The Girl with the Uninvited Ghost: Pandemonium Cozy Mystery #1

Chapter 11

Mahogany sipped her coffee and remained silent.

"If I could go alone, I would, but there's that pesky thing about me being your ghost and all." Guy's smile raised his cheeks a little further.

"Oh, I'm well aware of the proximity issue." Mahogany thought about all the times she'd tried to ditch Guy. Each time he'd been snapped back to her like a bungee jumper.

"So, what do you say? Wishing well, cemetery, ancient stone circle? I'm open to suggestions."

"I have a better idea." Mahogany threw her head back and gulped her coffee. The copious amount of milk had lowered the temperature, so it didn't burn.

"What's that?" Guy asked. A mocking frown creased his pale forehead.

"We're going to solve your murder." Mahogany slammed the empty mug onto the counter.

Guy gave a wide grin and clapped his hands. "Yeah!"

Mahogany strode over to where her trusty turquoise boots waited and shoved her feet into them with renewed purpose. She was going to send Guy off to wherever he was supposed to go in the afterlife. Someplace far from her where he could bore other undead wizards with his inane conversations.

From the corner of her eye, Mahogany caught a glimpse of Neema in the living room at the writing desk. She placed a crumpled envelope into one of the desk's small draws before locking it with a skeleton key.

"Good morning," Mahogany said.

Neema jumped and shoved the key deep into her jeans pocket. "Oh, Mahogany, I didn't hear you." A blush spread up Neema's neck.

"Sorry." Mahogany stared at Neema, trying to work out the last time she'd seen her blush, and came up empty.

Neema looked at her bare wrist. "Is that the time? Gods! I have so much to do before I open the store." She rushed through the kitchen and into the Haughty Hemlock.

"Well, that was weird," Mahogany said, eying the writing desk.

"What's she have locked in there?" Guy folded his ghostly arms over his chest.

"I know one way to find out." Mahogany copied Guy's stance and glanced from him to the desk.

"How's that?" Guy frowned with confusion.

Mahogany nodded from Guy to the desk. When Guy still didn't pick up on what Mahogany was putting down, she threw her hands into the air.

"You're impossible." She left Guy standing in the kitchen, his puzzled frown growing more profound, and tiptoed into the living room and examined the drawer.

In her haste, Neema hadn't entirely deposited the envelope into the drawer. One white corner poked from the gap where the drawer fitted into the desk.

Mahogany peered over her shoulder at the doorway leading from the living room to the kitchen. She could hear Neema humming from the apothecary. Mahogany grabbed the envelope's corner and shifted it from side to side, maneuvering it out between the gap.

"Oh, I see what you mean," Guy said, joining Mahogany at the desk. "You wanted me to look inside the drawer."

Mahogany had eased the envelope halfway out. A pink rose stamp adored the top right corner. The postmark was from Pandemonium's own post office. The address was written in unfamiliar block lettering.

A loud creak in the kitchen floor froze Mahogany. The envelope gripped tight in her perspiring hands.

Neema's heels clicked across the kitchen tile. One of the cabinets creaked as she opened it. A ceramic mug gave a clink as she set it on the granite counter and began to fill it with coffee. Mahogany held her breath as Neema's heels returned to the store.

"That was close," Guy said. "You better hurry."

"Thanks for the pro tip." Mahogany yanked the letter hard, praying to the gods that it wouldn't rip. The deities on high must have been interested in this little game because the envelope slipped free a second later.

Mahogany glanced at the foreign handwriting. Guy peered over her shoulder.

"That's the brownstone's address," Guy said. "Why in the world would Neema have this?"

"I have no idea," Mahogany said. "She must have taken it from the murder scene when we collected the relics. Do you recognize who it's from?"

Guy read the return address. "Thaddeus Spike? Never heard of him."

"There's a reason Neema took this. We just need to figure out why. But first, we have another task."

"What's that?"

"Do you like libraries?" Mahogany said. She tip-toed back into the kitchen and grabbed her backpack, slipping the envelope into one of the pockets. "Pandemonium has one of Oregon's premier libraries."

"Oh, I love libraries!" Guy said.

"Then you're in for a treat." She headed for the door and gave Bazgul's cat tree a cursory look for the giant spider, but he was nowhere to be found. With a frown, Mahogany exited the house before Neema could put her to work.

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A/N: Now that was one steamy dream! I wonder if Mahogany's dream will come true...

I have dedicated this chapter to my writing pal, @suewrite She has an amazing book called Lizzy and the Land Beyond is some of the best fantasy writing I've read in a long time. Sue has graciously placed the first chapter of her magnum opus here on Wattpad. If you like it, I highly suggest heading over to Amazon to buy the ebook.