Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(12)

“Oh, man. Show them into the living room. I’ll be right there.” I wiped my hands on a napkin and smoothed my skirt. I glanced at Sandy. “Come with me for reinforcement?”

She snickered. “I wouldn’t miss this on a bet.”

As we entered the living room, I found myself staring at Snow, who was now wearing a skin-tight red dress that barely covered the down-under region of her world. Standing behind her were seven dwarves. Real dwarves. As in hi-ho, hi-ho, Tolkienish grumpy men, short in stature but bulky in muscle. They were all bearded and wearing manbuns. The fact that they were clad in jeans along with muscle-tops did nothing to comfort me, nor did the fact that the room was now full of musky man-scent.

“Hey,” one of them said. He had bright red hair and a well-trimmed beard. “We appreciate the lodgings. Every place in town seems booked up and we thought we were staying at our host’s inn, but apparently not. Mercury retrograde, you know—miscommunications are flying.”

Behind me, Sandy choked back a snicker. I tried to elbow her but she dodged just in time. She sat down, watching with what I could only peg as a snarky glee.

“So, who’s your host?” I figured it best to find out who had invited this group to town. I found myself wondering just what they did. Entertainers, perhaps? Musical group? Maybe they entertained at kids’ parties?

“You might know him. Ralph Greyhoof. He runs the Heart’s Desire Inn.”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

Of course it was Ralph. It was always Ralph. I really didn’t want to know what kind of gig Snow was playing at Ralph’s, or why. I was about to tell them No dice, find another place when Thornton appeared at the doorway.

“Maddy? There’s a phone call you might want to take. In your office.” He looked so serious that I let out a sigh and nodded.

“I’ll be back in a moment. Sandy, keep our guests…entertained.”

As I slipped out of the room, I ran over all the excuses I could think of as to why I couldn’t let them have the rooms. Maybe I’d get lucky and they couldn’t pay, so I could say No money, no room.

“What’s up?” I frowned as Thornton handed me the phone.

“It’s the bank. The lady said there’s an emergency with your account.”

“All right.” I brought the receiver to my ear. “Maudlin Gallowglass here. How may I help you?”

“Ms. Gallowglass, this is Amanda, down at Bedlam Star Credit Union. I’m afraid that Mrs. Periwinkle’s check has bounced. I thought I’d call you because once I process the NSF fee, it will leave your business account overdrawn.”

Overdrawn? How the hell. I stared at the phone. “But I have fifty-five thousand dollars in that account. How could it be overdrawn?”

Amanda let out a tsking sound. “This morning you moved fifty-four thousand dollars to your account in Dubai. The transaction was processed online. That means when we deduct the $1,420 for Mrs. Periwinkle’s check and the NFS fee, it will leave you overdrawn by almost five hundred dollars.”

My stomach lurched. “I don’t have an account in Dubai. I’ll be right down. Don’t go anywhere and don’t process that check yet, please.”

I slammed the phone down, sweating. I had bought the mansion outright, and paid in cash for all the renovations. That fifty-five thousand dollars was the rest of my savings. How could they have transferred all my money to a foreign account without my permission? While I was pissed at Mrs. Periwinkle for bouncing a check on me, I realized that if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known about this for a while. I raced back out to the living room.

“I’m sorry, I have to go downtown to talk to the bank about something.” I stared at Snow and her retinue. As much as I didn’t want them in the Bewitching Bedlam, if my savings was gone for good, then I needed cash. “Three rooms. Sandy and Thornton will settle you in. One hundred bucks a night per room, with twenty-five dollars per extra guest. Cash in advance.”

And with everybody staring, I raced out of the house and jumped in my car. Whoever the scammer in Dubai was, he had better pray I didn’t find out his name. Because once I found him, he’d be staked out on top of an anthill, covered in honey. Red ants. Under the blazing sun.





Chapter 4





“LET’S GO OVER this once again.” I was ready to smack the nice credit union representative over the head with a sock full of pennies. “I didn’t go online this morning and I didn’t transfer money to a stranger’s account in Dubai. I don’t live in Dubai. I’ve never even been to Dubai. I don’t own a bed-and-breakfast in Dubai. Why the hell would I transfer money to Dubai?” My voice rose perilously close to a screech.

Amanda finally called the manager.

“It’s about time. I’ve only been asking to talk to your manager for the past twenty minutes.” I was grumpy and not inclined to be particularly diplomatic.

While Amanda ran over what had happened with the tall, professional-looking woman wearing a blue pantsuit, a tidy blond chignon, and heels that jacked her up to at least six-three, I tried to control my anger.

The manager—whose nametag read “Emily Chambers”—sat down at the desk, motioning for Amanda to back away. Her hands flew over the keys as she examined my account. I tried to practice my deep breathing. The meditation always worked in magic, but I kept coming back to the image of a generically squirrelly scam artist, grinning as he rolled around on my money.