“Whatever plan you can come up with, you can count on me for help,” Enzo said. “I have carried the burden of Isabella’s death inside me as much as her family has. I would do anything for the pain to be lifted from all of us.”
I grimaced when I looked to Luke. “You’re probably not going to like my idea.”
“Probably not,” he agreed with a slight grin.
“It could be very dangerous,” I warned.
My fiancé sighed. “Like that has ever stopped you. What do you have in mind?”
With a flick of my fingers, the bubble of privacy popped. If anyone was listening in, they would hear everything I said.
“I think there’s one place that holds the key to everything we want to know.” I moved toward the door, ready to take action. “We need to go to the tower.”
Chapter Nineteen
Luke, Fiametta, and I walked through the busy streets of Perdaggia, navigating through the crowds of tourists still out walking the streets. I’d risked involving the other witch for my backup plan, and as soon as I’d talked to her, she’d insisted on helping despite Claudio’s objections.
We found ourselves getting closer to the bottom of the tower and fell behind a tour group. Too many of them stood in our way, so we had to wait until they moved on in order to keep any unnecessary attention off of us.
The leader held a glowing sunflower in her hand so they could follow her. She spoke in a loud voice so the people in the back could hear.
“Now, this is the Weeping Tower, or Torre del Pianto,” she explained in a clear tone. “The legend tells of a princess who lived in the castle. And she fell in love with someone her family didn’t approve of. Because of this, they locked her away for a long time. The villagers down below could hear her crying, which is where the tower gets its name.”
A little girl from the middle of the crowd raised her hand. “Was her name Rapunzel?”
The guide smiled. “No, little one, that is only a fairytale. This princess was real. Nobody was ever seen going in or out of the tower. And then one night, those who lived here looked up and saw the princess. Except now, she was a shining angel who rose to heaven in a brilliant flame.”
The father of the little girl crouched down beside her. “You know this isn’t true, right? They just make up the story so the building seems more interesting.”
The guide stepped forward and spoke in a spooky voice. “Some say that on a still night, when you walk by the tower, you can still hear the princess weeping.”
“You won’t lock me up like that, will you, Daddy?” the little girl asked her father.
Her mother reassured her that would never happen, but I caught the father’s mumbled words before the tour moved on.
“Depends on how many dates show up at our house,” he muttered, keeping up with his family as they left the area.
Luke stared after them for an extra beat before ushering Fiametta and me around the back of the building. “This way.”
We followed him to the entrance to a closed store. He pulled open a panel, revealing a keypad, and punched in some code. The door unlocked, and he held it open for us.
Fia and I stepped into what looked like a bookstore. Luke didn’t bother with any of the products but rushed past all the displays and stacks of books until he reached the back of the business. We entered the stockroom but found no books or other goods. Instead, the large space was empty.
“This is the original structure that we used to access the tower from outside the castle,” my fiancé explained. “The storefront was built in more modern times. It’s gone through several different businesses, but we’ve maintained control of all of them.”
For someone who claimed he didn’t want to take over control of the family business, Luke sounded like he had good knowledge of how things worked. So many other things had distracted us since we’d arrived that neither of us had addressed his parents’ desire for him to stay.
I shook off those concerns and forced myself to worry about them later. Right now, I had to stay focused on my plans to see if we could set the trap to catch the killer.
Luke used a very heavy key to unlock a door at the back corner of the empty space. He walked us through into yet another dark corridor.
“This is where I stay,” Fiametta said. “Good luck.” With a small wave of her fingers, she cast her spell, and her body shrank down until a small mouse squeaked at the two of us.
“She should teach that trick to your cousin,” Luke stated, waiting for me to create a light orb to guide our way.
“I’ll get around to asking her about it if we get out of this unscathed,” I said, pushing forward until we crossed a final threshold. “Whoa.”
My floating magical sphere provided only enough light to see halfway up the inner structure of the tower. I looked for a way to climb but couldn’t see any stairs or ladders.
“How in the world is anyone supposed to get up to the top?” I asked, sending the light orb as high as I could without losing it.
“The tower wasn’t built for just anyone,” Luke said. “Take a closer look at the sides.”
Pulling my source of light closer, I found the tiniest ledge carved into the stone. The path it took spiraled higher and higher, and I realized why Isabella’s lover could never have reached her at the
