Page 12 of Graveyard Girls (Hollows Grove #1)

Fear gripped my chest that I could feel the same in return. That wouldn’t happen. I would have to be strong and resist. Though her smile, her kiss, and the way she tenderly picked me up and sat me down, smoothing my dress for me… Shiloh was so perfect.

That’s why I couldn’t let my heart be too involved… I’d already lost one love. How could I tempt fate by giving my heart to a ghost?

That afternoon, we ventured into Hollows Grove once more.

I wanted to visit the library and read more on the anatomy and longevity of poltergeists from their veiled section for witches and other magical folk.

The non-magic humans only saw cookbooks.

Though for those of us with second sight, we checked out books on all sorts of ancient alchemy.

Alaric, when he met me, found me reading a book on magical medicinal herbs for the garden.

He’d known I was a witch, but it never fazed him, and he’d never asked much about it.

More importantly, he’d like my home filled with my cat companions.

Well, he at least didn’t seem to mind them as long as they stayed out of the office I promised to set aside for him.

Alaric must have been in my thoughts because we were passing by his old apartment. A larger-than-life ode to Hollow history, just like he was. “Do you want to go in?” Shiloh asked, lacing her fingers with mine in support.

“Maybe I’ll just say hello to Matilda.”

“Matilda?”

“Alaric’s maid. She’s even been keeping the house open for tours since his death. I feel bad I haven’t been by more. It’s just hard coming here and him not greeting me at the door.”

Shiloh kissed my forehead. “I’m sure she understands. Let’s say hello, then.”

Remarkably kind and thoughtful was my ghostly escort.

Oddly, she hadn’t wanted to discuss her state of being at all since the night I’d told her.

No questions, or inquiries, it was as if I’d never revealed it to her.

Perhaps that’s the way she wanted it. To just forget.

I couldn’t say I could blame her for that. Wasn’t I doing much of the same?

I knocked on the door, and when I did, it shuddered open. “That’s strange. Matilda never leaves the door unlocked.” Pushing it open, I stepped inside the dark apartment. “No lights are on, no candles…”

Shiloh took my hand and moved me behind her. “Something’s not right,” she said.

My witch sense strongly agreed. I held tight to Shiloh’s hand.

Though I had plenty of magic, as a white witch, my gifts were focused on healing, and occasionally on justice, but a soft sort of justice made of whiskers and fur rather than blood and terror.

Even so, I wasn’t confident I could quickly curse a killer into becoming an animal.

Shiloh’s strength was probably my best line of defense from an attacker outside the protective wards I held against my home.

Which, if the noises from last night were any indication, those wards needed refreshing.

“Hello?” I called out. “Matilda, dear, are you here?” No answer. “It’s not like her to leave town, and she’d never leave the door unlocked, not with all the valuables Alaric has.”

The kitchen and living areas were vacant, and the bedrooms empty. Shiloh nodded towards a closed door. “We should check the office, too.”

“How did you know that was his office?”

Shiloh’s hand froze on the knob, and she looked down at her boot. “Oh, shit.”

“What?”

Lifting her boot, she plucked something from the carpet. “You should wait out here.” Not waiting for my answer or to show me her discovery, she entered Alaric’s office, letting the door swing behind her.

“I’m not going to just wait in the hall like some scaredy-cat.

Seriously, Shiloh—“ My words died in my throat at the ghastly scene before me. Shiloh wrapped her arms around my shoulders and steadied me as I felt my knees grow weak. Matilda sat in Alaric’s chair, her body limp, lying on his desk.

In her hand was a sheet of paper and covering her arms and pressed into her hair and eyes… were sapphires.

“It’s—It’s just like Jilly.” I brought a hand to my mouth. “Oh, my. Poor, sweet Matilda.”

“These are the sapphires I found in the kitchen last night, too.” Shiloh squeezed my arms before moving to inspect the latest slain victim.

Timidly, I inched closer, hating the harsh way the stones were shoved into her eyes.

Matilda had always been kind to me, fetching me tea whenever I’d visit, and Alaric was held up at work.

Some nights, Alaric never came home at all, he was too dedicated to his job to be able to break away.

Matilda would sit with me by the fire to chat and keep me company.

Much like Jilly, such a kind soul did not deserve such a horrid end.

“What’s that she’s holding?” I asked.

Shiloh gently pulled the paper from her hand, her face paling slightly. “A drawing.”

“Alaric didn’t draw. At least, I don’t think so. Let me see it.”

Pulling the paper to her chest, Shiloh dodged me. “We should leave it for the police.”

“Show me.”

With a sigh, Shiloh reluctantly handed it over. Why she was hesitant, I couldn’t surmise. The sketch was perplexing. “A necklace?” I asked, looking closer. “Alaric didn’t draw… but this looks to be his handwriting. C.M.D. ? What does that stand for?”

Snatching the paper quickly from my hold, Shiloh placed it back on the table. “We really shouldn’t tamper with evidence. Come on, let’s call the police and get out of here.”

It wasn’t that I wanted to stay in Alaric’s dreary office with his dead maid, but Shiloh’s rush and reluctance to hand over the paper were a bit unnerving.

To be fair, when you’ve run across two murdered people within a couple days, everything feels more than a little unsettled.

Why Jilly? Why Matilda? Surely neither of them had enemies.

Not like Alaric did, at least. As my protector led me outside, and red and blue lights and sirens sounded shortly after, my thoughts drifted to Shiloh’s death.

I’d heard of it around town and knew it was mentioned in the Hollows Grove daily newspaper, though not much was mentioned in print.

While Alaric’s death took up the whole front page, Shiloh Solair only got a paragraph. Graveyard Keeper Dead, the title read.

“You wanted to go to the library, right?” Shiloh pulled me from my scattered thoughts.

“Feels wrong to do so now. Don’t you think?”

“I don’t think Matilda will mind.”

Suppressing a morbid smile, I elbowed her in the ribs. “You’re awful.”

“Yeah, but I made you smile.” She offered me her arm in that chivalrous way she always did, and I took it. Together, we strolled away from yet another death.

After a few blocks of silence, I spoke. “You know, we met once.”

Shiloh stopped, and I almost tripped. “Lies. There’s no way I wouldn’t remember you.”

“I’m a white witch, I can’t lie.”

“That absolutely sounds like something a liar would say.”

A chuckle pattered through me. “Stop making me laugh when I should be mourning.”

“You’ve been mourning for far too long, Lune.” She laced her fingers with mine and looked down at me with an expression that was too heartfelt for a poltergeist. “Now, tell me your little fictional tale of how we met.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You yelled at me to get out of your way.”

Her mouth dropped open. “I would never .”

My ribs hurt from laughing so hard, and I continued down our path to the library. “I like the scarecrows on the sidewalks this year. Much better than the skeletons from last Halloween.”

Shiloh shook her head, ignoring my autumnal musings. “Why would I ever have done such a thing? I couldn’t fathom seeing you and not just being on my knees at your beauty.”

“Oh, you are such a charmer, aren’t you? I swear it’s true. You were hauling some wooden coffin on a rickety wheelbarrow. I’d dropped my tote of library books and was picking them up off the street. You lost control, going downhill, and yelled at me to get out of the way.”

“I’m such an idiot.” She held her forehead. “I remember now. You fell out of the way, and I ran over your books.”

“And your coffin crashed into a streetlamp and broke into pieces.” I giggled. “You ignored it, though, and rushed over to help me up and see if I was okay.”

“God, you probably thought I was such a fool.”

“No, I thought you had beautiful eyes.”

Shiloh cupped my jaw with one hand, and I leaned into her warm, sunshine touch. She looked as if she were about to say something, and a part of me wanted to hear it so, so badly. But another part just couldn’t let myself, so I interrupted the moment. “We’re here. No talking in the library.”

“That’s not a real rule,” she countered, following after me.

It was always an effort not to laugh like a little child constantly around Shiloh.

Many nights I went to bed with my cheeks hurting from how much she made me smile and laugh throughout the day.

That was wrong, right? Like I said to her once already, I was supposed to be in mourning.

Mourning my late fiancé. Mourning the life I thought I’d have as a wife, someone that a person would choose to come home to, someone worth caring for.

Alaric was Hollows Grove’s most eligible bachelor.

Wealthy, important, and an upstanding citizen and man.

He could have had any woman he wanted, but for some reason, he proposed to me. I was lucky, I guessed.