Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin Read Free Book Online

we would get unexpected packages in the mail or find boxes dropped off by the front door, and most of them contained items their owners no longer wanted to deal with.
    “Let me open it – just in case,” Teag said. He cut open the packaging to reveal a plain cardboard box.
    “I’ve got a bad feeling about this one Cassidy. You getting anything?”
    I nodded, holding my hand several inches above the box. “Definitely a spooky – maybe more. Be careful.”
    Teag used a pencil to flip up the lid of the box. Inside was a man’s plain silver wedding ring.
    Reflexively, I backed up a step.
    “Well?” he asked.
    “If you could smell magic, that thing would be a tuna sandwich that had been locked in the trunk of a car during a heat wave,” I said. I swallowed hard. “There is no way I’m touching that – not without Sorren.” But I did let my hand hover over the open box. Even at a distance, the images were so powerful they threatened to overwhelm me.
    Whoever wore the ring had been terrified, running for his life. Only he couldn’t outrun the shadows, and something in the shadows was bad. Very bad. Even though he wasn’t completely sober, he could feel the evil. It let him run, for a while. Like a cat with a mouse, it toyed with him, enjoying his fear. And when it moved in for the kill, there was nothing he could do about it. It started tearing his skin off his body, then pulling off limbs, knowing all the while just what to do so that he didn’t die too quickly. It liked his screams.
    “Cassidy!” Teag’s voice wrested me away from the vision. I realized that he had physically moved me away from the box, putting himself between me and the table.
    My breath was ragged and I wanted to throw up. “That’s got to be from one of the murdered men,” I said, trying to stop my stomach from lurching. Teag guided me to a chair. “Why would anyone send us something like that?”
    Teag brought me a fresh cup of coffee and then typed the return address from the package into his cell phone. “Nothing,” he reported. “Probably an empty lot.” He paused. “I can talk with the messenger service. Someone ordered that delivery, and it must have been paid for. I’ll see what I can find out.”
    I drank the last swallow of coffee, just as the phone rang. Teag went to answer it, and held up the receiver. “It’s for you.”
    I drew a deep breath, set aside my mug and took the receiver. “Cassidy?” the caller asked, so breathlessly I couldn’t quite place the voice.
    “It’s Debra Kelly” the caller said. Debra was one of several interior designers who sourced unusual items from Trifles and Folly for their clients. She sounded flustered. “Cassidy, you’ve got to help me. I’m in a heap of trouble.”

Chapter Four
    M Y SURPRISE MUST have shown in my face, because Teag looked at me questioningly, and all I could do was shrug.
    “What kind of trouble, Debra?” I asked.
    “Rebecca’s blaming me for making her B&B haunted. I sold her a number of items that I bought from your store, and now she swears she’s being overrun with ghosts.” She rattled off a list of items. I remembered all of them and none were even sparklers, let alone spookies.
    I frowned. “What makes Rebecca think the inn is haunted?” Drea’s story about the shadow men came to mind immediately.
    “I swore I wouldn’t tell you, because she wants you to come and see for yourself.”
    “Okay. Give me that list again.” Teag shoved paper and pen in front of me while I wrote down the items.
    “I’m sorry, Cassidy,” Debra said. “Some B&B owners would love to be able to claim that they’re haunted. In fact, I thought Rebecca would actually have liked to have a resident ghost from some of the things she said.” She paused. “I think something scared her enough to change her mind.”
    “Sounds like it.” Teag was looking at me with his head turned to one side like a confused puppy. “What does she think I’ll be able to do by