Supernatural Psychic Mysteries: Four Book Boxed Set: (Misty Sales Cozy Mystery Suspense series)

by Morgana Best

  “Did the hotel say what they were going to do about your room? Considering it’s kind of off-limits for the time being,” Melissa said.

  I took a sip from my tea before speaking. “This is delicious,” I said.

  “Maybe when it’s not scalding hot on your tongue it’s delicious!” Melissa said. “Anyway, about your room?”

  “Oh yes. They have to move me, of course. The clerk said that they’ll contact me as soon as the new suite is available.”

  “Excuse me, ladies, but I overheard you talking about a problem with one of the rooms. Is that the case?” The voice was familiar.

  I looked up, right into a smug face. It was Douglas.

  What on earth was he doing here? My jaw fell open. What was Douglas up to? Clearly he didn’t want to let on that he knew me, and I could hardly alert Melissa to the fact that I knew him. “What we’re discussing is our business,” I snapped. “Could you please find another table to bother?”

  Melissa glared at me.

  “I’m sorry if my approach was off,” Douglas said, “but my name is James Tailor. I’m with the Tourism Board. I’m speaking with some of the guests of the Hydro Majestic to see how their experiences have been. We want to ensure that all tourists and guests are being treated in a manner that warrants a second visit. With that said, may I sit with you ladies and ask you both a few questions about your stay?”

  “No,” I said. Just then, a sharp pain thrust into my shin. “Ouch,” I said, wincing in pain and staring at Melissa.

  Melissa glared at me, raising her eyebrows and pressing her lips tightly together. I know Melissa thought I was being rude.

  “Yes, we’d be happy to answer questions,” Melissa said.

  Douglas pulled out one of the vacant chairs and sat in it. “I believe I’ve already offered you my name. Would either of you be willing to return the favor?”

  “I’m Melissa,” she said, extending her hand toward Douglas. As they shook hands, I glared at him.

  “And my name is Misty. Can we get on with the questions, please?” My question earned me another glare from Melissa.

  “So, what are you ladies doing here in the Blue Mountains?” Douglas asked.

  “Okay, we’re just on holiday and exploring the area,” I said. “I’ve always heard about how lovely the tours were here and wanted to experience everything firsthand.”

  “That sounds lovely,” Douglas said, pulling out a notepad and a pen. He turned his attention to Melissa. “Did you get one of the grand rooms in the hotel?” he asked, obviously trying to work his charm into every word he spoke.

  “The rooms are beautiful, but I think we have one of the smaller ones,” Melissa replied, a sheepish grin on her face.

  “Oh.” He nodded. “Are you staying near the room that the police were hovering around earlier? I haven’t been told everything, but they mentioned something about a death in one of the rooms.”

  I glared at him. “We don’t know anything about any deaths in the rooms. I thought you were going to ask us questions about the hotel and the tours, not about the police reports,” I snapped.

  “I think my friend has just had a rough day,” Melissa interjected, glancing at me with a shocked expression on her face. She then turned to Douglas. “The hotel staff and the police just asked all of the guests in that area to leave until the investigation was complete. They’re being very secretive about the entire thing.”

  Douglas nodded. “Ah, very well. Hopefully, it was just a natural death or something of the sort. That would be better than anything inexplicable or malicious, surely?”

  I struggled to keep my composure, but I knew that letting Melissa suspect anything could lead to trouble for us both. “It’s none of our concern, which is probably a good thing. We’re just trying to enjoy our trip and take in the sights.”

  “Yes,” Melissa replied with a nod. “It’s sad, but we can’t do anything about it. I’m sure they’ll soon figure out what caused his death and the hotel will get back to its normal operations,” Melissa said.

  Douglas nodded. “Well, enough about such a depressing topic then. How about we discuss this bar? Is the tea delicious?”

  “Actually, it is,” I said.

  “I see you have a menu,” he said, pointing at the folded booklet that sat on the table. “Is there anything on there you ladies would like to try? I’m buying.”

  “Thank you for the offer, but…”

  “I think she and I would both love more of this L’Oriental Tea,” Melissa interrupted, pointing at the item’s entry on her own menu.

  “Perfect,” he replied, pulling out his wallet. He handed Melissa a small wad of money and smiled. “Would you mind getting the drinks for us?”

  “Of course not,” she replied, walking away while humming a cheerful tune.

  As Melissa disappeared from sight, Douglas pulled his chair closer to mine and leaned toward me. “Hey, I need to talk to you without your friend around.”

  “I don’t believe we have anything to discuss,” I said, looking away as I clenched my teeth.

  “It’s about The Orpheans,” he whispered. “They have a job for you.”

  I snorted rudely. I didn’t trust Douglas for a single second, yet I couldn’t deny I was curious.

  “They want you to find Lucas Wallace’s journal,” he continued.

  “Are you really enough of a fool to believe that I would ever trust you again?” I snapped, giving him my best glare.

  Before I could say something ruder, Melissa returned with a pitcher of tea and some snacks. “I was right! They have spring rolls. They smell so good.”

  Douglas pulled his chair away from mine and leaned back in it. Suddenly, he gasped and his eyes fixed on something down the hall. When I turned to follow his vision of sight, I saw Jamie walking into the Salon du The.

  I gasped too, and then, so did Melissa.

  “I thought he was in the UK!” she hissed, none too quietly.

  I was gobsmacked. “What are you doing here?” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. “I thought you weren’t coming for another month!”

  “Plans changed and luckily some free time found its way into my schedule,” he said, extending his arms for a hug. “I wanted to surprise you. Your magazine told me you were here.”

  I hugged him, closing my eyes and enjoying the warm embrace. It was great to see him again. When I opened my eyes, Jamie was shooting Douglas an angry look, but soon after, both men had blank looks plastered on their faces.

  I turned to Jamie and motioned for him to sit beside me. He pulled out the last chair at the table and sat down. “Is everything okay? You’re not here on a case, are you?” I whispered.

  “Not exactly,” he said quietly, shaking his head. “We can talk a bit later when we have some privacy, but for now let’s just play the part until he leaves, at least,” he whispered, his hand covering his mouth from the ears of eavesdroppers. “I heard what happened to you. Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” I said, plastering a false look of cheerfulness on my face.

  Douglas interrupted us. “So, I was just going to wrap up the questionnaire if I could just ask a few more quick questions. Does that sound all right?”

  “Sure,” Melissa said, in a happy tone.

  I sighed and shook my head.

  “You, sir. Are you a guest at the Hydro Majestic as well?” he asked, looking right at Jamie.

  “Yes, I am. My name is Jamie,” he said, reaching toward Douglas for a handshake. “I’m staying here for a few days to visit my girlfriend,” he explained, flashing an even smile.

  Douglas grimaced. I suspected Jamie had shaken his hand a little too firmly. “And one last question, do any of you keep a journal?” Douglas asked, winking directly at me.

  I glared at him.

  “About your trip, I mean,” he said, offering a fake chuckle. “A lot of guests keep daily journals or diaries of their day-to-day adventures while visiting the Blue Mountains. We like to get a consensus of how our
guests are feeling while staying here,” he added.

  I listened to his lies, but I knew the truth. Douglas was reminding me about Wallace’s journal, but did The Orpheans really want it, or did he? “He just got here,” I said, nodding to Jamie, “and neither of us keep journals, sorry.”

  “Fair enough,” Douglas replied, standing up and pushing the chair in behind him. “Thank you lovely ladies for your time—and Jamie,” he added, as he stepped toward the exit.

  “It’s about time he left us alone,” I said, as soon as he was out of earshot.

  “He didn’t seem all that bad,” Melissa said. “I think you’re just a little too suspicious sometimes.”

  “Yeah, he’s probably a regular Prince Charming,” I said with exasperation.

  Melissa’s face changed. “Jamie, have you heard what happened to Misty? She…”

  “Yes,” he said. “I asked the reception clerk where to find Misty, and she told me everything.” He put a protective arm over my shoulders and I leaned into him.

  “Walking into what I did in the bathroom of my suite was unnerving,” I said, my hands trembling as I remembered the man’s face. “The last thing I needed was to answer a barrage of questions.”

  Just then, my cell phone vibrated.

  Melissa pulled a face. “Uh oh, you spoke a moment too soon.”

  I looked at the incoming caller’s I.D.: Skinny. I rolled my eyes.

  “Maybe she’s just getting back to you about those photos you sent her,” Melissa reminded me.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said, finally remembering that I had been awaiting my boss’s call in the first place. I sighed as I answered the phone and set it on ‘loud’. “Hello?”

  “Misty? Is that you? Hello? Stop mumbling, please,” the woman said, not giving me any time to respond.

  “Yes, it’s me,” I replied, resisting the urge to point out that it was my phone. “Did you receive the photos I sent you earlier?”

  “Of course I did. Why do you think I’m calling you?” she barked.

  I hated the feeling of being belittled by such a hateful woman, but I ignored her remarks just like I normally did. “I’m sorry. I was just wondering what our instructions are now, since it seems like the victim is Lucas Wallace.”

  “Okay, you know what we’re looking for here at the magazine. Anything sensational and original is our forte. In the pictures you sent, it looks like there are no signs of blunt force injuries, no large, open wounds, and nothing else that shows trauma, correct?” my boss asked.

  “Yes, from what I saw, that’s right.”

  “Perfect,” Skinny said. “Then go with the supernatural theme. I want you both to stay in that hotel as long as you have to, to ensure that you miss nothing. Take it to the next level!” she said in an imperious tone.

  I thought for a moment and chose my words carefully. I did not want to make Skinny angry. “You sent us here to write a story on his disappearance, but now he’s been found. He’s not missing anymore!” I said.

  I winced as I heard Skinny’s sharp intake of breath. “Do I need to connect the dots for you every time? It should have been obvious, even to you, that Lucas Wallace didn’t walk out of that hotel on his own accord. Now we know that for sure, what is the problem? All you need to do is to imply heavily that ghosts caused his death. Oh, and elaborate on how anyone could be at risk,” she added, cackling maniacally, or at least that was how I imagined her laughing after making that remark.

  The tone of her voice grated on my nerves as I fought to keep the irritation from showing in my voice. “Yes, whatever will benefit the magazine,” I answered in a robot-like tone.

  “Wonderful. I’m happy to see that you are so obedient when the company is footing the bill. Speaking of that, where are you and your partner in crime at the moment?” Skinny asked.

  “We are having some tea at the Salon du The. The shock of finding that man’s body was a bit overwhelming, so Melissa and I decided to talk over some tea.”

  “Oh, so all you’ve charged to our tab so far beside the rooms was some tea? No food?”

  I glanced down at the spring rolls that were still left on the snack tray. Wrapped around one of them were the fingers of my friend. Melissa looked up at me as she lifted the roll to her mouth and bit into it. “They’re good,” she whispered.

  “We did get an order of spring rolls…”

  “Well, don’t go eating yourself into an early retirement,” Skinny chided me. “You’re already overweight and the company doesn’t need to go bankrupt just to satisfy your appetite while you’re on assignment.”

  Biting my tongue, I shook my head and glanced at Melissa, who was trying hard not to laugh.

  “Just make sure you get enough good information for the article,” Skinny continued. “Any pictures you can get of spooky things like dripping pipes and broken glass would add to the scare factor.”

  “Yes, Sk—, err, Daisy,” I said. I raised my eyebrows and looked over at Jamie as he sat in silence, waiting for my call with the evil master to end.

  “Don’t let me down,” the woman added. “Earn your keep for once.”

  With those last words, the line went dead. I sighed. “That woman has some nerve.”

  “Work is never easy, is it?” Jamie asked, a smile cracking across his face. “You’ve had a long day. Just ignore her for the night and you can get back to work tomorrow. There is something else we need to discuss anyway.”

  “Oh, is that my cue to leave?” Melissa asked.

  Jamie looked a little embarrassed. “No, you don’t have to go anywhere,” he said.

  “It’s fine,” she replied. “I need to go over some of my own notes for a few articles anyway. You can stop by my room when you need me,” she said, looking at me. “Or just text.”

  “I’ll talk to you soon,” I replied, before turning back to Jamie.

  Chapter 6

  I sat on the edge of Melissa’s bed.

  “Where are you going?” Melissa asked, emerging from the bathroom with her toothbrush in her mouth, sudsy white bubbles at the corner of her lips.

  “Jamie just texted me,” I said. “He wants to talk.”

  “I don’t get you two,” Melissa said with a laugh. “He lives a hundred miles away, and all you guys ever do when you’re finally together is talk.”

  I smiled. I’d had a long talk with Jamie the night before. He told me that he had been following Douglas for the last few weeks. Jamie’s British government organization, SI7, was sure that Douglas and the Black Lodge were up to something far worse than usual this time.

  I followed a retreating Melissa into the bathroom. I leaned against the doorway as she bent over the sink and spat the mouthful of toothpaste down the drain. Melissa was wearing a hotel-issued white fluffy bathrobe, her hair done up in a terry cloth towel. “You do know that England is further than a hundred miles from here?” I asked.

  Melissa rinsed her toothbrush under a burst of water from the faucet. “You know what I mean,” she muttered.

  “It’s just that, well, there’s literally a whole ocean and some continents between where we live and where he lives, and you go with a hundred miles. Did you even have a geography class in school?”

  Melissa laughed. “Stop being such a smarty. I thought we were going to have a girls’ night out, even though we aren’t roomies on this trip.”

  I laughed. “Go ahead and get dressed. We can still meet for dinner.” I looked around the opulent suite. “Who knew Skinny would pay for these rooms? Usually everything we get is cheap. I thought maybe she’d only booked a closet for the two of us to share. But we both get our own room?”

  “In fairness, your room did have a dead man in it, and I feel like we could still blame that on Skinny,” Melissa said.

  “I don’t see how we could possibly blame her for that.”

  “Okay, so we can’t, but perhaps we should.” Melissa went to her luggage and searched for an outfit. “If you stand me up for dinner, you’ll be sorry,”
she said, turning and wagging a threatening finger at me.

  “I won’t,” I said. “But let’s not talk about how many times you’ve abandoned me for Keith back home.”

  “That happened once.”

  “Once a week, maybe!” I said with a laugh, shaking my head. “You’ve got to be joking!”

  “No, it was once. That one night. We were going to have some drinks at your place. He called, and I canceled on you. And I felt horrible,” Melissa said.

  “How about the time we were already out, and he called, and you left me at that club that I hadn’t even wanted to go to!”

  “Oh yeah!” Melissa said with a laugh. “Okay, so two times.”

  “Two. Yeah, only two. Keep your phone with you, and I’ll text you.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Be safe. Have fun talking.”

  “Hush up,” I said, “and if I don’t make it to dinner, at least we had a drink already.”

  Jamie had asked to meet me in the lobby, and as I rode the elevator down to the ground floor, I found myself wondering why he hadn’t just spoken with me down in the restaurant.

  The hotel was busy, as it always was apparently, and I had to wind around groups of people who were going this way and that, or simply just standing in small groups and talking.

  I saw Jamie as soon as I entered the lobby proper. He had been sitting, but must have been keeping an eye out for me, as he stood as soon as he saw me and waved me over.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I wanted to talk, and I thought there were too many eyes on us earlier,” Jamie said quietly.

  “Okay, well there are a lot of eyes in here, too,” I said with a smile.

  “I noticed,” Jamie said. “I have an idea,” he added. “Come on.”

  I turned and followed him back to the elevator. We rode it up a few floors and then disembarked, heading down a long hallway and turning left. “I thought this could be interesting anyway,” Jamie said, pointing to a door at the end of the hall. A small sign next to it said, ‘Roof access’.

  “Are we supposed to be up here?” I said.