A Ghoulish Midlife (Witching After Forty #1) - Lia Davis Page 0,32

Alfred, but he had a TV and Snoozles. He’d be fine.

I followed Olivia out to her car, and she drove us down the coastal road to the old, abandoned lighthouse. It was only about a five-minute drive from my house. It wouldn’t be difficult to walk, either. Hell, if someone wanted to get to my place from the lighthouse, they could’ve just walked up the beach for a while.

Not unnerving at all. Especially since the creepy necromancer bought the place.

Olivia parked at the edge of the lighthouse’s parking lot. At one point, the old place had been renovated and turned into a restaurant and bookstore. That had gone under when I was a kid, and as far as I knew, it was abandoned. It was kind of dilapidated. Up until she died, Aunt Winnie mailed me all the local weekly newspapers every month so I could stay abreast of my hometown news. I’d never thought myself particularly attached to Shipton Harbor, but I’d read every single one of those papers, cover to cover. I’d read in the paper at some point that the lighthouse had been scheduled to be torn down, but the town historical society kept blocking it.

So, in a sense, I was glad Owen bought it. I hope he kept it as a lighthouse.

We sat and watched the place for a few minutes. It didn’t appear that anyone was home.

“Should we go walk around?” Olivia asked.

“I don’t know.” I realized we were both talking in hushed voices. “Why are we whispering?”

Olivia laughed. “In case the lighthouse fairies hear us?”

“Makes as much sense as any other explanation,” I said. A smile tugged my lips. I was starting to see why Sam fell in love with Olivia. “Yeah, let’s go poke around.” We wouldn’t go in, just walk around outside.

Olivia hit the unlock button on her door. “I’ll leave it running. You know, just in case.”

I had my hand on my doorknob when I saw someone. “Stop,” I whisper-yelled. Olivia heard me and looked in the direction of my gaze. Another car had pulled up.

Olivia’s car had really darkly tinted windows. The only reason she didn’t get tickets was because her husband was a cop, I was sure. “Duck,” I whispered.

We crouched down in the seat so that if anyone looked at the car, they wouldn’t be able to tell if anyone was inside.

A tall slender woman dressed in a black thigh-length coat got out of the white Mercedes and walked inside the lighthouse, opening the door without hesitation, as if she owned the place. She didn't look like the type of person who’d hang out with someone like Owen. The woman was too…not really classy, but there was no doubt she had money. Or at least she dressed like she did. As soon as I saw her, bad feeling after bad feeling rolled over me. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. Even from across the parking lot I picked up on her energy. There was a hint of power or magic that reminded me of what I picked up on Sheriff Drew when I first met him.

I still couldn’t pinpoint what type of paranormal being he was.

“Who is that?” I asked.

Olivia looked at me with her head squished against the back of her car seat, her blonde hair ruffled and just about as unkempt as I’d ever seen her. “I have no idea. I know everyone in this town and I’ve never seen that woman before.”

“I don’t know who she is, but I know damn well she’s up to no good,” I said.

“How can you tell?” Olivia asked me in a scandalized tone.

I shrugged awkwardly with my body folded in half in the floorboard of the front seat. “I just know. Witch, remember.”

The back door opened and shut with a loud slam. “What are we looking at?”

We both screamed and whirled around, totally exposing ourselves if anyone looked through the front window of the car. Olivia’s elbow landed on the car horn and we all screamed this time. Me, Olivia, and Owen in the back seat.

“Get out!” I screamed at Owen.

At the same time, Olivia slammed her foot on the brake and threw it into drive. “We gotta get out of here,” she screeched. Hitting the gas, she burned rubber getting us out of the parking lot.

The woman who had gone into the lighthouse came running out as Olivia made a U-turn in the middle of the parking lot.

“We’re made,” she yelled and floored it back onto the