Read Three Witches and a Killer: Wicked Western Witches Book 1 for Free Online Page B

Holly got an idea in her head, talking her out of it was nearly impossible. When we were in high school, she’d been convinced the principle, Mr. Benny, was really a vampire. She’d gone to great lengths to prove it too, short of shoving garlic down his throat.
    Holly never managed to expose him as a vampire, but she did get suspended from school.
    My cousin Pax was Aunt Selena’s son, while Holly and Adel were Aunt Sophie’s daughters. Although we were all close in age, we couldn’t have been less alike. Both Holly and Adel had their father’s blue eyes and blond hair. Holly was the serious one while Adel was just kind of ditzy.
    Out of all of us, I was the only one who still had both my parents. My cousins’ fathers had both succumbed to the curse. Sophie’s husband died in a freak accident while working in their garden and Aunt Selena’s husband bit the big one when his plane went down over the Pacific.
    The aunts certainly had good reason to suspect the family curse was directed at the females.
    “Are you still there?” Pax asked.
    “Yeah,” I said, snapping back to the moment. “I was on my way to Moonstone Manor to find out if your mom has made any progress with my Mickey D problem.”
    “Can it wait? This is kind of important.”
    “I think a zombie in my closet is kind of important too. What if he escapes and eats someone?”
    At a loss for words, Pax went silent. Not too unusual. My cousin was as smart as a whip when it came to nerd stuff, but he did tend to get tunnel vision, just like Holly.
    “Well, didn’t you go to the butcher shop this morning?” he asked, finally breaking out of his dazed and confused state. “A well fed zombie is a well behaved zombie.”
    I couldn’t help the eye roll. “You think?”
    “Okay, in all seriousness, we should get over there and help her before she does something drastic,” he sighed. “You can always talk to my mom at the BBQ tonight.”
    Damn! I’d totally spaced the Full Moon Dinner Aunt Selena put on for the family every month. Those dinners were one of the few occasions that our entire family was in one place.  Even Mom went, though Dad still refused to attend.
    “You’re right,” I sighed. “I’ll meet you at the Catnip then. Give me about half an hour.”
    After ending the call, I backed out of the little parking space and headed down the tree-lined road to the gate. I couldn’t say I was sorry to leave Draven Court behind. It was one of those places that had a heavy atmosphere. What I needed to discover was if that negativity was due to family secrets, such as murder, or if they just had a ghost or two in their closet.
     
    * * *
     
    The Catnip Book Boutique was on the southwest corner of the town square. Holly’s quaint little bookstore served coffee, soda and offered patrons overstuffed chairs to sit in while they browsed the new releases.
    My cousin was a smart businesswoman, but hardly creative when it came to advertising her business. The front window of the Catnip featured two black cats looking down at a bubbling cauldron.
    In a normal town, Holly’s storefront would have been considered very imaginative, but not so much in Shadow Crossing. We already had an excess of promotion featuring witches.
    Parking Dad’s Lexus in front, I got out and trotted to the door, only to find that it was locked. Holly had a closed sign in the window.
    “Holly, it’s me!” I yelled while knocking on the glass.
    “She’s expecting us. Why is the door locked?” Pax asked from behind.
    Pax’s arms were full of ghost hunting equipment, which probably explained why his black-framed glasses were slipping down his nose.
    Unlike Adel and Holly, Pax looked more like a Costello. He had the same dark brown hair and nearly black eyes, though I thought he looked a lot like a nerd.
    Shrugging, I knocked again. “Dang it, Holly! We came rushing over here to help you; the least you can do is answer the door.”
    It was a good thing that the door swung