Phantom Quartz: A Stacy Justice Witch Mystery Book 6 (Stacy Justice Magical Mysteries) Read Free Page A

whenever Aunt Lolly strapped me into one of her ensembles, this is what they call payback, my friend.”
    Birdie’s eldest sister, Lolly, was a few hours short of a full day due to a loss she’d suffered long ago. To keep all her circuits firing, we poured a steady stream of liquor down her throat—I had no idea how or why, but alcohol had the opposite effect on Lolly that it did on the rest of the human race. But when she’s not firing on all cylinders, she loves to play dress up. And by dress up, I mean anyone and everyone around her can and will be used as her personal dolls. Not even Thor is safe. The worst time was when she dressed me up as Catwoman. Chance still teased me about that one.
    “Touché.”
    “So whose idea was this?”
    Chance rolled his royal blue eyes. “My mother. Her friend owns the place and asked her if I could help out at the store today. You were going to be at the shower, and I had no plans, so I figured why not. Of course, when she called me this morning, I thought helping out meant lifting a few boxes, maybe making some minor repairs.” He raised his arms. “This never crossed my mind.”
    Chance owned a construction business, and when he wasn’t building houses or working on kitchen remodels, he was lending a hand to friends and family, often at no charge. The man was generous to a fault, which was one of the reasons I fell in love with him way back in high school. And although I moved away and went to college and dated other people for the next fifteen or so years, he’d stolen a piece of my heart, and I never got it back. Now he had the whole thing, and I his.
    “Wow, that’s nuts.”
    “You about done?”
    I shrugged. “I have a few more.”
    He sighed. “Get it out of your system.”
    “Don’t work too hard. Wouldn’t want you to bust a nut.”
    He grunted. “And?”
    “Is that a wooden leg or are you just happy to see me?”
    He gave me a cocky smile. “That one was pretty weak.”
    “How about ‘I’m nuts about you?’”
    Chance had a way of looking at me that went straight through my heart and into my stomach, where butterflies swarmed. He did that now as he stepped off the platform, reached for my face with both hands and kissed me so deep I felt it in my toes.
    He pulled away and I smiled at him.
    “See you later?” he asked.
    “Sure. I’ll save you some cake.”
    He put his forehead to mine and whispered, “I’m not interested in cake.”
    “Well then, I’ll save you a spot in the bed.”
    “Deal.”
    Thor barked impatiently, and I gave Chance another kiss and rushed out into the chilly afternoon. As I did, I spotted a familiar-looking man speeding down Main Street.
    I whipped my head around and fumbled for my phone to take a snapshot of the license plate, but I was too late.
    I stood there, staring at the now empty street wondering if it was my imagination, or if I had really just seen who I thought I saw.
    But...that would be impossible. Surely my mind was playing tricks on me.
    Because dead men don’t drive.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    I shooed away a kid who was trying to ride Thor like a pony, and we headed down the street to The Black Opal.
    The man in the car had looked an awful lot like Uncle Deck, Cinnamon’s father. He died a few years ago, long after my own dad had passed and my mother had disappeared from my life. The impact of those events left scars on my heart that I had only recently overcome—scars Birdie and the aunts tried to heal through magic, both mine and theirs. I couldn’t face it at the time. Turned my back on it, in fact, until just last year.
    Now I wondered, as I approached my cousin’s bar, if it could have been him. See, a couple of months ago, I could have sworn I’d heard his voice in the background as I was Skyping with my mother. Technically, it wasn’t Skype but the scrying mirror I keep in my Seeker’s Den–the room Chance had built onto my tiny cottage that could only be accessed