Moonlight Murder: An Inept Witches Mystery Read Free Page B

again. Oh gods, I feel things for you and there’s a body in the woods, and you were just supposed to be my pretty lickable play dove.
    As soon as he fell asleep, she snuck out of his arms to find and hide her phone. In the kitchen alone, she said, “Oh gods, Ingrid. Oh gods. What have you done?”
    She shut her phone off and hid it at the bottom of her tampon box just in case. Not that Gabe would look at it, but what if he did?

Chapter Two
    Out of the Frying Pan
    Thursday Morning
     
    If Emily was going to be honest with herself, she would have to admit that the sunrise, though beautiful, made her want to find a random stranger and claw his face. She ’ d had no sleep since she and Ingrid had become killers, her fried chicken at the diner was raw on the inside, and her make-out session with Fireman Sam was interrupted by her damn conscious who insisted that she shouldn ’ t be macking on a hot fireman only hours after killing and then burying someone. Instead, she ’ d said goodbye to Sam and sent him on his way.
    “ But why can ’ t I just stay with you, Em? I don't have to work for another 24. ”
    “ Uh, yeah, sorry. Ingrid and I have some, um, some shop stuff to deal with. You know how it goes, a vintage-bookstore-slash-herbery is in high demand these days. ”
    He ’ d been irritated. She could see it on his face, but because she ’ d said she wanted more than dinner from him, didn ’ t mean that a girl wasn ’ t entitled to change her mind. That had been her murderer brain trying to distract itself anyway. Sam was hot, but she really wasn ’ t ready to get serious with him. Especially now that she ’ d likely spend the rest of her adult life behind bars. Her life was about to become Orange is the New Black, and Emily did not like girls in that way.
    So she sent Sam on his way and made a strong cup of coffee — now it was time for doing. As soon as she could see the light begin to appear in the eastern sky, she jumped in the Camaro that she and Ingrid shared. Emily ’ s Uncle Jonas had left it to her after Owen ’ s murder. If she didn ’ t know better, she ’ d think this damn car was haunted. She ’ d gotten it from a dead person anyway. It just made sense that it would be possessed or something. The doors would just lock themselves sometimes, and at other times the accelerator would stick at 47. Not 48 or 49. 47. And then there was how Ingrid had an incredibly large number of wardrobe malfunctions in the car.
    What was that? Hopefully it wouldn ’ t act up today, though. Emily had almost-filed murder charges to beat. There was no time for ghosty sports cars, no matter how awesome.
    She stomped through the woods in jeans, hiking boots and a flannel shirt. It was late October and there was a chill in the air that promised winter was around the corner. When she rounded through the last thicket of trees and saw that her hurried grave-making skills had been disrupted and there was no longer a body in the grave, her stomach fell and her anxiety climbed.
    Great. Now someone knows there was a dead body. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out the stranger had been blown apart by magic. She needed Hazel.
    Emily pulled out her phone and called her. No answer. Then she texted her. “ Auntie, ” she typed, “ uh, Ingrid and I need to come by later today and have our auras cleansed. Again. There is a situation. ”
    If Hazel, head of the Sage Island Coven and sister to Emily ’ s dead mother, was serious about anything at all, it was magic. And auras. Normally a calm, genteel woman, when someone had a messy aura, Hazel made it her personal mission to cleanse it. Or run them out of town. Either way.
    And in this case, Emily wasn ’ t so sure that Hazel wouldn ’ t send Emily and Ingrid both right back out of town. St. Maarten's was lovely this time of year, Emily daydreamed. We could buy a little cottage near the winery we visited …
    “ Snap out of it, Emily, ” she scolded herself.