Page 30 of The Rainbow Recipe
“Nick? Miss Gladwell’s cousin?”
The clerk nodded eagerly. “Isn’t he gorgeous? I’m hoping he’ll stay here in Matt’s place.”
The pyramid went flying again.
“Oh, dear, I have to go.” Evie fled her new best friend, trailing a furious ghost.
Thievesthe destructive spirit hissed.Kill them all.
“Can ghosts kill?”Jax repeated absently that evening as he perused legal websites for information on business licensing while listening to Evie’s tale.
So far, he’d learned that the state didn’t require a business license. It left licensing to counties and municipalities. Afterthought was the county seat and didn’t—yet—have licensing laws on the books and neither did the county. More digging required.
“Maybe, with enough energy.” Evie bit her plump bottom lip, diverting Jax from his research.
He forced his gaze back to his laptop to avoid distraction. “Like, when Clancy went berserk and threw stuff across the room and blew out the electricity? If we’d been standing on a cliff, he could have shoved us off?”
Evie just needed a sounding board. It wasn’t as if he could help her with ghosts.
“Possibly, but I’m pretty sure ghosts can’t locate cyanide and drop it in a glass. They’re mostly the energy remains of thoughts and emotions brought on by unfinished business. KK might have the same anger issues as Clancy did, but she was younger and hadn’t built up the same level of bitterness and fury, perhaps. It took Loretta’s parents months before they generated half of Clancy’s energy. I should get rid of Kit-Kat before she grows more destructive, but she refuses to listen.”
“Burn sage? Hold a séance?” Jax read ordinances from nearby towns.
“I hate séances. But maybe if we can find out more about her—” Evie leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for half listening. You’ve been helpful.”
“Anytime.” He pulled her closer for a more satisfying kiss. “I’m sorry I can’t be more useful.”
“You’re far more useful doing lawyerly things than listening to my problems. I wonder if Sheriff Troy would take me to the coroner and let KK see her own body?” She pulled away and was gone before Jax fully grasped her question.
He started to jump up, then sat down again. Troy was far too sensible to take Evie anywhere.
Bored with research, he opened an email from Roark, who’d been hacking the sheriff’s files for Evie. He’d attached a file labeledJane Lawson.
The first item in the file was a newspaper article detailing how Jane’s parents had died from breathingcyanidefrom smoke in a mattress factory fire while Jane was just a teenager. She’d been working part-time at the factory and had escaped the blaze.
Sixteen: Pris
Italy
Emma Rossi bustledinto the kitchen the next morning, her brow furrowed in worry. “I’m so sorry. I was talking to my sister.” She took the plates from Pris and distributed them on the table in front of Dante and the twins.
“Which sister?” the Insensitive Clod politely inquired, while continuing to peruse his morning email on his notepad.
Emma was giving off mental hysteria in two languages. Three, if one considered Gaelic slang derivatives a language. Pris blocked out her alarm and added a stack of toast to a plate. Taking it to the table, she snatched the device from Dante’s hands and carried it away, forcing him to pay attention.
Evie often accused her ofrearrangingthings. Pris called it doing what needed to be done.
“Your Aunt Margaret, dear.” Emma poured a cup of coffee and filled Dante’s. “She’s in hospital.”
Apparently too lazy to gather up his crutch and chase after his computer, the Clod cut toast for the twins. “How serious?”
Refusing to become any more involved in his family’s dynamics, Pris sliced up the omelet she’d made and doled it out on the twins’ plates, then returned to the stove to start another. She could tell from Emma’s anxiety what was coming without reading minds.
“Heart surgery. She’ll be going in tomorrow. Your Aunt Agnes can take over the bookshop for a while, but someone needs to be at the hospital until your cousins arrive. I think they’re in Australia now.” Emma sipped her coffee.
“What about Cousin Matilda? Isn’t she a nurse?” Dante still sounded unconcerned. He really hadn’t comprehended what was happening here.
Pris silently slapped an omelet on his mother’s plate and contemplated kicking Dante. How could a man with so much education be such a total idiot?
