Witching The Night Away: A Cozy Mystery (The Witchy Women of Coven Grove Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

smiled at his own joke.
    Bailey did as well, though not right away. She tried not to, but Aiden looked so goofy enjoying himself that she couldn’t help it.
    She groaned, and then shook off the last of her worry, or anyway made the attempt. “Fine. We’ll let him work. I don’t like it, though, for the record. Both inconveniencing our customers and letting someone get so familiar with the caves. It didn’t turn out well for Martha, you know.” Bailey winced. “Uh… sorry.” Aiden didn’t have proof, yet, but suspected that Martha had been his birth mother.
    Whatever pain he’d once felt about the discovery, though, either wasn’t very acute anymore or he’d trained himself to cover it well. He just waved off the comment. “I doubt we’ll have anything to worry about,” Aiden said. “I’m not inclined to murder the man, I promise. And I can’t think of anyone else who would. Honestly, his work is rather obscure, and he hasn’t gotten a paper published since he was at Cambridge. I had him checked out—no one takes him seriously.”
    “Cambridge?” Bailey asked. “Where you went to school?”
    “The very same,” Aiden said. “Apparently, Professor Turner used to teach history and folklore at various times, until he was largely discredited and became something of a pariah in the academic community.” He shrugged. “I suppose if he could prove his thesis, whatever it is, then he might be redeemed. But I don’t think he really needs to be to keep going. He’s a true academic, you see—interested in the adventure of knowledge. Which is why, again, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
    Bailey wasn’t so sure, but she could tell that Aiden was resolute in his position. Plus it was his business, and even technically his land. She supposed he could do whatever he wanted with it, short of destroying a historical landmark.
    So Bailey left it like that. Aiden walked her to the door when she left, and they had a momentary hiccup of jerky movements and half-steps as they worked out whether to shake hands, hug, or just wave. They settled on a strange combination of the three and Bailey nearly pecked his cheek but stopped herself.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Bailey said. “Even without tours, I plan to come and check on the Professor and see how he’s coming along.”
    “I would be shocked if you didn’t,” Aiden said. “Have a good night, Bailey.”
    “You too,” she told him.
    The door closed behind her, and Bailey made her way to the street.
    When she did, she noticed a car. There were several parked there, but one in particular she had seen constantly over the past three weeks. Ever since the theft. It was Trevor’s car. He'd taken over the newspaper in town right after Poppy's murder and had worked with Ryan before. She knew it was his car—she’d seen him get out of it a few times—but at the moment he wasn’t in it. From the outside, it didn’t look like anyone was.
    But when Bailey had walked about a halfway to the end of the street that led into downtown, she heard a car start, and looked back to see that the ‘empty’ car had its lights on and was pulling away from the street and driving away. Bailey only sighed, and wondered when that woman would finally give it up. Bailey deduced it was Gloria using Trevor's car. Gloria was the reporter who had followed Martha Tells to the Caves to hear her confession about the writings. When Martha was murdered it ruined Gloria's chances of a national scoop. Since then she remained in Coven Grove hoping to find out the secret of the caves, while also dating Trevor and following Bailey around town like a lost pup. She felt Bailey knew secrets and was determined to find out what they were.
    That, however, was a fight for another day. Two was enough, and Bailey was already steeling herself for the third.
     

Chapter 4
    Since the tours had started up again, Bailey had spent less time training with the coven ladies, Chloe, Aria,