Chapter 25

Ian flashed me a smile as Fluffy strained against her leash to get to me.

“Fluffy,” I repeated in absolute delight. “Are you a bee?”

Fluffyyipped again, aware that she shouldn’t bark inside the shop because it’d bother the customers, and she was the bestest, goodest girl ever.

Ianhad put a black and yellow striped vest on her with two round white wings attached to the top. They flopped as she bounced happily, her paws clacking on the hardwood floors.

Itwas so cute I was in real danger of melting right there and then.

Regainingcontrol of my molecules, I crouched by her side and gave her some much deserved scritches. “You’re such a cute bee, Fluffy.”

“I thought I might leave her with you today,” Ian said in an offhanded way. He was wearing the blazer—since I had his jacket—and black jeans. “She won’t enjoy the tours’ upheaval.”

Nicetry, but the tours didn’t start until early evening. Grinning, I looked up at him. “What about Rufus?”

“He’s with Shane.”

Atrio of women wearing plastic witch hats entered the shop and crowded in behind Ian. I grabbed Fluffy and motioned for him to follow into the back.

Oncewe were beyond the bead curtain, I returned Fluffy to the floor and accepted her leash and the dog walking bag.

“Are you sure you want to leave her with me?” I asked. “I still want to check the old coven house.”

Hegave me one of his patented flat stares. “TakeFluffy with you.”

“You hear that, Fluffy?” I asked the white fluffball because looking into Ian’s eyes felt too intense right now. “We can go on adventures together.” And speaking of adventures… I pulled Ian into the kitchen and whispered, “I went into Wyatt’s bar after leaving the cemetery.”

Hearched an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I was thinking that if we find the earth mage who helped the witch, they might be willing to sell out whoever hired them.”

“Good idea.”

Istudied his expression. “You already thought of it, huh?”

“Yes.”

Ipuffed out my chest. “ButI got there before you could.”

Fluffyyipped in amazement.

Ianpursed his lips, clearly trying not to laugh. “I wasn’t going to ask Wyatt, since he wasn’t inclined to share anything yesterday.”

“You think I expected an actual answer from Wyatt?” I poked his chest. His blazer was open, his thin sweater underneath soft to the touch, and his pectorals as hard and inviting as the last time. “Give me some credit.”

“Oh?”

“I asked him about earth mages.” I leaned upward and whispered in his ear, “But really, I was talking to his customers.”

Hisbreath caught, and for a moment, I thought he was going to close the distance and nuzzle my neck, but a series of gurgling and thumps coming from the pipes reminded me we weren’t exactly alone.

“So,” I continued, pulling back and giving him a triumphant look, “now those paranormals will find the earth mage for me and sell me the information.”

“Not a bad plan,” he conceded. “How will you know they’ve found the correct mage?”

“I won’t, but it will be a start. DidKey, Shane, and Alex find anything interesting from the houses on the other side of the street?”

“Nothing yet. Half haven’t answered, the other half didn’t remember anything interesting happening.”

“That’s too bad.” Good thing we still had some leads. “What’s the plan now?”

“I have a meeting this morning.”

“On a Sunday?” I asked, disappointed. I’d been half-hoping he’d come with me to the coven house.

Hestudied me intently. “I should reschedule and go with you.”

Ishook my head. “Nope. I’m a big girl. I can go check an abandoned evil house on my own.”

“You do have some experience with that,” he conceded.

“Indeed.”

“After the meeting, I’ll drop by the Crawler and see if I can dig up anything about new earth mages in town.”

Thatcheered me right up. “That’s a great idea. Don’t sing karaoke without me,” I warned mockingly. “You promised.”

Heput a hand on his heart. “Wouldn’t dare.”

Bythe time he’d given me a way-too-fast and nowhere near deep enough goodbye kiss and left through the back door, the shop had tripled in customers. I brought down Fluffy’s favorite blanket and parked her by the end of the counter, code violations be damned.

Shewas an instant hit among the customers and dutifully posed for all their selfie needs.

“Good job, Fluffy,” I whispered after yet another satisfied customer had left with a Fluffy-bee photo, a Halloween muffin, and the promise to leave a glowing review.

“Jesus,” Dru said from her position at the laptop. “You love that dog more than your grandmother.”

“Never.” Maybe. No, nooo. Grandma would always be number one. Although there was more than enough space in my heart for Grandma, Fluffy, and my bestie Dru. I told her as much, and she told me to get lost.

Notvery angelic of her, but there you have it.

WithKey busy investigating with Shane and Alex and unable to come help in the shop, I was waiting for a lull in the constant streams of patrons to go on my evil coven house visit when Hutton entered the shop. He scanned the crowd as if he expected each customer to be an evil witch in disguise, and one of our habitual demons surreptitiously lifted her phone to take a photo of him, her eyes all but turning into hearts.

Packalphas had a reputation in the paranormal world. With his pretty-boy looks and tough attitude, Hutton was seen as somewhat of a prize. Which was kind of strange since Ian more than surpassed his little brother in just about every way that counted.

Huttongestured toward the bead curtain with a sharp tilt of his head.

Iignored it and turned to prepare a mug of tea for a man sitting at the counter.

“Avery,” he whispered harshly. “A word?”

“Later,” I said, sneaking an arm around Dru to grab a muffin. “Busy now.”

“It’s about the thing.”

Thething? Hah. I’d seen him sniffing the air as he entered—he was here to see if I still had a dead body stuffed somewhere in the shop.

“I have a few leads about the graffiti,” I told him. “I’ll text you if anything pans out.”

Hiseyes narrowed. “You still don’t know who did it?”

Iencompassed the crowd filling the shop with my open hands. “A little busy earning my living?”

“And my overtime,” Dru muttered.

Ibeamed at Hutton. “And her overtime.”

“This is more important,” he insisted. “You’re supposed to?—”

Myphone dinged, and I lifted a hand, mouthing, Sorry, gotta get this.

Twored spots appeared on his cheeks and he looked about to explode. With another beaming smile, I turned to check my screen.

Anonymoustext.

Excellent.

Ihave a location for the mage.

Nowwe were talking.

Where?I sent back.

Alink popped into my screen. Demonstrating to the universe that I learned from my mistakes, I made sure my VPN was on before clicking on it.

Itbrought me to some tipping payment website.

Whydid these sleazy paranormal types never want to get paid in potions? Most unfair, if you ask me.

Isqueezed against the shelf to allow Dru to pass by and put in a tip of twenty bucks. Surely that had to be enough? Maybe not. It was a hard economy. I upped it to thirty, and returned to the conversation, typing: Double that if the information is right.

Afew seconds later, I got an address. I hated to leave Dru alone but this couldn’t wait. Time to go.

Catchingan errant order, I prepared the day’s special, then set it in front of Hutton along with a banana muffin on a plate. “Table by the window.”

Huttonstared at the items in confusion. “What?”

“Take these to the table by the window. Hurry up, there’s people waiting.”

Almostlike he wasn’t sure of what he was doing, he grabbed the cup and the plate and took them to the table, where two teenage girls giggled and thanked him effusively.

“I think he’ll do,” I told Dru.

“He’ll do what?” she asked, distracted by someone coming to pay.

“Feel free to use him. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Hope!”

“I’ll give you a bonus!”

Atthis rate, I was going to have to give her the shop. Ah, if only I could find Bagley’s secret bank account with her dark magic’s earnings!

Iescaped through the bead curtain before Hutton noticed my absence and could catch up. Fluffy followed dutifully, and I lost no time in rushing upstairs to grab a freezing potion and my backup plan. A girl could never be too careful. After grabbing Ian’s jacket and the dog walking bag, Fluffy and I slipped out the back door.

Sadly, I couldn’t use Bee-Bee with Fluffy, so I set off on foot.

Exclamationsof pleasure followed us, and I deigned to stop at the request of a couple of kids and an older woman dressed as a witch to take pictures of Fluffy.

Ionly wished I weren’t in such a hurry so we could both truly soak in the Halloween spirit.

Theaddress I’d been given turned out to be farther than I thought, so I ended up grabbing a ride. Twenty minutes later, it deposited us in front of a three-story parking garage. A bit of a cement eyesore in a more industrial side of the city peppered with small warehouses and new office buildings.

Notencouraging.

“Fluffy,” I declared, staring at the cement building. “I think we got scammed.”

Agood witch knew when to admit defeat.

Checkingthe conversation with anonymous, my sharp deductions were proved right—the texts had been deleted.

Thetipping site didn’t provide refunds, of course.

Justin case, I checked inside of the garage, but other than cars, I found nothing remotely looking like an earth mage for hire. And why would I? There was not a bit of soil or rock in sight in case things got tricky and they needed to use their magic.

Myphone rang as I was walking out of the building. Hutton.

“Hello, Hutton,” I greeted him warmly. “How’s waitressing working out?”

“Get back here. Right. Now,” he seethed. “Witch.”

Inthe background, I heard Dru say, “Can you go into the back and grab us more cups?”

“No, I can’t,” Hutton responded, his voice farther away.

“They’re in the big box, bottom shelf,” I added helpfully.

“Witch,” he growled. “I will?—”

“You’re doing great! I won’t be long, don’t worry.”

Iended the call, then updated Ian on my whereabouts in case Hutton decided to put a hit on me.

Hedidn’t pick up—probably busy with his meeting—so I left him a voice message detailing my slightly unwise decision to trust the anonymous texter and my upcoming plans. Returning the phone to my skirt’s pocket, I looked down at Fluffy.

“Well, Fluffy, since we’re out and about, we might as well go visiting old creepy coven houses.”