Fatal Charm Read Online Free PDF Page B

Betty Jo was desperate to connect to her husband—to find out where he’d hidden the remote control. She’d been going crazy searching for it since he died while watching the Super Bowl. Fortunately he popped in long enough to tell her to look under the microwave. Another widow wanted to see her husband again because she missed their arguments—and when he showed she started nagging him. Poor guy couldn’t get away from her even on the other side.”
    Chuckling over this, I decided the séance would be fun. And it would be great if we could connect to our ancestor Agnes and find out the ingredients for Nona’s remedy. Then all of our problems would be solved.
    Nona and I climbed the steps to the shadowy porch entrance to Trick or Treats. Although Velvet was a fairly new friend of mine, she was a long-time friend of Nona’s. She spoke in a refined British accent, her mannerisms elegant and proper like a cliché uptight English woman. But after work hours, she let down her hair and invited in the mysteries of the moon, sun, and stars.
    As we waited on the semilit porch for Velvet to answer our knock (three short taps and two long raps), I got one of my “feelings.” Turning around, I searched through parked cars and bushes for the eyes I sensed watching. Tightening my jacket around my shoulders, I shivered not from cold, but from an icy aura of hatred. Whoever was watching was not a friend.
    Nona rapped again on the door as I continued to scan the parking lot. A row of winter bare oaks bordered on one side and a credit union stood on the opposite side. The parking lot was still except for the pulsing red light of a surveillance camera and glow of outside lights. The aura of anger seemed to be coming from the back of the parking lot. Had something moved by that white compact car?
    I couldn’t see anything except a low-hanging tree branch reaching over the car. The branch seemed to point like a bony finger and accuse me of having a wild imagination. So I shrugged it off and turned back to the door just as it was whipped open.
    “Darlings Nona and Sabine! I’m delighted you made it!” Velvet greeted at the same moment I was enveloped in warm air mingled with the heavenly aroma of chocolate. “Don’t dally on the porch. The others are all here.”
    “Already?” Nona said with some surprise. “Are we late?’
    “Not at all. We won’t start for another ten minutes, so you’re precisely on schedule.” She spoke “schedule” so the c was silent and it sounded like “shedual.”
    When the door shut behind us, goose bumps lingered on my arms. The hateful aura lingered like an unpleasant smell. What kind of vibe had I picked up? Serious negative energy. Was it coming from someone close by? Or maybe the super-charged energy at Trick or Treats caused me to pick up on energy miles away. Yeah, it wasn’t anything personal. It was paranoid to think someone was spying on me.
    Spying.
    Isn’t that exactly what I’d done to my half-sister? I thought guiltily as I wandered over to a rock candy display case and ran my finger idly across the smooth glass.
    Of course, my spying hadn’t been malicious. Well maybe a little … but it wasn’t like I’d done anything bad. Still, I felt a little ashamed of myself. Jade was an innocent bystander in my father’s life. His actions weren’t her fault and it wasn’t fair to blame her. Resenting her wouldn’t change anything. I had to accept the fact that Jade was my half-sister. But I didn’t have to like her—and I never would.
    Feeling some resolve with myself, I peered into a glassed case of fruit-filled chocolates and read off the yummy flavors: blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, prune pecan, banana raisin, melon crush, boysenberry, cherry, and lemon. If I had to choose one, what would it be?
    “Hard to resist?” Velvet asked coming up behind me.
    “Always.” I smiled. “Everything is so yummy, I want to taste them all—except maybe the prune