Witch at Heart: A Jinx Hamilton Witch Mystery Book 1 (The Jinx Hamilton Mysteries) by Juliette Harper Read Free Book Online Page A

know Fiona,” the boy said enthusiastically. “She’s the bee’s knees. Every Friday night during the season she’d come out here with a portable radio so I could listen to the high school football game.”
    “Why don’t you just go to the game yourself?” Tori asked. “It’s not like you have a curfew or anything.”
    The boy’s expression settled into a perfect picture of teenage annoyance. “Yeah, I kinda do,” he said. “None of us can go past the fence.”
    “Why not?” Tori asked.
    “I don’t know,” the boy said, “but I can prove it to you.”
    He put his helmet back on, crouched down, and charged the cemetery fence, launching at the last minute as if he was going to hurdle the small barrier. Instead, he smacked into an invisible wall and was thrown backwards, landing at our feet in a glowing heap. Wrenching his helmet off again the kid looked up at Tori and said, “See? I told you.”
    By this time a small group of spirits had formed around us. Each one had something nice to say to me about Aunt Fiona. One of the women dressed in gingham told me, “Fiona didn’t forget us just because we’re dead. She made us feel like we’re still part of the community.”
    Nobody had to say it. The question hung silently in the air. What was I going to do for them?
    As I looked at the ghosts gathered around me, I suddenly realized Aunt Fiona hadn’t burdened me with an unwanted gift; she’d entrusted me with a tremendous responsibility. I smiled at the ghosts and said sincerely, “I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you.”
    At those words, a collective sigh of relief rose from the crowd, stirring the leaves on the tree under which we were standing. Turning to Colonel Longworth, I said, “Sir, may I have a word with you in private?”
    “Why, of course,” he said gallantly. “Forgive me for not offering you my arm, but I am at something of a disadvantage.”
    “Not at all,” I said, falling in beside him as we moved toward a quiet corner. When we were out of earshot of the others, I said, “I hope you won’t think I’m being rude, but I’m new to all of this and I was just wondering, why are you all still here with the living?”
    Beau looked at me sadly. “You mean why have we not ascended to some celestial realm or descended to a lower place to answer for our sins?”
    “Something like that, yeah.”
    “None of us truly know, Miss Jinx,” he admitted. “Some of us are condemned to walk the earth because we cannot let go of our attachment to the living. Young Jeff there, the lad in the football uniform, fears that if he goes on to whatever is next, he will not be able to enjoy his favorite sport any longer. The lady there in the blue gingham dress and bonnet has been waiting for her husband lo these 75 years, but he has never come for her.”
    I hesitated and then said, “And you, sir?”
    Drawing himself up to his full height, Beau said, “I cannot leave my post until the Southern states rise from their ignominious defeat at the hands of those blaggard Yankees. The Confederacy must be vindicated and restored as the rightful government of this region.”
    Oh, yeah. Beau was going to be here for a long time.
    “So basically you all have some kind of unfinished business?” I ventured diplomatically.
    “That is what your aunt believed,” he said, “and over the years, she was successful in helping one or two of our number to go elsewhere, but I cannot tell you the details of their destination. She referred to those of us still in residence as the ‘hard cases,’ and in the end chose to simply make our existence in this place more interesting. It is quite tedious when the living walk among us and do not even speak, or worse, when they do not come to see you at all. Your aunt was quite the breath of fresh air with her acceptance of our non-corporeal state.”
    That’s Aunt Fiona for you. A regular ectoplasmic, tree-hugging liberal.
    Before I could ask Beau any more