A Witch Before Dying: A Wishcraft Mystery Read Online Free PDF

off. “Hello. Hello there!” She smiled and acted as though she were greeting guests.
    Well. That certainly explained Missy’s fascination with that shrub. I looked down at her. She looked up innocently at me and quirked an ear.
    Some watchdog she was. Someone hiding in the bushes and not so much as a warning bark. Not so much as a whine.
    Lassie would be ashamed.
    I looked at the woman and saw a leaf in her hair. How long had she been watching us? It was creepy, to say the least, but the woman herself wasn’t the least bit frightening. Maybe late-forties, she was a tiny thing with big, brown buglike eyes, a blunt-cut blond bob, and eyeglasses that dangled from a chain around her neck. She wore Bermuda shorts, loafers, and a pink twinset. Just your average lurking-in-the-bushes schoolmarm.
    “I’m sorry for the fuss,” she was saying, “but I saw the young lady casing the joint.”
    Casing the joint?
    “Mom,” Connor said, “you have to stop watching
Law & Order
.”
    “It’s a highly informative show,” she said, coming up to us. She gave Connor’s cheek a pat, tucked some of his hair behind his ear, and
tsk
ed as she said, “You’re overdue for a haircut.”
    “Mom.” Connor sighed.
    “What are you doing here, sweetheart?” she asked, ignoring his embarrassment.
    I had a feeling she did that a lot.
    “I’m meeting Darcy. Mom, this is Darcy Merriweather. She works at As You Wish, and Elodie hired her to clean out Mrs. Keaton’s house. Darcy, this is my mother, Yvonne Merrick.”
    As we shook hands, I had the feeling she was still sizing me up as a potential burglar. Little did she know the experience I already had with breaking and entering. No need to bring that up now—or explain that it had been done to help a friend.
    “You must be Ve’s niece,” Yvonne said. “I’ve heard a lot about you, and it’s nice to finally meet you.” She pivoted to face Connor. “What’s this about cleaning up Patrice’s house? Why hadn’t I heard about this before now?”
    Connor dodged the question by saying to me, “Do you want to see inside the house?”
    I was trying to keep up with what was going on. Connor was acting as though his mother popped out of shrubbery all the time.
    I eyed her. Did she?
    “Darcy?” Connor asked.
    “Yes,” I said. It was, after all, why I was there. “I’d like to see it.”
    Yvonne grabbed on to Connor’s forearm. “This isn’t a good idea. Patrice wouldn’t want anyone in her house.”
    “Patrice isn’t here, Mom,” Connor said.
    Yvonne blanched and took a step back. “I don’t like this. Does your father know about this?”
    Again, he dodged. “It’s Elodie’s decision.” Connor headed up the front steps with Missy at his heels. He pulled a key out of his pocket, poised to stick it in the lock; then he turned to face us, a frown on his face. “The lock is broken.”
    Nick came alert. “Newly broken?”
    “It was fine last night when I came by to water the flowers,” Connor said.
    “Not again,” Yvonne muttered.
    “Does this happen a lot?” I asked her. “Someone breaking in?”
    “Every few months,” she said.
    Missy barked as Nick stepped forward, going from easygoing to on-the-job in the blink of an eye. “Stay here,” he said to us.
    He pushed open the door and went inside. From where I stood, I could see only beyond the front door. What I saw had my dread rising. It was a messier version of the shed. I hadn’t thought that was possible.
    A long minute later, Nick emerged. He ran a hand down his face. “No one’s in there now.”
    “Did they ransack the place? Steal anything?” Yvonne asked, clutching the chain that held her glasses. She swung it back and forth like a pendulum.
    Nick looked at her blankly. “Honestly, I can’t tell. There’s so much stuff….”
    “I’ll look around,” Connor said, heading in. “I know the inventory pretty well.”
    “I’m coming, too,” Yvonne said, hot on his heels.
    Nick made his way to