Chapter 14

“Murder board?”Ian asked.

“You know, to figure out who murdered Crane. They always have one in the books I read.” I studied the workshop. Every wall was full of shelves or hanging tools.

“I don’t think putting information about Crane’s murder out in the open will help keep his fate in your shop secret,” Ian said dryly.

“You may have a point.”

“WhatI find the most curious,” Ian said, “is how they got into the shop.”

Ipicked up the thread. “The front and back doors were locked.”

“No signs that anyone busted the locks.”

“Someone has a copy of my keys?” I shivered at the notion. A shiver that turned into a deep shudder as it truly dawned on me that strangers—dangerous strangers—had been in the shop while I was blissfully sleeping upstairs.

“Wards?” Ian asked.

“Only on the stairs.” No point in having wards on the first floor with all the paranormals coming and going. My wards wouldn’t stop anyone, but they would’ve let me know if anyone besides myself, Dru, Ian, and the dogs had passed through them. Although… “Another witch could’ve canceled them. It wouldn’t take much power.”

“What about the alarm? Did you arm it before going to bed?”

“Yes.”

Hetouched my arm. “Are you sure? People often forget when they recently installed one.”

“I’m sure.” I wasn’t about to tell him about the cute daily habits tracker I’d installed on my phone so I wouldn’t forget.

“Let’s check the logs.”

Iunlocked my phone, opened the alarm’s application, and passed it to him.

Hescrolled back and forth for several moments, then looked at me with unreadable eyes. “Someone deactivated the alarm at three in the morning.”

“What?”I took the phone and checked the data. He was right. “But how?”

“Who has the code?”

“Dru, and I guess the alarm company guy who taught me how to program it.”

“You didn’t change it after he left?”

Isquirmed under Ian’s disapproval. “He looked away while I put the new one in, but I suppose he could’ve taken a peek.”

“What about keys? Does anyone have copies?”

“Dru. I suppose someone in the Council might have copies somewhere. I meant to get the locks changed when the sabotage started, but after we caught Vicky, I thought it’d be fine.”

“Whoever left Crane in your shop has a copy of the key and knows the alarm code.”

Irubbed my forehead. “Seems so.”

“That’s a lot of trouble to go through for it to be random.”

Yes. Yes, it was. “They went through all that trouble, but then didn’t contact anyone to actually frame me with a dead person in my shop?”

“That does give weight to your theory that Crane’s death might’ve been an unintended mistake.”

“I still don’t understand why he was there, though. It doesn’t seem his style at all.”

“I agree. Possibility one: Crane and someone else broke into your shop for some unknown reason, then something happened, Crane ended up dead, and the other person or persons ran away.”

“Possibility two.” I began to pace in front of him. “Someone lured Crane into the shop with the intention of killing him and framing me, but we took the body before they had a chance to send someone into the shop. Or maybe they did an anonymous call that wasn’t taken seriously.” Never underestimate the possibility of a bad guy’s plans going haywire because something so simple as someone being bad at their job.

Speakingfrom experience.

“Possibility two and a half,” Ian continued. “Crane was killed elsewhere, and someone thought to confuse the police by leaving his corpse in your shop.”

“Why not bury him somewhere else?”

“Not that many places to dispose of a body around here. The shifters would’ve known if someone entered the forest, and digging takes effort and time.”

“The fact that they had a key and the alarm code makes leaving him in my shop premeditation, though.”

“Maybe the two things are unrelated. They could’ve planned to enter your shop for another reason another day, but once Crane was dead, they decided it made for a handy spot to leave the body.

“Risky, though. What if someone had seen? They must’ve used a vehicle, and that would’ve lifted the blame off me.”

“If their plan was to frame you and not simply to complicate the investigation. Now we’re too busy figuring how you enter this equation to ask the important question.”

“WhyCrane?”

“Yes.” He held my gaze with his serious one. “Are you sure you don’t want to involve the police?”

“Yes. This has something to do with the paranormal community. And if it has something to do with the pentagrams, too… What if whoever killed Crane means to use his blood to draw new ones, or…”

“Or?”

Worryconstricted my lungs. “Or they’re gearing up for a big finale.” I studied my feet for a few long moments, putting our brainstorming ideas into order. “It has to be a witch.”

“Or someone pretending to be a witch.”

“No.” This, I felt in my bones. “If they were pretending, they’d have gone for melodrama. Splatters of blood everywhere, herbs, and the whole setup. This is too clean. Too precise. Someone has a plan.” AndI meant to stop them. Suddenly, I was glad I hadn’t involved the police. Being a suspect would’ve stopped me from investigating in any meaningful way, and as the only witch around, I had knowledge of how witches operated Ian and the rest didn’t.

Iannodded curtly in agreement, then looked over my shoulder toward the driveway and scowled.

Iturned to see Key coming up to us, accompanied by Brimstone and Destruction.

Oh, the timing.

Keygrinned at me. From the house, the sound of barking alerted us that Fluffy and Rufus had detected the intruder.

Brimstonejumped and sent the house a nervous glance before focusing on Ian. The two men studied each other.

Itwas funny seeing them side by side—Ian with his harsh black attire and attitude, Brimstone in his suave vampire cloud of darkness.

“Hello,” Brimstone said. “I’mJeremy. Key’s uncle.”

Thunderreverberated in the distance.

Iansaid nothing.

Neitherman offered to shake hands.

Inthis case, I had a feeling it was more of a macho thing than paranormal tradition.

Keywatched them nervously. “My uncle offered to help with the Halloween tour.” Her panicked eyes found me, and I took pity on her.

“I think it’s a great idea,” I said brightly. “We can always use all the help we can get. Right, Ian?”

Ian’shead rotated slowly, right out of an Exorcist movie, until I had his whole attention. If he’d been a magnifying glass, I’d have been ashes.

“Is it? A great idea?”

Ipatted his arm. “Yes!”

“Are you going to pay for him?”

Isniffed. “Phrasing, please.”

Hismouth twitched. “The question stands.”

“I’m sure he’s willing to work on a volunteer basis, right?” I turned my bright smile toward Brimstone.

“Yes,” he said in a deep voice that somehow managed to echo around us even though we were out in the open.

“Great!” I clapped my hands. “You should show him around, then.”

Key’srelief was obvious. “Thank you.”

“Stick to the marked paths,” Ian warned her. “Shane and Alex are busy right now, so you can get started.”

“Sure, boss,” she said happily, then turned toward the side of the house. “This way.”

Asthey walked away, Key started to talk to Brimstone animatedly. From the few errant words I caught before they went too far to hear, she was rehearsing her guide speech.

Adorable.

“Thank you for agreeing to not tell her about Crane,” I told Ian.

“‘Agreement’ might be stretching it.”

“She will learn in time. No point in accelerating the process for no good reason.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

Why, yes. Yes, I would. “What’s next?”

“You’re the witch investigator,” he said dryly. “I’ll follow your lead.”

Iscowled. “Hey, I hired you. You’re supposed to help.”

Hisfast smile showed a lot of teeth and wasn’t exactly nice. “I’m helping with the body, aren’t I?”

“That’s true. I take my words back. Okay, let me think.” Even if the shops next door were closed, someone else in the block or the houses on the other side of the street might’ve seen something suspicious. But asking around would take time, and if this witch had plans for Halloween, we needed to be smart about how we used it.

Whymy shop, and why Crane?

Isnapped my fingers. “Let’s go to Crane’s house. Maybe there are clues there.” I waved toward the tools on the wall. “We’re going to need gloves.”

Imade Ian park a few streets over so people wouldn’t remember his huge black SUV near Crane’s house later on once he was reported missing. The fact this was all happening during the Halloween weekend should give us some leeway before people got curious about why he hadn’t shown up for work.

“How many TV shows have you watched?” Ian asked in amusement as we made our way around people’s backyards. Luckily, there were some paths between the fences, although we had to fight some errant vegetation on the way.

“My sister lends me a lot of romantic suspense books,” I told him. “She has a sweet spot for FBI ones.”

“Is that where you learned how to act like a perp and why you have us sneaking around?”

“UNSUB, not perp. Please, have some pride.”

Hechuckled, then stopped with me as we arrived at Crane’s small, quaint red-brick house’s unfenced backyard. The grass was trimmed to HOA standards up to a straight line by a few trees and the next neighbor’s fence.

Thehouse appeared normal enough for the rich neighborhood; the back deck held a couple of wicker chairs and a round table, and all the windows, including the one Crane used as his usual entry and exit point, were closed.

“Do you think he has an alarm system?” I asked. Judging from my experience with supernaturals so far, I doubted it.

“Let’s use the back window. I doubt it’s alarmed beyond some wards,” Ian answered, clearly aware of the sorry state of Olmeda’s security systems.

Wedarted from the trees to the deck, and I felt around the window.

Detect.

Mymagic tingled down my arms and resonated with the wooden frame. Magic pushed back, so I intensified mine.

Break.

Iwasn’t interested in finesse in this case, so direct incantations worked best—my focus wouldn’t be diluted by more words, and it would help narrow my power.

Ifthis had been a strong ward, I wouldn’t have been able to break it without some preparation, crystals, and moon water, but whoever had set this hadn’t done a very good job, and the magic dispelled under my will.

Ianwas ready to catch me.

Withthis help, I lowered myself to the deck’s floor and waved toward the window. “Only one easy ward. Maybe more inside.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “Or someone was here before us.”

Igaped. Of course. “The witch might’ve broken Crane’s wards before sneaking in, then left a weak one just for show—or to check themselves later.”

Ianprodded at the window. “Which means if there is an alarm system, it’s probably deactivated.” He tugged upward. The window opened without a protest.

Gingerly, I got to my wobbly feet, ready to make for the hills if blaring alarm beeps began to fill the air.

Aftera few seconds passed and everything remained silent, I let out a sigh of relief. “No alarm.”

“Or it’s silent.” Ian snuck inside the kitchen, and I followed.

“Your common sense is going to be the death of me,” I muttered, scanning our surroundings.

Heopened a random drawer and peeked inside. “Someone’s gotta keep you on your toes.”

Yes, someone did.