A Spell Of Trouble (Silver Hollow Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) by Leighann Dobbs, Traci Douglass Read Free Book Online Page A

thinks this was a poisoning, and it appears as if he’s going to be looking for the killer.”
    “Poisoning?” Ember asked.
    “That’s what Ursula put on the medical report. Apparently the FBPI showed up at her office, so she couldn’t rule it a heart attack,” Issy said.
    “Dang, well, that complicates things.” Ember picked another toy out of the caldron and threw it into the living room to amuse the kittens and Bella.
    “No kidding. Especially since I might be a suspect along with Gray,” Issy said.
    “But Owen wouldn’t think that you guys would kill anyone. He knows you guys.” Raine twisted her mouth sideways. “What kind of poison did Ursula say it was?”
    “Calcite something or calcium something…”
    “Calcium oxalate?”
    “Yes, that’s it!” Issy and Gray said at the same time. Issy’s spirits fell even further at the look on her cousin’s face.
    “That’s too bad. That can come from many sources, including the jack-in-the-pulpit plant, which is kind of rare, but I happen to have planted a few around town.”
    “Oh great, so now you’re going to be a suspect too?” Ember asked. “Next we’ll find out the poison was inside one of my chocolates, and my head will be on the chopping block too.”
    “That kind of poisoning can cause a swollen tongue. I don’t think it turns the tongue blue, but I guess Owen probably won’t catch on to that,” Raine said.
    “All the more reason for us to find who is behind this on our own. What did you guys find out when you went to talk to Hans?” Gray asked.
    “Not much. I don’t think he’s a witch,” Issy said. “I didn’t get any vibe. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a witch do his bidding. Or he could be cleverly masking his paranormal energy. We brought Mortimer along and put him in the office, so if any paranormal business is discussed, we’ll soon find out.”
    “What about Louella’s finances? Did she have any relatives salivating to get at her money?” Issy asked.
    Gray shook his head. “Nope. She didn’t have any money or any relatives. Not even a life-insurance policy. She did have a will, and she left everything to the Silver Hollow Reptile Society, but from the information I got, there will barely be enough to bury her, so they aren’t going to get much.”
    “Silver Hollow has a reptile society?” Ember asked.
    Gray shrugged. “Guess so.”
    “Well, I guess that’s at least one less thing to investigate,” Raine said.
    “And so what we do until then?” Ember ripped off a piece of pizza crust and folded it in her mouth. “Just sit around and wait for one of them to come get us?” The last few words came out in a jumbled mumble as she talked around the thick, doughy crust, but Issy knew what she’d said.
    “No. We don’t have to just sit around. We got another lead from Hans.”
    “That’s right,” Raine added. “When we talked to him, he said he wouldn’t kill Louella—he would just buy her out. I don’t know if he was working on buying Louella. She doesn't seem like the type that could be bought, but he implied that he would buy out the abutting neighbors.”
    Ember’s face lit up. “Oh, I didn’t think of that. That parcel of land that’s going to be rezoned doesn’t have a lot of frontage, but if he bought the Vonners’ place, he’d be able to have much better access to the strip mall.”
    “Which means Fred Vonner would likely stand to make a lot of money from Hans,” Gray said.
    “But not if the rezoning doesn’t happen,” Raine pointed out.
    “Exactly. So if Hans isn’t a paranormal and he did have a witch do his bidding, maybe that witch is Vonner.”
    “Vonner? I don’t know him at all. Do you think he is a witch?” Ember asked.
    “Don’t know, but I know one way to find out,” Issy said. “I’m going to pay him a visit tomorrow. Who wants to come with me?”

7
    T he next day , Issy parked Brown Betty at the end of the long dirt driveway leading up to the home of