Mid-Century Monster

  Mid-Century Monster

  Solstice Properties Mysteries: Book 3

  by A.M. Burns

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Except where actual places are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious; any resemblance to living persons or places is purely coincidental.

  See what A.M. Burns is up to.

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  Copyright 2020 © MysticHawker Press

  http://www.mystichawker.com/

  ISBN: 978-1-945632-74-7

  Edited by Robert Brownson

  Cover art by Fae Kelly

  Other Books by A.M. Burns

  Solstice Properties Mysteries

  1: Second Story Hex

  2: Watchtower WooWoo

  3: Mid-Century Monster

  Shifter Force

  1: Visions of Rage

  2: Visions of Shadows

  3: Visions of Stars

  Yellow Sky Coven:

  1: Blood Moon Yellow Sky

  2: Dark Stars of Dallas

  Stand Alone Books:

  The Black Fin Case

  YA Books:

  Coyote’s Pup

  Familiar Series:

  1: Familiar Path

  2: Familiar Spirit

  Tempest Academy:

  Prologue:

  Running in a Pack

  Into the Sky

  1

  The cool autumn wind tugged at Cin Kilkari’s light jacket as she walked up the cracked concrete walk toward the huge Mid-Century house her real estate agent was showing them. The place had all the hard angles and size she associated with Mid-Century architecture. With fall trying to set in, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to undertake another flipping project. By the time they finished, winter would’ve engulfed the San Luis Valley and the majority of outdoor activity in Cottonwood, Colorado would’ve slammed to a halt as residents and tourists alike headed up into the mountains for skiing.

  At Cin’s side, her husband, Chad, glanced around nervously.

  “This won’t take long, and you can be on the road.” Cin patted his hand. Like normal, her touch seemed to calm him.

  Chad nodded. “I know.” He frowned. “It’s just with the days getting shorter, I hope I can make it in time.” By making it, he meant to the property of the Alpha werewolf in Denver who was helping him with some of his stress after having killed the previous county sheriff. In time, was before moonrise, when Chad’s wolf would take control. By viewing the house they were risking him being late, particularly if the traffic between Fairplay and Denver was unusually heavy for one reason or another.

  “You’ll be fine.” Cin gave his hand a final pat and focused on Marzie Campbell as she opened the towering heavy doors.

  “Hasn’t been redecorated in a while, has it?” RJ Samson, their handyman asked as he entered the foyer ahead of them.

  Marzie smiled. “That’s one of the charms of the place. You get to play with the original builder’s ideas.”

  The smell of dust and neglect hit Cin. “That’s not always a good thing, Marzie. How long did you say this place has been on the market?”

  “Nearly two years. The owners’ family is desperate to sell. The old couple passed away, and the kids never liked Cottonwood.” Marzie flipped some switches and recessed lighting sprang to life around the edges of the foyer and into the sunken living room.

  “They didn’t die here, did they?” Cin glanced around, trying to feel anything out of place with her magical senses. The place hadn’t had a threshold, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t still be problems.

  Marzie shook her head, sending her long dark hair swaying. “Nope. They were in a senior village in Mesa, Arizona during that heat wave last year, and they lost power like most of the city.”

  “Lots of people didn’t make it out of that,” RJ said. “Grid problems is one of the reasons AJ and I moved to a smaller town.” He tapped on a wall and frowned. “Might have some termite damage in here.”

  Cim’s own frown deepened. “Termites could be a major problem, Marzie.”

  “I’ll call someone to take a look in the morning.” She pulled out her phone and started taking notes. “If there’s damage, it can be a bargaining chip to knock the price down even further.”

  “But it could also be a bigger reno bill.” Cin grumbled as the smell of musty damp hit her. “If it was something by some famous architect, that might be one thing, but this isn’t.”

  Chad sneezed, then wrinkled his nose. “Don’t recall anything in town having historical significance that isn’t made of adobe.”

  Marzie nodded. “Yeah, we don’t need to worry about that.”

  A soft knock came from the door, and they all turned to see an older woman standing on the concrete porch with a questioning look on her lined face.

  “Yes?” Marzie headed toward her. “I’m the real estate agent, Marzie Campbell. Can I help you?”

  “I don’t know.” The woman glanced around. “I’m missing my cat. I thought I might tell you. If you see her, I’m right across the street.” She turned and pointed to a low ranch-style house with red trim and gray brick.

  Cin stepped up alongside Marzie. “What does your cat look like?”

  “She’s a sweet orange tabby. Has a pink collar on. Her name’s Muffin.”

  “We’ll keep an eye out for her,” Marzie said.

  “Thank you.” The woman turned and headed back across the street. She stopped halfway down the walk and turned back toward them. “If you’re looking to buy the house, it’s a nice quiet neighborhood. Perfect for raising a family.” Then she spun on her heels and continued walking away.

  Not feeling like she needed to explain herself to the woman, Cin didn’t respond to her parting comments. “You realize we didn’t even get her name.” She turned her attention back to the house’s interior.

  Marzie shrugged. “She’s across the street. If we find Muffin, we’ll know where she is. My sources agree that it is a nice neighborhood. I’m not sure why this place hasn’t sold yet.”

  Chad shook his head, and then wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve. “There haven’t been any cats around here, that’s not what’s got me sneezing.”

  “Lots of dust, even by Cottonwood standards,” RJ added. “But we’ve seen worse.”

  “It’s amazing how much dust we get, even in town,” Marzie agreed. “But it’s not as bad as the Stone house was.”

  “If there aren’t skeletons in the backyard, then it’s not as bad as the Stone house,” Cin corrected. Sure, the Stone house had been a bargain, money-wise but it had been a pain magically, and had almost cost her, Chad and RJ their lives. It had made her a little more cautious when getting houses to either rent or flip.

  “I promise you, there aren’t skeletons in the backyard.” Marzie waved the comment away. “Now come back here and take a look at the master bathroom. It’s huge. They were way ahead of themselves when they built this place. Garden tubs weren’t even a thing then.”

  “As long as it isn’t avocado and needs to be torn out.” Cin followed in her wake.

  “Oh, it’s not in avocado, burnt orange, I think that’s what they called it back then.” Marzie opened the door to the huge master bedroom.

  “That’s nearly as bad as avocado,” Cin muttered.

  “It’s a nice big master,” RJ said. “That could be a major sellin
g point.”

  “With a bit of work, the master suite will definitely be something we focus on.” Marzie swung the double French doors open then stepped aside.

  “They didn’t squeak.” Chad wrinkled his nose and cocked his head. “And unless I miss my guess, the smell has died back. Odd.”

  “Maybe the termites and mold are concentrated in some of the non-load bearing walls in the center of the house and won’t be a pain to redo.” RJ glanced around. “Gonna cost a few bucks to redo this place, but I think we can do our best to keep the cost down.”

  “See what you can figure out.” Cin glanced out the garden window that sat above the large bathtub. The backyard looked large for a city lot, but it was one of the older parts of town known for bigger lots and more trees. From what she could see, the place had both size and trees. They were good selling points, if they could get the interior to the point buyers made it through the house to the backyard.

  Marzie sighed from the doorway. “So I guess I might as well tell you the kitchen needs a retrofit too.”

  “I kinda figured that,” Cin said. “But we can work with that too.” In her head, she was already running numbers, but she’d wait until she and RJ had time to sit down and go over everything he thought might need fixing. Before they’d come over, she’d checked the comps for the neighborhood, and they had some wiggle room, particularly if they could get the cost down and keep the reno mostly in-house. Luckily RJ could handle a lot of different things, and since hiring him, they’d only had to contract out major things, like rebuilding an entire apartment building that had been burned down by aliens. Cottonwood, Colorado had gotten more and more interesting the past couple of seasons.

  2

  As they walked out to the car, Cin glanced at her phone. “I think you can make it.”

  “Probably. I might put the pedal to the metal in a few spots where I know the locals.” Chad grinned slyly. “Might as well get a little payback once in a while.”

  Cin shook her head. “Just be careful.”

  “I will be.” He swept her up in his arms and kissed her.

  Knowing she’d see him in a couple of days made it easier for her to step back. “Love you.”

  Chad ran his strong fingers through her hair, brushing it back off her ear. “Love you too. See you and the girls in a few days.” He glanced over at RJ leaning against his blue truck. “I know it’s hard, but try to keep her out of trouble.”

  “Hard?” Cin punched Chad in the shoulder.

  RJ laughed. “I’ll do my best.”

  Rubbing his shoulder, Chad grinned. “Love you, Sweetie.”

  Cin gave him another kiss, then he opened his car door and slipped in. Every time she sent him off to Denver for his full-moon therapy, she worried something would happen to him while he was there. She knew he and RJ had both assured her he wasn’t in harm’s way, at least not majorly. The Denver packs were stable, except for the occasional young upstart who had to be put in their place, so Chad was fairly safe. She just couldn’t help herself, she was a wife and mother. It made her protective. Even after a year, and Chad thinking he was about ready to walk away from his werewolf support group, she still worried.

  “Okay, back to the office, or the house?” RJ asked as he pushed himself off his truck.

  “Hey, I was going to ask you what you’re doing for dinner tonight,” Marzie slipped her phone back in her purse, getting off the call that had come in just as they were locking the house up.

  Before responding to RJ, she turned toward Marzie. “I figured the girls and I would go out. Since Chad’s going out of town, we normally eat out.”

  “Excellent.” Marzie grinned. “Let me and Jerry Jr take you all out. I’ve got a couple things I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Cin shrugged. “Sure. Let me double check with the girls, make sure it’s okay with them. If we need to, we could just make it us.” Hanging with Marzie would help take some of the edge off her nerves over Chad’s monthly departure.

  “Okay.” Marzie looked past Cin. “RJ, if you don’t mind, I can give her a lift.”

  RJ glanced at Cin. “I’m good if you are. I was going to swing by the Towers and see how the final touches are looking.”

  Cin wanted to join him, but it wasn’t often Marzie pushed for girl time. “Sure. If there’s something wrong let me know.”

  “I will.” RJ flashed her a thumbs up and got into his truck.

  “Nice to have someone around you can trust to get their job done,” Marzie said.

  “Yeah.” Cin shifted her purse on her arm as RJ drove away. “RJ was a great find.” She knew she and Chad wouldn’t be doing as much flipping as they were without RJ helping.

  “You know, you haven’t introduced me to AJ yet. I was surprised when I found out who he was, but I started reading his books. He’s really good.” Marzie headed toward her car parked in the driveway.

  “He is, and he’s just as nice as RJ. You know, it’s been a really busy year, maybe it’s time for us to have another big Kilkari family and friends party.” Cin opened the passenger side door and slipped in.

  “If Chad’s manning the grill and it’s full of those huge steaks he likes, I’m so there.” Marzie nodded as she started the car. “Yeah, we need a party. You heard Captain Zack asked Shelby to marry him?”

  Cin clipped her seatbelt. “Just this morning, after Yoga class. When did you hear?”

  “She called me last night. It’s been a long time since I heard her that excited.”

  “Yeah.” Cin laughed. “And saying that for Shelby is something.” Her yoga instructor and friend was easily one of the perkiest people in Cottonwood.

  “But I’m so happy for her, both of them actually.” Marzie’s tone dropped, downplaying her happiness as she pulled out of the driveway.

  “It’s okay.” Cin patted Marzie’s leg. “Divorce is hard, but you’re getting through it. We should’ve had more get-togethers this summer so all your friends could lend you more support.”

  Marzie shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I’m going to be fine.” She put her hand over Cin’s. “You and Shelby have been amazing through this. I probably would’ve flown apart if it hadn’t been for you guys. You have no idea. But that’s been over for months, it’s just sometimes…”

  “Sometimes it hits when you see other people being happy. We’re all hoping Shelby and Zack are going to have a long happy life even when some of our own haven’t been perfect.”

  With a weak laugh, Marzie glanced at Cin. “Is there something about Chad’s trips you need to talk about? I thought you guys were fine.”

  “We are.” Cin nodded. She never shared the magical side of life with Marzie. They’d known each other for years, but there were firm rules about exposing magic, or werewolves, to the non-magical. She wasn’t about to break them easily, so they had cover stories to explain Chad’s monthly disappearances, and in some ways it was easier than before he’d killed Sheriff Jackson. Locking Chad in the basement had been harder than knowing he was going to be running in the hills west of Denver. “He’s started going and helping his uncle up there with some things.”

  Marzie nodded as she stopped for a red light. “I get that. Family’s important.”

  Cin’s phone chirped with her eldest daughter’s ring tone. “Give me a second.” Thankful for the distraction and hoping for a bit of a change of subject when she got off the phone, Cin answered the call. “Hey, Sweetie, what’s up?”

  “Mom, where are you going?” Char sounded a little concerned. “We thought you were heading home after the showing so we could go to dinner.”

  “Are you stalking me again?” Chad had the whole family on an app where they would all know where each other was.

  “Well, yeah. Are we going to dinner, or do I need to feed EEEK on my own?”

  “I think your sister can fend for herself in the kitchen, but yes, we’re going out to dinner. Marzie and Jerry Jr are coming with us tonight.” Cin paused, then added. “If you
and EEEK don’t mind.”

  “I don’t as long as it isn’t that new burger place, I went there with the girls the other day and they’re gross.”

  Cin looked at Marzie. “We’re good except the new burger place.”

  Marzie wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. No. Their food is way too greasy. Your girls have good taste.”

  “Tell Marzie we like her too,” Char sounded smug. “Are you coming to us, or are we coming to you?”

  “Why don’t you come to us? Marzie, what are you thinking for dinner?”

  Marzie shrugged as she pulled into the parking lot of the office building where Solstice Properties was located. “That steak house on the west side?”

  “Sounds great.” Cin relayed the information and arranged for her daughters to meet them there in an hour.

  “That gives us time to talk.” Marzie turned off the car.

  “Okay, if you don’t mind me checking on things as we talk.” Cin undid her seatbelt and opened her door.

  They walked into the office, and Cin glanced at their temporary receptionist, Bill, a family friend who was passing through town.

  “Nothing pressing.” Bill flashed his smile that nearly always disarmed people who came in mad. He had as much charm as Chad, and Cin often wondered how they managed to do it all the time, but she wrote it off as a guy thing she’d never understand. She’d miss him when he left town in a couple of days.

  “Thanks.” Cin returned his smile as she and Marzie headed toward her office.

  Marzie closed the door behind them. “Okay, seriously, how do you manage to find the hot guys to work for you? I know RJ’s gay, and that explains a lot of it. You haven’t said if Bill is or isn’t, so I don’t know if that’s part of it for him. Honestly, he’s too hot to be a straight guy here in Cottonwood. In case you haven’t noticed, some of our guys around here can be downright scary.”

  Cin turned on her computer so she could check email. “I honestly hadn’t noticed. I’ve got Chad. That’s not to say I don’t notice guys like Bill, but I’m not out there looking, so it doesn’t matter. Plus he isn’t going to be around long”