“I think you’re going to have to tell her that,” I said.
“I have every intention. I was waiting until the murder investigation was over because I don’t want her turning on you. If you think it would be better if I told her now, I will.”
“Yeah, I think you should talk to her,” I said.
Chapter Thirteen
Rowan left to talk to Bethany, and I was left there with Voodoo. I was trying to figure out what to do with myself when I noticed that Voodoo was staring at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you sure about him?” Voodoo asked.
“Who? Rowan?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know that I’m sure about anything, but I like Rowan. Why? You don’t like Rowan?”
“I like Rowan just fine. He’s a good witch, and I think he’d be a good friend for you.”
“But?” I asked.
“He’s impetuous. He throws himself into things quickly, and they burn out fast. I just don’t want you to get hurt if that’s what this is, and I don’t want you to ruin your friendship with Alex over it either. Just, take your time, and don’t let Rowan tell you who you can and can’t spend time with, okay?”
“You’re right,” I said. “That did seem so fast.”
I got out my phone and sent Alex a text. Thank you for tonight. I had a good time, and I think it’s safe to say that you’re forgiven.
That’s great. I’m so glad we’re okay. I wouldn’t want to mess up a good friendship in the making over me being a jerk. – Alex texted back.
You’re not a jerk.
Then we can hang out again? – Alex asked.
I thought about what Voodoo said. Yes, I’d like that. – I responded.
“Now what?” Voodoo asked when I set the phone down.
“Well, since I can’t fix my guy issues tonight, I’d rather focus on the murder,” I said.
“More breaking and entering?” Voodoo asked.
“While that sounds like a good time,” I said with a chuckle, “I’m not sure where we could break and enter. We’ve already been to Lukas’s house.”
“What about his work?” Voodoo asked.
“Maybe we should go talk to Anton tomorrow. He might be able to shed some light on Lukas’s death,” I reasoned.
“That’s not what I meant. Anton isn’t going to tell you anything. Lawyers keep secrets well. If you want to know anything, you’re going to have to go straight to the source.”
“Break into the law office and snoop around?”
“Yes,”
“Should I call Rowan so we can bring him along?” I asked.
“I mean…”
“You’re right. We’ll do this ourselves,” I said.
“That’s the spirit.”
We decided to walk to the office instead of driving. I still hadn’t gotten to drive the car Leo had left for me. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was yet, but Voodoo had suggested we leave it behind.
It was apparently some sort of black muscle car so highly recognizable. When breaking and entering, you don’t want to leave a flashing sign that you were in the area at the time of the burgling.
Even though the entire town of Knox Hills seemed to shut down at eight at night, we still had to be careful with our sneaking. There were still normals at the tavern until closing, and if one of the witches saw me, they might report our shenanigans to Rowan or whoever he answered to.
I would tell him myself eventually, but I wanted to do it myself. I’m sure it would have reflected poorly on him if I’d been tattled on by another witch.
There was an alley that ran behind the buildings in the downtown area. Calling it a downtown area seemed silly, but that’s what it basically was.
We slipped down the alley and I popped the lock on the law office’s back door with a touch of magic. Voodoo seemed quite proud that I’d done it myself.
Once inside, I went straight for Lukas’s old office. I almost made it when I tripped in the dark and fell flat on my face.
For a moment, I thought I’d stumbled over a box or something, but as I got to my knees, I realized there was nothing there. I’d tripped over the air.
At least that’s what I thought until icy, unseen hands shoved me back and I fell on my butt. “Ouch,” I complained as I banged my tailbone on the hardwood floor.
Voodoo came running over to my side. “We’ve got a specter,” he announced. “I was afraid this might happen.”
“Then why didn’t you say something?” I said.
Before I could respond, the ghost grabbed my hair and yanked it hard. I cried out, and Voodoo did something to make the spirit release me.
“What do we do? Should we leave?” I asked as I pushed myself to my feet.
“Heck no,” Voodoo said. “We broke in here fair and square. We’ll just deal with this ghost, and then go about our business.”
“How do we do that?”
“You got any salt in that purse?” Voodoo asked.
“Oh, right, I can cast a circle. I don’t have any candles, but I do have a few sprigs of lavender.”
“Good enough,” Voodoo said. “You cast the circle, and I’ll bind this thing.”
I made a small circle of salt around us and then tucked a sprig of lavender into Voodoo’s collar. When that was done, I sprinkled some of the little purple petals around us too.
“Now what?”
“How do you enter the circle?” Voodoo asked.
“What do you mean… Oh, right! I enter with trust and love?” I said.
“Good enough. I also enter with trust and love,” Voodoo said.
At the end of the hallways furthest from the front of the office was a small bookshelf with old legal books. It began to shake, and we knew that the spirit was angry with what we were doing.
“Better hurry,” I urged.
“Uh… Spirit, you are banished,” Voodoo said simply. “Go away from us right now.”
And then it was gone.
“That seemed easy,” Voodoo said. “we still need to hurry.”
On cue, my stomach growled loudly. “Oh, right.” I’d almost forgotten that part.
“We’re not leaving now. Not after we did all that so we could look around. Let’s just do this,” Voodoo said.
Chapter Fourteen
I went into Lukas’s old office and almost everything was packed into boxes. There were a few files on the desks, and next to that was what looked like a new laptop.
“Anton must be trying to work on some of Lukas’s old cases,” I said. “I suspect his workload probably doubled when Lukas died.”
“You’re assuming that Lukas did as much work as Anton. Lukas had the family name, and Anton was an outsider. I wouldn’t be surprised if those few files were Lukas’s only active cases.”
The top file was Lukas and Laney’s divorce case. I opened it and it was the full file. He’d been representing himself in the case instead of hiring an outside attorney. That seemed like a bad idea to me. I doubted that Anton would want to be involved given that he had to live in Knox Hills with both of them, but surely Lukas could have hired someone from a nearby town.
Even more interesting was the motion to dismiss. Lukas had a hearing coming up to dismiss the divorce proceedings. He had decided to stay with Laney, and the reason why seemed to be underneath the filing. There was a confirmation from Laney’s doctor that she was pregnant.
“But she was in the bar drinking,” I said and set the paper down.
“What?” Voodoo said.
“Laney was pregnant, and Lukas was going to call off the divorce, but she was in the bar drinking the other night. There were empty wine bottles at her house too,” I said.
“I mean, just because people are rich doesn’t mean they are smart,” Voodoo offered. “I’m sure there are people who drink when they are pregnant all of the time.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Or the doctor’s letter was fake. Maybe it was a ploy to get Lukas to drop the
divorce, and when she realized she was backed into a corner, she killed him.”
“Or she really is pregnant and had no reason to kill him,” Voodoo said. “Maybe she’s just a sad, broken woman making horrible decisions.”
“Well, this has made everything as clear as mud,” I said.
“What about the rest of the files?”
“A couple of real estate things and someone suing an insurance company. Nothing I think anyone would kill over. My file isn’t here,” I said.
“Anton probably archived it since there isn’t really anything for him to do with it now,” Voodoo said. “We could go look in his office if you want.”
“No, let’s just go home,” I said. “This is a bust, and even if I find something, I probably won’t know what to do with it. Files full of paperwork don’t paint a full picture of anything.”
As we were walking out of the alley, I once again ran right into someone. I looked up, and Alex’s eyes met mine.
“Allegra,” he said. “What were you doing in the alley?”
Uh oh. I had not accounted for running into someone, and I especially hadn’t planned on being discovered by someone I knew. I did not want to lie to Alex, but I could not tell him the truth.
“Um, I was out for a walk with Voodoo, and we thought we heard a kitten in the alley. We went to go check it out. It was actually just a pigeon, though. No kitten. What are you doing out so late?”
I hoped that turning the question around on him would keep him from comprehending how dumb my excuse was. He cocked his head to one side and just studied me for a moment.
“What?” I asked as the weight of his stare unnerved me.
“I’m not sure if I should tell you. You left our date and started making out with your cousin,” Alex said flatly.
“What?” I couldn’t believe what he’d just said. “For one thing, he’s not related to me by blood. He’s a cousin by marriage, so you don’t have to make it sound so gross. For another, are you, like, stalking me? You were watching me after you dropped me off and now you’re here. What’s going on?”
“I have no reason to trust you with this information, and yet I feel compelled to tell you. Are you using some sort of magic on me?”
I stated to say something, but he held up one finger to my lips.
“You don’t have to answer that. Just hang on a second,” Alex said.
He pulled a small silver canister out of a bag he had draped over his shoulder. Alex popped the cap off and spritzed me with a vaguely apple-scented mist.
Voodoo bared his teeth and growled. That earned him a spritz too. I saw my familiar raise his haunches, and I motioned for him to hold back.
“You had better explain this right now,” I said. “What are you doing?”
“I just feel like I can confide in you what I’m doing, and I needed to make sure it was my intuition talking. In a town full of witches, you never assume you’re not being bewitched. Especially by a witch as beautiful as you.”
I was flattered but also confused. “You know about witches? Okay, that’s interesting, but also why are you stalking me?”
“I’m not stalking you. As far as watching you when you went home, I’m sorry. I’m investigating you. When I saw that you were having a private moment with your cousin… I mean, Rowan, I left. As much as it bothered me, I’m not a creepy pervert.”
“If you’re not stalking me, then how did I just literally run into you?” I asked.
“This is truly a coincidence. I’m not investigating you tonight. I was done with that when I dropped you off. Tonight, I am hunting.”
“What?”
“I’m hunting,” Alex said again as if that cleared things up.
“Yep, you said that. That doesn’t exactly… I mean… What are you hunting?”
“Tonight, I’m hunting a demon,” Alex said.
“That’s much better than what I expected,” I said.
“You say you’re hunting a demon tonight, but what else do you hunt?” Voodoo asked.
“I figured you talked,” Alex said. “I was wondering how long it would take you to pipe up. I hunt a lot of things, Voodoo. Mostly vampires, shifters, witches, and demons.”
Witches.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “You were hunting me?”
“No, I was investigating you to make sure I didn’t need to hunt you,” Alex said. “Historically, members of my order hunted all supernaturals, but we’ve become much more progressive as the years have gone by. It’s a shameful history, but those of us who are still members are trying to turn that around. We only hunt evil supernaturals now. We’re trying to protect all normals and supernaturals alike.”
“And none of the witches in this town have any kind of problem with this? Also, why wasn’t I told about this?” That question was directed more at Voodoo than Alex. “It seems like it would be important.”
“I had no idea,” Voodoo said.
“Neither does anyone else,” Alex said. “You and Voodoo are the only people in Knox Hills who know. I am the only hunter in the area, and I get my marching orders from higher-ups who are a long way from here.”
“So, why would you tell me?”
“I get the feeling I can trust you with the truth, and I didn’t want to lie to you,” he said.
I felt a pang of guilt because I’d lied to him. I felt bad about it, but I’d still gone ahead and lied. “I wasn’t looking for a kitten in the alley,” I blurted.
“I figured,” Alex said with a shrug. “What were you doing? Or is that still a secret?”
“I’m trying to figure out who killed Lukas Roth. I kinda broke into the law offices to see if I could find any evidence. I didn’t find anything that helps,” I said sheepishly.
“Well, I’ve got to go capture this demon and send it back to hell. If you’re not doing anything, you could come with me,” Alex said.
“So, you still want to spend time with me even though you saw me kissing Rowan when you were spying… I mean, investigating me?” I asked.
“I understand why Rowan is in a hurry to claim you, Allegra. I can’t fault him for that, but who you are with is up to you. If I earn your affections, then I do. If I don’t, then that’s on me,” Alex said. “I’m not going to push you into anything, and I don’t want to drive you away with petty jealousy.”
“Demon hunting it is, then. Where are we going?”
“Follow me,” Alex said with a smile.
I followed Alex out of the downtown area, past the bed and breakfast, and into a neighborhood that I hadn’t been in before. The houses were old, and the closer you got to the outskirts of town, the more rundown and neglected they became.
On the final street before you hit the field surrounding Knox Hills, there was one lone house at the end of the block. “We’re going in there?” I asked as we approached the old Victorian that looked as though a strong gust of wind could topple it.
“I don’t think it’s going to come out and do a meet and greet,” Alex said. “You can stay out here if you’re not comfortable.”
He touched my arm and offered me a soft smile. Alex wasn’t disparaging me or goading me into going. He genuinely meant to keep me feeling safe. Oddly enough, it made me brave enough to go in.
“I can handle it,” I said. “We’ve got Voodoo to protect us.”
“I’m here to protect you,” Voodoo countered.
“Are you really going to let something bad happen to Alex?” I asked.
“No, but I don’t want to get possessed or anything. Okay?”
“No one is getting possessed tonight,” Alex said.
He pulled a strange black cross out of his bag. It wasn’t shaped entirely like you’d expect, but then again, it was entirely recognizable too. Next he pulled out a glass bottle filled with water and handed it to me.
“What’s this?”
“Blessed water. I’ll let you know if I need it,” he said.
“Blessed by who?”
&nb
sp; “Not important.” He smiled again. “All you have to do is hand it to me if I ask for it, and if I tell you to throw it, throw it.”
“Got it.”
With that, we made our way up the creaky front steps. Alex tried the door, but it was locked.
“I can get that,” I said and gripped the doorknob.
I turned it, and the front door popped open. The hinges creaked like they hadn’t moved in decades, but the door swung slowly open.
“See, you’re coming in handy already,” Alex said with a smile.
“I’m glad you’ve found use for me,” I teased.
I realized that despite the fact that we were hunting a demon, I was relaxed around Alex again. We were even bantering. The connection was much deeper than when we’d been making small talk over dinner.
Alex took a flashlight out of his bag and clicked it on. He swept the room with the light and then stepped inside. I followed close behind him with the blessed water ready. Voodoo brushed against my leg and took a position in front of me.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Alex taunted the demon. “I’ve got a witch and her familiar with me tonight. Any way you slice it, you’re toast.”
“Bad pun.” I chuckled. “Such a bad pun.”
“I thought it was pretty good.” Alex protested.
Just then, we heard the floorboards above our heads creak. “I don’t think it liked your pun either,” I said.
The room got icy cold and the air filled with the scent of sulfur. It was so strong that I gagged. There was a loud cackle followed by the sound of heavy footsteps running down the stairs.
It was only the sound, though. I couldn’t see what was barreling down from the second floor toward us. I found that the most unnerving.
Voodoo bared his teeth and growled.
“Easy, boy,” Alex said calmly. “Pay no attention to this thing’s parlor tricks.”
Another loud growl filled the room, but it wasn’t Voodoo. This sound was deeper and dripping with malice.
Cold as a Witch's Toffee Page 13
