Haunted Hijinks by Christene Sara

Author:Christene, Sara [Christene, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BX7D1X9T
Published: 2023-10-30T23:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Iwas already awake when the sun rose. I had been up almost every hour, worrying about the objects in the SUV, and who might be drawn to their magical signature. If Spooky could sense them, others could too, including their maker. I wanted them caught, but I definitely didn’t want to face them in my pajamas. Spooky, who’d woken with me several times, was now fast asleep on a pile of pillows.

A knock on the adjoining door drew my attention. Looked like I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. I opened the door to find Nicholas fully dressed in a hunter green zip-up fleece, slacks, and a gray scarf that looked softer than Spooky’s belly.

He extended a coffee cup toward me—not the typical tiny hotel cup filled with watery hotel coffee. “I went to the place across the street,” he explained. When I raised a brow at him, he shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Me either.” I stepped back to invite him into the room, only then realizing I was wearing a matching pajama set with an out of season pumpkin print.

“I like the pajamas,” he said, walking past me to take a seat on the foot of the bed. He sipped his own coffee, then looked up at me through a lock of his hair. “I’ve been thinking about Gustav and Nadia, and about those vials of blood.”

Refusing to be embarrassed about my pajamas, I tugged them straight then took a seat beside him on the bed. “Yeah, what about them?”

“Well, it seems clear that blood magic was used in the murders, and they did have vials of blood in their home, along with bones that could have been used to make the item Spooky found.”

“Go on,” I pressed, hoping he had come to better conclusions during our sleepless night than I’d managed.

“I’m just wondering why three different items were used. Why not three soltere?”

“Maybe Gustav made the soltere, and Nadia made the others?”

“Maybe.” He took another sip of his coffee. “But it still seems odd. Especially the paper you found at Sandy’s. All three objects seem dark, but too different. Like they didn’t come from the same practitioner.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but does that mean we have three different killers?”

He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Maybe. Or maybe the killer really did just buy the soltere from Gustav. And maybe they bought the other items from different practitioners. If they bought all the items from one person, that person might grow suspicious.”

“Whoever wrote the paper I found at Sandy’s is entirely suspicious all on their own.”

“I didn’t say the practitioners are innocent. Just that maybe they aren’t the killer. Which leaves us with one real lead.”

“Gustav’s client list,” I agreed, glad I’d thought to keep a copy. “We can start with those who bought soltere in the days just before Albert’s murder.”

“I agree, but what are we going to tell Mildred? She expects us to meet back up with Megan today.”

I thought about it, taking a long sip of my coffee.

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