Brewing Fun (Tree's Hollow Witches Book 4) Read online

  Unfortunately, we were locked out. I heard the man come out of the stairwell, and I knew we only had seconds before he was upon us. I put my hand over the lock, closed my eyes, and pictured it opening.

  I heard the click and pushed the door open as I breathed a sigh of relief. After pulling Calinda inside, I closed the door as quietly as I could and locked it.

  "There's a body," Calinda said in a panicked whisper. "It's covered with a sheet, though." She said and pointed.

  "Don't look at it," I said. "It's just a shell. That person has moved on."

  "Then why is it moving?" She sobbed.

  I turned to look as the body on the slab sat up. "What?" Was all I could muster.

  The sheet fell away, and a man wearing a lab coat stretched and yawned. "I was taking a nap." He said and peered at us through squinted eyes. "I suppose this is a domestic situation." He said and slipped a pair of glasses that had been sitting on an equipment table over his ears. "It's happened before. Come now, my office is this way. It's key card access only, and the window is bullet proof. You'll be safe while I call the police."

  "Thank you," I muttered as the doctor hopped off the table.

  "I've got Diet Coke and a gun in there too." He said with a warm smile.

  "You keep a gun in the morgue?" Calinda asked.

  "Yes." He said and walked us back to an office at the far side of the morgue.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "I was an Eagle Scout before I became a doctor. Being prepared is a part of who I am now. And, if the zombie apocalypse were to ever start, I'd be in a rough spot without one." He said with a good-natured chuckle. "Here you go."

  The doctor took two sodas out of a mini fridge and handed them to us. He then took out one more for himself and sat behind his desk.

  "What's your name?" I asked as Calinda, and I sat down in the chairs across from him.

  "I'm Doctor Corvin. Let me take a look at that." He said and reached for my hand. "I'm afraid I can't do much for you dear, but as soon as the police arrive, we'll get you back upstairs."

  Dr. Corvin examined my hand for a moment. He scrunched up his forehead and examined my cut.

  "I cut myself cooking."

  "I've got some surgical glue in my bag that will fix this right up." He said and walked to his office closet.

  After pulling out a black doctor's bag, he fished out a small, white bottle. Within a moment I was patched up.

  "Did you two come into the hospital together?" Dr. Corvin asked and cocked his head to one side curiously. "Surely you don't want me to believe that you hurt yourself cooking." He said to Calinda.

  "We met in the hallway upstairs. The Emergency Department is full. My friend is a nurse. Esme." I said.

  "Oh yes. Delightful young woman." He said with a nod. "So, what did happen to you?" Dr. Corvin asked Calinda as he picked up the phone. "Marvin? Yes, this is Dr. Corvin in the morgue. I need you to call the police and have them meet us down here. I've got a young lady hiding in my office who is in need of their assistance." He said when someone on the other line picked up. "Thank you, Marvin." Dr. Corvin returned his attention to us. "That was the head of security. He'll get them here faster than I could."

  "Thank you. I hope it's my friend Brad. I can't remember if he's working right now or not. If there are that many people in the ER, who knows how long it will be. They've probably got their hands full too." I said.

  "Yeah, but you ladies are welcome to stay as long as you like. It may be busy upstairs, but it's been dead down here tonight."

  Calinda burst into laughter at Dr. Corvin's joke. "Ow. Oh gosh, don't make me laugh. The pain killers are wearing off." She said and grimaced.

  "I'm afraid I don't have much down here for that. I've got some Tylenol. What did they give you upstairs?"

  "I don't know." She said. "It's kind of a blur."

  "Hold on, I think I can pull it up." Dr. Corvin said and turned to his computer. "I have access to the patient files in case they end up down here. "His fingers flew across the keys. "What's your last name?"

  "Lockheart. It's Calinda Lockheart."

  His fingers went back to their dance across the keys. Dr. Corvin's brow furrowed. "You shouldn't be in pain for a long time. In fact, with the dose they gave you, I'm surprised you're not out cold."

  "It's my metabolism. I burn through the stuff so fast. You can give me the max dose of Tylenol, it will help." She said.

  I figured it must have been the bear in her. I'd noticed while I was helping her get down here that her body felt like a furnace. It was a relief to know that it wasn't a fever. I'd been worried that her wounds were infected.

  "So, you were going to tell me how you ended up here since it wasn't a kitchen accident." Dr. Corvin said as he opened a bottle he'd pulled from his desk drawer. He shook out two white pills and handed them to Calinda.

  "Can I have three?" She said and then swallowed the first tow.

  "As a doctor, I can't in good consciousness give you three. You know what these things can do to your liver." He said and started to put the bottle away. "I'm sorry. We'll get you back upstairs as soon as the police arrive."

  "You could just give me the bottle." Calinda gave him a pleading look. "It won't be on your conscious then."

  He thought about it and then handed the bottle over. "You're a grown woman. But, don't make a habit of it."

  "Thank you." She said and took on more before handing it back. "Now, about why I'm here. I am hiding from a man, but it's not domestic. I was attacked in the woods. I managed to escape, but somehow the guy that tried to kill me found me here. I don't know how."

  "He found us upstairs in the hallway. "I said. "I helped her get down here. I figured we could hide in here."

  "Well, you're lucky that I left the door unlocked. I don't think I've ever made that mistake before." Dr. Corvin said and scratched his chin. "Perhaps I should have maintenance look at it. Even if it's broken, he can't get in here. Only I can access this office." He thought about it for a moment. "I'll call Marvin back. I wish I'd known he was in the building. We'll see if we can't get security to round him up. Did he follow you all the way downstairs? What did he look like?" Dr. Corvin asked, and then his eyes got wide. "Wait, how did you get down here?"

  Oh crud, I hadn't even thought of that. The last time I'd been down on this floor, Esme had lifted the key through clandestine means. My magic must have overridden the elevator. I'd been working on lock picking magic recently.

  Don't judge me.

  But, that didn't explain how Calinda's attacker had followed us. Surely he would have needed a key or a code to access the stairwell to the basement, but we'd been so panicked that it didn't occur to me until Dr. Corvin put the pieces together.

  "You said that other women had hidden down here before from their abusers. How did they get past the elevator?" I asked.

  Answering a question with a question probably wasn't the best idea I'd had that day. Then I saw a glimmer of recognition in his eyes. A sly smile spread across his face, and Dr. Corvin laughed.

  "What?" I asked. I wasn't ready to lay my cards on the table even though I knew that he knew.

  "You're a witch." He said and pointed at me. "But, what is she because she's not a witch." He said and narrowed his eyes as he studied Calinda. "I would have picked up on in sooner, but I spend so much time around dead people that my radar dulled. Now that I'm sitting here with you, I can feel the magic you're putting off." Dr. Corvin turned entirely to Calinda. "What I'm picking up from you is something I've never experienced.

  "Don't answer him, Calinda," I said while I eyed the doctor skeptically. "He needs to tell us what he is blathering on about before we answer any of his questions. I can see why he works down here. He's too crazy to be around living patients." I normally wasn't so snarky, but I think that Jezebel and Esme had finally started rubbing off on me.

  Dr. Corvin issued a good-natured laugh. "You're right. We should slow down. I don't even know your name yet."

>   "I'm Lenny, and you need to explain yourself."

  "Okay, okay." Dr. Corvin said and put his hands up in mock surrender. "I'll tell you what I am as long as you promise to tell me what you are." He said and looked at Calinda. "I'm fascinated by you."

  "Deal," Calinda said with what I interpreted as a dreamy smile.

  That's when it hit me that I had no idea what was going on. We were locked in the morgue office with a doctor we didn't know, but he could sense that I was a witch. On top of that, Calinda had gotten all moony over the guy. Oh, and she was a bear.

  My phone rang.

  "I have to take this," I said. "It's my fiance."

  "Are you okay?" Nate asked as soon as I picked up.

  "I'm fine, babe. I cut my hand cooking dinner. You were out for your walk, so I drove myself to the ER. I'm okay." I said. "I am locked in the morgue with a chick I met while I was waiting. She was attacked in the woods, and the guy who hurt her found her at the hospital."

  "What? I'm coming there now." Nathan said.

  "No, don't do that. We're locked in an office in the morgue with the pathologist. The police have been called, and this doctor has a gun. I'm sure it's fine."

  "Lenny, I'm coming."

  "Nate, I can handle this," I said sternly.

  "Okay, babe. I'll finish making dinner." He said with a sigh.

  "Thanks, sweetie. I'll see you soon."

  I hung up and turned my attention back to Dr. Corvin and Calinda who weren't even pretending like they hadn't been watching me the entire time.

  "So, back to the conversation." Dr. Corvin said after he'd cleared his throat.

  Just then, there was a loud pounding on the door.

  Chapter Four

  "Stay back." Dr. Corvin said. He shot up from his desk and went to the office door.

  Calinda got up too and peered out a window that looked out into the autopsy room. "It's the cops."

  Dr. Corvin opened the door, and we all went out into the hallway. The police had searched the basement level and security had combed through the rest of the hospital. No one found a suspicious man wearing a hoodie.

  The worst part was that neither Calinda or I could give them a good physical description of his face. When I'd looked at him, he'd been a blur. I'd begun to wonder if he was some sort of supernatural being too. Dr. Corvin and Calinda certainly were. So, what was one more for the day?

  Calinda ended up back upstairs in the ER where she finally got medical care for her injuries. The interesting thing to me was that by the time we got out of that office, her wounds already looked much better.

  I wanted to stick around and talk to Dr. Corvin, but he got called to a crime scene one county over. I'd thought that he only worked in the morgue, but I guess he was a jack of all trades. I also needed to get home to Nathan. He was probably worried sick about me.

  "You mean some of the bears out in the woods might be people too?" Nate asked before shoveling a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

  "Yeah. I think. I mean, she was definitely a person, but there was a bear inside of her. I think Calinda is a shape-shifter. Like, she can turn into a bear." I said enthusiastically.

  "So, she's a werebear?"

  "Yes!" I said and grabbed another dinner roll.

  "And Dr. Corvin the pathologist that helped you guys is some sort of supernatural too."

  "He is, but I don't know what. He could tell that Calinda was a supernatural and that I was a witch after spending some time with us, but I don't know what he is. The police had come before he told us."

  "Was Brad there?" Nathan asked.

  "No, it was another deputy." A pang of fear hit my stomach. "Nathan, I don't know if you should go back to work tomorrow. There is a dangerous man out there. I don't want you getting hurt again."

  "Lenny, sweetie, I've been out of work too long already. I'm ready to go back. I love my job. I can't stay cooped up in the house forever. I need to be back out there."

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I guess I’m a bit more shaken up than I'd thought. Being a witch was a lot to take in, but now I'm finding out there are even more supernatural things lurking out there."

  "You're telling me," Nate said with a sincere smile. "Now I'll never know if the people I encounter out on the trails are human. They might be bears."

  "They could be wolves too. I'm sure if werebears exist than werewolves are real too." I said.

  "There could be more. Big cats, deer, and even foxes are possible." Nate said and ate another forkful of pasta.

  "That's just the shapeshifters. Don't forget that Dr. Corvin was something else. Man, I wish he'd gotten the chance to tell us." I said with a sigh. "Maybe I should go back and interview him."

  "Should I be jealous?" Nathan said, and I could tell he was only half teasing. "I mean, I am just a boring human."

  "There's nothing dull about you," I said and gave him a playful wink.

  "But, I can't turn into an animal or shoot magical sparks from my hands," Nate said.

  "I can't do those things either," I responded. "Well, I might be able to shoot magical sparks from my hands. I've never tried, and it's probably a fire hazard."

  "You guys are bizarre," Jezebel said as she sashayed into the room.

  "And, I don't know that I'll ever get used to you being able to talk," Nathan said to her.

  "I feel the same way about you." Jezebel's response dripped with sass.

  The next morning, I got up extra early so that I could get everything ready for Nate's first day back. He was still sleeping in the guest room because the doctors had said that it wasn't a good idea for him to live alone while he recovered, and the last thing Nate wanted was to leave me and move back in with his dad.

  I packed a lunch and set out his uniform while he snored quietly. After almost losing Nathan, his going back to work was one of the most exciting things I'd experienced in a long time. He'd worked hard to get back into good enough physical shape to do the job. So, I figured I'd make his first morning as comfortable as possible.

  Breakfast was next on my list. Nathan would need a full stomach to make it until lunch. Since he'd been healing, my future husband seemed to burn food off as fast as lightning. I looked at the clock and saw that I still have about an hour before he'd be in the kitchen looking for food. That meant I'd had time to make homemade biscuits.

  It was settled. Nathan's first day back breakfast would be bacon, eggs, and fresh biscuits. I had a bit of Gouda cheese in the fridge too in case he wanted to make everything into sandwiches.

  As I got out the bowl and flower, I expected Abby to appear, but it dawned on me that I hadn't seen her around much lately. I tried not to worry about it because Nathan's first day back at work was too important for me to get distracted by ghost roommate drama. Hopefully, she'd been able to move on, and she wasn't hiding from me.

  Mixing the ingredients and forming the biscuits was a kind of meditation. Even Jezebel sat quietly and watched me as I worked. I half expected her to start making snarky comments about the size or shape of my dough balls, but instead, she just purred softly on one of the kitchen chairs. Her tail swished back and forth in time with my humming, and soon I had a tray ready to go into the oven.

  Once that was done, I fried up some bacon and then cooked the eggs in the bacon grease. Sure, it was a heavy breakfast, but the eggs were delicious cooked that way.

  I pulled the biscuits out of the oven just as Nathan walked into the kitchen. He stood in the doorway for a moment watching me. "That smells delicious. Did you make those from scratch?"

  "I sure did," I said with a smile as he took a seat at the table.

  "How long have you been up?" Nate asked. "Thanks for laying out my uniform too."

  "I got up early. I'm so excited about you going back to work." I said and plated some of the bacon and eggs. After quickly grabbing a biscuit and dropping it on the plate I had to blow on my fingers to cool them down.

  "You could have woken me up. I could have helped."

  "
I know, and I figured you would protest about me doing it all myself, but today is like Christmas for me, Nate. I almost lost you, and here you are ready to start working again. It's a big day."

  "Aren't you going to join me?" He asked when I set the plate down in front of him.

  "As soon as I make sure your lunch has everything you need," I said and pulled his lunch bag out of the fridge.

  "Lenny, do that later," Nathan said with a chuckle. "Please sit and eat breakfast with me. It will help calm my nerves."

  "You're nervous about going back?" I asked.

  "A little." He said. "Wouldn't you be?"

  After I'd seen Nathan off to work, I sent Charles an email letting him know that I'd be in late. But, I promised to make it in time for the interviews he had scheduled for the day. I knew that hiring someone was important, but I had to talk to Dr. Corvin and Calinda. I found out from Esme that Calinda was to be discharged later that day, and I had no idea how I'd find her after that. So, I needed to get to the hospital before she left.

  By the time I got to Calinda's room, she was looking almost entirely healed. I hoped that the doctors and nurses would think her wounds looked worse than they really were because the last thing we needed was humans believing in us. A few curious regular people could've brought a lot of destruction down upon the witches and shifters.

  "Lenny, hi," Calinda said and sat up.

  She'd been relaxed on the bed on top of the covers watching a soap opera on television. Calinda was dressed in a new pair of lavender scrubs that one of the nurses must have given her. I instantly felt bad for not bringing her something to wear. I knew her clothes were pretty shredded the night before, but with all of the preparation I'd done for Nate, I hadn't even thought about Calinda needing clothes.

  "Hi. I should have brought you something to wear." I blurted out.

  "It's okay. These don't look too bad do they?" She asked with a good-natured laugh. "Gawd I hope they hurry up with the paperwork. I have half a mind to just flee from this place. It seems like it's taking forever to get out of here."