Yule Be Magical (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 8) by Sara Bourgeois (popular novels TXT) 📗

“Back at you, babe,” I said.

We got off the phone, and I finished walking to my car. Instead of heading home, I put it in gear and headed out for the Bootique Bed & Breakfast.

Chapter Seven

Karen McKinley was standing at the inn’s tiny front desk when I walked inside. When she smiled at me with relief, I knew I’d done the right thing. If the money meant that much to her, then I was glad to pay it.

“Good afternoon, Kinsley,” Karen said. “How can I help you, dear?”

“Um… I figured I’d come in and pay Azriel’s bill. Word is he skipped out, and I’d like to take care of that,” I said.

“It got back to you that I said something about it,” she said, looking unexpectedly embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s not…”

I cut her off. “It’s okay, Karen. I’ve got the money, and I’m glad to help. Please, let me pay the bill.”

She thought about it for a moment, and then plucked the invoice from a folder and slid it across the black granite counter to me. I looked it over and then took a stack of twenty-dollar bills out of my purse. I kept a lot of cash on me. For one thing, Hangman’s House provided big time, and for another, I wasn’t too worried about getting robbed.

I counted out enough to cover the bill and slid both the invoice and the cash back across the counter to her. “Pleasure doing business with you,” I said with a smile.

She seemed taken aback but thanked me profusely. When it was done, I headed back outside to go home.

And ran right into Jeremy.

“I thought you were going to stay out of things,” he said without even saying hello.

“Well, hello to you, Deputy. Or, is it sheriff while Thorn’s off the case?” I asked with one eyebrow cocked up.

“It’s still deputy,” he said with a chuckle. “But you can’t distract me. What are you doing here? I really thought you were going to stay out of things.”

“I am staying out of things,” I lied, but I wasn’t at the bed and breakfast because of Pepper’s death. So, it was only a half lie. “I’m here because Azriel was staying here, and his credit card got declined. I paid the bill because Karen needed the money,” I said.

“Oh,” Jeremy responded. “That’s kind of you.”

“Yeah, so you can stop accusing me of nefarious things,” I said.

“Just doing my job, ma’am,” Jeremy said and tipped his hat to me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked and hoped that our little rapport might lead to him spilling some details. “You don’t think the bed and breakfast had anything to do with Pepper’s murder, do you? It couldn’t have been Azriel, right? He was in a jail cell when she died.”

“Mind your own business,” Jeremy said sternly, but he wasn’t angry. “Have a good day, Kinsley.”

He went inside after that, and I had no choice but to leave. I wanted to try to sneak back inside to listen in, but it would have been too obvious.

I was too antsy and anxious to just go home, so I decided to go back to the square. I figured it wouldn’t hurt for me to take another look at the Santa house. Maybe they missed something.

I called my Dad along the way and found out he was doing fine. He too was determined to keep me out of things this time because he didn’t want any of his troubles making my life harder. So, aside from finding out that he and my Mom were doing well, and that he most likely wasn’t going to get arrested for Pepper’s murder, I didn’t get much out of him.

But, I was determined to keep going. When I looked in the rearview mirror, I could see Pepper’s ghost sitting in my back seat. I was close to something. I just had to figure out what.

Chapter Eight

I arrived at the square, parked, and was about to walk over to the Santa house when I saw Thorn come out of the Brew Station. He had a coffee in his hand, and when he saw me, a smile on his face.

He waved to me, and then hurried across the street. “I was just looking for a reason to take the rest of the day off work,” he said.

“Oh, were you now?” I teased. “We can’t have the sheriff of this town slacking.”

“I’m not slacking,” he said with a chuckle. “But being as I’m off the biggest case we have going right now, I have time to burn.”

“It just so happens that I was looking for something to do as well,” I said.

“You were about to go look around the Santa house, weren’t you?” he asked, but there was no anger or condemnation in his voice.

“If I was?” I asked carefully.

“I won’t say a word about it,” he said and offered me his arm. “In fact, I would offer to go snoop around with you. If that’s what you want to do?”

“You would?” I was taken aback. “You don’t like being off the case, do you?”

“I don’t,” he said, “but hear me out. What if I had something better in mind?”

“I’m listening,” I said.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I have something I want to tell you, Kinsley,” Thorn said. “I’ve been waiting all day to tell you that I love you for your grayness.”

That made me burst out laughing, and Thorn guffawed right along with me. It felt good. “I don’t think that sounds as romantic as you maybe intended it to be…”

“Gawd, get me out of here,” Meri said and jumped out of my bag. I watched as he took off running toward the courthouse. He stopped on the steps and watched us from a safe distance.

“Hear me out,” Thorn said. “You told me once that Azriel got to you because he loved your darkness. He loved those things about you,