Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist (Maple Hollow #1)

Who expects someone to help solve a paranormal murder after one date? I was rethinking inviting her, but then she took my hand in hers. Our fingers interlocked and squeezed.

“What is she doing?” Harlow studied Iris as the redhead placed her hand on the large crystal and hummed.

“She’s asking the Goddess to help us pinpoint the killer’s location,” I whispered, not wanting to break Iris’s focus.

“Right,” Harlow whispered back. “Of course she is.”

Wind whipped through the air, conjured by the magic, despite us not having a single window open. Iris’s eyes flared white, her head pointing skyward as her hand jutted out for a finger to curl a small corner off the town map.

“Holy shit,” Harlow whispered as the knuckle bones finally stopped moving. She shuffled over to me, tucking into my side, and I couldn’t help myself. I leaned over and kissed her temple.

“It’s okay,” I murmured. “You’re safe.”

Harlow’s blue eyes locked with mine, and I found myself swimming in their depths. Goddess, those eyes weren’t only arrestingly beautiful. I swore they had a spark of magic to them too. It was as if she could see straight into my mind and see all of my jumbled thoughts.

Iris cleared her throat, breaking the spell that held me in Harlow’s gaze. I turned to my friend, and she blinked, the magic fading from her eyes. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

I was already standing, breaking my grip with Harlow’s hand with an apologetic squeeze. Grabbing one of the candles from the pentagon, I held it sideways and waited for the wax to start to drip.

“What are you thinking?” Harlow’s voice had a slight wobble to it.

“Ask again,” I said.

“Do you think . . .” Harlow’s gaze found mine. “Do you think the killer is in Maple Hollow?”

“Is that why I was coming back here?” Lou asked. “Or do you think the asshole who killed me was driving me back here for some reason?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, my answer being equally given to Lou and Harlow.

Iris took a deep breath and started chanting again. When she stopped, the bits of melted wax slithered across the map, collecting slowly to form a circle in the center of the town square.

Harlow made a strangled sound. “The gazebo again?”

“So the killer is here,” Iris whispered, shaking her head. “In the gazebo. Right. Now.”

“Come on, then!” Lou jumped to her feet. “We’ve got to go confront the bastard. Maybe he’s still there.”

Together, the rest of us rose without speaking, all of us seeming to think the same thing. We thundered down the back stairwell and burst into the apothecary. Huddling around the window, we peered out into the town square, which was bustling with tourists and locals. But no one stood in the gazebo.

“Quick.” I threw open the front door and hustled onto the sidewalk. “Write down everyone we see,” I commanded Iris, who produced a pen and notepad from her back pocket.

Our eyes scoured the town green. Billy Bacchus was taking photos with tourists outside Midnight Market. Willow was sweeping the café’s stoop. Wyatt was carrying four giant white boxes of pastries down the street. Dougall McCleighton was eating a candied apple on the bench outside Luna’s Hairdresser, probably waiting for his weekly cut. And the local pumpkin patch owner—and swamp monster—Juniper Becker was carting crates of pumpkins on a dolly.

Harlow pointed to a shadowed corner beside the Cauldron Candle Shop. “Who’s that talking with Agnes?”

I narrowed my eyes, staring perpendicularly from where the apothecary sat. I had to lift up on my tiptoes to get a clear vantage point. Agnes clutched a black lace shawl to her chest, her head inclined to whisper to a woman with a slicked-back haircut and wearing a perfectly pressed suit.

“That’s Ramona Henry,” I murmured.

Ramona threw her head back in laughter, though we were too far to hear the sound. She had a presence about her that even strangers seemed to feel. The crowd parted to give the two women a wide berth.

“Since when are the vampires and demons being all chatty?” Iris asked.

“She’s a demon?” Harlow squeaked beside me. I wrapped my arm around her waist and tugged her to me.

“Something about this isn’t stacking up,” I said with a shake of my head. “I think tomorrow night, we should pay old Ramona a visit.”

“Can I come?” Harlow asked.