Read Online I Put a Spell on You by Kerry Barrett - Free Book Online Page A

that she rang exactly, it was more what she said.
    “I looked at those pictures,” she said. “Do you think Star was in some kind of trouble?”
    “It looks like it,” I admitted. “She must have thought so – otherwise why would she take those photos?”
    I was sitting at my desk in my office. I twirled round on my chair, and stared out of the window.
    “I was worried that she might have been protecting me,” I said. “That someone was targeting me and she got in the way.”
    There was a pause.
    “Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt you?” she said.
    “No,” I said. “There’s no one. I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with and I sometimes rub people up the wrong way, but there’s no one I can think of who hates me.”
    “That’s good to hear,” she said.
    “I’m sure it’s nothing,” I said. “Just a bit of bad luck.”
    “Do you really think that?” She spoke in a soft voice.
    I paused.
    “Not really,” I said. “It’s too much all at once.”
    Louise agreed. “Listen,” she said. “I can’t officially reopen the investigation at this stage but I will do some digging. Off the record. Let’s meet up and talk everything through.”
    I felt a small glimmer of excitement that I’d see her again, then stopped myself. She was just doing her job, I told myself sternly. This wasn’t a date, or even a social meeting. It was business.
    We arranged to meet the next day.
    “See you tomorrow,” I said.
    “Looking forward to it,” Louise said. Did she mean it? “And Harry?”
    “Yes?”
    “Please be careful. If you’re worried about anything, just ring me.”
    I allowed myself a very small smile, then put Louise out of my head and got back to work. I had decided to send our regular clients each a special offer tailored just for them, in an attempt to get some professionalism back, and I was trawling through the list, trying to decide who to send for an aura-cleansing session and who to offer Reiki, when Xander breezed in without knocking.
    “Morning!” he sang.
    “You’re very late,” I said. It was nearly lunchtime. “But also very cheerful, “I added. Xander was a lot of fun when he was happy and I didn’t want to dampen his good mood.
    “I’ve got an idea,” he said. He pulled up a chair and looked at what I was doing. “In fact, it fits right in with all this.”
    “Go on,” I said, feeling a tiny spark of excitement. Xander was a genius when it came to business ideas.
    “Let me do some spiritual counselling,” he said. “No, don’t disagree – listen first.”
    I sighed, knowing he was right.
    “Let’s offer some half-price sessions, with me doing the counselling and you sitting in. That way, you can make sure I’m doing it right and I can get some feedback. Plus, I reckon a cheap deal will get all the customers flooding back.”
    I wrinkled my nose up. Xander definitely had a point about attracting customers, but he was very new to magic; I wasn’t sure how he’d handle the counselling. Plus, of course, it’s my thing. Mine. I wasn’t completely happy about
    Spiritual counselling is the name I’ve given my witchcraft. It’s not explicit in my ads, or even talked about with my clients. But they come in with a problem, we chat about it, talk about some solutions and I come up with a spell. The way I see it is I’m almost writing them a prescription. I’ve got a loyal group of discreet clients and all my new customers come from word-of-mouth recommendations.
    I looked at Xander.
    “Have you had another session with Esme?” I asked him. He nodded.
    “We’ve had a couple of sessions now. She’s a good teacher.”
    “What have you done?”
    Xander sat on the desk next to me and gave me a dazzling smile. He really was beautiful. I could see why he had the effect he did on women. He saw me looking and stretched his arms up above his head. It was obviously a well-practised move. His T-shirt slid up, revealing his smooth, taut stomach