Inconvenient Murder: An Inept Witches Mystery Read Online Free PDF

didn’t do it…”
    “She has motive, means, and opportunity. It is well known that she hates him.” Ingrid pressed her hands into her face. Perhaps it was because it was 4:13 a.m. Perhaps it was because it was her best friend on the line, but Ingrid was uncommonly serious. “What are the options?”
    “Gabe will find the real murderer. We’ll do what we can to help him. If it comes down to it, we’ll get her out of the country.”
    “That isn’t an option,” Ingrid said. “What other options are there?”
    “What are you saying?”
    “Don’t play dumb,” Ingrid snapped. “We’re talking about Emily.”
    “There’s the North Island Coven.” Hazel said. Her face was serious, her body tense.
    “Who are they?”
    “They’re a powerful coven who works for money. They’re dark, and they cross lines other covens won’t cross.”
    “I have money,” Ingrid said.
    “Then talk to Saffron. She can tell you more.”
    “Are you talking about the uptight little witch who doesn’t talk to anyone?”
    “I’m talking about the former member of the North Island Coven who has a yarn shop a few blocks from you.”
    “Convenient.”
    “It is not convenient. That girl’s mother is on our island far too often. However, she could tell you what to do. But you make sure you don’t have any other options. You would get the karma backlash, and it will be fierce. You will be responsible for the bunnies or dogs that are sacrificed.”
    “Bunnies?” There was a distinct whine in her voice. Ingrid wasn’t ashamed of it. She liked bunnies.
    Hazel nodded and repeated, “Small adorable helpless bunnies.”
    “What’s wrong with snakes and possums?”
    Hazel didn’t indulge Ingrid by replying.
    “So...exhaust other options first”
    “Be grateful you don’t have a cat. They’d demand that instead.”
    Ingrid scowled before she rose and said, “I’m going to bed. Try not to lay any spells on me or Em.”
    “Her aura needs to be cleansed. Something is wrong with her, Ingrid.”
    “Kay, tomorrow,” Ingrid replied, completely unsure what she was supposed to do and uncertain if she’d remember through sleeping.
     

4
     
     
     
     
     
    Thursday Early Morning
     
    Gabe took all of Emily’s information as well as Owen’s personal information while Ingrid poured her cup after cup of delicious, flavored coffee.
    She couldn’t recall how many cups she’d had, but now Gabe was gone and it was time to make the phone call she’d been dreading.
    Her hands were unsteady as she reached into her purse for her cell phone, irritated that this was at least the third time today that her hands had revealed just how rattled she was. Why should this idiot’s death impact her at all? If anything, it made her life easier. But it was super annoying for him to die in her building. Unbidden, an image of her wedding day passed through her mind. No, she thought firmly. You will not remember this jackhole like he was the day of your wedding. That was all a lie.
    Focusing on her irritation and her desire to re-kill Owen was easier than acknowledging that some part of her—really deep down—mourned Owen. Maybe not Owen specifically, but the loss of what could have been. Willing her hands to stop shaking, she punched the name in her phone’s address book and listened to the phone ring, trying desperately to resist the urge to throw up. How could she deliver the news? How did you tell someone that his brother was dead?
    “Hello?”
    Deep breath. “Melinda, it’s Emily.”
    “Emily? You sound terrible. Are you okay?”
    Emily swallowed and then forced the words that she didn’t think would come.
    “Melinda, Owen’s dead. His body, um, they found him in the basement of the bookstore. Here. On the island. My bookstore, Mel.”
    She heard Melinda’s gasp through the phone, numb still from the shock herself. “What? Are you serious? Of course you are serious. He’s dead? This can’t be happening.”
    Emily rubbed her temples