The Disappearance of Emily: Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic Series Book 2 by Elizabeth Pantley (best books under 200 pages .txt) 📗

“Have you ever heard about where she lives—or lived?” I asked.

Olivia started biting her thumbnail and reached down to pet Hercules with fast, jerky movements. “You can never tell anyone that I told you this.”

She paused and stared at me. “Hayden. You need to promise on your life. You won’t tell anyone.”

“Olivia, I promise. What do you know?”

She looked around to be sure we were alone, I suspected. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper and said, “I heard that she lived in Gladstone. But it was only a rumor. And that was many years ago.”

25

The Witch

“What do you mean, ‘He’s not dead’!!!” the witch shrieked. For a split second the Jeannie-illusion was gone. She looked like a haggard, old crone. Then, in a flash, the pretty genie was back again.

The men backed against the wall and quivered.

“Why are you just telling me this now?” she yelled. “Well???”

One man spoke up. “We kinda just found out. But don’t worry. I googled it. Many people with head injuries never remember the accident.”

“You googled it? Oh, good.”

The man totally missed her sarcasm and nodded his head. He looked relieved.

“You GOOGLED it?!” she screeched. Her eyes looked as if they were going to bulge right out of her head. “And this is supposed to make me feel better?” The old witch flickered again, and she looked angry. It was hard to see that anger when she looked like a perky, pink genie.

She paused a moment and counted slowly. “One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five.”

The men stood silently and watched her.

She took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out slowly through her mouth.

“Does Lazarus know this?” she asked.

“We didn’t tell him. We thought we should tell you first.”

“Good. Where is the spy now?” the Jeannie-witch asked in a calm voice.

Another man answered, “He’s at home. Recovering.”

“Is he alone?”

“No. He has two women there. And visitors in and out throughout every day.”

“Then he has too many friends and people around him. That makes him a continued risk.” She put her finger to her lip and tapped. “Keep an eye on him. Ask around. If there is any indication of his memory returning, I want to hear about it. Oh, a week later ought to do.”

“Umm,” said the man. “Why would we wait to tell you?”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” she huffed. “It’s sarcastic irony.”

He stared at her blankly, so she continued.

“A linguistic device used to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal definition and intended to be caustic.”

He continued to stand there silently gawking at her.

“Ack! Bunch of idiots! Go!!!” She pointed at the door. “Get out of my bottle and leave me in peace.” She paused and appeared to gather her patience. “Oh. Please pick up my grocery list from the table on your way out. Thank you for your business.”

Then she crossed her arms, blinked, and nodded. Two giant bats flew down behind them, chasing the men out of the cave.

The witch snickered. “Whoopsie.”

26

Last night, on my walk home from Olivia’s, I called Jaxson with the additional information she had given me about the ferry captain. I told him Nakita had separated from her husband a year ago, they were both dating others, and that he had moved away back then. Jax was grateful for the new information. He said that if Olivia’s facts were correct, it would eliminate the crime of passion angle. However, it set them back to square one on the case, as they had no other suspects or motives. They were going to investigate the possible connection with the postal worker assault and the photo of Kerbie and the mechanic at that scene. They were also still looking into Nakita’s background and the possibility of her using an alias, since the name she was using appeared to be devoid of any information.

I was still reeling from Olivia’s insinuation that my mother was—or is?—living in Gladstone. This brought up a whole new series of questions, and a new twist on what I had seen in the ledger. Emily Caldwell—Denied. Did that mean she was attempting to leave Gladstone and come to Destiny Falls? Without dates on those pages, I had no way of knowing if that signature happened years ago or last week!

I spent some time last night digging through the papers in the box to see if I might uncover some dated documents, but nothing yet. Most of the papers seemed to be normal ferry documents, but I still had a lot to look through.

I also read through a few more old newspaper issues, but mainly saw bland features about community residents, activities, sports, and the local real estate market.

“Someone’s looking mighty pretty this morning. Got a hot date?”

“Geeze! Latifa!” I jumped and spun around. “Don’t sneak in on me when I’m dressing in my closet!”

“Tee hee hee. Why not? It’s the utmost fun.” If cats could smirk, I’m sure that’s what she was doing. “So spill it, sister. All dressed up and didn’t ask for my help.” She continued in a sing-song voice, “Someone has a secret.”

“I’m just going to visit Han with Axel and Grandmother,” I said.

“Ohhh. Juuust going to visit the hunky Henry Golding lookalike. So, you juuuust decided to dress up all pretty. And you juuuuust decided to sneak out of here without telling me?”

The blush that crept up my face threatened to give me away, so I turned away from my cat. She could move fast when she wanted to, and she darted between my legs and turned around to sit in front of me. She tilted her head to the side. “Ummm humm. I think somebody’s in loooove.”

“I am not in love, Latifa,”

“A very heavy case of like, then?” She wiggled her little eyebrows.

I was not going to have this conversation with my cat. I distracted