Team Destiny and Archie's Apparition (Team Destiny Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 2) Read online

  Team Destiny and Archie's Apparition

  Team Destiny Paranormal Cozy Mystery 2

  By Belinda White

  Copyright 2021 Belinda White

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Team Destiny and Archie's Apparition (Team Destiny Paranormal Cozy Mystery, #2)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue: Destiny’s Little Secret

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  Chapter 1

  “Are you absolutely sure you won’t change your mind and come with us tomorrow? It should be lots of fun.”

  Yes, I was begging. She knew it too.

  Ruby just gave me that look that she somehow inherited from her mom. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t master the traditional Ravenswind ‘look’. Ruby was an old pro at it, though, and she was giving it to me now.

  “You know very well that your mom arranged the outing as a father and daughter bonding time. Me tagging along wouldn’t be appreciated.”

  Oh, I didn’t know about that. I’d appreciate the heck out of it. But I knew what she was saying. It wasn’t me she worried about upsetting.

  I finished molding the rolls into those nice little crescent shapes and popped them in the oven. It’s entirely possible that I was trying to figure out another angle to get her to come. Once again, Ruby was a step ahead of me.

  “Besides, I think your mom happens to be right on this, you know. You’ve known Archie as your dad for what, well over a year now, right? Have you ever really spent any time at all alone with him?”

  Leaning my hip against the closed oven door, I turned to look at her. “Well, I haven’t really had any reason to, now have I? For one, I’ve been pretty dang busy with our little bond hunting business and the coursework for my upcoming career as a detective.”

  “And for two?”

  I took a deep breath. “Come on. You know as well as I do that the two of us really don’t have a single thing in common. I mean, seriously, can you name one common interest between the two of us?”

  She smirked at me. “Well, there’s your mom for starters.”

  Dang. I didn’t think that through very well, did I? But she had a point. I’d been most worried about possible topics of conversation. Would it be possible to spend an entire day with Archie and just talk about Mom? Probably not. I mean, Mom and I kept pretty up to date with each other. Talk about that wouldn’t run very long.

  Then what would we move on to?

  Ruby came over and gave me a hug. “Give him a chance, okay? He’s probably feeling the same way you are right now.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. I hadn’t thought of that. “You think?”

  “Yup. Just take it easy on him. If all else fails, just ask him about his college days or something. Men seem to love reliving those.”

  That was an idea.

  “Just don’t try to back out of it tonight, okay? You really do need to do this.”

  Another deep breath. I knew that. Didn’t make it any easier on me, but I knew.

  The two of us had started a monthly tradition of having the family over for dinner the first Saturday of every month. The whole family.

  We’d thought about adding in the other Team Destiny members, as we all considered them our non-blood-related family, but my table just wasn’t that big. We were crowding it as it was to seat all ten of us. But we couldn’t very well leave Uncle Merlin and his gal, Lily, out of it, now could we?

  But ten was the definite max the table would allow. If anyone actually wanted to eat, at least.

  Today, as was our usual, we had planned a double main course. It was just too hard to hit everyone’s favorites with just one. So we had a crock pot full of cheesy broccoli and potato soup, with an overly large bowl of tossed salad and crescent rolls to go with it. That was my contribution to the meal. Ruby’s was a small spiral-cut ham with a sweet honey glaze, baked potatoes, and oven-roasted asparagus.

  Okay, so maybe we’d also turned the monthly meal into a little competition between us. She’d really outdone herself this time, though. That ham smelled heavenly. Although, honestly, so did my soup.

  No one was going to go hungry tonight. That was for sure.

  They all started arriving just as the crescent rolls came out of the oven. My family is like that. Punctual to a fault.

  Well, the older generation was, anyway. And our younger generation was already here, so we couldn’t very well be late, could we?

  Trevor let them in and within minutes we were all seated around the table with heaping plates of goodness in front of us. And, yes, bowls too. The competition tonight didn’t seem to be working so well. That’s what I got for choosing soup. Everyone was helping themselves to both.

  Not that I could complain, mind you, as I did the same. That ham simply smelled too darn good to pass up. But again, so did my soup. Yeah, the poor table was working double time tonight.

  After a few minutes of stuffing our faces, the conversation started. Maybe I’d get lucky and Archie would cancel our plans tomorrow for me. Or, at the very least, maybe someone would mention something to give the two of us conversation starters for the outing, at the least.

  I looked over at Orville. It was still really hard for me to not think of him as the sheriff. It should have been easier for me. Especially considering that my man had taken his place. But when a man holds a position for as long as Orville Taylor had held it? The title stuck. Even when the man gave it up.

  “So what’s new with the detective business? Things ramping up any?”

  Orville looked over at Opal and smiled. “Actually, it’s going rather well, I think. We’ve got a couple cases under our belts now, and word is starting to get out.”

  I leaned in. This was interesting to me, as it was how I planned to spend my time in the near future. “So what are you working on now?” I grimaced. “Please tell me it isn’t all divorce cases like the television would have you believe.”

  He chuckled. “Well, I’ll admit, there’s a fair share of that. But there are also people looking for friends they’ve lost touch with. And attorneys hunting down beneficiaries for will readings.” Another glance at Opal. “And right now, we’re working on the possibility of contracting with an insurance company to track down fraudulent claims. If we get that contract, we might need to take on more help.”

  Was he saying what I thought he might be saying? I glanced over at Opal. She smiled at me.

  “Yes, dear, he means you. If you’re willing, that is,” Opal said.

  Would I be willing? It was something to think about. Not that I would mind working with them, but then, I hadn’t gone through all the coursework and classes that I had just to work for someone else. Even family.

  Orville groaned
after taking a bite of my soup. It was fleeting, but I noticed Ruby’s slight frown. Her ham was good, but it hadn’t gotten any groans yet.

  One up for me.

  “There is something to be said about working with us, if we get enough cases,” he said, after swallowing. “You wouldn’t have to hit those books quite as hard as you are now. After working a couple of years with us, you could apply for your license on the merits of experience over education.”

  Wait. What? “Is that really true?”

  He nodded. “It is. I just haven’t mentioned it before because I wanted to get the agency going strong before we thought about adding you in. But it’s always been an option.”

  Mom groaned, and both Ruby and I turned our eyes to her. Dang. Not the soup this time. It was her roasted asparagus.

  Ruby looked a little relieved. Of the two of us, she’d always been the most competitive one. Not by much, true. But she definitely took losing harder than I did. It might be better for both of us to end the night in a tie.

  “Well, if you ever get to the point of needing help, let me know.”

  Orville nodded. “That isn’t a yes, though, is it?”

  I smiled at him. “It’s a definite I’ll think about it.”

  “We can take that.” He took another bite of the soup, and it got yet another groan. “And I think I’ll be wanting the recipe for this soup, too.”

  I grinned over the table at Ruby. Groans might be worth a point a piece, but asking for the recipe? That was the mother load.

  I’d won this one hands down. And just maybe, I might have to admit that losing wasn’t all that easy for me either. But I could sure as heck handle winning.

  RUBY HEADED BACK TO the barn after everyone left to check on the puppies and try to get them settled for the night. That usually involved a couple of leashes and a long walk.

  Well, long walk for them. Their legs weren’t all that long, so the word long didn’t really mean a lot.

  Oh yeah, about those puppies. There’s definitely something up with them. Not in the Goddess-ridden way of Baxter’s litter of kitten triplets, but... well, something. They were highly intelligent little beings.

  Of course, we would expect that, what with them being Yorkie Doodle’s pups. We’d only recently gotten custody of them. Now our little close-knit family had grown by two. Both boys, heaven help us.

  Although for some reason, the menfolk were relieved about that. I think maybe it had to do with the fact that there shouldn’t be any more puppy surprises. Truthfully, I was very thankful that Maggie had kept the litter to only two.

  Those pups, small and adorable though they were, were a handful, to say the least. And with Ruby doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to chasing down bounty runners, they spent a lot of time here at my house.

  According to Ruby, they were far too young and precious to be left alone—even with Yorkie’s supervision—for hours at a time.

  I agreed. However, it wasn’t a situation that made Destiny all that happy.

  She tolerated the pups well enough. Even played with them on occasion. But I could tell they wore thin on her nerves pretty quickly. There was a big difference between cats and dogs.

  Namely, for the most part, cats were a heck of a lot quieter. And Destiny valued her silence. Silence was scarce to come by when the pups came for a visit.

  In fact, she usually disappeared about an hour into their stay. If she even made it that long. I was betting she went to the much quieter, puppy-free barn to visit with Yorkie Doodle. The two of them at least got along famously. Thank the Goddess.

  While Ruby went to tend to the pups, Arc helped me clear the table and clean up after dinner. Trevor offered, but we sent him up to bed. The rest of us had normal working hours. Or somewhat normal, anyway. Trevor was still acting sheriff. And that generally came with working Sundays. It was his way of showing his crew that he didn’t think he was above them.

  I mean, as the head dog, so to speak, he could work Monday through Friday, nine to five, and no one could really say anything about it. It’s not like they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) call him in at the drop of a hat if something big came up.

  But that wasn’t my man. My man was fair to his workers. I just wished every now and again that we could have a nice long weekend, just the two of us.

  We’d made a couple trips back and forth from the table and were rinsing the dishes off and stacking them in the dishwasher when Arc finally broke free with the words. I’d known there had to be a reason he offered to help me.

  He was a good brother, yes. But not that good. Not normally, anyway. I’d just had to wait him out. Good sisters do that.

  “Do you think Dad looked a little worried tonight?”

  I turned to look at him. “Worried? What do you mean?”

  Arc lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure. But he seemed off someway. And there were definitely dark circles under his eyes. I don’t think he’s sleeping well, and I know Dad. When something major is bugging him, the man hardly gets two winks of sleep a day. Looks like it’s been more than a couple days too.”

  Now that he mentioned it, Archie had been rather quiet the entire evening. And I’d caught him trying to stifle a yawn more than once. That wasn’t like him. He usually enjoyed the family get-togethers as much as any of us.

  “You could be right. Is there something going on at the office? A big case he’s worried about or something?”

  “No. Not unless he’s negotiating with a client that hasn’t crossed my desk yet. All we have right now is pretty routine stuff. Nothing to cause this amount of worry.” He shook his head. “Has your mom said anything?”

  “Not a word.” Most likely it wasn’t anything to worry about. I mean, my Ravenswind family had always been a strong one. Now, since Mom’s marriage to Archie and the announcement of family members I’d never known I had—namely the whole Mineheart clan—we were just about as strong and powerful as a family could get.

  Especially if you took into account the fact that we had other Team Destiny members at our back too. If Archie was troubled with something, all he’d have to do would be say the word, and he’d have every one of us there at his side to help him through whatever he was going through.

  He had to know that. Right?

  Still. This presented me with an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up.

  Chapter 2

  The plan for the day was to meet Archie at the Mall’s main entrance. Okay, so it was the entrance by Starbuck’s. What could I say? I had figured I would need the extra jolt that a nice Chai Latte would give me to get through this.

  Not that spending time with Archie was such an awful thought. I mean, not in the grand scheme of things, anyway. But what it was, was awkward. Even after all this time, that family closeness just wasn’t there. How could it be?

  Most people know their fathers their entire life. I’d gotten mine shoved at me in the prime of my life. My brother, too, for that matter. Although for some reason, being around Arc had never really felt all that awkward to me. At least, not after we got over that whole accidental familiar thing.

  But sitting there in the parking lot, I wondered if I’d made a wrong decision. Too late to do anything about it now. Better to just get the show on the road.

  I stepped out of the car and walked over to the entrance. Archie was already waiting.

  He grinned at me. “You brought Arc to our father and daughter bonding day?”

  “Your what?” Arc spared me a glare.

  Yeah. I may have left that part of it out when I’d invited him to tag along. The important thing was that Archie didn’t seem too upset by the additional company. In fact, he looked just as downright relieved as I felt.

  “Sorry,” I answered, ignoring Arc for the moment. “Hope that’s okay.”

  Archie nodded. “What father wouldn’t want to spend time with both his children? I know I get to see Arc every day at the office, but that isn’t quite the same, is it?”

  Arc
looked at the mall behind us. “I’m starting to think I was sucker-punched here. Just what is this day all about, anyway?”

  I grinned at him. I may have left out the shopping part too. “We’re here to help each other pick out birthday gifts for Mom.”

  “And you brought me along to... shop?” There was a definite squeak to that last word.

  “Yup. And since you rode with me, you can’t back out, either. It’s a team of three. Believe me, choosing the perfect gift can sometimes take a trinity.” Especially when at least two of the trinity felt the same way about spending the day shopping. Namely, we didn’t much like it.

  “Buck up, you two,” Archie said. “How hard could it possibly be?”

  Let’s just say it was a very good thing we’d made that jaunt into the coffee shop before we started. That little extra jolt was all that kept us going. Two hours of non-stop shopping, and we were still no closer to finding that elusive perfect present.

  By the time noon came around, Arc was ready to call a taxi and head for home. With or without me.

  “Why don’t we grab lunch and give our feet a bit of a rest?” Archie suggested.

  Good plan, too, as it stopped Arc’s talk of leaving us. No way was he leaving if there was food involved. Especially mall food.

  We headed to the large open dining area, ringed with more than a dozen restaurants offering their wares. The choices ranged from subs to oriental and pizza. And a little bit of everything in between.

  Within a few minutes, we were all seated with our meals of choice in front of us. Archie and I had ended up in the same line at the Oriental Buffet. Hey, I guess we just found one more tiny thing we have in common. Maybe there was something to this bonding thing after all.

  Having expended a lot of calories with the unsuccessful shopping thus far, coupled with our love of food, we didn’t talk much as we ate. Once the food had disappeared, we all leaned back and stared at each other.

  “What now?” Archie asked. “I think we’ve hit every store in this place. Please tell me you have something in mind? If Sapphire hadn’t arranged this little get-together, what would you have gotten her?”