Magic, Moonlight, and Murder by Shéa MacLeod

Author:Shéa MacLeod [MacLeod, Shéa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal cozy mystery, cozy mystery with witches, dragons, witches, paranormal
Publisher: Sunwalker Press
Published: 2020-01-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“The bastard will pay.” Vane’s voice was soft. Its lethal edge made Veri shiver. In fact his quiet tone was far scarier than if he’d ranted and raged.

“We have to find him first,” she pointed out. She’d called Vane after the flower delivery, and he’d arrived almost immediately.

“Do you know where the flowers came from?” he asked.

“Magical Blossoms, right down the street.” She flipped over the card to show him the florist’s information.

“We’ll start there.” He moved toward the door, but she caught his arm.

“Let me.”

He crossed his arms over his massive chest.

“Listen, you can’t go barging in there all scowly.”

“Scowly?”

“You’ll scare the stuffing out of people.”

“Stuffing?”

“Yes, stuffing.”

He smirked. “Good. Then I will get the answers I need.”

“No you won’t. You’ll get a bunch of terrified people calling the cops. Put a smile on your face and let me do the talking, dragon boy.” She left the shop, not caring if Vane followed her or not. Did he think he could impress people by behaving like a human jackhammer? Idiot.

The florist’s shop was three blocks away, tucked between a pizza place and an antique store. The scent of melted cheese and baking bread make her stomach rumble, reminding her she hadn’t eaten yet. The dream had thrown her off. She hadn’t wanted breakfast. Not even Virgil’s donuts, which was really saying something.

Inside was a riot of color. Mounds of brilliantly colored flowers were piled everywhere. Roses in every color of the rainbow were crammed into black plastic buckets. Purple delphiniums and yellow daffodils tumbled from tables. Pink carnations and leafy green ferns spilled from shelves. Every nook and cranny in the tiny shop was jam-packed with color and scent. At a long table that ran along one end of the room, an elfin woman with a round face and large dark eyes perched on a stool. Her full mouth, painted a shimmering aqua that matched the streaks in her platinum hair, was open in song as she bellowed along with the radio. She might be a whiz with flowers, but the woman couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on.

When they walked through the door, the woman glanced up from her arrangement with a startled expression that, paired with an enormous set of coke-bottle lensed glasses, made her look like an owl. She was at least three decades older than the early twenties Veri had originally estimated.

The woman flicked her hand, and the volume of the music dropped to almost nothing. “Welcome. May I help you?”

“I’m Veronique Leveau,” Veri said, holding out her hand. “I own Dangerous Curves down the street.”

The florist gave her hand a perfunctory shake. “Oh, yes. The naughty shop. That’s what my nephew calls it. He’s twelve. Boys, you know. I’m Annie Blossom. Owner, florist, gofer.” She tugged at her rainbow-striped sweater as if it were a little too tight.

Veri gave her a half smile. “A bouquet of flowers was delivered to me about half an hour ago.”

Annie’s brow crinkled, and her glasses slid to the tip of her nose.

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.