Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (4 page)

“
What is it?” Mr. Fine asked
from over my shoulder.

When I turned around to glare at him,
the cigarette disappeared from his fingers. I had to admit, that
was a pretty nifty trick. Nevertheless, I didn’t feel like
explaining the whole story to him, so I gave the short answer
instead.

“
It’s just something pretty
to hang in the window. Like a prism.” I studied the
ball.

“
It looked weird if you ask
me.” A scowl spread across his face as he stared at the
ball.

“
Well, I didn’t ask you, now
did I?” I snapped.

Wow, I was grouchy. What had gotten
into me? The stress had finally gotten the better of me this time.
However, my icy demeanor had no effect on Mr. Fine. He didn’t bat
an eyelash at my harsh words.

The thing was pretty, but I had to
find out who had sent it. The ball twisted as I twirled the string.
The thing had to have a meaning. Why would someone send me a
witch’s ball? Something that would capture spirits. Hmm. Maybe it
was to help me with all the unwanted spirits. That would be a good
thing, but I highly doubted that it would work. It was just an old
legend.

Mr. Fine stepped closer to the ball,
almost as if hypnotized. Perhaps I should tell him about the
mesmerizing quality that the ball was purported to possess. Or I
could tell him to look right at it, and then, poof, he’d be gone.
Okay, just in case the stories were true, I knew I needed to tell
him not to look at it. Damn it.

Mr. Fine had moved beside me now. A
little too close actually.

“
Personal space, Mr. Fine,
personal space.” I motioned for him to back up a few steps. When he
moved back a couple inches, I continued, “It’s called a witch’s
ball, okay? Some people say it traps spirits, so don’t look at the
thing if you don’t want to spend the rest of your days stuck inside
a little ball. Understand?”

He cackled, holding his stomach to
keep from splitting in half, I supposed. What an annoying laugh. He
sounded like a braying donkey that had smoked ten packs a
day.

“
You actually believe that?”
he asked, fending off more laughter.

“
Go ahead, if you don’t
believe me. Give it a shot.” I stuck the ball in front of his
face.

He didn’t laugh this time as he
watched the ball moving back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm.
Finally, he looked up at me, then back to the ball.

“
No comment, huh? Who’s
laughing now, Mr. Hotshot Ghost?” I taunted him.

Mr. Fine disappeared. Just like that
he was gone. I knew he’d be back soon enough.

Now that I thought of it, I’d seen a
witch’s ball at Karyn Bentley’s home. She was the former coven
leader who had moved away after another witch had attacked her with
a nasty black magic spell. Karyn had wanted me to take her place as
coven leader. I still hadn’t agreed to it—but I hadn’t flat-out
told her no either. Just because I’d successfully cast a few spells
didn’t mean I was a witch. She claimed I had natural talent. I had
talent at baking cakes too—that didn’t make me a baker. I should
officially turn down the offer soon. It wasn’t fair to lead them on
and have the coven believe I might take the position.

No doubt about it, the witch’s ball
was very pretty, but I had no idea who had sent it. And that little
detail would drive me bonkers. I’d go over and over the matter in
my mind ad nauseam. Yes, I was a tad obsessive-compulsive, but hey,
we all had our issues. I picked up the box again. The package had
no a return address and no distinguishing marks.

Was it a gift from my mother? Callahan
had just left. Had he meant to give it to me and forgotten? Maybe
he didn’t want to disturb me and decided to just leave it at the
door. But someone had knocked. He wouldn’t do that, nor would my
mother. She’d give her last chocolate truffle to snoop around in my
house. She did exactly that at every opportunity she got.
Regardless, obviously it was a gift, so when I had time, I’d hang
it in the kitchen and let the light reflect on it. Right now, I had
to get to Book Nook.

After placing the ball back in the box
and ignoring the ghost who had reappeared after only two minutes, I
slipped on a pair of black slacks and a pink sweater and made my
way out the door.

When the last set of ghosts had
converged on my house, I’d prepared a sort of orientation talk with
the spirits. Setting boundaries and letting them know what they
could and couldn’t do was harder than you’d think.

For the time being, I wouldn’t give
Mr. Fine the dos and don’ts of haunting me speech just yet. I’d
wait until I was sure he was hanging around before I went to all
the trouble. I’d learned the hard way that it was necessary to lay
out rules for the spirits. If he was hanging around long, then
certain rules would be absolutely necessary—like bedrooms and
bathrooms being off limits.

My fingers were crossed that Mr. Fine
would take a hike, although I didn’t want him to head back to
Mindy’s. Apparently, it was a go-to move within the ghostly world
to ride shotgun with me. Mr. Fine sat in the seat next to mine with
his hands folded in his lap waiting for the ride.

“
Back in my day we’d sit
down for a big breakfast. I hardly think one of those pre-packaged
meals is enough to get you through until lunchtime.” He shook his
head at me.

The ghosts were never short on
opinions either.

“
Well, Mr. Fine, I’d love to
sit down for a big, delicious meal, but who’s going to cook it for
me? I certainly don’t have time.” I pulled out onto the main
road.

“
Where are we headed?” he
asked as he gazed out the side window.

I sighed. “I’m headed to work. I’m
guessing you’re going with me.”

“
Looks that way.” He clucked
his tongue.

Mindy was standing on the sidewalk
leaning against the bookstore window when I pulled up to the curb.
She had a bag of doughnuts from my favorite shop in one hand and a
couple Diet Cokes in the other. Callahan was going to stop being so
tolerant of us patronizing his competitor’s shop if we didn’t stop
flaunting those doughnuts in front of him.

Callahan owned the coffee shop right
next door to my bookstore. That was how we’d met. Don’t get me
wrong, I was a sucker for his pastry any day, but there was
something about those blueberry doughnuts that I just couldn’t
resist. But I’d better learn to resist soon though or I would be
shopping for a bigger pants size.

Speaking of shopping, I threw my hand
up in a wave at Cooper Garrett who was standing by the door of the
boutique across the street. He’d recently come to town to take over
the upscale fashion shop, High Fashion. His cousin, Brianna
Garrett, had been run out of town by the coven for practicing black
magic. She’d placed a love spell on Callahan and they’d almost
ended up in marital non-bliss. I still wasn’t sure what they’d done
with Brianna. Did they have some kind of secret island where all
the magical misfits went? It didn’t help that Cooper looked like
the male version of his cousin either—short blond hair and sharp
blue eyes. Yeah, any woman would consider him a hunk.

Mr. Fine pointed at Mindy. “There’s
that woman. She wasn’t easy to live with, you know. I’m hoping you
will be easier. I think if you keep the music down and keep that
boyfriend from spending the night, then you will be
fine.”

I pulled the key from the ignition.
“Okay. We might as well get this talk over with right now. You are
not living with me. You can’t stay. Haven’t you ever heard of that
‘go into the light’ business?” He stared blankly, but I continued,
“Yeah, that means you.”

He shook his head. “Nope. I have no
reason to go and have no intention of moving into any
light.”

“
Well, I have no intention
of you staying with me,” I said.

He let out a sigh. “I guess I’ll have
to go back to her house.” He gestured toward Mindy with a tilt of
his head, then folded his arms in front of his chest.

Mindy scowled and motioned for me to
get out of the car. I jumped out and slammed the door behind me,
wishing that Mr. Fine couldn’t glide through the door without even
opening it. I’d lock him in if I could.

“
What are you doing here so
early?” I asked. “I didn’t even have to bribe you to get doughnuts.
Plus, I ate breakfast at home.”

She shrugged. “If you take more of my
pole fitness classes you can afford to eat two breakfasts.” She
flashed a wide smile. “Besides, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and
turned all night worrying about that ghost coming back. I swear,
Larue, I don’t know how you deal with it. I kept wondering if he
was watching me in the shower or something.”

Mr. Fine puffed out his chest. “I am a
gentleman. I never watched her in the shower. I may have
accidentally caught a peek while she was dressing, but never when
she was in the shower. I have my limits.”

“
You pervert,” I
yelled.

Mindy’s eyes almost popped out of the
sockets. “What the hell are you talking about, Larue?”

Uh-oh. Now I’d have to tell her that
the ghost was standing next to us. I didn’t want to divulge the
little detail about his Peeping Tom tendencies. I moved past her
and shoved the key in the door. Maybe she’d drop the
subject.

“
Larue, is that ghost here
now?” she demanded.

Gulp. There was no avoiding the
question. She’d hound me until my dying day. I shoved through the
door with Mindy hot on my heels.

“
Maybe,” I said as I walked
toward the counter in the middle of the room.

Book Nook had always been my safe
haven. The smell of all those books, the cozy fireplace with
leather chairs placed in front to relax in… not to mention the
warming honey color painted on the walls. It didn’t feel as safe at
the moment though.

“
He’s here. Oh my God. He’s
stalking me. I have a stalker ghost. It’s not bad enough that I
attract the living freaks, but now I have the dead ones hunting me
down too. He was watching me in the shower, wasn’t he?” She
shivered.

“
What?” I waved off her
concern as I tossed my purse under the counter. “Of course not. You
may want to get dressed in a hurry though until I can get him to
cross into the light.”

She crossed her arms in front of her
chest and looked around the room as if she’d be able to spot him.
Her face grew red and she started to point around the room. “Look,
you—you freak, I may not be able to see you, but I’m not going to
put up with your crap.” She spun around waving her hand through the
air.

It wouldn’t do her any good though,
because my new ghoul friend was perched on top of a shelf. He was
lying on his side, stretched out with a wicked grin on his
face.

“
This is so much fun,” he
said.

Mr. Fine was more devilish than I’d
thought.

“
Mindy, you need to calm
down. Just take a couple deep breaths and slowly let them
out.”

Her bottom lip dropped and her eyes
glazed over as if the waterworks would start at any second. “I’m
not cut out for this ghost-busting business. I may be tough, but I
can’t handle this stress right now.”

“
Honey, here, come sit
down.” I took her by the arm.

Mindy was one of the toughest women
I’d ever met. Maybe the toughest besides my grandmother. I’d never
seen her this frazzled before. I guided her to the stool behind the
counter and she plopped down.

“
Why don’t you tell me
what’s going on that has you so upset?” I asked.

“
I don’t know. I guess it’s
just everything… worrying about my business, the magic spell that I
just got over, ghosts, dating, and paying bills. You know how it
is.” She wiped a tear from her cheek.

I draped my arm around her shoulders
and squeezed. “I know how it is, sweetie.”

Before I could offer more advice,
Callahan burst through the door, the bell above the door jangling
until I thought it might fall right off. His eyes were wide as he
hurried over to us.

He pointed toward his coffee shop.
“There’s a ghost in my store.”

“
Oh my God. That’s it. It’s
an invasion. The ghosts are taking over, Larue. I think this is
some kind of sign of the apocalypse.”

Mindy had been doing too many of the
upside-down moves during her pole fitness classes. All that blood
rushing to her head was getting the better of her.

“
Mindy.” I grabbed her arms.
“Breathe. Look at me. It’s not the end of the world. The zombies
are not coming for us.”

“
Well, now you’re just
making fun of me. How do you explain that Callahan has a ghost
right after I had one? Have one…” she said while looking around as
if she’d see the ghost standing next to her.

Mr. Fine scoffed. “She’s a tad crazy,
don’t you think?”

“
No, I don’t think.” I
glared at him.

“
What?” Mindy looked over
her shoulder in a panic. “What did he say?”

“
Never mind that. It’s not
important.” I didn’t want to tell her that the ghost had insulted
her. No need to have her fighting with a ghost right
now.