“Jenny!” I jumped up. “We’re leaving now.”
She stumbled through with her call as I threw my jacket on and looked for my keys.
She finished up scheduling the pizza for a later delivery with the guy on the phone and started getting her jacket and boots on. “Lacey?”
“The guy with the dogs is down by the shop. We’re going now, and maybe we can find him. Call Trace on the way and give him a heads up.”
She let out an excited squeal as we both ran out the door.
I sped to get to the shop, and I swung the car into the parking lot, my eyes scanning the area for the man. Duo, he’d said his name was. He could only be a half mile or one at most if he walked fast in the fifteen minutes that it took me to get to the shop. Maybe someone had seen him.
Jenny and I jumped out of the car and went to the front of the building. There was no sign of Duo. Nothing but the news crew starting to pack up from their piece. I growled. Okay, time to start searching.
“Now what?”
“You take the south, I’ll take the north. We hope he didn’t go east or west.” I started back to the car.
Trace stuck his head out of the office. “What are you doing?”
“Searching on foot. Want to come?”
He nodded and locked up the office behind him. “Where at?”
“You go west. I know there’s a camp over there, maybe we’ll get lucky and he went that way.”
We all split up, and I ran up the block, glancing in shops and down the alleyways in hopes of spotting him or the dogs.
I skidded to a stop when I came to a small gift shop. I saw the dogs tied up on the outside. I went over to them and loved on them for a moment, searching for the collars they were supposed to have, but Duo had replaced the callers with walking harnesses.
“Nana?” I asked the white fluffy Wheaton Terrier. Her little tail started going wild, and she tried to jump into my arms. I was going to take that as a good sign. I went to untie her and the Patches, but someone grabbed my wrist.
I looked up, expecting to see Duo grabbing my arm, but I looked up into the dark eyes of Salazar staring back at me.
My heart pounded as his grip tightened on my wrist. I had a moment where I could scream or pass out from fear. I didn’t want him near me. I opened my mouth to scream, but he put a finger to my lips.
“Did you like my present?”
My eyes widened at his question, and I tried to figure out what he was talking about. Gift?
My mind flashed to the woman at my shop.
Holy shit.
“Think of this as payback, Lacey Willows.” He disappeared in a puff of smoke, and I turned around to see that the dogs were gone.
My heart pounded. There were ways that stronger witches and wizards could cast magical screens to hide from people, and I was willing to bet that’s what Salazar did. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but at least he hadn’t tried to murder me. Yet.
I took a few deep breaths and walked back to my shop, trying to think things over. I needed to put Salazar on the radar so that if he was really involved, the cops could look at him as a possible suspect.
I saw Officer Brigs standing at the window of my shop with his hands on his hips. “Office Brigs, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Of course.” He looked at me.
“There’s a man that goes by the name of Salazar. He just grabbed my wrist while I was trying to free the dogs Trace and I are trying to find. He asked me if I enjoyed the present that he had left me.”
Brigs nodded a few times while I had been talking. “And do you know where this man is now?”
“No, he disappeared.” A sinking feeling claimed my stomach.
“Interesting. I’ll make a note, Ms. Willows.” He wrote something down.
It sounded very much like he didn’t believe me, but I let it go. At least he had hopefully written down a note about Salazar.
Who I never wanted to see again.
Trace and Jenny came back to Trace’s office almost at the same time. Both of them were breathing hard, like they’d run the whole way too.
“Any luck?” Jenny asked.
“Yeah, I almost had them, and then an old friend decided to grab me, and the dogs disappeared. I’m pretty sure Duo is our guy, though. I saw him on the news camera with the dogs. So, all we need to do is hunt him down.”
“And how do you think you’re going to do that?” Trace recovered his breath.
“Well, I gave you Jackson’s number.” I looked at him. “Call him and see if he can work some of his own magic.”
“Who was the old friend?” Jenny frowned. “Any of your actual friends would have let you be.”
Trace crossed his arms. “Salazar.”
I sighed. “Yes.”
“You saw him at the costume party a few months ago, and now you’re seeing him on this case. I don’t like it.”
“I was told that he was let out on bond, but I didn’t think of the idea that he would come after me for revenge.”
Trace nodded. “Did you talk to Officer Brigs?”
“Yeah, he said he’d make a note about it.” I shrugged. “So, for now, we just have to wait. I’m going to talk to Moses. Maybe I can get some more information out of him.”
Trace raised a brow. “And how do you expect to do that?”
“Exchange him work for money, see if he’ll chat while we work.” I crossed my arms. “I could use some help cleaning up the shop when they release the scene.”
“I’ll call Jackson and see if he can help.”
“Um, try not to invite him to the office?” Jenny offered. “He doesn’t know where Lacey’s shop is, and it would probably be best to keep it that way.”
Trace looked at me, and I shrugged. “What can I say, he had a habit of stalking me? That’s how I know his magic is good?”
“Lacey.”
I couldn’t decipher the tone of Trace’s voice, so I gave him a little wave. “I’m going to head home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Jenny came with me after a moment. “Salazar, I thought we were done with that man.”
“He told me he left a gift at the shop. I’m not sure what to think about that. I don’t think Officer Brigs took me seriously either.”
Jenny hmmed as we got into the truck. “Who do you think the woman was to him?”
“If the PI that came before was any clue, it was Salazar’s wife.” I pressed my lips together, “and possibly his son.”
“You aren’t thinking about finding him, are you?”
I laughed. “If you don’t remember, I took him out last time with a horde of fluffy bunnies. I don’t think I could repeat that situation if I tried. No, I think it’s better to let him get caught himself.”
Jenny was silent the rest of the drive home. My brain was elsewhere while we drove. Did Salazar kill his wife? Did he think I killed her?
Was the body the present?
I tried to push the thoughts from my head as I drove.
CHAPTER SIX
We pulled up to the house to find my mom standing there with a cake holder in one hand and a cupcake container in the other. I looked at Jenny.
“There’s no getting out of this. She’s seen you. We can’t run.”
Crap, she was right. My mother’s eyes were right on the car. I got out and plastered a fake smile on my face.
“Mom, what do I owe this pleasure?”
Jenny got out of the car and hung back a bit.
My mother grinned when she saw Jenny. “Jenny! I haven’t seen you in a while! I’m so glad you’re here. I brought cake.”
“That’s wonderful, Mrs. Willows. I can’t wait to try it.”
I had no idea how Jenny managed to sound so enthusiastic about my mom’s baking, maybe she could teach me.
I went and let my mom and Jenny into the house and set my purse down on the couch.
My mom went straight to the little dining area and sat the cake and cupcakes down on the table.
She opened the containers, and I looked at the cupcakes and the cake. They didn’t look bad. Judging by the coconut frosting, I would say they were going to be German Chocolate.
They didn’t smell bad.
They looked good.
Maybe she used witchcraft.
My mom smiled. “Your dad helped me with this batch, so I think they should be okay. I made cupcakes too since we had leftover cake batter.
I went to get a knife to cut the cake, but my mom took the knife from me. “Here, I’ll cut it. You go get some plates.”
I did as she told and then heard Jenny gasp when my back was turned. I turned around, expecting something bad.
But what I got was the inside of the cake wasn’t brown, but strawberry pink. It was pretty, but it broke my hope of a chocolate cake.
I came back with the plates. “Oh, that’s pretty.”
“Hm. It was supposed to be chocolate, not strawberry.”
“Did dad sneak something in?”
She shook her head. “No, I tried a spell, though.”
Jenny snorted, and I tried to hide my smile. “Seems like something went a bit wrong.”
“My magic is not quirky like yours.”
I snickered. “That means someone is going to buy a strawberry cake mix, and it’s going to be gone. I thought you said dad helped you with this one?”
“He did, as in he convinced me to try a little magic on it. Last time I ask for his advice.” My mom let out a sigh.
Jenny helped herself to a piece of cake and then took a bite of it. “It might be the wrong color, but it is really good.”
I tried not to give her a skeptical look, but I reached over and broke off a piece and ate it. It tasted like strawberry, but it had a nice hint of chocolate to it. “That is actually really good. Can magic get you disqualified from the contest?”
“They have a magical category, but I’m not trying to advertise that I’m magical, Lacey.”
“Mom, your daughter owns a magic shop, and you asked me to come perform. Someone’s going to figure out that you’re magical as well.” I raised a brow. “Do you think you can recreate this?”
She thought for a moment. “Maybe. I don’t know if I can do it again with the magic.”
“See, now you know how I feel.” I crossed my arms. “Quirky magic is unpredictable.”
She opened her mouth to say something but then shook her head. “I’ll see what I can do.” She took her own slice and took a bite. “Oh, this is really good.”
I grinned. “I have an idea.”
“What?”
“We market it as a surprise cake! Will each bite be different? Will they all be the same? We work with the quirk and not against it.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “With my luck, the next one would be all chocolate.”
“Well, that would still be a surprise, wouldn’t it?”
Jenny laughed. “I think that’s brilliant.”
“And what do you suggest I do to make sure that it is actually cake inside?” My mom poked at her piece.
“Focus on cake, and don’t let anything else get in the way.” I shrugged.
She thought for a moment. “That might just work. Thank you.” She smiled at me.
I went back to eating my piece, and I thought about what I said. Maybe I should follow my own advice. I finished my cake and put the fork down. “That was really good. Thanks, mom.”
Jenny looked at her watch. “We’ll have pizza soon if you want to stay.”
“No, thank you, but I need to get home to see what else I can whip up.” She collected the container with the leftover cake but left the cupcakes. “Enjoy you two, I hope you have a good night.”
She let herself out, and I leaned back in my chair. “She was in an awfully good mood tonight.”
“You don’t think she made that cake, do you?”
“No, she’s always had great control over her magic. My dad might have done it because he’s a lot like me. He just has more control over the quirks.” I looked down at the cake. “This looks more like his work than mom’s.”
Jenny nodded. “I’d agree. Worth digging into?”
“Like I have anything better to do?”
I grabbed my phone and shot my dad a text. “Mom’s cake was amazing, I’m glad she’s embracing her magical side.”
I sat the phone down and waited for a reply. “After pizza, I want to go down to the shop and see if I can’t catch Moses in his truck.”
Jenny licked some frosting off her finger. “Think he’ll talk?”
“I’m not sure, but he’s looking for his dog as well. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and Duo has all three dogs.”
Jenny pulled out her phone and hit a few buttons.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for social media posts about dogs found or dogs missing. We might be able to trace a trail across town or something.”
I stood and grabbed my computer and put it on the table to give us a bigger screen to look at. We pulled up all the lost pet pages we knew of and started going through each post one by one.
“We need a map for this,” I muttered.
Jenny rolled her eyes. “You’re so old fashion, there’s an app for that!” She grabbed my phone and then used my thumb to unlock it, despite my protesting.
She scrolled through a couple things. “Ah-ha!” She clicked on something and then set my phone down in front of me. “Now you can just place a little pin on where the animals disappeared, and then we can see if there’s a pattern that appears.”
It was the best plan that we had right now, and it kept my mind off Salazar and the shop.
A couple hours and a full pizza later, we had lots of pins, but no obvious pattern. I took a sip of soda and looked at the map. “The only thing I can see is that it starts south and ends north. With the Board family as the last known people to lose a pet in the same manner.”
“Social media is an amazing thing that lets us track stuff, but there’s no way to prove that the same guy did all of this.”
I nodded. “You’re right, so let’s dig a little bit more. Who has had animals returned?”
We went back to the massive amounts of Internet tabs and started making a list of those who had their animals returned. A couple of them had public posts that talked about how they’d gotten the animals returned.
One of them mentioned how a guy demanded a hat, not just any hat, though, a magical top hat.
“That has to be Duo,” I muttered. “Here’s hoping these guys are willing to talk to me.” I clicked on a link to send a message to the guy’s social media page.
“Looking for information on the man who took your dog. Do you think you could recognize him if I had a picture?” I hit send and then looked at Jenny.
“Thank you for helping me with this.”
“Of course! It beats sitting around and watching television reruns alone. You live an exciting life compared to me.”
I wasn’t exactly sure if that was true or not. “Only some days.” I laughed. “And I don’t exactly like it that way. Sure the PI stuff is a nice change from the shop, but I really like my little shop.”
The computer dinged, and I looked at the message. “Meet me at the coffee shop on the corner of Cimmeron and Nevada tomorrow morning. I’ll be happy to tell you about the man.”
I typed back. “Deal.”
Jenny smiled. “That’s progress.”
“Yeah, progress that we hope we can verify that it’s Duo and find out where to find him and how to stop him.”
Was serial dog-napping a thing? I guess it would be a pretty clever way of getting cash. Steal a dog, demand ransom.
It wasn’t unheard of. But I wanted to know what Duo wanted with the hats.
My phone buzzed, and I looked to see my dad’s response. “Your mother had no idea I used magic to try and fix it. She tried her magic, and well, the cake was falling apart.”
I laughed and messaged back to ask if mom was freaking
out.
“Yes. She thinks her magic is failing because she’s old.”
I shouldn’t have giggled at the situation, but I did. “You’re going to have to come clean at some point.”
There was no response right away, so I set the phone down and looked at Jenny. “Ready to go back to the shop and see if we can find Moses?”
She nodded and picked up her phone as I shut the computer. “Do you think he can tell us more than the person you’re meeting tomorrow?”
“I don’t know honestly. But I really just want to know if he and Duo have a connection, and I’d also like to know more about the person trying the doors of the shopping center.”
Jenny shrugged. “Maybe he and Duo are one and the same?”
“No, Moses said he had a different name.” I started out to the car. “Maybe he knows what happened to the woman they found in the shop.”
“Did you mention to the cops that someone else was snooping around?” Jenny had a disapproving tone to her voice.
“No, I didn’t. They didn’t really ask.” I sighed. “I should mention it to them now.”
“If they are still there, yes, if not, talk to them tomorrow.”
I tried my hardest not to respond with ‘yes mom’ to her. Instead, I started the car and headed back toward my shop.
I parked behind the shopping center and looked around to see if I could find Moses. I didn’t see a stray truck in the parking lot, but I also didn’t know if that was where he parked or not. I didn’t recall seeing a truck there the past few nights, but I suppose he could have been parked across the street instead.
We turned the corner to the shops and continued down to where Officer Brigs and Trace were working on putting up the board in the window.
“Crime scene all done?” I tried to keep the hopefulness out of my voice.
Brigs dusted off his hands. “It is, your shop is now yours again. Thank you for your patience.”
Jenny looked over the board and then to Officer Brigs. “We had reports of a man trying doorknobs the other night. Have you talked to the local homeless population?”
I tried not to cover my eyes in embarrassment.
“I assure you that we’re talking to as many possible witnesses that we can find, Miss?”
Walking Through Walls Page 6