Laure Donavan 2 - Ghouls Night Out (21 page)

After trying the other coven member’s
number and not getting an answer, I was incredibly upset. But then
I remembered my secret weapon: my mother. One good thing about
having a mother who had a standing weekly appointment at Ruby’s
Hair Salon, she could find out details about anyone in town. I
wanted to ask her about Cooper too, but I couldn’t. I was sure
someone had mentioned the new mysterious good-looking man in town,
but that was dangerous territory. She’d think I was interested in
him as a potential husband, and that was a road I didn’t want to
travel.

After a twenty-minute conversation
that should have only taken two minutes, my mother promised to call
back in a jiffy with Becky’s address or phone number. I knew the
jiffy promise was impossible. It would take her at least two hours
of chitchatting. Sure enough, after a few hours, she called back
with the requested info. Now to do some snooping on Mr. Cooper
Garret.

***

“
I knew I recognized his
name,” Anthony said as he bounded into my bedroom. He’d been
watching Ninja Warrior on TV with Seth. They’d developed a new
fascination with that show, along with the Finding Bigfoot program
where people hunted for the big, hairy Sasquatch. How random,
right? Men were strange no matter if they were living or
dead.

“
What did I tell you about
coming into my bedroom?” I snapped.

“
Um. Not to?”

“
Exactly.” I
frowned.

“
Never mind that now. I
know where I’ve seen the name Cooper Garret before.” Anthony beamed
with excitement.

“
Where?” I jumped
up.

“
I’ll show you.” He
gestured for me to follow him.

“
Show me?” Why did I not
like the sound of this?

“
Don’t give me that
suspicious look. Just trust me.”

“
Fine, but it’ll have to
wait until after work tomorrow. I have to run a few errands first
after work, then we’ll go.”

“
Okay, but when this is the
answer to all your problems and you waited, you’ll be
sorry.”

I rolled my eyes and he
frowned.

Pulling back a sliver of curtain on my
bedroom window and peeking out, I said, “I forgot, I have to stay
here by myself. Alone in the dark with dark shadows, black magic,
and dangerous intruders on the loose,” I said.

“
What about us?” Anthony
asked.

“
Well, no offense, but
you’re ghosts. I almost want to call my mother back and ask to stay
at her place.” Nope, nothing was that bad yet. Only a natural
disaster warranted such drastic measures.

“
How about your
grandparents?” Mae asked.

“
They’re out of town,
although I guess I could go to their house. I do have a key. I'd
still be alone, though. No. I'll be brave and stay here by myself.
After all, that’s what Mindy said I needed to do since she thinks I
act like a baby.” I sighed. “Do I act like a baby?”

“
Of course not, dear. Well,
you could stand to toughen up a little, but you’re not too bad.”
Seth smiled.

“
Gee, thanks.”

***

I had closed the store a little
earlier than usual because I couldn’t wait to find out more
information about Cooper and begin Operation Save Mindy. It had
been a long day, but the real work was just about to begin. I still
hadn’t spoken with Callahan. He’d walked by the store window a
couple of times during the day as if he wanted to come in, but
something had stopped him. When I finally had a free moment to walk
over to Full Cup, he’d already closed for the day. I’d made up my
mind to go to his house as soon as my other mission was complete.
If he wouldn’t answer my calls, I’d go to him.

“
So, where do we start?”
Seth asked, as I locked up Book Nook for the day. “I don't know the
first thing about snooping.”

“
You just said earlier that
you knew how to snoop.” I said, as I walked to my car.

“
Oh, right, well, I just
wanted you to feel better.”

“
Well, it didn’t work.” I
scowled.

He rubbed his chin, deep in
thought.

When Mindy forced me to spy, we had
used binoculars to look out the front window of the bookstore. And
there may have been a snooping incident behind tall
shrubbery.

“
We need to figure out
who’s behind the disastrous event at your store and breaking into
your house,” Anthony said from the backseat. Mae had beat him to
the passenger seat this time.

“
Yes,” I said softly. Thank
heavens no more messages had appeared in my house. Maybe that meant
it really was a living person and not a demon.

“
You’re a real genius,
young man. We would have never thought of that.” Seth
smirked.

Chapter Thirty-One

First, Cooper had warned me about
demons, then Becky and Mark. Was this demon talk really something
to worry about? I had seen the black figure that night after the
investigation, but I’d seen no signs that an evil spirit had
followed me home…other than the message on the mirror. But a demon
couldn’t break into my store or home. Well, I guess technically it
could…if someone was possessed by said demon. Could the demon
really have something to do with Mindy’s strange behavior? Was that
why Cooper had warned me? Or was his warning just to throw me off
the scent of his black magic?

It was certainly something to consider
and I’d have to look closer for the signs of demonic possession
from her. From what I’d seen, Mindy showed no signs of it, although
her behavior was way off from the norm. Could it just be that we
were growing apart? It happened all the time. I just assumed Mindy
and I would be friends forever. I guess that just showed that
nothing was forever.

Anthony blew me a kiss and I rolled my
eyes.

“
If you keep up with that
look, your face will freeze that way,” Anthony said.

I scowled. “I can’t force you not to
do those things, but please remember to kindly refrain from your
commentary when I’m having a conversation with a living person. Do
you have any idea how hard it is for me to not blurt out for you to
shut up?”

“
You don’t expect us not to
get involved, do you? That’s like asking a kid not to eat candy
when all the other kids are eating candy.”

I frowned, then let out a deep breath.
It was like talking to a brick wall. Pointless.

If only I could have a few minutes
without their constant chatter to think through my thoughts. It was
like having a radio on in my mind all day and all night. The whole
demon thing warranted more investigation, though. Just to rule it
out. I still thought witchcraft was to blame for Mindy’s behavior.
It was no coincidence that she started acting weird the very night
Cooper had ambled into town.

As far as the demonic possession, I’d
call my colleague and ask for his advice. He was the top
demonologist in the country. I was lucky to have such friends. But
what if it was a demon? How would I convince Mindy that she was
possessed? I guess the same way I was going to convince her that
Cooper had her under a magic spell. Neither option would be
easy.

“
One way or the other, I’ll
get Mindy back because I’m convinced she wouldn’t act this way on
her own,” I said.

“
You do what you have to
do, sweetie. We’ll help you if you need us to,” Mae
said.

Seth and Anthony looked at each other.
A rare moment when they weren’t bickering. Finally, they
nodded.

“
Yeah, we’ll back you up,”
Anthony said.

Forty-five minutes later and I was
sitting in my car, parked in front of Becky’s apartment building. I
contemplated asking the ghosts to stay in the car, then realized
I’d be wasting my breath. They wanted to know what was going on
just as much as I did. And I couldn’t say I blamed them. I’d
brought them into this chaos called my life; it wasn’t fair to
exclude them now. It was my problem if I couldn’t concentrate with
them around. As long as they behaved, I’d be okay.

“
Can I count on you guys to
be quiet? No comments in my ear while I’m talking to her, okay?
It’s distracting.”

Anthony crossed his heart with his
index finger.

“
We’re just here to help
you.” Mae winked.

Seth nodded in agreement.

I rang the doorbell and waited,
shifting from foot to foot. I was almost ready to turn around and
leave when Becky answered the door. She was a lot different from
Karyn. Becky’s hair was a bit disheveled, and she wore a black
T-shirt with a hole in it and sweatpants. I’d never seen Karyn’s
hair out of place; she was always so put together.

It was a good thing Becky didn’t want
to be the coven leader because I couldn’t picture her in that
position. Then again, I couldn’t picture myself in that position
either. Someone needed to take over for Karyn. Whether she remained
in the hospital or moved. Would Karyn ever get the chance to move
away? It looked as if she might never get the opportunity. My
stomach turned at the thought of Karyn never getting better. I
didn’t even want to consider the possibility.

“
Larue.” Becky looked at me
with surprise.

“
I hope you don’t mind that
I found your address,” I said.

“
I’m surprised to see you
here.” She touched her hair as if smashing it down would help the
unkempt look. “Is everything okay?”

I looked over her shoulder at the
inside of her home. Was she going to invite me in? She met my gaze
and a look of realization spread across her face.

“
Um, do you want to come
in?” she asked hesitantly.

“
Sure, thanks,” I
said.

She frowned and opened the door wider,
motioning for me to enter. If she was worried about a little thing
like her housekeeping, I didn’t care. I’d been to my cousin’s house
many times and she kept that place like a pigpen. I was used to it.
I just stepped around the mess.

“
So, is something wrong?”
she asked again.

“
Well, yes. I mean, nothing
like an emergency. Okay, maybe it’s an emergency, I guess. Kind
of….”

Her eyebrows knitted together. Okay, I
was rambling.

“
My visit has to do with
our new guy in town.”

She nodded. “Oh, yes, Cooper. Have a
seat.” She motioned in the general direction of the kitchen table.
“I’m afraid I haven’t been able to find out much. Other than he’s a
good-looking man and everyone finds him charming.”

I pulled out one of the wooden chairs
and sat. “Yeah, that’s obvious, but not worth much. I was just
wondering—”

“
More questions? I don’t
think I can answer them for you, but you can give me a try.” She
played with the hem of her T-shirt.

“
Since I’m assuming he does
magic, doesn’t anyone in the coven have info about him?”

“
Well, I don’t know him.
How the heck should I know anything about him? But from what I’ve
heard, he’s on the up and up. He’s exactly who he says he is. Never
practiced black magic that I know of, but then again, no one
thought Brianna did either.”

Becky sure had a way with words. She
was a real charmer.

“
Sorry. I didn’t know who
else to ask. And since Karyn can’t help…and you seemed to be
closest to her, I thought you might know. I mean, after all, he is
a witch, right? Or is that a warlock? I don’t understand the
difference. I mean, I know one is a man and one is a woman. But is
a male witch a warlock? It’s kind of confusing.”

She looked at me with a dazed and
blank look. I suppose I was rambling again, but stress would do
that to anyone.

“
Well, first of all, Karyn
didn’t leave me in charge. Second, he’s Brianna’s cousin, but you
already knew that. Um, he’s from Savannah, Georgia. He came here to
take over her shop. That’s about it.”

“
Was he close to Brianna,
you think?”

She shrugged her skinny
shoulders.

“
Why would he come and not
another family member? What about Brianna’s parents?”

“
I think most of Brianna’s
family doesn’t want anything to do with her.” Becky leaned against
the kitchen counter, all the while still fumbling with her
shirt.

Her fidgeting was making me
nervous.

“
So, if he does, that must
mean he practices black magic, too?”

“
Probably.” She paused.
“You’re asking a lot of questions. Is there something wrong that
you haven’t told me about? I know you were suspicious of him, but
did something else happen? Something beyond the store
break-in?”

I wasn’t sure I should share this
information with her, but I needed to tell someone in the magic
community. And she was all I had at that moment.

“
Well, some other strange
things have been happening. My best friend is mad at
me.”

“
And you think this has
something to do with black magic because?” She raised her
eyebrows.

“
She wasn’t mad at me until
Cooper showed up. I hardly think that’s a coincidence. We were fine
until he came into the picture. I think he showed up to take
revenge for Brianna.”