Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (19 page)

“
Do you have any suspects
who you think may have taken the necklace?” Mindy asked.

“
Well, let’s see.” I tapped
my fingers against the steering wheel. “Of course, there’s Jane
Howe. The one who applied for the job and Cooper hired. She was in
the restaurant right before it happened, so that puts her near the
scene of the crime. But as far as I know, she doesn’t know what
kind of car Callahan drives. Then there’s Callahan’s ex-girlfriend,
since she sent the letter. She definitely knows what kind of car he
drives, but why she’d break into the car, I don’t know.”

“
Maybe she just wanted to
vandalize it, but when she saw your purse that made her mad, so she
decided to take it.”

“
That’s a good thought.
Definitely a possibility,” I said.

I ignored Mr. Fine’s annoying tapping
of his fingers against the car seat. Candy Cherry was yammering on
to Elvis about how tough her life had been. I overheard her say,
“They expected me to actually get a job. Can you believe that?”
Poor Elvis.

“
Anyone else on your list?”
Mindy asked.

I pointed at Mr. Fine, warning him to
be quiet with the annoying noises.

“
Let me think, let me
think.” I tapped my finger against my chin. “Hmm. Well, the only
other person I can think of is Beth.”

“
Beth?” Mindy squeaked. “Why
would she break into Callahan’s car?”

“
She kept going on and on
about the necklace, talking about how much she liked it. She saw me
put it in my purse. What if she decided she wanted it for her
own?”

“
Hmm. The plot thickens,”
Mindy said.

“
Of course, that’s assuming
the person who took it knew us. It could have just been a random
crime, which is more than likely what happened.” I tried to
reassure myself… but that nagging thought lingered in the back of
my mind.

“
Odds are, yes,” Mindy
agreed. “We could do some sleuthing and try to find out more
information.”

I chuckled. “I wouldn’t even know how
to begin to do that.”

“
I’ll talk to Beth and
casually see if I can get any details from her,” Mindy
said.

“
Well, please be careful of
what you say, I don’t want her to think I’m accusing her of
anything.”

“
Oh, I’ll be careful, I
promise.” The tone of her voice told me that maybe I shouldn’t
trust that promise. “Do you want me to come over?” she
asked.

“
No, I guess I’ll get some
sleep. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“
Call me if you need
anything,” she said.

“
You know I will.” I
chuckled.

I’d listed everyone I could think of,
and like Mindy had agreed, someone could have just been looking for
something to steal. But that same persistent thought in the back of
my mind told me that wasn’t the case. I knew it was someone related
to the destroyed books and the shadow at my home. I had a feeling
it was related to Callahan’s ex-girlfriend. I needed to confront
her about the letter.

She probably wouldn’t be able to hide
her devious deed if she’d done it. Were Jane and Callahan’s
ex-girlfriend in on this together? That was a real possibility.
Either that or I was being a paranoid freak. All the black magic
had finally gotten to me and they’d be coming to fit me for my
strait-jacket any day now.

I just hoped I didn’t receive any more
letters. Enough was enough. I needed a break from the craziness.
How I longed for the days of selling books and talking to the
occasional ghost—just your run-of-the-mill lost soul. I’d help them
cross over and all would be well. But no, that was apparently a
thing of the past. Was I doomed to deal with this kind of chaos for
the rest of my life?

There had to be a way to get things to
settle down. If I figured it out, I was for sure treating myself to
a spa day. No ghosts, no demons, no witchcraft. Nothing. It would
be a complete Larue day.

I found myself thinking about Beth.
How much did I really know about her? Was she acting like a guilty
person? Should I mention the necklace to see how she’d react?
Surely she wouldn’t be able to hide her guilt if she’d taken the
necklace. Maybe I should just leave the questions to
Mindy.

When I got out of the car, Elvis was
waiting for me on the front step. I still couldn’t get used to the
fact that Elvis was hanging around.

“
There was something in your
house when I went in. I decided to wait out here until you got out
of the car. I didn’t want to interrupt your phone call. I also
didn’t want to interrupt your date with Callahan tonight so I tried
to keep my distance.” He winked.

How sweet was he? But the look on this
face told me that something was wrong.

“
Something is in the house?”
I asked, stepping onto the porch.

“
It looked like a caped
figure. I chased after it, but it disappeared.”

My heart thumped. “Where did you chase
it to?” I asked.

“
It left through the kitchen
wall.”

When I stepped inside the foyer, the
muddy footprints glared back at me. That same strange vibe hung in
the air like a thick fog over a lake. The muddy steps trailed
across the floor, but they hadn’t come from anywhere. They started
right in the middle of the room. A dark spirit had been in my home.
I knew the prints were not of this world. Was this the dark shadow
I’d seen? Cooper’s words echoed in my mind. Had the evil pulled me
to the other house? Was that the reason I’d been asked to Jennie
Blake’s home? If so, why?

After looking around every inch of the
house and finding nothing, I immediately took out my sage. I went
from room to room saying a prayer to keep out the evil. It was all
that I could do. I’d tried calling Zach Duncan, my mentor, but he
didn’t answer. Nor did Karyn answer when I tried her number. I’d
have to try again in the morning. For now, all I could do was go to
bed and try to sleep. Maybe sleep would take away the agitated
feeling that I couldn’t seem to shake. As I dozed off, I thought I
heard the muffled voices of the ghosts, but I couldn’t make out
what was being said. Then I drifted off.

The next morning, I woke feeling
stranger than I ever had. Even my favorite comforter wasn’t
comforting. The sun shone brightly through the window and I
groaned.

“
You look dreadful,” Candy
Cherry said from the foot of my bed.

I tossed at pillow at her. “Yeah, well
I still look better than you. You’re dead.”

She shot daggers at me with her eyes,
but didn’t have a retort.

I rolled over and picked up the phone
from my nightstand and dialed Karyn’s number one more
time.

When she picked up on the second ring,
with slight panic in my voice, I explained what had happened with
the shadow, the footsteps, and the witch’s ball. I couldn’t bring
myself to tell her about the necklace yet.

“
This is disturbing, Larue,
and I’m glad you let me know,” she said.

“
I’m kind of at a loss as to
what to do next.” I slipped into my robe.

“
I’m in town now. Why don’t
I stop by and take a look at the witch’s ball and we can
talk?”

“
I didn’t know you’d come
back,” I said.

This revelation sent chills down my
spine. Not that she had to tell me what she was doing, but I
figured it was something she would have mentioned right away. Was
that Karyn who I’d seen at my house? She would have mentioned it
right away, right? And why would she have been there in the first
place? I didn’t want to scare her, but she might have a
doppelgänger.

“
Do you have the necklace?”
she asked.

Wow, that question smacked me in the
face. I wasn’t sure how to tell her this, so I guessed I just had
to come right out with it. The words were stuck in my throat for a
few seconds until I finally forced them out.

“
I can’t find the necklace.”
My voice was just above a whisper.

“
Oh, Larue. This is bad.” I
heard the frown in her voice all the way through the line. “If this
is truly black magic being used against you, then it is very
powerful. You won’t be able to perform magic to get rid of the
spell like you need to without the necklace.”

Not the info I’d wanted to hear. But
nonetheless, I supposed I had to hear it at some point.

“
Do you have any idea what
may have happened to the necklace?” she asked.

I paused, then finally answered, “I
kind of do. Well, yes… I think it was stolen out of Callahan’s
car.” I felt a little better just getting it off my chest, although
she probably felt pretty darn lousy now.

When I said it out loud, it sounded
even more irresponsible. The necklace was a valuable item that
she’d trusted me with and I’d treated it as little more than a
plastic ring I’d gotten out of a bubble-gum machine.

“
Did you report this to the
police?” she asked.

“
Yes, I did, and they told
me they’d let me know if they found it. But they didn’t sound very
optimistic.”

“
I’ll make a few calls and
see if we can cast a spell and try to trace it.”

Maybe now she was beginning to rethink
asking me to be the coven leader. I clearly wasn’t cut out for the
job.

“
I’ll see you in a few,” she
said and then the line went dead.

I wasn’t looking forward to continuing
the conversation.

I busied myself by pacing across the
living room floor. Thoughts whirled in my mind, creating a frenzy
beyond what I’d ever experienced before.

Elvis moved beside me as I walked back
and forth across the room. “Larue, just remember this: when things
go wrong, don’t go with them.”

I glanced over at him. “What do you
mean?”

“
Just don’t let people bring
you down with them, that’s all.” Elvis adjusted the large jeweled
belt on his white suit.

Who was he talking about? Or did he
mean people in general.

Before I had a chance to ask, a knock
sounded at the front door. I hurried over and ushered Karyn into
the living room. The electricity in her aura had always been
powerful and it was even more apparent now. Karyn didn’t look like
a stereotypical witch. She had long blonde hair and no green skin
or warts. Not to mention that her fashion sense was
impeccable.

“
How have things been?” she
asked when she walked through the door.

She wore jeans that looked very
expensive and a blue T-shirt with a white and blue polka-dotted
scarf around her neck. Karyn oozed style.

“
Please come in. Can I get
you some coffee?”

Karyn followed me into the living
room. “No, thank you. I had two cups already this morning. I’ll be
bouncing off the walls soon.”

I handed Karyn the box with the
remains of the witch’s ball. “Like I said, the ball showed up and
everything went crazy again.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I
think a demon has been around me.”

“
A demon?” Her eyes
widened.

“
It could be the same one
from before when Becky Schultz placed a spell on Mindy and
Callahan. Maybe that evil spirit had nothing to do with Becky, or
if it did, she’s back again.” I paused, then added, “I’ve been
fighting off a dark spirit. It’s trying to attack me, as if I have
a demon trying to possess my body.”

She stared for a minute, then said,
“Larue, I don’t think it’s a demonic possession. Or if it is, it’s
been placed on you with a spell… and I don’t think it’s Becky
again. I say this because I sense the magic around you. You have to
break the spell.”

I waved my hands. “Oh no, no more
spell-casting.”

I couldn’t get away from the magic
lately. What happened to just working in my bookstore and talking
to a few ghosts here and there? Life had been so much tamer when I
just hung around with a few spirits. But something had changed not
long ago and my life had been nothing but chaos ever
since.

“
I’m afraid it can’t be
avoided,” Karyn said.

“
I have to think of another
way.” I shook my head.

“
Do you have any idea who is
responsible for the other strange things happening? Has anyone said
anything?” she asked. “Any other strange things happening that you
forgot to mention?”

“
Well, of course I’m doing
the show and there are tons of spirits there… a particularly bad
demon too.”

“
Larue, you know what I
suggest, but it won’t be easy without the necklace.”

I let out a deep breath. “What can I
do to break this spell if I don’t find the necklace?”

“
First, I need to find out
exactly what spell this is. Then you’ll have to perform a spell to
counteract this one. I have faith that if anyone can do this, you
can, Larue. You just need to break this cycle once and for
all.”

I wasn’t sure breaking this cycle once
and for all was possible for me. This must just be how my luck was
going to be from here on out.