Dances With Witches
A Hannah Hickok Witchy Mystery Book Five
Lily Harper Hart
HarperHart Publications
Copyright © 2020 by Lily Harper Hart
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Eleven
12. Twelve
13. Thirteen
14. Fourteen
15. Fifteen
16. Sixteen
17. Seventeen
18. Eighteen
19. Nineteen
Mailing List
About the Author
Books by Lily Harper Hart
Books by Amanda M. Lee
1
One
“Are you sure we should be doing this?”
Hannah Hickok stared hard at the resume in front of her, so hard in fact that her boyfriend Cooper Wyatt worried her head was going to explode.
“Do what?” he asked in a soft voice. “Hire a new bartender? What could possibly go wrong?” His tone was cheeky, but he knew exactly what worried her. The last few bartenders they’d hired had turned out to be homicidal maniacs — two of them had actually been demons from another plane (no joke) — and their track record on hiring was currently in negative numbers.
“You’re not funny.” She shot him a quelling look and went back to studying the résumé. “I just ... maybe we should hold off.”
He understood why she would suggest that — actually, he’d been anticipating it — but he couldn’t allow her to react out of fear. “We need a bartender.”
“We have me.”
“You can’t work every shift for the foreseeable future.” He hesitated and then barreled forward. “I know what happened is upsetting, but we can’t hold back on what’s right for Casper Creek.” And you, he added silently. “We have no choice but to look forward instead of back.”
It was a reasonable argument, Hannah told herself. He wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t told herself ... and he was convincing. Still, fear niggled at the back of her mind. “What if we hire another murderer? I don’t think Casper Creek’s reputation can survive another blow.”
Months before, Hannah hadn’t even known about Casper Creek. Her maternal grandmother ran the town, which was located on top of a mountain and only accessible through a back road or ski lift, and Hannah had been estranged from the woman for the entirety of her life. Then, when her grandmother died, a man showed up with a deed and informed Hannah that it belonged to her ... and her life had irrevocably changed.
Most of it was for the better, and that’s what she told herself over and over again, but since moving from Michigan to Kentucky, Hannah had seen more hellacious things than any one person should ever be exposed to. From evil witches to ghosts to creatures that served as the basis for the Seven Deadly Sins, she’d seen it all ... and been scarred because of it. That was on top of finding out she was a witch and had magic at her fingertips.
It was all so new ... and overwhelming. Since losing one of her own people, a woman who willingly allowed one of the furies to take her over, Hannah had been second-guessing herself at every turn.
“We’ve only been open again for a few weeks,” she reminded him. “We’ve hosted one big event since then. One. Someone died at that event, too.”
“Yes, but for once it wasn’t one of our bartenders doing the killing,” he pointed out. As much as he wanted to coddle her, tell her everything was going to be all right and give in to her every whim, he knew that’s not what she needed. It was time for some tough love ... although he wasn’t entirely sure he had the strength to hold out in the face of her misery.
“No, it was the victim’s daughter and assistant working against each other that resulted in her death,” Hannah agreed. “She was still killed here. There was yet another story about someone dying on my property.”
Cooper studied her a beat, internally debating, and then moved his hand to her back to rub at some of the tension building there. She’d been a coiled spring of late, ready to break free and complain at the least provocation. He didn’t want that to happen again, and yet he refused to simply agree to whatever she wanted to avoid a fight. Casper Creek wasn’t just her home. It was her livelihood. Numerous people relied on the place staying in business. That meant she had to suck it up and do what was best for the business instead of hiding in the shadow of fear hanging over her that seemed to be growing larger and larger every single day.
“What happened at the ghost event was terrible,” he acknowledged, choosing his words carefully. “I don’t think any of us wanted that as an outcome for our first big event back. That being said, if there was going to be a death playing out on this property, that was a good one for us to have.”
She made an incredulous face. “Did you just say it was good that Velma Sanders died up here? She was a world-famous psychic and medium.”
“Who happened to be a fraud.”
“That’s neither here nor there. It’s not important. What is important is that we’ve had fifty bodies on this property since I took over as owner.”
He arched a challenging eyebrow. “Fifty?”
“It’s close to that.”
“It’s more like five.”
“It feels like fifty,” she groused, turning back to the résumé. “I don’t think five is a number to be bragging about, especially when referring to dead bodies.”
“I agree but ....” He trailed off, exhaling heavily as he studied her profile. She was a beautiful woman. That was the first thing he noticed when she appeared in downtown Casper Creek to take over. He’d been attracted to her from the start. In addition to being beautiful on the outside, she was also the sweetest person he’d ever met.
That didn’t stop her from being incredibly frustrating.
“What do you want to see happen here?” he asked, changing tactics. Hannah was brutally rational at times and he figured the best way to get her to come around to his way of thinking was to allow her to work things out on her own ... with just a little nudge.
“I don’t know.” She held out her hands and shrugged.
“You have to know.”
“Why do I have to know?”
“Because you’re the boss and we need this place to get back to normal.” He didn’t want to come across as cold — the unrest she felt at Becky Gibbons’ death was palpable — but he also didn’t want to let her walk all over him. It wouldn’t be a deliberate choice on her part because she was never cruel, or even tyrannical, but she might carry it out simply because she couldn’t get herself back on track.
“Hannah, people have bills to pay and they rely on Casper Creek to pay them,” he continued, twisting so he could face her. When she didn’t meet his steady gaze, he sighed and gently grabbed her shoulders to nudge her to face him. “I love you.”
She raised her eyes, surprised. “I love you, too.” She meant it with her whole heart.
“I know you’re upset about Becky.”
“She’s dead.”
“She is, but that’s not your fault.”
“It feels like my fault.
The reason she gave herself over to Envy in the first place was because she lost hope. Why did she lose hope?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “She lost hope because she was in love with you and you didn’t return the feelings. Why didn’t you return the feelings?”
Before she could answer her own question, he extended his finger to cover her lips. “Don’t blame this on yourself. Is it true that I love you? Absolutely. That’s not why I couldn’t love her, though. I just ... there was nothing between us, no matter how badly she wanted for there to be.
“I’m sorry she’s dead,” he continued, opting for honesty. “It’s not an ideal situation. She did it to herself, though. We’re allowed to live our lives, to fall in love with one another, and start planning for a future. We’re allowed to be happy. Nobody wanted to hurt her. It wasn’t fair for her to try and hold us hostage, though.”
Hannah pursed her lips, debating, and then nodded. “I know you’re right in here.” She tapped the spot above her heart. “I just keep running through these scenarios. My subconscious is convinced there had to be a way to save her.”
“Maybe there was, but we don’t live in an ideal world. We did the very best that we could. She made her own choices. She was willing to give up her soul as a form of payback that wasn’t even earned because nothing was taken from her. Making yourself sick over what happened to her seems like a lot of wasted effort to me.”
Hannah pursed her lips. “Well, when you’re so rational about it, I kind of feel stupid.”
He laughed and leaned in to give her a soft kiss. “I know you’re going to continue struggling a bit. It’s okay. I’ll be here for the duration. I just ... I hate it when you beat yourself up over stuff you can’t control. It doesn’t seem fair.”
“Aren’t you always the one telling me that life isn’t fair?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“Hmm, maybe that was my dad.”
His smile slipped. “I don’t want to be confused for your father. That is creepy and wrong.”
His reaction elicited a genuine laugh. “Oh, I don’t know how I survived before you came into my life.” She impulsively threw her arms around his neck and held tight. “I really do love you.”
He rubbed his hands up and down her back, relishing in her warmth. “I really do love you, too. We still have to make a decision on bartenders.”
“Ugh.” She made a face and pulled back so she could study the résumé again. “Lindy Carter. Does that sound like an evil name to you?”
He chuckled. “No. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, though.”
“That’s true.” She chewed on her bottom lip to buy herself time. “What sort of name is Lindy anyway? I’ve never heard of it.”
“Maybe it’s a mix between Mindy and Linda.”
“That still doesn’t make it a real name.”
He barked out a laugh, thrilled to see some of the spark back in her eyes. “Maybe you can ask her when she gets here.” He double-checked the clock on the wall. “Which should be any second.”
“Yes, because what I really need now is to conduct another interview,” she said dryly. “I’m pretty sure the last ones sucked my soul.”
“And I think you’re exaggerating.”
“I guess.” She snuggled closer to him. “I know I can’t be the only bartender. I’m not stupid.”
“I know you’re not stupid.” He ran his hand over her hair to smooth it. “You don’t want to be a bartender, though. You want to try other things. You’re stuck right now because you’re the only one who can work behind the bar.”
“I don’t mind it.”
“You hate it.”
“I hate the uniform,” she corrected. “It puts my boobs on display and I don’t like being ogled.”
“I don’t particularly like you being ogled either, but that uniform is a crowd-pleaser for a reason.”
“Yes, men are pigs.”
He laughed and kissed her cheek, holding her tight for another minute before pulling back. “It’s going to be okay,” he reassured her, tilting his head at the telltale sound of footsteps on wood. “I think our interview is here.”
Even though she was perfectly happy pouting, Hannah plastered a smile on her face. It wasn’t this woman’s fault that things had taken such a dark turn in Casper Creek. Well, it wasn’t likely it was her fault. There was always a chance they were dealing with another evil individual.
The woman who stepped through the swinging doors of the saloon had pretty brown hair that looked to be highlighted with a wild purple color. Hannah immediately liked the way the sun hit the streaks and lightened her features. She wore simple jeans and cowboy boots, along with a plain black shirt, and she was all smiles as she glanced between Hannah and Cooper.
“I’m Lindy.” She didn’t seem nervous as she extended her hand. “You must be Ms. Hickok and Mr. Wyatt. Those are awesome names to have in a western town like this, by the way.”
Cooper shook her hand first, making a mental note that her temperature seemed normal (not abnormally high or low, which could signify a supernatural being) and taking a long moment to look her up and down. He didn’t want to give the appearance of being a letch or anything, but if the woman was evil — which wasn’t out of the realm of possibility — he wanted to be prepared to react.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Hannah offered, shaking Lindy’s hand. “You have a very impressive résumé.”
Lindy snorted as she took the chair Cooper indicated and crossed her legs. She had an easygoing personality and didn’t appear nervous in the least. “I don’t know that I would go that far,” she hedged. “I’ve worked at a few places, though.”
“Ten.” Cooper shook the sheet of paper.
“Ah.” Lindy bobbed her head. “You’re wondering if I’m going to be trouble.”
“I don’t know that I would phrase it that way,” Hannah said hurriedly.
“I would,” Cooper countered. “We want a diligent worker. We want someone who doesn’t rile up the chemistry with the other workers. You have a great deal of experience, but it doesn’t look to me as if you stay places very long.”
“That’s fair.” Lindy’s expression never wavered. “The first eight of those jobs, if you’ll look at the dates, were when I was in college. I worked at a different bar every semester. Why did I switch every semester? Most of the bars preferred to get fresh meat in behind the bar because it drew in the male college students. The first couple of times it happened I was surprised. Then I got kind of used to it.
“If you look at my last two jobs, they both lasted more than two years each,” she continued. “The first was at the Greensboro Country Club. That went out of business because the course refused to allow people of color to play and a local activist group went after them.”
“I remember that story.” Cooper bobbed his head. “I couldn’t actually believe there were still segregated golf courses in this country in this day and age.”
“It wasn’t even segregated,” she countered. “I mean ... you need to have more than one race present and then force the races to refrain from intermingling to claim segregation. Greensboro flat out only allowed white people to play.”
Hannah was horrified. “How is that legal?”
Lindy made a face as her shoulders hopped. “We’re not quite in the south, but close enough. You would be surprised how often stuff like this happens.”
Hannah looked to Cooper for confirmation. “That can’t be right.”
He shot her a rueful smile. “You came from the north, where racial problems aren’t all that prevalent.”
Now it was Hannah’s turn to snort. “I hate to break it to you, but I lived close to Detroit. Race is still a huge problem there. The suburbs are mostly white, and the black inner-city folks resent what they call ‘white flight’ and a lot of the people from the suburbs refuse to go into the city because they believe crime is a black problem.”
“I guess I can see that.” His smile was thoughtful
. “The race problems are different here. Most people — and I mean ninety percent of folks — are kind and don’t put up with the nonsense. There’s a specific group, though, that ... like to be jerks.”
Amusement flitted across Hannah’s face. She was certain that Cooper would’ve preferred saying something nastier about the situation, but he didn’t want to risk upsetting Lindy.
“I didn’t even know it was a segregated club when I first got the job,” Lindy admitted. “It never even occurred to me. By the time I figured it out, the country club was on its last leg and I was due a payout from them. I would like to say I’m above it all, but I needed the money.”
Hannah nodded in understanding. “I know how that goes. What about your job now?”
“That’s at Pete’s Barbecue and Bingo,” she explained. “I like the atmosphere — at least for the most part — but the bingo stuff drives me crazy. I would prefer a quieter atmosphere, where people aren’t getting loopy about bingo of all things, and where I can have a set schedule.”
“Do you plan on going back to school?” Cooper queried.
“Kind of, although not exactly. My goal is to eventually own my own bar. That’s not something that will happen anytime soon. I need to save up enough money to make it a reality. While waiting for that to happen, I take these business classes through an online college. They’re not what you would consider normal business classes. They’re far more practical, like how to order and how best to stock liquor for a bar.”
“Those actually sound like really good classes,” Hannah enthused. “When I took over here, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing when it came to stocking the saloon.”
Dances With Witches (A Hannah Hickok Witchy Mystery Book 5) Page 1
