“I’m sure you went over and asked her nicely if she’d received the package and maybe was bringing it to our house and when no one answered she took it back home?” It seemed like a pretty logical explanation to me, but logical and Auntie Meme were not a combination.
“I might could’ve.” Auntie Meme lifted her chin, her lids drew down to cover her eyes as she looked down to the right.
“Let me guess,” I paused for effect. “You didn’t.”
“You’re darn tootin’ right I didn’t,” she spat through gritted teeth. “I got me one of them eyewitness accounts about her thieving my package.”
“You heard it from Shay Hannagan, who I recall also started the rumor that Abram and I were going to get married.” A rumor I desperately wanted to forget about. A rumor that sent Mom and Auntie Meme to the store to get me all sorts of bridal catalogs when I was twenty-one.
“He was carrying you.” Auntie Meme brought back the memory of how I’d let Lilith take me to The Derby, our local neighborhood bar, for my twenty-first birthday. Needless to say, I couldn’t make it home on my own two feet and Abram had to carry me.
“I was drunk.” My voice carried a unique force. “Besides, I was just making a point.” I had to put that memory in the back of my head.
Everyone on Belgravia Court thought there was going to be this big old wedding right there in the middle of the court. Abram’s mom had already made a guest list. Mom has always been so sure that my Witchy Hour had to do with marrying a mortal. One like Abram wouldn’t be so bad since he never questioned me, until today, and he’s kept his mouth shut about Vinnie. A keeper in Mom’s and Auntie Meme’s eyes.
One problem. I wasn’t attracted to Abram Callahan and never would be. I let out a happy sigh when images of Mick popped in my head.
“Oh no.” Auntie shook her head and disappeared back into the kitchen. “I know that look when I see it. Mortal or witch,” she hollered over her shoulder. “You are smitten, young lady!”
“I am not in love with Abram Callahan!” I put the condiment container back under the counter and ran my finger down the three coffee pots. Instantly they filled with freshly brewed coffee. I dusted my hands and smiled.
“I wasn’t talking about Abram.” A puff of flour rolled out of the pass-through. “I’m talking about Mick.” Her words sent a shock to my heart. “I’m gonna have to call the Spell Circle.”
Chapter Three
It didn’t do me any good to wear a cute outfit to work. I hustled and cleared so many tables, I ended up spilling everyone’s leftovers on me. Auntie Meme was off her game and we’d actually had a few complaints, which had never happened in the history of The Brew. And the lunch crowd stayed unusually longer than normal. It was so out of character that I had a sneaky suspicion Auntie Meme had done a little spell of her own to keep the crowds there so I would be late meeting Mick.
She’d already threatened to call in her Spell Circle, her group of witchy friends that met once a month to do protection spells and concoct all sorts of new spells. Some worked, some didn’t. Either way, I enjoyed watching them and found myself somewhat jealous that I didn’t have friends like that.
Still, I was almost certain Auntie had planned the lunch crowd to take longer than usual.
“Good afternoon, Maggie.” Vinnie had been waiting outside of the diner when I’d gotten off work.
“Good afternoon,” I put on my seatbelt and paused, wondering if I should flip Vinnie’s manual switch because he wasn’t going to be happy that I was going to see Mick. “Vinnie, I’m going to SKUL headquarters.”
“I don’t find that sentence a bit musing, Maggie.” Vinnie’s distaste for SKUL and all things related started back on that fateful night I’d played Truth or Spell with Lilith while we were having a drink at The Derby after work one day.
I lost the dare so I had to put a cat spell on the man of Lilith’s choice. That man just so happened to be Mick Jasper. Only. . .I put the spell on the wrong man. Mick had seen it all and when I cast the mind-erasing spell on him, it didn’t work. In fact none of my spells worked on Mick and that’s when my Witchy Hour came. And that’s how I knew my life’s journey was based around Mick and SKUL.
A life’s journey I’d questioned up until this morning when Mick showed up on the sidewalk in front of The Brew. It’d been a couple of months since I’d heard from him and I figured it had been an anomaly and the Witchy Hour had it wrong. But maybe not.
“I wasn’t trying to amuse you, Vinnie.” I mimicked his static voice. “I’m serious. You can either drive me to SKUL headquarters or I can flip on the manual.”
Vinnie roared his engine and I held on figuring him to be so mad that he was going to take off. Boy was I wrong. His tires rolled at a snail’s pace just to piss me off. Just to piss him off, I pulled the visor down and took my Mystic Couture lipstick out of my clutch and applied it very slowly over my lips.
“Mick really loved this color last time I wore it.” My lips made the suction sound as I patted them together to matte the gloss. “And my hair.” I shook my head side-to-side as it magically styled into long loose curls down my back. “Perfect. Oh.” I lifted my hand in the air. “Just a quick wardrobe change.” I circled my hand in the air and settled into the tightest pair of leather slacks and deep v-neck sweater.
“I do not think so.” Vinnie quipped. “You do not go out looking like that or I’ll have to send a message to your mom. Plus, you have to wear the necklace.” The red stone pendant I had hooked on the gearshift glowed.
“I’ll make you a deal.” It was time to get down to business. “You are my familiar. Technically, you have to do what I tell you to do. I understand you are here to keep me safe. But I also believe that you are keeping me from figuring out my life’s journey.”
“What’s this deal you are talking about?” Vinnie never liked it when I reminded him that it was me who was in charge, not him, as he liked to think.
“I’ll keep on being the same old, same dressing Maggie Park and not decide to take the bus or even have Mick pick me up if I need to, if you continue to keep me safe and do what I say, like drive me to SKUL like a normal car.” It was plain and simple. “Do the job you were meant to do, not because you are jealous of Mick Jasper.” I stuck my finger in the air and explained, “Who by the way has no interest in me the way you think.”
“I think I know how to make an emotional read out.” Vinnie’s screen lit up with lights. They did a wave before the lights made a graph. “As you can see, this was Mick’s emotional chart from the night you tried and failed, I might add, to make him a cat” his voice snide, “to his emotional chart during the last investigation you assisted SKUL in, all the way to this morning when he saw you in front of The Brew.”
There was an obvious climb when we first met, a lull over the past couple of months, and a spike this morning.
“You just had to bring up the failed part didn’t you?” I asked and snapped my fingers to change my outfit into a pair of khaki skinny pants tapered at the ankles, a black turtleneck fitted sweater and a pair of black sensible flats. I kept my hair the same because I kind of liked the loose curls.
“Because he makes you lose your marbles when you’re around him which causes your witch sense to be off and you fail.” Vinnie gave it to me straight, only he was wrong.
“Wrong! I was off because when two worlds collide, the Witchy Hour, the spells don’t work. So somehow Mick Jasper has something to do with my life’s journey.” I pointed to the street ahead of me, happy to feel Vinnie pick up speed.
As Vinnie drove like a normal car, my mind raced after seeing images of the emotional chart on Vinnie’s circuit. Mick had specifically mentioned that he was sent to the diner by Burt Devlin, the director of SKUL, not by himself. Mick didn’t mention anything about me working with him again. Which made me think that my life’s journey was to continue to help SKUL, which was what I’d thought a couple of months ago but then didn’t hear from them. That seemed odd. Because
in your life’s journey, you were supposed to do that job for the rest of your life, every day, like Mom, Auntie Meme and Lilith. Not just intermittently.
I would find out soon enough because before I knew it, Vinnie had pulled into the SKUL headquarters parking lot and turned off. The building wasn’t marked as SKUL, it was undercover as a dentist’s office and I just couldn’t wait to get inside to talk to the evil receptionist.
“Oh no, not you again?” The receptionist eased back in her chair.
“So you haven’t missed me?” I questioned in a joking manner and tapped the red pendant hanging down from the necklace to make sure I was connected to Vinnie. I had to keep my promise.
“Listen,” she retorted, “I don’t know what you do to me every time you come in here. All I know is that I feel funny afterward.”
“That’s maybe your feeling of bad karma, since you can’t seem to let me in when I’m here, even though you know that Burt has given me clearance,” I said.
That was difficult. When Burt had asked me to help them on the last investigation, SKUL had to do all sorts of background checks on not only me, but also my family. That proved a little difficult because we were witches living in the mortal world. We looked and acted as if we had the normal background, but covens didn’t keep public records like the mortals, which made me pull a few more spells on the SKUL database, giving me a spotless past.
“Burt?” Sarcasm dripped from her mouth. “You are calling him Burt?”
Ahem, someone cleared his voice behind me.
“Sir!” The receptionist stood up and put her hand over her brow. “I’m sorry if you heard any of that conversation. Ms. Parks is here to see you.”
He raised a brow toward the receptionist before he turned to face me. I threw my hand up to my brow to follow suit and give him the same respect. Sherry was next to him.
Blondie, how I ever-so-affectionately referred to her when she wasn’t around. I grimaced. She was the last person I wanted to see after the day I’d already had.
“No need to salute me, Maggie.” Burt was an older man with silver hair. He was obviously ex-military because I sensed it as well as his hairstyle gave it away. “You are a civilian who is doing some wonderful work for your country.” His smile was warm and welcoming. He put his hand out for Sherry to step up. “You remember Sherry.”
“All too well,” I muttered under my breath before I put a big ole smile on my face and remembered what Mom always told me, you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. “It’s so great to see you.”
“Mmm, hmmm,” she hummed, never parting those pouty lips of hers. She eased the palm of her hand on the butt of her gun that was sticking out of her holster attached to her belt. There was a SKUL badge hooked on the other side. She had on her normal SKUL outfit of blue dress pants and tucked in white button-up shirt. “Burt, can I talk to you?” She nodded her head to the corner of the receptionist’s lobby, leaving me standing in front of the receptionist with dead air between us.
I tuned in with my witchy ears and looked around the room as if I wasn’t listening in.
“I mean no disrespect sir, but her?” Sherry looked over at me with a critical eye. “She’s not equipped to go in on an investigation of that magnitude.”
“She will be fine. I need a lay person who will fit in and she’ll be great.” Burt looked over at me and grinned.
I returned the gesture. The pendant alerted me to tune into my witchy senses as it warmed against my turtleneck and onto my skin.
“Sir, she has no knowledge of the field. She works in a diner for God’s sake,” her voice was thick was sarcasm.
“All the better to blend in. The less she knows, the better off we are. Just an insider is all we need.” Burt put his hands together. “I really appreciate your point of view since this was technically your case, but I’m going with my gut on this one.”
“Whatever,” she murmured.
“Excuse me?” Burt asked and drew back giving her a stern look.
“Of course you are right, sir.” She sucked in a deep breath and let out a long heavy sigh.
“Patsy, Ms. Parks will be needing a badge to enter and exit the office as needed.” He instructed the receptionist.
She eagerly nodded her head at him and shifted her glare to me once he was at the door which led to the guts of SKUL.
“Why, thank you, Patsy. That’s awful kind of you to get my SKUL badge ready.” I winked and waved before I headed over to Burt and Sherry who were waiting for me.
I looked back at Patsy with a little sad feeling tugging in my gut that I wasn’t able to give her another spell. I had a good one too. Oh well, maybe later.
I followed behind Burt and Sherry down the dentist’s hallway. Even though it was a cover, it was a great cover office. It even smelled of fluoride and cement used for molds. We stopped at another door and when Burt opened it, it was the secret elevator that took you down into the depths of where the real SKUL was—their offices along with all of the spy stuff that I found really cool.
Burt was a true southern gentleman. He held the door while Sherry walked in first and I walked in after her. The elevator opened up into a large room with a flurry of people walking by all with the same sort of outfit as Sherry: either blue or black trouser pants, a gun and a badge along with a tucked in button down. All expect for Mick Jasper.
He was standing at the end of the long hallway we were walking down past the cubicles on each side. Every employee stood up and saluted Burt as we walked past.
Mick’s eyes were focused on Burt and had instantly saluted him when Burt walked up.
Mick’s eyes slid to mine and they caught for a minute, sending a tremor through me. He might not be my life’s journey, but he sure did give me a shakeup. He had on a pair of Levi’s that snugged in all the right places, a pair of cowboy boots, and a red plaid shirt that was striking against his tan skin and black hair. All my insides electrified when I stood near him.
“Maggie, good to see you,” the rich timbre of his voice sounded like a sweet howl at the moon as it passed through my ears. An irresistibly devastating grin crossed his lips. No matter how much I tried not to smile, my lips quivered from me trying to pull down the all-out smile on my face.
“Mick, can we see you in Burt’s office alone?” Blondie stepped in between us. My eyes zeroed in on her hand resting on his chest.
He had a cowboy hat in his hand and he stuck it on his head. “Why, yes ma’am, you may.” He was cute playing the part of a cowboy.
Mmmm, mmmmm, I thought a little magic could easily rope him in.
“Giddy up,” I whispered as I watched him, really his backside, walk through Burt’s office door. I took a seat outside the door and pretended to look at my nails as I tuned in with my witchy ears.
“Can you talk Burt into his senses?” Sherry was obviously talking about Burt’s judgment to have me on this new case. “He said that he’s going to replace me with her.”
“On the Churchill Downs case?” Mick’s sweet cowboy voice had suddenly turned to business. I stood up next to the chair in front of the wall of glass.
I turned around and looked at them gathered around Burt’s chair at his desk where he had sat down. He dragged a file off the stack and opened it. I ran my hand across my necklace so I could feel to see if my intuition was right and this had to do with my life’s journey. The heat beneath my fingertips told me I was right.
“Yes.” Sherry’s arms flailed up and then down to her side. “Can you believe that? She has no knowledge of horse racing or anything horse related. She could go in there and blow up the entire investigation that I’ve been working on for months.”
“Sir, I’m going to have to agree with Sherry on this one. I mean, we got lucky with Ms. Parks the first time around. She was a little sloppy, but got better, but she clearly didn’t follow protocol and her judgment was more on the side of whatever felt good to her at the moment.”
“She did her job and who knew she cou
ld fly a helicopter.” Burt shuffled through a file that I could see had my name on it. He looked up at me and waved. I waved back. “She doesn’t have to know horses and all that. She simply needs to play the part that Sherry was going to play, only no agent techniques.”
“You mean there are no other agents that are qualified out there?” Mick put his hands on the desk and leaned in.
“All the women are being used on other cases. Besides Mick. She’s right up your alley. Twenty-eight, thin, kind, and very pretty.” Burt shut the file and pushed it to the side.
“I’m so glad you think I’m so shallow.” Mick let out a heavy sigh.
“This is ridiculous.” Sherry wasn’t about to let me take the case without a fight.
“I’m afraid you are going to have to work with Ms. Parks again.” Burt waved me in before the two could protest further.
He stood up and walked between Mick and Sherry. Mick looked at me but Sherry kept her eyes trained on the floor.
“Ms. Parks, are you ready for another fun investigation using your everyday sense of skills?” Burt asked.
“Well, sir,” I clasped my hands in front of me. “It depends on what the assignment is.”
I acted as if I really cared, I didn’t. All I knew was that I was going to be doing something with cowboy Mick and it thrilled me to death.
“We are asking you to play Mick’s wife in an undercover investigation we have going on over at Churchill Downs.” The word wife gonged in my head. I gulped and tried to wipe any and all expression off my face.
Sherry wasn’t so good at doing that. She looked as mad as a mule chewing bumblebees.
“There have been some reports of insider doping among the wealthiest of owners and trainers,” Burt said.
spies and spells 02 - betting off dead Page 3