I stared at him. "No. PIs don't typically deal with dead bodies, at least as far as I know. I can't really discuss cases anyways, because of client confidentiality."
My dad walked into the dining room, and I felt myself relax a little bit. "Hey, dad."
"Hey kid, how's the shop?"
"Good, just did some rearranging and reorganizing old stock today." I couldn't help the grin that came with it.
Dad laughed. "What did it this time?"
"An overzealous scarf." I shrugged. "I now have a surplus if anyone needs them."
"Oh, so you're magical too," Eli spoke up.
Of course I was, both my parents were, but I wasn't going to say anything. I was sure he was just trying to be part of the conversation. I nodded. "Yeah."
"But she's not very good." My mother walked in with only three plates. "Your parents called Eli, they aren't going to be able to make it."
See, a setup. What the heck mother. I glanced at my dad, and he gave me an apologetic look.
"I think what you need is a good wizard to show you how the magic is done," Eli proclaimed, not even phased by what my mother had said.
I put a hand over my eyes. "This is not happening."
"Oh, come on Lacey. It wouldn't hurt you to hang out with another magical person."
"I have friends, mom." I shook my head. "Look I have to go meet Trace for a job. Sorry I can't stay." I beelined it to the door.
My dad came after me. "Look, sweetheart, your mom means well."
"Yeah, I know, but she needs to back off and go about it a better way. No wizard wants to be stuck with a bad witch."
"You aren't bad, you're quirky." He nudged me. "Get it right."
"No one wants a quirky witch when it means wine-stained carpets and overzealous scarves."
My dad hmmed for a moment. "No, I don't think you're right. Now get going. You have a job to do. I'll cover for you."
"Thanks, dad. And tell mom, no more surprise guests. It was pretty obvious."
He nodded. "Promise, I'll get her under control."
"Good luck with that." I waved at him and jumped in the car. I backed out of the steep driveway and onto the main road. I wasn't going to sit there and let my mother try and control my dating life. I didn't need to have a dating life.
I had grabbed fast food on my way home and eaten it in peace. I was curled up on the couch reading a book when Trace came knocking at my door. I closed my book with a bookmark and set it down before I answered the door.
"How'd it go at the performance space?" I asked as I swung open the door.
He shrugged. "There was nothing fishy that I could find. Everything seemed to be exactly as it should be. Are you ready to go meet Chloe?"
I nodded and grabbed my purse. "Let's go. I want to see what the wife of a psychic is like."
We walked to the car together, and I jumped into the passenger side. Trace got in the driver's side and started the car. "So how was dinner with your parents?"
"Oh, it didn't really happen. It turned out to be a set up for me to meet a wizard, and I walked out because my mother is crazy."
He snorted. "She's still convinced that you need to meet someone?"
"And she told him I was bad at being a witch. Which isn't going to win me any points." I shook my head. "So I told them I had a job with you to work on and then left. Dad will smooth it all over if he hasn't already."
"Your mother cares for you, she just doesn't understand you." Trace pulled the car into traffic.
"That's one way to put it." I shrugged a shoulder. "Okay, back to the job on hand. What do we know about Chloe?"
"She has been married to Mark for over ten years. There are no marital problems that she's willing to talk about, and I talked to their family, and they all said they had a good marriage. No marriage is perfect, but these two seemed to be able to work out most of their problems before they became huge."
I ran the information through my head. "So no known reason for him to just disappear?"
"None that we can see. He did have a bit of a spending problem, but Chloe said they had gotten that under control a couple years ago."
"Money doesn't just disappear out of bank accounts though. It goes somewhere, and if he had a spending problem that would be the first place to check." I glanced at Trace. "But you said that there were no transactions?"
"No sign of withdrawals or purchases."
"And Chloe has talked to the bank as well? And it's not a glitch?"
He nodded. "No glitches found. No other bank accounts affected."
I leaned back in the seat. "Find Mark, find the money?"
"That's the hope, and in the meantime, Chloe has a little nest egg she's living on that Mark didn't know about."
I snorted. "I guess when your husband has a spending problem a nest egg is a good thing to have. But he's not a very good psychic if he didn't know she had one."
"Let's go meet the little lady and find out what else she managed to hide from him." He used a forced southern accent.
I rolled my eyes at his fake accent.
He turned the radio up, and classic rock filled the car as we drove to the house. We both sat in a comfortable silence and just enjoyed the drive. I watched the fall leaves slowly drift down from the branches and form colorful paths on the sidewalks. I loved autumn, there was just something about it that was magical.
Trace pulled into a driveway of a large house. No, house was too small of a word for it. It was a freaking mansion. Dark brick exterior with a three-car garage, beautiful Aspen trees around the yard, and I was willing to bet the inside was just as beautiful.
I got out of the car and whistled. "Either she makes big bucks or being the wife of a psychic pays off."
"Yeah, she's not the breadwinner here." He shook his head. "Once they got his spending problems under control, she used his money wisely."
I followed him up to the door, and he knocked on it. A woman wearing a pair of black slacks with a red button-up blouse, her hair neatly pulled up in a bun, answered the door. She looked like she was on her way to the office instead of staying in for the night.
"Hello, Trace, and you must be Lacey." She held a well-manicured hand out to me.
I shook her hand, and she gave me a little bit of a squeeze before letting go. "I am."
"It's nice to meet you. Trace tells me that you can help find my husband?" She motioned for us to come in. Trace and I stepped into the home decorated in tans and blues, from the carpet to the drapes, furniture cushions to throw blankets. "What do you do for a living, Chloe?"
"I'm Mark's manager; the business is a team effort." She led us to a living room and motioned for us to sit.
Trace and I both sat at the same time. The tan leather of the couch squeaked below us, seemingly upsetting the quiet of the house. "So you have access to all the bank accounts?"
She nodded. "I do, and since he had his spending habits under control, he had a small account that I put money in after each job. Think of it as his own little nest egg. I have mine, he had his, and then there was the main account. The money disappeared from the main account."
"And his account?" I asked. I was sure that Trace probably knew all this, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
"Still there, nothing touched."
Interesting. I glanced at Trace, and he nodded as if confirming her story. I don't know why he hadn't mentioned that before, but maybe he was just seeing how I'd do on the questions. "I've already talked to Trace about who to contact to start looking for your husband. Money and people don't simply disappear without a trace, there has to be someone that can give us a hint to where he is."
"Well, I don't know what to say. My husband is nowhere to be found, and neither is the quarter of a million in our bank account." She wasn't snotty about it, or rude, her voice was matter-of-fact, and she simply folded her hands on her lap. "That's why I
hired Trace."
"I'm sorry, I'm sure you've discussed all this with him."
She smiled. "It's okay, I wanted to meet you to make sure you were a smart witch and not just one that had…charmed Trace into letting you help."
I shook my head. "Trust me, I didn't charm anyone. We just happen to work well together." I had a moment of horror wondering what would happen if I had actually tried to charm Trace. My guess was he'd turn into a frog. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.
Trace nodded. "Trust me, I wouldn't keep hiring her for help if I knew she couldn't do the job. We're meeting with a Mandy Banovo tonight to talk to her about what she knows about the business and if she knows anything about your husband. She -"
"Runs a small tarot shop in the middle of town." Chloe interrupted. "I've met with her a few times before Mark's disappearance. Just to chat." She shrugged. "As I'm sure Lacey knows, we're a tight-knit community."
I nodded. "That's true."
Trace glanced at his watch. "Speaking of, we should probably get going. It was good to see you again, Chloe. I'll be in touch." He stood, and the two of them shook hands. She saw us to the door, and I heard the lock click into place the moment the door shut behind us.
Trace led me back to the car, and we both got in. I glanced at him. "She's very put together for her husband disappearing."
He nodded. "I know, I talked to her sister, and she said that Chloe was distraught at first and the police simply think that her husband took the money and ran. There are no signs of foul play or any evidence for them to follow."
At the surface that's exactly what this looked like. "What do you think?"
"I think there's something going on, be it her husband took the money and ran, or someone took him and the money."
"Or made them disappear…" I muttered. "But people and money don't just disappear."
"Exactly." Trace started the car.
Trace pulled up to a small shop that was nestled between a pot shop and a liquor store. There was a palm with Henna designs decorating the window, and in front of that were iron bars. "Nice area," I muttered.
He shrugged. "I bet the rent is cheaper than in Manitou. Come on, she's waiting." He had to reach through the bars to knock on the door. It made me wonder how many times her little shop had been broken into before her landlord put the bars up.
A tall woman came and unlocked the door before inviting us in. She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed us both. "Trace McHue and Lacey Willow. Lacey is known for her inability to perform proper magic, and Trace ran away from Denver after getting a divorce." She walked around us, and I swore I felt her looking us up and down. I glanced at Trace, he'd never mentioned a divorce as being his reason for moving. I wonder how she knew. Maybe she really did hold the gift. If that was the case, then she could hopefully tell us where Mark was hiding with all the money.
"No, I can't tell you that." Mandy came back to standing in front of us.
I raised a brow. "You can't tell us what?"
"Mark's location. No one knows it." She shrugged and walked further away from us leading us into a small waiting room with a couple of chairs and a table with magazines on it.
"As you said on the phone earlier when I asked you about it, but you said you might have something here that could help?" Trace prompted.
Knowing he'd talked to her already, more than just to make an appointment, relaxed me some. She might not have had the gift of sight, but the gift of Google instead.
"Look, Mark attended our witches and wizard nights out. It's where we can all get together and just be ourselves and not have to worry about any normal people screwing things up or calling us freaks." Mandy glanced at me. "You know what it's like, I'm sure."
I nodded. "Yeah, been there."
"We all decided to have a little fun and just do some tricks and play around with our magic. Nothing serious. No ghost talking or predicting deaths, nothing like that." Mandy laughed. "We all got a little drunk, and well, one thing led to another, and things got a little crazy." She went behind the desk that was in the waiting room and pulled out an envelope. "Then two days later, this showed up."
Trace took it from her. He slid his finger under the flap and opened it. Pulling out a couple photos he whistled. "Just some fun huh?"
She nodded. "Harmless fun."
He handed me the pictures, and I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but a naked man was not it. "Oh wow. What on earth?" I tried to take in just the details. The only thing he wore was a unicorn crown and a rainbow tail. Everything was on full display. I handed the pictures back to Trace. "Seems harmless enough, but why did you take the pictures?"
"I didn't. They were sent to me. Someone at the party that night had to have taken them, but I don't know who." She shrugged. "I don't think it's a big deal, but since he disappeared, I thought I'd better mention it."
"Why did you keep them?" Trace put the photos back into the envelope. "If you didn't think it was a big deal, why not just throw them away?"
"I was going to give them to Mark at the next gathering." She blushed a little bit, and I had a feeling there was more going on there than Mandy wanted to admit.
Trace either didn't notice or didn't want to respond to the reaction. "Okay, I'll do some research on the address and see if we can trace down who sent this. Also, I'd like the names and contact numbers of the people who attended that night."
She nodded and went to the desk to write the information down. "Why did Mark's wife hire you? Shouldn't the police be looking into this matter?"
"Sometimes things take a different set of eyes to solve." Trace offered with a small shrug. "So here I am."
I let him stand there and make small talk with her while I looked around. I'd never had my palms read or my tarot cards told, simply because even as a witch, I was skeptical of people who claimed to have the gift of sight. The walls of the place held calming mandalas with blue hues coloring them, except one. There was one tiny red and black one that sat above the doorway. You would see it as you walked out. The placement was odd, and the colors didn't match everything else.
I turned around to mention it, but Trace was shaking her hand and telling her we'd be in contact. He had the list and the envelope of pictures in his other hand. Mandy met my gaze and smiled, waving bye as Trace ushered me out the door.
We got in the car, and he put the envelope and list in my lap. "Any of those names look familiar?" He started the car and waited just a moment. I looked at the list and glanced at the names. "Nope, but again, I don't typically hang out with people who party and do some parlor tricks 'for fun.'"
"Is it because you might screw it up?"
I tapped the envelope. "Because of things like this. I don't want to be the butt of anyone's joke." I paused at the last name on the list-Eli Standford. I shook my head, no, it couldn't be the same Eli. Could it? I pushed the thought out of my head. I could ask my dad tomorrow if it was, but chances were slim that it was the same person.
CHAPTER THREE
After Trace dropped me back off at my house for the night, I sat at my little dining room table and swirled my glass of wine while I sat in front of the television. The news was playing something on the screen, but I wasn't really paying attention. My mind was processing everything that I had learned today about the case.
A disappearing psychic.
A naked picture of him.
A drunken night.
Maybe he just got embarrassed and wanted to disappear off the face of the earth. Maybe he knew his way around the bank systems and how to hide his tracks, and the police were right, that he just ran away.
I sipped my wine and tried to imagine how one would even do that. Was it possible to delete bank transactions? My phone rang, and I looked at it to see my mother calling. I rolled my eyes. I had two choices. I could answer it now and deal with her, or let it go to voicemai
l and deal with her wrath later. Sadly, I thought now was the better option.
I answered it with a swipe of my finger. "Yes, mother?"
"Eli said that he wished you would have stayed tonight."
I snorted. "Did you explain to him that you tried to set us up blindly?"
She sighed. "I just think that maybe you should get out more. You're always either working at the shop or with Trace. I think you should focus on other aspects of your life."
"One, I like working with Trace, and two, I don't work all the time. I'm not working right now. I'm watching the news and enjoying a glass of wine."
She let out a huff. "You need to date. I want grandchildren."
I laughed. "Is that the real reason with all this pushing? I have plenty of time to have kids mom, and maybe I don't want them." I took a sip of my wine. "Hey, what's Eli's last name?"
"Standford, why do you ask?"
"I might just look him up and apologize for walking out on him." Or you know, stalk him on social media, whatever worked for the case. Maybe he'd be willing to talk to me about the night the pictures were taken. Or maybe he had something to do with the disappearance of Mark. Either way, I was hoping he'd talk to me.
My mother laughed. "There we go, that would be the right thing to do. Have a good night. I love you."
"Love you too mom." I disconnected the phone and texted Trace that I knew one of the contacts Mandy had given us.
While I waited for a response, I hauled my laptop onto my lap and started it up. The screen flickered to life, and I found myself grateful that technology was a thing that allowed us to stalk people without their knowledge. I pulled up my social media page and typed in Eli Standford. A lot of results popped up in the search, and I slowly started to scroll through them. I didn't want to risk limiting the results in case he was one of those people who didn't keep his profile updated.
After three pages and a glass of wine, I finally found him. His profile picture was a typical selfie where you could see the arms holding the camera. But the smile on his face was bright and genuine like he was actually happy about where he was. From the background, it looked like he was probably at a beach. I would be that happy too if I were at a beach.
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