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

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Lily wanted to speak, but she couldn’t find words. A chill crept up the back of her neck. It beckoned her to look, but she didn’t want to see. Someone stood close to her back.

  Polly’s dance partner smiled, curtseyed, and then blurred into oblivion.

  The feeling behind her didn’t go away, and Lily finally made her body turn. Part of her knew before she even looked.

  Marigold.

  Lily was not prepared for the emotions that welled inside her, bursting out of that little seed she kept buried deep to take over everything else.

  Marigold looked as she remembered her from childhood, with auburn hair flowing down her back and kind hazel eyes—not the crazy lady drawing symbols on her window, not the junkie trying to score as her kids waited in the car. Knowing magic was real did not change that reality. Or did it? Could her mother have been under a magical spell, jonesing for a kind of infusion that Lily didn’t understand?

  No. That was wishful thinking. Lily knew what she knew. Unless magic was being peddled in every major city’s back alley by some shady dude with greasy hair, and involved tiny plastic bags with powdery residue, her mother had been fighting a very human demon. If magic drove Marigold to that dark place, it didn’t really matter. The facts remained. The woman fell down a rabbit hole of self-destruction, abandoned her children, and…

  And a part of Lily would always love the woman despite all of it.

  Reality wasn’t only those bad memories Lily clung to. There was more to her legacy. More to Marigold Crawford Goode.

  This woman had been her childhood—the youthful face, the smile, the laugh. How could she have forgotten the laugh? They had been a happy family once.

  Marigold’s arm moved and Lily looked down to see a hand caressing a pregnant belly. When she looked back up, Marigold’s face had changed. Her hair was shorter and wrinkles fanned her eyes. She was no longer smiling. This broken, sad creature was how Lily remembered her mother.

  “Mom?” Lily whispered, reaching out to touch her.

  That one word seemed to break a spell. Marigold disappeared, taking the layer from the past with her. The ghosts faded. The talking around her became louder, as if it had been there all along, only she couldn’t hear it.

  “—all clear. You’ll want to have that heat damage checked out as quickly as possible.” The burly firefighter who spoke didn’t wait for a confirmation.

  “We seriously need to look at getting Polly a wellness check or something,” Dante said. “I mean, eccentric is one thing. I think Polly might have passed that and gone straight into madness with that chicken dance over there.”

  “Polly’s fine. She knows what she’s doing,” Lily dismissed.

  “Hey, what’s wrong with you? Normally you joke with me.” Dante placed a hand on her shoulder. “Talk to me.”

  “I saw Mom.”

  “Marigold?”

  “Mom,” Lily repeated.

  “We never call her that,” Dante said.

  “I saw her,” Lily insisted.

  “She’s not dead?”

  “Mom. I saw Mom.” Lily tried to think of the words to explain what had happened, but the feelings were still too overwhelming for her. “She was standing right here. I saw her. And she was…”

  “Marigold’s ghost is here?” Dante looked around as if he could somehow detect the spirit. “I’m so sorry, Lily. That sucks. When will your bad luck be over?”

  “Oh, sugar bee.” Polly appeared, petting her arm.

  “She’s gone,” Lily whispered.

  “Is she haunting the place?” Dante asked. “Do you think she’ll come back?”

  “That’s not the kind of gone she means, Florus,” Polly said, her voice soothing. “Yes, sugar bee, she’s gone.”

  A tear slid down Lily’s cheek. It had been easier to hold on to anger, to not face this moment. When their mother had been alive, there was always that tiny hope, that chance that things could be repaired. Lily hadn’t expected the wave of grief that washed over her. It seized hold of her stomach and tightened over her heart. For a second, she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  “What did she tell you?” Polly asked.

  Lily shook her head. The ghost hadn’t spoken.

  “Not with words. What did she tell you?” Polly insisted.

  “She was young.” Lily tried to inhale deeply but her lungs physically did not want to obey. “She must have been pregnant. Then she wasn’t pregnant, and she looked like the last time I saw her.”

  “What does it mean?” Polly asked.

  “Goodbye? Reminding me of how she was my mother? I don’t know.” How was Lily supposed to interpret the actions of her mother’s ghost?

  “Try not to think about it, Lily. Nothing good will come of it.” Dante sloshed through the muddy backyard toward his phone. “This is a mess. I can’t believe they just left it like this.”

  “We’re Goodes. They don’t want to help us.” Exhaustion filled every inch of her as Lily examined the back of the house. There had been mishap after mishap since they’d come to this unlucky place. She was a fool to think she could ever have a business here. The first night, her guests could be lit on fire, or possessed, or tripped by gnomes. “Maybe the locals are right. Maybe we are the problem. We’re the curse. We’re the bad luck that’s infecting the town.”

  “We didn’t do this,” Dante disagreed.

  “Florus is right,” Polly said.

  “Look what has happened since we moved into this damned death trap. Lights falling, barns burning, threats, exploding milkshakes, hungry ghosts who want to eat Herman and date Aunt Polly, and—”

  “Wait.” Dante held up his hands to stop her tirade. “What exploding milkshakes? When did we have milkshakes?”

  “Nothing good has come from us being here. So we’re witches, so what? That has only brought with it more trouble. Even if we learn to control our magic, you can’t tell me there won’t be consequences to using it.”

  “Everything in life has consequences, sugar bee, even magic.” Polly looped her arm through Lily’s and pulled her toward the house. “Come inside. I’ll make you spaghetti squash.”

  “No. We can’t stay here, Polly. It’s not safe. You should get Herman and we’ll check back into the mice hotel.”

  “Oh, they caught the mice family,” Polly said.

  “I should have made us leave long before now.” When it looked like they would protest, she said, “It’s my house. No one stays.”

  “Jeez, way to pull rank,” Dante mumbled. “I’ll grab a bag.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Who wants us gone?

  Who wants us dead?

  Where in the world did Nolan run off to and why?

  For whatever reason that last question vexed Lily the most. He’d said something before he left, but she hadn’t heard it in her foggy state. Still, she would have liked it if he had stayed. In the diner, there had been times when she’d thought he might actually kiss her again.

  Out of all the mysteries she needed to solve, why Nolan Dawson didn’t kiss her and hang around after her house nearly burned down shouldn’t be at the top of her list.

  Lily felt like she needed to do something, so she walked to the hotel room window and gazed out over the parking lot to the highway beyond. Polly and Herman shared a room next door. Oddly, the clerk who checked them in didn’t blink twice at someone adding a pet lobster to the guest list. Dante’s room was right above hers. She heard him walking above her every once in a while.

  She balanced her cellphone on her shoulder as it rang. She waited for Alice MacIver to pick up. The attorney never failed to answer her biggest client.

  “MacIver Law,” Alice greeted.

  “Hey, it’s Lily. I just wanted to give you a heads up that we’re not staying at the house anymore. The trust or whoever probably needs to be made aware.”

  The panicked catch of Alice’s breath was so evident that Lily could practically feel the apprehension radiating through the phone
. “Is this because of the citations?”

  “Citations?” It took Lily a moment to remember what the lawyer was talking about. “Oh, you mean Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past.”

  “I’m sorry?” Alice clearly didn’t get Lily’s humor.

  “World record holder for the longest book. The stack of citations is impossibly huge and painful to read, kind of like a Proust novel... you know what, never mind. It’s not important.” Jokes weren’t funny if a person had to explain them.

  “I want you to know I’m working on it. Please don’t leave town yet.” Poor Alice. She was so scared of losing the Goode trust as a client.

  “Working on what?” Lily leaned her head against the glass and watched a married couple walk toward the front entrance of the hotel through the streetlights. At least, she assumed they were married. They looked the type—same style of his-and-hers clothing and matching designer luggage. The husband strode ahead while the wife had a very animated conversation with his back. To herself, she said, “Oh, that’s sad. Fighting on vacation. They should make up.”

  “I am sure we have a case for the misuse of power. Lucky Valley officials have no right to try to run you out of town. I promise you. I am handling it. That is what you pay me for. I am on your side.”

  Lily dropped the curtain. She didn’t like the sick feeling churning inside her. “What do you mean Lucky Valley officials want to run us out of town?”

  “Apparently, when they expanded the city limits to include the Goode property, they not only necessitated that the house be brought up to code, but if enough time passed without someone claiming the property, they would have been able to get a legal injunction that would give them the right to tear down the house and outbuildings and annex the property.”

  “The city wants to take my house?” Lily again peeked outside. Clouds rolled across the sky, blocking out the stars and moon, darkening the landscape even more. Only the tall lights over the parking lot allowed her to see. “They can’t do that.”

  Maybe she should save everyone the trouble and just give it to them? No more death threats or headaches. If the whole town hated them so much, maybe it was time to leave.

  “I’m conferring with a friend who’s more versed in these kinds of property disputes. There are certain circumstances where Eminent Domain can be claimed by the government if it’s deemed for the public good. Or they can force the sale of abandoned property, which is what I think they were trying to accomplish. To keep the house in your family, you need to live there.” Alice sighed. “You can’t leave. If you do, and the house is not brought up to code, you could lose everything. When the trust was set up, there wasn’t a provision for this. With no property to oversee, all assets remaining in the Goode trust will be tied up in courts while it’s all sorted out. Trust laws have changed since the late 1800s. I assure you, I’m livid. Lucky Valley officials had no right to instruct the city code enforcer to try to muscle you out of your rightful inheritance.”

  “Are you telling me that the town of Lucky Valley ordered the city code enforcer to run us out of town? First they gave us a giant list of nonsense and told us we have to fix it, and when that didn’t scare us off, they vandalized the property and threatened us?” Lily nearly choked on the words. Could it really be that simple?

  Had Nolan left with the deputy to regroup and plan? Is that why the deputy refused to help them? Herczeg was employed by the town. The lawn fire happened the first night Nolan came over. Had he been inside distracting them? And today? Was their trip to the diner a way to get her out of the house so someone could torch the place?

  “I promise, I am working to get to the bottom of this.” Alice tried to sound reassuring.

  “Lucky Valley hired Nolan Dawson to get rid of me?” Lily needed to hear the woman say it was Nolan. She didn’t want to believe it.

  “I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard there was vandalism as well. Send me any police reports and receipts and I’ll make sure it’s taken care of. Anything you need, just—”

  “Thank you for telling me, Alice,” Lily interrupted. “I’ll let you know what we decide.”

  Lily’s hand shook as she flipped the phone closed to end the call, cutting the attorney off mid-farewell.

  All along, it was Nolan.

  Nolan.

  Dammit. She had not seen that one coming.

  Logically, it all fit, all the pieces. Why hadn’t she seen it? How could she have been so stupid? All the construction accidents they were having, what better person than the guy who was supposed to fix things? He offered to help so he could... what? Keep a close eye on things? Sabotage any progress? Summon ghosts?

  Break her heart?

  Lily didn’t want to believe it, but Alice had no reason to lie. It was in the attorney’s best interest to have them stay. Nolan had tried to convince her to leave Lucky Valley several times.

  A thud sounded behind the curtain and Lily jumped in fright. Something knocked a few times, and she edged closer to peek outside. She sighed in momentary relief. The married couple that had been fighting moments before now made out against the glass, kissing and fondling. Lily pounded several times to get their attention. The husband’s eyes met hers briefly, and the wife giggled as he led her away.

  Lily stared at a smudged handprint the husband had left behind on the glass. How could she have been so wrong about Nolan? She felt betrayed, disappointed, sad.

  No. That wasn’t right. She felt heartbroken.

  Lily closed her eyes. She wanted to know why he had done it. She’d trusted him. He was going to be her business partner. He was her friend.

  “Welcome to Lucky Valley, home of bad luck. Everything here really is cursed.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Lily opened her eyes to look at the parking lot. She didn’t know how long she’d stood, waiting for Alice to call to say she’d made a mistake. It wasn’t Nolan who’d betrayed her. That call never came.

  Lily stared at her hand pressed to the glass. Slowly, the feeling of the window against her hand turned to air, and the view of the parking lot became a small living room. It was not a place that she recognized. She lowered her hand.

  Dammit. She’d teleported again.

  A streetlight came in through a window, giving just enough light to make out shadowed details. The teal blue couch had a pleather finish and matched the overstuffed chair next to it. A print of some obscure impressionist painting hung over it. The chest that doubled as a coffee table had a basket with pinecones. Lily could detect no clues as to where she had transported herself, only that she was technically committing a crime by breaking into the home.

  Thank goodness she was wearing clothes and shoes and hadn’t been sleeping. She wasn’t sure she could explain standing in her underwear in someone’s house.

  The house was quiet, and she prayed the homeowners were gone. Then she prayed she was still in Lucky Valley, or at least Colorado, or at the very least the United States. Wood floors were covered by large oval rugs, the woven kind Ronald and Ila Whaylen had all over their farmhouse. The thick brown strands coiled around from the center, wrapping around themselves like a snake. Lily used to walk the oblong patterns, around and around, placing her feet carefully as she pretended to balance on a tightrope.

  When she shifted her weight, the boards beneath her creaked. She held her breath, listening to see if someone stirred. Her senses were honed, so focused that each breath felt like a scream.

  Shadowed doorways led from the living room. One appeared to lead toward a kitchen, another a hall. The wooden front door had a diamond window cut out of the top. It was close, but the creaking floor sounded like an alarm each time she moved.

  Lightning flashed outside, momentarily illuminating the room. Five seconds later, thunder boomed. The storm would be about a mile away, and so far there was no sound of rain.

  Lily took it slowly. A small table next to the door held several pieces of mail. She tried to read the labels in the dim light. Lifting a pie
ce of junk mail toward the diamond window, she read, “Dawson, Nolan.”

  This was Nolan’s house?

  She dropped the envelope and turned back around. “Nolan?”

  A thud answered her call.

  “Nolan, it’s Lily. I need to talk to you.”

  A second thud.

  She followed the sound, no longer caring about the noise she made. She went into the kitchen. An artificial light came through a cracked door which led down to a basement.

  “Nolan, I need some answers.” Lily didn’t hesitate to go down the wooden steps. His red flannel shirt was at the bottom of the stairs next to an undershirt. The musty smell of stones and earth greeted her. As she passed below the main level floor, the view opened up.

  Deputy Herczeg lay on her back, her arms splayed. Her eyes were closed, and a large gash bled along her collarbone.

  Lily didn’t stop to think as she hurried to the woman’s side. As she tried to kneel, a dark movement passed close to her face. She felt the air sweep against her skin.

  A low growl punctured the silence.

  Lily froze, terrified. She should have looked before leaping to the deputy’s rescue. Following the sound with her eyes, she came face to face with a werewolf.

  There was no mistaking what it was. The fur-covered body, the elongated snout and mouthful of fanged teeth. Hot breath panted against her skin. It swiped for her again and she screamed, falling back. One manacle held the wolf by a wrist as three more hung free. It looked like the deputy had tried to chain Nolan to the wall and failed.

  “Full moon,” Lily whispered. At the time, she hadn’t been able to hear him as his lips moved. “That’s what you said to me earlier. Full moon.”

  The werewolf strained against his chain.

  “Nola—?”

  The word was cut short by a loud growl which ended in a bark.

  “Okay, okay.” She tried to catch her breath. “You’re not Nolan. Not right now.”

  The wolf panted. Yellow eyes focused on her. Animalistic rage radiated off him. The wolf was everything Nolan wasn’t.