Grave Errors
Page 29
“Wedding planning is a lot more fun that funeral planning.” River picked O’Ryan up and followed me to the kitchen, with the cat snuggling against her shoulder. “This will be the third funeral I’ve had to go to this month.”
“Really? Who else died?”
“Mr. Bagenstose, the banker. Died a couple of weeks ago. They found him in his own back yard under an apple tree. Heart attack, I think.”
“Oh, yes. I didn’t know him but Aunt Ibby did. She was at the funeral too. I didn’t realize he was a friend of yours.”
River looked away and, eyes downcast, sat in one of my nineteen seventies Lucite kitchen chairs with O’Ryan in her lap. “Yeah. He was. Kind of.”
“Here. Have a chocolate cupcake. It’ll make you feel better,” I said, firmly believing in the power of chocolate. I put a little cake on each of our plates, poured two mugs of coffee and sat opposite my friend. “You said there were three?”
“Uh-huh. You remember Gloria Tasker? She used to be a waitress at one of the old diners years ago. It was a hit and run. She was riding her bike early in the morning down by Ropes’s Point. They never found out who did it. Police said maybe the driver didn’t even realize he’d hit somebody.”
“I remember her vaguely.” I offered River a paper napkin. “Gloria and Mr. Bagenstose were both older than Aunt Ibby and you’re younger than I am. I didn’t realize you had such elderly friends. Were they Tarot clients?”
Tears coursed down River’s cheeks. “No. They were kind of—associates.”
“Associates?”
“I guess there’s no harm in telling you, as long as you promise not to tell anyone else.” O’Ryan licked River’s face and she continued. “They were witches.”
“Of course I won’t tell anyone. That’s a very personal thing. I knew Megan was a witch of course, but the banker? The waitress?”
River nodded. “Those two weren’t ready to come out of the broom closet yet, but they were witches too—not in my coven, but I saw them sometimes at gatherings.”
“Three witches in a month,” I said. “Is that pretty unusual?”
“I think so. And Lee,” her voice dropped to a thin whisper. “It might be all my fault.”
Carol J. Perry was born in Salem on Halloween Eve. She has written many young adult novels, in addition to the Witch City mystery series. She and her husband Dan live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida with two cats and a black Lab.
CAUGHT DEAD HANDED
She’s not a psychic—she just plays one on TV.
Most folks associate the city of Salem, Massachusetts, with witches, but for Lee Barrett, it’s home. This October she’s returned to her hometown—where her beloved Aunt Ibby still lives—to interview for a job as a reporter at WICH-TV. But the only opening is for a call-in psychic to host the late night horror movies. It seems the previous host, Ariel Constellation, never saw her own murder coming.
Lee reluctantly takes the job, but when she starts seeing real events in the obsidian ball she’s using as a prop, she wonders if she might really have psychic abilities. To make things even spookier, it’s starting to look like Ariel may have been an actual practicing witch—especially when O’Ryan, the cat Lee and Aunt Ibby inherited from her, exhibits some strange powers of his own. With Halloween fast approaching, Lee must focus on unmasking a killer—or her career as a psychic may be very short lived . . .
TAILS, YOU LOSE
Minding her business has never been more deadly . . .
After losing her job as a TV psychic, Lee Barrett has decided to volunteer her talents as an instructor at the Tabitha Trumbull Academy of the Arts—known as “The Tabby”—in her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. But when the local handyman turns up dead under seemingly inexplicable circumstances on Christmas night, Lee’s clairvoyant capabilities begin bubbling to the surface once again.
The Tabby is housed in the long-vacant Trumbull’s Department Store. As Lee and her intrepid students begin work on a documentary charting the store’s history, they unravel a century of family secrets, deathbed whispers—and a mysterious labyrinth of tunnels hidden right below the streets of Salem. Even the witches in town are spooked, and when Lee begins seeing visions in the large black patent leather pump in her classroom, she’s certain something evil is afoot. But ghosts in the store’s attic are the least of her worries with a killer on the loose . . .
LOOK BOTH WAYS
In Salem, Massachusetts, there are secrets everywhere—even in the furniture . . .
When Lee Barrett spots the same style oak bureau she once had as a child on the WICH-TV show Shopping Salem, she rushes to the antiques shop and buys the piece. Just like the beloved bureau she lost in a fire, this one has secret compartments. It also comes with an intriguing history—it was purchased in an estate sale from a home where a famous local murder took place.
The day after the bureau is delivered, Lee returns to the antiques shop and finds the owner dead. The police suspect the shop owner’s unscrupulous business partner, but Lee wonders if the murder is connected to her new furniture. At least part of the answer may be revealed through a mirror in the bureau, tarnished and blackened, allowing Lee to tap into her psychic visions. Using this bureau of investigation, Lee may be able to furnish her policeman beau with the evidence needed to catch the killer—before the next one to be shut up is her . . .
MURDER GO ROUND
A killer takes a spin through Salem . . .
Lee Barrett has agreed to attend a storage auction with Aunt Ibby—even though she suspects the forgotten rooms will yield more junk than treasure. Her skepticism vanishes once the two win a bid on an overlooked locker and uncover a trove of beautiful curiosities, including a stunning wooden carousel horse with gentle eyes and fading paint. But just before Lee leaves the fairground relic at a local repair shop, the sight of a silver samovar awakens her psychic abilities and conjures visions of murder.
Lee prays the intrusive ESP episode was just a glimpse into the past—until her policeman boyfriend reports a dead man outside the repair shop. Apparently, the unknown victim had been hot on Lee’s trail since the auction. And with the horse found dismantled, it looks like he was up to no good. What’s the story behind the antique equine, and could a strange bubblegum-chewing woman with fiery hair have something to do with the crime? Guided by her gift and O’Ryan, her wise tabby cat, Lee’s set on catching the murderer . . . before she’s sent on the darkest ride of her life.