Dark Moon Magic Read Online Free

I’m just down the block.”
    One of his eyebrows shot up. “Are you our new business owner?”
    “Yes. Regina Moon.”
    “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Becky told me she talked to you the other night at Bingo.”
    “Yes.”
    “Welcome to our community.”
    Regina smiled again. “Thank you.”
    He rang up her purchases and bagged everything but the paint. “That’ll be eighty-six dollars and twenty-three cents. Do you need this right away?
    “No. I plan to paint after I close up shop for the day.” She handed him five twenties.
    He gave her the change. “Okay, then, I’ll deliver these around five-thirty.”
    “You don’t have to do that.”
    He raised a hand to shrug off her resistance. “I insist. So, I’ll see you later.”
    “All right. If you’re sure?”
    “Have a good day.”
    “You, too.” She headed for the door. The elder Riverside seemed nothing like his daughter. He was kind and thoughtful. Regina didn’t sense either of those qualities in Becky.
    She left the hardware store and started across the street toward her shop. She’d closed for lunch, and needed to get back. Not that business had been booming. She’d barely made enough that morning to pay for the electricity, let alone the rent. Hopefully things would pick up over the weekend. Thank heavens her Internet sales had been steady. That helped to offset her slow opening week.
    Regina stepped onto the sidewalk and turned, catching a glimpse of the sheriff walking her way. If talking to him upset Becky Riverside, she intended to avoid him. She didn’t need an enemy. Not when she had a new business to get up and running.
    She unlocked the door, walked inside, and flipped the sign to OPEN. When she’d reached the counter to put her purse away, the doorbell jingled. She looked up, and her heart stopped. Curses . He’d followed her.
    “Can I help you, Sheriff?” Why couldn’t he just stay away?
    “I wanted to warn you before you stepped out your side door not to freak out.”
    Regina stared at him, confused. “Why? What’s going on?”
    “There are a bunch of dead birds there. I called someone to take care of them, but he might be a while.”
    “Dead birds. What happened?” Did something hazardous cause their deaths? Was she in danger of being exposed?
    “I don’t know,” the sheriff said, drawing her attention back to him. “But one of your neighbors spotted them about an hour ago.”
    “And you have no idea what killed them?”
    “No, but we’ll send a few off to the lab to see if the Centers of Disease Control can tell us.”
    “What kind of birds were they?”
    He rubbed at his clean-shaven jaw. “Ravens.”
    Regina’s heartbeat took off at breakneck speed. The bird symbolized travel between life and death in Wiccan belief. Finding dead ravens in her path wasn’t a good sign and a cause for concern, unless it’d been something environmental that killed them. In her gut Regina didn’t think that was the case. She sensed it was something more sinister, and she’d need to pay close attention to everything from now on.
     
    * * *
     
    Trace noticed how nervous Regina became when she learned the dead birds were ravens. Why should it matter what kind they were?
    “Thanks for letting me know.” She bit her bottom lip. A plump and downright kissable bottom lip. Regina Moon did crazy things to Trace, and in this instance, that wasn’t good.
    “Okay, so I’ll let you know when they’re all removed.”
    “I’d appreciate that. Thanks, Sheriff.”
    He inhaled a breath and took off for the door. Since his attraction for her was clearly undeniable, Trace needed to keep his distance from Ms. Moon. Unless he wanted to go completely against his mantra of not dating any woman from Groves.
    As he rounded the side of the building, he ran into Keith Walsh, the man he’d called to dispose of the birds.
    “So, how many and what do you think killed them?” Trace asked, looking over Keith’s shoulder at what appeared to be