Better Haunts and Garden Gnomes_A Cozy Paranormal Mystery_A Happily Everlasting World Novel

by Michelle M. Pillow

  He sighed in resignation and followed Polly upstairs. Lily took a deep breath before going after him. The stairs creaked with each step, but at least they didn’t bow under her weight.

  Either she’d been in this house before, or the floor plans were extremely common. Somehow she knew there would be a sitting room and three bedrooms on the second floor as well as a bathroom with a clawfoot tub. Sheets hung like wrapping paper over strange, lumpy presents. She mentally started to dismantle the home. She wondered if the Gothic sconce light fixtures would be worth anything, and maybe the crystal doorknobs or some of the wainscoting. A carpenter might want the reclaimed wood, and an antique store should buy anything she could scavenge. If she drove to a city, either Denver or Colorado Springs, she might have better luck getting reasonable prices. Wealthy people were always willing to overpay for these kinds of things and reclaimed items were very trendy at the moment.

  “This used to be a boarding house back when people came to visit the mines,” Polly said, leading the way up to the third story. “That’s why there are so many bedrooms.”

  Dante held his arms close to his body to protect his black clothes from the dust. Lily was glad she’d worn more comfortable travel clothes, jeans, and a t-shirt.

  Lily moved ahead of her brother. The stairwell was smaller between the second and third levels. Faded wallpaper had yellowed at the seams. Tiny pink flowers must have looked cheery once upon a time, but now they were just faint and sad. The musty smell became stronger in the tighter enclosure, a possible mixture of old wallpaper paste and mildew.

  The third floor was less familiar and by the time she had glanced in each of the four bedrooms, she convinced herself that she had never been in the house. There were antique beds left uncovered, but the mattresses were gone, another bathroom, and a small locked door.

  Polly talked about paint colors and furniture, but Lily only half listened. With each new room, she became convinced that Polly’s enthusiasm for renovation and “keeping the house in the Goode family” was nowhere near Lily’s reality. She couldn’t afford to fix a three-story home in the middle of Lucky Valley, Colorado. With the sort of jobs she could get in a town this small, it would take her five hundred years to earn enough money.

  By the time they made it back down to the main floor, Lily was sure she was going to sell. She peeked around the main level. The kitchen cabinets were falling off. The stove was large and cast iron and probably only worked by lighting a wood fire. A library still had books, but she was convinced they’d turn to dust if she touched them. The dining room and living room were beautiful, or at least they had been at one time.

  “Would you like to see the basement?” Polly asked, going to the mudroom beside the kitchen and opening a door. “I’m not one for basements myself.”

  “Might as well while we’re here,” Dante answered for her. She recognized the disappointment he tried to hide. This house could have been a solid restart for all of them, a chance to get out of rentals and into a family home. Their home. A home no one could take from them. But, like everything connected to their past, this Victorian was broken and sad and a disappointment. It was another family legacy they would have to try to patch up.

  Lily and Dante went into the unfinished basement alone as Polly waited upstairs. Dante brushed his hand against the stacked stone foundation. Dust sprinkled to the floor.

  “I’m sorry, Lily,” he said softly. “You don’t need this headache or this heartache. I know you’re disappointed.”

  “It is what it is,” Lily answered. “We knew any inheritance Marigold left us would be a long shot. If no one wants to buy it, we’ll dismantle whatever we can and rent a truck to haul it off. We should be able to sell most of this junk. I doubt anyone will drive out here for it, but if we take it to Denver…” She sighed, not bothering to finish the thought. It felt like a lot of work for a potentially small payoff. Not to mention, if they stayed, they’d lose their jobs back in Spokane, Washington.

  “I’m not sure we’ll get much for a leaky water heater.” Dante pointed to a corner.

  Lily chuckled. “I doubt we can sell this place with that fuse box next to the broken water heater. I’m pretty sure nothing in this house is up to code. No wonder it’s been in the family so long. They haven’t been able to offload it.”

  Shelves lined the walls of a small, dark room. Empty mason jars for canning food held dust instead. In the corner there were a couple of jars that had something inside them as they sat forgotten by whoever had placed them there. Rust had formed on the metal lids.

  “Maybe we can sell this place to scientists who study mold and ancient viruses. Or a nuclear testing facility. Let them mushroom cloud it out of existence,” Dante joked. Humor was their way of masking pain. That’s what this house was to them, a symbol of the past, of the pain they worked so hard to ignore. Its decaying walls and chipped paint were representative of the insecurity of childhood, the bleakness of those uncertain days. The leaking water heater and dank basement was the shaky foundation they’d had.

  The fact this house came from Marigold, the cause of that pain, only made the emotions of the past invade the present.

  “The town will probably have something to say about a mushroom cloud,” Lily said.

  “I don’t think the residents of Old Lucky Valley will care,” Dante countered.

  “We should go to the hotel before we catch Ebola.” Lily made a face of disgust.

  “There are most likely back taxes or liens on it, too. I doubt anyone has been keeping up on the payments.” Dante let her walk up the stairs first. “Make sure you ask the attorney before you sign anything.”

  “You make an excellent point.” Lily had seen enough. “I wonder how hard it is to legally refuse an inheritance. I mean, they can’t force me to take it if I don’t want it, can they?”

  Chapter Two

  Nolan Dawson eyed the stack of paperwork on Alice MacIver’s desk. Though it looked like chaos, he knew the woman had some kind of system. It was a system only she understood, but it had to be effective. Being as she was the only working attorney in the area, he had spent a lot of time in her office. Enforcing building and city codes was not a dream job by a long shot, and it frequently had him filing legal notices for those not in compliance through MacIver Law Office.

  Though, truth be told, more often than not his job was finding creative ways to cite supernaturals within the legal constraints of a non-supernatural world. He wasn’t exactly the most popular guy in town because of it. A dirty goblin den would equal unsafe living conditions, and fairies who caused nature to grow at an unusual rate were regularly cited for trees hanging too low over public sidewalks, and excessive weeds. For the last week, he’d been trying to catch whoever had been eating all the vegetation along the north river. He would cite them with streamside disturbance.

  Today was definitely not just another day at work.

  Lily Goode wasn’t anything like he’d expected. Nolan had been on construction sites since he could walk, and none of the job bosses had ever looked like her. He couldn’t imagine anyone but a contractor coming back to save the old house after so many years. It’s not like their mother had just died. Marigold had passed away, what was it... four or five years ago now? Occasionally investors would come by wanting to buy the ghost town properties to turn it into a tourist trap. The town was all for it because it would mean local revenue. However, one family trust owned the defunct mines and nearby ghost town the locals had nicknamed Unlucky Valley—the Goodes.

  No one wanted to go up against that family of witches. They were powerful, rich, and if the old folktales were to be believed, scary as hell.

  And today, they were back.

  Lily also didn’t look like a rich and powerful heiress. Her wavy brown hair fell past her shoulders, more natural than styled. Her eyes were a stunning green hazel, outlined in black. Beyond that, she didn’t wear much makeup. Her blue jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers were not normal business attire. Even
he had been compelled to put on slacks and a nice button-down shirt.

  And he was staring.

  Nolan drew his gaze quickly away from the back of the woman’s head. Lily might be pretty, but she was the oldest child of the Goode and Crawford alliance. One family of witches was bad enough, but when those two joined forces, fear ran rampant in Lucky Valley. No one knew just how powerful Lily and her siblings would be, but none of the predictions were good. How could they be? When it was two of the oldest magical family lines in history?

  The city officials had tasked him with finding a way to get the Goode siblings to leave Lucky Valley forever. It was why they had voted to expand the city lines to include the house. If only another year had passed, they would have received a legal injunction that would’ve given them the authority to bulldoze the place to the ground. As it was, all they could do was make it known that the Goode Estate was more trouble than it was worth.

  As Mayor Bennett put it, “How hard can it be to scare city folk from the country?”

  Easy for her to say. She wasn’t the one being asked to annoy the all-powerful.

  Nolan stood in the back of the room, holding his files as he waited for Alice to do her job. Lily sat in front of the lawyer’s desk with her brother, Dante, next to her. Both were rigid as they listened to Alice read the will.

  “To my oldest daughter, Lily Goode, I leave the entirety of the Goode Estate unless otherwise stated within this document. I know her to be a responsible woman who will do right by her siblings.”

  “Congrats, sis…” Dante whispered.

  Nolan inched closer to see Lily’s expression. She didn’t look happy at the windfall she’d just been given. Maybe his job of convincing her to go wouldn’t be too difficult.

  “…you are the proud new owner of a stack of firewood,” Dante finished.

  Lily’s lip twitched as if she tried not to laugh. It was the first hint of emotion Nolan had seen since she’d arrived.

  “To my only son, Florus—”

  “Wait,” Dante interrupted. He placed his hand on the desk so hard it thumped. Alice jumped in surprise as she looked up. “Who the hell is Florus? Are you telling me that Marigold isn’t my real mother?”

  “No fair,” Lily jested.

  “Uh…” Alice set down the will and reached for a stack of files. She pulled one from the middle of a pile and opened it. “Florus Dante Goode, born March fourteenth to Joseph Goode and Marigold Crawford Goode.” She glanced up for confirmation.

  “Holy crap,” Lily blurted. “Ha, your name is Florus.”

  “What…?” Dante stood, shaking his head. “No.”

  Lily reached forward and snatched a paper from the file. It was a copy of a birth certificate. She laughed harder as she held it up. “Your name is Florus!”

  “Shut up,” Dante ordered his sister.

  “Okay, Florus.” Lily laughed harder, not trying very hard to hold it in. “Whatever you want, Florus.”

  “Well, what’s her real name?” Dante demanded. He grabbed the file off the lawyer’s desk and flipped through the pages. “Ha! Lily Cam—damn.”

  “What?” Lily asked, standing to take a look.

  “Lily Camellia Goode,” he muttered.

  Lily grinned. “That’s what it says on my license.”

  Alice looked stunned as if she didn’t know what to do. She started to reach for the file but stopped and pulled her hand back. Nolan didn’t blame her for not wanting to upset witches.

  Dante looked at another paper and mumbled, “Jessamine Rosemary Goode.”

  “Your name is Florus,” Lily teased.

  Dante’s brow furrowed, and he looked at the attorney. He snapped the folder shut. “We’ve seen enough.”

  Lily’s demeanor changed. “What?”

  “Nothing. Let’s get this farce over with. Just tell us the parts that pertain to us so we can go.” Dante tried to urge his sister to sit down. Lily didn’t budge.

  “What else is in the file?” Lily asked, holding out her hand. The siblings locked eyes.

  “Maybe we should continue with the reading,” Alice suggested.

  “Amaryllis Clementine Goode,” Dante said softly.

  “Who is…” Lily shook her head. “No.”

  The room became silent, and the two siblings didn’t speak for a long time as they held very still with their eyes locked. He wondered if they were somehow communicating in a way he couldn’t hear.

  Dante glanced past his sister to Nolan as if considering what the outsider was doing there. Nolan was wondering the same thing. This was clearly some kind of emotional family matter.

  Finally, Lily looked at Alice. Her tone was even as she stated, “We don’t want any of this.”

  Dante pulled his eyes away from Nolan’s.

  “Legally, I have to tell you what is in the will so you fully understand what you’d be—” Alice began.

  “Fine. Read it.” Dante sat back down. Lily was slower to take her seat.

  “To my only son, Florus Goode, I leave the trunk in the third-story storage room. It’s marked with his name.”

  “Old trunk in creepy house. I understand,” Dante said. “Here’s hoping there isn’t a dead body inside.”

  “To my daughter, Jessamine Goode, I leave the key to my safe deposit box. The items within are hers.” Alice glanced up. “It’s at the local bank. Your sister will need to be present with a government issued ID to access the box. Only she can.”

  “I don’t see that happening,” Dante said.

  Lily placed her hand on her brother’s arm. “We’ll let her know.”

  Alice looked as if she didn’t want to continue. After a deep breath, she sighed and said, “To my daughter, Amaryllis Goode, I leave my love, as she is no longer with us.”

  Lily closed her eyes and shook her head. “Dammit, Marigold.”

  “That’s it. Marigold left her will short and sweet.” Alice gestured at Nolan. “Because of a complication with the new city property lines that were expanded three years ago, the Goode house is now technically within Lucky Valley city limits and thus subject to city code. I’ve asked Nolan Dawson, the local code enforcement officer, to prepare a list of the more serious items that will need to be addressed immediately so the house will come into compliance.”

  “Hi. Good to meet you both.” Nolan nodded at the brother and sister. They both looked at him with blank expressions, and he imagined they were stunned by what they had learned during the will’s reading. This couldn’t be an easy day for them. “First, let me express my condolences for your loss.” They didn’t move. Nolan cleared his throat and set the comprehensive list of violations in front of Lily. “As Alice said, there are a few items that are mandatory to bring the property up to code. Though, considering the circumstances of this being an inheritance, the enforcement board has allowed a grace period to complete the non-emergency items—”

  “Not to be rude and cut you off, but there isn’t much reason for you to go on. I see no choice but to refuse,” Lily gestured at the papers on Alice’s desk, “all of this.”

  “I’m afraid that is not an option Ms. Goode. Legally—” Nolan tried to explain.

  He’d been warned that witches were tricky with their spells, potions, and magic. The Goodes and Crawfords had been blamed for all the bad luck that happened in town since the first Lucky Valley had sprung up as an old mining camp. Nothing could be proven, but that didn’t seem to matter when magic was concerned. Founded or not, the fear was real, and Lily and Dante were at the center of it. He had to be careful or they just might hex him.

  “Refuse the inheritance,” Lily clarified. She pushed at the pile of code violations without bothering to look at them. The stack slid on the desk toward him. “We went by the house last night. We can’t afford to fix it.”

  “Excuse me?” Alice quirked a brow.

  “I’m not a millionaire,” Lily laughed. She thumped her hand on the stack of paper. “How am I supposed to pay for all of these emergenc
y code violations?”

  Alice shared a look with Nolan.

  “Do you not know the full extent of your family’s estate?” Alice asked.

  “Unless there is some pot of gold inside that rundown Victorian that I missed, I do not see much in the way of an estate. I’ll consider myself fortunate if I don’t have to pay twenty years’ worth of back taxes on it.” Lily stood. She leaned over to grab the strap of her cloth messenger bag from the floor and lifted it over her head so that it fell across her chest. The patchwork bag looked like the kind of thing sold at craft fairs.

  “Not a pot, but there are the old mines,” Alice said.

  “What do you mean?” Dante remained in his chair.

  “The old gold mines, the ghost town, several hundred acres of land. It’s all part of the estate property maintained by the family trust. The trust takes care of the taxes each year. Your ancestors made their fortune when they struck gold. The Goode family helped found the first Lucky Valley back in the 1800s. I have the paperwork right here that shows the extent of your property. There’s a map if you want to see it.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Lily said.

  Alice tilted her head and leaned forward for emphasis. “Ms. Goode, your mother essentially left you a millionaire. Of course, a trust is not like a checking account. You can’t access all the assets because of the legalities of how it was set up, but the property upkeep will be covered. All you need to do is file a proposal and, if you choose to retain me, I can take care of the necessary paperwork to make sure anyone you hire to work on the home is compensated. It will take some time to set everything up with the various institutions holding the capital for investment, but it’s only a matter of legal paperwork.”

  Nolan watched Lily’s face turn from dismissal to shock. What he’d expected was excitement. Regardless of her reaction, her inheritance made the repairs affordable.

  “Of course, you always have the right to sell the property,” Nolan offered.

  Alice frowned at him. If the Goodes left Lucky Valley, she’d lose a big client. Alice could be upset all she wanted. It was Nolan’s duty to get them to leave, legally. He’d bury them with every code enforcement he could find until they gave up. It shouldn’t be too hard. Lily didn’t look happy to be there.