Love Your Entity by Cat Devon Read Free Book Online Page B

sat at one of the bistro-style tables next to the front window.
    “This is a nice place,” Sierra said. “I love the Art Deco architectural details, the decorative moldings, and the framed angel prints. The black frames really pop against the pale pink walls.”
    “Daniella has done a great job with it.” Zoe took a sip of her espresso before saying, “I hear you’re an author.”
    “That’s right.”
    “I looked you up on Amazon. You’ve gotten some wonderful reviews, including in Booklist and Library Journal .”
    “You sound very knowledgeable,” Sierra said.
    “I sound like what I am,” Zoe said. “A former librarian.”
    “You’re not a librarian now?”
    Zoe shook her head. “I’m a soap maker. I have my own line of botanical soaps and creams. I sell them online. Bella Luna is the name of my business.”
    “I’ll have to check it out,” Sierra said.
    “And I’ll have to check out your books. It sounds like your vigilante ghost hunter Nicki Champion is quite the woman. She always gets her ghost.”
    “Not always,” Sierra said.
    “Oh, now I am intrigued.”
    “No one is always successful,” Sierra said.
    “Not even ghost hunters?”
    “Especially them.”
    “A number of the reviews on Amazon said how realistic you made the ghost world sound. As if you had experience yourself.”
    “Yeah, I hear that a lot,” Sierra said.
    “And?”
    “And it’s a nice compliment.”
    “That’s all it is? You know your house is rumored to be haunted,” Zoe said.
    “I love those kinds of rumors. I’ve got research books on haunted bridges, mines, and hotels. What about your house? Is it supposed to be haunted too?”
    “It’s not my house. I’m renting. Nick owns the property. I think you met him last night,” Zoe said.
    “He and Damon started unloading my U-Haul without even asking me if I needed their help.”
    Zoe frowned. “Didn’t you need their help?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “They’re not the type to wait for permission to do something.”
    “Yeah, I got that impression.”
    “I suspect Ronan is the same way,” Zoe said.
    “I agree.”
    “Let’s get back to you. Can you tell me what you’re working on now?” Zoe asked.
    Sierra took a sip of her latte before replying, “I’m writing another Nicki Champion book. This one involves Chicago history during Prohibition.”
    “In that case, you should speak to Pat Heller. He owns Pat’s Tats a few doors down. Oh look, there he is now.” She tapped the front window and waved at a man with a gray ponytail wearing a gray sweatshirt that said GOT BRAINS ?
    The man came inside.
    “Pull up a chair,” Zoe invited.
    As he did so, Sierra noticed that he had tattooed symbols on the back of his fingers.
    “This is Sierra Brennan. She’s a published author and she just told me that her work in progress involves Chicago history during Prohibition. I said you were the guy to talk to about that.”
    “Are you interested in that time period?” Sierra asked.
    “I’m interested in all periods of history,” Pat said.
    “She’s moved into the house next door to me,” Zoe said. “I told her it’s rumored to be haunted.”
    “Do you know its history?” Sierra asked Pat.
    “I believe the story is that a member of Al Capone’s gang lived there,” he said.
    “I heard a rumor that the upstairs may have been used for prostitution,” Sierra said.
    “A house of ill repute?” Pat paused. “Well, Capone was certainly into prostitution as a means of income, along with bootlegging illegal liquor among other things.”
    “Do you happen to know the name of the alleged Capone gang member?”
    “Hal something or other. Hal … Bergerstock.”
    Great. At least she now had a surname. Sierra made a mental note.
    “Al Capone may be famous but he isn’t the only historical figure in Chicago. I’m not a big fan of his but I am a fan of Bertha Palmer,” Pat said. “She lived around the turn of the century. The turn of the twentieth century