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

by Kristen Painter

  I kept moving, my mind drifting as I tried to imagine where Luna might have gone. She didn’t know the town—unless she’d been here before to suss things out and come up with a plan B if her plan A didn’t work out. Which seemed like it might be the case.

  Even worse, Halloween was only a few weeks behind us and in this town, no one, supernatural or human, would have looked at her twice. She could have blended right in, done her recon, and been gone with no one the wiser.

  So what would she have found? What kind of place would she have looked at and thought, ‘yep, that’s my potential hideout’?

  The one place that kept popping up in my head was Insomnia, Lucien’s nightclub. I mean, the irony was sort of perfect. Would he aid her? I really didn’t think so, but I didn’t know the man. And he certainly hadn’t given off the kind of warm fuzzies that made me instantly want to defend him. He was a reaper. Maybe they stuck together. And maybe they didn’t.

  But right now, that was all I could come up with.

  The street ended at another cross street and I found myself at the library. Now that was coming full circle. I walked over and sat on the wide stone steps. The rest was nice, even if it was just for a minute. I pulled out my phone to see if Cooper or Greyson had texted me back yet. I hadn’t felt the phone vibrate, but then I’d been occupied. If they had texted, I was going to tell them I was on my way to Insomnia. I might as well have a look around over there. And while I was waiting for the Ryde service to pick me up, I’d call Birdie and see if anyone else had found anything yet.

  And, I guess, tell her that I hadn’t.

  I stared at my phone. No texts from anyone. But my screen wallpaper was a picture of Spider I’d taken on the night of Halloween. I’d been invited to the Black and Orange Ball, the biggest party in Nocturne Falls, but choosing between Cooper and Greyson had been impossible, so I’d opted to work in the store that night, handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters who came in.

  Because they were awesome and understanding guys, Greyson and Cooper had both sent me gifts of chocolates from Delaney’s Delectables. Her Halloween special, in fact: a coffin-shaped box filled with dark chocolate truffles. The perfect treat for that occasion, and it had come wrapped in a black ribbon patterned with smiling white skulls.

  When I’d closed up the shop and gone home, I’d made a bow out of the two ribbons and tied it around Spider’s neck. Then I’d taken his picture. After I told him how handsome he looked, I swear he posed.

  I smiled at the picture now, staring at those skulls and thinking about my dad’s words. I lifted my head to watch a car go by, and as I followed it down the road, my gaze came to land on the building next to the library.

  The old funeral home.

  Jacque and Marigold had both seen death. Was this what they’d seen? I couldn’t take my eyes off the building. And the longer I looked, the more I wondered.

  Had Luna seen it too?

  A tremor rippled through me, the sort of feeling you get when you realize something ahead of everyone else.

  I was on my feet and walking toward the place before I even knew what I was doing. The landscaping around it was overgrown, giving me easy cover. I ducked through the hedges along the edge of the parking lot and crouched down.

  The place was empty and would be for a while longer, I supposed. According to Birdie, it was stuck in probate because the owner had passed without a will. Kinda funny, when you consider his line of work and that he really should have known better.

  If Luna was in there, she certainly wouldn’t be using the front door. I crept around toward the back, but only as far as the corner. From there I could see two entrances. One right in the back, a set of fancy double doors with a slight ramp. Probably for taking the casket out. And another single door, set off to the side. It was a simple door with a heavy duty lock.

  Everything about the building looked abandoned and untouched—except for the lock on that door. It had several scrapes on it that had left bright streaks behind on the tarnished metal.

  Like it had been freshly, and somewhat ineptly, picked.

  I was breathing open-mouthed now, almost hyperventilating. She was here. She had to be. Where else could she be? And where else would a reaper feel more at home than a funeral parlor?

  I’d done it. I’d figured it out.

  At least I thought I had. I mean, it had just been Halloween. Was it possible that the marks on that lock were the results of kids fooling around? Daring each other to spend five minutes in the place? I could see that too.

  I had to get closer and see if Sanders was in there. What I needed was Greyson’s ability to hear heartbeats.

  Or, you know, Greyson himself.

  I checked my phone again to see if he’d answered my earlier text yet, even though I knew he hadn’t. Nope. I sent him and Cooper another joint message. Where are you guys? I could use some backup.

  Either one of them would be helpful right now. Maybe I should call Birdie, but I was a little worried about her turning a possibility into a full-blown event and having the entire fleet of Nocturne Falls first responders show up, sirens blaring and lights flashing.

  I could only imagine what kind of reaction Luna might have to that. If Sanders and Olive were still alive—and I really, really hoped they were—I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their chances of staying that way.

  I looked at my phone again to check the time. Barely an hour before she was free to waltz right out of town.

  The only way I could find out if she or Sanders or Olive were in there was to get in there myself. But going into that building alone was stupid and dangerous, and I knew that.

  Instead, I crept further toward the back, hoping I’d see something that might confirm my suspicions. But there wasn’t anything else. I sighed and leaned against the trunk of a pine at the corner of the property.

  What had I expected? A getaway car? Luna’s big black SUV? Parking that behind the funeral home would not have gone unnoticed.

  I stared over at the library parking lot. There were three big black SUVs there. That kind of vehicle was pretty common. Heck, even Marigold drove one. Could Luna have parked there in plain sight?

  Son of a nutcracker, she absolutely could have. I could be looking at her car right now.

  I had to go in. I didn’t have a choice. And the longer I thought about it, the more likely I was to chicken out. I’d be quick. I had the advantage of the Saint Nick Slide, after all. I’d slip in, confirm Sanders and Olive were in there, then slip right back out and get help.

  In fact, I’d go one better. I’d send Greyson and Cooper another text, telling them what I was about to do. That way, if things didn’t go as planned, at least they’d know where to find me. Or my body.

  That was a happy thought.

  I hoped one of them would take care of Spider. Or maybe Juni would take him. She loved Spider. My poor motherless baby.

  Okay, I was getting ahead of myself. Let’s not be dead yet.

  I pulled out my phone and started typing. At the old funeral home, pretty sure Luna is here. Going in to check. Come soon as you can.

  If that didn’t get them moving, I didn’t know what would. I put the phone back in my pocket, looked both ways (not a soul in sight), and dashed forward toward the plain door. A second later, thanks to my magical abilities, I was inside.

  And perched precariously on the edge of a landing. I wobbled forward, catching the railing in time to keep myself from pitching down the steep set of stairs in front of me. Snowballs. Tumbling down the steps would not be good. For me or for being stealthy.

  My dizzy eyes struggled to focus, but it was dark and there wasn’t much to see. I slid my hand off the railing where it ended and felt around on the interior wall. I found and avoided a light switch, then a doorknob. My head was almost back to normal and my eyes had adjusted enough that I could make out the door beside me. It must lead to the inside of the funeral home.

  I wondered if it smelled as bad as this
stairwell did. I hoped not. The place reeked with the antiseptic tang of a hospital on steroids. I wrinkled my nose and tried to breathe through my mouth. I could imagine what that stink was from: the chemicals it took to clean up all the deceased juices. Ew. I immediately wished I hadn’t thought that.

  I was getting a little queasy. Great. This was a fine time to live up to the delicate sensibilities of being a princess.

  I pulled my T-shirt up over my nose and let it filter out the smell while I listened. I didn’t hear much at first.

  Then a soft, almost wheezy sound reached my ears. Breathing? There was no way that would be happening in a funeral home unless someone was in here.

  The dizziness was gone now, so I started down the steps, thankful my ballet flats had rubber soles. As long as I was careful and slow, I was soundless. I kept my hand on the railing and went as far as where the wall stopped and the stairs opened onto the basement.

  There I crouched down and snuck a peek between the bannisters.

  Sanders was strapped to a stainless steel table that looked very much like it might have been used for something really gross when this place was operational. It seemed like he was unconscious, or maybe Luna had used the hourglass to put him to sleep. Either way, I knew he was breathing—I could hear him and see his chest rise and fall. That was a good thing.

  There was no sign of Olive though, and that worried me.

  I went down another stair so I could see more of the room. The whole thing was tiled in white and there was a drain in the floor, which I really didn’t want to think about. There were no windows. I guess it wasn’t the kind of operation you wanted people to be able to peek in on. The only light came from a digital clock on the counter. For elf eyes, it was enough.

  Caskets were stacked up against the far wall, but the two walls closest to me had glass-front cabinets and countertops that held clear jugs of fluid, stainless steel instruments, and boxes of all sorts of things. Part of the counter was a desk area with a wheeled office chair tucked under it. A layer of dust draped everything.

  I straightened. No point in crouching anymore. I walked down until I was on the ground floor. I had to find Olive. I needed to know she was okay, or at least that she was here. Maybe I should try to wake Sanders up and see if he knew where she was.

  I started toward him but a small sound stopped me in my tracks. It was the soft snick of metal. Then another sound followed it. The muted squeal of unused hinges.

  Someone had just opened the door on the landing.

  The lights came on next, showing off the room in all its awful, morbid glory, but all I could think about was hiding. And the only place that made sense was one of the caskets. The one in the corner on the floor looked like the easiest to get into since it wouldn’t require any climbing. I grabbed a rubber glove off the counter as I went past, and as I climbed in, I wadded the glove up and stuck it between the lid and the box.

  It made enough of a space that I could see out with one eye and, more importantly, breathe. The sightline only showed me the bottom two steps. I lay still, trying to calm my pounding pulse. If reapers could hear heartbeats the way vampires could, I was in deep frost.

  Black lace-up ankle boots were the first things I saw.

  Luna.

  My teeth ground together. I knew it. Her time as a reaper of the criminally insane had really done a number on her. And now I was freaking stuck here until Greyson and Cooper showed up. They had better show up fast. If I died because they were late to the scene, I was done dating both of them.

  Ignore that. Panic talking.

  A second set of shoes came into view. Sensible brown loafers.

  Olive. She was alive!

  A new urgency struck me. Was Luna planning to off Olive right before she left town with Sanders? If that was her plan, there was no way I could stay hidden. I’d have to leap out and use the element of surprise to catch her off guard and keep her from hurting—

  “Sit down and shut up.”

  I blinked, trying to make sense of what I’d just heard. It wasn’t the words that boggled me, but the fact that they’d been said in Olive’s voice. That didn’t compute.

  The black boots moved toward the chair, but the loafers stayed put. The chair rolled out from under the counter and the owner of those boots sat. “You think you can replace me? You can’t.”

  That was definitely Luna’s voice.

  Olive’s voice again, this time laughing. “I already have.”

  Whoa. Whoa. What was going on here?

  “We had a deal,” Luna said. “You gave me your word.”

  More laughing from Olive. “The fact that you believed me just shows how stupid you are.”

  A low growl filled the space. I guess it was coming out of Luna. “I could kill you with the touch of my hand.”

  Yep, Luna. And yelping yetis, Olive hadn’t been kidnapped at all, by the sound of things. She was in on this! I didn’t even know what to do with that.

  The response to Luna’s growl was a soft rattle. Like something being shaken.

  Olive spoke again. “You want this hourglass back in one piece or should I drop it now?”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Yes,” Olive said. “I would. And let me remind you that your touch won’t work on me. I’m an elemental just like you, remember?”

  I almost gasped. I don’t know which was more surprising—that Olive was an elemental or that a reaper’s touch wouldn’t work on another elemental. Why hadn’t Lucien told me that? Maybe that only applied to full-blooded elementals. Or maybe Lucien had purposefully held back that info? That seemed more reasonable.

  Luna hissed. “Sanders never should have told you that. That wasn’t his secret to tell.”

  “He wanted me to feel safer around you. Like that was suddenly going to make us best friends.” Olive snorted. “You never should have come back. He was supposed to love me the way I love him, but you turned him against me.”

  Olive loved Sanders? This was seriously messing with my head.

  “He never would have loved you,” Luna said.

  Oh, Luna. Don’t poke the crazy.

  “I don’t care anymore.” Olive sounded like she was barely keeping it together. “If we can’t be together, then it’s time for me to take my rightful place as the new Sandman.”

  Oh boy. Olive’s crazy went deeper than I imagined.

  Luna’s feet moved, pushing the chair back a little. “Being the Sandman is all he’s ever known. What else is he supposed to do?”

  “What do I care? As soon as we can get out of this town, he’s your problem. The last thing I’m going to do for you is put the town to sleep again so we can all leave safely, but I’m only doing that because I never want to see either of you again.”

  “And you’ll give me my hourglass back?”

  “Yes. Unless you try something stupid again. Then I promise you, I will shatter it to dust.”

  Huh. I wonder what Luna had tried. And how Olive got to be so insane. I guess that high school counseling hadn’t done the trick after all.

  The air was getting stale in the casket. Also, my attempts at pretending I wasn’t in a casket were starting to fail. I wanted out. Bad. I really needed my guys to show up.

  Then, in a case of the worst timing ever, my phone vibrated.

  Big hairy snowballs.

  I squirmed around trying to reach it but the noise seemed amplified in the small space. There was no way they hadn’t heard it.

  “What was that?” Olive said.

  Maybe she’d think it was Sanders snoring. I turned the phone to silent, then checked the message. Greyson and Cooper were on their way.

  Please let them get here in time. And not just to collect my remains.

  Feet shuffled toward me but I didn’t have time to see who it was as I stuffed the phone back in my pocket. I reached for the lid’s lining, figuring that would give me something to hold onto and keep it shut if someone tried to open it.

  But I was t
oo late.

  Luna peered down at me and squinted. “You.”

  “Hi.” Dumbest response ever, but it was out of my mouth now. “Listen, I’ll just—”

  “What are you doing here?” Olive glared at me. The glasses were gone, but otherwise, she pretty much looked the same. Sanders’ hourglass hung around her waist on the same cord he’d used, and Luna’s nightmare glass was in Olive’s hand. So that was new.

  I climbed out. At least I wasn’t in the casket anymore. “Looking for you and Sanders. I thought Luna had kidnapped you both.”

  Olive smiled. “Sounds about right.” She jerked her head at Luna. “Scare her into a coma.”

  “I can’t,” Luna said. “She’s got magic to prevent that.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “You went to the witches, didn’t you?”

  “Yep. And that’s why you can’t leave town, too.” I shot Olive a look. “Either of you. Because you have evil in your hearts.”

  Olive rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up, Princess Perfect, or I’ll have Luna do what she does best and off you.”

  “Off me?” I put my hands on my hips in a show of confidence I wasn’t totally feeling. “First of all, who talks like that? And secondly, don’t waste your breath. I’ve got enough elemental blood running through my veins to make that impossible.” Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, but it was a good bluff. Although one I hoped not to test.

  That shut Olive up for a second. Luna looked at me with new interest.

  Good, because I was on a roll now. “Not only that, I am still the Winter Princess which means—” I raised my hands to freeze them both in place.

  Luna took a swing at me. I don’t know if it was my elfy quickness or my nerves being trigger-thin, but I dodged enough that her fist whistled through my hair.

  I scrambled sideways, putting Sanders between us. Turns out, the embalming table he was strapped to was on wheels. Made it easy to use him as a shield, which wasn’t the nicest thing in the world to do, but I felt confident Luna wouldn’t hurt him.