Maybe he found the ace that I know he has up his sleeve from the last poker game.
I turned away from the aisle so that I could muffle my greeting.
“Rye, were you able to find the card?” I asked, looking down at my boot as I waited for his reply.
Right sleeve, to be exact.
“No, I haven’t even looked for it or asked Bree if she kept it yet,” Rye replied over what sounded like a heated conversation. “You might want to head back, though. Eugene and Albert have decided that either a black bear or a mountain lion of some sort is responsible for the damage to Monty’s shop.”
Oy vey. Do you think the residents would be keen enough to notice that the water turned blue if I put blueberries into the water supply? They obviously need help with their mental antioxidants.
“Let me guess,” I said with a sigh of acceptance. “They saw the claw marks in the floor that Liam spotted earlier.”
“You guessed it, and now they want to mount a search party for the animal that is causing all the trouble for fear that someone might be attacked in broad daylight. Liam is doing his best to keep things under control, but Otis showed up in his hunting gear and declared that there should be a town meeting in an hour over at the diner. We all know how that is going to go, so we’ll need all the levelheadedness we can get at the meeting.”
“I’ll be there.”
“I’m heading back over to the bakery to see if Bree kept the note that she received with her gift. I’ll meet you at the diner afterward.”
We exchanged goodbyes before I turned around to find that Harry was no longer standing where I’d left him. I advanced a few steps and then leaned forward to peer around the shelf.
The pathway was empty.
It was then that I realized how quiet Leo had also become in the last minute of my phone call.
“Leo?”
He didn’t reply.
“Harry?” I called out a little bit louder, but there was no response. “Great.”
I gave a sideways glance toward the door that led to the secret chamber full of ancient grimoires.
Had they snuck inside without me hearing the latch?
I tapped my phone against the palm of my hand in wonderment, which reminded me of something else that I’d wanted to talk over with Leo.
The palm of my right hand hadn’t once warmed with heat or experienced those piercing sensations when something was wrong. It wasn’t necessary for actual danger to be present, though that was usually the case, but my ability generally picked up on when something wasn’t right with a situation.
Shouldn’t my alarm be going off a million miles a minute right now?
All had been quiet, though—and that was most disconcerting.
I mean, a gargoyle had come to life, taken a stroll down the sidewalk, and then vandalized Monty’s hardware store. Didn’t that qualify as something that would trigger my ability to sense when something was haywire? Even if Harry was right about the statue being a disguise for some type of troll or possibly a faerie of some sort, one would think that my palm would actually be hot to the touch.
How could my ability be so far off the mark?
I leave you for one minute, and you’re already talking to yourself.
I’d been so wrapped up with my own thoughts that I hadn’t sensed Leo’s return.
My startlement had me dropping my phone.
“Leo, I hate when you do that,” I muttered, leaning down and actually catching sight of him on the lower shelf atop several books. “Are you crazy? Someone is going to see you.”
No one is even back here. Quit your griping like some old lady.
“What are you doing?” I asked, pushing myself to get the question out. I wasn’t sure that I really even wanted to know that answer. “And where is Harry?”
Our resident werewolf is helping a fellow scholar. I was going to offer assistance, but then I got sidetracked by the gargoyle section. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. I got so sucked in that I blipped into sight, but then…well, I didn’t want to be invisible then.
That was Leo’s way of saying that his short-term memory issue had risen to the surface and he forgot how to conceal himself. At least he’d had sense to hide among the books on the lower shelf.
“We need to head back to town. Otis, Eugene, and Albert want to start an armed search party for some non-existent mountain lion. They’re liable to get themselves hurt trampling around in the surrounding acres of Paramour Bay.”
And why is that our problem? You know, it’s situations like these that weed out the weakest links. Darwin tends to be right about the shallow end of the gene pool emptying out first. Maybe it’s time for a little bit of natural selection to take place.
“Ah, Raven,” Harry said quietly as he appeared from behind one of the bookshelves. “I do so apologize. My work here is never done. Are you alright? Did you lose something?”
“No, no,” I replied quickly as I stood up from the carpeted floor. There was no reason to alarm him over Leo’s current condition. I’m sure Leo would be able to do his blipping thing by the time that I was done talking to Harry. “Rye was calling to inform me that some of the residents think a mountain lion is on the loose. He was hoping for reinforcements to explain why that wasn’t such a good idea to send a party of armed citizens dead-heading through the local woodlands.”
I’m not so sure about that. Having those old geezers out of our hair and fur might not be such a bad idea. I’ve heard that C4 can cause quite a bit of collateral damage.
“Oh, dear,” Harry exclaimed with a frown. He once again began to rub his beard as he mulled over our predicament. “I will do some research in the ancient grimoires for anything gargoyle related, though it could take a while. As I explained earlier, I don’t recall the existence of actual gargoyle lore ever being part of our world.”
Hey, look at that! I’m invisible. Wait. You can’t look if I’m not there. There’s a word for what I just did there, right?
“I understand,” I replied with relief, knowing that Harry would search through the archives that his family had collected throughout generations. “Thank you for doing such extensive research for us, and I hope to hear from you sooner rather than later…if you know what I mean.”
I gave him a quick wave and quickly began to make my way to the front of the library. One of the great things about a community of supernatural friends was that we could all rely on one another. I didn’t worry that Harry would come up with an answer, though I did worry about the health and safety of Otis, Eugene, Albert, and anyone else who decided to join the effort and attempt to locate a fictitious mountain lion in the surrounding area.
Hold up there, Raven. We should give that search party a bit more thought. I still have the grid that I laid out regarding Skippy’s hibernation stash. It’s a lot of ground to cover, and we all know that my munchkin legs can only get in so many steps a day. This could potentially be used to our benefit. I say we stop by the cottage, grab our snacks and the grid drawing, and then take point on the search party effort.
“Not going to happen, Leo,” I mumbled after I pulled my scarf up over my face. We’d reached the front door, and I didn’t have the luxury of Heidi’s car starter. I had to turn my engine over the old-fashioned way, which was why I stopped long enough to put on my gloves. “The squirrelpocalypse is just going to have to wait until we deal with Gargoyle Gary and the person behind the scheme.”
Raven, Raven, Raven. We really need to include a lesson in the art of using random situations to our advantage. It’s called objective strategy. This is the perfect opportunity to solve two problems with one search party. Although, I’m still not opposed to utilizing C4 should you talk the lump of wax into procuring a few kilos. By the way, do you have five dollars? We might need to pay him to initiate the detonator.
Chapter Seven
Come to think of it, C4 might actually solve a lot of our problems.
I completely understood Leo’s senti
ment behind his words as I entered the diner. People were talking over one another until the roar of the crowd became louder and louder, creating a constant hum of mangled tones. Otis, Eugene, and Albert stood in the back while everyone else occupied the chairs surrounding the tables. There were some familiar faces and not-so-familiar faces. The particular one that I was looking for was nowhere to be found.
“Go get Liam.” I wasn’t worried about anyone hearing me. They were all fighting with one another about how to go about searching for a nonexistent mountain lion. “Quick.”
Why? Does he have some C4?
“Leo, you—” The only reason that I’d known to turn around to see who was at the door was the cold air that had snaked its way around to hit me in the face. I gave a sigh of relief to find Liam standing there frowning and shaking his head. “What he has is common sense.”
Liam also had the benefit of knowing that the supernatural existed all around us, so he understood that this type of search party wasn’t needed. It would only end up leading to someone getting hurt.
“Rye called and told me what was going on,” I said loudly, shifting to the side when someone tried to move closer up front to hear Otis a bit better. He was clearly trying to garner everyone’s attention. “I thought I’d come join the rational side of things.”
Seeing as it was still morning, the scent of grease still hung heavy in the air. The usual sizzling sounds that came from the kitchen had all but been drowned out, though I wasn’t even certain that anyone was actually in the kitchen. Trixie and her staff were all huddled around the checkout counter with their gazes trained on the crowd.
“…your attention!” Otis’ voice boomed, and a glance over my shoulder revealed that he’d cupped his hands around his mouth so that his voice would travel farther. “Quiet, everyone!”
The crowd finally began to settle in their chairs as they all began to hush one another, focusing on the former sheriff of Paramour Bay. While Liam looked up to Otis, that didn’t mean they saw things eye to eye with him on every circumstance that popped up.
Cut the old geezer a break. He has no idea that Gargoyle Gary is the one responsible for all this. Hey! That gives me an idea. If most everyone is here, that monstrosity might try to take advantage of not having eyes on him. No worries, though! I’ve got things covered.
I didn’t doubt for a second that Leo had vacated the diner, leaving me to try and help Liam keep the peace.
“Thank you, Otis,” Liam called out, diverting everyone’s attention to his presence by the door. Sharp squeaks could be heard as the people tried to move their chairs on the tiled floor. “I realize that a couple of the shop owner’s saw some animal tracks in the snow on the sidewalk before it melted, but you can rest assured that it wasn’t a mountain lion. No such animal has been spotted in this part of the country in over a hundred years.”
Otis, Eugene, and Albert all began to talk over one another in an attempt to argue with Liam’s assumption, but he cut them off quick with an authoritative, sideways glance.
“I contacted the nearest game warden and described the tracks that Monty and Heidi both saw on separate occasions,” Liam revealed in such a believable manner that it had me wondering if he actually did make such a call. As sheriff, he always made sure to double check his facts before speaking. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust me, but he did have a job to do. “Game Warden Charlie Lucca is confident that we don’t have any type of threatening wildlife in our area. At most, it’s a really large raccoon that is scavenging for food in our unsecured trash receptacles.”
At first, I wasn’t sure that Otis and the others would buy such a story. The way Monty and Mindy had described the tracks made it seem as if they were rather large, but I could see the direction that Liam was taking with this theory. The grey stone statue really wasn’t any bigger than a large racoon, so it made sense to compare its hands with that of a raccoon.
Unless, of course, the gargoyle somehow grew in size when it came to life.
“Monty, do you think that the tracks you saw in the snow were from a raccoon?” Eugene called out, and I was surprised to see Monty stand from a seat near the back of the diner. Rye and the others must have helped him finish cleaning up the shop. “You mentioned claw marks in the hardwood floor near the back entrance. No raccoon—no matter its size—would be able to smash a secured door.”
“With Monty’s permission, I went back to the hardware store to look at the marks in question,” Liam quickly inserted into a conversation that had the potential to once again get out of control. As he walked by me, he allowed his fingers to brush mine in what I assumed was a way to reassure me that he had things under control. “He recently used the back entrance to bring in a couple of safes to sell, and the gauges in the wood are consistent with dolly wheels from the weight of those safes. We all made connections that weren’t there, though that doesn’t mean all of you don’t have the right to be concerned. It means that someone broke into Monty’s place looking to steal something, and it’s my job to figure out who would do such a thing. I suggest that everyone go about their daily routine as usual and leave me to investigate the vandalism or attempted theft, whatever it might turn out to be.”
By this time, Liam had maneuvered through the crowd to join the three men who’d been willing to lead a search party to protect their town. In retrospect, they were only doing what they thought was right. Now that things were relatively calm, I left Liam to do his job while I went in search of Rye. He wasn’t in the crowd, which could only mean that he’d gone in search of the card that had come with Bree’s gift.
I exited the diner and glanced down the street toward the bakery.
Rye’s truck wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Come to think of it, Leo had mentioned that he was going to check on the statue, but I didn’t see hide nor hair of him, either. I began to walk in that direction, keeping an eye on the stone statue the entire time.
Never once did I see it move in the slightest as I advanced closer, even crossing one of the cobblestone intersections without really looking to see if any cars were coming down the side street. It sat as still as any other statue, and I found it almost silly that I was waiting for granite to move. I lowered my gaze to the base of the statue, recalling what Harry had said about trolls. I highly doubted that their feet would resemble a gargoyle or racoon’s hands, but it was still a theory that we shouldn’t discount.
“Good morning, Raven.” I’d gotten close enough to the bakery to be startled when someone had exited the glass door. I tried not grimace at the identity of said person, because I’d been avoiding her as much as possible. “Have you had time to consider my proposal of cross-promotion? I think it would do our businesses a world of good.”
Madam Rose was the local charlatan—uh, psychic—that had set up shop a couple of months ago. I didn’t believe for a second that she could talk to those on the other side of the veil or see into the future. Paramour Bay was a tight-knit community, so I had been a bit taken aback by how she’d been welcomed with open arms.
It had actually been Elsie and Wilma who had divulged that Madam Rose had “helped” those who’d sought out her advice on the future. I’d quickly come to the conclusion that she was very good at reading people, and I’d even spent some time researching mentalists.
To be fair, Madam Rose was exceptionally talented at reading people and their body language.
“I’m so sorry that I haven’t touched base with you regarding the cross-promotion.” I really wasn’t repentant in the least, but I came across sincere due to the fact that I really didn’t have time for such a meeting. The fact that Leo materialized out of thin air next to the stone statue had me quickly attempting to finish up the conversation. “Did you hear about the meeting at the diner?”
You are talking to the psychedelic psychic, right?
I kept my attention on Madam Rose as Leo parked himself right behind her. He was eyeing the gargoyle up and down with a renewed sense of purpos
e. I didn’t have to ask if he’d stopped into the teashop, because the evidence lingered on a couple of his whiskers. He’d been enjoying some of his blueberry-filled edibles instead of monitoring the stone statue.
Trust me. Gargoyle Gary wasn’t going to risk the psychedelic psychic seeing him come to life. I took advantage of her presence and had myself a little pick-me-up. These mental antioxidants need to be reenergized every so many hours, you know.
“Oh, yes! I know all about the topic of discussion,” Madam Rose replied with a knowing nod. She dressed to match her personality and public persona. Her hair was swept up with wisps framing her face, I had no doubt that the dress she wore underneath her coat had the flowy sleeves, and numerous bracelets dangled from her wrists. Though their sound was muffled by the sleeves of her purple dress coat and matching gloves, they were still visible from the way she was holding her disposable cup of coffee. “I didn’t go, of course. I’m sure that by now the former sheriff and his two friends know that there is no mountain lion roaming the streets of our town. Those silly old fools.”
I tried not to take offense at the fact that she was already claiming Paramour Bay as hers, but I didn’t want to be that person. Technically, the two years that I’d been settled into my life here had me designated as new to the area by many of the locals, as well.
I don’t see the difference between you being protective of the residents and me attempting to stop the squirrelpocalypse from eradicating their existence on the face of this planet. It’s all relative, Raven.
I smiled at Leo’s attempt to make me feel better, because there was something so endearing about how he tried to rationalize my thoughts and feelings. He always had my back, and vice versa.
It had me realizing that I wasn’t wrong in being suspicious of Madam Rose’s declaration, especially since I was the first one to make it to the bakery after Liam had announced to the small gathering at the diner that there was no mountain lion. I’d already known about that announcement, but how could Madam Rose have had such information when she hadn’t been there herself and no one had been by the bakery to tell her in person?
Stony Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 16) Page 6