A Grave Mistake (21 page)
Jolene felt a rush of energy as his lips brushed against hers, softly at first, and then his arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her close, his lips becoming more demanding, the fingers of his other hand lacing with hers.
She must have forgotten how to breathe because she felt light-headed, like the room was spinning. Her lips tingled and the tingling didn't stop there, either.
Wait … tingling?
The tingling got stronger and she recognized it as that feeling of energy she used to get when her gifts were working properly. The energy traveled from her lips, to her chest and then down her arm to her fingertips.
She pulled away from him, disentangled her fingers from his and stared down at them wide-eyed. "Hey, it feels like …"
Mateo had already hefted the duffel bag onto his shoulder and had the door open. He smiled down at her.
“Yep, I think you guys are going to be okay without me." He winked, then slipped out the door, closing it gently behind him.
Jolene stared at the closed door, then looked down at her hand, feeling the powerful tingling that she'd feared was gone forever. What had just happened?
Had Mateo given her her gift back?
She put her hand out in front of her and concentrated on her fingertips. She felt a powerful, hot energy gathering, and then she thrust her fingers out.
A glowing stream of red energy shot out toward her mother's favorite crystal lamp.
"Shoot!" She tried to pull the energy back, but it was too late.
Crash!
The lamp exploded, sending shards of glass all over the living room.
"Is everything okay down there?" Johanna's concerned voice shouted from the upstairs hallway.
Jolene grimaced. She didn't look forward to explaining this to her mother. But then she looked down at her hand and couldn't help but smile. She had her gifts back and everything else paled in comparison.
“Don't worry, Mom," she yelled back up. "I think everything is going to be just fine.”
The End.
***
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Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is the sixth book in the Blackmoore Sisters mystery series and I have a whole bunch more planned!
The setting for this book series is based on one of my favorite places in the world – Ogunquit, Maine. Of course, I changed some of the geography around to suit my story, and changed the name of the town to Noquitt but the basics are there. Anyone familiar with Ogunquit will recognize some of the landmarks I have in the book.
The house the sisters live in sits at the very end of Perkins Cove and I was always fascinated with it as a kid. Of course, back then it was a mysterious, creepy old house that was privately owned and I was dying to go in there. I’m sure it must have had an attic stuffed full of antiques, just like in the book!
Today, it’s been all modernized and updated—I think you can even rent it out for a summer vacation. In the book, the house looks different and it’s also set high up on a cliff (you’ll see why in a later book) where in real life it’s not. I’ve also made the house much older to suit my story.
Also, if you like this book, you might like my Mystic Notch series which is set in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and filled with magic and cats. I have an excerpt from the first book “Ghostly Paws” at the end of this book.
This book has been through many edits with several people and even some software programs, but since nothing is infallible (even the software programs) you might catch a spelling error or mistake and, if you do, I sure would appreciate it if you let me know - you can contact me at
[email protected]
.
Oh, and I love to connect with my readers so please do visit me on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/leighanndobbsbooks
or at my website
http://www.leighanndobbs.com
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About The Author
USA Today best-selling Author, Leighann Dobbs, has had a passion for reading since she was old enough to hold a book, but she didn’t put pen to paper until much later in life. After a twenty-year career as a software engineer, with a few side trips into selling antiques and making jewelry, she realized you can’t make a living reading books, so she tried her hand at writing them and discovered she had a passion for that, too! She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix, Mojo, and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty.
Find out about her latest books and how to get discounts on them by signing up at:
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More Books By Leighann Dobbs:
Mooseamuck Island
Cozy Mystery Series
*
Mystic Notch
Cats & Magic Cozy Mystery Series
*
Blackmoore Sisters
Cozy Mystery Series
*
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Lexy Baker
Cozy Mystery Series
*
Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1-4)
Or buy the books separately:
Murder, Money and Marzipan (Book 3)
3 Bodies and a Biscotti (Book 4)
Brownies, Bodies & Bad Guys (Book 5)
Scones, Skulls & Scams (Book 8)
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Kate Diamond
Adventure/Suspense Series
*
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Contemporary
Romance
*
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Dobbs “Fancytales”
Regency Romance Fairytales Series
*
Snow White and the Seven Rogues
Excerpt From Ghostly Paws
In over thirty years as head librarian for the Mystic Notch Library, Lavinia Babbage had never once opened the doors before eight a.m.
I knew this because my bookstore sat across the street and three doors down from the library. Every day, I passed its darkened windows on my way to work. I watched Lavinia turn on the lights and open the doors every single morning at precisely eight a.m. from inside my shop.
Most days I didn’t pay much attention to the library, though. It was really the last thing on my mind as I walked past, my mind set on sorting through a large box of books I’d purchased at an estate sale earlier in the week. The edges of my lips curled in a smile as I thought about the gold placard I’d had installed on the oak door of the old bookshop just the day before.
Wilhelmina Chance, Proprietor
. That made things official—the shop was mine and I was back in my hometown, Mystic Notch, to stay.
I hurried down the street, deep in my own thoughts. The early morning mist, which wrapped itself around our sleepy town in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, had caused the pain to flare in my leg, and I forced myself not to limp. I continued along, my head down and engrossed in my thoughts when I nearly tripped over something gray and furry. My cat, Pandora, had stopped short in front of me causing me to do a painful sidestep to avoid squashing her.
“Hey, what the heck?”
Pandora blinked her golden-green eyes at me and jerked her head toward the library … or at least it seemed like she did. Cats didn’t actually jerk their heads toward things, though, did they?
Of course they didn’t.
I looked in the direction of the library anyway. That’s when I noticed the beam of light spilling onto the granite steps from the half-open library door.
Which was odd, since it was only ten past seven.
My stomach started to feel queasy. Lavinia never opened up this early. Should I venture in to check it out? Maybe Lavinia had come in early to catch up on restocking the bookshelves before the library opened. But she never left the door open like that. She was as strict as a nun about keeping that door closed.
I stood on the sidewalk, staring at the medieval-looking stone library building, my pre-caffeine fog making it difficult for me to decide what to do.
Pandora had no such trouble deciding. She raced up the steps past me. With a flick of her gray tail, she darted toward the massive oak door, shooting a reproachful look at me over her shoulder before disappearing into the building.
I took a deep breath and followed her inside.
“Lavinia? You in here?” My words echoed inside the library as I pushed the heavy oak door open, its hinges groaning eerily. The library was as still as a morgue with only the sound of the grandfather clock marking time in the corner broke the silence.
“Lavinia? You okay?”
No one answered.
I crept past the old oak desk, stacked with books ready to return to the library shelves. The bronze bust of Franklin Pierce, fourteenth president of the United States, glared at me from the end of the hall. I didn’t have a good feeling about this.
“Meow.” The sound came from the back corner where the stone steps lead to the lower level. Dammit! I’d warned Lavinia about those steps. They were steep and she wasn’t that steady on her feet anymore.
I headed toward the back, my heart sinking as I noticed Lavinia’s cane lying at the top of the stairs.
“Lavinia?” Rounding the corner, my stomach dropped when I saw a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs … Lavinia.
I raced down the steps two at a time, my heart pounding as I took in the scene. Blood on the steps. Lavinia laying there, blood in her gray hair. She’d fallen and taken it hard on the way down. But she could still be alive.
I bent down beside her, taking her wrist between my fingers and checking for a pulse.
Lavinia’s head tilted at a strange angle. Her glassy eyes stared toward the room where she kept new book arrivals before cataloguing them. I dropped her wrist, ending my search for a pulse.
Lavinia Babbage had stamped her last library book.
***
I called my sister Augusta, or Gus as I called her, who also happened to be the sheriff, and sat on the steps to wait. I might have drifted off, still sleepy from the lack of caffeine, because the next thing I heard was Augusta’s voice in my ear.
“Willa, are you okay?”
I opened one eye to the welcome sight of the steaming Styrofoam coffee cup that Gus was holding out to me.
“I’m fine,” I said, reaching for the cup.
“What happened?” I studied Gus who stood on the steps in front of me. No one would have guessed we were sisters. She was petite, her long, straight blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, which, I assume, she thought made her look more sheriff-like. Even in the un-flattering sheriff’s uniform, you could tell she had an almost perfect hourglass figure. I was tall with thick wavy red hair, my figure more rounded—voluptuous, as some described me. The only thing we had in common was our amber colored eyes—same as our mom’s.
“I was on my way to open the bookstore when I noticed the lights on in the library.” I glanced down the street toward the municipal parking lot.
Now that the spring warm-up was here, I was trying to work in some extra exercise by parking in the lot two blocks away instead of on the street near the bookstore.
“Was that unusual?” Gus asked.
“Yep.” I looked over my shoulder at the front door of the library. “It sure was. Lavinia never opens the library before eight. Plus the front door was cracked open, and she never leaves it open.”
Gus started up the steps toward the library. “Did you touch anything?”