“Do you know what they’ll do to you if they find out you turned in one of their own?”
His eyes flashed with pure hatred.
Grace laughed. “But then you aren’t one of theirs, are you?” She backed up, stopping right in the threshold of the front door before she added, “They couldn’t care less about you, Charlie. Now stay away from my niece. I don’t make empty threats.”
She ran back to her SUV and jumped in the driver’s seat. “Everyone present and accounted for?” she asked. When she got three confirmations and a reassurance that Lizzy was on board, she peeled out of her sister’s driveway.
Fifteen minutes later, Grace uncurled her fingers from the steering wheel and finally felt as if she could breathe again.
“Come on, Warrior Princess,” Hope said softly after opening the driver’s side door. “Let’s get you inside and fix something to settle your nerves.”
“Does it involve alcohol?” Grace asked her.
“Definitely.”
Once they were inside and Grace had not one but two shots of whiskey in her system, she felt calm enough to walk back out onto her porch, pull out her phone, and call Alyssa.
Her sister answered on the fifth ring. “Grace, I don’t have time right now. I only have ten more minutes of my break to scarf down something to eat, and then I have to get back to work.”
“We have a situation,” Grace said. “It’s about Charlie.” She swallowed hard, frustrated that her voice shook when she said Charlie’s name. The adrenaline had worn off, and the whiskey hadn’t done as much to fortify her as she’d hoped.
“Is he okay?” Alyssa asked, her voice going high-pitched. “What happened?”
“He’s okay as far as I know,” Grace hedged. “But—”
“Oh, thank the gods,” Alyssa said, cutting her sister off. “I do not have time for an emergency right now. I’ll just give him a call before I have to go back to work.”
“He attacked me!” Grace blurted.
Silence.
“Alyssa, are you there?” Had her sister already ended the call?
“Yeah. I’m here,” Alyssa said, her tone hesitant.
“Did you hear me? Charlie attacked me. He tried to strangle me tonight.”
“Why?”
The question gutted Grace. What did it matter? Did her sister honestly think there was any acceptable reason for her boyfriend to lay his hands on Grace? “Because he’s an asshole?”
Alyssa sighed heavily. “Just tell me what happened.”
“You didn’t even ask me if I’m okay,” Grace said as she pressed two fingers to her forehead and massaged the growing ache.
“Obviously you are since you’re calling me. Dammit, Grace.” Alyssa’s tone was quieter and softer now. “Can you please give me the details? I really do have to get back to work soon.”
How could she be thinking about work when Grace just told her Charlie had tried to strangle her? Wouldn’t a concerned sister ask to leave for a family emergency? Grace would. If Alyssa called and said Bill had attacked her, Grace would’ve been in the car and headed to her sister without hesitation while simultaneously plotting the demise of the man who’d laid hands on her. Regardless of how Grace felt about the way her sister was handling the news, she knew Alyssa needed the details.
After taking a deep breath and leaning against the porch railing, Grace described the texts Charlie had sent Lex about Bronwyn and the cat. She glossed over the details about their decision to head over to the house. There was no need to explain they’d been more than happy to confront the jackhole. But she did have to tell her that Lex and Joy broke in to save the cat.
“Wait a minute,” Alyssa said, sounding annoyed. “Why didn’t Lex just go in and get the cat? What is it that you thought Charlie was going to do?”
“Because he was acting so strange. She was freaked out about what he might do. Can’t you see that?”
Alyssa huffed out a breath of annoyance. “He wouldn’t harm Lex. He wouldn’t harm anyone. That’s not who he is. Just because—”
“Did you miss the part about how he tried to strangle me?” Grace barked into the phone.
“I’m sure it was a mistake. He was probably startled because people broke into our house.”
“Alyssa! You can’t mean—”
“Grace, that’s enough. I know Charlie. And obviously, there are two sides to this story. You can’t call me and expect me to get worked up about some vague texts that sound like he was just trying to get under Lex’s skin. As far as attacking you… From where I’m sitting, you were trespassing. What did you expect him to do? Just let y’all break in and do anything you wanted?” She snorted. “Let it go. I’ll talk to him and find out why he was poking at Lex. It’s likely nothing. Now, I really do have to go.”
The call ended, and Grace stood on her porch, staring at the phone. After a moment, she shook it as if that would do anything to get Alyssa back on the line. She braced herself for the bone-deep anger to take over, but instead, all she felt was disappointment. Was her sister so far gone over a guy that she cared more about him than she did about Grace and Lex?
She never would’ve thought so before, but based on their conversation she wasn’t sure what she should think.
The door opened, and Lex stepped out onto the porch. When she spoke, her voice was full of all the anger Grace hadn’t been able to summon. “Mom’s more worried about him than us, isn’t she?”
Grace raised her hands palms up in an I-don’t-know motion. “She might just be in denial.”
Lex’s lip curled in disgust. “If I ever get like that over a girlfriend, please do us all a favor and put me out of my misery.”
There were no words to ease Lex’s disappointment in her mother. Instead, Grace wrapped her arms around her niece and held on tightly. “Have you heard from Bronwyn yet?”
Nodding, Lex let out a breath and said, “She’s on her way here. Charlie did text her and try to get her to go over there. She said she would’ve gone if I hadn’t blown up her phone looking for her. I guess he told her I was there and that I needed to be handled. Whatever that means.”
A faint growl escaped Grace’s throat. The man was a loose cannon just waiting to detonate. And her sister would be headed back over there when she got off from work. Grace’s stomach started to ache. What if Charlie took out his frustration on Alyssa? A shiver of unease skated across Grace’s skin. No matter how upset she was at her sister, she still needed to protect her.
Headlights from a car shined in Grace’s eyes briefly before the car came to a stop and someone killed the engine. Lex stepped back and wiped at her eyes, squinting in the direction of the vehicle. She sucked in a gasp and then ran down to greet Bronwyn. The two collided into a hug and started whispering to each other.
Grace walked back into the house to give them some privacy and tried her sister one more time. The call went straight to voice mail. She left a message, begging her sister to be careful and reminding her that Grace’s door was open if she needed a place to stay or if she just wanted to stop by. Grace wasn’t going to let her hurt feelings get in the way of helping her sister when she finally decided Charlie wasn’t worth her time.
“Grace?” Joy called from the kitchen.
“Coming.” Grace walked through her house, suddenly bone tired. Ever since she’d gone to work for Landers Realty, she’d been running nonstop. Unfortunately, there still wasn’t even a nibble on any of the houses she represented. She thought about her bills that were due in a few weeks. She had the money to pay them, but she’d be a hell of a lot more comfortable if she didn’t have to touch any more of the money she’d gotten in their divorce agreement. She wanted to be making her own money already.
Chapter Seventeen
Grace found Joy and Hope sitting at the table, sipping coffee and nearly cried in relief. “Please tell me there’s more coffee in that pot.”
“I’ll do you one better,” Hope said, handing over a hot mug.
�
�Thanks.” Grace took a seat across from her friends and sipped at the rich java. Then she said, “Can you believe Lex? She kicked Charlie’s ass. I couldn’t be more proud.” At the sound of Lex’s name, Lizzy the cat appeared at Grace’s feet. She reached down and picked up the creature, who was acting perfectly normal as if nothing had happened. “And you, little one. Nice job trying to scratch his eyes out.”
“That cat is a hero.”
Joy let out a chuckle and nodded. “You got that right. Maybe you should take her on your house showings. She’ll scare off any pesky ghosts, I’m sure.”
The truth was the cat probably would be a decent deterrent. But Grace had already made the internal commitment to be honest with her potential buyers. It was better for them to know what they were getting into. She shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.
“Now that we have some downtime,” Joy said, “I can fill you in on what I found out about the large white cottage on the edge of town.”
Grace sat up. “You have info for us?”
She nodded. “Yep. After I got the names of the previous owners, I put my research skills to work, and you’re not going to believe what I found.”
Grace scooted to the edge of her chair and said, “Spill it.”
Joy looked between Grace and Hope, and with her eyes wide, she said, “There are rumors of a suspicious death in the house in the mid-1980s.”
“A murder?” Grace asked, choking over a lump that suddenly formed in the back of her throat.
“Maybe,” Joy said, her tone ominous. “There was never any proof, but there was speculation in the local paper. A family named Kort lived there. The wife, Jenny, died suddenly. Drug overdose. Heroin. But her family and all her friends swore up and down that she never used drugs and barely even drank alcohol. Then one day she’s shooting up enough to overdose? It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Although, I suppose she could’ve just been good at hiding her addiction. Or her loved ones were covering to preserve some sort of family reputation.”
“That sounds more likely. Heroin isn’t exactly the kind of drug that is easy to hide if you do it regularly,” Grace said.
Hope raised one eyebrow. “You sound so… ominous. Is this something you’ve witnessed before?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Alyssa’s birth dad was an addict. We watched him spiral over the course of two years. It was really ugly.” Grace’s mom had never actually been married. Grace’s father died in a car crash before she was born. And then there was a revolving door of men in her mother’s life. The worst was Alyssa’s dad, and Grace strongly suspected that the reason her sister put up with shitty boyfriends was a direct result of her relationship with her own father. Or lack of one anyway.
Joy frowned. “I never knew that.”
“I don’t really talk about it.” Grace wrapped her hands around her mug. “Anyway, so there was speculation that someone gave the wife a lethal dose?”
“Yep. No arrests were ever made though. If we want to research it, we’d have to get the police records or talk to the detective who worked the case because all the relatives are gone now.”
“Moved away?” Grace asked.
She shook her head. “Died. The immediate ones anyway. Looks like there are cousins up in Washington and a couple down south, but no one who ever lived here in Premonition Pointe.”
Grace thought of the message the ghost had given them. Roots run deep. Family is the only thing that matters. We will never give up.
“It seems clear the ghost is unsettled and wants Jenny Kort’s murder solved,” Grace speculated. “That would make the most sense as to why the ghost isn’t willing to move on.”
“If Jenny was murdered,” Hope interjected. “How are we going to find that out if there’s no one to ask about the details?”
“There are police reports we could track down,” Joy said. “We could also talk to former neighbors, reporters, even medical professionals. The eighties weren’t that long ago. And in this small town? You know how people like to talk.”
Grace stifled a groan. Wasn’t that the truth. Small towns were the worst for gossip. She was willing to bet she could take a trip to the hair salon and find at least a small handful of people on any given day who had some juicy gossip.
“When can we start this research?” Grace asked. “I’ll need to make a list of possible leads.”
“Tomorrow?” Joy asked with a shrug.
“No Art Market meetings tomorrow?” Hope asked.
“Nope. My day is completely free,” Joy said. “Paul’s not even going to be home for dinner. He has a golf game and is planning to eat at the club.”
“Okay. Perfect.” Grace got up and grabbed her phone. After double-checking the appointment she’d scheduled, she said, “I’m meeting with a witch who specializes in dealing with stubborn hauntings tomorrow morning. After her assessment, I’m available to check things out.”
“A witch who specializes in hauntings?” Hope echoed. “Now things are getting serious. What does she do? Break out a Ouija board?”
“Ha, effing, ha,” Grace said dryly. But then she shrugged, because in her haste to find help, she hadn’t taken the time to find out what methods the ghost whisperer used to cleanse homes. She hoped it wasn’t something batshit crazy like blood sacrifices or anything to do with casting curses. Usually Grace was careful about who she worked with, but she’d been so excited to find someone who sounded like they knew what they were talking about that she hadn’t hesitated to hire her. “Oh, gods. Please let tomorrow go well. I do not need this to blow up in my face.”
“It won’t,” Joy insisted. “You’re too smart for that.”
Grace used to think so. Then she’d gone and nearly ripped her younger coworker’s clothes off, and not long after that, she’d led a breaking-and-entering mission to rescue a cat. Who knew what might have happened if Grace hadn’t had the balls to crush Charlie’s with her fist. Things could’ve gone south very quickly.
“Both of us will be there to back you up,” Hope assured her. “Just relax. We’re not going to let you do any crazy rituals. We’ll just expel an unpleasant ghost so we can all get on with our lives.” Hope stood and moved to Joy’s side. “Let’s go, hot stuff. Grace needs her beauty rest.”
“I need a hot shower first,” Grace said, “and then some sleep. See you both in the morning?”
“Definitely,” Hope said. “I’ve always wanted to learn some excellent ghost hunting skills. Seems useful.”
“Useful, right,” Grace mumbled as first Hope and then Joy hugged her goodnight.
“Take care of that precious girl,” Joy said, nodding to the front of the house where Lex and Bronwyn had their heads bent together as they whispered to each other.
“I will.” Grace walked them to the door and held it open for both of them.
After a long hot shower, just as she was getting ready to head to bed, Grace got a text. There was no name attached to the message, but it read, Grace, it’s Lucas. I’m back in town, staying at my mother’s, and I need a house ASAP. Preferably one that Hope adores. But I’d appreciate it if you’d keep that information to yourself.
Lucas? Hope’s Lucas? He was the one in the market for a house? Did that mean he was moving back to town? Hope was going to lose her damned mind when she realized he was back in Premonition Pointe for good.
Well, if he was house hunting, she sure wasn’t going to keep him waiting. Except she had an appointment with the ghost-whisperer in the morning. She tapped back for him to meet her at Pointe of View Café the next day for a late lunch so they could get to it. She had a commission to earn.
Chapter Eighteen
“This is such an interesting property.” Isobel Caligari stood in front of the Victorian, studying the dilapidated porch. “The spirits here are quite entertaining, aren’t they?”
“Sure. Entertaining,” Grace said from behind the ghost-whisperer and did her best to keep an open mind. The witch had been thirty minutes late and arrived wearing kitten
-print pajama pants and a cut-off tank top that showed off a pink sapphire belly button ring. Her hair was tied up into a messy bun, making her look like she’d just rolled out of bed.
“Do you know any history about the previous residents?” Isobel asked.
Grace turned to Joy, who was standing to her left leafing through a folder of paperwork. “Joy? Anything?”
“So far just names of people who owned the property,” Joy said. “No news articles or arrest records. Nothing online either. I think this place might have been a second home, so the previous owners weren’t based here. It’ll take more time to track any details down.”
Isobel waved an unconcerned hand. “No problem. Sometimes it’s better to not have any preconceived theories.” She walked up onto the porch, ran her hand over the peeling paint on the door, and chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Grace asked.
“Just the dedication. It takes a lot of energy to achieve this level of decay over just a few months.”
“I’d guess so,” Grace mumbled as she followed the witch into the house. Joy and Hope trailed behind her, whispering softly. She wondered what her friends thought of the witch. On the one hand, she seemed completely at ease and full of confidence. The combination made her interesting. On the other, Grace didn’t appreciate that the witch had wasted their time. She had a lot to do that day, including meeting with Lucas, her newest client.
“Hmm,” Isobel said as she stood in the middle of the room.
Grace opened her mouth to ask what the witch planned to do next, but before she could get the words out, Isobel abruptly sat down cross-legged and pressed her hands together in front of her heart as if she were meditating.
Hope and Joy both moved to stand next to Grace as the three of them waited to see what she’d do next.
Nothing is what she did next. The witch spent what seemed like forever chanting under her breath about listening to the spirits. Only nothing happened. The house was completely silent, and as far as Grace could tell, none of the spirits were making themselves known. Not like they had the day she’d shown the house to Gigi anyway.
Witching For Grace: Premonition Pointe, Book 1 Page 13