A Light Yule Problem (Antique Magic book six)

Chapter Four

Another few hours had flown by as customers browsed, made purchases, and chatted with her. Caitlin welcomed the distraction as it kept her from thinking about the non-working lights. Lunchtime was the first time she'd thought of them in hours. "On the other hand—"

"On the other hand what?" Trevor opened cans of soda for them, asking the question without losing momentum.

"I'm not sure we should scrap those lights." She removed their plastic containers of leftovers from the office's small refrigerator. "Let me try something else first."

"Something like what?"

"What Beryl said last night got me thinking. I want to turn them on—if we can—in a real circle, cast just for informational purposes. To see what happens."

"I thought you said there's no ghost attached to them?"

"I think I'm wrong. It could be the ghost isn't strong enough to properly communicate." She tugged on her necklace, thinking. What do you think, Roland?

I agree. It might not be, but I don't know.

Roland's ghostly thought whispered in her mind.

"It could be an infant's ghost." Another twitch to her necklace. "Maybe a stillborn. Benign but still hanging around its mother, nevermind we don't know who that mother is."

"We could ask the seller."

"I doubt she'd tell you something like that."

Trevor stroked his beard thinking. "No, she probably wouldn't."

"I won't be sure unless I try communicating with it, directly. Hence, needing the circle."

"To boost it."

She nodded. "It's a theory, but all I've got, right now."

Trevor tensed up and drooped the same way he always did when he thought about where his brother was. "Okay. Do I need to call the girls?"

"I don't think so. Beryl will be dealing with the lunch crowd at Bean on Tyme, before she leaves for Canada, and Sealya must have appointments from now 'til new years."

"Are you sure?"

"They'll both pound me if I interrupt. But I'll make sure they know you called on your own behalf. Being chivalrous, you'll take the beating for me."

"Of course I will." Taking a last bite of pork, Trevor put the excess back into the fridge. "Home then."

Caitlin looked around the office. The space was both tidy, yet cluttered with an old filing cabinet stuffed with bills and paper bills of sale, or copies of online orders. Across from the cabinet, his desk waited, with the computer, phone, pen, and notepad ready for use. The window let in the afternoon sun keeping the office warm. "You know, I think maybe we should do it here."

"So we don't have to take them into our home, good thinking." He locked the shop door and set up a "Back Soon" sign. Meanwhile, she returned to the office, opened the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. Somewhere she regularly kept innocuous-looking supplies, in case anyone poked around. Salt shakers, empty bottles filled with screws, needles, and nails, looked harmless enough, if one didn't know they'd been charged with a strong will for protection.

The one thing she needed was empty. "Damn."

"Problem?"

"I have to go to the store..." She glanced to the windows. "The Crab Shack."

"Why?"

She headed out the door. "We're out of salt."

"Shoot, I meant to fill that up."