“What’s going on?” I ask before sucking in a quick breath. “You know about that look-alike, don’t you? Oh my goodness, Sunny does, too! That’s why she did the strange disappearing act. So who is she?” I narrow my eyes over at my suddenly far-too-quiet-for-her-own-good niece. “You weren’t secretly a triplet, were you?” I suck in another, far more searing lungful. “That’s not Mabel, is it?” My body flinches because I can’t believe I just said that out loud. “I’m sorry, Morgan. I don’t mean to inflict any more pain on you. Of course, that’s not Mabel. I bet that woman doesn’t even look anything like you up close. It’s probably an optical illusion because of the distance. Or it’s time for me to submit to my optometrist’s wishes and finally get those bifocals he keeps threatening me with.” I decide to leave the dim lighting at the bookstore out of it for now. “I’m just tired. And I hit my head. I think I’ll drown in this glass of water now.” I’m about to pick up my glass and do just that when I spot a familiar blonde in a hip-hugging navy dress and boots that I’d die for, or at least consider losing an eyeball over, as she saunters into the place and heads directly for the bar.
“In fact, if you’ll both excuse me, I think I’ll go pick up something for the three of us from the Blood Bank.”
“Ooh”—Morgan’s eyes light up—“a Vampire Kiss Appletini for me.”
Teddy tugs her lips to the side. “Make mine a Corpse Reviver. This place is flooded with hotties tonight and I’m feeling lucky.”
“Okay,” I say a little unsure of the perverted portal I’m inadvertently about to open for her. “I’ll be right back.”
I thread my way through bodies as the rock music blaring from the speakers does its best to assault my eardrums.
And there she is, the teacher’s pet.
The very same teacher’s pet who whispered something to the good professor just minutes before he bit the big one and fell into oblivion while foaming at the mouth. Whatever it was she whispered his way was met with a big fat no—and Blondie here didn’t look as if she took it so well.
Her ego was bruised.
Sure, on the surface it’s a weak motive for murder, vain at best, but people have died for lesser offenses.
“Hey there,” I say a little too jovial just as she takes a seat at the end of the bar and I slide in right next to her. Judging by that scowl on her face, I’m not the company she was hoping to keep. “I met you earlier at the Haunted Book Barn. How are you doing?”
“Terrible.” She grunts at the bartender, yet another tall, dark, and brooding man with familiar looking green eyes and jet-black hair. His lips curve with perverse intent as he looks our way, and I didn’t need to read the name Rex pinned to his black dress shirt to let me know he was a blood relative of that other brooding detective I met up with earlier. The very brooding stud who was recently taken off the singles table by Glimmerspell’s resident wicked witch. “A glass of merlot.” Jenny flicks a finger his way. Her hair looks freshly coiled, her lip gloss has been refreshed, and that sickly sweet perfume of hers has threatened to give spring pollen a run for my allergies’ money.
“And you?” Rex cocks a brow my way, a slight smile crawling up the side of his face. “What’s it gonna be, sweet stuff?”
This is probably the part where I should get my feminist panties in a wad and inform him that I have a proper moniker—although, let’s be honest, no one has called me Wilhelmina since I was born, and just hearing him say the patronizing putdown made me feel a touch slap-happy and giddy all at the same time, so I let the sexy bartender live to verbally slay another day.
“A Vampire Kiss Appletini and a Corpse Reviver.”
His eyes widen a touch and I wave him off.
“It’s been a long day.” I sigh as I land next to the blonde I’m here to question.
He takes off and I turn to my very first, shiny, wet behind the ears suspect.
“I guess you knew Professor Barker pretty well, huh?”
“You could say that,” she huffs while looking down at the counter as if it were the understatement of the year. “We were pretty close,” she whispers. “You know, professor-student stuff.” Her nose turns bright red and her eyes flood with tears, but that angry look on her face suggests something far more nefarious than grief.
“You dated.” I shrug. “It’s not a big deal. I dated my professor back at Dexter, too.” God’s honest truth. “He taught econ, and I always seemed to have a question to ask him as soon as class ended. One day we were walking and talking, and the next thing I knew we were having dinner.”
“Really?” She gives a weak giggle as if she found some comfort in the fact.
“Really.” I slouch as I recall that time in my life. “The semester ended and so did we, but not before things got a little too hot and heavy between the two of us. You know, he seemed okay after it ended, but I wasn’t. I thought maybe we had something real, but I guess it was all one-sided. Funny thing is, a friend of mine took his class in the spring and guess who he was having dinner with next?”
“You’re kidding.” Her lids hood a notch.
“Nope. And you know what? He broke her heart, too.” I tick my head to the side as I reflect on it. “I should have warned her, but I was too angry to see straight. At the time, I actually thought she had stolen my man. Speaking of which, I heard the good professor you were seeing was married.” I shake my head at her as if I were doling out a reprimand.
She gives a quick blink to the ceiling. “Separated. Besides, his soon-to-be ex has already moved on. She’s a research assistant on some anti-whaling ship in Antarctica. She’s dating the captain. Believe me, I’ve stalked her Insta Pictures account enough to verify this intel.”
Rex drops off our drinks. “It’s on the house.” He winks my way as he takes off.
“Ooh.” Jenny wiggles her shoulders. “Me thinks Rexy likes what he sees. And by likes, I mean he sees you as fresh meat.” Her features go flat once again, and suddenly it feels as if Jenny here is an old friend of mine.
“I saw a little terse exchange between Professor Barker and you while we were taping.” I wince. “I take it things weren’t going so well between the two of you?”
She scoffs as she blinks up at me with those big doe eyes. “It’s like you know everything. Okay, so things were rocky, but all he had to do was hear me out and things could have been great. We could have had a real future together.”
My heart wrenches just listening to this younger version of myself.
“I’m sorry, Jenny,” I whisper. “But if it’s any consolation, I sat at a bar much like this one and said those exact same words. Only I wasn’t having merlot, I settled for beer at the time and a bowl full of pretzels. It helped me mull over my delusions.”
I leave out the fact I wasn’t of legal drinking age at the time and that a poorly constructed fake ID played into my story as well. The irony is, when I couldn’t drink, I did and now that I can I don’t. Turns out, I’m a lightweight who doesn’t get a thrill out of getting buzzed or having a hangover the next morning.
A silent laugh bounces through her. “I guess maybe I’m delusional, too, but then again, I’m stubborn enough to believe my delusions. I mean, he said he loved me. I donated to his cause.” She blinks back tears as she tosses a hand to the ceiling. “I gave him everything. I was ready and willing to give him the rest of my life. All he had to do was go along the path destiny had already given us.”
“What path was that?”
She glares at the glass of wine in front of her. “Never mind. It’s a path that obviously I’ll still be taking.”
Odd since he’s no longer here to take it with her.
“So what do you think happened?” I ask. “I mean, he could have had a heart attack, but that grumpy homicide detective mentioned something sinister may have taken place.”
“Oh, it did.” She takes a swig of her drink and lets it sit in her mouth a moment before swallowing it. “He was foaming at the mouth and twitching. He either inge
sted something poisonous or it was injected. We just studied viral toxins a couple of weeks ago.” A sinister smile twitches on her lips before she glances my way and it glides right off her face once again.
“That’s right. Someone mentioned he taught that class—the perfect crime?” Huh. It sounds as if the teacher’s pet might just prove to be a viper. “Did you do this, Jenny?” I wince her way as the words leave my lips. “Did you implement the techniques he taught you and administer it to the professor himself?” Not a line of questioning I’d even think to ask a person, but I’ve got a goose egg on my forehead that proves I’m not in my right mind so I go with it.
“What?” Her chest bucks as she shoots back the rest of her wine. “I don’t think you’re feeling too well. I saw you get a decent smack on the head. You should go home and get some rest,” she grits it through her teeth as she rises from her seat, and I quickly block her path.
“Okay, so you didn’t do this. And you’re right. I got knocked on the noggin pretty good. Did any of your other classmates, or anyone that you know of have a beef with Professor Barker?”
She glances past me a moment and sighs. “There was Vera. She’s a part of the stage crew. You may have met her.”
“Brunette, orange cast to her skin?” I frown as the words fly from my lips. I’m not one to put down another woman’s choice of cosmetics, but in my defense, Jenny here is about to bolt and brevity is key.
“That’s her.” She swallows down a laugh. “You know your friend? The one that dated that professor after you did? That’s who I was to Vera.” Her entire body sags a moment. “She was seeing him first. She wasn’t all that thrilled with me, but she hated him in the end.” She shudders as if maybe she did, too. “And for whatever it’s worth, she always took copious notes during class.” Her lips pull back with a sardonic smile. “I bet if you asked Vera if she did it, she’d have an entirely different answer for you.” Her eyes brighten as she looks past my shoulder once again. “Detective Greenly.” She bats her lashes his way and I turn to find the good detective back to his old tall, dark, and brooding tricks—and by the looks of that scowl on his face, we’ve bypassed brooding tonight and have gone straight to irate. “I’d stick around and answer any questions you might have, but I’m all questioned out.” She winks my way. “It was really nice talking to you. I wish we met a heck of a lot sooner. You could have saved me a heartache or two.” She takes off in a huff, and Elliot Greenly, angry detective extraordinaire, glares at me in her wake.
There is something larger-than-life about Elliot, something unfairly handsome, although that last part is more than obvious as evidenced by the trail of women ogling in his wake. His eyes meet with mine and that spark of electrocution jolts through me once again.
Holy smokes—hormones are fun when you’re a teenager but completely useless when you’re barreling toward midlife and ready to axe everyone who happens to have a spare appendage dangling from their legs out of your prospective future.
“What was that about?” he gruffs as he sits down in her place, and I join him. His hair is slicked back to perfection, that scruff on his cheeks only seems to have grown scruffier from our last meet and greet, and those eyes—wow. And to think I haven’t even gotten to that body pieced together on Mount Olympus. Too bad the broodmeister was absent the day they were passing out pleasant dispositions.
I tilt my head his way. “Do you ever smile?”
“No.” Rex crops up and answers for him. “Is this ornery oaf bothering you? As the owner of this fine establishment, I’d be more than happy to give him the boot.”
“Leave,” Elliot says without so much as looking in his brother’s direction because he’s too busy glowering at me to do so.
Rex pumps out a short-lived laugh. “You’re lucky I’m busy.” He nods my way. “You need my help, just slap him. I’ll be right over to finish him off.”
A laugh bubbles from me as he takes off, but the brooding detective only seems to sharpen his displeasure with me.
“Why were you speaking to Jenny McAlister? Were you asking her about Professor Barker?” He looks more than mildly affronted by the thought. “Please tell me you weren’t asking her questions about what happened earlier.”
“McAlister.” I snap my fingers. “I knew there was a question I forgot to ask.”
“Well then.” A groan works its way from him as he expands his chest. He’s still dressed in his suit and same dark wool coat cloaking him like a nefarious shroud. “It looks as if we’re moving up our coffee klatch.”
“No can do,” I say. “I was told that under no certain terms was I to cavort with you. I believe the words your ex used were off-limits, right after she canceled that coffee klatch you were holding out for.” My shoulders bounce as I pick up Morgan’s appletini. “For the record, Teddy was the moderator of that wayward conversation.”
“Oddly it all makes sense.” He glances past me a moment, and for a second I wonder if he’s in fear of Iona himself. She does have an overall ballbuster look about her, so this wouldn’t surprise me too much. “Can I ask what Jenny and you were discussing?”
“An old ex of mine from when I was a student at Dexter. I thought it was love. He thought it was an even exchange for an A. The louse gave me a B minus. And don’t for a minute think I didn’t take that as a personal assault on my performance—the one outside of the classroom. Okay, so on occasion in the classroom, too. What can I say? I was pretty adventuresome during my college years. But, nevertheless, we parted ways and I went on to find another man who would make that hard lesson the professor taught me look like child’s play. And speaking of which, have I mentioned my ex is having a child with a coed from Dexter?” Ex-coed, but I’ve spewed enough details for now.
His brows hike a notch. “Sounds rough.”
“My ex found her arousing.”
He frowns a moment before the hint of a smile creeps up one side of his cheek, and something in that simple action sends a heat wave pulsing through me.
“I don’t want to talk about your ex,” he rumbles. “And I get the feeling you don’t either.” He leans in a notch. “Did Jenny mention anything about Professor Barker?”
“Maybe.” I lift the appletini in my hand as if I were toasting him. “But if I gave you all the answers, that would be cheating. I think maybe you should answer a few of my questions first.”
“You’re not the investigator here. My case, my rules.”
“Ha! Then it’s my prerogative to keep those little morsels Jenny just spilled my way to myself. Something tells me she won’t be opening up to you the way she did me.” I cringe a moment. “On second thought, I have a feeling she’d be more than willing to open up to you in ways she wouldn’t for me.”
A warm rush pulsates through me once again, and this time it has nothing to do with the handsome brute before me.
A wave of lava-like heat runs up my chest and fills my head with enough pressure to make me wish it would explode. The floor beneath my feet begins to pulsate and I spill Morgan’s appletini as I do my best to land it on the counter.
“It’s happening again,” I whisper in a panic. “Excuse me,” I pant as I land hard on my feet and stagger into the crowd. “I have to get out of here,” I hear myself say and my voice sounds as if it was lost in a cavern.
The room begins to spin, and in a moment I’m not standing in a crowded theme restaurant that caters to vampires. I’m right back at the Haunted Book Barn.
Eighties music hums from the speakers, and a smattering of customers is milling about. I spot a woman who looks suspiciously like me standing in the café, and she turns my way only to gasp and let out a little yelp before running off to the left out of my view.
The Haunted Book Barn isn’t nearly as congested as it was this morning before the taping. And how did all of these people get in here, anyway? I closed the place down with Morgan.
“Oh my word!” My entire body shivers at the travesty overtaking my newly warped mind.
Acorn gives a friendly bark as he spots me and runs right my way.
“Oh, Acorn. I don’t think I’m in my right mind anymore,” I say, giving him a quick scratch over his curly little head.
“Ms. Buttonwood,” a deep voice rumbles from behind, and I turn to find Elliot Greenly standing there wearing a dark suit, same dark coat, and same spiced cologne that sends my hormones right back to high school. “I spoke to Jenny this afternoon.” He frowns as if it were my fault. “She says that if I have any questions I should defer to you. She says she spilled everything she knows the other night at the bar. One of you is about to be interrogated. Care to guess which one?”
“What?” I shake my head at him. “We just—we were at Rex’s. But the bookstore is closed. And did you say the other night at the bar?” A thought hits me and I suck in a never-ending breath. “What day is it?”
He takes a moment to scowl at me. “Monday.”
“Crap on a crap cracker,” I say, looking around until I spot Teddy Roosevelt giving me the side-eye from the counter and I speed her way. “You know something, don’t you?” I all but attack the not-so-innocent gray-haired granny as she does her best to tiptoe out of my reach.
“No offense, Billie, but I don’t think this is where you belong at the moment. We’ll talk later. I can’t get involved in this.” She runs off for the kitchen before I can stop her.
I don’t belong here at the moment?
Of course not. I belong at Rex’s Stake House!
I should be at that bar throwing a drink in that obnoxious detective’s face and then maybe doing the same to myself.
“Rex’s Stake House,” I whisper as the floor bounces beneath me once again, the room spins, and a snowy night appears around me as I find myself right outside of that questionable establishment where this entire nightmare began.
A woman with an all too familiar face comes my way, and I sigh with relief.
“Oh, Morgan, thank God. This night has been pure insanity. You will never believe what just happened.”
Midlife in Glimmerspell Page 8