Ahead of the Flame: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery (Witches of Hellforge Hatchery Book 3) by Skye Sullivan

Author:Skye Sullivan [Sullivan, Skye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

“You gotta give her the widow’s secret handshake,” I said. “Get her to open up.”

The Widow Simon grunted.

“Not like that,” I said. “A smile wouldn’t hurt. A warm handshake. And would it have killed you to comb your hair? It looks like you got it caught in a weed whacker.”

“I did comb it,” she said. “I think it makes me look distinguished and original.”

“You know what I think?” I said. We were walking to the Maryanne Dobbins’s house. She lived outside of town on a rundown old farm. We were getting close and even from here, it didn’t look like that farm ever produced anything other than tumbleweeds and mosquito larvae.

“Is this going to be more new age retro hippie nonsense?” she asked. “We gotta get the house arrest lifted off the farm for no other reason than to get Moonbeam out of there. He’s a bad influence on you. Next thing I know, you’ll be wearing tie-dye and playing bongos in a drum circle.”

“I think,” I said. “You wear your hair like that the same way a porcupine has quills. You’re trying to tell people you’re not friendly. To stay away. Because you don’t want to get close. You don’t want friendships and you certainly don’t want a romantic relationship.”

“You’re right,” she said. “I don’t want friends and I’ll roll over in my grave before I get a boyfriend. But I don’t cut my hair like that on purpose. I just don’t like it in my eyes all the time, wasting time in the bath washing it, combing, getting tangles out, getting it cut. A bunch of useless effort if you ask me.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s a subconscious defense mechanism,” I said.

“Please don’t analyze my subconscious,” she said. “It’s humming along just fine. It doesn’t need anyone tinkering around messing things up.”

“As you wish,” I said. “But be nice to her. She’s a fellow widow.”

“What do you think I was gonna do, ring the bell then punch her in the face the second she opened the door?”

I shrugged.

She laughed and took a fake swing at me. “I’ll show you a punch in the face.”

“You know what I mean,” I said. “She might be a killer, so tread lightly. We have to ask her the questions without letting her know we suspect her. It’s a fine art.”

She snorted.

We got to the house and I was expecting a pack of feral dogs to come out and tear us to shreds. Wild bushes and overgrown planters could have concealed any type of vicious creature. I wasn’t sure we’d be any safer on the porch, because the rotten, splintered wood could collapse at any moment.

“This is what the realtors call deferred maintenance,” I said.

“Her husband had a gambling problem,” the widow said matter-of-factly.

“Explains the large debt to Yuri,” I said. I knocked, but before I could get to the third rap of the knuckles, the door flew open.

“Who are you and what do you want?” she barked. She was older than I expected, at least eighty but if you told me she was a hundred I wouldn’t have batted an eye.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.