What the Hex? (A Paranormal P.I. Mystery Book 1) (10 page)

When the pounding noise disturbed my sleep, I pulled the covers up over my head. The sound continued though and I finally realized someone was knocking on my front door. I peeked at the clock. Six-thirty in the morning? I hoped it wasn’t my neighbor with breakfast. Sure, it was a nice thought, but it was way too early to think about eating. The pounding continued. Someone really wanted me to try her eggs Benedict this morning.

Even pulling the pillow over my head didn’t work. Strangely, the knocking sounded as if it was too loud to be Mrs. Whitman. Groaning, I stumbled out of bed and over to the front door. The knocking continued. I would worry about waking the neighbors, but they’d probably already been awake for hours. What if this was an emergency?

There was no way I would call out to the person on the other side of the door. It could be the killer had tracked me down and he didn’t need to know I was at home. Would a killer knock though? Not a smart killer.

I peeked out the little hole in the door and spotted Derek standing in front of me. He had that familiar warm smile on his face that hinted at his wild side. What was he doing here so early? I glanced down at my pink shorts and white tank top. I smoothed down my tousled hair and licked my lips in some attempt not to look hideous.

I eased the door open. “What do you want?”

“You really aren’t a morning person, are you, Cece?”

“Not in the mornings, no,” I said.

He looked me up and down. There was no way to hide my appearance, although I tried to use the door as a shield.

“Are you hung-over?” he asked with a devilish smile.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Hardly.”

“A long night of bingo?”

“Don’t look at me like that.” I waved my finger.

He held his hands up. “I didn’t say a word.”

“You didn’t have to, it’s all in your eyes.”

He held back a grin. “Do you mind if I come in?”

“Why? Are you making breakfast? Why are you here?”

His mouth twisted into a devilish grin. “We’re going to the gym.”

I groaned. “Again? No way. Tabitha will be there.”

Derek brushed off my comment. “She won’t say anything. She’s too focused on working out.”

“There is no way that she’ll forget a third time,” I said. “You’ll just have to come up with a better plan.”

“What do you have in mind?” Derek asked.

“I’m going back to bed.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

The kiss came flooding back.

“Well, since you don’t have a plan, we’re going to the gym. Get your butt in gear and let’s go. We can see if Tabitha is even there. Maybe she’s not working. Regardless, I want to see if Steve is there.”

I glared at him. “Get my butt in gear?”

Derek looked out the window. “I can go out there and tell your neighbor to come in for breakfast or tell her we’re headed to the gym. Your call.”

“Now you’re blackmailing me.”

He shrugged. “Hey, if you don’t want to solve the case…”

I sighed and turned on my heel. “Fine. I’m getting dressed. Don’t get too comfortable,” I said as I disappeared into my bedroom.

“I’ll just check out the rest of that
Glamour
article I was working on,” he said in a teasing tone.

I grabbed another pair of yoga pants and t-shirt from the dresser. Now I wished I had a better gym wardrobe. Oh, well, the gym visits wouldn’t last long. I preferred to work out on my own while out in nature.

“How’s it going in there, Cece?” Derek yelled.

I pulled my hair back into a pony tail and then smoothed strawberry-scented lip balm over my lips. “Don’t get your gym shorts in a bunch. I’m coming.”

Derek’s movements sounded from around the other room. What was he doing in there? A bit of panic set in. He could find one of my potion bottles. I’d put them away though, and surely he wouldn’t snoop around in my belongings. He was annoying, but I didn’t think he’d try something that annoying.

The sound came from the living room again. Derek said, “Hey, what’s this stuff in the bottles? Looks like you have a magic shop.”

He chuckled and my stomach dropped. After snatching up my bag, I raced into the living room. Derek was holding a couple of my potion bottles. I dashed over and snatched them from his hands. I moved so quickly that I ended up falling back, landing on my butt with a loud thump. Derek’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

“Wow, I hadn’t expected that reaction,” Derek said.

“I hadn’t expected that reaction either.”

“So the bottles must be important.”

With Derek’s help, I climbed up from the floor with the bottles still in my hands. I chuckled. “Don’t be silly. These are for cooking.”

He stared at the bottles for a second. “They look really old,” he said with a quirked eyebrow.

I paused for a moment, hoping that I wouldn’t sound suspicious. “Yes, yes, they do look old. That’s because they are. My aunt left them to me. They’re like fine wine. Better with age.”

“Remind me to never eat any of your cooking.”

“My cooking is just fine. I doubt there will ever be the occasion for you to eat anything I cook, thank you very much.”

Yes, there was a bite in my tone. Though I supposed I couldn’t blame him for the comments.

Derek eyed me up and down, soaking in my appearance. He focused his gaze on my shirt that read
Messy Hair Don’t Care
. He chuckled. “Are you ready?”

I grabbed my keys. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Thank goodness we slipped out without Derek talking to the neighbors again. After a short drive we arrived at the gym. I spotted the part-time manager as soon as we walked in the door. His brow furrowed when he looked up and spotted us.

“I think he remembers us,” I said.

“We’ll just have to make friends with him,” Derek said.

“Do you have a plan for this?” I asked as we neared the front desk.

“We’ll let him train us.”

“What if he doesn’t want to train us?” I asked.

“Not an option,” Derek said.

We stood in front of the counter.

The manager stared at us for a moment and then forced a smile. “May I help you? Are you looking for Steve again?”

“Actually, we thought we’d take you up on that offer for training. Do you have time?”

The man looked from me to Derek. “I suppose I can show you.” He didn’t sound excited by the prospect, but the look on his face said differently. He led us into the workout room and immediately put us on the treadmill to warm up.

“How’s it going, Cece?” Derek asked as he ran beside me.

“I could still be in bed right now,” I said as I walked along.

Now that the guy had disappeared out of the room, I was totally going to skip out on part of my workout.

“Where are you going?” Derek asked.

“To the bathroom,” I said with a smile.

I knew he was suspicious. I hurried away before he tried to ask more questions.

I stepped into the locker room. I could hang out on one of the benches in front of the lockers. I could probably get at least ten minutes away. I sat on the bench and released a deep breath. Now if I just had caffeine. A book to read would be nice too.

I spotted a woman in front of the sinks. She was staring at her reflection, pushing at the skin under her eyes. She caught me looking at her. She wore the gym’s shirt, so I figured she worked here.

I supposed it couldn’t hurt to ask her a few questions. I didn’t want her to think I was confronting her though. I moved over to the sinks. She washed her hands and tried to act as if she didn’t notice me standing at the sink next to her.

When she turned off the water, I asked, “Do you work here?”

She glanced at me and said, “Yes, I do. Did you need help with something?”

I wasn’t about to ask her to help me work out. I already had plenty of that.

“Actually, I know Morgan. I’m just wondering if you’ve seen her lately.”

I’d decided to act as if I had no clue what had happened recently. Her expression changed. She looked around the area to see if anyone else was around.

“Didn’t you hear? Morgan is missing. Well, we don’t know for sure if she is missing or if she left on her own.”

“I had no idea.” I tried to act as if I was shocked.

“My name’s Mia, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Cece.” I immediately moved on to my question. “Do you have any idea why she left?”

Mia had forgotten to even ask why I wanted to speak with Morgan. She glanced around again. “No, we don’t know. To be perfectly honest…” She lowered her voice. “I think it had something to do with her boyfriend, Steve Rowe.”

I held my breath waiting for Mia’s next sentence. Unfortunately she didn’t offer more detail. I would have to push for more.

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“I just think that Steve and Tabitha have a secret. They work here. Of course you probably know Morgan’s boyfriend Steve,” Mia said.

I nodded. “Yes, I know him. What’s their secret?” I had to know what she meant.

Just then a group of women entered the locker room. They were laughing and talking loudly. This seemed to make Mia uncomfortable with telling me more.

The next thing I knew she was walking out of the locker room. The other women had crowded around the sinks.

I worked my way around them. “Excuse me.”

They acted as if I wasn’t even there. I wasn’t about to let Mia get away without answering me. I had to know what this secret was.

When I stepped out of the locker room I looked around for Mia, but she was nowhere to be seen. However, Derek was waiting for me by the door.

“Are you okay? I was getting worried. He’s waiting to train us.”

“Forget about the training, we have to find the woman I was just talking to. Mia.”

Derek looked around. “Where is she?”

I grabbed his hand. It was strange holding his hand and yet felt nice at the same time. “If I knew where she was I wouldn’t have to find her. Come on.” I pulled on him and he followed. Halfway across the gym floor I stopped. “It’s Tabitha. What do we do now?” I glanced to my left and spotted the part-time manager walking in our direction. He wasn’t looking at us, so I wasn’t sure if he’d actually seen us yet. There was an exit door on the left.

“I say we get out of here.” I pulled on Derek again.

Luckily, Tabitha hadn’t seen us yet. At least I didn’t think she had.

“I kind of like the aggressive Cece,” Derek said with a smile.

“This is no time for goofing off.” I tried to remain serious even though his comment made me laugh inside. Just then Tabitha looked in our direction. I pulled Derek behind one of the machines.

“Yes,” he said.

I pushed on his chest. “Be serious.” I held my breath, hoping that she didn’t see us. After a couple seconds, I peeked around the machine.

“She’s talking to the manager,” I whispered. “Do you think they’re talking about us?”

The manager was looking toward us.

“They probably have seen us or will see us hiding back here. We should just go and talk with them,” Derek said.

He was probably right, but I figured it was too late. A couple people working out around us were giving us strange looks. I was just about to give in to Derek’s suggestion and go and talk with them when I spotted the other employee, Mia.

“That’s Mia. The one with the secret,” I said.

“Who?” Derek asked.

It was way more important that I speak with her. “The employee I told you about. She’s leaving. We have to go after her.” I pulled on Derek’s hand again and we hurried out the door.

I didn’t look back to see if the manager or Tabitha was watching us. I called out to Mia, but she didn’t turn around. Either she hadn’t heard me or she was ignoring me. With the noise from the traffic, I liked to think she wasn’t ignoring me. She got into her car. I wouldn’t be able to reach her before she left the parking lot.

“We have to follow her. Come on, let’s get the car,” I said.

Derek and I rushed over to his car.

“Drive fast,” I said, pointing to her car.

Derek started the car and shifted into gear. “Why are we following her?”

“I was talking to her in the locker room. She said that Tabitha and Steve had a secret.”

“Good job, Cece, what’s the secret?” Derek asked.

“I don’t know. She took off before she told me. That’s why I want to catch her.”

“You do a lot of talking in the locker room. I thought maybe you’d slipped out the emergency exit.” Derek pulled out onto the street and tried to get behind Mia’s car. “She is a terrible driver,” Derek said as he weaved around traffic trying to catch up to her.

“Do you think she knows we’re following her?” I asked.

“I doubt it. Like I said, her driving skills are lacking.”

The traffic light turned red and Derek screeched to a halt. Up ahead Mia turned to the right. I knew now that we would never catch up to her.

I leaned my head back on the seat and released a deep breath. “So much for catching up to her.”

“I guess we’ll just have to go back to the gym when she’s working,” Derek said with a smile.

“I think you like torturing me,” I said.

Derek shook his head. “No, that’s not it at all. Just trying to help you solve this case.”

I smiled and squeezed his hand. “Thanks for the help. You really have been great.”

The car behind us honked. The light had turned green. As we made a right, my phone rang.

“It’s George,” I said.

“Cece, there was a man here looking for you. He just left and I thought I’d better call you right away. I have to say he was a little scary.” Tension filled George’s voice.

“Who was it?” I asked.

“He didn’t give his name. He asked for you. When I told him you weren’t here, he walked into your office and looked around.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?” I asked.

“Because he was the size of Godzilla. He would have crushed me like an ant.”

That was a good reason. One person came to mind when George described the man. Could Steve Rowe have been to the office looking for me? If so, why? Was it because Tabitha had told him about Derek and I snooping around the gym?

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He sighed. “I am now. I may need a shot of bourbon though.”

“George, I’m sorry he scared you. Maybe you should lock up and go home for the day.”

“You know, Cece, I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“I’ll call and check on you soon, George. Thanks again for letting me know.”

“What’s going on?” Derek asked when I hung up.

“Someone was at the office looking for me. A muscular someone. He stormed into my office when George told him I wasn’t there. George said he had dark hair. Do you think it was Steve Rowe?” I asked.

“Sounds a lot like his description. We need to find out where he lives.”

I did a quick search on my phone. After a couple seconds, I said, “Got it.”

“You’re good,” Derek said with a smile. “Point me in the right direction.”

“Take the next right,” I said, pointing to the next exit.

“I like when you take that authoritative tone.”

“Stop goofing off.” I pushed on his arm, but met with hard muscle. Taking my mind off his body, I said, “I bet Steve will be surprised to get a visit from us.” I was a little scared to think about what he would do when he saw us.

We sat in silence for a moment.

“You know, Cece…”

Nothing good ever came of Derek saying,
You know, Cece…
I didn’t even look over at him. I knew he’d tell me what was on his mind whether I wanted to hear it or not.

“… I think we make a good team.”

I couldn’t hide my smile as I glanced at him. I supposed it was kind of sweet for him to say that. Lately we had been working well together.

He met my stare and my stomach flipped.