“Thisis why I don’t ask for help,” he muttered.
“Ibet you need me. I bet before this is all over, you’ll be calling meagain, so I might as well see it to the end now.”
“Ithink you’re stuck with her for this round,” Rick said. “Cat’s out ofthe bag.”
Cormacrolled his eyes, and I glanced at the vampire sidelong. “Did you reallyjust say that? Really?”
Cormac’sgaze turned inward, which meant he was probably having a discussionwith Amelia. I bet she was arguing for my side. Cormac was a loner.Strangely, Amelia didn’t seem to be. She made him act downright humansometimes.
“Fine,”he said finally.
Thiswas a mystery. A quest. An epic. It was awesome. “Cool,” I said,grinning.
“SorryI couldn’t do more to help,” Rick said. “You’ll let me know how it allturns out?”
“I’manxious to find that out myself,” I said. “Have a good night, anyway.”Rick made a slight bow and returned down the stairs to his lair.
Cormacwas already walking back to his Jeep, and I hurried after him. Hesettled in the front seat, studying the key close-up by the interiorlight.
“Itdoesn’t really look like a door or car key,” I said, trying to behelpful.
“Ameliathinks she can scry, maybe get some clue where it came from.”
“Isthat an inscription?” I said, peering at the tiny letters engraved onthe key’s head. He handed the key over for me to look at with mywerewolf vision. I had to squint at it, tip it one way and another acouple of times—partly to make out the letters, partly because I didn’tquite believe what I was reading.
“FoothillsSavings and Loan? Is that a real bank?” I pointed out the numberstamped on it.
“Safe-depositbox, maybe?” he asked, then chuckled.
“What?”I asked.
“Amelia.Why use magic when you can just look?”
“Aw,”I said, sympathizing. “I have a feeling we’re going to need some magicbefore we get to the end of this.”
Cormacdidn’t seem happy about that. He tapped on his phone, doing a websearch, it looked like. “Huh. It’s in Golden.”
“Soit is a real place.”
“Guessso. Have to wait until morning to check it out.”
“ShouldI meet youthere or do you want to pick me up?”
“Kitty—”
“Comeon, please let me tag along. You can’t open a secret safe-deposit boxwithout me.”
“Okay.Fine. I’ll pick you up.”
“Yes!”I did a tiny fist pump.
“Thisis weird. You’re not supposed to enjoy this.”
“Youwant to get there right when the place opens, or what?”
Athome that night, I tried to explain all this to Ben. He was skeptical.“Should I be worried about him?”
“Probably,but at least if I’m with him I can watch out for him,” I answered.
Hegave me a look.
“It’llbe fine,” I insisted. “It’s just . . . a puzzle.”
“I’min court all dayor I’d go with you.”
“I’lltext you. Don’t worry.”
“Ipromise not to worry if you promise not to get into trouble.”
Ifurrowed my brow, because I didn’t think either of us could make goodon those promises.
FoothillsSavings and Loan was a small building with an aging parking lot setback from a busy street, away from the highway and box stores on thenewer side of town. It must have been built in the seventies, withthat particular style of stucco exterior and wood shakes over the eavesof a flat roof. The name of the bank was painted on a nondescript signhanging by the door. No other cars were in the lot.
Westood by theJeep and stared at the building for a moment. “Thislooks like it should be a dentist’s office,” I said.
“Let’sget this over with.” He walked to the door, held it open for me, and westepped in.
Theinterior matched the exterior, with burnt umber carpet and brown woodpaneling. A Muzak version of “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” playedon a staticky P.A. I felt like I’d stepped through a time warp.
“Isthis a real bank?” I murmured. “This can’t be a real bank.” This wasthe set of a Tarantino film, surely.
Thewoman at one of two teller counters seemed modern and real enough,dressed in a contemporary blouse and slacks, her dark hair pulled backin a ponytail, wearing just a bit of makeup. She looked to be in herthirties.
“Hi,”she said, smiling widely. “Can I help you?”
Cormacshowed her the key. “Do you have safe-deposit boxes?”
Shestudied the key for a moment. “Oh yes, that’s one of ours. If you’llcome this way, I can get the box for you.” We followed her to a smallconference room off the main lobby. “It’ll just take me a moment,”she said pleasantly. “Can I get you coffee, tea?”
“Nothanks,” I said, my smile frozen, while Cormac studied the room like heexpected to find a bomb. I whispered to him, “Don’t they usually needto see ID or something before they’ll get out a box?”
“Noidea,” he said. “I’m not going to bring it up.”
Mypulse was racing, waiting for the teller to bring in the box. Whatwould we find? How amazing was this, a real-live treasure hunt?Cormac’s expression never changed. Could he at least pretendto be excited?
Weboth twitched when the door opened again and the teller came in with ametallic box in her arms, about the size of a shoe box, locked tight.She set it on the table and turned back to the door with hardly asecond glance. “Let me know when you’re finished, or if you needanything else.” She must have practiced that smile in the mirror everymorning.
Theconference room door closed, and Cormac considered the box.
“Openit, open it!” I urged, bouncing in place a little.
Instead,he studied it, feeling along all the edges, turning it over. Itseemed heavy.
“Well?”I didn’t know how much longer I could stand the suspense.
“Justwondering if there’s anything magical going on here,” he said.
Thatset me back. “Oh. How do you tell?”
Hereached into his jacket pocket and drew out a small iron nail tied to astring. This was Amelia’s work. I still wasn’t sure I entirelyunderstood what had happened with the two of them, but I had learned torecognize when she was the one in charge. His movements became morecareful, his diction more precise. Cormac had given up his guns, butAmelia’s magic was more powerful.
Heheld the end of the string and let the nail dangle, balancedhorizontally. A makeshift pendulum. This was soexciting, but I held my breath and tried not to interrupt.
Nothinghappened.
Wewaited.
