Slightly Spellbound by Kimberly Frost Read Free Book Online Page B

swinging around.
    When I arrived in the parking lot, the sheriff stood next to the massive inflatable bouncy castle that was between the store and the grocery market. I hurried over.
    There was a plastic sign that said the bouncy castle opened at ten a.m. with the store. There was a theater-type rope between two posts blocking the entrance to the play area. Over the castle’s doorway there was hanging fabric.
    “Talk to her, Tammy Jo. See what’s what.”
    I looked at the sheriff, who nodded at the castle.
    “She’s in there?” I asked, brows shooting up.
    He gave a nod.
    I stepped around the rope barrier, swept aside the fabric, which was a pair of silk scarves, and peered in. She was lying on her back under a blanket.
    “Um, hello?”
    Vangie sat bolt upright, her hair falling around her face and shoulders, and pushed up a puffy eye mask. She blinked.
    “Hey,” I said.
    “Come in,” she said.
    “I think it would be better for you to come out. What the heck are you doing in there?”
    “Trying to sleep, but there have been a number of interruptions.”
    “Vangie, that castle is for kids to play in. You can’t sleep in there.”
    The mask slipped down so that her eyes were half-covered. She looked like a bohemian Batman.
    “It doesn’t open until ten a.m. The children can’t use it now. And I don’t want to waste time driving back to Dyson when I have arrangements to make here later.”
    “What arrangements? Did you talk to Bryn?”
    “He doesn’t believe that I’m in danger,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I guess I’ll have to die to be taken seriously.”
    I clucked my tongue. “Now that’s—”
    She flopped back, causing the floor to bob and for me to almost fall over since I was leaning in with my palms on it.
    “Vangie, what arrangements?”
    “Hair and makeup. I don’t care about those things normally, but for a wedding . . . well, I guess it’s such a big occasion that I should. And I’ve heard really good things about the hairdresser here in town. I hope I’m still alive at ten thirty. He managed to fit me in. I wouldn’t like to be a no-show.”
    My eyebrows threatened to touch my hairline. “Vangie, tell me why you think you’re in danger. Who’s going to try to kill you?”
    “Them, of course. Madame Lycra and her weasel of a son. I’ve got protection charms on my ankles and wrists,” she said, her arms shooting up so I could see her bangles. “But it won’t do any good. My father had a protective amulet and they managed to kill him.”
    “Why would they want you dead?”
    “You’ll have to ask them.”
    “Well, how do you know they want to hurt you?”
    “I heard them whispering. And they’ve snuck into my apartment.”
    “How did you hear them whispering? You don’t live with them.”
    “I have my ways.”
    “Did you catch them in your apartment?”
    “No, I didn’t need to. I know they were there.”
    “How?”
    “My dresser. The hairbrush was moved two point five inches. And the lines in the carpet were disturbed in the living room. I had them all exactly parallel. When I came home the center lines were off.”
    “So you think they came in and moved your hairbrush and on their way out used your vacuum to cover their footprints in the carpet, but didn’t get the lines right?”
    She sat up, causing each of us to bobble.
    “Precisely,” she said.
    I cocked my head. “I’m not too sure about that.”
    “Well, I am.”
    “Although,” I said. “Hair can be used for spells.”
    “They won’t be using mine! I don’t allow any stray strands in my apartment. I burn them all so they don’t fall into the wrong hands.”
    “Hmm—”
    “Tammy Jo,” Sheriff Hobbs said.
    “Hang on a sec, Vangie,” I said, straightening up and turning to face the sheriff.
    His arms were folded across his chest.
    “Get her out of there right now or I’m going to arrest her.”
    “All right,” I said, pushing the scarves apart. “Come on out of