Three Witches and a Killer: Wicked Western Witches Book 1 by Kendra Ashe Page A

store.
    His laughter followed me. Apparently, he felt no need to take my threats seriously. I couldn’t help but wonder if he knew about Mickey D and my lack of talent when it came to casting spells.
    That wasn’t always a good thing for the one I was casting on. All one had to do was look at my ex to see that.
     
     

Chapter Fourteen
     
    As soon as I opened my eyes the next morning I called my cousins. There was still no answer, but then I hadn’t really expected there would be.
    After grabbing a quick cup of coffee, I headed straight to my office. At this point I was ready to call in the FBI.
    No one just disappeared without a trace.
    Since I’d only had one cup of coffee, my eyes were only half open. That was my only excuse for nearly sideswiping the milkman. It was a good thing for both of us that he was a lot more awake than I was. His truck only ended up on the sidewalk, instead of through the front of the real estate office next door.
    Plowing into the building might not have been so bad if Pinky was there, but since it was too early for her to be in the office, it would have been a big waste.
    This time I parked right in front of my office instead of around back. I just wasn’t up to walking that extra thirty yards.
    I would have missed the envelope entirely if I hadn’t dropped my keys while trying to unlock the door. Cursing like a sailor, I knelt down to retrieve the keys and saw the envelope.
    Someone had made an attempt to stuff it beneath the door, without a lot of success, apparent by the damage to the envelope.
    Snatching it up, I unlocked the door and stepped inside. Dropping my purse on one of the folding chairs, I carefully opened the envelope.
    Pulling out the folded paper, I opened it, trying not to put too many fingerprints on it.
    I wasn’t too surprised to see that the note was made up of cut out letters that had been glued onto the paper.
    Talk about cheesy!
    Wasn’t that only done in the movies?
    If you want to see your cousins alive again, meet me at the hanging tree at midnight.
    It wasn’t much to go on but it was something. I wasn’t sure how thrilled I was with the idea of meeting a kidnapper at midnight, near a hanging tree, especially since the kidnapper was very likely a murderer too.
    In the movies there were always instruction included about not going to the police. Whoever left the note must not be worried about the police at all, as it wasn’t mentioned. The lack of concern about law enforcement had to be a clue. Either the kidnapper was someone connected to the police, or someone who could brush off the police with a swipe of the hand.
    That left someone in the sheriff’s department or a witch. Unfortunately, that was pretty much exactly where I’d started.
    Well almost. I’d never considered the possibility that someone in the sheriff’s department might be responsible. It was something to think about.
    As it was only 9:00 in the morning and there wasn’t anything I could do until midnight, I figured I’d better feed Mickey D, especially since he was making one heck of a ruckus.
    After pulling a bowl out of the refrigerator and unlocking the closet, I carefully pulled the door open.
    As expected, he lunged at me. Making a sour face, I slid the bowl into the closet and slammed the door.
    I had to face facts. My ex husband was decomposing fast. He had to be the ugliest zombie I’d ever seen.
    After locking the door, I took a deep breath to slow my heart rate. I hated zombies and I hated Mickey D, so how the hell did I end up babysitting both?
    Of course I knew. It was on account of me throwing a temper tantrum.
     
    * * *
     
    Chewing a mouth full of pepperoni pizza, I glanced at the clock for the tenth time in less than an hour. It was almost midnight.
    After spending all day attempting to retrace Holly and Pax’s movements before they disappeared, I’d spent the rest of it pacing the floor in my office. I was more than ready for the witching hour and some