Dial W for Wicked Read online

  Dial W for Wicked:

  Paranormal in Manhattan Mystery:

  Book 12

  By Lotta Smith

  Copyright

  Wicked © 2018 Lotta Smith.

  Cover copyright 2018 Breezy Reads

  Editing and proofreading: Hot Tree Editing

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the author/and publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents and places are the products of the author’s imagination, and are used fictitiously. None of the characters in this book is based on an actual person. Any resemblance to locales, actual events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and an unintentional.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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  GET WHOEVER FINDS WICKED FOR FREE!

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  Table of content

  Copyright

  GET WHOEVER FINDS WICKED FOR FREE!

  PROLOGUE Part 1

  PROLOGUE Part 2

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  EPILOGUE

  Sneak Peek: Wicked Egg to Crack

  About the author

  PROLOGUE Part 1

  “Oh my gosh! We’ve got to take Natalie to the hospital!” Minty shrieked, racing around the living room of our residence on Fifth Avenue, reminding me of myself as a child.

  Emma, Minty’s older sister, hopped off the sofa, blocking her path. “Relax, Minty. So, what’s wrong with Natalie?” she asked in her well-composed, elder-sister voice.

  “She’s ouchy! Really, really ouchy!” Minty explained, sporting a serious face.

  “Oh my God! Where is her pain?” Jackie gasped, wearing her totally freaked-out expression complete with her palms placed on both cheeks, a la Scream by Eduard Munch. On this day, she wore a green velvet dress, paired with green boots with sky-high heels, looking like a Green Giant version of a drag queen. It was the day after St. Patrick’s Day, but she’d discovered that green complimented her glossy blonde hair.

  “Aunty Jackie wants to know where Natalie has an ouchy,” I said, relaying Jackie’s message as Minty couldn’t hear her voice. “Can you please let her know?”

  “She’s ouchy here,” Minty said, pointing at the stomach of the Barbie she was clasping. “She’s really, really ouchy!” As she explained, she flung the doll up and down. Had the Barbie—I mean Natalie—been a real patient, she would have passed out in pain by now.

  “Ooh… that’s terrible, isn’t it?” Dad said soothingly. “Does she have appendicitis or something?”

  “Or maybe she just ate too much,” Mom interjected.

  “Aren’t they adorable?” Nana touched my arm and cooed as her great-granddaughters played with the Barbie.

  “Yes, they are. So cute,” I agreed, looking fondly at my nieces as they played along, making the poor doll a dying patient. “They’re totally like mini Alicias, channeling our childhood.”

  “You used to be the one getting panicky, and Alicia played the part of calming you down, right?” Rick chimed in, sounding playful and loving.

  “Oh no. I used to be the better-composed one,” I lied, leaning on him sitting next to me on the sofa.

  “No way,” Alicia, my younger sister and the mother of the girls, objected from across the coffee table. “Mandy had this tendency to freak out so easily.”

  “Will you stop that, Alicia?” I narrowed my eyes. “I didn’t mention the part about you being so compulsive that you often ended up in every water hazard at the mall, hotels, and parks.”

  “You just did,” she pointed out, giggling. “Oh, but you forgot to mention the part about how you usually ended up in the water with me. And guess what? About half of the time, you were the one who fell into the water before I did.”

  “Oh, did I?” I tilted my head to the side, trying to appear clueless.

  “Hello?” Alicia wiggled her fingers. “Did you just develop amnesia?”

  “Oh come on, Alicia. Don’t start a fight in front of our daughters. You’re the one always telling them to get along with each other, remember?” Tony, Alicia’s husband, reached for her shoulder, patting it gently.

  “No way. This isn’t even close to a fight.” Alicia snorted.

  “She’s right,” I agreed. “When you talk about a sisterly fight, you’ve got to brace yourself for a nuclear war, complete with weapons of mass destruction. Still, we used to fight quite gently compared to other sisters at school. Kathi Hemsworth, my classmate for five years, often had nasty deep cuts on her arm, and whenever I asked how it happened, she used to brag about the ugly fights with Lani, her younger sister.”

  “I know!” Alicia chuckled. “And guess what? Lani often had similar cuts and bite marks on her arm, and she always boasted about winning the nasty fight with Kathi. They were so hilarious.”

  “And they say girls are easier to raise,” Dad muttered, rolling his eyes.

  “You know what we mean.” I looked at Rick. “If we use the Hemsworths’ definition of sisterly fights, we never had one.”

  “Okay, I get your point. Besides, I was already aware of your easy-to-freak-out trait when I first met you.” Rick winked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

  The saying ‘Life is full of surprises’ popped into my mind as I sat comfortably and deliriously happy in his arms, and I thoroughly agreed with whoever came up with the saying.

  My name is Amanda Rowling, née Meyer. Most people call me Mandy. I’m a former med student turned FBI special assistant, who then turned into the chief agent of Paranormal Cases Division at USCAB and the company’s COO’s wife. Rick, my husband, is a former FBI agent. As he happens to be the heir of USCAB, a security-based conglomerate, he left the feds to join his family company. Since Rick was my only colleague at the FBI, and the reason I had been hired by the feds in the first place, I quit the bureau and joined USCAB with him.

  When I was in med school, I’d never imagined myself having anything to do with the FBI, or having a sexy, arrogant, and outrageous loose cannon as my boss. Also, in my previous life, I couldn’t even dream of developing a skill to see and talk with dead people.

  Yes, you heard me right. I talk to dead people. And if you haven’t noticed, Jackie happens to be my ghostly BFF. On top of all that, I’d never pictured myself marrying my boss, who used to be my least favorite person.

  I grew up in a townhouse in Queens where my folks still live. Alicia, my younger sister, had moved to LA soon after conceiving Emma and marrying Tony, who was transferred to the West Coast office of the law firm he’s with. But about a year and a half ago, he was promoted and stationed back in the New York City headquarters. As a result, Alicia, Tony, and their daughters came back to Queens and settled close to my parents and Nana. As if on cue, I moved out of my family home and into Rick’s Fifth Avenue condo. Not that I planned the
timing or had any intention of moving into Rick’s bachelor pad in the first place. Indeed, the reason for my moving into his condo wasn’t planned at all. He needed someone to help him around as he had a broken leg, and I was partially responsible for his injury. Okay, so I didn’t want to leave him alone when he was in pain. With full disclosure, I sorta, kinda had a crush on him by that time. But that’s my dirty little secret, so don’t tell anyone, okay? Back then, I was desperate to pretend that I wasn’t interested in him at all. In retrospect, I was busy trying to fool myself, and I failed bigtime.

  I stayed even after he had fully recovered, and now I was married to him. Occasionally, like that evening, I had my family over for dinner. The pro of having them over was they always brought lots of yummy food, ranging from appetizers to mouthwatering dessert, though one of the cons was that they tended to be slightly on the noisy side.

  “Hi, I’m Natalie. I’m oh-so-ouchy here!” Minty shrieked, channeling the doll. “Oh please! Please help meeee!”

  “Let me see.” Emma gently took the doll from Minty. After a few seconds of inspection, she perked up. “Oh my gosh! She’s having a baby!”

  “Wow! A Barbie having a baby. How cool is that?” Jackie danced around.

  “Seriously?” Rick widened his eyes. “She’s having a baby?”

  “Yes she is.” Emma nodded confidently. “Look here, the baby’s head is already peeking. Congratulations!”

  “Thank you!” Minty cooed. “Ooh, my baby! What a beautiful girl!”

  “They’re totally hooked on the baby thing,” Tony informed us as the girls cuddled the Barbie who’d just delivered her daughter.

  “If I recall it right, the Barbie has had at least a hundred babies.” Alicia rolled her eyes.

  I offered a vague smile, bracing myself for you-know-what.

  Mom cleared her throat. “Speaking of babies, Mandy, have you…?”

  “So far, I’m not yet pregnant,” I answered.

  “Oh, okay.” Mom was smiling, but I could sense her anticipation for a new baby, peppered with a slight disappointment that I had yet to conceive one.

  “Mandy, love, you want to take it nice and slow.” Dad smiled encouragingly. Except his tone screamed “Take your time while we wait like a bunch of crazed animals, ha ha!”

  “Are you seeing a doctor?” Nana asked. “In my day, we always had babies soon after, or even before marriage. The hardest part was concealing your baby bump on the day of the wedding so people would still see you as a virgin. But I hear nowadays people don’t get pregnant so easily and there are all kinds of doctors helping you conceive. Can you believe they even help you have designer babies? If only I had such a doctor back then. I could certainly have used one of them, or two.”

  “Excuse me?” Mom raised her eyebrows. “Are you implying that you wanted more sophisticated, genetically engineered children?”

  “Oh, Martha. You’re my child and I always love you no matter what, but I think having a baby with blue hair would be cool,” Nana assured her. Mom didn’t seem to be relieved at all.

  “Even with genetic engineering, I don’t think babies with blue hair are likely to be had.” Alicia tilted her head to the side. “If such technology becomes widely available, I can already picture myself looking at kids with rainbow hair colors. Oh, what if kids with rainbow hair that glows in UV light becomes the thing? I think I’d have to purchase shades with polarized lenses for school open days.”

  “Rest assured, such technology hasn’t been developed,” I said, discreetly mouthing, “Thanks,” for changing the subject from the topic of having a baby immediately after or before marriage into genetic engineering. “You can have albino babies, but so far, no baby with blue hair. Besides, most people don’t have albino babies by choice.”

  “Yes, babies….” As Mom looked at me expectantly, I regretted vocalizing the B-word once again.

  Okay, here’s the thing about my family: they’re noisy and nosy. Rick and I had been married for just seven months, and Mom, Dad, and Nana were already overly excited about the prospects of having new little people sharing their genes.

  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a baby hater. I’ve never developed an urge to scream “Shut up, you little monster!” to shrieking babies, and I adored my nieces. Sometimes, I found myself thinking about baby names, and nearly drooling whenever I came across things like cutesy baby garments, toys, and strollers. Then again, just because I was okay with kids didn’t mean I could produce offspring as easily as breaking an egg. To tell the truth, I was beginning to question my ability to conceive, and I couldn’t help feeling a little cold and heavy in the pit of my stomach when Nana mentioned seeing a doctor.

  And, speaking of doctors, whenever Mom and Nana brought up the big B-word, I couldn’t help recalling my conversation with Dr. Grey while she was giving me instructions about the timing and frequency of icing his injured ankle. After walking me through it, she said, “You know, it’s like after a baby. It’ll make a great practice as you guys will have babies in not-so-distant future.”

  At that time, we weren’t even dating, and I thought she was just teasing us. Still, when he went down on one knee and popped the big question, I thought Dr. Grey was predicting our future. But nowadays, I suspected she was simply kidding me, and when I thought about seeking treatment for my potential fertility issues, I couldn’t help the deep frown lines from appearing.

  Rick patted my arm as my hands balled into fists, whispering into my ear, “No worries. It’s like a ritual, listening to their expectations for a baby.”

  “But haven’t they ever heard of political correctness?” I hissed, trying not to be overheard.

  “Come on, PC is designed to slip away from anyone’s mind when it comes to family related matters,” he whispered back.

  “But….” I knitted my eyebrows. Then I had a lightbulb moment. “Hey, can you give them a little lecture about something really important called privacy? They won’t listen to me, but they will if you tell them.”

  “Who, me?” One of his eyebrows twitched as he kept his stage-whispering tone. “No way. I don’t want to be the jerk husband they’ll talk about on their way home.”

  “They won’t bitch about you. Besides, you’d never know if they did anyway, right?” As I spoke, my voice started to bear the impression of Minnie Mouse, prompting him to shush me softly.

  “That’s not the point. Look, I like your folks very much, and to be honest with you, I owe Martha a little something.” He winked.

  “What is that? I didn’t think you borrowed money from her,” I said, puzzled.

  “Of course not. It’s just….” He chuckled.

  “What?” I poked his elbow.

  “Oh, come on. I’m getting curious!” By my side, Jackie was all ears.

  “When you first moved in, it was a temporary arrangement until my leg healed, right?”

  “Right.” I nodded.

  “And when I had almost fully recovered and started taking baby steps, you were planning to go back to your home in Queens,” he went on. “Back then, I was itching to ask you to stay here with me, but whenever I tried to bring up the subject, someone got killed or possible terror attacks had erupted in the city.”

  “I know. That was horrible.” Jackie shook her head.

  “So instead, I found my balls and called Martha, who came up with the idea of remodeling your room at her house into a kids’ room.”

  “Oh, remember how she brought a lot of your stuff over, as if she was helping you move?” Jackie chimed in. “I had a hunch that she had some kind of arrangement with Rick since he didn’t complain at all. You know what? When a guy senses he’s being cornered without his agreement, he runs away, and he runs really, really fast—like he’s channeling Usain Bolt. Except Rick couldn’t run back then as his leg was still pretty sore. Then again, had he been determined to run away, he certainly had other options, such as flying out of the country.”

  “You’re right. He couldn’t run back
then,” I agreed with Jackie, then turned to Rick. “How sweet of you.”

  “If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been nice and sweet since day one. Anyway, considering her favor eventually led to this marriage, I feel I owe her big-time.”

  “Swoon!” Jackie swung her arms and legs and twirled around as if she were channeling a fairy.

  “I didn’t know you were so in love with me.” I giggled. “Still, you could’ve just asked me to stay.” Or even better, he could’ve just popped the question sooner.

  Rick smiled playfully. “Like I told you, murders kept getting in our way.” He kissed me on the top of my head.

  “Did you see that, Emma?” Minty exclaimed. “Uncle Rick just kissed Auntie Mandy!”

  “Oh, did he?” Emma looked back at us. “Can you do it again?”

  “Emma.” Alicia gave her a warning look.

  “Oh, where are my manners?” Emma blushed, then added, “Please?”

  Rick burst into laughter, but then he kissed me on the lips, shocking me, which was followed by a storm of euphoria.

  “You know what? I have a hunch that a baby will be arriving sooner or later.” Nana perked up.

  “Your granny’s sooo right!” Jackie agreed.

  Alicia looked at me and winked, mouthing, “Thanks for being a distraction for a little while.”

  I winked back at her, thinking maybe having occasional shots of nosiness wasn’t too bad considering they brought good food and an occasional rain of kisses from my husband.

  PROLOGUE Part 2

  While I was having a cringe-worthy moment with the family, Darren Fender was about to fetch a bottle of beer out of the fridge. At that time, he had no clue of the weirdly sensational moment he was about to have.

  “Darren, darling! Hurry up. You’ve got to watch this!” his wife, Stephanie, called excitedly from the living room.

  “Coming!” he replied. “You want a beer?”

  “No. And forget about beer. You’ve got to come quick!” That time she sounded jittery.

  Grabbing two glasses along with a bottle of beer, Darren rushed into the living room with the seventy-two-inch flat-screen TV set up in front of a medium-sized coffee table and extra-comfy sofas.