Free Dark Magic (Harbinger P.I. Book 3) by Adam J Wright

shrugged. “Okay.” Whatever it was, it could wait until later. I might not be in the best of humor but I still wanted to go over the Westlake stuff with Felicity at my house. And I needed pizza. I’d hardly eaten today and that wasn’t helping my mood at all.
    Taking out my phone, I called Mallory and got her voicemail. “Hey, Mallory, it’s Alec. Just wondering how you are. Call me anytime.” When I ended the call, I wondered if her phone had gone to voicemail because it was turned off or if she was avoiding me and had rejected my call. I really didn’t need to go there; I was feeling low enough already.
    Telling myself to snap out of it, I made a second call, this time to Al’s Pizzeria, and ordered a large pepperoni pizza. That made me feel a little better.
    I called to Felicity, “We need to leave now. It’s urgent.”
    She appeared at the door, a worried look on her face. “Why? What’s happened?”
    “We need to beat the pizza guy to my house,” I said.
    She let out a sigh of relief and then stood with her hands on her hips, her expression serious. “That’s not funny, Alec. If I had something to throw at you right now, I’d use it.”
    “Well, instead of doing that, throw yourself into that tiny car of yours and let’s go to my place.”
    “Fine, just let me switch my computer off first.” She went back into her office and I heard her fussing around in there.
    I picked up the box. The damn thing was heavy. “What the hell did Wesley put in here?”
    “I have no idea.” Felicity crossed the hall to the top of the stairs. “But it looks like I’ll be getting my hands on that pizza first.” She laughed and went downstairs quickly.
    “Fine,” I said as I followed her down, “but you’ll have to pay the delivery guy.”
    She was already gone.

    * * *
    I got to my place and parked the Caprice in the driveway. The blue Mini was in the driveway next door but there was no sign of Felicity. I opened the Caprice’s trunk and hauled the big cardboard box out. I’d had to squash it down to fit it inside the trunk and had felt something solid through the cardboard. I was intrigued.
    I took it inside and set it down on the living room floor before going into the kitchen to make coffee. As I looked out of the kitchen window to the trees at the bottom of the yard, I got that feeling of being watched again. Despite the brightness of the day, the shadows down there were dark and impenetrable. Anyone could be hiding there, watching me through the window.
    “Get a grip, Harbinger,” I told myself, figuring I’d seen enough pictures of scary monsters today to set my nerves on edge. I was just being paranoid. I closed the blinds anyway.
    A knock at the door turned my attention from paranoia to pizza and I went quickly to open it, finding Felicity on the front porch. “I thought you were the pizza guy,” I said. “I’m disappointed.”
    The truth was, I wasn’t disappointed at all. Felicity had changed into a black blouse that had a plunging neckline and lace around the neck and hem. She had changed her “exploring the old church” jeans for a tight black pair that showed off the curves of her thighs. And she had let her hair out of the pins that usually kept it piled up on top of her head so that it hung loosely around her neck and shoulders.
    She shot me a mock incredulous look and said, “Fine, I’ll go home and leave you alone with your pepperoni.”
    I laughed and stepped back from the door. She slipped in past me and I caught a subtle scent of perfume that smelled enticingly of lotus flower.
    Closing the door, I said, “Make yourself at home. Coffee?”
    “I thought we were having beer?” she said as she went into the living room and sat on the sofa, her dark eyes on the box.
    “Yes,” I said. “Beer.” Her appearance had taken me off guard and I wondered if I should change too. I was still wearing the same clothes I’d worn in the church and they were dusty and dirty.
    Grabbing two