The Hex With It (A Paranormal P.I. Mystery Book 2) Read online

  “The restaurant? Oh, no,” she said. “I was actually a waitress at another restaurant.”

  “So how long did you date him?”

  “About six months.”

  “So you broke off the relationship? Was it your idea or his?” Derek asked.

  She batted her eyelashes at him. “I guess you could say it was his idea.”

  I was surprised she was admitting that.

  “Okay, so if you don’t mind me asking, what happened? The question is purely for the investigation,” I said, trying to persuade her to talk.

  She stared for a moment and then said, “He had given me the money to open this place.”

  Hmm. Had he given her the money and then wanted it back after they broke up? That would be a motive for murder.

  “I guess he didn’t like that I was seeing other people.” She studied her pink fingernails.

  “After he had given you the money for this place?”

  She furrowed her brow. “When we broke up he wanted the money back right away.”

  So he had asked for the money back. That changed things a lot. It didn’t mean that she had killed him, but it definitely meant there was a motive for murder. I pressed on with my questions.

  “Is there anything else you can think of?” I asked.

  “Well, I did hear that he was seeing someone else, or at least he was supposed to meet her the night that he killed himself. I guess he met this person online and they were going to meet up.”

  “Do you know anything about this person he was going to meet?” Derek asked.

  She shook her head. “No, nothing at all. Sorry I can’t help anymore.”

  At least she’d been a little bit of help. I’d been hoping for more, but I’d take what I could get.

  “Thanks for helping us.” I pushed to my feet.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to stay and have something to eat now?” She watched Derek while she asked.

  “I’m not hungry,” I said.

  “Sorry, but I wasn’t talking to you. I was asking Derek.” She batted her fake eyelashes at him.

  “Unfortunately, I have some work to do, but thanks for the offer,” he said, getting up from the table quickly.

  Good answer, Derek.

  “She didn’t have to so blatantly flirt in front of me,” I said as we walked out of the restaurant.

  “I detect jealousy, Cece,” Derek said with a smile.

  I snorted. “As if. No, I just think it’s rude. How did she know I wasn’t dating you? Maybe we’re married and I kept my last name.”

  “I get the impression she really isn’t that worried about if I’m dating you, or anyone for that matter,” Derek said. “She seems pretty confident.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Maybe I didn’t seem so confident, but whatever. At least we got some information from her.

  “Do you ever think of getting married?” Derek asked.

  He caught me off guard with that question.

  “Yes, of course,” I said. “You sound surprised.”

  “I guess I always got the impression you didn’t want to be married.”

  I watched him for a moment while we walked—his handsome profile with high cheekbones and long eyelashes. He kept looking straight ahead. He probably knew I was watching him. I had no idea that I put off that vibe. Finally, we reached the car.

  “I guess we’ll have to go back to the office and regroup.”

  ***

  Derek parked the car and I walked beside him back into the office.

  “Hi, George,” I said when I walked through the door.

  He popped up from the chair. “You received a phone call while you were gone.”

  George had a tendency not to write these things down. He tried to remember them without writing them down. That usually didn’t work.

  “Okay, thanks, George. Who called?” I asked.

  “Well, he left his number and his name. The man’s name is Robert. His number is 555-1234.” George read off the numbers as if he was playing back a record.

  “Thank you, George.” I stepped into my office.

  I sensed someone walking behind me.

  “Derek, what are you doing? Where do you think you’re going? Your desk is out there.” I pointed.

  He was right behind me. “I wanted to see who called.”

  “Maybe it’s a personal call,” I said.

  He laughed. “Yeah, right. I bet it has something to do with this case.”

  “Fine,” I said as I picked up the phone. “I’ll show you.’

  I dialed the number, but unfortunately the person didn’t answer so I just left a voicemail.

  “Hopefully he’ll call back soon,” I said.

  “Right. Excuse me, I’m going to get some work done.” Derek smiled, turned around, and walked out of my office.

  He seemed as if he was up to something. Though he kind of always seemed that way.

  A few minutes later when the phone rang, I grabbed it right away. I didn’t even give George or Derek a chance to answer.

  “Hello? This is Cece Cash,” I said.

  “This is Robert. Thanks for calling me back,” the man said.

  “Robert, how can I help you?” I watched the door, expecting Derek to appear.

  “I have some information about the investigation you’re working on. The one with the man who killed himself.”

  “Really?” I said in shock. “I mean, yes, what is it?” This was exactly what I wanted to hear. “What can you tell me?”

  “I found out that you’re investigating Paul’s death. I just thought I’d let you know that he was actually going to meet someone that night. He went to an address to meet a woman.”

  It matched with what the ex-girlfriend had told us.

  “Do you happen to have this address?” I asked.

  “Yes, I do,” he said. “It’s 123 Brook Street.”

  I scribbled the address down.

  “Do you know what happened right after that? Was that when he killed himself?”

  “I just thought it was odd that he met this woman and then killed himself, so I just wanted you to know.”

  “You were a friend of his?”

  “Yes,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “I didn’t know he had a twin brother. His brother was pretending to be just his friend.”

  “I don’t know anything about that. Listen, I have to go,” Robert said.

  “Thank you for the information,” I said.

  “You’re welcome. I’ll give you a call back to find out how the investigation goes,” he said, and then the phone went silent.

  I grabbed my giant black tote bag that I carried as a purse, and then walked out into the main office. Derek was gone.

  “Where’s Derek?” I looked at George.

  “He said he had an errand to run.” George continued to sharpen his pencil.

  That seemed weird. Why hadn’t Derek said anything to me? Then again, he didn’t have to tell me anything.

  “George, I’ll be back soon. Take messages.”

  “Okay, I’ll take any calls for you,” George said with a wave.

  I walked out to my car and hopped in, heading for 123 Brook Street. It made me nervous every time I went to these places alone. Being a private investigator was a dangerous job at times, but I had signed on to do it. Honestly, I enjoyed it. The job gave me a bit of an adrenaline rush.

  I arrived at the Brook Street address and pulled up in front of the two-story brick house. I wondered if this address had anything to do with the guy killing himself. I turned off the ignition and got out. Looking around, I went up to the house. It was strangely quiet. There was nothing on the outside to indicate that anyone lived here—no flowers, no chairs on the porch, and no wreath on the faded red door. When I rang the doorbell, no one answered, so I walked over and peeked in the window. The place was empty. Either someone had moved out quickly, or it had been abandoned all along. This was interesting. Why would someone
ask Paul to meet them at an abandoned house?

  Something didn’t seem right. I stepped off the porch and walked around the side of the house. As I moved along, looking through the windows, I thought I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned around, no one was there. Maybe I just had the spooks after what I’d learned. However, it seemed as if someone had asked Paul to this address on purpose. Maybe the same thing was happening to me. That sent a shiver down my spine. The footsteps came again.

  When I looked over my shoulder again, there was no one. A few more steps and I spun around and smacked right into someone’s chest. I tumbled to the ground. When I looked up, Derek was smiling down at me.

  “Are you all right?” He extended his hand to me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “I just came to check out this address.”

  “Are you sneaking around without me?”

  “What do you mean? You weren’t even there. How was I to know that you hadn’t found out about this place and come here before me? How did you find out about this place?” I took his hand and got up.

  “I saw you leave the parking lot, so I followed you. You didn’t even know I was behind you. That’s mistake number one for a private investigator.”

  Oh, he made me so mad.

  Chapter 7

  “Well, anyway, the house is empty,” I said. “It looks abandoned. We need to check to see who owns the home… and no, I haven’t yet.”

  Derek pulled out his phone and did a quick search. “I have the name and address here. We can go by and see what we can find out about this place.”

  “I don’t know. I think that whoever asked Paul to meet her there just picked the place at random because it was abandoned. I don’t think it necessarily has anything to do with who really owns it.”

  “So what should we do?” Derek asked.

  “I think we need to find the girl he was meeting. We can question her on why she had Paul meet her at an abandoned place and what happened to him after. I feel that’s the key to all this.”

  “So you think maybe she killed him.”

  “I think it’s a possibility. What if she lured him to meet her just for the specific purpose of killing him?”

  “But he didn’t die at 123 Brook Street. So why lure him there?”

  “Maybe the plan didn’t work out, so then she moved on to plan B.”

  “I think you might be on to something,” Derek said.

  I smiled. “I think we can find more about her from Chuck. We’ll go back to talk to him and find out why he never mentioned that they were twins.”

  This just kept getting weirder. Derek and I walked back to our vehicles. I’d tried to call Chuck since finding the new details, but it had gone straight to voicemail.

  “I’ll drive,” Derek said.

  “Yeah, we should drive separate cars.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “I have a few things to do after,” I said. “Plus, I don’t want to leave my car here.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “Like what things?”

  “Things. You don’t trust me?” I asked with a smirk.

  “Not in the least,” he said.

  Chapter 8

  Derek and I pulled up to Chuck’s house at the same time. Derek parked behind my car. We rushed toward the front door as if we were in a race. Derek reached the door first. Only because he was taller and had longer legs. He could cover more distance faster. He rang the doorbell and then knocked just to make sure. Chuck answered right away. He glanced around as if he wondered if we were alone. Finally, he asked us to come inside. His hair was disheveled. The white shirt he wore was wrinkled and not tucked into his tan pants.

  “Please have a seat anywhere you like.” Chuck gestured toward the living room.

  The space was decorated a lot like his brother’s with the same style leather sofa. I chose the single chair next to the fireplace because I knew if I sat on the sofa Derek would sit next to me. That was a little too close.

  “Do you have any news for me?” Chuck asked.

  “Not exactly news,” I said, glancing up at the abstract painting of a nude couple. It was a lot like the one at Paul’s. “But we do have a couple questions for you.”

  “Sure, anything,” he said, sitting down in the chair next to me.

  “You start off by telling us why you never told us that you were Paul’s twin brother.”

  His face paled. “I didn’t think that it mattered.”

  If he’d left out that information then what else was he not telling us? The fact that he didn’t think it mattered was upsetting. However, I wasn’t buying that explanation.

  “You had to know we’d find out,” Derek said.

  Chuck leaned back in the chair. Yes, I suppose that is your job.”

  “You have different last name, I said.”

  “I decided to take our mother’s maiden name when our parents divorced. Paul kept his.”

  Okay, that explained that, but it didn’t answer why he hadn’t told us about his brother from the start.

  “It is imperative that you tell us every single detail, even if you don’t think it matters.”

  He nodded.

  “Did you know that your brother met someone the evening that he died? We’re trying to find out more information about the woman.”

  “Yes, he told me a little bit about her. The woman’s name is Regina Ward.”

  “What do you know about this Regina?” Derek asked.

  “I know that they met online,” Chuck said.

  “Do you have any personal information about this woman? Like her address or phone number?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t have any other information about her.”

  I sighed. “That’s okay, but if you do find out anything, please let us know, all right?”

  “I promise I will do that.”

  “We’ll be in touch,” I said as I stood from the chair.

  Derek and I walked out of the house and headed toward the cars. This time we didn’t race

  “Now what?” Derek asked.

  “I don’t know, but I think we will be able to find her.”

  “I guess we’ll just go back to the office,” Derek said.

  “I’ll follow you this time,” I said.

  “You don’t trust me?” he asked.

  “Not in the least,” I said.

  We made it across town and headed back to the office, which gave me some time to think about our current situation while sitting in traffic. The case, not Derek and I. I did a search and discovered Regina had a big social media presence. Apparently she really loved to use Snapchat and Instagram. Mostly for posting selfies. I pulled into the office parking lot and got out of my car. I immediately headed over to Derek.

  “You look like you have something to tell me,” he said as he got out of his car.

  “I found her on Snapchat and Instagram. Take a look at her Snapchat.” I showed Derek the phone.

  He watched the screen for a moment, and then handed it back to me. “Yeah, okay, it’s her taking a lot of selfies. What about it?”

  “Yes, but look at the background on this one.” I played it over again. “Doesn’t this place look familiar to you?”

  “I’ve seen the location before. I’m not sure,” Derek said, running his hand through his hair. “It looks like a casino. There are a lot of those here in Las Vegas.”

  I knew exactly which one because I had performed at quite a few casinos doing my Marilyn Monroe act.

  “It’s the Paris casino. Since she just posted a Snapchat, that tells us that she’s there right now, so let’s get in your car and head over there.”

  “I’m on it,” Derek said as I hopped in the passenger side.

  We took off for the casino.

  “I can’t believe you let me drive.” Derek glanced over.

  I scoffed. “Yeah, well, someone has to watch the Snapchat.”

  After a
short distance, we pulled up to the entrance and the valet. Derek handed him the keys and we hurried past the Eiffel Tower and into the casino. We paused at the entrance.

  “Where do we go from here?” Derek asked.

  “She’s over by the conference area. We should get over there right away.” I pointed.

  We ran through the casino, weaving around the machines and the people. If we weren’t careful we’d be kicked off the grounds. I’d been removed before and I’d learned that the hard way. Finally, we reached the conference rooms. We paused in the hallway.

  “Which one do you think she’s in?” Derek asked.

  I pulled out my phone again, trying to pinpoint exactly which room. I wasn’t having much luck.

  “I guess I can’t message her and ask where she is,” Derek said.

  “No, probably not. We can’t split up, but we need to check every room,” I said.

  “We’ll move fast.” Derek motioned.

  “I just have to make sure to keep checking her Snapchat and see if she posted any new locations.”

  We couldn’t let her get too far away.

  “We’ll start with the rooms to our left,” I said.

  Derek opened the door and we stepped inside the first room.

  “I don’t see her,” I said, scanning the large room.

  “This doesn’t look good for us,” Derek said.

  The space was so full of people it seemed impossible to ever find her. Nevertheless, we moved onto the next room. There was no luck in that one either.

  People moved in and out of the rooms, but none of them looked like her. A woman was standing next to the threshold leading into the next room.

  “Excuse me.” I pulled out my phone and showed her the photo of Regina’s Snapchat. “Do you recognize this woman? Have you seen her around?”

  She frowned and shook her head. “No, I don’t know anyone here.”

  Yeah, that made two of us. So much for that. Moving through the room, I asked a few more people, but no one gave me any clues.

  When Derek and I stepped out into the hallway again, I checked the Snapchat one more time.

  “She has an update,” I said excitedly.

  “Good thing for us she really likes social media,” Derek said. “Where is she this time?” He leaned closer.