Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 1)

by Kristen Painter

I gave the side eye to the glass of wine in my hand. Maybe alcohol and I just didn’t mix.

  “Okay then.” He sipped his beer. “You like sweets, right?”

  “Is there a winter elf who doesn’t?”

  He smiled. “When do you work tomorrow?”

  “Not until five. I have the evening shift.”

  “Perfect. I’ll pick you up at eleven and give you the tour of the best places in town to stock up on the good stuff. We can even skip lunch and just eat like unsupervised children all day.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t say no to an outing that was my own doing. And really, this wasn’t a date. It was a friendly outing. We’d already agree to that. “I’ll meet you by the warehouse door at eleven.”

  He clinked his glass to mine. “See you then.”

  And just like that, I had a date with Cooper Sullivan.

  I was going to have to talk to my father about hazard pay.

  After three glasses of moscato apiece, Juniper and I called it a night, thanked Cooper (who’d generously paid for all six of those drinks), and headed home. We were both a little buzzed, but it was a short walk.

  And Cooper insisted on coming with us, gentleman that he was. That kind of behavior was both sweet and incredibly frustrating. I was determined not to like the guy, but he was making it more and more difficult.

  Of course, that non-date I had with him tomorrow probably wasn’t going to help matters either. Granted, I could always tell him who I really was. That would cool his jets.

  It would also violate my directive. Unfortunately.

  Fortunately, we were at our building. We thanked Cooper at the warehouse door, jumped in the elevator, and then said our goodbyes in the hall.

  As soon as I locked the door behind me and turned on the entrance light, Spider met me with a loud meow.

  “Crap.” I still hadn’t gone for cat food. I picked him up and gave him a little kiss on the head. “I’m new at being a cat mama and not doing a very good job of it. But I will go first thing tomorrow, I swear. I’ll even get some treats.”

  He butted his head against my chin.

  “I promise there’s enough for dinner tonight and breakfast in the morning, okay? Don’t hate me.” I made a mental note to buy cat litter too. That was not something I could afford to run out of.

  He started purring, clearly the forgiving sort.

  I flipped on the kitchen light, set Spider on the counter (because really, who was going to tell me not to?), and jumped at the sight of a dark figure on the other side of the window.

  A second later, I realized it was Greyson. That was one way to avoid putting a visitor on Toly’s list.

  Frowning, I went over and jimmied the window open. “You scared the snowflakes out of me. What are you doing on my fire escape?”

  He pointed at Spider. “Were you talking to the cat?”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  He smiled, which made me temporarily forget the question. Stupid Irish-Roma vampire magic. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

  “Is that a vampire thing? Like you can’t come in unless you’re invited?”

  He snorted. “You watch too much TV.”

  “Yes, you can come in.” I walked away from the window and went back to getting Spider his dinner.

  When I rounded the counter, Greyson was already standing on the other side of it. Unnerved by his speed and stealth, I jumped and almost spilled what little kibble was left. “You could make a little noise, you know. Wear a bell or something.”

  “My apologies.”

  I dumped food into Spider’s bowl. “This can’t be a thing, you showing up on my fire escape. I’m not a misunderstood high schooler looking for an immortal boyfriend to stalk me into loving him. Normal people call or text.”

  He popped a brow. “And I would have, had you given me your number.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Sorry.”

  Spider chowed down like his life depended on it. Apparently, having a vampire in the house didn’t register on cat radar. At least not enough to dampen his appetite.

  “I went by the shop, but you weren’t there. I didn’t ask for you. I didn’t want to start any undue rumors.”

  I smiled. “You mean like the new employee is already dating the hottest vampire in town?”

  He laughed, his cheeks going the tiniest bit red, which was ridiculously adorable and slightly surprising. I hadn’t known vampires could blush. “Something like that, yes.”

  Suddenly, I felt like I had the upper hand. He’d come to see me. “How did you know what apartment I live in?”

  “I didn’t. I was one flight up when I saw the light come on.”

  “So you were just hanging out, waiting?”

  He nodded slowly and pursed his lips. “I guess that is kind of stalker-y.”

  “A little. You might want to get that looked into. See a therapist, that sort of thing.”

  He smirked. “I’ll do that.”

  I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms. “What did you need to see me so badly about?”

  “Two reasons.” He reached into his pocket and held out a long, dangling silver earring. “I believe you lost this last night.”

  So that’s where my other earring went. And here I’d thought it was still in the covers. “I didn’t even know I’d lost one.” Then I shook my head. “Stupid twenty-four-hour rule.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. It’s an elf thing.” I took the earring. “Thanks. My mom gave these to me. What was the second reason?”

  “I was going to ask you if you wanted to go for dinner, but it’s late now and you’ve obviously come from a meal and drinks so—”

  “What do you mean, obviously? I’m a little buzzed, but I’m not drunk by any means.”

  He tapped the side of his nose. “I can smell wine and steak on you. If I’d had to guess based on the other scents lingering in your hair, you were at Howler’s.”

  Color me impressed. “Are a vampire’s senses really that good?”

  “Was I right?”

  “Spot-on. Wow. That’s kind of cool. I would have said yes, by the way.”

  “To dinner?”

  I nodded.

  “Tomorrow night, perhaps.”

  “I can’t. I work the evening shift tomorrow.” Which meant I could sleep in. At least until I had to get ready for my non-date with Cooper. But I wasn’t ready to give up on time with Greyson that easily. “I’m not tired and it’s not that late. We could go for a walk. It’s a beautiful night.”

  “It is. A walk would be nice.”

  Yes, it would. I grabbed my purse. “You don’t know any twenty-four-hour pet stores, do you?”

  He made a curious face. “I can’t say that I do. Why?”

  “Spider is almost out of food.”

  “Ate the last fly, did he?”

  “Hah hah.”

  He grinned. “The Shop-n-Save is open twenty-four hours now. Just started last month.”

  “And you wouldn’t mind walking over there with me?”

  His lingering smile was answer enough. “Not at all.”

  “Okay.” I checked my watch. It was a few minutes after ten. “One small problem. The shop is closed and the manager could be on his way back to his apartment. We can’t run into him in the elevator. I’m not supposed to have guests up here without prior approval.”

  Greyson’s brows knit together. “That’s rather strict, isn’t it? You are an adult.”

  “I know. But the apartment is included in my wages, and I just work here, I don’t make the rules. It’s something about having a record of everyone who’s been in the warehouse. There’s a lot of proprietary stuff in there.” Like the Santa Bag that all our inventory was shipped through. Although why I was defending Toly’s rule, I had no idea. It was kind of like living in a dormitory. “Anyway, I have no idea when he’ll be back in his apartment, so—”

  “We don’t need to take the elevator.”

  “We don’t?” />
  He shook his head and walked back to the window. “Trust me?”

  “I don’t know.” If he was going to bite me and drink my blood, we didn’t need to leave the building for that. Heck, I’d already invited him in. That was opportunity enough. “Yeah, okay.”

  “Good.” He pushed the window up and exited with a sort of grace I knew I would not be able to duplicate. More vampire magic, I suppose. He held his hand out to me. “Come on.”

  I looped my purse strap across my body and took his hand. A moment later, I stood on the fire escape with him. “What now?”

  He closed the window and smiled. “Now, the fun part.”

  He leaped onto the railing as light as a cat. “Your turn.”

  “You have a weird idea of fun.” I shook my head. “I can’t do that.” Okay, I could. Elves were pretty nimble. But that was a very thin railing and we were two stories up. So, no.

  He held out his hand again. “I’ll help.”

  Holding his hand did sort of sweeten the deal. “I don’t know.”

  “I won’t let you fall.” He wiggled his fingers. “You said you trusted me.”

  Reluctantly, I took his hand. He lifted me like it was nothing. Oh boy. I was standing on the railing. Getting vertigo. And a little nauseous. “I can’t be up here. I feel like I’m going to—”

  He lifted me into his arms like a baby and jumped.

  “Son of a nutcracker!” I sucked in a shuddering breath and was about to scream when we landed as softly as a snowflake floating down to earth.

  He put my feet back on the ground, but I didn’t drift far from the circle of his arms. “I’m sorry if I frightened you. Your heart is pounding like a drum. Are you all right?”

  It took a moment for the reality of what had just happened to register, my head being all cluttered with fear and the scent of cinnamon. I put my hand on my chest. My heart was going pretty fast. “Physically, yes. Mentally, I’m not so sure. How did you do that?”

  He shrugged. “Vampire skills.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “You could have told me what you were going to do.”

  “Would you have agreed?”

  “Probably not.” Then I smiled. “That has to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Well, been a part of. But seriously, next time, ask. Or I can’t be responsible for my reaction.”

  He held his hands up and backed off. “I will. Promise.” He gestured down the street. “To the Shop-n-Save then?”

  “Yes.” I glanced up at the fire escape we’d just jumped off of. “Seriously cool.”

  He laughed softly, and we started down the street on our mission to secure cat food and cat litter. Talk about things you don’t expect to be doing with a vampire.

  “About dinner…” He looked at me. “Maybe Saturday?”

  “Why not Friday?” Although I was off both nights since I was scheduled for the day shift.

  “I’m the VOD Friday night.”

  “Vampire On Duty, right?”

  He nodded. “From six until midnight.”

  “I guess Saturday night would be good then.”

  He smirked. “You guess?”

  “I still want to know where that elevator goes.” Because that might explain why Toly was so wound up about it.

  Greyson laughed. “You really are tenacious.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to tell me?”

  “No.”

  I sighed with great effort. “What’s the big secret?”

  He rolled his lips in for a moment as if suppressing more laughter. “Why do you want to know so badly?”

  “Because Toly, the manager, the same guy who won’t let any of us have visitors unless they’re cleared with him first, freaks out every time we go near that elevator. And I’m dying to know what the big deal is.”

  Greyson sighed. “The big deal is it gives access to a restricted Nocturne Falls town area, and if something happens because one of you gets down there via that elevator, he’s probably on the line with the Ellinghams. Not to mention whoever he’d have to report to in the company. I’m sure your upper management wouldn’t be happy about it either.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured. But I still want to know what’s down there.”

  “And I still can’t tell you.”

  “Maybe I can’t make dinner on Saturday night…”

  His eyes took on a darkly wicked glint. “And perhaps the next time I visit your shop, I’ll ask for you by name, telling them all how I had to find you to return the earring you’d left behind after our evening together.”

  I laughed and gave him a little shove. “Fine. I’ll stop asking about the elevator.”

  He nodded. “Thank you. If the occasion arises that I can tell you more, I will. You have my word.”

  That was something. “All right. Thanks.” Then I decided to push in a different direction. “Do you know about the elves that have quit their jobs at the store? Well, quit might not be explaining it right. In the last two and a half years, six elves have just up and left. They wrote a note, left their stuff behind—at least one did—and just didn’t show up for work. Here one day, gone the next.”

  He was silent a moment. Like he was thinking. “I’ve heard.”

  “How did you hear?”

  He rolled his shoulders. “I’m a town employee. Word gets around when a business is having issues.”

  Interesting. “Because?”

  “Because the Ellinghams don’t like waves. At least not the kind that could affect the rest of the town.”

  “They sound as bad as Toly.”

  “Not at all.” He shook his head. “They’ve worked hard to make this place what it is. A safe haven for supernaturals of all kinds. They have a tremendous amount invested here, and they have every right to defend what they’ve built. Are they perfect? No. What family is? But they’re good people. Loyal. Generous. Protective of the citizens who call this place home.”

  “That puts things in a different light. I can imagine they wouldn’t be happy about the problem with the employees then.”

  “No, not at all.”

  And they wouldn’t be happy with Toly or the company if anyone who wasn’t authorized made use of that elevator.

  Hmm. What if the missing employees had the same curiosity about that elevator that I had? What if they had accessed it somehow and that’s why they were gone? If the town could take away the building for a violation, could they also remove employees?

  That might explain why Toly was so on edge about it—he was tired of workers who couldn’t keep their mitts to themselves. “What’s the Ellinghams take on the missing employees?”

  He gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher. “I’m not sure I’m supposed to be talking to you about this.”

  I smiled sweetly and looped my arm through his. “But you already are.”

  The side of his mouth lifted in a reluctant half smile. “They’re concerned, and they’re monitoring the situation, but whoever runs the company that owns Santa’s Workshop has been made aware that this issue needs to be resolved. That’s all I know. And probably more than I should have said.”

  My gaze shifted straight ahead. Was that why I’d been sent? Because the ruling family of vampires had been in touch with my father about an issue that might impact their town? Or had my dad really just found out because of the census? Or had the two occurrences collided? I had a lot of questions to ask the next time I spoke to my dad.

  “You look lost in thought.” He jostled my arm a little to get my attention. “If you’re worried that something might happen to you because of what’s happened to the other employees—”

  “Worried is an interesting choice of words, isn’t it? That sounds like something bad has happened to them.” Which I didn’t want to believe. “All I’ve heard is that they stopped coming to work.”

  “And left everything behind. You said that yourself.”

  “Just the one that I know of.”

  “Even so, why wou
ld someone leave everything behind unless they had no choice? What kind of situation would you have to be in to just walk away like that?”

  I sighed. “That’s what I keep asking myself.”

  And I had yet to come up with an answer that didn’t point to something unsavory going down in Nocturne Falls.

  I let the topic rest. We had cat food to buy anyway, and in the bright lights of the Shop-n-Save, I wanted to enjoy my domestic errand with Greyson, not worry about what had become of the store’s last six employees.

  “Tasty Tuna Surprise?” Greyson held up a small can of cat food. “What do you think the surprise is?”

  “That it tastes better than it sounds? Throw it in the basket.” With his help, I picked out an abundance of cat food, both canned and dry, a bag of chicken-flavored treats, and a jumbo jug of cat litter. Enough to hold Spider in good stead until this thing was all over.

  At which point, I guessed I’d be taking him back to the North Pole. Huh. I hadn’t considered that until just now, but there was no way I was giving him up. Who would sleep on my hair?

  I added a box of chocolate glazed donuts, another six-pack of Dr Pepper, and a cheap spiral-bound notebook to the mix, and we checked out. Greyson eyed the baked goods and the soda, but wisely said nothing. He took the jug of litter and a bag, then I took the remaining two bags and we started the walk back.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I really appreciate you coming with me on this trip. I’m not really scared to be on my own at night, but you know, strange town and all that. I’m still getting my bearings.”

  “You don’t need to be afraid in Nocturne Falls, but being smart is never a bad move. If you ever need me, just call. I’ll be there.”

  “Very sweet of you. You should probably give me your number then.”

  He smiled. “And you should give me yours.”

  “I will this time, promise.” I liked him. Maybe more than was prudent. He was a vampire, and I really knew very little about him, but he worked for the town, and after what he’d told me about the Ellinghams, it didn’t seem like they’d hire just anybody to represent them. Especially not as one of the characters on the street who interacted with the tourists.

  The rest of the walk back was small talk and comfortable silence, both of which I enjoyed. Greyson was easy to be with. I considered telling him who I really was, then decided against it. It was early days yet, and my job was to be here as Lilibeth, so that’s what I was sticking to.