Chapter 9
9
Samantha
The lightbulb made a popping sound when I tugged the pull chain. I’d have to buy an economy size box of spare bulbs if this kept up. When I drew my arm back, I heard a dull thunk. I’d knocked something off the table. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and reached down, velvet fabric brushing my fingertips.
Curious, I set the box on my lap, my heart pounding. This wasn’t mine. I recognized the container; I knew where it was from, but I hadn’t bought anything from the store. Timothy had purchased a small bracelet from Blackbeard’s shop for me once. Rationally, I knew other places may very well utilize similar packaging and I tried to convince myself that’s what this was and not something from my favorite shop.
The square box vibrated on my trembling knees while I worked on coming to a rational conclusion as to how it got here. Nothing came to mind, and I popped open the lid. The six-figure necklace I’d salivated over lay on a bed of satin. I closed the lid and gently tossed the unexpected surprise to the side, gasping for air. Holy hell.
There had to be a mistake. Had I purchased it and forgot? I shook my head, knowing that buying a hundred-thousand-dollar necklace was never done unintentionally. It wasn’t an accident. I jumped out of bed, grabbed the package and shoved it in a dresser drawer. Maybe I’d stolen it without knowing? But I wasn’t a thief, I wouldn’t have stolen it, and there was no way to leave the shop with it unless I’d flashed some plastic.
I must have somehow taken it, tried it on when the shopkeeper offered, and then just left. But how would I do that and not remember?
The same way I’d imagined a home invasion.
I took a deep breath. This couldn’t be happening; I’d turned down the suggestion in my mind to try it on.
It wasn’t my birthday and my parents’ gifts tended to be a bit less expensive. None of my friends in Georgia would’ve bought it for me. I hadn’t even heard from anyone. I pulled it back out of the drawer and checked for a note, something to tell me who sent it. There were no clues.
Timothy.
While it was unlikely he’d wanted to get back together, it was the only thing that made sense even though I wasn’t sure how he’d afford such a piece. I turned my phone on and opened my messaging app. A notification from an unknown number blinked at me.
Wear this and nothing else.
I sucked in a breath and shut my phone off, leaving it on top of the comforter. Scanning my bedroom, I checked for anything unusual, wondering if there was a hidden camera or some sign of unwanted entry. I had a security system, but it hadn’t picked up anything unusual since I’d moved in and I didn’t see anything out of place now either. I was becoming paranoid.
Having no idea what to do with the jewelry, I placed the package back on the side table. The urge to wear it was there—the piece was stunning. I wanted to feel the cool metal resting along my collarbone. A crawling sensation climbed up my spine and my heart jumped in my chest. Someone knew I’d fallen in love with this necklace. I shoved the thought out of my head and got ready to head to my shop for the day.
“So, the tech guy was here earlier. He said it's some sophisticated hacker and it’s outside of his area of expertise and he has to call in the ‘big guns’ so that’s a whole other appointment,” Toni said, starting to speak the exact second I’d walked through the front door.
Tugging my coat off, I said, “I could’ve been the stalker.” She’d just spouted off information I didn’t want the public to be privy to.
She turned, grinning. “But you’re not. And it's a hacker, not a stalker.”
I blanched. “Right. A hacker.”
“Do you think we’re being stalked? That’d be crazy.” Toni’s attention returned to whatever she had been doing.
“God, I hope not. Did the tech say when an expert would show up?” I folded my coat over my arm and walked over to her side. She was placing our shipping labels with The Crow’s Nest logo on several small boxes, the gold metallic print shining under a clip-on light Toni had brought in and attached to a shelf.
“He said soon, but that’s relative, I think.”
I moaned, “Great.” The front door creaked open, and I swung my head around, catching a glimpse of a shoulder. “It better not take too long.”
Moving to a shipment that’d come in overnight, I grabbed my box cutter and started opening the cardboard boxes. Crumpled up paper was removed to reveal a pile of books, manuals for beginner witches. I’d always assumed that casting spells would be something that came naturally, but it seemed people wanted instructions. Over the years, my shop’s focus had moved more from smoking accessories to the esoteric and mysterious. In doing so, I now featured a vast array of instructional books and began selling smaller candles in various colors that reminded me of crayons, as well as other Wiccan supplies.
I entered the new material in our inventory records after placing the books on the counter and then began breaking down the cardboard boxes. A shadow passed over me and I looked up. “Can I help you?” A tall man with ridiculously glossy black hair stood at the counter, black wool coat open over an equally dark suit. He had the greenest eyes I’d ever seen, and I found myself staring at them. My pulse began racing suddenly, and I could’ve sworn his eyes turned brighter while I remained fixated.
Toni stepped in front of me. “I’m sorry, Sir, we don’t carry that.” The man’s gaze slid to her, and he nodded. I found myself watching the tall figure walk out the front door.
“What is wrong with you?” my employee muttered. “Are you really that upset about our hacker? We’ll get it worked out.”
“What? What do you mean?” I glanced at the front window; the man was gone.
She grabbed a pile of the books I’d set down. “You ignored that guy and just stared at him like a creeper.”
“I did?” I asked, dumbly. Toni raised an eyebrow at me and walked away.
Shaking my head, I followed her with another one of the stacks. “Maybe I am.” I shrugged. “What did he ask for?” It was suddenly super important I know.
“Demonology books.” She began placing our new items on the shelf. “Kinda creepy.”
Spinning around I said, “Yeah, we don’t have anything like that. Maybe we should?” Nobody had ever asked for anything of the sort before then that I knew of, and it hadn’t been on my radar as anyone’s interest, although perhaps it should have. We had plenty of other items falling under the category of occult, even tarot cards. Something on demons wouldn’t be that different, I supposed.
My employee paused. “Well, we don’t even have anything on the Necronomicon, and that’s been getting some attention on social media lately so it might not be a bad idea to expand.”
I grabbed the last handful of books. “All right, we’ll do it. Can’t hurt.” The urge to make sure the stranger got what he wanted was unexpected and strong enough to startle me but I didn’t want to share my enthusiasm; I knew it was a bit strange. I would’ve given him anything he’d wanted, if I hadn’t been speechless and frozen in time.
Toni flipped her light brown hair over her shoulder and headed for the computer. “At least it's just customer payments that are affected and we can still order stuff.”
“Yeah,” I said absently. My mind still was on the man who’d been at the counter minutes ago. He’d almost seemed familiar, though I couldn’t say from where.
Toni sat in the cushioned chair and started a Google search for demonology books, asking my opinion on the options showing up on the wholesale website we used after she’d noted some popular titles. I instructed her to order whatever she thought looked good. With my having next to no knowledge of the subject, she could purchase whatever she wanted.
“Hang on, was there a specific title that man asked for?” Toni shook her head at my question.
“Well, a couple,” she corrected herself. “Should I order them?”
“Please do.”
My cell phone rang, and I pulled it from my pocket. An unknown number danced across the screen. Normally, I’d have ignored it, but it didn’t seem like a great idea to do so when we were waiting for contact from a computer technician.
After a brief conversation, I was stunned. My mother had given my number to the man I’d met the other night, Matthew. He’d asked to take me out and I said yes, despite the image of the green-eyed man lingering in my mind. I almost wanted to wait for the dark-haired man and turn down anyone else who expressed interest.
Since Timothy, there hadn’t been anyone, not one single date. My focus had been on firmly establishing my business here in Boston. I’d left no space for any new relationships, and it was time to change that; going on a date would be a step in the right direction.
A small, excited thrill ran through me at the thought. Everything would work out and it would do so in my favor. My parents were in the same town as me, I had Toni, and my shop was doing well. I was going to go out with a man, and I would have fun. Life in New England wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it would be.