Wonky Spells & Seashells (A Fade Island Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Claire Robyns

Author:Claire Robyns [Robyns, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-17T23:00:00+00:00

11

Sunday morning, Belle spotted me waiting for the Dart and changed course in my direction. She was dressed for the beach: short shorts, flat sandals and a bikini top. You could tell the weather by her hairstyle, which was parted into Heidi plaits. Humidity was not her friend.

“Off for one last jaunt in Moonfade Bay?” she greeted with a note of regret. “You leave us soon, don’t you?”

“Tuesday.” I pulled a face. “I’m going to miss the island.”

“It does tend to grow on a person.” She laughed softly. “Nothing to do with the warm waters, golden sand and glorious weather, I’m sure.”

“Also the people.”

“Hey, if you want company?”

I hesitated.

“Ruan is back from his holidays and has the weekend shifts,” she went on. “I’m free as a bird.”

She looked so eager, I couldn’t say no. “That would be great. Speaking of Ruan…?” I wiggled a brow at her. “Anything I should know?”

“You get what you see. The man’s a Greek Adonis, isn’t he? And quite literally, too.” She pulled a skimpy top from her bag and shrugged it over her bikini. “He’s from Cyprus, the Greece part.”

“So he told me.”

“Huh.” She patted the flyaway hairs that had been ruffled. “Wait. You’re not…? I thought you and Gabe?”

I neither confirmed nor denied. “I was thinking more along the lines of Belle and Ruan. You’re not seeing anyone, are you?”

“Not at the moment, and never Ruan,” she said. “He’s too young.”

My brain popped. “You can’t be much older than me and he didn’t look too young from where I stood.”

“Age is a concept,” she said airily. “Ruan is a struggling/budding artist. He only works at the coffee shop so he can afford to buy his paints.”

“And eat, I presume.”

She shrugged. “He’s good, good enough to end up with his art shown in famous galleries around the globe one day. That’s a long road from here to there.”

“And you would never leave the island.” She’d said as much to me before.

“The road has nothing to do with distance and everything to do with age,” she corrected. “He hasn’t begun to be the person he’ll end up being.”

“That’s very philosophical,” I giggled. “I’m impressed.”

“I have layers. And a reliable employee I don’t want to lose when the relationship goes south.”

“Ah, there it is.”

She rolled her eyes. “And here’s our ride.”

The dart arrived and we climbed on. It was a short half hour journey, straight through the heart of the island.

As we neared Moonfade Bay, I had to come clean. This wasn’t just any old Sunday morning jaunt. Gabriel had said follow the money, and I figured that started with Marilyn and Sea Jewels. I wanted to ruffle her feathers and see what fell out. Maybe do some snooping around the back of the shop if the occasion presented itself.

When Belle heard about my mission, she clapped her hands together in glee. “I’ll distract Marilyn so you can slip into the back office.”

“We could get into trouble,” I warned. “The sheriff will be livid if he hears about it.

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