“That’s right.”
A slow smile spread across her face, and she turned toward the display.
Agnes came back, check in hand, taking all his attention. “Here you go. Thank you so much.”
Titus accepted the check. “You’re welcome. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“I will.”
Jenna reappeared at his side, arms full of Real American Firefighters merchandise. “Found a few things.”
Agnes nodded. “I see that. I think that qualifies you for a volume discount.”
Agnes rang her up, Jenna paid, and they were on their way to Salvatore’s.
The pies were ready. Titus put them on the firehouse’s account, then Jenna helped him load them into the back seat, and they were off again.
“Oh man,” she said. “It smells so good in here. I didn’t think I was hungry after that breakfast, but now I want to eat all of it.”
“You can’t go wrong with Salvatore’s.” He turned toward the firehouse, which took them toward Pandora Williams’s real estate office.
“Hey,” Jenna said. “That reminds me that I never got the information I needed from her. I ended our call after she mentioned the spell could become permanent.”
“Pandora?”
“Yes. I wanted to ask her for more info about the owners of the home. The Lemmons.” Her eyes followed the business as they went past. “I’m not leaving any stone unturned.”
“You want me to go back?”
“No. Let’s get the pizzas to the station while they’re hot, let the guys eat. I can call her. I don’t need to see her in person to get the info I’m after.”
“Okay.”
She left her Real American Firefighters stuff in the truck and helped him unload the pizzas and carry them in, but only got a few steps inside before Liam took the boxes from her.
“I got these, Deputy. Although I guess this is one of those things I should do shirtless, huh?” He laughed at his own joke.
She gave him an appraising glance. “I don’t know, Liam. Best leave that to the professionals.”
“Nice burn, Deputy,” Kurt said. “We might have to make you an honorary firewoman.”
Hands on her hips and a glint in her eye, she shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m not ready for a demotion at this point in my life.”
“Ouch,” Titus said, laughing as he came out of the kitchen. “What have we unleashed?” He pointed behind him. “Go eat, but don’t touch the white pie. That’s Jenna’s.”
Kurt looked at her. “Aren’t you eating with us?”
“I have a call to make. Then I’ll be in.”
Titus stayed while Liam and Kurt disappeared to eat. “You going to use the conference room?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’ll be in to eat as soon as I’m done.”
“Okay. See you in there.” He went to the kitchen, expecting her to be a while, but she came in only a few minutes later. “Everything all right?”
“It’s all good. Pandora was with a customer, but said she’d pull the Lemmons file and email me the info.” She took the seat next to him, the same one she’d had at breakfast. “Let’s eat some pizza.”
Pandora’s file arrived half an hour after lunch, but it took Jenna only a few minutes of reading to see that the Lemmons were pretty ordinary folks. Humans, from what she could tell. She sent a quick text to Pandora, who confirmed that, yes, they were.
It was unlikely that the human couple, who were in their late sixties and moving to Illinois to be close to their grandchildren, had hired a witch to build a magical bomb to entrap someone in a love spell.
Jenna was back at square one. Could Titus have been the focus of the bomb? It didn’t seem that way. There were no obvious admirers in his life who were capable enough to pull something like that off. And how would anyone have known Titus would be the firefighter to respond? They couldn’t have. Not really.
Was she the focus of the love spell? That seemed even less likely.
So what about the wraith? Titus said he’d seen it in the attic, though that didn’t mean it was connected to the bomb. Wraiths had no capability for magic and no way of contacting anyone capable of doing something like that on their behalf.
Alice had said the bomb used death magic. Jenna couldn’t imagine anything more like catnip to a wraith than death magic.
Could the wraith really be after her? The hard truth was…yes. The fact that it had shown up in the attic meant it had probably been in town for a few days. Watching. Waiting. Looking for the right chance to come after her.
The dark recesses of the attic were a pretty perfect place for a wraith to materialize. Just like the woods in early evening had been.
But that didn’t help her figure out who’d created that bomb.
She put her head in her hands and sighed. This was the frustrating part of any investigation, that feeling that she’d hit a brick wall and didn’t know which way to go next.
Maybe if she went back out to the house and had another look around, that would spark something. Give her a new direction or a fresh idea.
Knowing how important it was to find out soon who’d created this spell only increased the pressure she was feeling. She got up from the table and went next door to Titus’s office.
He looked up as she knocked. “How’s it going?”
“Not great. I was thinking if I could go back to the house, take another look around…”
“Seems like a good idea. Do you need to call Pandora to let you in?”
“No, I have the number for the lockbox she put on the house. I can get the key out of there.”
He stood. “Then let’s go.”
“What about the inspector?”
“I called and told him this isn’t a good week and the inspection would have to wait. We have to figure out this spell.”
“Thank you.”
Thirty minutes later, they’d been around and through the house without finding anything new
