He hesitated. “I know I’m not on the approved list, but I should help you bring these things up.”
I smiled. “It’s okay. I can handle it. I’m still stronger than the average human, you know.”
“It’s not about that. It’s about being a gentleman.”
“Even better. But I got it.” I held out my hands. I really didn’t want to get on Toly’s bad side, even if the payoff was more time with Greyson. Hot guys took a back seat to getting this job done.
He handed me his bag and helped me balance it with the jug of litter. Then he lifted his hands, threaded his fingers through my hair and kissed me.
I lost my breath for a moment, but just as I figured out what he was doing, the kiss was over, leaving me wanting more.
Nicely played, Greyson.
But those words stayed in my head. No immediate verbal response came to me. Outside of wow, which didn’t seem like an adult response.
He smiled. “See you Saturday, Lilibeth.”
I nodded. “Saturday.”
Then he drifted into the shadows and was gone. It happened so fast, I almost doubted he’d actually been there, except for the lingering scent of cinnamon.
In a happy sort of daze, I made my way upstairs. The buzz from the wine might be gone, but the buzz from Greyson and his kiss had taken its place very effectively.
I dumped the bags on the kitchen counter, unpacked the goods and put them away, then gave Spider a can of food to see how he’d like it.
As if not liking it was even a possibility. He purred while he ate, and his happy noises added to my general euphoria.
Life was good. So good, I wasn’t ready to go to bed yet.
Five minutes later, I was standing in Bertie’s old apartment, wobbling slightly from the magical aftershocks of slipping under the crack of his door. As everything balanced, I started looking around, going for the pile of mail that had been on his kitchen counter.
It was gone. So was the calendar next to the fridge.
I checked the bathroom. Toothpaste, toothbrush, razor, all gone. In the bedroom, the walk-in closet was empty. The whole place was as spotless as a hotel room and just as impersonal. It appeared everything that had belonged to Bertie had been stripped away.
The only difference between now and the last time I’d been in here was that the cleaning service had come through.
I didn’t know what to think. Had Toly told the cleaning service to get rid of everything? Was this how he handled an employee that went missing? Erase and move on? It was really strange.
With nothing to investigate, I went back to my apartment and got ready for bed. I was definitely calling my father in the morning, but first I needed to make some sense of what I knew.
I got out the files I’d been given and looked through them one more time, studying the pictures. Bertie had cropped navy hair with a sprinkling of gray throughout. He’d been older, probably working at the shop because he’d earned it, and based on the color of his hair, his magic skills had been high. The rest of the employees all seemed to fall into that category as well. But then, you had to be reasonably gifted to work here.
I grunted in disappointment. I’d hoped to see some new detail or something that might spark a thought or make a connection as to why these elves might have left.
But nothing new popped out at me. Six elves had quit. All of them without any previous complaints or indication that they had been thinking about leaving. At least none that Juniper could tell me about.
I put the files in the nightstand drawer, turned out the light and lay down. I stared at the ceiling in frustration. I was going to have to talk to Toly. I didn’t want to, but I needed to hear his take on all this.
I rolled over, trying to get comfortable, but my apprehension about the impending conversation was making me fidgety.
Spider jumped up on the bed, curled into a ball against my stomach and was snoring softly within minutes.
“Must be nice.” I petted him, enjoying the silky feel of his coat. “I hope you don’t mind the cold when we head north. Maybe we’ll get you a sweater.”
I shifted again, seeking a position that would lead to sleep. Then I made myself think about Greyson instead of Toly. Not such a hard thing to do. Especially if I replayed that over-too-soon kiss.
Then finally, with a smile on my face, I drifted off.
I woke to someone touching my face. I sat up with a start and nearly tossed Spider off the bed. Okay, not someone exactly. I caught my breath and gave him a stern look. “Spider, you little dickens. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? No paws to the face this early.”
He trilled at me, tail in the air, and lifted his front foot again. Someone wanted breakfast.
The clock read eight thirty.
“Fine, I’m getting up.” In sleep pants and a T-shirt, I padded into the kitchen and opened a can of food for him, then refilled his dry food and gave him fresh water while he ate.
The job of cat mothering done, I took my phone off the charger, grabbed a Dr Pepper and the box of donuts, and went to sit on the couch. I turned the TV on. It went right to the Weather Channel. I left it there for background noise. I figured it would be a decent day. It was Georgia in April. How bad could it be?
I sent Juniper a quick text. She’d be headed down to the store soon.
Checked Bertie’s last night after all. Cleaned out. We can talk later.
Her response came in three minutes. Weird. Def talk later. Have fun with Coop. ;)
Ah, yes. My non-date. I thought about canceling with Cooper, but I wanted to ask him some of the same questions I’d asked Greyson last night to see if I could get any further.
Then it occurred to me that Cooper, as a town employee and a firefighter, might have access to that elevator too. There had to be stuff down there that could catch on fire. I grimaced. I was really going to have to be nice to him today. Like, flirty nice. Ugh.
“Oh, Spider, the things this job is making me do.” I sighed and shook my head. His never came up from the food bowl.
I needed to talk to my dad, too, but that wasn’t happening until I injected some much-needed caffeine and sugar into my system. After the satisfying hiss of my Dr Pepper being opened, I munched a donut and watched the forecast for the day. High sixties. Or full-on summer for a winter elf.
Definitely time to buy some sandals. Which meant I was going to need a pedicure, because my little piggies needed a makeover. Of course, all of that assumed I was going to be here awhile. Was I? No clue. I wasn’t getting very far figuring out why the employees had left.
Why hadn’t Bertie taken his stuff? I felt like if I could answer that, I’d shed some light on the whole thing.
Which was why a conversation with Toly had to happen.
I finished my donut and half the Dr Pepper then gave the snow globe a good shake. I turned down the volume on the TV while I waited for my dad to appear.
By the start of donut number two, he showed. “Morning, sweetheart.”
I wiped chocolate glaze off my mouth with the back of my hand. “Hi, Dad. How’s it going up there?”
“Good. Your mother’s decided to take up scrapbooking.” He made a face. “The dining room table looks like Martha Stewart threw up on it.”
My mother and her arts and crafts. “You enjoy that.”
He laughed. “Thanks. How’s it going for you?”
“Well…I have some questions. And some news. Maybe.” I shrugged a little. “I’m not sure where to start, so this may be a little disjointed, but there’s definitely more to this whole thing than the former employees being poached away by another company. In fact, I’m pretty sure the elves didn’t go missing of their own accord.”
“What makes you think that?”
“For one, Bertie’s apartment—”
“I meant to talk to you about that. We’d like you to document that his things are still there. If you can, take some pictures, save them to a flash drive then send it to us through the Santa
’s Bag.”
“No can do. What I was going to say was that Bertie’s apartment, as of last night, is empty and ready for a new employee.”
“Any chance he came back in the middle of the night and did it himself?”
“I doubt it.” Mostly because I’d been in there in the middle of the night. “My best guess is the cleaning service that comes every week took care of it. Do you know who they are?”
“Not without having the Financial Department dig into the store’s books. We leave those contracts up to the managers at each store. Toly would have all that information.”
“Great.” I downed some more Dr Pepper. “I need to talk to him, but I’m not looking forward to it. He seems easily upset. And prone to bouts of crankiness.”
“Don’t make things too hard on yourself. You do have to work for the man a little while longer.”
“I know. And I won’t.” Donut number three called to me. I ignored its chocolatey siren song to carry on the conversation. “Here’s a question for you. Did the town of Nocturne Falls contact you about this situation, or did you already know about it? You being you or Uncle Kris.”
“We knew about it because of the census, but within a week of that, the Ellinghams reached out to us. Just a weird coincidence. What makes you ask?”
“Curiosity. Sort of a chicken and egg thing. Doesn’t matter. One more question. Do you know about the elevator that’s in the vestibule of the building here? The one that’s for Nocturne Falls employees only?”
He nodded. “Sure do. One of the stipulations of buying the building was deeding that particular part of the property to the town.”
“So…the elevator’s not actually owned by the company?”
“Right.”
“Huh. Where does it go?”
He laughed. “The sewers and electrical, sweetheart. Why? Having some plumbing issues?”
“No.” So much for that. But I could see why the town wouldn’t want people down there. You could mess up a town’s ability to function pretty badly by damaging either one of those systems. “Just wondering. Toly has kittens anytime someone goes near it.”
“That’s because we have an understanding with the town that it’s off-limits to us and our employees. We incur all costs for damages caused by the actions of our workers, and after three strikes, they can recall our deed.”
“No wonder he freaks out about it.” I leaned forward. “Could they really take the property back over that elevator?”
“According to the sales contract we signed, yes.”
That made me think there could definitely be more down there than sewer and electrical, but if my dad had known what else it was, I was sure he would have told me. “How about that.” I sat back and gave in to the urge for another donut.
“By the way, I found an answer to your questions about breaks and the quota. Believe it or not, Georgia state law doesn’t require breaks for workers. As a company, however, we mandate half an hour minimum for lunch and another fifteen-minute break when the shift is eight hours or more.”
“Toly’s definitely not following that policy. Lunch is twenty minutes, and I did not get a fifteen-minute break when I worked eight hours.”
“That’s not enough reason for workers to quit, though.” He frowned. “Is it?”
“No, I don’t think so. Look, don’t do anything about that just yet. I don’t want him to think I’m making waves at corporate.”
“Understood. About the sales quota, there is none. The stores make more than enough money, and really, they’re how we see what toys are trending, test new products, find out what kids want next, that sort of thing. We aren’t so concerned with sales that we demand figures be met.”
“Huh. Then Toly’s using the idea of the quota to keep his employees busy.”
“Could be. You have plans for the day?”
“Yep. Doing a little town research, then working the evening shift. Five to close, which is ten o’clock. And I may try to talk to Toly. I’ll have to see how brave I feel.”
He laughed. “All right. Have a good one.”
“You too. Tell Mom I said hi.”
“Will do.”
The snow settled. I put the globe back, kicked my feet up onto the coffee table and concentrated on the donut while my mind whirled around the problem at hand.
What on earth was going on? So many things seemed to be more than what they were.
Spider came over and crawled into my lap. One thing I knew for sure. No one in their right mind would purposefully leave this sweet animal behind.
Which meant whatever had happened to Bertie had happened against his will. Or had at least resulted in him being unable to return. What could that be?
A chill shook me.
Was Bertie dead?
I knew right then I had to find a way to talk to the police and see if any John Does had shown up lately. But that wasn’t going to be easy. As far as they knew, I had just moved here. What authority did I have to be asking about missing-persons reports and unclaimed bodies? And if the Ellinghams were as on top of what was happening in this town as Greyson said, would they even allow the police to release that kind of info?
It had to be logged somewhere, right? Just because they were vampires and this town was full of supernaturals didn’t mean crime didn’t happen or get reported. No one was above the law.
Maybe Cooper could help. As a firefighter, he had to know people. At the very least he could point me in the right direction.
And I had to do all that without Toly getting a whiff.
I scratched Spider’s belly. “Today is going to be very interesting.”
With a sigh, I reached for a fourth donut. Something told me it was going to be that kind of day. And not just because I had to be extra nice to Cooper.
I was so distracted by the thoughts in my head that I almost went down to meet Cooper without my purse. At the last second, I threw the strap over my shoulder, double-checked that I had my phone and locked up.
I was three minutes early.
Of course, he was already there. Hands in his pockets, he greeted me with a grin. For a moment, I was standing outside my dorm hall. I shook off the memory as he spoke. “Nice day, huh?”
“Sure is. Blue sky, sun is shining—”
“And I have a pretty girl to keep me company.”
I smiled. So sue me. “Thanks.” I chewed on my lip. I needed to say something back. “You look nice.” He did. Jeans and T-shirt on some guys could look schlumpy, but on Cooper, they highlighted his casual good looks and exceptional physique.
“Thanks. You look nice, too.”
I’d warred between looking cute enough to encourage his attention and not so cute that he thought I was into him. Considering I needed his help, I’d leaned toward more cute rather than less cute. But I was still just in jeans, a floaty top and a cardigan. Nothing fancy. Although I’d gone with ballet flats instead of boots. It just wasn’t boot weather. “Where are we off to today?”
“First a tour of the town, then a stop for something sweet—or several somethings sweet—then a different way home to see some more of the town.”
“Sounds good. Lead the way.” As we walked toward Main, I hoped there would be plenty of openings for me to ask the questions I needed to. Seeing the town was great, and might give me more insight into the whole situation, but my head ached with the amount of unanswered questions I had.
There wasn’t much chance for small talk initially. Cooper took the tour-guide role seriously, pointing out all sorts of things along the way, telling me about the shops and the shop owners, including a jewelry store owned by a fae woman who’d apparently given up the crown of her kingdom for the love of a gargoyle.
“She really walked away from becoming queen in the name of love?”
Cooper looked pleased to have shared such a story with me. “Sure did.”
“Wow.”
His brows lifted. “You seem shocked. Wouldn’t you do the same?”
His question threw me for a second, and I had to remind myself he didn’t know who I really was. “Of course I would.”
He made a face. “Some women wouldn’t. I know that.”
Maybe I was being paranoid, but that sounded like it was aimed at me. The real me. “What makes you say that?”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing. Something that happened a long time ago.”
“But you were obviously affected by it. Or her.”
He frowned, and a few moments of silence passed between us. “I was in love with someone once. But we didn’t work out because of the choices she made. Choices based on what her family might think about me.”
“That’s not—” I was about to say what happened. Then I caught myself. “Right. Just not right.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
Clearly we had different memories of what actually gone down. But this was neither the time nor the place to remind him that he was the one who’d flaked on me right before Christmas break, refusing to come north with me and meet my parents.
And that he’d been the one who’d broken things off. He’d been the one who’d decided he couldn’t handle being involved with a princess. I scowled, unable to forget the way he’d said that word to me, calling me that like it was my fault for being next in line for the winter throne.
As if I had any say in who my family was.
“Hey, you all right?”
I glanced over at him and his stupid handsome face. “What?”
“You look like you ate a bad fig.”
“Oh, no, I was just…” Think fast. And lose the attitude. “Remembering I have to work tonight.”
He laughed. “I thought working at the shop was a big deal. That you had to be on a waiting list to even get the job.”
“It is. And you do. But Toly’s kind of…” I glanced around like I was hoping no one could overhear us. “Mean.”
Coop nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard from the other workers he can be tough sometimes.”
“I get it, he’s the manager and the responsibilities are all on his shoulders, but I didn’t expect him to be such a task master, you know?”
Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case Page 8