Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (17 page)

At least she didn’t kick me for not
hiring her. But honestly, how did she think I was at the moment? I
wanted to give a snarky answer, but I had to remain polite. My
temper was boiling on the inside.

“
I’m fine.” I smiled through
gritted teeth.

“
So you’ve got quite a mess
here. Such a shame. Do you know who did it?” she asked with fake
concern.

“
Never mind about the books.
Is there something I can help you with?” I wanted her to get
straight to the point.

She tossed her blonde locks back from
her shoulder. “I came over for a newspaper.”

Why had she crossed the street for a
paper when there was a newspaper machine on the same side of the
street as High Fashion? I’d keep my eye on this woman. She was bad
news and I’d known it from the moment she walked into Book
Nook.

“
Sure, the papers are by the
register.” I guided her toward the counter.

“
No hard feelings about you
not hiring me,” she said as she handed me the cash.

I took it from her hand and I swore I
felt a zap. A tiny one, but it had been there, nonetheless. The
sooner I got her out of the store, the better off I’d
be.

“
I’m glad you understand,” I
said. “It’s just business. Nothing personal.”

“
Of course not. It was for
the best anyway. I absolutely love working for Cooper. I hope it’ll
last past a short-term gig. I have a lot of great ideas for his
store.” She waved her arms in a sweeping motion.

Why did a cold chill run down my spine
when she said that? Suddenly, I feared for Cooper’s safety with
this woman around. But I knew Cooper would laugh off my warning. He
thought his aura-reading abilities allowed him to judge anyone’s
character. Despite psychic abilities, we were only human and
sometimes our skills could be wrong. I feared he’d misjudged this
one. Maybe I’d try and talk with him. I also needed to find more
information about Jane.

“
Well, I’m off. Cooper gave
me the rest of the day to myself. Isn’t he sweet?” She flipped her
silky blonde hair off her shoulder.

“
He’s a doll,” I said
wryly.

Jane grabbed the paper and bounced
away from the counter. Without looking back, she made her way to
the door, her hair swaying as she sashayed.

“
What was that all about?”
Beth asked.

“
I think she’s up to
something,” I said.

“
What do you
mean?”

I stared at the door, then finally
addressed Beth. “Are you sure you didn’t see anyone in here when
the books were destroyed? Was that woman in here?”

Beth frowned. “I am so sorry. I didn’t
see anything. You can take the cost of the books out of my
pay.”

I shook my head. “No. No way. I
wouldn’t think of it. Please don’t let this worry you. It’s just
something that happens sometimes.”

Just one of those things that happened
to me on a regular basis as of late. I knew it wasn’t Beth’s fault.
It could have easily happened to me if I had been
working.

“
I’m going back over to pick
up the books. I’m glad you left them so I could see. Maybe there’s
a clue as to why this person did this.” I turned to walk away and
Beth followed closely.

“
I figured it was better if
you saw exactly what had been done.”

Without looking back at Beth, I said,
“Good thinking. I’ll see what types of books were
destroyed.”

One back to the pile of books, I bent
down to pick one up. It was a paranormal romance with a half-naked
man on the cover. I’d read the book. It had a witch as the
protagonist. I reached down and grabbed another book… another
romance. It also featured witches. Was there a pattern to all this?
I grabbed a few more books, but they had different themes, some
vampires, werewolves and fairies. I figured it must have just been
a random selection after all. So much for my sleuthing ability. It
was probably someone who had been looking for a cheap thrill…
someone who liked making trouble. Maybe it was time for me to
install a security camera.

After Beth helped a customer, she
returned the pile of damaged books and helped me pick up the few
remaining ones. “I wondered how long it took them to tear up all
these books. I still can’t believe that I didn’t hear
something.”

I stacked the damaged books into a
pile. “You’d be surprised how quickly they probably ripped them up.
You could have been helping a customer, and by the time you were
finished, they could have destroyed the books and escaped out the
front door.”

“
I wonder if they took
anything?” Beth asked.

“
By the looks of these
books, I’d say the person wasn’t a fan of reading.” I shook my
head. “It makes me sick to see books destroyed.”

I loved the written word. That was why
I had the store. Books deserved more respect than to be ripped
apart. Not to mention the cost of replacing the books.

“
Please, Larue, let me pay
for them,” Beth said again.

I touched her arm. “I won’t hear of
it. Now don’t mention it again.” I waved my finger and
smiled.

She looked down and nodded. If she
started crying I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I stopped talking about
the damage. Beth already felt bad enough there was no reason to
keep mentioning the incident. She needed some time to escape
thinking about it. And honestly, so did I. I had enough on my mind
already. We carried the books over to the counter and I placed them
in a box.

“
That’s a beautiful
necklace,” Beth said as I leaned down. “Where did you get it? I’d
love to have one like that.” Her gaze was locked on the pendant
around my neck.

I touched the necklace. “A friend gave
it to me.”

“
Do you know where she got
it?” she asked.

“
No, I have no idea.” I
shook my head. “I think it had been in her family for a long
time.”

I wasn’t about to tell her that the
necklace was for the coven and helped with magical
powers.

“
It has a mesmerizing
quality. I don’t know what it is,” she said.

She had no idea.

“
It’s ugly if you ask me,”
Candy Cherry said.

Yeah, well, I didn’t ask
her.

With a soft thud, the necklace slipped
from my neck and fell to the floor. I glared at Candy Cherry. Had
she purposely made the necklace fall off?

“
Oh gosh, let me help you.”
Beth rushed over and grabbed the necklace from the
ground.

She hadn’t wasted any time grabbing it
up.

“
Let me put it on you.” Beth
stood behind me and draped the chain around my neck. After a
minute, she let out a sigh and said, “I can’t get the clasp to
stay.”

“
That’s okay. I’ll just put
it in my purse for now,” I said, taking the necklace from her
hand.

Luckily, Beth didn’t have a chance to
ask any more prying questions about the necklace. The bell above
the door chimed and we looked up.

When Callahan walked through the door
with a dozen red roses, I let out a huge sigh of relief. But
surprisingly, my agitated feeling remained.

“
I’m taking you for a
celebratory dinner.” He flashed a wide smile.

In spite of the unpleasant feeling
coursing through my body, I was relieved to see him. He probably
had no idea that I’d received a letter from his ex-girlfriend. The
next question: should I tell him about the letter?

“
Am I glad to see you,” I
said.

He thrust the flowers forward with an
outstretched arm. “I brought you these as congratulations for doing
the show. I’m really proud of you.”

I’d had my doubts if Callahan was
really happy for me. Lately I’d sensed a hesitation with him. Well,
I thought I’d sensed it. Now I knew it was just my imagination. The
expression on Callahan’s face was as relaxed and casual as the blue
sweater and khakis he was wearing.

“
They’re beautiful. Thank
you.” I took a whiff.

Beth walked up behind me. “I can put
those in water for you if you’d like.”

“
Thanks, Beth. That would be
great.” I handed over the bouquet.

Callahan and I stepped out onto the
sidewalk and walked a few steps before I realized I had my huge
purse. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing to carry when taking a
stroll. Callahan’s car was parked against the curb.

“
Do you mind if I leave my
purse in your car?” I asked.

“
Sure, I’ll hide it under
the front seat. No one will see it there.”

Callahan unlocked his car and stuffed
the luggage I called a purse into his car. Then we set out for our
magical evening. Candy Cherry, Mr. Fine and Elvis Presley followed
along behind us like ducklings. I didn’t want to be the mama
duck.

We reached the front door of the
French restaurant. Being the perfect gentleman, Callahan held the
door open and after Mr. Fine and Candy Cherry slid through the
entrance, I made my way inside. Elvis hadn’t bothered to use the
door. He was a smart man. I hadn’t mentioned to Callahan that we
had an entourage accompanying us. He probably assumed
though.

“
I wanted to bring you back
to where we had our first date,” Callahan said as the maître d’ led
us to our table.

The cozy corner in the back of the
room was the same table we’d sat at during our first date. Callahan
had obviously taken some time to plan this date. The fact that it
was beside the kitchen door didn’t seem to matter with the romance
factor that went into the thought of reserving the
table.

“
How incredibly romantic of
you.” I winked.

He chuckled. “I try.”

It was strange to be back at the
restaurant with Callahan after all that had happened in just a
short amount of time—crazy witchcraft, crazy ghosts, and now crazy
ex-girlfriends.

Callahan studied my face as he held
the chair out for me. “Your eyes look different.”

“
What?” That was a strange
statement. “What do you mean, different?”

“
It’s just that they look a
different color. I know they’re hazel, but they look very blue
now.”

“
Blue?” I looked overhead.
Maybe it was the lighting. “Oh, maybe it’s the makeup they put on
my eyes for the show today. It’s not what I usually
wear.”

He shrugged, not totally convinced.
“Maybe.”

A single candle flickered merrily in
front of us on the red cloth-wrapped table. The dimly lit room
added the perfect amount of romance. My stomach tumbled as I
contemplated our romantic evening. Would the strange feeling
invading my mind leave now that I was with Callahan? It didn’t seem
to be the case.

A subject change was in
order.

“
So you had him seat us at
the same table?” I asked while picking up the menu.

Callahan flashed his dimples. “I
wasn’t sure if you’d remember.”

Was I that bad in the romance
department? I really needed to try harder.

Unlucky for us, the same tall, lanky
waiter lurched over to our table. The service left much to be
desired but the food made up for it. He thrust the menus at us,
while muttering something about being right back.

I held the giant menu up to my face,
trying to block Mr. Fine and Candy Cherry out of my sight. They
were making faces at me from the table across from us. I’d never
seen ghosts so immature.

Callahan looked at me from over the
top of his menu with those sexy blue bedroom eyes and I temporarily
forgot about the annoying ghosts.

“
How about I order the
scallops with mango glaze for you? That’s what you had on our first
date.”

“
Well, I have to tell you,
I’m impressed by your memory.” I touched his hand and my body
tingled. “You are so sweet.”

He let out a warm laugh. “It’s
probably from eating all the sweets.”

“
You’ve been looking at the
dessert section, haven’t you?” I pointed to the menu.

“
Guilty,” he said while
setting his menu on the table.

After what seemed like an eternity,
the waiter shuffled over to our table and stared at us without
saying a word. He was just as creepy now as our first
visit.

“
What do you want?” he asked
in his monotone voice.

“
I like this guy,” Candy
Cherry said.

She would. Candy Cherry ran her
fingers through his hair but he didn’t move an inch. I wasn’t
surprised that he didn’t notice her touch.

Callahan didn’t seem to
notice our waiter’s rude attitude. His gaze was focused on me the
entire time. “My beautiful girlfriend will have the
Noix de St. Jacques a la Mangue
and I’ll have the same.”

Okay, Callahan knew how to make me
melt every time.

“
We’ll have a bottle of your
best wine,” Callahan said still looking at me.