Miss Frost Saves The Sandman: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 3)

by Kristen Painter

  “Yes, but…” My exhausted brain struggled to catch up. “So are you saying that Sanders’ powers don’t extend to you? That you can’t be influenced by him the way humans and apparently elves and other supernaturals are?” If that was true, maybe the Ellinghams didn’t know about the Big Nap either. Which could work in my favor. At least temporarily.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Being dead has all kinds of advantages. A vampire’s sleep cycle is ruled by the rise and set of the sun.” He shifted a little. “The magic that protects me from the sun also makes it possible for me to ignore the standard vampire coma that comes with it.”

  “How about that. Did you know the whole town was asleep during that time?”

  “No. I was running Lucien’s errand.”

  “Ah, yes, the elusive errand.” I held my hand up. “Don’t worry, I won’t ask what it was.”

  “At least I can tell you what I was doing now that you know about him.”

  “Yes, that makes it so much better.” I rolled my eyes. “If you had been here, would you have known the whole town was asleep?”

  He shrugged. “Not unless I’d left my house. Of course I did, which is how I know there are an unusual number of people either up very early or unable to sleep.”

  My theory about the Ellinghams not knowing was looking more and more plausible. I hoped that would buy me some time to figure out what had happened with the nap and the current sleeplessness, and if it was Sanders’ fault, get him to apologize. And then I hoped that would be enough for the Ellinghams to let it slide. After all, I couldn’t be responsible for everything Sanders did. But if it was Luna’s doing, well, the Ellinghams could do whatever they wanted with her. “You want to come in? I’m clearly not going to sleep.”

  “Sure.” He slipped through the open window.

  My stomach growled. “Maybe I should just fix breakfast. I didn’t get to eat last night.” That sandwich totally didn’t count.

  Greyson’s eyes widened. “You didn’t eat?” He put his hand on my forehead. “Are you well? Perhaps we should get you to the hospital—”

  I pushed his hand away. “Yes, ha ha, very funny. But I’m starving now. Let me rummage around and see what I can come up with.”

  “You want to go to Mummy’s? Let someone else do the work? Or we could order and get it delivered.”

  I stopped in my tracks. Mummy’s would always be my first option for breakfast. “I’d love to go, but it’s a little early for that, don’t you think?”

  He looked at his watch. “It’s ten to six. By the time you change and we walk there, they’ll be serving all the pancakes you can eat.”

  My mouth fell open. “It’s almost six in the morning?”

  “Yes.”

  I groaned. “I haven’t slept a wink other than that stupid nap. Today is going to be rough.”

  “Good thing they serve coffee.” He tipped his head at me. “Are you sure you want to go? I’m okay getting delivery.”

  “No, the walk and the fresh air will do me good. Maybe wake me up enough not to completely lose it on Sanders when I talk to him in a couple hours. Give me a few minutes to pull myself together.”

  “I’ll wait right here.”

  I went to brush my teeth, pull my hair into a ponytail and change. Nothing complicated, just jeans, a T-shirt, and my leather jacket. The weather was finally cool enough for fall clothes and I couldn’t be happier. I liked the warm weather of Georgia, but as Christmas approached, I wanted the cold. It felt like home.

  I kissed Spider on the head and picked up my purse. “I’m not in any mood to jump off the fire escape so you can either take the elevator with me, or I’ll meet you on the sidewalk.”

  He put his arm around my waist. “The elevator it is.”

  Mummy’s was busy. At least it seemed busy, but I’d never been there at six in the morning before, so maybe it was always like that when the place opened. Didn’t matter, we got a booth and settled in. Most of the faces around us looked as tired as I felt. The town-wide insomnia seemed like a very real thing.

  Reena, our server, brought us a carafe of coffee and left it like she knew I was in bad shape. Or maybe I looked that awful. I was beyond caring. And while I normally would have skipped the coffee in favor of a Dr Pepper, today was going to require more caffeine than the doctor could deliver. I poured a cup, dumped in a bunch of sugar and a big glug of cream, and stirred.

  Greyson watched, a mix of amusement and pity in his eyes. “You going to be okay?”

  “What choice do I have?” I sipped the coffee. It wasn’t half bad with all that sugar and cream. “It’s just a lack of sleep, it’s not like I’m dying or anything. I’ll make it through the day. I’m not going to abandon my employees. They’re probably just as sleepy as I am.” Although I might have to cancel on Cooper in favor of a very early bedtime.

  Reena came back. “You kids ready to order?”

  Greyson being called a kid made me smile and instantly lightened my mood. I opened my menu, even though I didn’t need it to know what I wanted. “Blueberry pancakes, extra syrup.”

  “Tall or short stack?”

  “Tall. Side of bacon, too.”

  “You got it.” She turned to Greyson. “And for you, hon?”

  “Steak and eggs. Rare and over easy.”

  “Biscuits, toast or cinnamon roll?”

  He looked at me and smiled. “Cinnamon roll.”

  She nodded and took our menus, tucking them under her arm. “I’ll get that right in.”

  “Reena?” I asked.

  She stopped. “Something else for you, hon?”

  “I was just wondering. How did you sleep last night?”

  She snorted. “Like a baby. I was at my sister’s last night and the book club turned into box-of-wine club, if you know what I mean. Ended up passed out on her couch. Almost missed my shift this morning.”

  As far as I could tell, Reena was human, so maybe not everyone had been affected by the insomnia. “Does your sister live in town?”

  “No, she lives over in Bridgerton.”

  Greyson cleared his throat softly. “The next town over.”

  I smiled at her. “Thanks, Reena. Sounds like you had a fun night.”

  “That we did.” She patted her hand on the table. “I’ll just run that order into the kitchen.”

  I slumped in my seat as she left. “This isn’t good. If the whole town couldn’t sleep, people are going to be seriously cranky. And there’s no way the Ellinghams won’t hear about it.”

  “They won’t blame you. It’s not your fault.”

  “Not directly, but Sanders is here because of the store and that makes him at least partially my responsibility. Even if Luna is behind all this, it’s kind of the same thing. She’s here because of him.” I exhaled hard and stared at the ceiling. “I hope he tells me the truth this morning.”

  “You think he won’t?”

  I looked at Greyson again. “I have no idea.”

  Half a carafe of coffee and a very large stack of pancakes later, I was feeling better about confronting Sanders. It didn’t hurt that Greyson had volunteered to come with me. I’d thought about waiting until eight, but the sooner I got to the bottom of this mess, the better.

  Which is how I came to knock on Sanders’ door at seven fifteen in the morning. I braced myself for an unhappy Olive and an even crankier Sanders, but they were just going to have to deal.

  Unless, of course, they never answered the door. I knocked again. Greyson leaned on the wall and cocked an eyebrow. “Heavy sleepers.”

  “Apparently.”

  “I was being sarcastic.” He tipped his head toward the apartment. “There’s no one inside.”

  I frowned at him. “How do you know?”

  He tapped his ear. “No heartbeats.”

  “Oh. Wait, maybe you can’t hear Sanders’ since he’s not a regular supernatural.”

  “I could hear him in the shop yesterday. His pulse has a very slow, dist
inct rhythm to it. Like a metronome. Trust me, he’s not in the apartment.”

  “Snowballs. If he left early because he didn’t want to deal with me…” My mood took a turn for the cranky. I tried the knob. Locked. “I’m going in.”

  Greyson straightened. “I figured you had a key.”

  “I do, in my office, but I’m not taking the time to go down there and get it.”

  His brow wrinkled. “What are you going to do?”

  “Give me a sec.” I took a breath, called up my magic and slipped under the door. I materialized flat against it and kept my eyes closed for a moment. I’d figured out a while back that keeping them shut gave me the shortest recovery time after the wobbliness of the Saint Nick Slide.

  After a few seconds, I opened them and found a spot to fix my eyes on to make sure the dizziness was all gone. The spot I chose was a small, black dot on the floor.

  As the dot came into focus, I realized what it was.

  A spider. A curled-up, dead spider.

  Luna. There was no real reason to think her name, but that’s all that filled my head. Well, her name and the muted clanging of a distant warning bell. I took a look around and the clanging got louder. The apartment was a disaster. Not the kind of mess it had been after Sanders’ hourglass went missing or the kind of wreck that followed a party or a particularly messy guest, but the kind of chaos that was the remains of a break-in.

  Or a fight.

  I unlocked the door to let Greyson in.

  He stared at me from the other side. “What was that?”

  “Just something I can do.” Now wasn’t the time to explain. “Something’s wrong. Look around.”

  He took a few steps in and let out a low whistle. “I’d say. Sanders ought to treat guest quarters with more respect.”

  “Actually, I was thinking there was a serious throw-down in here.”

  “I could see that too.” He glanced at me. “What else are you thinking?”

  “That Luna Nyx is involved in this.”

  “I don’t know. Sanders was awfully lovey-dovey with her to put up a fight if she wanted him to go somewhere.”

  “Agreed. But Olive wouldn’t have gone willingly, and she’s not here either. You said so yourself. For Sanders to run off with his ex is one thing, but for Olive to have gotten stuck in the middle of it, and possibly had something done to her against her will, now that’s another thing entirely. I like Olive. She’s a hard worker and for as much as she does for Sanders, she doesn’t deserve to have anything bad happen to her.”

  “I agree, but we might be jumping to conclusions here. For all we know Sanders is just exceptionally messy and Olive is off running an errand for him.”

  “Then is this just a coincidence?” I bent down, tamped down my aversion to such things, and picked up the spider. I held it out to Greyson on the flat of my palm. “I mean, maybe it’s just a dead spider.”

  His brows lifted and then he shook his head. “And maybe it’s not.”

  “We should call the sheriff, get something official going,” Greyson said.

  “Sure, in a sec.” I had another question first. “Do you smell blood?” I really needed the answer to be no.

  His nostrils flared, then he shook his head. I exhaled in relief as he spoke. “There might have been a struggle but no blood was spilled. At least not here.”

  “Good.” I deposited the spider onto the small entry table, happy not to have it in my hand anymore. “We should look around, see if we can find anything that might tell us where Luna took them or what her next step might be. Olive’s a smart cookie; if she had a chance to leave a clue, she would have.”

  “I still think we need to call the sheriff.”

  “We do. And I will. In fact, how about while I do that, you go have a look through the rest of the apartment and see if you can find anything that might be a hint? Just be careful what you touch in case the sheriff wants to dust for prints. Or maybe that’s not a thing since most supernaturals wouldn’t have prints on file anyway.”

  “There are some. I’ll keep my hands to myself just to be on the safe side.” He headed toward the bedrooms while I dialed.

  I’d put the sheriff’s department on speed-dial a couple months ago. Really it was so I could get a hold of Birdie whenever I needed her. Mostly to answer questions and hit up Mummy’s for breakfast with me. (I had serious respect for the woman’s appetite.) I hadn’t imagined I’d be calling her about a suspected kidnapping.

  “Nocturne Falls Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Merrow speaking.”

  So much for getting Birdie. I guess it was a little early for her to be at her desk. But the sheriff was who I was trying to reach anyway. “Sheriff? It’s Jayne Frost. I think there’s been a kidnapping.”

  “Who’s been kidnapped?”

  I liked that he got right to it, but then Sheriff Merrow was not a man who made small talk regardless of the situation. “Tempus Sanders and his assistant, Olive Pine. Or maybe not Sanders at all, maybe just his assistant. I’m not sure, but something’s not right. They should have been here and—”

  “The Sandman?”

  I took a breath and told myself to stop rambling. “Yes.”

  The sheriff muttered a curse before asking, “Where are you?”

  “In the apartment the company keeps for special guests and corporate visits. It’s where Sanders and his assistant are staying while they’re here. Top floor of the building in back of the shop. Door’s open.”

  “I know the apartments. On my way.” He hung up.

  I did the same and turned to see Greyson walking toward me. A thought occurred to me. “Any chance you saw Olive’s messenger bag lying around?”

  “No. That must have gone with her.”

  “I figured. Find anything else?”

  “Enough to make me think the spider you found wasn’t just a spider.” He held out his hand. In it was a small sprig of black baby’s breath.

  “Where was it?”

  “The smaller bedroom.”

  “Olive’s room.” This was getting worse by the second. “That proves Luna was here.”

  “It does. Doesn’t mean she’s the one who caused all this or the reason Sanders and Olive are missing, but it sure doesn’t make her look innocent.”

  “But what reason would she have for being in Olive’s room?”

  Greyson added the baby’s breath to the entry table, placing it next to the spider. “Nothing I can come up with. You get a hold of someone at the station?”

  “The sheriff is on his way.”

  A knock sounded on the open door. I looked to see Kip standing there.

  “Everything okay?” He yawned.

  “Not really. Did you sleep last night?” I could guess the answer to that based on the dark circles under his eyes.

  “No, and I feel awful.”

  “You’re not alone.” The insomnia might come in handy. “Did you hear anything last night or early this morning? Sounds of a struggle maybe?”

  He glanced past me at the apartment as he shook his head. “No. But I ended up watching movies all night and I had my headphones on.” He made eye contact with me again. “I didn’t want to be the reason anyone else couldn’t sleep.”

  “Very considerate of you, but the sleeplessness was widespread.”

  That didn’t seem to register as much as the mess behind me, which was all he seemed to be looking at. “What happened in there?”

  I hesitated. “I’m not sure yet, but as of right now, Sanders and Olive are missing.”

  His eyes rounded. “Oh, wow. That’s not good.”

  “No, it’s not. And I don’t mind you sharing that information with the other employees, but I’d really like to keep a lid on things. Now is not the time to start a bunch of wild rumors.”

  He nodded. “Wouldn’t look good for any of us.”

  I was the only one the blame would fall on, but I appreciated the solidarity. “Right.”

  He rubbed at his eyes. “Well, let
me know if I can do anything to help. Until it’s time to open, I’ll be in my apartment trying to wake myself up enough to make it through the day.” He grimaced. “I mean, I’ll be fine. I don’t want you to think I’ll be doing less than my best at work today.”

  “I know, Kip. And we’re all dragging, so you’re not in this alone.” As he went back to his place, I returned to the chaos. Greyson was in the middle of the living room having a look around.

  He crouched and peered closer at something. “That’s interesting.”

  I took a few steps forward. “What is it?”

  He picked up a broken twig, the remnant of a smashed flower arrangement, and poked at the thing. “Looks like a scrap of black silk. Like someone tore a piece of clothing.”

  “So more evidence that points at Luna.”

  He stood. “Seems that way.”

  “You and I need to pay a visit to—”

  “Miss Frost?”

  I twisted to see Sheriff Merrow behind me. That was fast, but the man was a werewolf, and for all I knew, he had run here. Then again, the sheriff’s department was only a few blocks away. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”

  He nodded as he surveyed the apartment. Then he pinched the radio on his shoulder. “Deputy Blythe, I need you at the Santa’s Workshop apartments, third floor. Bring an evidence kit.”

  The radio squawked with her reply. “Ten-four.”

  He pulled out a notepad and looked at me. “Tell me what you know. Start from the beginning.”

  By the time I had filled him in, Deputy Blythe had arrived with a heavy black canvas bag slung over one shoulder.

  She greeted him with a jerk of her head. “Sheriff.”

  “Deputy. Possible kidnapping. Sweep the rooms.”

  She nodded. “Ransom note?”

  “No,” I answered. They both looked at me. “We had a little look around. Well, Greyson did.”

  Greyson held his hands up. “I didn’t touch anything, but Jayne and I both found evidence that points to Luna Nyx as the perpetrator.”

  The sheriff’s dark brows knit together. “What kind of evidence?”