“I’ll show you.” Gladys stood. Thrusting her hands out at one of the brooms—a red one this time—she wiggled her fingers and yelled, “Shazbot!”
The broom wiggled and waggled, flopping around on the patio like a fish, then finally it rose into the air and hovered, as if waiting to be called.
Gladys stuck two fingers in her mouth and gave a wolf whistle. The broom zoomed over toward her, coming to a stop in front of her, as if beckoning for her to get on. But as soon as she moved toward it, it backed up out of her reach. She stepped toward it again. It backed up again, and then it went totally vertical, dropped to the ground, and started sweeping the patio.
Gladys slumped into her chair. “See? My enchantments are all messed up. Instead of enchanting the brooms into flying, they end up sweeping.”
“Well, Zelda might like that,” Wanda said.
We sat there silently, watching the broom as it made its way over to Jinx, who was still rolling in the catnip. It started trying to sweep up the catnip, swatting Jinx in the process.
“Hey, what the ...” Jinx sprang up and batted at the broom. The broom batted back. Jinx hissed and struck out with his paw. The broom advanced. Jinx backed up, swatting and hissing. It was like some kind of weird dance.
Wanda tore her eyes away first. “Well, what are you going to do, Gladys? Your license expires soon, and you wanted to ride in the Old Coven Days parade.”
Gladys slouched even lower in her seat, her expression turning even more glum. “I don’t know.” Her brows knitted together as she glared at the broom. “I may just have to do something drastic.”
We exchanged disturbed glances. The last time Gladys had done something drastic, the whole town had started acting crazy. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
“Speaking of drastic,” Liz said. “I saw that Mitch moved into your building.”
“Yeah, I discovered that last night. Not happy,” I said.
Tess frowned. “Is he trying to take your clients? I could zap him with a spinach-stuck-in-teeth spell, or maybe an I’m-too-lazy-to-work enchantment.”
“You know we’re not supposed to fool with the lives of humans with our spells and enchantments, though I do appreciate the sentiment.”
“I think he’s trying to get you back,” Liz said.
No! “I doubt that.”
“Oh, by the way. Did you hear from Charming Chocolates?” Liz asked.
Warning bells immediately sounded in my head. “No. Why? What did you do?”
She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, nothing bad. Really. I’m just sending you a little gift to thank you for fixing me up with Julian.”
Was she joking? Had she really hit it off with Julian and was thanking me? Or was this some kind of punishment? My mind whirled. What could it be? Almond bark? Chocolate fudge? No. Judging by the smug look in her eyes, I had a feeling her gift had less to do with chocolates and more to do with the delicious chocolatier. But what could it be? Something embarrassing, no doubt.
“Don’t worry, Jane. After word gets out about how successful you were in capturing Bud Saunders’s killer, clients will be knocking down your door. I wouldn’t worry about that nasty Mitch Pierce,” Aunt Wanda said.
“Yeah. That’s right, Wanda,” Gladys said. “I wouldn’t even be surprised if Sheriff O’Hara herself asked Jane to consult on the latest murder.”
“Latest murder?” we all asked.
Aunt Gladys chewed on her nail. “You didn’t hear?”
“No.”
“Oh, well, er ... A dead body was found late last night down at the barber shop.”
Wanda turned to her. “And just how do you know that?”
Aunt Gladys blanched and waved her hand in the air dismissively. “I heard about it down at the market.”
“The market isn’t open late at night.” Wanda glared at Gladys. “I hope this doesn’t have something to do with you whooping it up at the Witch’s Brew Lounge or being arrested in the park.”
“No. Not at all. That was all because I drank the potion. I’m over that now that it’s out of my system.” Hiccup.
Wanda sighed. “I hope so. You know how Hightower is. If she thinks you had anything to do with a murder, she will be relentless.”
“Oh, no worries. I have an alibi.”
“Moe did say someone was practically trying to knock down my office door last night. He thought it was a desperate client,” I said. Even though I didn’t tell regular people about the ghost in my office, my own family was well versed in the paranormal and thought nothing of ghosts in offices, or skeletons in closets for that matter.
“Wonderful! Then it looks like you got another client. See, the clients are coming right to you. No need to worry about that nasty Mitch Pierce.”
Right. No need to worry. The client would have had to have walked right by Mitch’s fancy-pants sign to get to my office. So surely they wanted my services and not Mitch’s. And just because the potential client had been relentlessly pounding at my office door shortly before a mysterious body was found in the barber shop wasn’t any reason to worry. Was it?
************
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About Leighann Dobbs
USA Today bestselling author, Leighann Dobbs, discovered her passion for writing after a twenty year career as a software engineer. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix Mojo and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty. When she's not reading, gardening, making jewelry or selling antiques, she likes to write cozy mystery and historical romance books.
Her book "Dead Wrong" won the "Best Mystery Romance" award at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention.
Her book "Ghostly Paws" was the 2015 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem First Place category winner in the Animal Mystery category.
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This is a work of fiction.
None of it is real. All names, places, and events are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real names, places, or events are purely coincidental, and should not be construed as being real.
The Case of the Sinister Spirit
Copyright © 2018
Leighann Dobbs Publishing
http://www.leighanndobbs.com
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner, except as allowable under “fair use,” without the express written permission of the author.
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