Of Murders and Mages

by Nikki Haverstock

  I thought long about it. “No, you’re right.” I didn’t feel great about his decision, but I couldn’t argue anymore. I was hurt to be thought of as a calculated risk, but what did I expect? “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

  “I was busy. There is still a lot to do to clean up the situation. I wasn’t going to say anything at all, but Mom asked me to because she thought it might affect us working together in the future.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that the necklace would help protect me from spells?”

  “I thought you might be more cautious if you didn’t know about it. It’s also why I stuck so close when you waitressed. You didn’t wear it that day.”

  I shrugged. “The rules said no jewelry, though if I had known it was magical, I would have broken the rules.” I wasn’t ready to put the whole issue behind us.

  He ignored my jab and stood up, handing me a bag. “Here’s food. Mom will be in touch next week to train you. I have to go.”

  I took the food and resisted the urge to kick him as I let him out the door.

  A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. Perhaps Vin regretted the way he handled things and wanted to apologize, but when I opened up the door, I saw that it was Lou Freeman and Mike Clinton from the two businesses on the floors below the loft. I had meant to call them in the morning.

  I opened my mouth to apologize, when I recognized something that I hadn’t before. Magic radiated off both of them. Lou Freeman was a tall, burly man with not only a massive beard and mustache, but hair all over like a bear. Mike Clinton was shorter but just as wide, with a grim determination like a badger. They had both worked with my father for decades from maintaining his car and security, plus they were the only people from Rambler that my dad had ever mentioned, even in passing.

  I sighed. “You’re not here about my alarm system or my car, are you?”

  Mike shook his head. “No, Gabriella, we aren’t.”

  I opened the door. “Come in. We have a lot to talk about.”

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  Target Practice Mysteries

  Death on the Range

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  Death at the Summit

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  Death at the Trade Show

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  Death Indoors

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0NTKRI

  Death in the Casino

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EPE1KEQ

  Death from Abroad

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  Target Practice Mysteries 1-5 (includes the first 5 books in the series)

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  Reality TV Cozy Mysteries

  Lights, Camera, Murder

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GQRGDCY

  Crossover Murder

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N51U14G/

  Nikki Haverstock is a writer who lives on a cattle ranch high in the Rocky Mountains. She has studied comedy writing at Second City and has published 9 cozy mysteries that are heavy on the humor.

  Before fleeing the city, she hosted a competitive archery reality show, traveled the world to study volcanoes, taught archery and computer science at a university and now works on her family’s ranch herding cattle. Nikki has more college degrees than she has sense and hopefully one day she will put one to work.

  Nikki likes to write comedy pieces that focus on the everyday humor of one-uppers, annoying family members and strange behavior of the ultra-rich. She tried stand up but the cattle weren’t impressed.

  © 2017 by Ranch Dog Entertainment, LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.