Chapter 3

“Who are you?”Sonia asked in a distrustful tone.

Istepped forward and hooked my arm through Key’s. Fluffy yipped in happiness and pawed at my jeans.

“This is Key,” I told Sonia. “She works for Cavalier. Key, this is Sonia. She’s the PBOA president.”

Key’seyes grew large, and she shrank into herself. Key’s family didn’t exactly toe the right side of paranormal law, so I couldn’t blame her. After a couple of seconds, though, she straightened and returned Sonia’s stare. “Uhm, hi.”

Pridefilled me at her bravery. I wanted to give her a huge hug, but that might destroy her street cred, so I refrained.

“Key is training to become a bounty hunter,” I told Sonia and Lydia. “She’ll be assisting me.”

Keynodded jerkily. “I am. I will.”

Soniadidn’t appear convinced. In fact, she appeared ready to grab me by the ear, drag me to the other end of the street, and explain several facts of life.

“Key is Bri—Jeremy’s niece.”

Theonly outward reaction to this news was a slight softening of Sonia’s eyes.

Mygossipy senses tingled anew. Sonia was aware of a niece’s existence, even if they hadn’t met until now, but Key hadn’t known about Sonia. The plot thickened.

“I have things to do,” Sonia said in the next moment. With a last glare, she added, “Don’t mess this up.”

“Wait,” I said. “Where are the other pentagrams?”

“I’ll email you a list.”

“You’re not going to drive us?”

“We don’t all fit in my car. Email me a report later.”

Withthat, Sonia turned and stalked away like a woman on a mission. I sent a silent prayer to MotherEarth for people driving bikes today and returned my attention to the pentagram.

“CanI clean this up now?” Lydia asked.

“Not yet.”

Withan inner grimace of disgust, I placed my hand on top of the right pentagram point and awakened my magic.

Mostwitches needed a way to focus their power, and that usually meant incantations. For me, silent ones had always been more than enough.

Detect.

Magictingled on my palm, interacting with the blood on the wall—only a little bit, so it wouldn’t turn my legs into jelly. It returned a slight pulse of power, letting me know that some sort of magic had been used here. Unfortunately, there was no way to tell how powerful the spell had been or the intention behind it. Magic dispersed fast unless it was contained in a ward or potion, and all I sensed was an echo of the spell. In a few hours, even that would be gone.

Ittook a steady, repeated use of power to imbue objects with any kind of magic. ExampleA: my shop, considered by some as a conduit of great power thanks to repeated murder and dark magic usage by most of its previous inhabitants.

“Is that blood?” Key asked as I realized I didn’t have any wipes on me.

“Yep.”

“Yikes.”

“Indeed.” I turned toward Lydia, holding my hand in front of me as if it were possessed. “Have any wipes?”

Shelooked at my hand, then at me, a speculative gleam in her eyes before disappearing into the shop. She returned a minute later with a square, tiny pink hand towel printed with dog faces. “That’ll be five dollars.”

Lydiatruly was Bosko’s daughter. It was admirable, really.

Isnatched the towel from her hand and wiped my palm. The towel wasn’t a complete loss, though. Bleach and a good cleansing spell could do wonders.

Fluffywhined by my side, as if aware of my thoughts.

“Yes, you’re right,” I told her. “You cleanse better than bleach.”

Fluffylolled her tongue and wagged her tail in happiness.

“In fact…” I smiled brightly at Lydia. “What about I do a cleansing spell on the wall after you clean it and we call it even?” I waved the hand towel like a parade flag.

Lydiagrinned. “Sounds fair.”

“Were you working yesterday?”

“Yeah, in the morning. Dad took the evening shift.”

“Have you noticed anyone suspicious around lately? Any customers in the shop or lurking around?”

Shesnorted. “It’sHalloween. Lots of weirdos going around.” She gave my witch hat and makeup a pointed look.

Hah. “Weirdness is the spice of life.” Considering what she and Bosko sold at the shop, she should know this by heart.

Hergrin reappeared. “If you say so.”

“Rufus, no,” Key exclaimed.

Weturned toward her. Rufus had apparently gotten tired of sniffing the air and was dragging Key toward the pentagram.

Istepped between the dog and the wall and said in my best stern voice, “Rufus, stay.”

Rufusignored my excellent Ian impression and tried to go around me, so I grabbed a hold of his harness, and between me and Key we managed to keep the huge dog in place. He gave us a reproachful look and the soft, pleading whine of a Victorian orphan whose lunch had gotten stolen.

“Nice try.” AddressingLydia, who was watching us with quite the unimpressed expression, I asked, “So, nobody was paying special attention to the shop? Are you sure?”

“I just?—”

Ilifted a hand, cutting her off. “Think carefully, please. This might be more than a prank.”

Lydiapursed her lips, but a frown of concentration creased her brow. After a few seconds, she shook her head. “There were a few people I think came more than once, but that’s normal. People like to browse the store even if they don’t buy anything.”

“You don’t mind?”

Sheshrugged. “Helps make the shop look busy.”

“What about security cameras? Do you have any?”

“Nope.”

Unsurprising. Paranormals didn’t like anything that could remotely capture magic on camera. Most magic couldn’t be, but when it involved outside elements, like Key using her earth magic to flip a clump of soil, the results could be captured.

“What about anyone who has it in for your dad or the shop?”

Rufus, apparently capitulating, stopped pressing forward and began sniffing the ground, which gave me another great idea to try after this.

“Oh, yeah. Plenty of those,” Lydia said.

“CanI have a list?”

“Jackson accused Dad of stealing his catchphrase for a T-shirt. Gerome said he put a rat in his bread box when he wouldn’t move his food cart away from the front of the shop. A couple of weeks ago one lady threatened to sue us because she almost choked on one of our keychains in her hotel room. Bobby tried to return a pair of shorts and got really mad when Dad wouldn’t let him because he’d already used them. There was this crazy dude who tried to steal all our anime faces tank tops because he said Dad cheated him at cards… You want the stuff from before October too?”

Boskohad clearly lived a long and fulfilling year. “Uh, could you email me all these?”

“Sure.” She began typing on her phone.

“Where were you last night?”

Herhead snapped up. “Excuse me?”

“I need you and your father’s alibi.”

“Why?”

Becauseeveryone is a suspect, as my new motto reminded me. “Need to cross all the Ts and dot all the Is.”

“That’s stupid. Why would we paint a pentagram on our wall? Do you know how hard cleaning that old brick is?”

Ilooked at the chipped, uneven surface of the brown bricks. She had a point there. Still, people had gone through bigger inconveniences for the sake of making themselves appear innocent.

“Maybe you wanted some extra notoriety?”

“Then we’d have painted it on the front.” Duh.

Iwould not be defeated by common sense, I told myself. Pentagram-drawing criminals were not common and hopefully had not much sense.

Straightening, I fixed her with my best no, bringing your own thermos doesn’t qualify you for a discount barista smile. “It’s important to follow procedure. It would help a lot to know where you were last night, so if your enemies accuse you of painting the pentagram, I can show them you didn’t.”

Grumblingsomething very un-nice, Lydia finished typing on her phone, then shot me a glare. “CanI go now? I need to open the shop.”

Witha gracious wave of my hand, I set her free.

Shestomped back inside and slammed the back door closed.

“What do you think?” I asked Key.

Keyapproached the pentagram, then obviously remembered it was drawn with blood and scrunched her nose with distaste. “Someone taking a Halloween prank too far?”

“Why use human blood for that, though?”

“Someone meaning to scare paranormals? Some kind of warning?”

Thethought made a shiver run down my spine. “Beware of the dark witch coming your way?”

“Doesn’t have to be dark magic. Could be for show.”

Istudied the pentagram again, tapping my chin in concentration. “Someone used a spell here. That means a witch or a potion. A potion could explain the human blood on the pentagram.”

“But?” Key prodded, looking at me like I was wisdom witchified.

“Most dark magic potions are meant to be used on people, not objects. AndI don’t smell any kind of herbs. Nothing strange seems to have diluted the animal blood, either. I think it’s more likely that someone attempted a spell here. Or,” I added with sudden inspiration, “that’s what they want us to think.”

“Put some human blood; do some inane magic as a red herring?”

“I see you’ve caught up on your romantic suspense reading,” I said with approval.

Sheflushed a pretty pink, reminding me she was barely twenty. “Shane helped me get a library card. Thanks for the recommendations.”

Igrinned. “Anytime.” My attention returned to the pentagram. “If it’s only Bosko our suspect has a beef with, why do the other four sites?”

“Another red herring?”

Unfortunately, it’d be hard to tell if it was the other pentagrams that were a red herring, or if Bosko’s pentagram was a distraction from one of the other places. Or if they all were part of a bigger plan. Or if the culprit was a dumb kid playing at being a dark witch.

“Options, options,” I murmured. With a shake of my head, I bent to give Rufus some scritches. “Can you smell anything funny, Rufus? Can you take us to the bad guy?” I made exaggerated sniffing noses. “Track, Rufus!”

Rufusstared back like I’d lost my mind.

Iconsidered calling Ian to come tell his dog to sniff around, but I wasn’t sure he knew where his dogs were and that might put Key in the hot seat.

“How come you brought the dogs?” I asked.

Hergaze shifted guiltily. “I needed an excuse to come.”

Keywas excellent at coming up with believable excuses. A superpower I hoped she’d eventually use for good rather than evil.

“Why didn’t you tell the truth?”

Hermouth drooped. “Shane and Alex would’ve wanted to come with me.”

Ahyes. A teenager’s eternal problem when faced with two slightly older friends who liked her a lot, lot. I wondered if their protectiveness was a shifter thing or natural instinct. Shifters were known to be somewhat…let’s say Neanderthal about things.

“Good point.” Looking back at Rufus, I pointed sternly toward the pentagram. “Rufus. Track.”

Rufusgave me the canine equivalent of an eye roll, but this time bothered himself to sniff around the wall, then around the ground. Then he sat and lolled his tongue.

“Glamour potion,” I guessed aloud. Disappointing, but not totally unexpected. Glamour magic could do more than simply obscure physical features, they could also nullify scent.

Aswe went back to the main street, Key said quietly, “Thank you for texting me.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

Keybeamed.