Buried Innocence - A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery - Book Thirteen (Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series) Read Free

beware?
    “Yeah, go ahead and
walk under a ladder,” Mike taunted.
    Turning back, she
reached through him, opened the door and slipped inside.
    “Hey!” he cried.
“Watch your hands.”
    “Sorry, a woman’s
got to do what a woman’s got to do,” she said, putting the key in the ignition
and turning the car on.
    Sliding through the
passenger door to sit beside her, Mike folded his arms and sent her a
determined look. “Well, you’re not going without me,” he stated.
    Mary shrugged.
“Fine,” she replied, shifting into reverse.
    A knock on the
driver’s side window startled her, and she turned to see a young woman standing
in the street next to her car. She had long, dark hair and was dressed in
mostly black. Mary rolled down the window and smiled. “Can I help you?” she
asked.
    The woman studied
her for a moment, a cautious smile on her face, and then slowly nodded. “I just
wanted to be sure you were okay before you drove off,” the woman replied.
    “Okay?” Mary asked.
    “Well, yes,” the
woman answered. “I’ve been watching you from my store across the street, and it
looked as if you were arguing with yourself about something.”
    Emitting a nervous
laugh, the woman paused for a moment. “Well, I just wondered if you were
having, you know, a nervous breakdown or something. I wanted to be sure you
were okay before you got behind the wheel of your car.”
    Chuckling next to
her, Mike sat back in the chair. “Sorry about that, Mary.”
    Taking a deep
breath, Mary nodded to the woman. “How embarrassing,” she said. “I realize that
I must have looked a little odd from across the street. Every time I use my
Bluetooth earpiece people think I’m talking to myself. Either I’m going to have
to get a shorter hairstyle or a bigger ear piece.”
    The woman sighed
with relief. “Of, of course, how silly of me,” she apologized. “I am so sorry
for delaying you.”
    “Oh,
no problem. It was lovely to meet you,” Mary said. “I’m Mary O’Reilly,
and I am a private investigator.”
    “I’m Aubrie Ann,”
she said. “I run the New Age shop across the street. We just opened a couple of
weeks ago.”
    “I’ll have to come
in and shop,” Mary said. “That sounds interesting.”
    The woman stepped
back and smiled down at Mary. “You have a very interesting aura,” she said.
“I’d love to have you stop by.”
    With a quick wave,
Mary pulled out into the street and drove away.
    “An interesting
aura,” Mike replied. “See, that’s the kind of line I needed to know about when
I was alive.”
    Mary glanced at him
before she turned right on Business 20 to head out of town. “You used lines?”
she asked.
    He nodded. “Yeah, I
had a few oldies but goodies that seem to charm the ladies.”
    “I know I’m going
to regret this,” she said. “But which one worked the best for you?”
    He thought about it
for a moment. “Well, it’s been a while, but I think this one worked the very
best,” he said, and then he turned to her and winked. “Hey baby, if I told you
I thought you had a gorgeous body, would you hold it against me?”
    “No, that one
couldn’t have worked,” she laughed. “Try again.”
    “I seem to have
lost my phone number. Would you mind lending me yours?” Mike attempted.
    “Nope, try again.”
    “If being sexy was
a crime, you'd be guilty as charged!”
    “Lame,
really lame.”
    “Okay, I suddenly
remembered my number one, works all the time, pick-up line,” Mike said, a wide
grin on his face.
    “I know I’m going
to be sorry,” Mary said, easing into the right lane before turning onto Highway
26. “But go ahead.”
    Mike waited until
Mary had lifted her bottled water to her lips and taken a sip. “Baby,” he said,
lowering his voice into a sexy purr and leaning towards her. “If you were a
booger, I’d pick you first.”
    Water spewed from
her mouth onto the steering wheel. “That was so not fair,” she laughed as she
coughed and wiped her eyes