I lifted my brows. Wow—did this guy have motive. But I nodded along. “What a beach.”
Chad sneered. “So yeah, when that chick Cid showed up wasted, screaming about getting on stage, and security tried to turn her away, I saw a chance to get back at that witch Bel a little. Give her a taste of her own potions—embarrass her in front of everyone for a change.”
I grinned. “What’d you do?” My heart thundered in my chest—was I actually going to get this guy to confess?
“I intercepted—pretended I had orders to let Cid in. I smuggled her in under the catwalk, then when Bel went out for the final walk, I helped Cid up through the trapdoor and onto the runway.” He sneered. “Showed her.”
I curled my lip. “That was… it?”
“Yeah. You should’ve seen the look on Bel’s face—she was furious!” He frowned at me. “What else would’ve happened?”
It was my turn to frown. “Did Cid say if she was gonna hurt Bel or…?”
“She just wanted to walk the runway again.” Chad’s mouth fell open. “You think the model killed her?”
I shrugged. “Or… you?”
His face darkened. “What the shell?! I didn’t kill no one!”
Light flooded the space, and Chad squinted, temporarily blinded. I turned around and found Peter right behind me, lifting up the skirt of the runway, Daisy at his side. “Everything alright under here?”
I raised a hand to block out the bright light from the theater. “Just peachy.”
Peter’s hard gaze fixed on Chad. “I heard raised voices.”
Chad scowled back. “Nothing, Officer—but you and your ‘pet psychic’ will have to excuse me. I’ve got work to get back to.” He spun and pushed off, disappearing into the darkness down the long, narrow stage.
Peter held the fabric up for me as I stepped out from under the catwalk, back into the main room.
I shrugged as he let the black skirt fall back into place. “So, he did smuggle Cid onto the runway from underneath, but claims he just wanted to disrupt the show—says he doesn’t know anything about killing Bel.”
Peter nodded, thinking it over. “Do you believe him?”
I quirked my lips to the side. “Hm. Tough to tell, but… I want to say yes.” I held up a finger. “The guy is disgusting and filled to the brim with malice, and I wish you could arrest him for murder, but… I don’t think he did it.”
I shook my head. “He’d have had to coordinate with Cid, and I have a hard time seeing that girl doing anything with a guy like Chad. Not to mention, how would he have gotten ahold of toxic spider venom? And I’m not seeing a connection between him and the sweatshop.”
Peter licked his lips, his eyes distant for a moment, then he turned to me. “I need to say something and I’m—” He shook himself and gave me a weak grin. “And I’m nervous to say it but, Jolene…”
Cold flooded my stomach, and I gulped against the lump in my throat. Hoo boy. What could it be? Had he overheard me and wanted to know if I was indeed a real pet psychic? I couldn’t lie with Daisy staring up at me with those dark eyes of hers. Or… could he be… interested in me?
He cleared his throat, and I froze.
15
DISGUISE
The bell over the door tinkled downstairs. I could hear it because I’d kept one side of the headphones off my ear. Whoosh. The other side played calming ocean noises, which helped drown out the sound of the daddy long legs on the ceiling eating live flies. The creep.
“It’s us!” Heidi’s voice drifted up to me as footsteps sounded on the stairs.
I remembered a second too late. “Will, watch your—”
“Oof!”
The footsteps stopped after the familiar thunk. Yep. Will had, again, hit his head on the low ceiling.
“Ow! Mother of pearl! This beach of a—”
I bit my lip, grinning, as Will let loose a string of obscenities, the footsteps starting up again. I wiggled myself to sitting upright on my threadbare couch as Heidi, then Will, pushed through the shimmery gold and silver beaded curtain and into my living space.
Heidi, in a tank and short shorts with tall socks, dug through her House of Hahn knockoff. She held up a brown paper bag. “Got the stuff for you.”
I grinned. “You’re a lifesaver.”
She beamed. “I know.”
Will scowled at me as he ducked his head beneath the doorframe. “Yeah, well this sea forsaken apartment of yours is a life taker.”
Heidi flashed her eyes at me, and I chuckled.
“Oh, this amuses you?” Will pointed at the top of his head. “I’m going to have a lump, Jolene!” He crinkled his nose and made a face. “For sand’s sake, what is that smell?”
The springs creaked as I dragged myself off the couch. “You’re going to have to be more specific.” It might have been the bag of trash that needed to go out a week ago, or it could’ve been the smell of the sewer wafting in from my open windows that looked down onto the noisy street.
Will pulled out a wooden chair and threw himself into it. The round kitchen table, with its velvet tablecloth covered in gold moons and stars, doubled as my pet reading office.
Will traced a thick finger around the outline of a star, then lifted his brown eyes to my face. With his thick brow bone, he always appeared to be glaring… which was probably the case, anyway.
Heidi handed me the brown paper bag before planting her hands on the counter and hoisting herself up to sit on it. She kicked her feet. “Those are from my cousin, she works at that place during the day—I think you two are about the same size.”
I plopped down in the chair opposite Will and unrolled
