Page 58 of Real Fake Hauntings

Which didn’t sell candy to begin with.

It took me two more stores to find someone willing to part with some of their candy hoard, and I stuffed it all inside the Vespa’s seat compartment. Don’t worry, it was an insulated space, and the candy did not suffer for being sat upon by my lovely bottom.

“Cool costume,” someone shouted my way.

I waved at them and pondered my next move. April had given me two names: Bosko and Wyatt. Of the two, Wyatt was the most likely subject—he owned a shady bar that catered to illegal magic users.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of him telling me anything was close to zero, so I’d have to bring in the big guns, make Ian earn his nonexistent paycheck.

Getting comfortable on Bee-Bee, I dialed him.

“Hello, Hope,” he said in his silky, deep voice.

I fought the urge to squirm, blush, and tell him to stop it. “Hello, Ian. Are you busy right now?”

“I can talk. I liked your zombie makeup.”

“Really? Because I made it even better.”

“Oh?”

I took a selfie and sent it to him.

He chuckled after a few moments. “Witch zombie mummy is definitely your brand.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I said with a grin.

Two young women stopped by my side. One carried a phone on a stick, clearly live-streaming, and had no issues pointing it in my direction.

“Say ‘hello’ to the chat,” she said. She was wearing a skimpy vampire maid uniform, complete with white makeup and blood dripping out of her mouth.

“Hello, chat.” I blew the camera a kiss.

They laughed and bumped fists with me before they moved on, chatting the whole time.

“What was that?” Ian asked.

“Someone live streaming. I’m internet-famous now! Oh, wait.”

I hurried after the two women and handed them a Tea Cauldron’s business card before returning to Bee-Bee.

“Sorry,” told Ian. “I forgot to promote the shop.”

“Very important for all those viewers not in Olmeda.”

“Hey, now. You never know who might drop by.”

He chuckled again, the sound wrapping around my internal organs and reducing them to mush as it usually did. “True.”

“Have you found out anything about new witches in town?”

“Hope, we’ve talked about this before. It’s not an internet search; it takes time for people to get back to me.”

“I know.”

“Did you find anything on your end?”

I told him about my conversation with April and my two current suspects.

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