Keeper of the Castle: A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery (30 page)

Ambitious festivalgoers had been flocking to Aunt Cora’s Closet in search of “authentic” hippie clothes for weeks now. Vintage tie-dye and flouncy peasant dresses were flying off the racks; love beads and headbands were in short supply. Bell-bottomed jeans, pants in wild colors, and embroidered Mexican blouses—most of which I had picked up for a song at flea markets and yard sales—were in great demand.

“Sure, the Summer of Love Festival.” He nodded. “I know it well.”

“It’s my first time; I’m pretty excited. So, do you have a costume?”

“I’m wearing it.” Carlos passed a hand over his khaki chinos and black leather jacket.

“Think you look like a hippie, do you?”

“Even better. I’m a narc.”

I smiled. “You should at least wear a few love beads around your neck.”

“Maybe I’ll dig through your treasure chest before I leave.”

Recently I had started tossing cheap costume jewelry and plastic items—except for the valuable Bakelite, of
course—in an old wooden chest that had supposedly come to San Francisco with the pioneers. Now cleansed of cobwebs and its sordid past, it had become my “treasure chest”: Everything in it went for under five dollars, and many items were just a quarter. Customers spent a lot of time digging through it with childlike abandon.

Which reminded me . . .

“Carlos, hold on. Didn’t you say something about a missing child?”

“Fourteen-year-old Selena Moreno. We’re not positive she’s missing . . . Weird thing is, we can’t get a word out of Ursula. But according to the neighbors, Selena used to live with her grandmother. Hasn’t shown up to school, but it looks like her attendance has always been spotty, so it’s hard to say what’s going on there. Most likely she’s staying with relatives, but I’d feel better knowing for sure.”

“Do you think something in the shop might point me in her direction?”

“You know me, Lily. I don’t think anything in particular.”

“But you’re suspicious of everything.”

He gave me a wink and a smile.

Juliet Blackwell
is the pseudonym for a mystery author who also writes the Witchcraft Mystery series and, together with her sister, wrote the Art Lover’s Mystery series. The first in that series,
Feint of Art
, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Juliet’s lifelong interest in the paranormal world was triggered when her favorite aunt visited and read her fortune—with startling results. As an anthropologist, the author studied systems of spirituality, magic, and health across cultures and throughout history. She currently resides in a happily haunted house in Oakland, California.