If She Only Knew: A Riveting Paranormal Mystery (A Calamity James Paranormal Mystery Book 1) by Alexandria Clarke

If She Only Knew: A Riveting Paranormal Mystery (A Calamity James Paranormal Mystery Book 1) by Alexandria Clarke

Author:Alexandria Clarke [Clarke, Alexandria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-11T22:00:00+00:00


“Thanks for your help,” I tell Officer Burke once we’ve cleared the library steps. “If you hadn’t been there, Maisy would have called the cops on me. Oh, wait—you are the cops.”

Burke steps directly into my path, and I nearly trip over her long legs. Swiftly, she takes the receipt book and the article from my grip.

“You’re not getting off so easily,” she says, examining the items. “What the hell did I see in that basement?”

“You said it yourself,” I reply. “Those shelves weren’t secure.”

“You were doing some weird crap way before those shelves fell,” she reminds me. “It looked like you were fighting someone. That book flew through the air and hit you out of nowhere.”

“Officer Burke, are you feeling okay?” I touch her forehead with the back of my hand. “It’s a pretty hot day. I think the heat is getting to you.”

She whacks my hand away. “I’m not overheated, and I know what I saw. Explain yourself. Now.”

I click my tongue, stalling for time. “Would you believe… bees? A whole swarm of bees. I don’t know how they got into the basement, but they were not happy when I found their hive behind some books—”

“I’m not laughing, James.”

“Neither am I. I’m allergic.”

“Fine,” she says. “Don’t tell me what happened, but I’ll find out eventually. What did you steal these documents for?”

I show her the receipt book. “Tobias Welch was a regular customer of this prostitute, Lottie Lane. I think if—”

Officer Burke groans and knocks the receipts aside. “You’re still going on about that old prospector? This has nothing to do with Loretta’s case.”

“What if it does?”

“Look, I spoke to Sheriff Miller today,” she says. “He’s convinced, like you, that we should be looking for a body. I got a list of places to check. Please, just get in the squad car and act like a normal human being for once.”

I spot the police cruiser waiting for us on the library’s curb. “I thought you quit working with me. Wasn’t that what you said when you walked out of Winnie’s the other night?”

“Sheriff Miller didn’t like that, even when I offered to go back to desk duty,” Burke says with pink cheeks. “I’m stuck with you. Are you going to help me find Loretta’s body or not?”

“That depends. What’s on the list of places?”

She digs a sticky note out of her pocket and hands it to me.

“Loretta’s old home address, place of work, the woods behind her ex-husband’s trailer,” I read off. “Loretta’s ex-husband may look dumb, but if he did kill her, he’s not stupid enough to drop the body in his backyard.”

She snatches the list back from me. “Do you have any better ideas?”

Right on cue, Loretta appears next to Officer Burke’s cruiser. At once, I notice that Loretta’s features have changed ever so slightly. Her sharp nose has rounded out, and the corners of her eyes are less pointed. The lines of her face look smoother as if she’s been buffed with a pumice stone.

“She’s underwater,” I murmur.



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