“Saw that, did you?”
“It was kind of hard to miss the fact that you turned her into a giant witch-shaped bubble bath.”
“She started it.”
“I haven’t been allowed to use that as an excuse since I was three years old.”
“When you get to my age, you realize that no matter what your parents taught you, it’s perfectly valid sometimes, and this was one of those times.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Did you see the look on her face, though?” Grandma Rosie said with a snicker. “She looked like a slug that just spotted a shoe about to step on it.”
I shook my head. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Please, you’re the one buying stuff for your mother so she won’t be mad at you for getting arrested. And it won’t work, by the way. She’s going to be mad no matter what.”
My mouth dropped open. “How do you know about that?”
“I know everything, remember?” Grandma Rosie said with a wink. “Don’t worry though, she won’t find out about it from me. You’d just better hope other lips in town are more tightly sealed. As for the gift, well, you’re not the sort to buy that kind of thing for yourself. Can I assume from your recent incarceration that your investigation isn’t going well?”
“Go ahead and assume what you want, it’s not going to make it true.”
“Well, I do hope you find the killer. Anyway, I’ve got to go tell the whole coffee shop what just happened. You didn’t happen to take any pictures of the whole event, did you?”
“Sorry, I guess I’m not a journalist at heart,” I replied.
“Pity, that would have been great fun to show everyone,” Grandma Rosie said. “Good luck with your murder investigation. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, especially if it helps me get one up on Gloria.”
I shook my head, incredulous, as Grandma Rosie sauntered off in the direction of The Magic Brewmstick. I made a quick pit stop at home to drop off the box of goodies I was going to bribe my mom with.
Mom wasn’t home, so I let myself in with my key, placed the box of beauty supplies on the dining table, and left her a note saying it was for her from her loving daughter.
Then, just to be safe, I cast a spell on the note so that only Mom could remove it from the box – I didn’t want Grandma Rosie coming home first and taking credit for it.
As soon as I finished, I decided on a plan. I was going to scope out the abandoned building where I suspected Raoul was staying.
I briefly considered texting Andy and letting him know what I was doing, but seeing as the Enforcers had locked me up for doing something similar less than twelve hours ago, I figured I could do this one solo and take all the credit if I managed to catch Raoul.
That sounded good to me.
Heading back out, I cast an invisibility spell on myself about three blocks from Vernon Montgomery’s abandoned building. The three-story, red-brick building still had faded paint on the side with the name of the former business, and I had to admit, it really did give off the air of one of those cosmopolitan transformed buildings in the larger paranormal cities.
He might have questionable taste in fashion, but Vernon Montgomery knew how to build condos that would sell.
Right now, however, the building wasn’t exactly in prime selling condition. The windows were covered in plywood, and a large lock and chain secured the front door. Looking down the side alley, one of the boards had half fallen off the window, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was intentional or not. Regardless, it certainly would have offered a way for the shifter to get into the building.
I walked down the alley to the window and goosebumps crawled up my skin. I had a bad feeling about this.
Chapter 21
Peering through the window, all I could see was a thin line where the light from the outdoors poured through, dust floating through the air. The floor of the factory was concrete, and that was just about the only thing I could make out for sure.
I was going to have to go in if I wanted to see anything else.
“Shoot,” I muttered to myself. I didn’t exactly have a great track record when it came to walking into dark spaces over the last twenty-four hours. Hopefully this time the Enforcers weren’t lying in wait.
Hoisting myself up to the window, and feeling thankful that this one was much larger than the one at the back of the ice cream parlor, I slipped inside, carefully avoiding the half-fallen sheet of plywood. If Raoul was in here, I didn’t want to warn him of my presence.
As soon as I dropped onto the concrete floor, I paused, listening for any sign of life. I was half expecting the walls to creak ominously, but instead I was met with silence. That was perfect. Except, that was also what I had heard last night, and we all know how that ended.
Before taking any steps further, I pulled out my wand. I had learned this spell from Grandma Rosie just a few weeks ago, and it was about to come in handy since I needed to be able to see what was in here without alerting anyone to my presence. I hadn’t thought it necessary last night, but I had learned my lesson.
I whispered the words as quietly as I could. “Saturn, god of wealth, make my eyes see in the dark, so I can move with stealth.”
My eyes widened as suddenly it was like a light had been turned on in the middle of the abandoned factory. Every inch of space shone like it was the middle of the day; there wasn’t a hint of a shadow anywhere.
There also was no sign of Enforcers.
Unfortunately, there was a bigger problem.
Raoul Lupo had obviously been living here. In the
