Freaky Deaky Tiki Read online

  Freaky Deaky Tiki

  A Moonstone Bay Cozy Mystery Book Three

  Amanda M. Lee

  WinchesterShaw Publications

  Copyright © 2019 by Amanda M. Lee

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. One

  2. Two

  3. Three

  4. Four

  5. Five

  6. Six

  7. Seven

  8. Eight

  9. Nine

  10. Ten

  11. Eleven

  12. Twelve

  13. Thirteen

  14. Fourteen

  15. Fifteen

  16. Sixteen

  17. Seventeen

  18. Eighteen

  19. Nineteen

  20. Twenty

  21. Twenty-One

  22. Twenty-Two

  23. Twenty-Three

  24. Twenty-Four

  25. Twenty-Five

  26. Twenty-Six

  27. Twenty-Seven

  28. Twenty-Eight

  29. Twenty-Nine

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Books by Amanda M. Lee

  1

  One

  “You’re doing it wrong.”

  “Excuse me? I’m not doing it wrong. You’re doing it wrong.”

  “I most certainly am not doing it wrong. You only think that because you’re a man.”

  “Yes, my gender has taken over the world and the end is truly near. You get the ark, I’ll get the animals.”

  Outside of the lighthouse I live in, I managed to stifle my laughter ... just barely. The day was hot, the sun beating down on my bare shoulders thanks to the fashionable tube top I picked up at a Moonstone Bay shop the previous day, and the noise coming from the building I, Hadley Hunter, now called home was deafening.

  “Do you think they’ll ever stop?”

  Galen Blackwood, my boyfriend (we’d never technically defined our relationship, so that term might be something of a stretch), merely smirked as he glanced up from the spark plug he was cleaning and tilted his head while listening to the argument inside. “You were the one who couldn’t understand why May and Wesley divorced,” he said finally, referring to the grandparents I’d never known until a few weeks ago. “This is exactly why they got divorced and cut their visits down to once a week ... twice if it was hot and they were cranky.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I never knew two people could scream and yell this much,” I admitted. “I didn’t know it was possible. Shouldn’t their vocal cords be swollen by now? Shouldn’t they need to take a break?”

  Galen merely shrugged as he lifted the spark plug so he could study it under better light. “What do you want me to say? May is a ghost. I don’t think she technically has vocal cords any longer. As for Wesley ... he’s just now getting his full wind. He could carry on for hours if history is any indication.”

  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “Well, awesome.”

  I grew up an only child. My mother died in childbirth and my father raised me to be a “normal” girl. That probably wasn’t the word he would’ve used, but it was the most apt. My father was determined to make sure I had all the right clothes, went to the best schools, joined the cheerleading squad, had a serviceable car to get me to and from school, and never once did anything that was considered odd or out of the ordinary.

  By the way, if you believe I dislike him for that, think again. I don’t dislike him … or blame him for how things turned out. He thought he was doing right by me, protecting me from the stories my mother told him before her death. There was no way he could understand what her hometown of Moonstone Bay really was, so he made things worse in his mind. That was probably only one of the reasons he fought so hard when I said I was moving to the island my mother called home for most of her life. The other reason was that he was a control freak, but that was hardly important now.

  “They’ll calm down.” Galen gave me a sympathetic shoulder squeeze as he reached for another spark plug. “They’ve been separated for months. The animosity they usually blow off after a week’s time has built up. They need to get it out of their system.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. “I’m afraid they’re going to blow the top off the house in the process.”

  Galen pursed his lips and shrugged, his blue eyes traveling to the top of the lighthouse. “I don’t think their anger can reach that high. At best, they’ll blow the top off the mudroom.”

  “Ha, ha.” The look I shot him was withering. “Do you think that’s funny?”

  He grinned, clearly enjoying himself. “Maybe a little.”

  “Well, I don’t!” I leaned closer so only he could hear me, even though there was no one outside close enough to overhear us. In my short time since moving to Moonstone Bay, I’d learned that not all people were visible all the time. No, really. I’ll explain later.

  “I think it’s going to make our lives extremely difficult if we don’t nip this in the bud,” I told him, deathly serious. “Wesley has been here five of the last seven days. Now, I like him a great deal and want to get to know my grandfather, but that’s five of seven days.” I repeated the number in case he hadn’t heard me the first time. “At five hours a day — and that’s a bare minimum — he’s taken up twenty-five hours of my life. Do you think he’s spent any of that time with me? No. He spends all of it screaming at May.”

  “I don’t know what you want me to tell you.” He adopted a pragmatic tone. “You’re the one who suggested Wesley stop by whenever he missed May because she seems to be anchored to the lighthouse.”

  “That’s because I thought he missed her.”

  “He did miss her.”

  “All they’ve done is scream at each other since being reunited,” I shot back. “That doesn’t seem like deep emotional stuff. In fact, it’s the stuff of nightmares.”

  I lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “My father had this girlfriend when I was about fourteen or so. They used to argue all the time. I had no idea what to make of it because the other women he dated were quiet and demure. This woman, she used to push every single one of his buttons, and she made it so steam would practically blow out of his ears. No, seriously, he looked like a cartoon character. This reminds me of that.”

  Galen chuckled, amusement rolling off him in waves. “That’s kind of funny.”

  “Yes, it was hilarious,” I drawled. “She once threw a frying pan at his head because he said her eggs yolks were too hard.”

  “You never have to worry about me complaining about hard egg yolks. I like all types of egg yolks. You know what I don’t like? When there’s all that runny white stuff on undercooked over-easy eggs. Now that I’ll complain about.”

  He was handsome, ridiculously so. He had dark hair that fell over his forehead in silky waves, cheekbones cut from granite and a square jawbone that made him look like a recently sculpted statue of a Greek god. That didn’t mean I was above fighting with him.

  “Are you even listening to me?” My temper threatened to come out to play. “We have a real problem here.”

  “And what is that?” Galen was blasé as he returned the spark plug to the engine of my golf cart. Oh, yeah, I have a golf cart. Wesley bought it for me two weeks ago. Cars aren’t allowed on the island except under special circumstances, so the only way to get around is a golf cart. Wesley lives miles from town, so he thought the golf cart would be a nice gift.

  As someone
who was getting tired of walking in the stifling heat and humidity, I couldn’t help but agree. I was in love with the thing, which is why Galen agreed to look it over and give it a tune-up.

  “Well, I’m sure you haven’t noticed because you haven’t been around evenings the past week, but Wesley tends to stay late, and then May is worked up after he leaves,” I replied, choosing my words carefully. “When she’s worked up, she wants to have a conversation. She’s a ghost, so she can talk and talk and talk without ever getting tired.”

  “So ... basically you’re saying you want her to get tired.”

  “I’m saying that ... at night ... if she’s around ... it makes certain things difficult.” I struggled to find the right words to convey what I felt.

  “What things?” Galen asked, clearly oblivious to my issues. “Just tell her you need some sleep and she’ll go away. Do you want me to talk to her for you?”

  That was the last thing I wanted. “No. I’m not just talking about sleep.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He was frustrating me. “Never mind.” I averted my gaze and huffed out a sigh while reaching for my bottle of water. “It obviously doesn’t matter.”

  “Now, wait a second.” He held up his hand, furrowing his brow as he regarded my agitated profile. “I can’t help but feel as if I’ve missed something. Why don’t we take it from the beginning and we’ll see if I can actually pick up on whatever is irritating you this time.”

  A particularly loud and indignant screech assailed my ears from inside. “Really? You can’t pick up on what’s irritating me?”

  “I get this isn’t your cup of tea, but they’ll settle down,” Galen offered. “I mean ... they went months without seeing each other. May is dead. Wesley was broken-hearted even though they divorced years ago. They’ve always had a unique way of interacting.”

  “I understand that.” I honestly did. “And if I thought this was a momentary blip and they would quiet down in a few days I’d do my best to ignore it.”

  “But you don’t feel that way,” Galen surmised. “Okay ... have you considered asking them to head out to Wesley’s house? May is a ghost, and even though it appears she’s anchored to the lighthouse, that’s probably not true. If she puts her mind to it, she should be able to visit Wesley whenever she wants.”

  “Now that’s what I’m looking for.” I brightened considerably. “How can I ensure she does that without hurting her feelings?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe just tell her that you need some time to yourself.”

  “I wasn’t thinking about time to myself,” I muttered under my breath, dark thoughts taking over. “I was thinking about when I have overnight guests.”

  Galen had to crane his neck to hear what I was saying, and when he made it out his expression lightened. That, in turn, made his already handsome face even more breathtaking (if that was even possible). “Ah. Is that what you’re worried about?”

  I felt like a dolt. Galen and I had been dating only a few weeks. Heck, I’d been a resident of Moonstone Bay for only a few weeks. Galen was one of the first people I’d met, and we’d immediately clicked.

  That’s not to say our relationship was without issues. He was a shifter — wolf, to be exact — and I was a witch. I didn’t realize I was a witch while growing up. My father insisted I was normal, as I previously said, and I never knew my mother, so I had no idea about her colorful lineage. Once I hit the island, though, things started happening and the truth spilled out.

  I was almost used to being a witch now, and I’d been experimenting with the powers I didn’t know I had. I wasn’t quite to the level I wanted to be, but I had time to explore and grow into my new reality. What I didn’t have time for was the crimp that Wesley and May’s constant arguing was putting in my love life.

  “What do you think I’m worried about?” I asked, conveniently averting my gaze. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Right.” Galen was the sort of guy who said whatever came to his mind and didn’t wait for an invitation to tackle difficult topics. “You want to know why I haven’t spent the night in the past week.”

  My cheeks burned as I fought to maintain control of my emotions. I wasn’t envisioning this conversation taking the turn it did. “I don’t care. What makes you think I care? It’s not as if I want you to spend the night. I don’t, by the way.”

  I’m a blatherer of the first order. I can’t seem to stop myself.

  “Uh-huh.” Galen scratched the side of his nose as he regarded me. “Listen, if you want me to spend the night, I’m all for it. I just thought that I would probably hold off spending the night until you were ready for ... you know. Sleeping in the same bed and pretending to be a gentleman is an exercise in high blood pressure.”

  I definitely knew what he was referring to and that made my cheeks burn doubly hot. We’d yet to take things to the next level, opting to stop at kissing and groping after our dates. He didn’t seem determined to push me for more, and I was happy with the status quo. Of course, I was also happy when I woke up next to him. That happened a few times, even though we hadn’t yet made it to the big show. Sure, those instances usually happened when I was in some form of danger, but I’d come to enjoy them all the same.

  Admitting I missed his overnight visits was absolutely mortifying.

  “I don’t care about that.” I refused to meet his steady gaze, which I felt on my cheek. “You can stay ... or don’t stay, I honestly don’t care. I can’t even remember why this conversation popped up. I’m going to grab a bottle of water from inside. Do you want one?”

  I hadn’t even finished the bottle of water I was drinking, which wasn’t lost on Galen. He grabbed my wrist before I could get to my feet and tugged me to the ground, keeping me close on the picnic blanket I’d laid out so we could enjoy an afternoon snack away from the yelling.

  “I’m sorry.” Galen was earnest as he forced me to stare into his eyes. “I wasn’t trying to ignore you. It was the exact opposite. I wanted us to have time to get to know one another without any pressure. I didn’t realize that upset you.”

  I balked. “I’m not upset. Why would I possibly get upset about something like that? In fact, I prefer it when you’re not in my bed. You snore and take up too much room.”

  He chuckled, his eyes lighting with mirth. “I’ve got news for you, you snore, too.”

  “I do not.”

  “You do.”

  “I do not!”

  “You do!”

  I narrowed my eyes and stared for a long beat, finally shaking my head as I lifted my face to the sky and absorbed the pounding rays. “Now we sound like May and Wesley. That’s not how I want to be.”

  “Me either.”

  “I don’t care about you spending the night. Mostly.” I adjusted my tone so I didn’t sound so shrill. “It’s just ... we’ve had fun the last two weeks, went on a few dates and everything, but we’ve barely had any time alone together unless we left the lighthouse. And our destinations are limited because of outside factors. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  “No, it matters.” He grabbed my hand and gave me a tug, pulling me into his lap as he rested his back against the golf cart and running his hands up and down my arms. “I didn’t realize we weren’t spending enough quality time together. I thought I was being respectful.”

  “Maybe I don’t like you respectful. Have you ever considered that?”

  He chuckled. “I will take that under advisement.” He tilted his head, catching my gaze as I shifted to look into his eyes. “How about we compromise for the rest of the night? We’ll walk to town, get some ice cream and then I know a private beach that’s not too far from here. It’s closed to tourists. How does that sound?”

  “Good, but it still doesn’t change my overall problem.”

  Wesley picked that moment to bellow about crazy women giving him ulcers from inside the house.

  “No, it doesn’t solve your problem,” he agr
eed. “We’ll talk about that and come up with a plan while we spend some private time together.”

  “I have news for you, buddy, I’m not going to want to talk during our private time.”

  He laughed, his chest shaking as he turned my body to give me a long kiss. “We’ll figure it out while we’re getting our ice cream. I promise we’ll manage to do both.”

  “Well, as long as you promise.”

  We sank into a long kiss, both of us ignoring the raised voices from inside the house. I was so lost in the moment it took me a long beat to realize that my rear end was vibrating. “What is that?”

  “My phone.” Galen made a disgusted sound as he shifted me and searched his pocket, coming back with his cell. “I’m sorry.” His eyes were apologetic. “You have no idea how sorry I am.”

  He served as Moonstone Bay’s sheriff, so I understood he had a job to do. I didn’t begrudge his work. My very alive grandfather and very dead grandmother were a different story.

  “Blackwood,” he growled as he answered the phone, his hand warm as it ran up and down my back. I couldn’t hear what the person on the other end of the call had to say, but he didn’t look happy when he started shaking his head. “No, don’t do anything. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Just ... don’t touch anything.”

  He disconnected and gave me a rueful smile. “I’m sorry. There’s a body at the docks. I have to go.”

  “It’s okay.” I meant it. “Maybe next time?”

  “Yeah, well ... .” Galen didn’t look as if he was in a hurry to end our evening despite the call. “I don’t suppose you would want to go to the docks with me? There’s always the chance that it’s natural causes and we can get ice cream after.”