I blinked while the wind pulled at my fake eyelashes.
Um—what?
And then it hit me. Marie had said Doug told her he was going to be in big trouble with his wife, and this time it wasn’t just his cheating. And Ryan Gimble had heard him yelling with someone outside the country club that he was going to tell everyone.
Add in an upset tummy and some crackers and ginger ale, and you have what?
Morning sickness.
And that means?
A baby.
Oh, holy mackerel, Tammy was pregnant with Doug’s baby—and this after he’d told Cleo he didn’t want children.
“You’re pregnant with Doug’s baby?” I squeaked as the facts came rushing at me in a tidal wave of information.
Her shoulders shook a little, her lower lip trembling. “You mean with that dirtbag’s baby. Yes! It was an accident, Madame Zoltar. A stupid, stupid accident!”
That’s sort of all it takes, right?
“But why?” I croaked, my eyes beginning to tear from the heavy wind.
“I don’t know! I was lonely. Jay was away in London for two solid months, leaving me to do all the wedding planning alone, and it just happened!”
Swallowing hard, the wind tearing at my dress and lashing my face, I asked, “But you were going to pass it off as Jay’s, weren’t you?”
She rolled her beautiful eyes and moved even closer. “Of course I was! I didn’t want anyone to know it was Doug’s! I couldn’t let Cleo know. It would have killed her!”
“Then how did he find out?” I squeaked, eyeing the jagged edges of the bottle.
“He came over one night when he got freaked I was going to tell Cleo what happened between us. He saw the test results on my kitchen counter when I went to the bathroom. I guess, since I was only six weeks along, and with Jay gone, he put two and two together and he threatened to tell Cleo. Stupid me for forgetting I left them there, huh? But he was going to ruin everything! He was going to confess everything to Cleo!” she howled
Making myself as small as I could against the lip of the boat, I said, “But I thought Doug didn’t want children?”
She hovered over me, the dripping jagged end of the bottle right next to my legs. “He didn’t until he had one on the way. Then he got all guilty and threatened to tell Cleo and Jay. That’s why he came to Eb Falls. He came because he wanted to ruin everything!”
Not his. Mine.
I was surer than ever now—that message had been from Doug.
Voices were growing closer, and I heard the sound of sirens piercing the evening air. It was only a matter of time before the police were here. I had to keep her talking until then.
“So it was you outside the country club arguing with him?”
“Yes!” she cried raggedly. “ Yes! And it was me who jammed that cake server in his head! He wouldn’t listen to reason, Madam Zoltar! He refused. He had to go! He wouldn’t shut up, so I grabbed the first thing I could find in that box of stuff for the wedding and I killed him!” she cried as her feet shifted, and my arms decided they were going to take a stab at immitating limp spaghetti noodles.
I tried to lift myself up, to get out of this vulnerable position, but my body was on strike. “And Fallon? You killed her because she saw you in the hoodie, didn’t she?”
Tammy gasped, her chest heaving with the effort. “How did you know that?”
“I told you, Tammy, everyone knows! She left a voice mail for her husband, but he didn’t get it until today.”
“I knew it!” she bellowed as the night began to swallow us up. “I knew she saw me! I knew it was her. I couldn’t take any chances!”
My eyes went wide with surprise. “So you whacked her over the head with a baseball bat?”
Now she snickered a little—eerie and cold. “And you, too. Don’t forget that! I didn’t know if she’d told you anything yet. Why couldn’t you just stay out of it?” she screamed, spit flying from her mouth as she grabbed me by the front of my dress and hauled me close to her face.
I should not have had that glass of champagne. It was wreaking havoc with my motor skills. As she raised the glass bottle, I yelled, “But wait! You told me how Leslie felt about Cleo to throw us off the scent, didn’t you?”
Now she smiled and winked, her gorgeous eyelashes brushing against her pink cheek as her hair flew about her face. “Pretty good, right?” she asked slyly, before she mimicked the conversation we’d had about turning in her friends, bringing fake tears to her eyes and even faker concern to her voice. “How can I choose one friend over the other, Jay? I won’t do it!” She stomped her foot for emphasis before her evil look returned. “Pretending to let Jay talk me into going to the police when really, it was the plan all along.”
“To make it look like someone else’s idea?” I yelled over the slosh of water and wind.
Tammy grinned, obviously pleased with herself. “Uh-huh. I really should have pursued acting, don’t you think?”
“Tammy, stop!” I heard someone yell. “Let her go!”
Man, she was strong. The second she heard her name was the moment she chose to haul me to my feet, all kinds of pathetic and limbs loosey-goosey, and wrap her arm around my neck until she had my back pressed against her chest.
“I’ll slit her throat if you don’t let me go!” she yelled to the crowd, I could hear and almost see the outline of in the dim lights on the dock.
She pressed the glass bottle to my skin so hard, I felt a trickle of blood seep from my neck—and that made me angry. But my motor skills felt a little wonky and I couldn’t seem to get my bearings.
“Stephania! Remember the rule!”
The rule. I racked my brain for the rule. What was the rule?
As the wind battered my face and Tammy cinched my neck so tight, I began to choke, I went through some of the rules Win had taught me.
And then, out of nowhere, Arkady was there. Win must have called on him to come help.
“My malutka, go limp! Go limp and catch her off the guard!”
Limp! Yes! That was the rule.
Instantly, I slumped against Tammy, letting my weight fall against her and knocking her backward.
And then I sprang into action. I’m pretty sure divine intervention was at work here, but when we fell back, the bottle fell from her hand and that was when I threw myself at her.
What I didn’t realize was how close to the side of the boat we were. We tipped over and hit the icy-cold water hard. Me clinging to Tammy and her fighting me the entire way.
As we dove under the surface, I fought to get away from her iron grip, (man, she was strong!) digging my nails into her arms until she suddenly shot upward, water rushing in bubbles to the surface.
And then I felt hands gripping me, lifting me up by my underarms, and the weight of my dress clinging to my legs as I was hauled out of the water.
“Get a blanket!” I heard Win order.
Sirens blared and people yelled. There was even some crying—mostly Tammy’s—but I think I heard her mother say, “Tammy, what have you done?”
A warm blanket was wrapped around me as Win hugged me close and I shivered, my teeth chattering. “Dove, whatever shall I do with you? I thought you were going to the lady’s room?”
I snorted a laugh. “I couldn’t let him marry a psychopath, Win. I hear annulments are a pain in the backside.”
“You’re going to be the death of me, Stephania,” he said, rocking me back and forth as we sat in a pool of water.
“Champagne’s going to be the death of me. I forgot how sluggish it makes me. I felt like a hundred years old, chasing after her.”
“That didn’t seem the case for those of us behind you. The elliptical has served you well.”
Now I laughed…and then I frowned when I tried to locate the pockets of my dress. Empty. Dang it all.
I groaned. “I lost my phone—again! Man, I hate having to adjust to a new phone.”
“Ah, but at least you didn’t lose an ent
ire car,” Win teased.
Fair point, International Man of Mystery.
Fair point.
The End
Epilogue
A week later…
“It’s a lovely day to make nice with your friend Dana, don’t you think, my poor injured Dove?”
Rolling my eyes, I sat forward on my lounge chair, my sprained ankle wrapped in an Ace bandage. “Is he coming to beg my forgiveness?”
Win ran a finger down the length of my nose. “Come now, Stephania. The time has come to make peace with each other and fix this. Dana is your friend. He was worried sick when that madwoman held that bottle to your throat. As worried as I was.”
That woman. That woman, Tammy Parker, had been charged with the murder of Fallon Merriweather and Doug Wallace. She confessed to having the hoodie and throwing it in the garbage. Cleo had loaned it to her earlier in the night because she was cold, but had forgotten after drinking so much.
Tammy didn’t have to steal it from Cleo’s room—she’d already had it. And when Doug texted her that night, telling her he was at the motel and he was going to tell Cleo, she stuffed the pillows from her bed under the covers to make it look like she was sleeping and put the hoodie on, taking the cake server with her, knowing what she was going to do to shut Doug up.
Linda, pretty drunk herself, only thought she saw Tammy in her bed asleep. In reality, she was downstairs killing Doug.
“Fine. I’ll hear him out, but this is the last time. No more of this wishy-washy nonsense. I am what I am. We are what we are. Period. Believe or don’t, but stop yanking me around.”
“Deal,” I heard Dana call from behind me.
“I’ll leave you two to chat. Beer, bro-friend?” Win asked Dana.
He grinned. “You bet.” Then he turned to me, his angled face soft with apology. “Stevie? I’m sorry. I suck.”
“Naw. You don’t get off that easy, pal. You hurt my feelings.”
He pulled a chair up to the patio table and reached for my hand. “And for that I’m deeply sorry. This—what you can do—is a lot to process, and I’m still warring with my religious half. It’s the only explanation I have. It makes me uncomfortable sometimes. That’s all.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is it against your religion to believe in ghosts, Dana? I don’t remember ever hearing that.”
He shrugged, but he didn’t let go of my hand. “I guess not specifically, but it’s like Ouija boards and devil worship and all that jazz we’re taught to stay away from. But I thought a lot about what you said, and a crime solved is a crime solved. Moreover, I love you. You’re my friend. I don’t want that to change.”
He let his eyes widen innocently, and who can resist puppy-dog eyes? Not this ex-witch.
My heart clenched. “Okay, but the next time I offer to help, trust me. Trust us.”
“Promise.” He rose and gave me a kiss on the cheek, and I gave him a hug.
A week’s reflection had made me hyper-aware of how lucky I was to have such good friends in my life. Even if they waffled sometimes.
Cleo had been released, and Linda and Leslie were right there waiting for her when she was, along with us, and my crutches.
We’d gone back to Madam Zoltar’s to try to contact Carys, but Arkady had a bit of information to pass on from her.
Carys had passed over once she saw Tammy had been arrested, but she’d asked Arkady to tell me that she loved and missed her sister deeply, and when they saw each other again someday, she’d have a copy of Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret waiting for her.
It turns out, that was the book Cleo had been reading when Cays wanted her to go to the dock with her.
Thinking about it now, I teared up a bit, but I swallowed it back. Now wasn’t the time for sadness. Tammy was in jail, Linda, Cleo, and Leslie had gone back to Seattle to live their lives, Judd had made another appointment with us after much coaxing, and Dana was here, making nice with me.
As the sun shone down on us, and the water rushed by, I let the gratitude of those thoughts warm me.
“So, have we kissed and made up, or do I have to make an appointment with a therapist?” Win asked, handing Dana a beer.
I sipped at my grape soda and shook my head. “I think we’re good. That is, as long as your bro-friend doesn’t change his mind like he changes his underwear.”
Dana laughed out loud. “I don’t change my mind that often.”
I hopped upward and smiled at the two of them. “I’m going to hobble into the kitchen now and get a Twinkie. Anybody want anything? Dana? You want a ghost you can pretend doesn’t exist? Win, how about Adele? You want me to whip some of her up?”
They both laughed, and Win was on his feet in a half-second flat. “I’ll get the Twinkie for you, Dove. No need to get up.”
But I held my hands up. “I need to stretch, and I don’t need a maid. I sprained an ankle when I fell off the boat. It’s not that serious.”
With that, I left them to their bro-friendship and headed to the kitchen, passing Whiskey with Bel on his back and Strike right next to him.
I hopped into the French doors and smiled. Our kitchen had mostly been restored thanks to YouTube and Win’s ability to do almost anything.
As I reached into the cabinet to grab a Twinkie, a rustling behind me caught my attention.
I turned, thinking it was Whiskey wanting a treat, but it wasn’t. It was the black Sharpie I’d left on the counter, and it was hovering over the countertop.
The marble countertop.
“Don’t you dare!” I yelped the warning, making Dana and Win rush inside as I tried to dive across the counter.
“Stevie? What’s going…” Dana’s voice trailed off as I tried to grab for the hovering black pen without much success.
The pen scrawled something on the counter and then fell to the floor with a clatter.
“Argh!” I screeched at the ceiling. “What have I told you guys! Stop ruining my stuff! Arkady, if you can see who did that, you’d better knock them in the kisser on my behalf!”
“I see nothing, malutka,” Arkady responded with a chuckle.
But Dana was frozen in place. He blinked. “Did I just see…”
“A ghost writing on my countertop? Yes. Yes, you sure did!” I sighed, long and drawn out. “C’mon, guys, give me a break.”
Dana cocked his head. “That was a…a ghost?”
Win slapped his friend on the back with a grin. “It would seem as such, Dana.”
“Oh, holy night,” he muttered. “I saw that. It really happened.”
Win laughed out loud. “You’re not going to go starkers on us, are you, mate?”
Dana licked his lips, his eyes darting around the room. “I’m going to try really hard not to lose it, but I don’t know how you guys sleep at night.”
I patted him on the arm in consolation as I leaned in a bit closer to see what the ghost had written. “Told you we talk to ghosts. There’s no going back now, Officer.”
Win put his hand at my waist, his voice filled with awe as he whispered, “Dove, look at the message.”
I peered down at the scribbly writing and when I read it, I couldn’t be too mad.
It read, Thank you for help Cleo. D.
Doug. This crude communication was from Doug.
He had sent us that message at the store.
I know Doug was horrible to Cleo in their marriage, but he fought like heck to get his message across so she wouldn’t be in jail for the rest of her life.
And that had to mean something.
We looked at each other as Dana made an attempt at gathering his wits, his mouth still hanging open.
“Do you think another beer will help the situation?” Win asked.
“Better make it a six-pack,” I teased.
Win dropped a kiss on my lips. “Ah, Dove. You are a delight. This life we share, it’s quite something, isn’t it?”
I smiled up at him, my heart warm with all the good things in my life.
Indeed-indeed. The life we shared really was quite something.
The End
(Thank you for joining me for another Witchless in Seattle Mystery! Stevie and gang will be back before you know it. Look for another adventure soon!)
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About The Author
Dakota Cassidy is a USA Today bestselling author with over eighty books. She writes laugh-out-loud cozy mysteries, romantic comedy, grab-some-ice erotic romance, hot and sexy alpha males, paranormal shifters, contemporary kick-ass women, and more.
Dakota lives in the gorgeous state of Oregon with her real-life hero and her dogs, and she loves hearing from readers!
Other Books By Dakota Cassidy
Visit Dakota’s website at http://www.dakotacassidy.com for more information.
A Lemon Layne Mystery, a Contemporary Cozy Mystery Series
1. Prawn of the Dead
2. Play That Funky Music White Koi
Witchless In Seattle Mysteries, a Paranormal Cozy Mystery series
1. Witch Slapped
2. Quit Your Witchin'
3. Dewitched
4. The Old Witcheroo
5. How the Witch Stole Christmas
6. Ain’t Love a Witch
7. Good Witch Hunting
8. Witch Way Did He Go?
9. Witches Get Stitches
10. Witch it Real Good
11. Witch Perfect
12. Gettin’ Witched
13. Where There’s a With, There’s a Way
Where There's A Witch, There's A Way (Witchless In Seattle Mysteries Book 13) Page 18