by Lena Gregory
“I think you oughta give Tank and Luke a chance to look into what Malcolm’s been up to for the past twenty years. They were supposed to talk to prison officials upstate this morning.” He nudged her arm with his as they walked side by side. “Why don’t you try not to think about it for now?”
Easier said than done. “Sure thing.”
Cass kept a close watch on Beast as he frolicked in the dunes. She’d have to leash him once they reached the more populated section of beach closer to Mystical Musings, even this early in the morning, but for now he was content to scamper along the beach. Seagulls screeched and dove in a boat’s wake, and the gentle ripple of waves caressed the shore.
Beast stopped and sniffed at a horseshoe crab lying on its back near the water.
“Beast, no,” Bee yelled before Cass could get the words out.
Beast jerked his head up and ran toward Bee.
Bee yanked Cass in front of him and held tight to both her arms, using her like a shield as he cowered behind her.
She glared at him over her shoulder. “Really, Bee?”
“Sorry, honey, been there done that, not interested in doing it again.”
Cass couldn’t help but smile at the reminder of Bee flat on his back, flailing on the beach with Beast on top of him.
Instead of pouncing when he reached them, Beast skidded to a stop, spraying sand everywhere, then stared running in circles.
Cass laughed. “Okay, Beast, sit.”
He plopped down.
“Good boy.” She handed him one of the small bacon-flavored training treats she kept in her pocket. “You don’t want to mess with those things.”
She leashed Beast since they were getting close to Mystical Musings, slipped into her sandals, and they resumed walking. When Cass came to the horseshoe crab Beast had been sniffing at, it still lay on its back, clawing at the air. She handed Beast’s leash to Bee. “Hold him a sec?”
Careful to avoid the horseshoe crab’s long tail, she grabbed the edges of the helmet-like shell and turned the creature over, then placed him gently in the water. “Thank you for walking to work with me this morning, Bee.”
He hooked his arm through hers. “No problem, dear. But you don’t leave there without me, you understand?”
“I won’t.”
He rolled his eyes.
“I mean it, Bee. I won’t leave alone.”
“Yeah, well, you’re just lucky it’s the height of tourist season and the shop is busy all day long. Otherwise, you would have had some fight on your hands about opening today. And I don’t just mean with me.”
As it was, Luke had suggested last night she stay closed today. She still had half a mind to skip opening, go back home, and crawl under the covers. If she walked in and the air conditioner wasn’t working, she might just do it. “I can’t believe it’s this hot already. I hope Emmett was able to fix the air conditioner.”
Bee watched her for a minute, then dropped the subject and nodded. “You didn’t hear from him last night?”
“No.”
“Should you have?”
“Not really. You know Emmett’s not the most social creature in the world. He just fixes what needs fixing and locks up after himself.” Emmett was one of the very few people Cass had trusted with a key to Mystical Musings, and she was always careful to leave everything else done when he was going to be working in the shop after hours. Emmett was almost as meticulous as she was and always cleaned up after himself, then he just had to turn the lights off and lock the door behind him.
Thoughts of Emmett reminded her she’d wanted to go out to the Bay Side Hotel later and see if she could catch Elaina. Darn, she should have driven. That’s what she got for two nights without sleep. She couldn’t even think straight. “What are you doing later, Bee?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Why? What do you have in mind?”
“I was thinking of taking a ride out to the hotel and seeing if Elaina heard any good dirt.”
“Ha-ha, Cass.” Bee laughed. “Did you really think that would work on me? Luke and Tank specifically told you to stay out of the investigation.”
“I’m not investigating.”
He pinned her with a stare.
“Technically.” She grinned, hoping to win him over. “I’m just hunting up some good gossip, and since Elaina works at the hotel right across the street from Emmett’s garage, she’d have all the good dirt about whom the police might have questioned, what they’d seen . . .”
Bee chewed on his lower lip and peered at her from beneath long, thick lashes any woman would envy.
Hooked him. Now to reel him in. “Who knows? The security cameras may have even caught whomever put Dirk in that trunk walking onto Emmett’s lot.”
“I’ll pick you up around four, if you can close a little early.”
She laughed as she unlocked the back door and pushed it open. A blast of cool air hit her, and she did a little happy dance in her head. “Sure. As long as I’m not too busy, and if yesterday was any indication, I shouldn’t be.”
“Maybe you should put a sign on the window that Emmett fixed the air-conditioning.”
“Couldn’t hurt.”
Bee walked her into the shop and looked around to make sure she was safe, then kissed her on the cheek, patted Beast’s head, and headed home to go to bed.
Lucky.
Cass set about her morning routine, comforted by the familiarity of it. She’d already fed Beast at home, and having enjoyed a nice long walk on the beach, he settled right down with a chew toy.
She walked through the shop and made sure everything was in its proper place, which of course it was, because she’d left it that way the night before. She started a pot of coffee. She’d certainly need it if she was going to get through the day. Next came the cash for change, which she’d put in the safe before leaving. She pulled it out of the safe, then paused before opening the register and patted her shorts pocket where she’d tucked the crystals she’d found yesterday. What if there was something in there again? What if it was something less innocent than the crystals?
She sighed and set the stack of cash on the counter, then pushed the button to open the register and jumped back. The empty drawer slid open, and she laughed at herself.
Beast looked up from his spot by her feet and barked once.
“Don’t worry about it, Beast. I’m fine. Or at least I don’t think I’m completely crazy. But I could be wrong about that.” She separated the bills into their slots in the register drawer and pushed it closed.
She tried to ignore the heaviness of the crystals in her pocket, calling out to her, begging her to understand. Who could have put them there? Anyone, really. She unlocked both doors and turned the signs from Closed to Open. She grabbed the glass cleaner and wiped down the already spotless cases, ordered a new case to replace the one Aiden’s brother had damaged, pulled out a few boxes of inventory from the back room to restock the shelves, then gave up.
No way she wasn’t going to surrender to the urge to look into the fire agate again. Leaving the boxes on a shelf beneath the register, Cass filled her coffee mug and left it on the counter.
As she twirled the fire agate in her hand, it began to heat. Warmth spread through her palm. She lifted it and stared into its center, seeking whatever might be hidden deep within the brown stone. Bright morning sunlight poured through the back window, setting the stone ablaze. She concentrated harder, willing the agate to reveal its secrets, to share hidden confidences, to unlock its mysteries.
“Excuse me?”
“Ahh . . .” Cass jumped and jerked her arm back. Her hand hit the mugful of coffee and sent it tumbling off the counter. The glass shattered, spilling coffee across the hardwood floor.
The brunette from the reading, the apparent object of Aiden Hargrove’s affections, smirked. “Oh, uh, sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was my own fault.” Bee’s voice read her the riot act in her head, as real as if he’d
actually walked into the shop and found her so oblivious to her surroundings that she hadn’t even heard the wind chimes above the door announce the arrival of a customer, never mind the woman’s four-inch heels clacking across the hardwood floor.
Cass stuffed the crystal into her pocket. No more losing herself while she was alone and vulnerable. She should have known better. “Just give me a minute to clean this up and I’ll be right with you.”
“Sure, no problem.” The woman meandered through the shop, stopping now and then to browse through crystals and stones.
After wiping up the last of the mess, Cass approached the woman and held out a hand. “I’m sorry about that. What can I help you with?”
The woman ignored her hand, folded her arms, and cocked a hip. “For starters, you can tell me why you told Aiden’s date he was in love with me.”
O-kay . . . Looks like today is going to pick up where yesterday left off. I guess I should have stayed in bed after all. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have said that.”
The woman tilted her head, and streaks of red shimmered through her dark hair. “You shouldn’t have said it because it wasn’t true?”
“No, I shouldn’t have said it because it embarrassed everyone involved.”
Her cat-like green eyes danced with mischief. “Are you saying you believe it’s true?”
“I’m not saying anything except I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.” She wasn’t going to get into an argument with this woman, but the cocky attitude was beginning to grate on her nerves. Cass waited her out. Whatever the woman had come in for, she’d get to it eventually. In the meantime, Cass studied her.
The woman kept her arms folded tight across her chest. The beam of sunlight she stood in should have kept her warm, even with the air-conditioning fixed, so she shouldn’t be cold. Closed off, then. Keeping secrets? Or just stand-offish? Distrustful of Cass? “Can you really tell that? If someone’s in love with someone else? Just by looking at them?”
Of course you could. Most of the time. The way lovers gazed at one another, or even more in the way someone looked at a lover when the person wasn’t aware and their expression was open, unguarded, as Aiden’s had been that night. Thanks to Cass surprising him with her pronouncement. “Usually.”
“So, tell me then, does Aiden really love me?” Some of her attitude slipped, just for an instant, and a touch of vulnerability peeked through the smug façade.
“Why don’t you come sit, and I’ll do a reading for you, and we’ll see what we can tell?” And, with any luck at all, she’d be able to figure out why this woman had talked Aiden into attending Cass’s reading. If Nanette Coldwater was right.
The woman only pondered her proposal for a moment before nodding her agreement, making Cass wonder if that had been her purpose all along. Manipulative? Maybe. That would jive with what Nanette had told her.
“Take a seat.” She gestured toward the large round table by the back window. “What’s your name?”
“Olivia.” She sauntered toward the table, pulled out a velvet-covered chair, sat and crossed her legs, the movements deliberate, a woman used to commanding attention. “Olivia Wells.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Olivia.” Cass paused before sitting. A color reading might be a good way to go. It might help relax Olivia. Or she could use the crystal ball? No. She tended to lose herself in the crystal’s depths, as she had in the fire agate. Not that Olivia had done anything to threaten her, but Cass had no intention of turning her back on the woman or being caught unawares again if someone else walked into the shop.
She grabbed the colored pencils and paper, lit a white candle and set it aside, then sat. She tapped the stack of paper against the table to line all the sheets up and set out a row of pencils, careful not to pay attention to the order of the colors.
Olivia held her hands out to the sides. “What do I have to do?”
“Nothing. Unless there’s something specific you want to know, we can just chat and see what we come up with.”
She shrugged and folded her arms on the table. “Okay.”
Cass lifted a pencil and started to color, the scratch, scratch, scratch of the pencil against the paper soothing, hypnotic. “Interesting that orange would be your first color, a color that can mean enthusiasm and energy, determination even.”
But Cass had chosen her darkest orange, the color of insincerity and deceit. She scribbled a wide swatch along the top of the paper, then laid the pencil aside and chose another.
One corner of Olivia’s mouth turned up in a slight smirk. She sat up straighter and clasped her hands in front of her on the table.
Cass watched Olivia as she scribbled back and forth, searching for each reaction so she’d know if she was on the right track. “Hmm . . . red. A color of power and passion.”
Her eyes widened a bit, barely noticeable, and Cass would have missed it if she hadn’t been looking right at her in that moment.
Olivia fluttered her lashes and peered from beneath them, accentuating the feline tilt. A confident woman, well accustomed to using her beauty to get her way. “Is that all red means?”
“Not at all. Each color can mean a lot of different things.”
“So, how do you determine which things the colors you choose mean? Could red mean that Aiden Hargrove actually loves me?” Her laughter didn’t reach her cold, stormy eyes.
“Different shades tend to have different meanings. A darker shade of red might signify anger, while a lighter shade might indicate joy. An orange with more red in it would have a different meaning than one that leaned more toward yellow. Some of it is interpretation of the colors as they come together. The combinations I choose begin to tell a story, to paint a picture of the individual I’m reading.” As did the reactions of said individual. That’s why Cass always tried to study her clients while coloring, trying to appear casual, yet watching carefully for any sort of reaction. The swatches of color would form whatever random design they formed, but the person’s reactions to each and every statement would bring the story to life.
“So does that dark red you’re using mean I’m angry?” She tilted her head; a small smile flickered and disappeared. She was interested in the mechanics of it all, but she clearly didn’t believe.
Maybe Cass could change that. “Not necessarily. It can indicate willpower and strength as well. A determined, strong-willed person will often evoke red early in a reading.”
But orange and red together early on weren’t quite as common. The combination piqued Cass’s interest. Now, if she could just figure out how to use the information to determine an accurate portrayal of this woman without outright calling her a liar or sneak.
Chapter Nineteen
Black. Cass wasn’t surprised she’d chosen the black pencil next. A color of mystery and elegance, both of which suited Olivia Wells. But when combined with red or orange, a symbol of aggression.
Wind chimes tinkled, interrupting Cass’s focus. A young man held the door open for his companion to enter, then placed a hand on her back and guided her toward one of the display cases.
“Excuse me for one minute?” She didn’t like to interrupt a reading, hated losing the flow, but she wanted a moment to collect herself and decide how to proceed with Olivia. Plus, she always tried to greet new customers.
“Sure thing.” Olivia nodded.
Cass held out a hand as she approached her new guests. “Good morning.”
They shook her hand in turn.
At the table, Olivia pulled her cell phone out of her purse and frowned down at it.
Cass couldn’t risk losing her. While she couldn’t quite peg Olivia Wells, the certainty she had something to do with this whole mess churned in her gut. “I’m in the middle of a reading right now, but you are welcome to look around and help yourselves to coffee, water, or snacks if you’d like to wait.”
“Thank you,” the young woman answered.
As Cass returned to the table, Olivia set her cell phone aside, but not bef
ore Cass caught the letters JC on the screen. JC? A common enough nickname. Or could it be initials? Jay Callahan sprang immediately to mind. “I’m sorry for the interruption.”
“No problem.” Olivia weaved her fingers together and propped them beneath her chin. “Do you need to tend to your customers?”
“No. I always finish my readings first. My customers understand that since I will give them the same time and attention when it’s their turn.”
“Okay, then.” Olivia sat back in the chair, smoothed her skirt, and folded her hands on her knee. “Read away.”
She picked up where she’d left off, scribbling a swatch of black beneath the red blob. “Black is a color of strength and power.”
“And death,” Olivia added.
“It can be. It’s also a color of mystery.” Cass watched closely. “And secrets.”
Olivia’s eyes flickered away, barely an instant, but long enough for Cass to recognize she was on the right track, then immediately back to Cass. “He told me not to come in here, you know.”
“Who did?”
Olivia pursed her lips.
“Aiden?”
She smiled sweetly. “Why don’t you tell me?”
What kind of game was this woman playing?
“She came to see me after she left here, you know, demanded answers about Aiden and me, about our relationship.”
Nanette Coldwater. So, she had confronted Olivia. Cass had suspected she’d follow through on the threat. “And what did you tell her?”
“The truth, of course.”
Cass waited. It really was none of her business, so she wouldn’t ask, but she had a strong feeling Olivia wanted to tell her, and it had nothing to do with being psychic.
Her eyes narrowed, a predator on the hunt. “You almost blew everything the other night with your stupid declaration.”