Sassy Blonde: USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

by Stacey Kennedy

  A telephone rang out in the cubicles, fingers tapped constantly against keyboards. Hayes shut it all out with a steady breath. “I want to investigate who stole my truck and Maisie’s trailer.”

  His father replied, “Boulder’s working that case. And need I remind you that you’re not a cop anymore? Your choice, not mine.”

  Hayes dealt with the first part of his rebuttal. “The case could be worked in conjunction with River Rock, if the request came in from the chief of police.”

  Dad leaned back in his chair. His slow smile began to build. “Ah, which brings us back to the second part of my statement.”

  Hayes nodded. “What are you asking from me?”

  “Six months. Work this case, then work here for me. If you want to walk away after that, then walk. But I want six months of your service.”

  Hayes knew why. His father thought he’d miss the job, realize that the law was in his blood. It had been a part of him. Maybe the best parts of him. At the moment, Hayes didn’t care if that love came back. For Maisie, he needed to right this wrong. Hayes rose. “How long will it take you to reinstate me?”

  “Officially, about a week,” his father said, his body posture perking up. “Unofficially, you can start tomorrow morning.” Dad hesitated now. The look in his eye was not that of the police chief, but of Hayes’s father. Attentive. Concerned. “Before we move ahead with this, do you have your mind straight? I do not need you becoming a liability.”

  The light draining from Maisie’s eyes when she saw the burnt-out trailer filled Hayes’s mind. He’d seen the light go out of her eyes before. Never fucking again. He tapped his knuckles against the top of the chair. “Yes. Make it happen.” And with every step out of the station, he wasn’t thinking about his regrets or concerns, he only thought of Maisie.

  10

  The night seemed to drag on and on and on, and Maisie had tossed and turned the majority of it, mulling over the entire situation. All she wanted was to fulfill Pops’s final wishes, but all she did was fail. And late into the night, as Maisie stared at the bright moon outside her window, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Clara was right. She’d caught a curse somewhere in her life. Maisie had no idea by who or what, but the more she thought on it, the more she wondered why, no matter how hard she tried, everything went wrong. What had she done to irritate fate?

  When exhaustion finally swallowed her up, Maisie dreamed of fairies with magical powers and pretty meadows with vivid, bright colors. When she awoke to a beautifully sunny day, she knew exactly what she needed to do. Extreme times called for extreme measures, and she was done sitting around waiting to fail again. She snatched her phone off her bedside table and dialed Penelope.

  A sleepy Penelope answered the phone. “What’s wrong?”

  “I have to go see Luna Whittle,” Maisie said, staring up at the flower shaped medallion above her ceiling fan.

  Penelope croaked, “The psychic?”

  “Yes!”

  Shuffling sounds filled the phone line, and then Penelope groaned. “Maisie, it’s seven o’clock in the morning.”

  “I know. I’m sorry for calling so early, but please tell me you’ll come with me.”

  “Of course, I’ll come with you,” Penelope responded immediately. Some of the sleepiness left Penelope’s voice. “What time do you need me ready by?”

  Maisie blew out a relieved breath. “I’ll text you once I know. Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

  “You don’t need to thank me,” Penelope said, warmth enveloping her voice. “You’d do the same thing for me. See you soon. Bye.”

  “Bye.” Maisie ended the call, sat up, and leaned against the wall of pillows behind her. Penelope was probably the only one who wouldn’t judge Maisie for taking a wild next step.

  Determined to get her life back on track, Maisie opened her web browser on her phone, pulling up Luna’s website. Using the online booking system, she selected the only available appointment for nine thirty and settled back into bed with her phone on her chest.

  Something good would come out of this. She wasn’t sure how she knew that with such certainty, but she felt it bone deep. She’d gone to high school with Luna, and rumors said she’d come from generations of psychics and mediums. Maisie didn’t know what to believe, but doing things the normal way was getting her nowhere, and if there was a hex on her, she wanted it off. Pronto.

  Going back to sleep was impossible. Maisie decided to deal with the laundry from the road trip. She showered and shaved, spending a little more time than normal, just in case she saw Hayes later. She dressed in a floral print baby doll dress and paired it with strappy sandals, leaving her hair down and letting the natural wave take over, and added light makeup.

  Before she knew it, nine o’clock arrived, and she was on the way to pick up Penelope. She opened the roof of her MINI convertible, letting the warm sun give her the big dose of vitamin D she needed. When she arrived at the two-story house Penelope shared with Darryl, Penelope was already waiting outside on the porch. She wore jean shorts and a pretty, flowy tank top, her long dark hair was in a messy bun, and fresh makeup on her face. While Maisie was close with her sisters, she’d been on the same wavelength as Penelope since birth, and Penelope’s sweet smile when Maisie pulled into the driveway loosened the tension in Maisie’s chest.

  While Maisie had become closer to Clara and Amelia since Laurel’s death, they would never understand Maisie the way Penelope did. They’d question her sanity or try to talk her out of letting a psychic solve her problems, but the only thing Penelope said after the getting into the car was, “All right, you big nut ball, what are we asking Luna today?”

  Maisie hit the road again. “I take it you’ve heard what happened to Hayes’s truck and my trailer, right?”

  The strands of Penelope’s hair blew in the wind. She laughed and grabbed her hair at the base of her neck. “Maisie, we live in a small town. Everyone has heard what happened.”

  “Right,” Maisie muttered, swallowing back the bile in her throat. Of course, everyone knew she’d failed. Again. “Well, here’s the thing. I’ve always just gone with the flow and accepted that life is just a big cesspool of disappointments, but I need answers now. Luna will give me those.”

  “Okay then,” Penelope said, as if that explained everything. “So, how was the sex with Hayes?”

  Maisie swerved on the road, her tire hitting the curb before she righted the car. “Please tell me that is not running along the gossip train?”

  “Ha! I knew it. You totally slept with him.” Penelope nudged Maisie’s arm with a playful shove, crossing her legs. “Tell me everything. Leave no detail out. I want all the juice.”

  Maisie had planned to tell her already. She heard the dreaminess in her own sigh. “The sex…God, Penelope, the sex was out of this world.”

  “Not surprised,” Penelope said with a waggle of her eyebrows and a shit-eating grin. “Hayes is all broody and rough, a total man.”

  Train track lights flashed up ahead. Maisie slowed the car to a stop and put it in park as the gates lowered, blocking off the road as the train suddenly flew by. “I actually think being with him was even better than I could have imagined. There’s just so much…”

  “Passion? Tension? Chemistry?”

  Maisie nodded. “Yeah, all that. But there’s more, like, I know Hayes. Really know him. It makes the whole experience just different, I guess.”

  “Because of what you’ve been through together?”

  “That,” Maisie agreed with another nod, “and that we’ve seen each other at our best and at our very worst. It’s like having a best friend who knows every single thing you’ve ever been through, but then somehow ignites explosive passion too, because they know you enough to do that. I’ve never had sex like that.”

  “That’s the good stuff,” Penelope said. “The everlasting stuff.”

  Maisie’s heart squeezed in agreement. “Tell that to Hayes for me, would ya?” s
he joked, placing her foot back on the brake and shifting into drive as the train finally vanished and the gates lifted again.

  As the car bounced over the tracks, Penelope asked, “Do I want to know what that even means?”

  “It means I’m still not sure where things are going with us,” Maisie explained with a sigh. Penelope knew everything. Maisie leaned on her when Laurel passed away. She told Penelope when she started developing feelings for Hayes. “And isn’t that weird? I mean, I don’t really get the feeling that he’s holding back because I’m Laurel’s best friend; this is something different.”

  “Hmm,” Penelope hummed. “He won’t talk to you about what’s going on?”

  “I haven’t really asked,” Maisie admitted. “And yes, I’m know that’s because I’m scared if I ask, then he’ll shut me out.”

  Penelope gave a dry laugh. “Okay, then I won’t say that, because you have your answer. You just have to talk to him.”

  Seemed so easy, but it wasn’t at all. Hayes had been through a lot. Too much. He finally seemed happy again, she didn’t want to push him too fast, too soon. Maisie stayed lost in that thought for the last few minutes of the drive. When they reached downtown, people were already walking the streets, visiting the farmer’s market, and shopping in the quaint stores. She pulled to a stop next to the red brick storefront with the black awning next to an old bookstore. The hanging wooden sign read: LUNA WHITTLE. HOUSE OF MAGIC.

  “Ready?” Penelope asked, undoing her seat belt.

  Maisie stared at the sign. She needed to get answers. For everything. “Hell yes,” she told Penelope and then got out in an instant. She strode toward the small store, with Penelope hot on her heels.

  When she entered, ethereal music played through the speaker on the desk. A black cat with bright green eyes cleaned its paw on the counter. Strings of lights hung around the ceiling, with plants decorating the corners of the room. Along the far wall were shelves displaying tea sets and herbal teas, with celestial pictures on any available surface. Scented candles warmed the space, smelling both earthy and spicy.

  The cat meowed, almost in greeting, when Luna came out from the private room at the back. She was everything one would expect a psychic to look like. She had long blond hair that was the whitest blond Maisie had ever seen. Her eyes were a striking gray color that stayed with a person after they peered into them. Luna was both soft and sweet, and full of so much warm light, it practically exploded out of her.

  “Hi, Maisie,” Luna said with a bright smile. “It’s so nice to see you.”

  “Good to see you too,” Maisie said, stepping farther into the shop. “Have you met my cousin Penelope?”

  “Not yet, but I did sense you when you moved to town.” Luna smiled.

  Penelope laughed nervously, settled in next to Maisie, and grinned down at the cat, giving him scratches on the top of his soft, furry head. “Oh, you are such a lover.”

  “He most definitely is,” Luna said. “Please feel free to sit and relax while Maisie and I chat.”

  “Thanks.” Penelope sidled up to Maisie. “I think I’ll just visit with this sweet fluff ball while you’re having your talk.”

  “Oh, yes,” Luna said. “He will like that very much.”

  Feeling oddly nervous, Maisie gave Penelope a quick wave and then followed Luna into the private room. Curtains draped from the ceiling to the floor. A round table with a fringed cloth sat in the center of the room, with two cushioned chairs around the table. In the middle of the table were crystals in a bowl.

  “Please, take a seat,” Luna said.

  Maisie did as she asked, wiping her sweaty palms on her dress.

  Luna sat across from her, reaching her hands out, palms up. “Please give me your hands.”

  Maisie exhaled slowly and slid her hands into Luna’s delicate ones. For as long as she’d known Luna, she’d never had a reading done by her. She never really believed in it all. But the way Maisie had gone about things wasn’t working anymore. She needed a way out. And people in town swore by Luna’s gifts. Besides, Clara had planted the idea with her hex talk; Maisie was simply running with it.

  Luna’s head cocked, wise eyes warm. “Is there something specific you’d like to address?”

  “I think I might be hexed,” Maisie admitted. “Can you tell if I am?”

  “I can try.” Luna bowed her head, breathed deep. Once. Twice. And again. “Ah, I see,” she finally said, lifting her bright gaze. “No, you’re not hexed. You’re simply not doing what you should be doing. And your guardian angel, which I like to call your guide, is annoyed that you’re not listening.”

  Maisie had heard Luna was amazing, but that came out so fast and clear that Maisie’s mouth dropped open. “Okay, so how exactly do I fix all this?”

  “You’ve got to start listening to your guide,” Luna explained, as if that was all very simple. “Your chance for happiness is coming to a head. Your guide is trying very hard to get you to hear the message—you need to stop and listen.” She cocked her head, eyes closed, a look of such peace crossing her face. “The message I keep hearing is that to succeed, you need to be yourself. Trust in your heart.”

  “All right,” she said, feeling like she hadn’t trusted in her heart for a very long time. Since the brewery opened, she’d been following Clara and Amelia’s leads.

  Luna opened her eyes, a twinkle in their depths, and she gave a nod like she already figured Maisie out. “Once you accept your place in this world, things will become less hard for you. Life will settle into where it should be, and your guide will quiet down.” She hesitated, her head tilting again. “I see a man.”

  Maisie stiffened. “A man.”

  “Yes,” Luna said slowly, glancing back down at Maisie’s palm. “A man you care for very deeply. Your souls are twined intimately in ways most are not. But this man, he’s got a secret. A deep one that still wounds him.”

  The direction change made Maisie’s head spin. “Do you know what kind of secret?” she all but whispered.

  Luna snapped her eyes to Maisie’s again, and rose, the color in her face oddly gone. “I’m afraid that truth is not mine to share. That’s all I have for you today. If things don’t settle for you in a week, come back, and I’ll see what I can do to ease this guide of yours.”

  Maisie rose on shaky legs. She took a step forward to leave, when something suddenly occurred to her. “Do you know who my guide is?” she asked.

  Luna gave a gentle smile. “Your Pops, of course.” As Maisie reeled from that, Luna said, “And, Maisie? Ask for help. It’s out there.”

  The sun began to set over the mountains outside of Hayes’s office window. He’d spent the last few hours going through the surveillance footage from various cameras at the amusement park hoping he could catch a glimpse of the truck leaving. Hayes had watched the footage again…and again…and again. They didn’t have a direct shot of the parking lot where the truck was parked. So far, he’d come up empty. Last night, he’d crashed at home after a hot shower, only to come back into the station at eight o’clock this morning after word came in that Detective Stewart agreed to work a joint investigation. Since then, he hadn’t left his chair except to grab food. And Hayes felt each and every hour that had followed. His eyes strained, but his gut told him there was something in these videos he could use to catch the person who hurt Maisie. Exhausted, he stretched out his shoulders and leaned back against his chair, rubbing his eyes.

  The phone on the desk rang. “Taylor,” he said by way of greeting.

  “Detective Stewart calling from Boulder,” he said, and after a short pause, he added, “Neil for short.” He chuckled.

  “Hey, Neil,” Hayes said. “Hayes here. What can I do for you?”

  “Hayes, glad to work this case alongside you,” Neil said. “I’m reaching out to see if you’ve gotten anywhere on your end.”

  Hayes glanced at the report he’d printed off this morning after the detective had shared the online file. “At the mo
ment, nothing is jumping out at me.”

  Neil made a low noise in his throat. “I’m in the same boat over here. I’ve interviewed the three people on the suspects’ list I sent you but have ruled them all out.”

  “Good to know.” Hayes tucked the phone between his shoulder and ear. He grabbed that list and scratched out the names, frustrated he didn’t have any names of his own to add to that list. “Any other updates?”

  “Prints didn’t turn up anything in the databases. Not that there were that many to begin with. The fire damage, as you saw, was excessive.”

  Hayes grabbed the copied photograph of his truck beneath the pile of papers. He loved that truck, but there wasn’t much of it left. A total write-off. He’d got the insurance claim rolling on that this morning. Then he reached for the photograph of Maisie’s trailer. Burned beyond recognition. “You’ll keep me in the loop if anything develops there.”

  “Of course. Call too, if you see anything I’m not.”

  “Will do.”

  “I’m heading home for the night, but I’ll be back in at eight tomorrow morning.”

  “Same here. Hopefully, with fresh eyes.”

  “Agreed. Have a good night.”

  “You too.”

  The line went dead. Hayes returned the phone to its base and then rubbed the back of his neck, wishing the answer popped out at him. He wanted to get this solved for Maisie. He needed her to know he’d caught the bastards who’d cut her so deeply.

  Laughter coming from the hallway made him lift his head. Three guys strode by, a blur of blue uniforms and weapons, but then suddenly one of those men froze. Hayes chuckled now, as wide eyes greeted him.

  “Hey,” Hayes said.

  Darryl entered the doorway, his stare incredulous. “All right, I know it’s been a shitty, long day, but you are sitting there, right?”