The Trouble with Ghosts (Here Witchy Witchy Book 3) Read online

  “The whole PIB office?”

  I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “Yep. Don’t know what to tell you, unless you contact another branch.” Which meant that we would have to bring in an outside agent. That didn’t sit well with me. “I’m going to call the realtor who was last known to handle the house, and if I can I’m going to try and locate someone who can figure out what the Cult is trying to contain.”

  “Do you think that’s safe?”

  I could hear the concern in his voice. It probably wasn’t safe, but it’s not like that had stopped me before. “I don’t know. It depends on who I find.” I thought I had Merick’s phone number at home somewhere, but I didn’t know if he’d answer me or not. Nor did I know if he’d help me or not.

  “If a car blows up again, I’m taking you off the case.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “If it’s the Cult’s fault then you can pull me off the case. The last time my car blew up it wasn’t really related.” Technically it was, but Mason didn’t need to know that. I ran my hand over my steering wheel. “I won’t try to contact the Cult unless I have no other options.”

  “Do what you need to in order to close the case.” He disconnected the call without a goodbye.

  I pulled into the fast food parking lot and thought about my choices. I didn’t cut corners when it came to solving a case, but I couldn’t recall a case that was so closely connected to something I didn’t want to touch on again. I could only hope the media hadn’t gotten the information on the runes in that house, or the Cult could already be alerted to me knowing about them. I twisted my hands around the steering wheel as I tried to not be paranoid about the Cult showing back up.

  The Cult tended to hunt down witches or warlocks they felt violated the code of magic, but the problem was, no one really knew which code they followed. There were rumors that they wanted magic to remain in the shadows, and I knew firsthand that they didn’t hesitate at using black magic. They’d been responsible for my parents’ deaths when we all thought it was witch hunters. My last bout with the Cult had proven otherwise. They weren’t someone to mess around with and they didn’t strike me as the most helpful group.

  I’d managed to calm my thoughts while I ordered and picked up my food. I headed toward the office in hopes of being able to accomplish something, even if the systems were still down.

  I walked into the office to see the temporary receptionist was missing. I frowned and continued to my office. Neither of our normal receptionists ever left the desk empty. There were too many people that weren’t welcome in the office. I shook my head and got into the elevator. She was temporary so maybe she hadn’t been aware of the expectations.

  I paused before swiping my key card to get into my office. I couldn’t see anyone from where I was standing, but that didn’t mean that no one was in there. Oliver had been at my desk and I didn’t see him until I walked in. I sighed and tried again to push the paranoia out of my mind. I unlocked the door and walked in.

  The office remained peacefully silent and that eased my nerves a little bit. I went back to the computer and tried to boot it up again, but once more I was greeted by a blue screen with white lettering. I shook my head and pulled out my notes from the library. My fingers scanned the few lines of notes that I had managed to gather, stopping at the name and phone number of the realtor. Normally I would pull up information in the system first to see if I could find out any past on the person, but now I’d have to cold call them without knowing anything.

  Chris Savante and he had a local phone number, which hopefully hadn’t changed since he’d been trying to sell the house. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I held my breath as I dialed the number, waiting for it to either start ringing or play a disconnected message.

  I let out a huff of air when the digital sound of ringing came through the receiver. Here’s hoping I didn’t scare the pants off someone who answered. No one liked a call from PIB.

  The phone clicked and a voice with a slight Hispanic accent answered. “Chris Savante speaking.”

  I closed my eyes and thanked the Goddess for a moment. “Mr. Savante, this is Agent Collins with the Paranormal Investigation Bureau. I have a couple questions about a house that’s part of an investigation.”

  He was silent for a moment. “What can I help you with, Agent Collins? I assure you that all my houses are free of the paranormal and that I’m not using spells to sell them.”

  “Using magic to manipulate your clients isn’t my department. This is about the house at 2525 Prairie Drive out in Ellicott. According to public records you were the last realtor to handle it.”

  He took a deep breath. “The house was labeled as abandoned a while ago and last I heard condemned, but I can answer what questions you have. It might be better if I come to your office. I have all my papers and the history on the house.”

  “You sound nervous Mr. Savante, I promise you’re not in any trouble. Feel free to come down to the office, or if you like, I can come to yours. Or we can meet for coffee.”

  “I’d like to meet somewhere other than your office. There’s a local coffee place on Circle and Austin Bluffs. Know it?”

  I’d been there once or twice. “I do. What time is good for you?”

  “I have a client I’m meeting with at three, would five be too late?”

  “Five would be fine. I’ll see you there.”

  I disconnected the call and leaned back in my chair. What would make him so nervous? Maybe he really was using magic to sell his houses and something went wrong with this address.

  No. That would be a simple spell and wouldn’t cause a bunch of thumbs to show up there. I rubbed my head.

  “That good?” Nick’s voice caught me off guard and I jumped out of my chair. He held his hands up. “I should know by now to make more noise so you hear me coming.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “I wasn’t expecting you back for a couple days. What are you doing here?”

  “I mean…I could leave if you’d like, but really now that I’m back I’m bored.” He shrugged. “There’s almost always something going on here, so I thought I’d return to work early.”

  I smiled. “Just in time for a big case too. Welcome back.” I motioned to his desk. “It’s been quiet in here without you.”

  “Fill me in on the case?” He pulled his jacket off and laid it over his chair.

  I leaned back and debated where to start. “We have severed thumbs with no identification. A house with very little public history, a sketchy realtor, and…” I hesitated.

  He looked at me. “And?”

  “A containment spell with Cult runes.”

  He pressed his lips together. “The Cult of Ra?”

  I nodded. “They’re back to play.”

  “I’m going to talk to Boss Man, you need to be taken off this case.” He shook his head. “I don’t want you near this, not after what happened with Devon.”

  Devon was a rogue member of the Cult that had tried to kill me. He also happened to be Nick’s brother. His response was not what I had been expecting. “Like hell. The Cult has nothing to do with me. I can handle this. I’m a big girl.”

  “We don’t know that they aren’t going to try for you again.”

  Again? My heart sank, he knew more than he was letting on. “What do you mean, again? I was targeted by your brother, not the full Cult.”

  “And yet a while ago you mentioned a member visiting you at your home. That means they have an interest in you.” He shook his head. “You shouldn’t be close to this.”

  I stood and put my hands on my hips. “You don’t get to make that call. There has been no violent act made towards me from the Cult. I am not in danger.”

  He didn’t need to know about the threats or the theory that the Cult had killed my parents. “Now, I have coffee with the realtor this evening. I’ll pass you my notes on the scene, but they are all hand written since our systems are down.”

  He met my gaze, but nodded. �
�Fine, the notes would be great. I’d like to go take a look at the scene too. I’ll call Mason and make sure I’m cleared to go.”

  “If you can wait until tomorrow, I can go with you.” I sat back down in my chair and gathered my papers for him.

  He raised a brow. “Hot date tonight after you meet with the realtor?”

  I wished. Simon hadn’t contacted me at all since he’d taken over the alpha spot for the pack, and the PIB agent I had drinks with at the book fest was in a different state. “It’s my birthday, Levi always throws a small dinner party for me. So I’ll be heading up to the mountains tonight.”

  “Happy birthday.” He sat down and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll talk to Mason, if he wants me to wait for you, then I will.” He motioned his hand for the notes. “Until then, I’ll do what I can to catch up. Did help desk say when the system might be back up?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think they even know what’s causing it. Every computer is blue screening.”

  “Huh.”

  I walked to his desk with the notes. “Huh is all you have to say about that?”

  “It is weird, but I mean, they are electronics, sometimes weird shit happens.” He shrugged and took the papers from me. “What are you planning on doing until the coffee meeting?”

  I shrugged one shoulder. “Play on my phone and hope something comes to me I guess. It’s only a couple hours, there’s not much I can do while the systems are down.”

  “True that.” He muttered and looked over my notes. “Did you take pictures of the runes?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t have to. I knew them on sight.

  He glanced up at me in a silent question.

  “What? I’ve been studying them. There’s nothing wrong with that. Stop treating me like a child, Nick.”

  He went back to my notes and didn’t respond. It was bad enough when Levi became protective, to have Nick go that way felt odd to me. I needed him to be a partner, not a parent.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The air conditioning blasted me in the face when I walked into Pike’s Roast. I took a moment to get acclimated to the cold building. The single employee behind the counter waved at me and went back to their customer. A Hispanic man sat in the corner, nursing a cup of coffee. A blue folder lay in front of him on the table, and he rested a hand on it as if it was going to get up and walk away.

  I turned away from him and went to order my own coffee, because I was going to need it for this conversation. I ordered and grabbed my coffee before heading over to the table.

  I met the man’s chestnut brown gaze. “Chris?”

  He nodded and motioned to the chair. “Agent Collins, I presume?”

  I sat down and put my coffee on the table. “Yes, thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”

  His shirt was a casual polo with the top button still undone, the dark green of it contrasting against the blue of his jeans and sneakers. He’d said he had a business meeting before this, but he was dressed pretty relaxed. Of course, I wasn’t a realtor, maybe they tended to dress down when out of the office.

  “Of course. I’m not sure what help I’ll be, but I brought all the papers I could on the property. I sold it for cash ten years ago, but something didn’t sit right with me.” He sipped his coffee and waited for my reaction.

  I pulled the folder closer to me. “And what was that?”

  “In the early 1900s there was a murder there. I disclosed it, and where it had discouraged many of my prospective buyers, this woman said it would be fine.”

  I opened the folder and the first page was a copy of an old news article. “This was right after the house was built.” My gaze scanned the article. “There was a young woman kept in the basement?” I didn’t recall any stairs that led to a basement, maybe it was a cellar and not an actual basement.

  “It was a horrible story, many aspects of it seemed almost supernatural.” He glanced away and his brows creased. “But we’re talking about an event that’s over a hundred years old.”

  Flipping the article over, I decided I’d go back to it when I had more information. “I didn’t see a basement,” I tapped the paper in front of me. “Your entry for the house on the website didn’t list a basement, but this says the house has a finished one.”

  “It was sealed off by the person who bought the house before it was foreclosed on in…” He flipped over a couple papers. “Ninety-eight.” He tapped the paper. “Here you can see that the square footage changed.”

  I looked over the information and it was identical to what I had seen on his listing. “How long did it sit vacant?”

  “About two years. It was foreclosed on again in 2003. I sold it in 2005. It wasn’t in great shape, which is why it was so cheap.” He leaned back in his chair. “I hope all this helps. The information on the last owner is on the last page.”

  I flipped to it and studied the information. The name didn’t sound familiar, but almost fake “Johnny Smiths”. “Thank you, it’s more than I had.”

  “If there’s anything else I can help you with, please let me know.” He finished his coffee and put the mug on the table.

  “Do you happen to have the original layout for the house? I’d like to see if we could unseal that basement.”

  His eyes went wide. “Why would you want to do that?”

  “I can’t tell you details because they haven’t been released to the public.” Of course, telling someone there are ten severed thumbs in the house with no bodies and no identities was probably bad form anyways.

  “I can see if I can find the pictures of the house before it was sealed off. I might have to call in a few favors though.” He stood. “If you think it’ll help.”

  “Please.” Even if our systems were down at work, I could access my e-mail at home. I handed him my card.

  He took it and put it in his pocket. “Of course. Good luck with your case.”

  “Thank you.”

  He walked out and I took a few minutes to finish my coffee and look through the files he’d brought me. The article on the girl stood out to me, but it lacked details on what exactly had happened. They found a young woman tied up in the basement, dead, but the cause of death was never mentioned and neither was a suspect. Fear sat in my gut. Not only were the thumbs ten years old, but there was a possibly unsolved murder that had happened in the house.

  I leaned back and sipped my coffee. Tonight I’d enjoy myself, and tomorrow I’d go over the information I had gathered, and see if Nick had anything to add. Another look at the house would be helpful if we could find where they sealed the basement off at. I closed my eyes as horrors filled my mind on what I could find there. What I was hoping for wasn’t really pleasant, but I was hoping to find the bodies that belonged to those thumbs, even if the timeline didn’t sit right.

  I went home and changed before driving up to the mansion. I had no idea what Levi had planned. He’d managed to get a handle on birthdays some time before high school, even if other holidays still tended to elude him. I placed my hand on the scanner and opened the door when I heard the tumbler click. Silence wrapped around me. I frowned, kicked off my shoes, and put my bag by the door. The driveway had been empty of anyone else’s car, so I was writing off a surprise party. It was possible I was early, but normally the mansion had some type of noise.

  My heart leapt into my throat as my paranoia started to make my mind spin. Was Levi here? Was something wrong? My feet made no noise as I padded across the floor and peeked into the foyer. I didn’t draw my gun because I didn’t want to accidentally shoot anyone in case they did pop out to surprise me. The fireplace in the foyer was cold, not even a glowing coal left.

  It reminded me of the situation I walked into at Oliver’s a few months back. No fire meant that I wouldn’t be able to use my elemental ability if I was in trouble, not that I made a habit of it, but someone taking away that option never boded well. I drew my gun when I heard an unfamiliar voice as I approached the kitchen. I took a deep breath and roun
ded the corner. A chill shot up my spine when my feet hit the cold tile and a vampire met my gaze.

  I started to raise my gun, but Levi’s voice stopped me.

  “He’s not a threat, Abigail.”

  I still hesitated as I met the vampire’s dark eyes. His short black hair was greased out of his angular face and he smiled and showed me fangs. “Abigail.” He repeated with a thick Italian accent to it, “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  I holstered my gun. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are.” I glanced at Levi standing in the other doorway of the kitchen. “I thought it was a birthday celebration, not “spring new people on Abby” night.”

  “We had a change of plans last minute.” Levi nodded to the vampire. “This is Mario; he came for a visit after our recent issue with the blood-starved vampires.”

  I tensed at the reminder of the terror they caused. “Lovely, I’ll leave you to your vampire business then.” I had wasted a two-hour drive.

  “Please, stay. I hear you’re a PIB agent, I’d like to get your expert opinion on the case.”

  I had been way too close to the case and I didn’t wish to relive it. I heard the front door click open and I called “In here,” before anyone else could think the same thing I did. Anyone that could get in the door was welcomed here, I wasn’t putting myself or Levi at risk. I didn’t waver in my eye contact with Mario. “My expert opinion as a PIB agent is that the case is closed and the person behind it is in jail.”

  “And your opinion as a member of the paranormal world?”

  His question caught me off guard. My gaze flickered to Levi and he waved his hand like I didn’t have to hold back. “That there’s something else going on, but I know to keep my nose out of vampire business.”

  Levi chuckled and we all turned when Clarissa walked in. Her newly colored red hair was pulled back in a braid with a few curly strands escaping around her face. Her huge smile faded when her eyes landed on the scene in the kitchen. Her hands gripped the cake she held awkwardly as she tried to figure out what she needed to do.