Even Witches Get the Blues (Wicked in Moonhaven~A Paranormal Cozy Book 1)

by J. D. Winters

  She shook her head. “Just the opposite,” she muttered, mostly to herself.

  “I don’t get it,” I said again.

  She gave me a dark look. “You don’t need to,” she said bluntly.

  That put me in my place, but I guess I deserved it.

  “Point taken,” I said. “But you know I plan to take over the Bar and Grill, don’t you? And turn it back into a café. I’ve got the deed in my name.”

  She nodded, frowning. “All well and good,” she said. “But what do you plan to do with it? Are you going to stay here and run it?”

  Good question. I didn’t have a good answer.

  “Maybe you should think about running it as a Sports Bar. It’s been pretty popular. It was successful at first. Until Scotty started drinking too much and let too many things slide.”

  Before I could say another word, she looked startled and grabbed my hand.

  “Did you hear that?” she murmured softly. “Did you hear anything?”

  I shook my head. “No, I didn’t hear anything.”

  But then there was a crash, as though something heavy had fallen. The sound of broken glass came next.

  “I’ve got to go,” she said, jumping up. “Sorry. See you later, Haley.”

  And she was in the house and gone. I heard the lock click as she closed the door. I sat there for a little longer, but I didn’t hear anything else, and finally I gave my pup a clicking sound and he looked up, then came down off the chair, ready to go.

  I grinned at him. “You look just like a little bear with eyebrows,” I told him. “You’re such a cutie. If you don’t go back where you belong soon, I’m going to claim you for my own.”

  He barked and I laughed. It was obvious he was ready to be adopted. But I knew I was going to have to go to the pound or whatever they had for lost animals in this town and make sure his real owner wasn’t looking for him before I could make my threat a reality.

  We walked around the square, sticking to the sidewalk, and it didn’t seem to be the eternity to cover the length the way it had seemed walking through the park. That might have been partly because the stores we passed were so interesting. They were all in various stages of redevelopment and from the looks of it things were going great. Each store had its own theme and all were freshly painted and spruced up for the tourist trade.

  The barber shop looked like it was being manned by a couple of Mario brothers of the video game fame while the little girls’ dress shop next door was a small castle that had to be entered through a pumpkin shaped coach—Cinderella? Then there was a toddlers’ gym playing zany music while small children climbed all manner of shapes and climb-walls painted in bright colors, being helped by smiling clowns while the mothers stood by helpfully, ready to catch anyone who missed a foothold.

  At first I was startled, then a little bit appalled, and finally, it began to make me smile. It was sort of like living in Disneyland.

  When we reached the lawyer’s place, we found him out in the front yard with a huge tape measure, taking down numbers.

  He glanced up and saw me and his eyebrows rose. “Ahoy,” he said. “Miss Greco. Could you come help me for a second?”

  “Certainly.”

  I walked into his yard and held the end of the tape while he counted off the measure and jotted down numbers in a small notebook. He was a strange guy, but oddly appealing, especially when he smiled.

  “What’s this all about?” I asked him.

  “I’m trying to figure out whether or not I have room for a maze.”

  “A maze?”

  “Yeah, you know. Hedges in straight lines with dead ends. People lost for hours, can’t find their way out. That sort of thing.”

  “The chessboard in the back yard isn’t enough for you?” I asked, laughing.

  “Oh no. I’ve got plans. You should see what I’m doing out at my ranch.”

  “Your ranch.” I shook my head. Who was this man? “You’ll have to tell me about it someday. Right now I’m on my way to the Moonhaven Motel.” I started off. “See you later.”

  “Hey,” he called after me. “I’ll pick you up at the motel at 6. Dinner’s on me, okay?”

  I turned to look back, ready to turn him down. But I saw Sherrie, his receptionist, standing in the doorway, looking outraged. That woman really didn’t like me and I couldn’t help but gloat a little.

  “Sure,” I said. “I’ll be ready.”

  I marched on, my little dog at my side, feeling smug. I didn’t win very often, it seemed, but even amnesiacs like me got a tiny “hah!” once in awhile.

  ***

  I found my car and put the dog in the back seat. He bounced around, happy as a clam.

  “No heads out of windows,” I warned him. “I can just see you learning to fly.”

  He gave me a disappointed whine, turned twice and ended curled up in sleeping position.

  “Hey, we’re only going about a block,” I said, laughing at him.

  A witch walked by shaking her broom at us. Well, it was pretty obvious she was a waitress on her way to work, dressed up for the town playacting, but she looked pretty authentic.

  I said, “Nice broom,” as she passed and she grinned.

  “I’ll get you my pretty,” she threatened playfully, shaking that broom at me. “And your little dog too!”

  I laughed as she walked on, then turned to look at him again. “That does it,” I said. “Your name has got to be Toto. Right?”

  He gave me one short bark, and I nodded. “Got it right on the first try, didn’t I?” And we took off.

  I pulled into the parking lot. It looked just like any other motel which was disappointing. But it did have a fresh paint job. Pastels. That was unusual. Rainbow colors. Looking at it I had to admit, it made you think that something magic might happen if you gave it time.

  I left Toto in the car while I went into the lobby, looking for the registration desk. A couple of tourists were lingering at the brochure rack, planning future trips, and I could see a man in the office behind the counter, seemingly working on a copy machine that was misbehaving. Meanwhile, a pretty young girl in a pastel uniform greeted me from behind the counter.

  “May I help you?”

  Before I had a chance to answer, the copy machine in the office behind her began to make a horrible sound, like metal on metal, grinding away. We both covered our ears and made faces at each other until it stopped.

  “Sorry,” she said with a laugh. “The copy machine is driving us crazy. My manager can usually fix it pretty quickly but this time…” She shrugged. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’d like a room, please.”

  “Just for tonight?”

  I thought for a minute. “Can I leave that open-ended? I’m not sure for how long I’m going to have to stay.”

  “Sure. Just understand that every day has a checkout time at eleven, so once you stay after that…”

  I nodded. “I get it. I pay for every day I stay past eleven.”

  “Exactly.” She picked up a pen and pulled out a charge slip, barely cringing as the copy machine cried out in pain once again. “Name?”

  “Haley Greco.”

  She froze, then looked up, eyes wide. “What?”

  “Haley Greco.”

  “Did you say Greco?”

  “Yes. Haley Greco.”

  She looked pale.

  “Uh…just a moment please. I have to speak to my manager.”

  What?

  “But…?”

  She was gone, hurrying into the glass encased room, closing the door so I couldn’t hear what she was saying to him. I started to look around the lobby, wondering if anyone else had heard my name and was looking shocked too. What the heck was going on? This was almost scary.

  The counter girl came back, bringing the tall young man with thinning hair who’d been working on the machine along with her.

  He looked at me, and then he looked at her, and he said, “It’s okay Judy. You can leave thi
s to me.”

  “Do you want me to…?”

  “No. Go back in the office and finish up those towel orders if you will.”

  She let out a heart-felt sigh. “Okay.”

  She looked at me as though she really wished she could stay to see what he was going to do to me. Finally, she drifted slowly away.

  He waited until she was gone, then leaned on the counter across from me so that he could get close enough for his words to be private.

  “What the hell are you doing back here?” he demanded, and he didn’t look friendly. “After what you put your parents through, disappearing like that?”

  I blinked. Hey, I thought I’d gone off to college. Maybe this was one of those Rashomon moments where everyone saw a situation through different eyes.

  “I was a kid,” I said stiffly, hoping it really would apply to this case. “Didn’t you do any stupid, thoughtless things when you were young?”

  “Sure I did. But I didn’t wait five years to come back and apologize.”

  Five years. I’d been wondering how long ago it had been since I’d skipped town. Five years since I’d seen my parents? Five years since I’d been—friends or enemies with Shane. Where in the world had I been all this time?

  It was on the tip of my tongue to say, “What makes you think I’m apologizing?” but I knew that would just put a seal on his anger. I didn’t need that. I really, really wanted a room. Suddenly, I was so tired I could hardly keep my speech from slurring.

  “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry for anything I ever did to you. I’m sorry for whatever my parents went through.”

  My parents. Yeah, what had happened to them? Luanne had said something about them going overseas to find medical help for my brother. Maybe this guy knew something about that.

  I looked into his eyes. He looked more puzzled than angry. Maybe if I acted more friendly, he’d get more friendly too.

  “Do you…know where my parents are?” I asked, and the moment I said the words, I felt a stinging in my eyes.

  No! No crying.

  I bit my lip but my eyes filled with tears anyway.

  He stared at me. I’d misjudged him. He felt nothing kind or warm for me at all. In fact, I had the sense that he hated me. Bad news.

  “Listen,” I said, blinking away the tears as best I could. “I know I’ve done a lot of things to embarrassed about, a lot of things that need to be fixed. I want to make it up to everyone I ever hurt. I want to make it up to this town. Please…”

  He was shaking his head, his eyes cold, his mouth turned down at the corners. “Why don’t you just take yourself on out to the interstate and find a place there? No one will know who you are. You’ll be happier there.”

  “Got a problem here, Vince?”

  The voice was low and rough and I knew it was Shane before I turned and looked at him. His eyes didn’t look any friendlier than Vince’s did and I found myself tensing, as if expecting to have to defend myself somehow.

  “I’m just trying to get a room,” I said.

  At the same time, Vince said, “She was just leaving. Weren’t you, Haley Greco?”

  I looked at them both and suddenly anger overwhelmed the sadness I’d been feeling.

  “No,” I said loud and clear. “I’m not going anywhere. You provide a public facility and it’s against the law for you to discriminate against me. You either give me a room, or I’ll sue your ass.”

  Shane’s mouth twisted in a reluctant grin, but Vince was sputtering with indignation. Suddenly, Shane’s fingers were around my upper arm and he was steering me toward the office.

  “Let’s go back here where you and I can talk in private,” he muttered to me, waving off Vince, and then Judy, who had come back, as well. A moment later, we were alone in the glassed-in office, door closed, copy machine grinding ominously, periodically spewing papers across the floor.

  I looked at it, about ready to scream. It was so annoying and it seemed to be playing a background musical thematic piece to my frustration. Somehow I’d been tossed into this set of circumstances and I was trying to play a strong part without the necessary background information to keep from making big mistakes. The metallic screeching didn’t help my concentration. I wanted to stick my fingers in my ears. Either that, or attack this stupid copy machine with a fire axe.

  “Okay Haley,” he said, pinning me with his brilliant blue-eyed stare. “What’s the deal? What are you doing here and what do you want?”

  “I just want a place to sleep,” I said defensively.

  He shook his head. “You know I’m talking about more than a room for the night. What’s your game?”

  I looked into his eyes, at the lack of compassion, the lack of understanding, and I thoroughly regretted having told him about my little case of amnesia—even as little as I gave away in the park. What had possessed me to respond to him as though there was even the slightest potential of friendship there? I had to guard against that sort of foolishness. I couldn’t trust anyone.

  “Tell me this, Shane,” I said instead of answering him. “When are you going to help me get Scotty to give up the Bar and Grill to its rightful owner—me?”

  “You?”

  That surprised him and gave me a few seconds of triumph. But the feeling didn’t last. And the copy machine had gone to a new, higher level of cacophony. My nerves felt like they were being stripped raw.

  But I kept an even keel. I nodded. “I’ve got the deed with my name on it. I’ve already consulted Bentley St. Ames, that new lawyer. He’s going to represent me. Now I just need law enforcement behind me and I can get that place cleared out. What do I need to do to get the ball rolling?”

  He never answered that question. The copy machine gave a new earsplitting shriek and I turned on it in rage, slapping my hands down flat on top of it and crying, “Stop it right now! No more.”

  I stood there for a moment, transfixed. I felt a surge of power move through me and out into my hands. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. But the machine noise came to a fumbling stop and suddenly, it sounded like a normal copy machine again. No shrieks. No metal on metal moaning. No spewing papers out at warp speed. Just a happy little copy sound, buzzing along like a good little machine, producing perfect copies of whatever that was they’d been trying to do.

  Slowly, I raised my hands off its surface and began to back away. Shane was watching me, his mouth twisted, his eyes bright. Vince and Judy were beyond the glass, their mouths hanging open.

  I looked up at them, each in turn. “Okay then,” I said coolly. “What was the problem with me staying here again?”

  Vince didn’t say a word. He pulled out the registration slip and began to fill it out. Judy began to polish furniture.

  Shane grinned, gave me a wink and leaned close. “Stay out of trouble, Haley. And go see your grandmother. She’ll fill you in on anything you need to know.”

  The way he said that puzzled me. I looked into his eyes. “Are you friends with my grandmother?”

  He let out a short laugh. “Hardly. But I do respect her.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’ll check on you later,” he promised.

  And he was gone.

  “Now, you’re going to abide by the rules, right?” Vince was saying nervously. “No funny stuff?”

  I looked at him with clear, guileless eyes. “Of course. It never entered my mind.”

  And all the time I was planning how I was going to sneak my new little dog into the room without being seen. Or heard. I was going to have to have a nice long talk with him about barking.

  Chapter Five

  This room was much nicer than the one I’d woken up in that morning. It felt good to be able to relax for awhile. But Toto was hungry and I knew a walk to the grocery store was in my immediate future, plus a call to the local pound.

  But first—I needed to lie very still for about half an hour and think about what I was doing and who I was. That surge of power I’d felt when I’d put my hands on the
copier still stunned me whenever I let myself think about it. What had that been? And how could that have “fixed” the machine? I didn’t know the first thing about electronic appliances. I could barely use my cell phone. So how had that happened?

  Just a coincidence? You know, I could have bought that explanation if I hadn’t felt that surge. Something flowed through me for a moment there, something awesome and overpowering. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to feel it again.

  I felt a lot better after a bit of rest, and then I remembered that I’d said I’d go to dinner with the lawyer. Why had I done that? I didn’t have anything to wear. I had his card. Maybe I ought to give him a call and cancel. I looked in the mirror. Actually, I looked better than I’d thought I did. Maybe I could pick up something to wear when I went out to the grocery store. That perked me right up again and I played with Toto for a few minutes, then headed out.

  The only place selling adult clothing I could find was an exotic candle shop a few doors down the street. Along with incense and scented candles, they had a rack of flowing skirts and brightly colored off the shoulder blouses, all made in India. I picked out a gauzy turquoise off-the-shoulder model and a long skirt in black and sea green that swirled around my legs as I walked. I added a pair of sandals decorated with black stones and felt pretty good about what I was going to wear for dinner. What a relief.

  “So, you going to be telling fortunes tonight?” asked the woman who rang me up. She was beautiful in a yellow sari with flowers in her jet black hair.

  “Fortunes?” I smiled. “I’ve never told a fortune in my life.”

  Her eyes opened wide and then she winked at me. “Incognito, huh?” she said. “Don’t worry. I won’t spill the beans.”

  I smiled back a bit uncertainly. She seemed to think she had me dead to rights, and I had no idea what she was talking about. But at least she hadn’t seen my name on the credit card and called the police. That was what I was worried about now. I didn’t want to see Shane again tonight.

  At the grocery store, I went first to the community bulletin board to see if anyone had put up a poster for a lost dog. I saw plenty of posters for people who wanted to start a band and girls who wanted to sell their newly crocheted items, but no animals. I reacted with a mixture of relief and regret. How could I really take over the responsibility of having a dog? I didn’t think I would be here long. Something told me that I’d been brought here for a reason, and once that reason was taken care of, I would be gone. And what would happen to that little cutie then?