’re looking into the murder.”
“That’s exactly my point,” I said.
Derek smiled. “I’m just glad nothing bad happened. We need to look into this though.”
“Yes, so we’ll go by and look for the guy again. He’s not there, remember?
"We’ll have to track him down wherever he is then,” I said.
“You know, Cece.”
“Oh, here we go again.” This couldn’t be good.
“You should give me more credit. I was handling the client just fine. I feel as though you think I’m just a screw up all the time.”
I stared at him. This was the first time I’d ever heard Derek say anything remotely serious. Everything seemed like a joke or one big party to him. Was he genuinely upset? The look on his face told me that he was. I wasn’t sure what to say.
Before I even had a chance to think of something Derek walked across the room.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I’ll be back later,” he said as he walked out the door.
I stood there speechless. I’d never seen Derek upset. Was he really upset? Was this just another joke? Had I done this to him simply by the way I’d stormed into my office. Maybe I was a little tough on him. I suppose he was just having fun. I never knew how to loosen up and not be so uptight. Maybe I should get out more and have a little fun.
Now I felt bad. The problem was though that I enjoyed staying home and watching Golden Girls with my neighbors. I liked bingo night and helping Mr. Wilson figure out the iPhone has granddaughter bought him. Maybe there was room for both in my life.
I sighed and leaned against Derek’s desk. Now I was almost in tears. What if I’d chased him away? He’d take his money and go back to Savannah. But was the money really what I was worried about? No, I didn’t think it was. This was more about my relationship with Derek. I never thought I’d use relationship and Derek in the same thought.
Chapter 27
The ladies in the coven and I were sitting around my living room in a circle. We were well into our spell when a knock at the door startled us. We froze and looked at each other.
“Are you expecting someone?” Agatha asked.
“No,” I whispered.
I had a feeling I knew who was at the door. I hoped I was wrong and it was just someone trying to sell magazines. I’d gladly get several subscriptions if it meant keeping Derek away.
“Aren’t you going to answer the door?” Agatha asked.
The other women stared at me, waiting for me to answer.
Finally, I said, “Do I have a choice?” After jumping up and over to the door, I leaned against it and said, “Who is it?”
I hoped I didn’t get an answer.
The woman stared at the door. They probably sensed that I was acting a bit strange. Not that me acting weird was anything new though.
“It’s your partner,” Derek said.
I glanced back at the women.
“Who is it?” Agatha asked.
I didn’t answer and instead turned my attention back to the door.
“Cece, I know you’re there. You already spoke to me, remember? Is everything okay in there?”
“Um, yes, I’m just kind of busy right now. I’ll call you later, okay?” My voice sounded strange, but I couldn’t hide it. I knew that he would be suspicious.
“Cece, I think something’s wrong. Open the door.” Derek’s voice had taken a serious tone. As far back as I could remember, I’d never heard him sound that way.
“You should open the door,” Sue said.
“Yes, the young man sounds upset,” Agatha added.
The women were still staring at me with mouths open. I was probably freaking them out too. After releasing a deep breath, I unlocked the door and eased it open just a bit. Derek looked panicked.
“Cece, what’s going on in there?” He peered over my shoulder.
Luckily, the women were sitting off to the side so he couldn’t see them.
“Okay, so I’ll see you later,” I said.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, I closed the door and locked it.
“I don’t think he’s going to like that,” Agatha said.
Derek was suspiciously quiet. I’d thought for sure that he would have said something else. Or asked more questions. Apparently, he’d taken my word for it and left. After a few seconds, I moved away from the door, relieved that I wouldn’t have to come up with any more excuses. Well, any more excuses tonight. He’d ask questions tomorrow. No need to think about it now though. I’d worry about that tomorrow.
I’d just moved back over to the women when a noise sounded from somewhere at the back of the house. I froze again.
“What was that?” Melanie asked.
Agatha scampered up from the floor. She moved surprisingly quickly for a woman her age. “It sounded like it came from back there in the bedroom,” Agatha said.
My stomach flipped. What if the killer had broken into the bedroom window? Why did I always assume the worst? Maybe it was the wind. Okay, there was no wind. It could have been a bird that had hit the window.
I’d made it halfway across the floor to the bedroom when the door to the room burst open. The women immediately screamed and I jumped back. I hadn’t expected that kind of shock. I also hadn’t expected for my bedroom door to now be broken and on the floor.
At least the women had stopped screaming. I was sure they were now in shock and rendered speechless. They’d never come to my house for a meeting again.
The person who’d broken in was lying on top of the broken door.
“I’ll call the police,” Melanie said.
“That won’t be necessary,” I said.
“You know him?” Sue asked.
“That’s her partner,” Agatha answered.
Releasing a groan, Derek managed to get up from the floor. The other witches and I stood in silence as we stared at him.
“I hope you’re going to fix my door,” I said when he closed the distance between us.
Derek’s eyes were wide as he scanned the room. “Never mind the door right now. Are you okay? Why wouldn’t you let me in?”
I placed my hands on my hips. “You can’t just break into my house when I won’t let you in.”
He ran his hand through his hair. “Cece, I apologize, but you had me worried.”
“Why don’t you want him in, Cece? He’s so handsome,” Melanie said.
That was neither here nor there. I stood a little straighter so that maybe it would appear that I had the situation under control.
Derek looked around the room at the lit candles. “What’s going on in here? Are you having a séance? Trying to contact Marilyn Monroe?”
This was what I had been trying to avoid. Derek simply asked too many questions.
“We were just having our meeting,” Sue offered.
I stepped in front of Sue, as if that would block her words. I didn’t want her to o
ffer any further details.
Derek quirked an eyebrow. “What kind of meeting?”
I folded my arms in front of my chest. “What are you doing here anyway?” Maybe if I switched the topic he would stop asking me questions.
“I just came by to see if you wanted dinner.”
Heat formed in my cheeks. Actually, I was kind of hungry. If not for the meeting, I might have gone with him.
“You can still have dinner after we’re finished,” Agatha said.
Sue looked around my arm. “Yeah, we’re almost done with the spell—”
I grabbed Derek’s arm and pulled on him. He was so solid that he didn’t move.
“What Sue’s trying to say is we almost finished with helping Sue spell a word. She forgot about something else though, so I don’t think I’ll have time to go with you.”
“Are you going to introduce me to your friends?” Derek asked with his charming smile. I knew that would make all the ladies swoon.
I sighed. “Derek, you’ve met Agatha. This is Melanie, Sue, Ellen, and Anna.”
“Nice to meet you, ladies.” He moved closer and kissed each one on the hand.
Of course they giggled just as I’d thought they would. Did he work on being that charismatic or did it just come naturally?
“Nice to meet you,” Melanie said.
“You’re Cece’s partner?” Ellen asked.
“If she’ll still have me.” When our eyes met, a crackle of energy passed through me.
“She’d be crazy not to,” Melanie said.
“Are you from around here? I thought I detected the same accent as Cece.” Agatha leaned forward so she could hang onto his every word.
“We’re from the same hometown. Cece and I grew up together on the same street.” Derek smiled.
“Isn’t that sweet?” Agatha said.
This wasn’t the time for this discussion. I had to get him out of there. I moved over to the broken door and attempted to pick it up from the floor. Derek took the cue and rushed over behind me. In one easy movement, he propped it up against the wall.
