Page 83 of Real Fake Hauntings

With any luck, either Wyatt or another supernatural in the bar would find the earth mage for me and offer them on a plate in exchange for a good commission.

A smart business owner knew when to delegate.

By the time I made it back to the shop, Dru had already opened. No customers yet, but that would change fast.

“Where were you?” she asked as I hurried upstairs to grab my phone. She followed me into the downstairs kitchen and watched me take one last deep inhale of Ian’s scent, then carefully fold his jacket over the counter.

I kind of wanted to keep it on for the rest of the day, but Dru had the heater going, and it’d be too warm inside. Besides, I didn’t want to risk spilling anything on it. Ian’s clothes must always remain black like a void. It was his brand, and if there was something I fully understood, it was brands.

“Did you find another body?” Dru asked, full of suspicion. She was dressed all in white today—sparkling white shirt, white jeans, and…a golden band keeping her curls back?

I squealed with delight. “Is that a halo on your head?”

She snapped a finger in my face. “Hope! Concentrate. Dead body?”

Startled gurgling reverberated behind the wall. A muscle flexed in Dru’s cheek.

“No new dead body,” I said. “Are you dressed up as an angel?”

Dru smirked and turned. Two angel wings were drawn on the back of her blouse with thin black tape.

“Oh, my God!”

She whirled around. “Are you crying?”

I blinked repeatedly. “Nooo.”

She made a sound of disgust and stalked back into the shop.

I followed, trying to compose myself. “Someone dug up Crane.”

Dru halted abruptly, and I almost crashed into her. “Dug up?” Her attention snapped to the ceiling. “He’s not in your bathtub, is he?”

“No, of course not.” Although in all fairness I hadn’t checked with the ghost-detecting spell. But surely not even Bagley would’ve been that mean, would she?

No, she wouldn’t. Okay, she totally would, but in this case, Bagley wanted a new body, not to be stuck in my pipes as a ghost again. She wouldn’t want to tempt fate and would make sure to stay away from the shop.

As I told Dru about my theory, her expression cleared.

“You mean the old witch is no longer haunting the shop?”

“Nope.” And just to make sure, I added, “Ms. Bagley, today I made a cleansing potion with dandelions and baneberry.”

Is that bad? Dru mouthed.

Very bad, I answered.

We waited, breath caught. The soft notes of our usual background music filled the air, no screeches of horror at my incompetence to be heard.

Dru appeared impressed. “She’s really gone.”

“Yep.” Unfortunately, now I needed to catch her again.

Dru must’ve followed my thought because she wrinkled her nose. “I guess not for long.”

“Better we know where she is than have her out there doing who knows what.”

“Can we make her haunt the closet under the stairs instead of the shop?”

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