I decided to walk the whole area in the five blocks immediately around The Magic Brewmstick. Most of the spaces were commercial since the coffee shop was located right downtown. I passed by shop after shop, many of which had apartments on a second story above, but they were almost always where the owners of the shops below lived. I knew who lived in almost every single one of them, and none of them were the type to harbor a shifter fugitive.
I frowned as I continued walking along. There was the Smells and Spells building, and I waved towards the second-story window on the off chance Leda was looking outside – I highly doubted it; ambitious and goody-two-shoes Leda would never dare to take her eyes off of her work for even a moment, especially not after having missed part of the day to come bail me out.
Then my eyes fell upon the building Vernon Montgomery wanted to develop into condos. It was empty, obviously; it had been vacant for years. Wouldn’t that be the perfect place for a shifter trying to hide his location in town? It would offer him enough insulation from the elements that if he stayed in wolf form overnight he’d be warm enough, and that way he wouldn’t have to pay for a hotel or deal with any staff that might recognize him when his photo was passed around.
I looked around quickly then darted into the retail end of Smells and Spells to decide on my next move. As soon as I walked through the front door, I was assaulted by a fragrant melee of every floral scent under the sun. Citrus melded with lavender which melded with roses which melded with rosemary to the point where I really wasn’t sure what smelled like what anymore.
“Hello, can I help you?” a friendly fairy asked as she fluttered towards me, the draft from her deep orange wings enhancing the smell.
“Um, yes, I’m looking for something for my mom,” I replied. I hadn’t planned on getting her anything, but as I stepped into the store I realized it was probably a good idea to have a random gift at the ready in case she heard about where I’d spent the previous night.
She had a habit of disapproving of where I spent my nights, but this was on a whole new level.
“Of course,” the fairy said. “We have some wonderful prepackaged boxes over this way, or of course you could come up with a custom solution that we can box up for you beautifully. Is there a certain occasion you’re thinking of? Perhaps a birthday?”
“More of a ‘sorry your daughter isn’t nearly as well behaved as you had hoped for; I swear you weren’t a terrible mother’ kind of gift,” I replied, and the fairy’s eyes widened for a split second. To her credit, though, she acted like that was a completely normal request.
“Well, why don’t I show you some of our bigger, more upscale boxes?” she offered, and I nodded as the fairy led me towards a shelf set up with a large number of brightly-colored boxes, many with tropical patterns. At the bottom of each pile of boxes was an open display version of each, showing what the boxes held.
“That one will be great,” I said, pointing to one of the larger boxes on display. I figured the bigger the box, the less mad Mom would be when she found out what had happened.
“Great,” the fairy said cheerily. “My mom loves that box. The citrus-scented bar of soap is magically enhanced to make wrinkles disappear from your skin temporarily. It’s perfect to use before a big night out.”
“I’ll take it,” I said, heading to the counter. I glanced back over towards the abandoned building. I had to come up with a plan. Should I go in there now and see if Raoul was staying there or wait until nighttime when I’d be more likely to catch him unawares while sleeping?
However, my attention quickly turned to a familiar face. Gloria Melrose, Grandma Rosie’s nemesis, entered the shop and looked around.
“Isn’t anyone going to help me?” she spat out about three seconds later. “I have money I’d like to spend here.”
“Just one moment. Let me finish up with this customer,” a friendly fairy who was just finishing up another transaction called out.
Gloria sniffed loudly, obviously unhappy to have to play second fiddle to someone else who had arrived at the store before her. She began browsing on her own.
“Finally,” she muttered when the fairy went to help her as I made my way to the counter to pay for my box of goodies. “It’s about time.”
“Sorry about the wait,” the fairy replied without missing a beat, ignoring Gloria’s rude tone. I never would have been able to work in retail. In the fairy’s position, I probably already would have kicked Gloria out of the store and told her to shove it until she figured out what basic manners looked like.
I paid the fairy and began walking out of the store, making sure to stay as far from Gloria as possible. I didn’t want her to see me; just being related to Grandma Rosie was usually enough to earn a dressing-down from Gloria, and I had better things to do than to listen to her complain about how proper witches didn’t go around investigating crimes.
Plus, I figured if I cast a spell to turn her into a toad in the middle of the shop, Leda wouldn’t be pleased with me, and I owed her.
But as I was halfway to the front door, it opened again, and this time Grandma Rosie stepped inside. I ducked to avoid detection and then paused. I should have gotten out of there as fast as I could. Putting those two women in the same room was like throwing a live grenade into a box full of explosives. But the fact was I couldn’t look away from a good explosion.
Chapter
