Page 12 of Grimoires & Glamoury

I had always found Shelby Murphy to be smart, capable and friendly. She worked in the history department offices at UAB as a research assistant to one of the professors and was also an adjunct instructor teaching part time.

As to Sawyer, he was a charming young man. Shelby had introduced me to him, and I’d seen him in the bookstore as well as at a few community events, but I’d honestly had no idea of his affiliation to the ceremonial lodge. Which made me wonder if he had been a sort of spy for the lodge, attending local Witch events and then reporting back to his superiors...

Or was it Shelby herself reporting back to the lodge? That thought had me coming to a sudden stop on the sidewalk. There’s no proof that she’d been doing any spying... I reminded myself. But I had to admit that the possibility that she might have been playing me to gain information was concerning.

My cell phone began to ring. Pulling it out, I noticed the call was from Ruth Thomas, one of the local coven leaders.

I stepped out of the way of foot traffic on the sidewalk and answered. “Hello Ruth.” I forced cheer into my voice. “How’s that new grandbaby of yours do—”

Which was as far as I got because Ruth was shouting. “You’re not going to believe this. It’s gone!”

“Wait,” I said. “What’s gone?

“The bank account for the Witches Ball has been practically cleaned out!”

“What?” I asked, shocked at the news. “When did this happen?”

Ruth’s reply was a lot of swearing.

“Ruth,” I said over her. “Take a breath, try and calm down, and then tell me what happened.”

“I’m sorry,” Ruth said, pulling in a deep breath. “Give me a second, Lorna. I’m really rattled. Sorry that I shouted.”

“That’s okay,” I said, listening as Ruth exhaled. “Tell me what happened.”

“I went to the bank today to get a cashier’s check to put the deposit down on the ballroom for the event, and when I did, I was informed that the account had insufficient funds!”

“Besides yourself, who has access to the account?” I asked.

“Shelby Murphy,” she said. “Only Shelby and I can make withdrawals.”

“Damn it!” I muttered, even as my heart sank. “When did the bank say she made the withdrawal?”

“That was the first thing I asked,” Ruth said. “The teller said she made the withdrawal three days ago.”

Three days, I thought. Three days ago was when Montgomery noticed the missing book, and Sawyer stopped showing up for work.

“Is it possible,” I began, “that Shelby made the deposit to the ballroom and forgot to tell you?”

“I checked on that too,” Ruth said. “Shelby isn’t answering her cell phone, and the ballroom has not had any payment. Also, the bank informed me that Shelby took almost everything out of the account. Five thousand dollars—in cash.”

“Sonofabitch,” I swore under my breath. The amount made sense to me as most banks had a limit of a five-thousand-dollar cash withdrawal.

“I guess I’ll have to go to the police and report this,” Ruth said. “I can’t believe it. Shelby was such a nice girl. Why would she do such a thing? I’m going to have to inform the rest of the Witches Ball committee too... I really hope we won’t have to cancel the event.”

“I promise you,” I said. “We’ll figure out some way to replace the funds.”

“The deposit for the ballroom is due by the end of the week,” Ruth said. “The truth is that we’re never going to be able to raise that sort of money that fast. Most of the funds in the bank were from fundraising and advance ticket sales...”

“Ruth,” I cut her off. “You should speak to the police about this. Because Shelby and her boyfriend are both missing. The police will definitely want to know about her taking out all the money from the account.”

“Oh my goddess!” Ruth said. “Shelby’s missing? Since when?”

“For at least—”

“Three days?” Ruth guessed, then sighed in disappointment. “Damn it. Why would she steal from the community?”

Frustrated, I blew my bangs out of my eyes. “I don’t know what to think at this point in time.”