Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (28 page)

“
I’m sorry if I was out of
line, but I just don’t want anyone to bully someone around. I was
treated that way by my husband’s ex and I finally decided I
wouldn’t take it anymore. I took care of her though.”

I stared for a second. I was almost
afraid to ask what she’d done, but I decided to go for it. “What
did you do to her?” I asked.

Did I need to make a run for
it?

“
Well, that’s a story for
another day. I’ll tell you sometime.”

Beth was a little odder than I had
realized when I hired her, but it wasn’t as if I’d had a choice.
Anyway, she’d been great with the customers and other than the big
incident with the books, there had been no problems since she’d
started working for me. For that, I was thankful.

“
If it’s okay, I’ll go ahead
and leave.” Beth tapped her fingers against the counter
absentmindedly.

“
Sure, sure. No problem.
Thanks for everything.”

I hadn’t discussed with her how much
I’d need her after the show was finished. But that was a
conversation for another time.

“
Thanks for hiring me. It
really has been great to get out of the house.”

“
You’re welcome. I’ll call
you soon.” I waved as she made her way out the door.

Mindy walked through the door a few
minutes later.

“
I’m just getting ready to
have a little talk with the ghosts.” I winked.

“
Please, by all means, go
right ahead. I’ll just mind my own business and look through this
Lucky Magazine until you’re done.” She flipped open the
cover.

The ghosts stood beside me. I
contemplated what my next move would be. I knew what I needed to
do. Or rather, what they needed to do.

“
I need you guys to help me
with something,” I whispered. “But we can’t let her know about it,
okay?” I pointed toward Candy Cherry.

She pretended not to listen, but I was
almost positive she had super hearing. She seemed to know
everything that was going on at all times.

“
We can’t trust her. Ever
since she showed up, nothing but bad things have been going on—and
I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

“
What can we help with?”
Elvis asked.

How did I put this without them
thinking I was crazy? I’d just have to come right out with it. “If
you all could do a little snooping for me, then I might find the
answers to some of these problems.”

Had I really just asked Elvis Presley
to spy for me? This was crazy and kind of cool all at the same
time.

“
We’d do anything for you,
sweetheart.” He winked and then looked at Mr. Fine.
“Right?”

Mr. Fine hesitated for a second, then
finally nodded his head. “Yeah, I suppose we could do that for
you.”

I almost did a little dance right
there but thought better of dancing again in front of Elvis. I’d
already embarrassed myself in front of him enough.

“
So what do we need to do?”
Elvis asked.

“
I need you to go to Karyn’s
home and my new employee’s home. While you’re at it, stop by Jane
Howe’s place too. She’s Cooper’s employee and staying at the Red
Rose Inn. Look for suspicious behavior. One of them will have to
leave a clue or maybe you’ll catch them right in the act of casting
bad spells.”

“
Just go watch their every
move?” Mr. Fine asked.

“
Yeah, I guess that’s what
I’m asking for.”

“
How will we know if they’re
bad spells?” Elvis asked.

He had a point. How would they know?
“If you listen to the words of the spell, you’ll be able to
tell.”

At least I hoped that was the case.
That annoyed feeling had crept back into my mind. I was struggling
to fight off the evil that was trying to take control of my mind
and body. I had to find the necklace before it was too late. While
they snooped, I had other things to do.

“
We’ll be back.” Elvis
winked as he disappeared. Mr. Fine reluctantly followed behind him.
I had no idea where Candy Cherry had disappeared to… but I knew
she’d pop up when I wanted her to stay away.

I felt as if time was running out, but
the more I tried to figure out what might be going on, the worse I
felt. I had to know whether it was black magic, a demon, or
something totally different affecting me. Although what else was
there?

Mindy and I sat next to the counter
resting our chins in our hands.

Finally, I said, “We have to do
something.”

Mindy nodded.

“
I still have spell books on
the shelf. Maybe we can do a spell and find something to get rid of
this evil thing attached to me.”

“
I’ve never done anything
like that before. I think I’m better if I stick with
snooping.”

“
Okay, you’ve warmed me up
to snooping, only when completely necessary though, but I’m afraid
in this case it probably won’t do us any good. We need something
more drastic.”

She frowned and let out a deep breath.
“Unfortunately, I think you’re right. Okay, go get the book. Let’s
see what ya got.”

Walking over to the metaphysical
section, I pulled out a book and scanned the list of ingredients
for a truth-conjuring spell. I had no idea if this would do any
good, but I had to try something. I needed a clue to lead me in the
right direction.

“
What does it say?” Mindy
asked, looking over my shoulder.

“
Well, we have to use these
ingredients.” I pointed toward the page.

“
Do you have those things? I
don’t,” Mindy said while playing with a strand of her
hair.

“
Well, I have some salt
packets in my old purse left over from fries I ate some time last
year.”

“
I’m pretty sure the real
witches would laugh if they witnessed this debacle.” Mindy shook
her head.

I chuckled. “Yeah, it’s kind of sad,
but we gotta do what we gotta do, right?”

“
Okay what else does it call
for?” Mindy asked.

“
Cinnamon, pine, and almond.
We can do this,” I said excitedly as I pointed at the page. “I can
get cinnamon and almond from Callahan next door and there’s a pine
tree just beyond the back parking lot. You go grab a sprig of the
pine, while I get the things from Callahan.”

“
But he’s not there,” she
said.

“
I have a key and I know the
code.” I pulled the key from my pocket and dangled it in the
air.

“
I had no idea y’all had
moved to that level.”

I smiled sheepishly. “Well, it is
convenient that we can get into each other’s shops if we have to.
But who knows how long this will last with all this stuff going on
around us. I feel like we’re on the edge, hanging on by a couple
fingers and someone is about to step on them forcing me to let
go.”

“
Wait, he has a key to your
place too?” She motioned for a time-out.

“
Yeah.” I nodded.

“
You don’t think the
ex-girlfriend got the key, came in here, and destroyed the
books?”

I shook my head. “Something tells me
she would have done more if given more time. Having a key would
have given her more time. I’m not saying she didn’t do it, but I
think she would have had to come into the store during working
hours if she did. Whoever did it was incredibly brave.”

“
Okay. I’ll go get the
pine.”

Mindy hurried out the back door toward
the pine tree and I headed out the front toward Callahan’s. I kept
glancing over my shoulder. The feeling of someone following me was
overwhelming, but as far as I could see, no one was
there.

When I reached Full Cup’s door, I
stuck the key in the lock and turned. If Callahan saw me going into
his shop would he be suspicious? He’d given me the key to use, but
he probably never thought I’d use it in order to gather stuff for a
magic spell.

Oh, who was I kidding? Of course he’d
expect something like that out of me. Would he expect anything
less? Surely he’d grown to expect this craziness from me in the
short time we’d known each other. He probably asked himself on a
daily basis what mess he’d gotten into the day he met me. I stepped
into the shop and looked around at the emptiness. The aroma of
coffee lingered in the air. I smiled at Callahan’s handwriting on
the giant chalkboard hanging on the wall. It was strange being in
there without him smiling at me from behind the counter.

The best thing I could do was to hurry
up and get out of there. I’d grab the stuff and be gone before he
ever knew I’d been there. I didn’t want to hang around any longer
than absolutely necessary. Moving back behind the counter, I
scanned the area for the items. Finally, I spotted the cinnamon and
then stuffed a spoonful of sliced almonds into a bag.

As I turned to leave, I noticed the
cream-colored paper on the counter. I stopped in my tracks. It was
the same paper. I recognized it right away. I wanted to say I could
walk away without looking, but because of recent events, I couldn’t
do it. I had to know what the letter said. Had she written Callahan
a love letter?

With shaky hands, I placed the
cinnamon and bag of almonds down, then grabbed the letter. My heart
thumped wildly. I was afraid of what I’d find, but I pulled the
letter out anyway and began to read.

My dearest
Callahan:

I can’t tell you how happy
I am to have you in my life again. You said things can’t be like
they were and we can’t go back, but I know with time you’ll see
that we were meant to be. Larue isn’t right for you. We are
soul-mates. How else do you think we came back together again? It
was written in the stars as if the universe was pulling us to one
another. Please meet me this evening at the park. I’ll be there at
four. If you show up, I’ll know that you feel the same way as I
do.

Until then, my love forever
and always is yours.

Ginger

Wow. Had Callahan told her they
couldn’t be together? Was she stalking him? Had she followed him to
Magnolia? Why did I feel as if his life was in danger now? I
couldn’t let him go to the park. But what if he really wanted to be
with her? Regardless, I’d have to go to the park in case he needed
me. I glanced at my watch. I had thirty minutes.

But first, I had to finish the spell.
Then I could dash over to the park and dial 911 if this crazy woman
pulled a gun or knife on Callahan. Mindy was not going to believe
this. I placed the letter back on the counter exactly as I’d found
it, then hurried out of Full Cup.

When I rushed through the door of Book
Nook, Mindy was waiting for me.

“
What took you so long?” she
asked.

I could barely breathe. “You’re not
going to believe this.”

“
At this point, I think I’d
believe anything, so why don’t you try me.”

“
There was a letter from her
on Callahan’s counter. I read it,” I said breathlessly.

“
Oh, this is getting
interesting,” Mindy said.

After I explained what the letter
said, Mindy grabbed the items from my hands.

“
Well, let’s get a-cracking.
We have to get to the park before she does something even more
insane. She sounds a little unstable.”

“
A little?” I
asked.

“
Are the ghosts back yet?
Where is Candy Cherry?” Mindy looked around.

“
They’re not here. You know,
I’m beginning to be very suspicious of Miss Cherry and Mr. Fine.
They’re not very nice. I think they’ve been responsible for some of
the bad stuff going on.”

“
Can’t Elvis tell you what
they do?” Mindy asked.

I shook my head. “No, they hide from
him too.”

“
You need to banish them out
of your life too.” Mindy’s voice was full of anger and
frustration.

“
I plan on it. If I ever get
the chance to, that is.” I blew a strand of hair out of my
eyes.

We gathered the ingredients and placed
them on the counter. A paltry attempt at witchcraft but it was all
we could do under the circumstances.

“
Are you sure Candy Cherry
and Mr. Fine aren’t around?” Mindy asked.

“
I don’t think so, but she
likes to disappear, so it’s hard to say where she is at any given
time. She’s sneaky like that.”

“
I hate that about the
ghosts.” She clucked her tongue.

“
They can turn invisible
anytime they want.” I positioned the spell book on the
counter.

“
I wish we had that ability
while we were living.”

“
I guess we could get in a
lot more trouble that way, huh?” I lined the ingredients up
according to the order which they’d be needed.

She snorted. “Yeah, I guess you’re
right.” Mindy stepped closer to the counter. “So, tell me what I
need to. I hope I don’t mess anything up.”

“
You can’t get this wrong.”
I patted her arm.