by Valia Lind
"How did you know?" Detective Ames asks as he stands, shrugging his jacket back on.
"That it was Lizette? The stitching tools. She made the puncture wounds with the awl. It was in the trunk, but upside down. Not like the others. It stood out to me."
"So you put it together from that?"
I couldn't exactly tell him about the magical conversations I had with my cat—kinda my cat.
"The last time I was involved in one of these situations, I didn't recognize the threat in time because I wasn't looking at the whole picture. I tried to do better this time. And when I started putting the pieces together, I knew there's no way only one person was involved."
"It was my first thought when I came here as well."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I'm an officer of the law." He smiles fully, maybe for the first time since I’ve met him. It makes him look ten years younger. The nagging question that I carried with me from the beginning comes up again, and this time, I ask it.
"Why did you decide to let me get involved?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. You checked up on me, sure. But then you didn't really ask questions. You just trusted me. Why?"
Detective Ames is quiet for a long moment, and I think he might not answer at all. But then he does.
"You look like her, you know," he says, making me completely baffled.
"Who?"
"Your mother."
It's like a hole has opened up beneath my feet and has swallowed me whole. I can't seem to make myself move or form a coherent thought.
My mother. The woman who disappeared when I was only a child, one who's memory I barely carry anymore because magic and time has taken it all.
"You knew my mother?" I finally manage. He inclines his head.
"I did. She helped me out on a case when I was only a rookie. She was an incredible woman."
"You don't—" I clear my throat. "You don't know what happened to her?"
"I'm sorry, Cassie." It's the first time he's used my name, and it feels familiar somehow. "I wish I could give you more than that. I've looked into her disappearance more than once over the years, but there have been no new leads."
That stops me. My chest feels too heavy, my lungs too full, but those words give me something I didn't have before. Hope.
"So there were leads?"
"A few."
"I need to see what you have."
"Cassie—"
"Please. I don't have any answers, but I also don't have any memories to go off of. I need closure."
He studies me for a long time before finally nodding.
"I'll see what I can do."
21
“How long exactly are you going to avoid Dean?” Penny asks, as we pull up to the Crooked Windows Inn. Home sweet home. Auntie Grace is waiting on the stairs, her hands over her heart. Birdie is the first out of the car when I open the door.
“Good riddance to that pile of metal,” she mutters.
“You're welcome!” I call out to her, receiving a strange look from one of the people walking by on the sidewalk. Oops. “And I don't know what you're talking about,” I say to Penny. She just groans at me. Grabbing my bags, I head up the stairs toward my aunt. She rushes down the stairs, pulling me into her embrace. I drop the bags so I can hug her and it truly does feel like home.
"You, my sweet sugar cookie, are in need of a protection spell and a karma cleansing and whatever else I can find to keep these dreadful dealings away from you," Auntie Grace says, pulling away to give me a thorough once over.
"I think the time for that has passed, Auntie Grace." I reach down and give her cheek a kiss. "It's my calling."
"A calling!"
"It's what we decided on the way back," Penny says as she gives Auntie Grace a hug as well. "She can't escape."
"Oh, you poor dears, not much of a vacation, wasn't it?"
Penny begins the rundown of the events, up to the part where the storm let up about ten minutes after Lizette was in custody. I guess Mother Nature was doing me a solid. As we step inside the inn, Lucy greets me with a warm welcome. Birdie is already spread out on the counter, giving me a side stare. I roll my eyes but don't even bother calling the cat out on her unbecoming behavior. I gave her treats and drove her home. She should be a little more thankful.
"I'll catch you up on my side of the story later. I could really use a shower."
Penny and I left as soon as we were free to go. We just wanted to get home. Dean was still being questioned, so I haven't had a chance to talk to him. Not that I'm ready, after what I pulled. Penny gives me a quick hug before grabbing her keys and waltzing back out the door. I'm sure she'll be coming back as soon as she's done checking up on Penny's bakery. The whole Dean conversation is definitely not done.
I still haven't told her about the bomb Detective Ames dropped on me. And I'm not ready to talk about it to Auntie Grace just yet.
Instead, I do what any self-respecting person who's hiding from everything in her life does. Take a shower and then a nap. The moment I close my eyes, I'm one hundred percent in the dream. At first, it's a pretty normal one, not in the room with the fog I’ve grown used to, but a comfortable sitting area, and then Arthur is there.
"You did it. You figured out what happened."
I nod, looking at him in a new light. He was the victim, but he also inflicted a lot of pain.
"Why did you do it? Any of it?"
"I'm not sure." He shrugs, but I don't think he's deflecting. I think that's an honest answer. "I wish I could've turned out to be a better person."
"Maybe you can do that now," I say, because I know this is a goodbye. I still have no idea why he came to me, but I'll figure that part out as well as everything else I have on my list.
"Thank you, Cassie Duke," he says right before he disappears. I open my eyes to see Birdie sitting on my bed, staring at me.
"Your lover boy is here," she says, right as a knock sounds on the door. I narrow my eyes at her, getting out of bed. I smooth my hair down as I pull the door open.
"Hi," Dean says. The way he shifts from one foot to the other makes me smile.
"Hi, yourself. You made it back."
"Yeah, they know where to find me if they have more questions."
I motion him to come in before I shut the door. He seems to fill the whole space of my room. Birdie watches from the bed, and Dean walks over to give her a scratch behind the ears. The little traitor actually purrs.
"I'm sorry," Dean and I say at the same time and then chuckle.
"What do you have to be sorry for?" I ask.
"For getting you involved in all that."
"Oh, come on, Dean. I wouldn't have it any other way." I shrug it off, and he smiles as he watches me.
"I believe that actually. So I guess after I'm sorry comes the thank you. Because thank you. You really, truly saved me."
"Just doing my side job." I chuckle.
"You're good at it."
As we talk, we're moving closer and closer to each other until there's only a few feet separating us. The pull I've felt toward him since I came has intensified by thousands. I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about that kiss nonstop. But I have no idea where that leaves us. We just decided to be friends, and suddenly, we're something else.
"Where do we go from here, Cassie?" he asks. I kind of wish Birdie wasn't here to witness this. She's going to give me so much grief about it later. I can feel it.
"Forward?" I ask, and Dean chuckles again.
"I would very much like that, which is why I'm officially asking you on a date. A winter wonderland stroll through the Christmas village, with dinner and hot chocolate."
"And snow?"
"I'll see if I can get Mother Nature on our side."
We grin at each other, and my heart feels lighter than it has in years. Which is probably why I say what I say next.
"Dean, I'm going to try to find my mother."
<<<<>>>>
Next in the Crooked Windows Inn series
Preorder today: CLICK HERE
* * *
The new year brings new possibilities…and murder!
Cassandra Duke has officially accepted her dual role as witch and amateur sleuth. Life settles into a new rhythm— until a body is discovered in one of the houses she’s renovating, plunging Cassie right back into sleuthing. It looks like murder, but no one can tell how the man died.
* * *
Now, it seems her services are once again needed. But discovering a corpse isn’t her only problem. A fog has rolled into town, putting everyone on high alert. When a new witch shows up unannounced, Cassie’s magic is put to a new test, and it’s clear that something otherworldly is going on in Monroe Cove.
* * *
And, of course, it happens right when she and sexy handyman, Dean, were finally taking a step forward.
* * *
Between juggling a new relationship, her snarky furball familiar, a murder, and a magical mystery, Cassie has her work cut out for her.
* * *
It seems that anywhere she turns, someone she loves is in danger. Cassie must do whatever it takes to protect the town she calls home—even if it might mean giving up her magic forever.
* * *
If you love a little magic and wit with your murder, you’ll love this fast-paced paranormal witch cozy mysteries series from USA Today bestselling author, Valia Lind!
* * *
Preorder - CLICK HERE
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Do you like academy adventure romance?
Get the complete series here:
Thunderbird Academy Trilogy
* * *
My power could save my friends—or destroy them.
* * *
As I start a new semester at Thunderbird Academy, I have a lot to live up to. News of my sisters' courageous fight against the Ancient evil has spread, and now, everyone expects the same greatness from me.
* * *
But all I want to do is:
1) Find my dad.
2) Figure out why my magic has suddenly gone on the fritz.
* * *
It would be a lot easier if I didn't have to keep dealing with the ever-annoying Aiden Lawson. Shifter, nemesis, ridiculously gorgeous. I don't care how he makes my pulse race, I will not be deterred from my mission.
* * *
But the war with the Ancients is just beginning, and now, Thunderbird Academy has become a sanctuary as well as a school. Each attack is deadlier than the last, and when the academy ends up under siege, my friends and I have no choice but to fight.
* * *
Am I brave enough to trust my magic to save us? Or will my world come crashing down around me by my own hands?
* * *
I'm in a fight for my life, and I, Maddie Hawthorne, have no idea what I'm doing.
* * *
Welcome to my year at Thunderbird Academy.
* * *
Full of magic, adventure, and romance, Thunderbird Academy is an completed addicting young adult paranormal romance series by USA Today bestselling author Valia Lind that will keep you reading late into the night!
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author. Photographer. Artist. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Valia Lind has always had a love for the written word. She wrote her first published book on the bathroom floor of her dormitory, while procrastinating to study for her college classes. Upon graduation, she has moved her writing to more respectable places, and has found her voice in Young Adult and cozy mysteries.
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Also by Valia Lind
Crooked Windows Inn Cozy Mysteries
Once Upon a Witch #1
Two Can Witch the Game #2
Third Witch’s the Charm #3
Witches Four the Win #4 - coming Spring 2022!
* * *
The Skazka Fairy Tales
The Scarlet Rose (A Beauty and the Beast Retelling)
The Golden Slipper (A Cinderella Retelling) - coming Spring 2022!
* * *
Blackwood Supernatural Prison Series
Witch Condemned (#1)
Witch Unchained (#2)
Witch Awakened (#3)
Witch Ascendant (#4) - Coming Winter 2021!
* * *
Hawthorne Chronicles - Each season can be read as standalone!
* * *
Season Three
Marked by Fae (prequel novella) - free to download
Shadow of the Fae (#1)
Blood of the Fae (#2)
Revenge of the Fae (#3) - Coming Winter 2021!
* * *
Season Two
Of Water and Moonlight (Thunderbird Academy, #1)
Of Destiny and Illusions (Thunderbird Academy, #2)
Of Storms and Triumphs (Thunderbird Academy, #3)
* * *
Season One
Guardian Witch (Hawthorne Chronicles, #1)
Witch’s Fire (Hawthorne Chronicles, #2)
Witch’s Heart (Hawthorne Chronicles, #3)
Tempest Witch (Hawthorne Chronicles, #4)
The Complete Season One Box Set
* * *
The Skazka Chronicles
Hardcover Omnibus - 4 books in one
Remembering Majyk (The Skazka Chronicles, #1)
Majyk Reborn (The Skazka Chronicles, #2)
The Faithful Soldier (The Skazka Chronicles, #2.5)
Majyk Reclaimed (The Skazka Chronicles, #3)
* * *
Havenwood Falls (PNR standalone)
Predestined
* * *
The Titanium Trilogy
Pieces of Revenge (Titanium, #1)
Scarred by Vengeance (Titanium, #2)
Ruined in Retribution (Titanium, #3)
Complete Box Set
* * *
Falling Duology - YA contemporary romance
Falling by Design
Edge of Falling