Cloudy with a Chance of Ghosts (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

head. “Use your magic, Mele. Don’t be afraid.”
    Okay, here I have to pause for those who haven’t met my Aunty Jane before. There are no two ways about it—she’s a ghost. Though I don’t remember her from my childhood in Hawaii, Bebe does. Aunty Jane hung around with our Grandma Kadena a lot and Bebe was her special charge. When Bebe married Jimmy Miyaki and came to California, Aunty Jane came along to make sure all was well. They were very close until a little while after I arrived here at Miyaki Farms. Somehow, Bebe has lost the knack of seeing ghosts—and the funny thing was, I seemed to have taken it over from her. Now Aunty Jane was watching over me—and teaching me magic.  
    So when I sensed her advice in my head, I clapped my hand over my mouth to hold back the uneasy laugh that was bubbling up, then took a deep breath. I did a part of the chant Aunty Jane had taught me as softly as I could, braced myself, and stepped up to the counter.  
    “Hello,” I said brightly.  
    The handsome young man smiled at me, then seemed to do a double take and smiled with a deeper sense of familiarity, leaning slightly toward me.  
    “Can you help me?” I said, still using the cadence of the chant.  
    “Yes,” he said, and it seemed he couldn’t release my gaze. “Yes, I can help you.”
    “Good. I would appreciate any information you can give me. I’m looking for a woman named Keri Shorter. What room does she have?”
    “Keri Shorter.” He punched in something on his keyboard, but he only glanced away for a moment. “Yes. Keri Shorter has booked an ocean view single. Room 555. Would you like an extra key?”
    I gulped. I could hardly believe how well this was working.  
    “Y..yes. Thank you.”  
    He put a card through the system that keyed in the room entrance code and handed it to me. “Anything else I can help you with?” he said, smiling deeply into my eyes.  
    “Yes,” I said softly. “Take a break. You’ve earned it.”
    I turned toward the elevators and Jill was right behind me.  
    “What on earth was that?” she whispered hoarsely. “What did you do? Hypnotize the poor guy?”
    “Sort of.” I giggled, feeling very near hysteria. “I can’t believe it worked. Jill!” I turned and took her by the shoulders and gave a little shake. “Jill, I can do magic. Shhh, don’t tell anybody.” And the elevator door slide open to let us aboard.  
    The giggles abandoned me altogether once we got to the room. After all, a woman had died. We let ourselves in and began to look around. I had half expected to find the place swarming with detectives, or at the very least, a cop of some sort, but it didn’t look as though anyone else had been there yet.  
    Everything was nice and neat. Her clothing looked just like what you would expect from having seen her, and it was hanging in a well-ordered way in the closet, or set out in wide drawers.  
    “She takes care of things the way an accountant would,” Jill mentioned. “All in neat rows.”
    “Yes. And what we really want are her notebooks or journals, scraps of paper she might have written on, anything that might give us an idea of what her interests were in coming here to North Destiny Bay.”
    Jill gave me a look. “No Mele. Admit it. What we need to find is something that shows us what Jagger might have had to do with her. Any link at all.”
    She was right. But that was only part of the issue.  
    “We’re looking for anything that can help us find a motive for whoever killed her,” I said defensively.  
    Jill nodded, unconvinced, and we searched for another few minutes, finding nothing at all that gave a hint of any kind.  
    And then we heard someone at the door. Panic shot through me. The last thing in the world I wanted was to have Captain Stone—or even Lieutenant Roy—find me here. Without thinking, I slipped into the closet. Jill went for the bathroom. The handle rattled and then the visitor was inside the room.  
    I held