Murder and Deception (A Hope Herring Mystery Book 8) by J A Whiting & Nell McCarthy

Author:J A Whiting & Nell McCarthy [Whiting, J A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J A Whiting Books and Whitemark Publishing
Published: 2013-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

14

While the death of Ardis Warren was still news, it slipped to the background for Hope and her students. Halloween had arrived, and that meant the class was consumed with costumes and candy and tricks—if there weren’t treats. She didn’t mind letting them chat before class, but, once the bell rang, they had to put all the excitement away. School was school. Her students understood that.

Even Cori was excited, talking about her costume and all the candy she was going to “score.” Hope half wondered if she had enough candy in the house for all the trick-or-treaters that might knock on her door.

“We have plenty,” Cori said. “You have to remember that half the kids think our house is haunted. They’re scared of it so they’ll stay away.”

“They’re still afraid of it? We’ve lived here for a while now. Aren’t they over the ‘haunted’ thing?”

“You’d be surprised.” Cori grinned. “There are kids who think there’s a ghost in the house. I guess they’re not wrong.”

“There could be two ghosts in the house. Maybe I’m one of them. I’m scary.” Hope laughed, and Cori rolled her eyes.

“You’re scary because you’re a teacher, not because we have a ghost in the attic.”

Hope pretended she was shocked. “You think there’s a ghost in the attic?”

“Yup. I’ve met him. Some of the kids think they see someone moving around in the attic, and they yell ‘ghost.’”

“Well, they do see someone moving around in the attic. It’s me. My office is up there. Max wouldn’t allow people outside the house to see him. Haven’t you told them I work up there?”

“A thousand times. Some kids really aren’t very smart.”

“I’m sure it’s just a case of wanting to believe in spirits. They want to believe there are ghosts and witches and vampires and whatnot. It adds color and drama to their lives. Like Lottie. Is she still changing as soon as she gets to school?”

“Oh, yeah. Turns out, she has this girl she talks to online. It’s weird.”

“You know this online girl?”

“No.”

“Can you find out?”

“Probably.”

“If that girl is influencing Lottie, you and her parents should know.”

“Why? You think it’s someone bad?”

“The web is filled with people who don’t have our best interests at heart.”

Cori shrugged. “Like you haven’t told me that before.”

“It’s true, and you know it. If you can, find out who Lottie is talking to.”

“And then?”

“Then, we find out about this girl.”

“That’s prying.”

“That’s being a good friend. You two do look out for each other, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Enough said.”

“Roger that.”

Max was waiting when Hope entered her office. He still wore the black jumpsuit and boots, and he had added a black beret. He looked like the modern version of a French Foreign Legionnaire.

“Nice beret,” Hope said.

“Thank you. I saw it, and well, I find it jaunty, don’t you think?”

“Very jaunty. How are things going?”

“I must confess, I am not making any progress on the case at hand. Have you ever experienced the hotspots inside some of the things you read? I mean, I click on them because they often provide additional information on a topic.

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