“Wait! Millie, wait.”
She spun and raised a suspicious eyebrow.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, truth is the case is closed, but I have a strong suspicion they’ve arrested the wrong person.”
She paled and turned to face me. “You do?”
I nodded. “Look, I can tell how close you and Bim were—I’m sure you want to see her killer brought to justice as much as I do.”
Her throat bobbed and her eyes grew glassy, but she didn’t speak.
“I have a theory—I just need to get into the office to test it.” I raised my brows. “Can I borrow that key?” I plastered on my “pretty please” smile.
Millie’s chest rose and fell, then she lifted her eyes to me. “Have you told Officer Flint about your theory?”
I shook my head. “It just came to me. But he can’t help us anyway—his boss has taken him off the case.” I gripped the iron bars and waited for her response.
She looked away, then back to me. “I’ll do you one better—I’m coming with you.”
34
BLINDED
Millie, still in her robe and slippers, unlocked the back door and held it open for me. I trudged up the dim stairs, clinging to the metal railing on my right. As the door swung shut behind me and Millie’s footsteps sounded below, the stairwell fell into absolute darkness.
I paused as Millie grumbled something about falling to her death. Light flashed, a pale blue, and our shadows loomed ahead. I glanced back. Millie held her lit wand at shoulder height.
“Thanks.” I turned and continued up, chagrined again at not having my own wand and powers anymore.
I pushed through into the storeroom, Millie a few steps behind. Together we threaded between tall shelves stacked with vases, rugs, barrels, and crates. Then I led the way into the office.
I stopped just inside, followed by Millie. The heavy metal door swung shut with a clank. Goose bumps prickled my arms. It was eerier than it had been the other night, when the place was full of people.
To my left stood the receptionist’s hub where Zo had once sat, the covered parakeet cage still resting on the tall wall that wrapped around the desk. I had a sneaking suspicion that her job here had been the end of her.
“Alright.” I rubbed my palms together as I strode past a couple of desks toward the window. I found the magical lever beside it and flipped the sign on. It buzzed, and then a bright flash of purple and pink light flooded through the wall of dingy windows. The colors changed, flashing red, then blue, then orange.
“This sucker is bright.”
Millie covered a yawn with her hand—clearly enraptured by my machinations.
I stalked past her. “Now if my theory is correct, the killer came up the back stairs through the storeroom, where it was dark, and entered the brightly lit office.” I yanked the heavy storeroom door open, jogged back a few steps and paused as the door swung shut. I stood there, silent for several long moments as I let my eyes adjust to the darkness.
I let out a shaky breath, my nerves tingling with excitement at being so close to cracking the case—I could feel it!
“Okay!” I called so that Millie could hear. “Coming out!”
I shoved the door open and strode through. The bright light hit me, and I blinked rapidly, shielding my eyes with my arm.
“Millie—could you go stand by the window?” Purple and pink light floated behind my closed eyes, but she let out a heavy sigh and her feet scraped over the carpet as she shuffled away.
“You there?”
“Mm-hm.”
I took a deep breath, then opened my eyes. I could barely see, my eyes would hardly open in the brightness, but there was Millie. I could make out her silhouette, but none of her features.
“Ha!” I grinned and paced between desks, blinking away my fuzzy vision. “I knew it! The killer didn’t mean to kill Bim, they meant to kill Zo, but couldn’t tell the difference because they were blinded by the light.” I clicked my tongue. “Which meant it had to be someone who knew Zo stayed late—who’d expected her to be the one turning on the sign.”
I shook a finger at Millie who watched me, wide-eyed. “Someone who had access to the building and knew their way around and also knew the routines of the people who worked here.”
Her face went slack.
“Maybe someone who had a crush on Zozanna.” I raised a brow as I paced. “Someone who might have been angered to learn about her affair with Turk. Someone who came here to make her pay, to stop them from having a tryst. But Zo left, Bim came in, and the killer took out the wrong woman.”
Millie’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits, and I suddenly remembered I was talking about her husband’s affair here.
I winced. “Sorry—just got caught up in the moment. Whoa.” I shook my hands out. “My nerves are tingling here. Millie—I know who it was.”
Her throat bobbed, but still she didn’t speak.
“The courier.” I raised my brows. “Ronnie Johnston.”
The space between her faint brows creased. “What?”
I nodded. “Think about it. Your husband said Ronnie always flirted with Zo when he came to pick up or drop off packages, right? She even threatened to go on a date with him to make your husband jealous.”
Red circles flushed her cheeks.
Oops. Did it again.
I waved my hands. “Sorry. Maybe Ronnie grew angry and jealous when he found out about their affair. Maybe he came by late one evening to run mail and discovered them together. He’d have known what it meant then, if Zo stayed late.” I nodded to myself. “Plus, when he came by Bim’s studio to collect packets, he was genuinely surprised and distraught about her death—he didn’t realize, until just then, that he’d killed the wrong person because he’d been blinded by the neon sign and got out of here
