“It’s probably nothing. It looked like they were researching vampires or something. The first book I looked at talked about a vampire god. As if! Wait.” She suddenly looked unsure. “You don’t think there really is anything like that, do you?”
I started to say no, then stopped. “Tess, I honestly can’t say. Until a year ago, there were no such things as ghosts, witches, shifters, or any of this, not that I knew of anyway.” I shook my head.
She pursed her lips, then shrugged. “It was just weird. They were really concerned about the missing children, though. Wade promised to question the local ghost population and let us know if he heard anything even remotely important.”
That would have to be enough for now.
Jeremy hurried off right after dropping us off at the restaurant and retrieving his new ring, saying he would be back shortly. Suzette popped in, saw Tess without the ring, sighed dramatically, and told me I needed to Make more of them before abruptly disappearing again, probably to go after Jeremy. The fact that she’d said it without rancor surprised me.
“You know, she was super helpful while you were gone. She’s pretty good at figuring things out, too. She even knows her way around the computer and has all the passwords memorized, so it kept me from bothering Jeremy every few minutes.” She chuckled. “Not to mention she taught me a few colorful phrases I never would have dreamt up.”
Suppressing a groan, I went back to looking over the lists. The items ordered had come from all over. There didn’t seem to be any common thread that tied anything together there. When I flipped to the last page and saw the delivery service—the same one for everything, as Tess had said—I frowned. It wasn’t any of the big ones everyone knew. It was only listed by its acronym—P.P.D.S.
“What’s this stand for?” I asked, showing her the page.
“Paragon Parcel and Delivery Services. It’s newer, local to this area and handful of others, and is subcontracted by some of the bigger companies. There’s not a whole lot of background on it, from what I could find. Suzette says they only just started delivering within the last five or six months.”
“Do you think Harris and the other two would have known about the water fae or the pixies getting deliveries?” Rand mused.
I considered this, trying to remember any interactions I’d had with Stella’s housestaff. “I’m not sure. I didn’t even know about the pixies until the day of the funeral when they came to pay their respects.” Would Zara know?
Without missing a beat, my familiar responded. Stella never told them about either and I never saw any hint of it in their minds, but I never searched that deeply, either.
I stopped to think. What was it they were searching for?
They were looking for jewelry, but only a couple of specific pieces, at first. Once they discovered how well off Stella was, they deviated from their search and tried to figure out a way to get at her fortune. You foiled that when you showed up out of the blue.
How did I not remember this? I mean, I remembered my first visit, of course, but the rest . . .
Much has happened between then and now, Roxanne. You were thrown into this world with no preparation. It’s understandable.
Jeremy’s voice carried through from beyond the office and we all looked up as he and another man came through the door.
“Ms. Roxanne, dis Cappy. He takes ever’one out on da boat. He say boat ready ta go now.”
The short, stout man who looked to be in his mid-to-late fifties stepped forward, took his hat off, and held out his hand. As I shook it, taking in his shock of red hair spiked with patches of grey, he said, “It’s an honor ta finally meet ya, er, Ms. Roxanne.” Jeremy must have informed him of my aversion to being called by a title. “When do ya expect we’ll be ready ta shove off?”
I found the man’s accent absolutely charming. It sounded either Scottish or Irish, I couldn’t tell. Maybe he was related to Merv. “Oh, um, I’m not exactly sure. We’re still working all of that out.”
Tess bumped my shoulder, grinning mischievously. “We should probably at least go check it out, don’t you think, Rox?”
We were here, so we might as well. Cappy led the way to the marina, Tess asking him questions the whole time as the rest of us trailed along behind. Suzette stayed close to Jeremy’s side, murmuring to him as he listened attentively. I smiled. She looked more sedate than I’d ever seen her before. And Jeremy, he just looked . . . happy.
“What’s that smile for?” Rand asked.
I tilted my head back at Jeremy and Suzette.
He nodded, looking contemplative. “You know, you did really good back there, at Margo’s and with the witches. I’m proud of how you’ve taken all of this in stride. Not a lot of people could handle everything you’ve had thrown at you over the past year.”
His words echoed Zara’s, only minutes before. Where was this coming from? “Thanks?”
His smile faded, his expression turning more serious. “I’ve seen how you take everyone and everything under your wing. I just want you to be realistic about what we may find.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, hunching his shoulders. “If it works the same way in this world as it does in the regular one . . . we
