Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

“ He’s okay?” I asked.

“ Yes , he’s fine now.” I had just enough time to let out a sigh of relief before Key continued, “ He’s been discharged but has to take things easy, so he’s not going to be able to go to work today. I think he’s trying to hide from Hutton ,” she added with some humor in her voice. “ He told me if Hutton asked, to say I didn’t know where he was.”

“ Good luck with that.”

She laughed. “ I know, right?”

“ Does he remember who gave him the cup?”

“ He says he picked it up from the tray. Doesn’t remember any of our suspects hanging around, but he wasn’t paying attention.”

“ Then it could be?—”

Brimstone peeked into the kitchen, a scowl on his face. “ Boss , my shift is done.”

“ Coming ,” I told him. “ Hold on a sec, Key .”

I followed Brimstone back into the shop, where a couple were chatting animatedly over their teas, and a man was typing on a small laptop at the other table.

Brimstone grabbed his wool coat from the hanger by the door and left without saying a word. The rumble of thunder followed.

The man stopped his typing and frowned at the windows. When no splash of rain happened, he returned his attention to the screen.

Brimstone being involved in theater explained so much.

“ Sorry ,” I said into the phone, lowering my voice. “ It could be Brett wasn’t directly targeted, and it was a random coincidence, or our guess about the spell to lure him into picking up the cup was right.”

In other words: we had nothing. I smiled at our customers, who paid me no attention, and moved behind the bead curtain.

“ Shane and I got into Curtis and Sanders’s rooms,” Key said.

That took me aback. “ I thought you were going to try tonight while filming.”

“ Ethan said they were having some kind of meeting at the set, so it’d be a great time to snoop around.”

“ Ethan is being a little too helpful.”

“ You think he’s lying to us?” Key didn’t sound too shocked at the idea.

“ I think we should check out his room to make sure.”

“ I thought about that.”

“ Then you thought well.”

She laughed again. “ I’m learning from the best.”

I decided to take that as me rather than Ian . “ Thank you. Did you find anything suspicious?”

“ Nothing . No vials or herbs. I tried the magic detection potion on the bathroom counter but got nothing.”

“ Maybe hidden in the room’s safe?”

There was an awkward pause, then Key cleared her throat. “ Not in the room’s safe.”

“ I hope you wore gloves.”

“ I used a tissue to wipe things down,” she assured me with a hint of indignation.

I kept my thoughts about her break-in experience to myself. “ Doesn’t mean they’re not guilty, but Lydia Lee is looking better and better as our main suspect.” I brightened. “ Want to come with when we go to Dorsey’s later?” Key and I hadn’t had much time together since the Halloween debacle, and nothing said friendship bonding like breaking into possible dark witches’ rooms together.

“ What about Dru ?” she asked with some hesitancy.

In a perfect world, I would take both. But in this case, three was too many. “ Dru can cover for you at the set if she’s up to it. She might notice something we haven’t.”

“ That’s true.” She sounded cheered up, and I knew I’d made the correct decision by asking her to come. “ When should we go?”

“ A bit after they start filming. I’ll close the shop early and we can meet by the bed and breakfast.”

“ Perfect . I’ll tell Shane .”

“ I’ll tell Dru .”

I did right after we ended the call.

“ Watching movie magic happen, huh?” she answered, liking the idea from the sounds of it. “ That’ll be all right, I guess.”

“ Remember , you’re supposed to be on the lookout for dark witches trying to sabotage the set.”

“ Sure . You think the guy playing Jack Larson will be there?”

“ I thought you weren’t interested in him.”

“ I’m interested in selling his autograph.”

I pictured her Cheshire -cat grin. “ Never miss an opportunity to increase your shop’s inventory.”

“ Indeed .”

Our plans set, I had nothing left to do but check the status of my crystal delivery—you guessed it: preparing for shipment —and tend to the shop. Thankfully , customer traffic increased as the afternoon turned into early evening, and being busy helped time pass a lot quicker than it would have otherwise.

It might not be proper of me to admit it, but I was looking forward to Key’s and my adventures in breaking in. It wouldn’t be as awesome as being at the movie set, but the possibility of finding proof of villainy in our prime suspect’s room was very appealing.

Ian would be so proud of us.

Grandma too, of course.

True to my promise, I closed up early and met Key at our designated spot a couple of blocks away from the bed and breakfast. No new revelations had come to light since our talk earlier, which only helped intensify the feeling that something big was going to happen tonight.

Our UNSUB had grown bolder with each day, and they were bound to make a mistake. We would catch them when they did.

Light poured out of the front windows of the house. When I peeked in, I saw Dorsey talking on the phone behind the counter.

I’d hoped she’d have gone to do her nightly pursuits by now and leave us free to use the front door, but it wasn’t a deal breaker.

“ Dorsey’s still in,” I whispered to Key .

“ Back door?”

“ Yep .” Together , we made our way around the house as silently as possible. Dorsey kept a narrow, graveled path between the wall of the building and the pretty flowers lining the fence, so we didn’t have to fight with wild vegetation. The downside was each step was like munching on the crunchiest cereal on earth. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ian heard what we were up to all the way at the bounty hunters’ headquarters.

The back of the house sported a cozy porch with a couple of rattan chairs overlooking a tiny, well-kept backyard. The fence was taller, giving a sense of privacy.

Key went up the steps onto the deck and approached the back door.

“ You think it’s alarmed?” she whispered.

Knowing the state of Olmeda citizens’ poor security systems, doubtful. “ Nope . Plus , guests obviously use this place sometimes.” I took out a pair of thin plastic gloves straight from my green dye sets. “ Here .”

Key shook her head, then gripped the handle. As always when she used her earth magic, nothing shifted in the atmosphere or gave any indication that magic was being used. A second later, a soft click indicated a bolt had turned.

Biting her tongue in concentration, Key used the cuff of her zip-up hoodie to clean the handle and open the door.

Another bonding session was in order, I decided right there and then. This one pertaining buying her a proper winter jacket. It’d be a perfect early Christmas present.

We entered the house and closed the door behind us. A long hallway stretched ahead, decorated with picturesque paintings and a narrow table with a lace doily and a vase full of dahlias. Very cozy. Very lovely.

A perfect example that you couldn’t judge a book by its cover.

As silent as possible, we crept toward the front of the house. The staircase started right next to the two parlors and the reception counter, so if we managed to slip by unnoticed, we should be in the clear. I doubted Dorsey bothered going upstairs once she was done searching her new arrivals’ belongings.

Luckily , Dorsey was still on the phone, and her loud, strident laughter made me think she would be for a bit longer. I gave Key the go-ahead signal, and we both slipped around the end post and began up the stairs. The steps were covered in carpet, which had to be a pain to clean but great for our purposes.

We climbed fast, eager to get out of the line of sight, until my foot landed on the last step and a resounding creak filled the air.

We froze, holding our breaths. But when Dorsey let out another peal of laughter, we relaxed. We were safe.

Key avoided the last step and joined me on the landing. “ Which room?” she asked in a whisper.

“ I’m not sure.”

I considered the hallway. There were three rooms on each side and another set of stairs going on to the third floor. If I were an actress, I’d want to avoid the front windows looking onto the street.

“ Let’s start with the back.”

Key nodded, and we made our way through the hallway to the two back sets of rooms. After plastering my ear onto the door and making sure no sounds came from the room, I gave Key the go ahead. She opened the lock, which was an old-school key type, and we peeked in. The bed was stripped, a folded quilt on top, and no belongings littered any surfaces.

After wiping her fingerprints, and me wiping my earprints, we approached the opposite room and repeated our listen-then-break-in system. This room was occupied, but judging from the suit hanging from the en-suite bathroom door and the aftershave scent lingering in the air, it belonged to a man rather than an actress.

When we opened the room next to that one, the lineup of heels and flats by the door caught my immediate attention. Nobody traveled to a bed and breakfast with that many shoes.

I gave Key a thumbs up and went inside. Key followed, closing the door behind her. She accepted one pair of gloves and put them on as she studied the room.

The room was bigger than the ones we’d already seen, with three windows that gave a rather uninspired view of a couple of trees and the next house’s wall. The bathroom had an old-style claw bathtub, and the bedroom itself had enough space for a small couch, a coffee table, and a desk. Four suitcases were open on the corners and by the bathroom door, and a collection of clothes littered every surface above the carpet.

“ You think this is it?” Key whispered.

“ Has to be. Who else needs so many clothes on a tourist trip?”

“ Where should we start?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to suggest the bathroom—the most likely location to hide vials of dark magic as if they were cosmetics or lotions—but we were here to reconnect as much as to search, and the room gave me a better chance for that.

I went to the windows and drew the thick curtains closed. “ Let’s start here. You take that suitcase, I’ll take the sofa.”

“ Okay .”

Key switched on the light, then kneeled by the big open suitcase and nudged the clothes aside to check underneath.

“ How have you been?” I asked, trying to inject as much casual nonchalance as possible. “ Aside from the movie incidents. Things going well with Shane and Alex ?”

Key stopped what she was doing to blink up at me. “ I’ve been good.”

“ I thought you did a wonderful job at Halloween . Thank you again for helping.”

She grinned. “ It was awesome. I hope we can do it again next year. Or maybe during summer?”

“ You would do that?”

“ Of course.” She returned to searching the contents of the suitcase. “ It was a lot of fun. I’m sure Shane and Alex would love to do it again too.”

“ I’m glad. Do you like working for Ian ?”

Key paused again. “ Why are you asking these questions?”

I felt heat creep into my cheeks. “ I don’t want you to be mad about me keeping you in the dark about Crane’s incident.”

She made a face. “ Oh , that.”

“ Yes , that. Are you still mad at me?”

“ A little bit.” She held up her hand, thumb and index finger almost connecting.

I hung my head. “ I’m sorry. I seriously thought it was for the best.”

“ It’s okay, I understand.” She stood and moved to the closest nightstand. “ I was just irritated that you told Shane and Alex before me. I could’ve helped from the start.”

There was a small hint of hurt in her voice that made me feel like the worst of the worst. “ I know. I won’t leave you in the dark again, I promise.”

She arched an eyebrow.

“ I won’t leave you in the dark over Shane and Alex ,” I amended.

“ Good . Shane’s already overprotective as it is.”

Oh , really ? “ He is?”

“ He’s taken it upon himself to teach me how to do everything, from hammering a nail to how to drive. It’s been a pain.” She rolled her eyes. “ As if I don’t know how to do those things already.”

“ What did he say when Brett asked you for help?”

“ Nothing much, but he made it obvious if I helped, he’d come too.” She opened a drawer, peeked inside, then moved onto the next.

“ And you were okay with that?”

“ He’s a good guy. Dependable .”

“ Ah ,” I said knowingly. “ He threatened to tell Ian if you didn’t include him, huh?”

Key pouted and nodded.

“ If you ever need me to run interference, just say the word. I’ll keep him busy with something else.”

“ I don’t think he wants to work at the Tea Cauldron ,” she said, amused.

“ That’s all right. I’ll stick him in Dru’s clothing shop.”

She laughed softly, and we searched in silence for a couple of minutes.

“ I meant what I said, Key . I want you to know that you can come to me for anything. I won’t let you down next time.”

She abandoned the last suitcase and came over to give me a fast hug. “ I know, Hope . I swear I’m not mad at you.”

I squeezed her back. “ Thank you.”

“ Don’t mind me,” Bagley said from under my jacket, “ I’m just here to enjoy the show.”