Mistletoe & Hauntings Read online

  “But the mill? You let that go to Pike.”

  “It didn’t feel right leaving her with nothing. My Uncle rambled in his letter to Pike about how much her mother loved the mill and how he’d treasured their walks there so he wanted her to have it. He said he always regretted letting Hedy go and if he’d known Pike was his baby then he would have made a home for them there at the mill. I left the deed where Meg would find it. And I sold Uncle Rory’s house because I couldn’t bear the guilt of being there.”

  Pike was sobbing now. The betrayal she felt, ran deep. Mallory could barely tune her feelings out. Rory’s ghostly figure stood beside Pike, rubbing her hair. He was alternating looks of love between Pike and Axl. He clearly wasn’t holding a grudge. He loved them both.

  “That’s what was supposed to be under the floorboard. It was never about the diary.” Rory wanted Mallory to deliver Pike’s letter. He wanted his family together.

  She pulled out her phone and glanced at the time. The veil would be thickening. It wouldn’t be impossible but it would be harder to cross.

  “Axl. Do you have the letter still?”

  Axl nodded and pulled it from his back pocket.

  Mallory snatched it out of his hand. “Sorry. I’m in a bit of a hurry,” she whispered. “Your uncle’s here.” Axl straightened and took a step back. “Don’t worry, he forgives you.” Turning to Pike, she pressed the letter into her friend’s hand. “You need to read this so your father can move on.”

  Pike bristled at the word father and Mallory gave her an apologetic look.

  She hesitated but unfolded the letter. Mallory knew what she was thinking. She was torn between guilt and loss. The guilt for thinking of Rory as a father now when she’d loved Tom so much and the loss at having to lose another one all over again. Her tears splotched the page, but when she finished reading, it was as if all the pain in the room evaporated. Mallory could breathe again.

  A beam of light came down through the hospital’s ceiling.

  Pike shivered. “Is he?”

  Mallory nodded. “He’s at peace now.”

  “Pike?” They all looked up to the sound of Hedy’s voice. She was in her hospital gown and attached to an I.V. She looked ghostly white but she was very much alive and walking—or trying to.

  “Mrs. Hart!” a nurse bellowed as she ran from behind her. “You can’t be out of bed yet.”

  Hedy collapsed to her knees.

  “Mama!” Pike ran to her, dropping down beside her. “I’m so sorry. I never should have shut you out. I didn’t know about Daddy…I didn’t know. I should have listened.”

  “No, baby. It’s not your fault. Tom and I should have told you the truth a long time ago. I promise, no more secrets.”

  Eleven

  T he Christmas Eve production of A Christmas Carol went off without a hitch. Both ghosts were at peace and Tannen’s victims were recovering. Pike had made her own sort of peace and even invited Axl and Meg over for a Christmas dinner, which made Mallory happy.

  It was almost ten o’clock when Mallory and Kaden were leaving the barn theatre. They were having Christmas at Caravan Manor with Mallory’s family tomorrow but tonight was for them and she was looking forward to giving him his gift, right after they had hot chocolate by the fire to warm up. A perfect night—her thoughts were cut off as someone shouted.

  “Kaden!”

  Was anything sacred?

  Mallory fought the anger rising from within. “Come to ruin Christmas?”

  Kaden frowned at Mallory, then addressed the person who had called to him. “What’s up, Donna?” His tone was sharp.

  Shaking her head, Donna said, “I know. I’m so sorry. I just came to say goodbye.” She looked from Mallory to Kaden and then back to Mallory again and slowly adjusted her scarf. “My case is closed. I was here investigating a black-market ring that Tannen Spriggs was involved in.”

  Holy, jingle bells! Had she really been here on assignment? “I thought you were lying about being here for work. A clever ruse to win Kaden back.”

  Donna laughed. “Well, as much as the thought crossed my mind, it was pretty easy to see that wasn’t an option.” She cleared her throat and both Kaden and Mallory shifted. “Anyway, I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything. You were part of my cover.”

  “And the black-market ring?” He asked.

  “Snowmobiles,” she answered. “Mostly. There were also illegal Elf-on-the-Shelf dolls with nanny cams used for home invasion purposes.”

  “Wow.” Mallory inhaled. “I can’t believe Tannen was doing all of that right under our nose.”

  “Well, actually Tannen was only part of the operation. He stored the snowmobiles during the cooling off period.” She pulled an envelope out of her tote bag and handed it to Kaden. “Merry Christmas, husband!”

  The large manila envelope had a red bow stuck to it.

  “What’s this?”

  A wash of tears filled her eyes. “You know what it is. It’s time for me to move on.”

  “You signed the divorce papers?” Mallory asked, barely able to breathe.

  Donna didn’t say anything. Instead she leaned in and kissed Kaden on the cheek. “Take care of yourself, Bones.”

  Mallory waited for her to get in her car and drive away before she threw herself on Kaden. “Oh my god. You’re a free man. We have to go home and celebrate.”

  The snow gathered in his hair, and she reached up and dusted some of it away. “What’s the matter? Why aren’t you saying anything? Aren’t you happy, Kaden?”

  With a sigh, he clasped her hands and smiled. “Of course. It’s just hard to believe that she finally cooperated.”

  Mallory suddenly got a funny feeling in her gut and they both scrambled to look inside but Donna had been true to her word. The divorce papers were signed.

  A very merry Christmas miracle.

  ~

  Want to read more about the paranormal mansions, feisty fortune tellers, and campy killers of Bohemian Lake? Check out the Vianus’ Bohemian Murder Manor series. Or click one of the other sets that make up the world of Bohemian Lake:

  Penning Trouble Mysteries Featuring Penny Trubble & Friends

  Haunted House Flippers Inc. Featuring Jack, Juniper & Pike

  Bohemian Festival Fiasco Featuring Eve Banter & the Mabels

  Bookish Adventures in Witch-Lit Featuring Sera Popescu & Nelle Storey

  Thanks for reading Mistletoe & Hauntings. Mallory’s story will continue in Ferris Wheels & Fortune Squeals. In the mean time you can get a dose of Mallory in most every Bohemian Lake book including Murder in the Catacombs. Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next release in the Bohemian World: Hyde & Seek. If you’d rather start at the very beginning of the Bohemian Lake World, check out the first book in the Penning Trouble series: Murder, She Floats.

  One

  E dinburgh had a history of body snatchers, garish ghosts, and dramatic architecture but Sera Popescu hadn’t expected an eight-foot-tall monster. She reached out and touched the humongous statue that dwarfed her and felt an unexpected spark spring forward in the form of an electric current.

  She smirked to herself. Did her inner witch sense danger from this silly gothic prop or did her magic simply want her to spark the monster to life like the good doctor did in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

  Sera ignored the magic pulsing at her fingertips and walked further inside the bar to where the rest of the book club drank and danced. She’d stepped outside a few minutes ago to call and update her boss Nelle Storey, who was meeting them for the London portion of the tour.

  She shook her hands to relax them, but it didn’t work. Her magic was still on high alert, which was odd because that normally only happened when she found herself in danger.

  And she doubted there was any real danger here unless one counted being hit on by inebriated youngsters, dangerous.

  Not like she couldn’t take care of herself. She’d met plenty of villains in her life. Not nearly as many as the after-sc
hool specials her childhood had led her to believe—but a few. Funny enough, the bad guys were never men in trench coats as suggested on television, nor were they trying to drug and kidnap her. Well, that wasn’t completely true. There had been that small medieval town in Germany last month with Bohemian Lake’s Gas Lamp Literary Tours.

  She snapped her fingers and a small zap of electricity formed, changing after a moment to an open flame. She blew it out, feeling like Barbara on Beetlejuice, and realized the source of her discomfort. With all of its horror-themed décor, this pub, Frankenstein, housed in a 19th century church in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town, reminded her of the German debacle. The diamond-paned windows, the arched Victorian doorways, not to mention the electric static charges. It absolutely reminded her of Germany.

  Who knew that place would have traumatized her so with its adorable half-timbered houses? And yet it had held such a dark and evil secret society—and one that worked out of something so obvious as a drug store? Speaking of which, she still didn’t know who had drugged her and Nelle during the last trip. She suspected the little old housekeeper, but she was going to have to watch her back just in case it was one of her fellow book club members.

  She rolled her neck, trying to release the strain. Yep, that was definitely it. The German-inspired atmosphere was bothering her. There was even a Bierkeller—an underground pub serving German brews downstairs that she’d noted when she went in search of the washroom. Why hadn’t she put it together before?

  Sera’d had just about enough of the flashing green lights, when she spotted her colleague Hansen Dressler at the edge of the throng, his six-foot frame dwarfing the busy crowd of young people dancing and swaying around him.

  Sera grinned as she watched him. He looked so smart in his old-fashioned wire-rimmed spectacles. Like a superhero trying to hide his identity. She’d only met him recently, but she had already developed a small crush on him. He was struggling to carry four drinks without spilling so Sera pushed her way through the crowd to help.

  She looked to her right and saw two of the other book club members—twins with mink-dark hair and green eyes. Not actual twins but best friends who could have been mistaken for sisters, Josie Jones and Kyla Carew were dancing near a vat of bubbling smoke. Josie was in heeled shoes and full make-up while Kyla, as usual, took the au natural approach. Their eyes were on a young man trying to sing karaoke, his voice cracking above the noisy buzz of the crowd. And while they watched him, Gordon Spiro, the womanizing pervert of the group, ogled them—eyes glued to their behinds, as usual. Sera doubted he’d ever read any of the books; it was clear he had ulterior motives for joining the traveling book club.

  They’d arrived in Scotland almost a week ago and spent their time traveling the highlands, visiting the glens and quaint village pubs. They’d even stayed in a castle for New Year’s Eve but now they were in Edinburgh ready to focus on the reason for their trip: the morally suspect monsters of the Victorian era, namely, the one featured in Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

  In two days, they would take the train to London where they’d also dive into Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and whatever surprise Nelle had for them. She was keeping part of the itinerary a secret.

  “Hope you’re thirsty,” Hansen said as he reached her. “Oww!” He said, pulling his hand away.

  “Oops, sorry about the jolt. I think I’m still a little on edge after Germany.”

  Hansen smiled, “No worries, my witchy friend. We should maybe look into getting your power under control though. It would be helpful if you could choose when to use it.”

  Sera nodded. She couldn’t agree more. She’d already begun scouring her ancestor’s book looking for hints, clues or spells that would give her some illusion of control.

  She could feel the latent spark running up and down her arm. For some reason, her witchy senses were still on high alert.

  “Anyway, this is great,” she said, motioning to the drinks. “How much do I owe you?”

  He handed her a beer and smiled, “Never mind that. How's Nelle doing?” he asked as they turned away from the bar.

  “She's fine. A little jealous, that she’s missing out, but she said she’ll meet us in London on Sunday”

  “Poor Nelle,” he told her with a smile. “I wonder what her emergency was about.”

  “No idea. I tried, but she just shuts me down.”

  “Yep. That sounds like Nelle all right. She’s a bit of a closed book. Shall we join the others at the table?”

  Sera nodded and started to move just as somebody blocked her, and since Hansen was behind her, there was nowhere for her to go. The crowd pressed against her and she was forced to lean back against him so intimately that all concept of personal space was demolished.

  The pressure of the crowd finally eased enough for Hans to extricate himself. He slid into a narrow open space beside her and said, “My apologies, Sera, I never meant to get so, uh, touchy-feely.”

  “No worries, Hans,” she told him, reaching out and dusting some of the bar’s peanut crumbs from his shirt. Holy pectoral muscles. “Nothing wrong with a little human contact.”

  He grinned and for a moment Sera thought he would kiss her. They’d been flirting on and off since they first met, but a moment later, he cleared his throat and craned his neck to look around the bar. “Where’d everyone go?”

  “Probably wandering around the historic quarter of the Royal Mile some more.” She patted the purse at her hip. “Don’t worry. I know how to get a hold of them.”

  Not to mention they all knew where home base was. Their flat was located in an alley off the Royal Mile down the Old Fishmarket Close. It was only a fifteen-minute walk and a pretty one at that with St. Giles Cathedral on the way. Last night there’d been a homeless man in a kilt standing on the stairs, and in the fog, some of the group mistook him for an actual ghost.

  Sera laughed at the memory and sipped her beer.

  “I’m just gonna go check on my sister and that slimy politician. I’ll be back in a minute.” Hans said.

  Sera nodded. She had a feeling Hans didn’t like Daniel Brodey much. She wasn’t sure if he didn’t like him because of his politics or because he seemed awful close to Gretchen, who was Hansen’s sister.

  “All right, but be nice. He’s a tour guest this week and Nelle will have a fit if you upset him,” Sera called out. With Nelle absent, Hans and Sera were in charge which mostly meant Sera because Hans was more comfortable behind the scenes. He was a solid teammate though.

  As she watched him walk away, she checked her phone and noticed two messages. One was from an old friend she’d met in Paris five years ago, asking her to come visit since she was so close. She must have seen the picture of Edinburgh Castle that Sera had posted on her Instagram account. Sera laughed at her friend’s outrageous offer to set their private jet to come pick her up. Michaela’s family had more money than sense. She shook her head and deleted it.

  The other was from her friend Eve, who was back in Bohemian Lake, along with a no service warning across the screen. She took a few steps to try to find service, then listened to the message from Eve Banter.

  “Sera? It’s Eve. Just wanted to let you know your security system picked up some activity.”

  Shoot! Sera had installed top-of-the-line motion censored security cameras in her house. She had inherited a lot of magical items from her ancestors along with a lot of problems. In short, Sera had some bad people after her and took extra precautions to keep things safe. She’d left her friend Eve Banter in charge, knowing Eve was the only one nasty enough to do what needed to be done, in the event that one of the witch hunters attacked again. Plus, she had a huge network of witches, spies and private eyes at her disposal so as far as Sera could tell, she was the best choice.

  She walked a few feet away in search of service and hit the button to call back.

  “Banter—here—” Static.

  Sera coul
d barely hear her and spun around in search of a signal. In addition to the obvious bad cell service inside the bar, it was karaoke night, so it was crowded and as screechy as a heavy metal concert.

  “Uh . . . hey, can you hear me? Eve? It’s Sera. I just got your message. Was anything taken?”

  “No, ma’am. I think it was maybe just a raccoon. I’m going—sleep over—You know, guard the place, cameras?”

  “What?” Sera pressed her hand over her other ear. “I’m sorry . . . you’re breaking up. I can hardly hear you. What did you say?”

  “I said—cameras—offline.”

  “Sorry—and what?”

  “—did you turn your cameras off,” she asked loudly through the crackle.

  “No, of course not . . . wait. You’re saying my cameras are off. I’ll . . . I’ll check my computer once we’re back at the flat and make sure.”

  Sera wondered how the heck someone could have turned her cameras off. The only access was through her account and she had her phone on her. Sure, her computer was back at the flat but what were the chances some random person in Scotland had broken in and accessed her computer.

  “I’ll stay—tonight—turn the cameras back on, but we’re going on that trip, can’t help after.”

  Squinting as if that would help improve her hearing, Sera turned left, right and then shouted, “Okay, Eve. Thanks.”

  The call dropped right after that, so Sera tucked her phone back away. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a man on the level above her. She caught a glimpse of him as he scanned the crowd. He appeared to be looking for someone. He was tall—taller than anyone around him. Maybe six three or four. Well-built with long, thick, shoulder-length dark hair that lightened on the ends.

  He must have felt her staring because he looked her way and smiled. His face was shadowed so she couldn’t really see him, but she glanced down, feeling her face tingle with heat. It had been a while since she’d flirted with a good-looking guy, well aside from Hans, but he didn’t seem to pick up on it—like ever.