“Me, too,” Pandora said. “So get over there, get her client list and let’s put an end to this.”
“Okay.” I looked at Birdie. “You ready?”
“Most definitely.” She glanced at Pandora. “Thanks.”
“You got it. But first…” She raised her hands and wiggled her fingers at us while speaking a few words in Latin. Then she grinned. “Just a little protection spell.”
That made the last of my nerves go away. “Cool. Thanks!”
“Sure thing.” She opened the French doors onto the porch and out Birdie and I went into the sprawling, overgrown garden of a backyard.
It must have really been something in its prime, and judging by the work that had already been done to the house, the yard would be returned to that state soon. We stopped halfway down a flagstone path that led to a dry fountain that looked like it had recently been cleaned out. Weeds and grass sprouted from every viable space, and here and there I could make out topiaries whose shapes were only discernible through hard squinting and a vivid imagination.
“This place was really something once, but Cole and Pandora will get it there again,” Birdie said. “Now just give me a sec…”
I ran my finger along the edge of the marble fountain and thought of home. “The only gardens we have in the North Pole are indoor ones, but my mother’s greenhouse is one of her favorite places.” I looked beyond the yard to the house on the other side of a line of tall, narrow pines that divided the two properties. I couldn’t see much of the house, but it seemed dark. “Are you going to shift now or when we get there?”
A soft woof answered me.
I turned to see a large gray wolf at my side. Instinctually I stepped back. “Birdie? I mean, who else, right? But wow. That was fast.”
The wolf nodded.
This was weird. “I guess you can understand me?”
Another nod.
“But you can’t speak? Or can you?”
A shake of the head this time.
Yeah, this was weird. Maybe more than weird. I was talking to a wolf, who was actually a slightly older-than-middle-aged woman who’d just been wearing a hot pink pantsuit two seconds ago. “So do your clothes become your fur or…”
She nodded again.
I shrugged. This was my life now. “Okay. You’re still going to howl if anyone comes, right?”
She nodded.
“All right, let’s go.” Birdie trotted alongside me as I hiked through the brush to the line of trees. We paused there so I could take one more look at the house. Seemed quiet. “Okay. I’m going to enter through that back door on her porch.”
Birdie woofed out a breath in acknowledgment.
I squeezed between the trees, and she followed, then veered off toward the side of the house. I kept going to the porch. I put my back against the door and listened, but there was nothing to hear, just the ambient sounds of the evening. Insects, distant cars, and somewhere, maybe at a neighbor’s, a television.
Which meant that while Francine wasn’t home, her neighbors were. I needed to be careful about letting light shine through the windows.
I tipped my head back and rolled my shoulders. Time to get moving. I channeled my magic and slipped under the door. The usual wave of nausea hit me, so I stayed still as I re-materialized.
Much like at Pandora’s house, the back door joined the kitchen. Except Francine’s kitchen was empty. The glass-front cabinets were bare of dishes and the counters uncluttered, except for a single cup next to a small coffeemaker and a slim stack of paper plates. A box of plastic utensils sat nearby.
Something about the loneliness of it all made me a little sad. But that didn’t mean I was turning back. Francine was responsible for that imp being in town, and a citizen of Nocturne Falls might be in danger. That was enough for me to keep going.
The dim light coming through the windows wasn’t enough to make out the details I needed, so I pulled my phone out of my bra, where I’d tucked it earlier, and brought up my flashlight app.
I kept the light aimed low and in front of me as I started my search. This was my third time inside the house, but in the dark, with towers of boxes and most of the remaining furniture draped for moving, there was a distinctly creepy vibe to the place.
Didn’t help that I wasn’t supposed to be here.
I scanned the boxes, looking for anything marked office or important, but they all just said things like kitchen, dining room, bath. It made sense that what I was looking for wouldn’t be boxed up yet. Not if Francine was still actively doing business, which Birdie had proven with her fake meeting stunt. Birdie had also proven that Francine was willing to deal in black market goods.
That alone made me more suspect of her than ever.
My gut said get upstairs. Chances were very good that’s where Francine kept her essential documents. Possibly in a briefcase or on her laptop—but since I’d gotten a paper receipt from the moving company and Bryn had made such a big deal about accidentally giving me both copies, I was guessing that Francine liked to do things the old-fashioned way. On paper.
A lot of supernaturals did. Especially those who dealt in things that fell, as Corette had put it, into a gray area.
I climbed the steps to the second story, cringing every time one of them creaked. Francine’s bedroom wasn’t hard to find. It was the only room that looked lived in. From the doorway, I could see that the bed, an elaborate brass thing with a tea rose patterned chenille spread, was neatly made.
White wood furniture finished out the rest of the bedroom set. Her dresser held a few things, some jewelry and a single crystal perfume bottle on a mirrored tray, a folded silk scarf and a hairbrush. Boring stuff.
I stepped inside and shifted my phone to light more of the room. There was no briefcase or laptop anywhere I could see.
Then an awful thought occurred to me. What if she’d taken everything with her to the fake meeting? Son of a nutcracker. I did another quick sweep of the room. Nothing. But then something pulled me back to her nightstand.
I went closer and brought my light up. The small bedside table held only a lamp and a book (Winterbottom’s Guide to Curious Antiques), but the nightstand had a drawer. I crossed my fingers and slid it open.
I sucked in a breath. Inside was a ledger. I tucked the phone between my chin and chest and took the book out. Scribbled on the first page was a list of dates, names and items.
This had to be it, and frankly, it was a Christmas miracle that I’d found exactly what I was looking for so fast. I thanked my lucky stars.
I put the book on the bed and brought up my camera to take pictures of the pages.
Which was exactly when a low, keening howl pierced the quiet.
No longer caring about the flash, I snapped as many pics as I could as fast as possible and hoped the light couldn’t be seen by whoever was approaching. I wasn’t even sure the pictures were in focus, especially because my hands were shaking, but I did the best I could. I flipped page after page, then hit one that was blank. The next few were empty, too. Excellent. I hoped that meant I’d gotten everything.
I jammed the book back into the drawer and shut it, then hustled downstairs, careful not to trip over anything in the dark since turning my flashlight back on didn’t seem like a smart move. Yeah, I know, neither did breaking into someone’s house, but that gift had already been unwrapped.
I tucked my phone into my bra and went out the back door the same way I’d come in, desperate to leave before whoever Birdie had warned me about showed up. That meant I had to recover from the Saint Nick Slide while moving.
Which also meant I tripped down the stairs and landed in the grass at the bottom of the steps.
Instead of getting up, I took a moment and closed eyes in an attempt to stop things from spinning. Also, throwing up in Francine’s yard would definitely leave some DNA behind. A few breaths later, when I no longer felt like I was on the deck of a ship in a violent storm, I opened my eyes. And stared directly at a pair
of polished black boots.
Next to those were Birdie’s sensible white driving mocs.
I lifted my head. Oh boy.
Sheriff Hank Merrow stared down at me, one hand on his gun belt. There was enough light to tell that he wasn’t happy. Although he sort of wore that grumpy expression all the time, so it was difficult to judge his actual state of mind.
Birdie put her hand on his arm. “I told you, Hank, she was just having a look through the windows to see the house. It’s my fault. I’m the one who told her the house was for sale.”
He grunted. “The house has been sold for a month, Birdie.”
Her eyes went innocently wide. “Oh no, I heard the deal fell through. That it was going back on the market. In fact, I parked at Pandora’s so that we could go talk to her afterwards if Jayne liked the place.”
He looked at me again. “Is that right, Miss Frost?”
Was lying to the police a crime? Probably, but I nodded anyway. Birdie’s lie was a good one, and since I had nothing better to offer, going along seemed like the right plan.
He reached a hand down to me and helped me up. “You always go house hunting dressed like a cat burglar?”
“I, uh—” I cleared my throat and tried to buy myself some time by brushing the grass off my yoga pants.
“Hank, leave the girl be. What she’s wearing is no concern of yours. I mean, honestly. If she was going to bust into someone’s house, would she be wearing those silly shoes? They’re hardly shoes at all. Certainly not appropriate for nefarious activities. More for a day at the beach if you ask me.”
He slanted his eyes at her. “I didn’t.”
But that didn’t stop her. “And really, to even accuse her of such a thing. She’s royalty, for Pete’s sake. My word, you could cause an international supernatural incident with these silly suppositions.”
He frowned. “Birdie, I hardly think—”
“You want to explain to Charlie why Princess Jayne’s uncle, Santa Claus, no longer delivers to Nocturne Falls? Well, do you?”
I raised my eyebrows like I was very interested in that answer too. In truth, I was trying very hard not to laugh. Birdie on a roll was an incredible thing to behold.
A moment passed before the sheriff spoke to me again. “You’re still trespassing on private property. Whether or not the house is for sale makes no difference, you understand?”
“Absolutely. Won’t happen again.” I put on my most sincere face. I was good at looking contrite. Just ask my dad. “I’m really sorry. I certainly didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
He nodded. “Go home. The two of you.”
“Fine,” Birdie sniffed. “Come on, Jayne. We might as well cut through here to Pandora’s. It’s just on the other side of these trees.”
I brushed off a few more bits of grass as we started forward. I was amazed we weren’t getting arrested. I didn’t know if it was Pandora’s protection spell or Birdie’s persuasiveness, but I wasn’t about to press my luck to find out.
Birdie shook her head as we reached the tree line. “Breaking and entering, my foot.” She snorted and shot Hank a last look. “I will be five minutes late tomorrow. Now that I know you’re given to jumping to conclusions, I thought I ought to tell you in case you decide I’ve been kidnapped or sold into slavery or some such thing.”
“If only,” he muttered.
“I heard that,” she barked back.
I kept my mouth shut until we were back inside Pandora’s house. That might have been the first time I remembered to breathe, too. I gulped down air, the feeling that I’d been holding my breath very real. “Yelping yetis, that was close.”
Pandora locked the door and closed the curtains behind us. “What happened? I know something happened. I felt it.”
“Mind if I sit?” I didn’t wait for her to answer, just slumped into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
Pandora bit her lip. “That bad?”
Birdie waved her hand through the air with the casualness of someone who’d just come from a leisurely evening stroll. “Oh, Hank showed up. I think he was following me. He always was a nosy child. I took care of it.”
Pandora squinted like she was sure there was more to that story. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t get into any trouble.” She looked at me. “Did you find what you were after?”
“I think so, but I won’t know for sure until I look at the pictures on my phone.”
As if on cue, Pandora’s cell chirped. She pulled the phone from her back pocket and typed something in response. Then she tucked it away. “Cole and Kaley are on their way home, so if you don’t want to explain why you’re here, you’d better go. I did ask him to bring me a pint of mint chip, though. That’ll buy you a little time.”
“Thank you.” I stood. I was ready to be home. “I really appreciate the help. And the protection spell, which I’m sure gave Birdie the edge with the sheriff.”
Pandora laughed. “I doubt that’s true, but you’re welcome all the same. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”
“I will.”
Birdie and I headed out, and by the time we reached the warehouse, my pulse had finally returned to normal. She pulled alongside the curb and put the car in park. “Let me know what you find out from those pictures. I can run any names you come up with and tell you if they live in town or not.”
“I’ll probably just send them to you. I’ll go through them tonight before I go to bed—there’s no way I could sleep right now anyway—but I don’t know enough people to know who lives here and who doesn’t.” I shook my head. “Thanks for coming with me.”
She grinned. “It was fun.”
“Maybe for you. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. We could have ended up in jail!”
She laughed. “Oh honey, Hank wouldn’t arrest either one of us. I’m his aunt and you’re royalty. He’s much smarter than that.”
“Good thing.” He was clearly a man of the law, first and foremost, but tangling with his aunt was obviously something he preferred to avoid. “I’ll let you know what I find. Have a good night.”
“You too, Princess.”
I grabbed my purse and got out, too weary to remind her to call me Jayne. I stumbled up to my apartment and was fishing for my key when I remembered that barging in could scare the imp away if he was in the box eating the fudge.
I kind of wanted to cry. After the night I’d had, I was not in the mood to slide under another door.
Sadly, I really didn’t have a choice if I wanted to catch that stupid thing. I stood there for a moment, gathering my courage and giving myself a little pep talk, then finally did the deed.
I managed to quietly get into a seated position on the other side, giving myself a chance to recover close to the ground. I sat there for a good seven or eight minutes, eyes closed, just letting everything even out. Finally, I took my flip-flops off, set them by the door, and pushed to my feet.
I tiptoed over to the box.
An edge of the fudge was gone.
I held my breath and peered closer. There were tiny teeth marks and a little green dust in the box, but it was otherwise empty. The imp had been here. But if Corette’s visibility spell was working, he certainly wasn’t here now.
Snowballs.
Maybe he was still in the apartment. If so, I should shut the window first, then have a look around. I padded toward the window and immediately stepped in something squishy.
I closed my eyes. Please don’t let it be imp poop. Or worse, the imp.
Lip curled, I lifted my foot for inspection. The ball of my foot was sticky with a creamy substance that smelled of nutmeg. Whew. Just my aunt’s fudge. Then I got a tiny bit riled. That little bugger had taken a bite and spit it out!
Wow. He was going to be a tough customer if my aunt’s fudge wasn’t to his liking. I scraped the fudge off my foot with my fingernail, then got the window shut. I washed my hands before searching the apartment for the imp.
I didn’t see it or green dust anywhere. Spider was sleeping in the bathroom sink. I nudged him. “Hey.”
He yawned, then curled up harder, giving me a little meow. “Sleepy.”
“I see that, but I need to ask you a question.”
He smacked his lips. “Hungry.”
“What’s new? Listen, did you see a little green thing flying around the apartment tonight?”
He blinked up at me, suddenly interested. “Bug?”
“No, not a bug exactly. An imp. The thing that you let out of the box when you knocked it over, but now it’s supposed to be visible.” I flapped my hands. Because why not imitate a creature I’d never seen? “It’s green, or at least part of it is, and it flies around. Maybe looking for food. Anything?”
“Toy?”
I sighed. “I’ll get you some dinner.”
On my way to the kitchen, my left boob vibrated. I took my phone out and checked the screen. I had a text from Greyson.
Nightcap? Or are you still out?
I thought about it. I was pretty beat and really needed to go through those snaps I’d taken before bed, but seeing him would be great. And he knew everything that was going on, so maybe he’d have some idea about what bait to try in the box next.
Nope, just got home, I typed back. Come on over. Then I got to work getting Spider some food.
I kid you not, two minutes later Greyson was rapping on my window. I wasn’t even done washing the Mackerel Stew off my hands. I turned the faucet off and grabbed a towel to dry with as I leaned back and glanced toward the window. “It’s open.”
He slid the window up and climbed through, his long legs first, then the rest of him following under like a limbo contestant. “Open or closed?”
“Open a crack. Thanks.” I folded the towel and left it by the sink.
“Still haven’t caught that imp, hmm?”
“Nope.” I walked over to him, suddenly craving the comfort of his arms. “And apparently my aunt’s fudge wasn’t to his liking, so I have to come up with something new for bait.”
Miss Frost Ices The Imp: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 2) Page 15