Frustrated Read online

  Frustrated

  (The Witches of Hemlock Hotel Book 2)

  Diane Darcy

  www.DianeDarcy.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Diane Darcy

  The Witches of Hemlock Hotel series © 2018 Diane Darcy

  All rights reserved. *

  Cover artist Kaylee Young

  Cover Art design by Kelli Ann Morgan

  Contents

  Books in the Series

  Book description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Up next!

  Also By Diane Darcy

  Books in the Series

  1. Soulmated

  2. Frustrated

  3. Twitterpated

  4. Fascinated

  Book description

  What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay there.

  Las Vegas psychic Lena DeVille has a boyfriend who thinks he’s a werewolf. They might have to break up.

  However, when a new mystery crops up, she’s unable to resist. A young lady’s been kidnapped from The Hemlock Hotel (maybe) and Lena is starting to realize that things are not quite as they seem within the walls of the most popular resort in Vegas.

  There’s a family on the verge of going wild (literally), witches hoping she’ll join their coven, and her own magic making an appearance. Not to mention local boys trying to make a buck, a little breaking and entering, and a reporter determined to uncover secrets.

  Can Lena resist William, find the kidnapper, and rescue the girl before it's too late? Or will their investigation have her becoming a target for a madman hiding in plain sight?

  TWITTERPATED IS NEXT!

  Chapter 1

  His daughter was gone.

  It wasn’t often he checked on her anymore, especially first thing in the morning, so maybe it was his sixth sense going off or something. But after tapping on the door to her bedroom, he’d pushed open the door, and called out her name.

  Granted, she was a woman at eighteen, but in his heart, she would always be his little girl.

  Colin Stansberry did a quick search of the messy room and a chill ran up his spine when he realized that, while her bed was covered with clothes, and bags, and paraphernalia from their shopping trip the day before, it hadn’t been slept in.

  For some reason the chair was turned over.

  His temper flared. She’d sneaked out without telling them. Because if she’d told them, of course, they never would have let her go.

  Las Vegas was a much bigger city than the small town they’d come from. She couldn’t go gallivanting off like this. Yes, she was strong, generally safe from humans, but this town was full of immortals, as well.

  She knew better.

  A piece of paper was neatly folded on the desk, and he snatched it up, sure he would find she’d gone to a nightclub, or met a boy, or done some such thing that he would disapprove of, and now his day was ruined, as he would have to track her down.

  He was starting to see red. Literal red. Why would she ruin their vacation this way?

  They’d made their reservations at The Hemlock Hotel over a year ago! When he found her … he opened the note, and quickly scanned the contents.

  His hot blood, ran cold.

  If you want to see your daughter alive, you will do exactly as instructed. Tell no one. Deliver ten thousand dollars to Symphony Park tomorrow morning. Place it next to the founders statue and leave. Your daughter will be immediately returned.

  Colin didn’t move for a moment, couldn’t, struggled to breathe, and then he screamed his wife’s name.

  She came running, to find him gripping the back of a chair.

  “Sissy is gone.”

  “Gone?”

  He offered the note and she snatched it from his hand and quickly scanned the contents.

  She made a sound of distress, ran to the other bedroom where their young children lay, but the twin boys, aged ten, were both sound asleep in their beds.

  She let out a sobbing breath, “What do we do? It says, tell no one.”

  “Screw that!” He snatched up the hotel phone, and called security.

  Chapter 2

  William sat at his desk, a piece of paper laid out in front of him as he tried to think of ways to woo his soulmate. It was giving him some problems.

  1— Flowers.

  2— Dinner.

  3— Show tickets.

  4—

  He glanced at the time to see it was only 9:10 AM, and he sighed. It was going to be a long day.

  Once again, he lamented the fact that she was not a werewolf, and so he couldn’t expect her to act like one. He was supposed to see her yesterday, but Lena had canceled not only on the witches, but on him as well.

  Not a good sign.

  Chances were good she’d be working on Fremont Street later tonight. If he went to see her, would that be acceptable, or not? He checked his phone once more and sighed again. She hadn’t texted, called, or left a message in the last five minutes.

  Caleb leaned into the room and said, “Boss, we might have a potential kidnapping on our hands. Phone call on line three.”

  William took the call with a slight feeling of relief. He could only think of three items to put on the list, two of which he’d already done. Mayhap he needed some time to consider. In the meanwhile, if he kept busy, so much the better.

  “William Murray, head of security, can I help ye?”

  “Yes, you can help me!” the angry voice on the other end sounded accusing.

  “All right. Get hold of yerself, and let me know what the problem is.”

  “Get hold of myself! Get hold of myself? My eighteen-year-old daughter has been kidnapped directly from your hotel, a ransom has been demanded, and I want to know what you’re going to do about it!”

  “What room are ye in?”

  He could hear the man talking to someone else, probably his wife, and then he rattled off the room number. “I’ll be right there.”

  William headed for the door, gestured for Caleb to follow, and walked down the stairs to the casino, and on to the elevators.

  “What are their names?”

  “The Stansberry’s.”

  They rose to the 24th floor, and walked to the room indicated. He didn’t have to wonder if they were at the right place, as husband and wife, the wife sobbing, the husband yelling and gesturing angrily, stood out in the hall awaiting his arrival.

  The moment he stopped, a note was thrust into his hand and the couple looked at him expectantly.

  A quick scan, and he handed the note to Caleb. “Get the ransom together and go to the park. See what happens.”

  Caleb was gone within seconds.

  William gestured the couple back into the room. “Mr. and
Mrs. Stansberry, I’m William Murray. Let’s go inside. What is her name?” He addressed the mother.

  “It’s Addison,” she said tearfully. “But we call her, Sissy.”

  “What time did you last see her?”

  “Eight o’clock last night,” Mr. Stansberry cut in. “She said she was tired and wanted an early night.”

  “Show me Addison’s room.”

  William followed the Stansberry’s, noted the two boys in another room watching cartoons, and did a quick scan as he walked through the suite. Everything looked relatively undisturbed.

  They walked into a very untidy bedroom, bright with sunlight, and still smelling of young female. “Why is the chair turned over?”

  “I found it like that,” Mr. Stansberry said. “I wanted you to see it.”

  William turned to Mrs. Stansberry. “I want ye to go through these drawers and closets with me and we’ll see if there’s anything missing.”

  They started going through the girls possessions, and the mother soon let out a distressed noise. “Her high-heeled shoes are missing, and her favorite outfit. And one of her swimsuits.”

  She hurried to the bathroom. “Some of her make-up is gone. And her brush and hairspray.”

  “Is her suitcase here?”

  “It is.”

  “Does she have any other bags, or any type of luggage that is missing?”

  The mother searched the closet again, and came out, her face filled with dread. “Her travel bag is gone.”

  “Is it about the right size for the items missing?”

  She nodded. “Do you think someone came in here and had her pack a bag before she left?”

  William shook his head. “Nae, what I think, is that ye have a daughter who wanted a night on the town, and rather than face her parents, she left a note tae distract everyone, while she had a good time.”

  Mr. Stansberry exploded. “How dare you! Our daughter is missing! The full moon is tomorrow night!” He picked up the note and shook it. “She’s been kidnapped, and you’re not going to do anything about it?”

  He supposed he’d have to. First off, he’d put the man in his place. William caught the man’s gaze and held it. Within seconds the man bent his head with a whimper.

  Being an Alpha had its uses.

  “I didnae say that. We’re tae follow up on every possible lead, and though I suspect we’ll find her safe and sound, I willnae discount the possibility that she’s run afoul of person or persons who mean her harm.”

  At that, Mrs. Stansberry started to sob, and Mr. Stansberry turned away and paced back and forth, rubbing his hands over his face.

  “You’ve got to find her. Yes, she’s eighteen, officially an adult, but you know good and well, that at that age they’re still children.”

  With a curt nod, William acknowledged that he did know that, and that a child’s outlook in a woman’s body was definitely a dangerous proposition.

  “We’ll check the security cameras and see if we can follow her on her way out of the building. I’d like tae see a picture of the girl if I may?”

  The mother was quick to pull up a photo on her phone. The dark-haired teen was beautiful in a blue dress, with a nice smile, and a curvy figure that might well get her in trouble.

  “Have ye got anything she’s worn that we can use for smell?”

  The mother rushed into the bedroom and came back with a cotton nightgown and handed it to William.

  “Perfect. Mrs. Stansberry, we can leave ye here with yer children, and if we could ask ye, Mr. Stansberry, tae come with us, I’d like ye tae survey the cameras with us and see if we can spot yer daughter. How’s that?”

  The dad gave a short nod, took a deep breath, and visibly calmed.

  “Come on.”

  Single file, they walked down the hall, got into the elevator, and headed to the lobby. Within five minutes they were back in security.

  William escorted the man to the wall of cameras, and then instructed Ella Taggart, a married security officer, to pull up the cameras on floor 24. “Ye said ye last saw yer daughter at 8 PM, sir?”

  “Yes. We all went back to the suite at about seven. We were getting ready for bed, planning to watch a movie, but Addison went straight to her room and the boys were tired. So, the wife and I ended up watching a movie on the TV in our own room, and someone must’ve sneaked in and taken Addison.”

  Again, William thought it was much more likely the girl had simply sneaked out. But, he’d do his job regardless.

  He gave Ella the room number and she started scanning old footage starting at 7 o’clock. They watched the entire family walk down the hallway and go into the room.

  Fast forwarding the images they watched as, just over an hour later, Addison sneaked out of the room. Alone.

  William waited for Mr. Stansberry to come to his own conclusions before he said anything.

  The man’s face was slack with surprise. “She sneaked out?”

  William tried to keep his voice impassive. “It does look that way, sir.”

  “But … but … we just arrived yesterday! Where would she be going? Who could she possibly know here?”

  “As she is an eighteen-year-old girl, I’m going tae have tae ask the obvious question. Did ye see her talking tae any boys yesterday?”

  Mr. Stansberry seemed to be looking inward, and still had a very confused look on his face.

  “There was a boy at the swimming pool when we were down there. I saw her flirting with him for a bit, but he was human.” Mr. Stansberry sneered the comment.

  “Does she dislike humans?” William asked the question as gently as possible. And let him think about it for a moment. While Mr. Stansberry might dislike humans, their daughter might have a completely different attitude.

  His confusion seemed to deepen. “Why would she want anything to do with a human?”

  “All right, moving on. Who else have ye seen her talking tae?”

  “I don’t know. I just don’t know! We arrived early and got settled. We went to the food court, changed and went out to the swimming pool, and then went out to walk The Strip. Later we stopped for dinner. Just the normal things you do with family when you come to Vegas.”

  “And no one else stands out from yesterday? Anyone she talked to?”

  “Not that I can think of.”

  “If it’s all right with ye, I’m going tae want tae question yer wife, as well. I’ll send my security guard up with ye, and ye can watch yer children.”

  Confusion faded and Mr. Stansberry’s face creased with anger once more. “You don’t think it’s a kidnapping? You think she wrote that note herself?”

  “I’m no’ going tae rule anything out at this moment. Before ye go, I want ye tae sit at the desk there with Alastair, and he’ll help ye go through a timeline of where ye were and when. That might help us a bit with the cameras, and mayhap we can catch something on film. In the meantime, we’ll do our best tae follow her whereabouts with the cameras, and if she’s still in the building, we’ll find her pretty quickly.”

  “All right, all right.”

  Alastair led him away, and William felt a surge of excitement.

  Lena had been so enthused about their last case, that he suspected this might capture her interest as well.

  As the girl might be found quickly, he’d better call Lena right away, and see if he could entice her into coming to The Hemlock to help him with a potential kidnapping.

  He chuckled to himself as he walked to his office. He certainly wasn’t above luring her here with curiosity.

  Chapter 3

  Lena’s phone rang, and when she saw it was William calling, a surge of excitement flashed through her, and in the next moment, she was miffed with herself.

  She hadn’t seen him for what? An entire thirty-six hours?

  The man was too enticing for her own peace of mind. She hoped taking a step back for a few days would help her restore her equilibrium.

  William was definitely intense.
r />   That fact didn’t stop her from answering the phone, nor stop the thrill running through her when she did. “Hello?”

  “Lena?” The man practically breathed her name, sending a shiver through her that wasn’t unpleasant in the least.

  “Good morning.” She tried to sound matter-of-fact.

  “How have ye been?”

  She rolled her eyes. The man sounded anxious, made it sound like they hadn’t seen each other for a few months or something.

  “You mean since the day before yesterday?”

  “Aye, an eternity.”

  His low baritone was doing things to her, affecting her in ways she wasn’t ready for. She glanced across the room to where her sister and niece were eating cereal at the dining room table. “What’s up?”

  “Mayhap I simply missed ye?”

  She sank down on the couch. “Oh, okay. I’m pretty busy right now, so … .”

  “Lena,” his voice held a warning.

  “William,” hers did as well.

  “Tae business, then. The reason I’m calling, beyond the fact that ye are completely lovely and I would love tae see ye again, is we’ve quite a mystery on our hands over here at The Hemlock. I was wondering if ye’d care tae take a look? Mayhap ye’d be able tae help me solve it, and in the process, relieve the minds of some very worried parents.”