Nancy Lake and the Case of the First Date Read online

  Greg and Debbie help the girls on with their coats before Greg ushers them out the door. “Bye, Adam,” Cora chirps. “Feel better!”

  Sophie half smiles at our guest as she walks out. Debbie gives Adam one more glare before shutting the door behind herself. With two less things to worry about now, I start up the stairs past my guest.

  “I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused,” Adam says.

  “It’s fine. I gotta finish the potion and get a few things. We’ll leave in about five minutes.”

  In my office, right as the buzzer dings, I add his hair into the cauldron. The requisite green vapor poofs up—the movies got that part right—and I funnel the liquid into a glass vial. I still have to invoke the magic when we arrive at the farm. Otherwise I’d just give it to him and boot him the hell out. Nothing is ever easy. I pack up the potions from last night, a few other trinkets I need, my four biggest crystals, and my glasses before returning downstairs. Pretty sure I’m forgetting something, as usual, but there’s no time to think about it.

  Adam sits on the couch, grimacing in pain as he tries to put on Daddy’s loafers. “They don’t fit.”

  I can see blood seeping into his plaid shirt. “Stop bending. Hold on.” I run to the closet and get my pink flip-flops. They’re still small, but he can walk in them. “These will have to do.”

  “Thank you,” he says, standing up with a grunt.

  “I’ll pick you up a new change of clothes later.” I reach into my pocket and pull out a Celtic amulet, handing it to him. “Put that on.”

  He does. “What does it do?” he asks, examining it.

  “Nothing yet.” Closing my eyes, I place my hand on the amulet and the other on his forehead. As I pull the magic into me, much like drawing breath into my lungs, my hands tingle with heat. It’s amazing whenever I do this. Right. Every cell of my body feels as if it’s full of light and energy. Like I’m connected to all the power of the universe. Which I kind of am. Thirty seconds later, I open my eyes and he’s vanished. He’s gone.

  Damn, I’m good. “There.”

  “What did you do?” his disembodied voice asks.

  “Turned you into the invisible man. Only works for a couple minutes though. Come on.” I pick up my bag and purse before opening the front door. I can tell by the noise of the flip-flops that he follows me outside. Auntie Sara maintains her usual post on the porch, eyes glued to the deputy talking on his radio. She and I wave as I walk to my car. I open the passenger side on the pretense of putting my stuff onto the floor. “Hey, Auntie Sara?” I call to buy time.

  “Yes?”

  The car shakes a tad when Adam climbs in. “You have fun at the bake sale! Save me some pig cookies.”

  “Of course, dear. You have a good day at work.”

  “I will.” I shut Adam’s door and get in on my side. It’s a little odd hearing someone breathing beside me without seeing them. I’ll drive like the wind to the farm. I want this over with. I start the car. We ride past the deputy who waves to me and I him. “Are you sure that car can’t be traced to you?”

  “My fingerprints aren’t on file, and I stole it from a bar a few blocks from where I was held, but I can’t be sure. Can I take this thing off? It’s making me hot.”

  “Not until we get out of town.” The streets are fairly empty, even the sidewalks, as the majority of the town is still at church. Even the diner has only a few customers. Tamara spots my car from inside and waves. I do the same.

  “Friendly town,” Adam’s disembodied voice says.

  “Well, don’t start house hunting yet. You get healthy, and you get gone. I don’t care where you go, or how you get there. I am running very low on charity right now.”

  My companion doesn’t say a word for a few seconds, doesn’t even breathe, but I can feel him. It’s as if there’s a ghost in the car. “Mona,” he finally says, “there’s something I need to tell you.”

  The last person who said that to me was a doctor who then told me my grandfather had lapsed into an irreversible coma. My stomach clenches. “What?”

  He sighs. “I think someone inside your coven is trying to kill you.”

  The knot loosens. Oh hell’s bells, he almost gave me a coronary for nothing. He might as well have said Debbie was a pod person. “That’s insane,” I chuckle. “Kill me?”

  “Yes,” he says as serious as cyanide.

  “What? No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Mona. Yes.”

  This man has lost his mind, but I’ll play along. “Okay, for the sake of argument, let’s say this is true. You know this how?” I ask, still chuckling.

  “Because until last night … I was one of the people who was supposed to kill you.”