Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case

by Kristen Painter

  I dropped the picks. Without contact with me, they’d turn into normal ice and melt, leaving no trace of what I’d just done so long as the wet spot dried before anyone noticed it. I reclaimed my phone, pulled my hoodie back on and began flipping through the files in the first drawer.

  Nothing all that interesting. Inventory sheets. Years and years and years of inventory sheets. Snooze.

  Drawer two got better. Personnel files. I’d come back to that one if I had time.

  Drawer three was the one I was looking for. Bills. There was a folder for Georgia Power and Light, one for the town of Nocturne Falls, a handyman service, an electrician, heating and air company, etc., etc.

  Then I came to a file marked Thrifty Maids. I opened it and brought my phone closer to the first sheet of paper. There was no owner’s name on the bill, just the company and the address and the write-up for a month’s worth of weekly cleanings. I fired up my camera and snapped a picture.

  The flash blinded me, which I deserved for being so dumb. Snowballs. That must have looked like fireworks going off from the other side of the window. I blinked away the glowing fuchsia orb left by the flash, hoping my activities were still undetected.

  By the time my sight returned, no one had burst into the office and accosted me, so I assumed I was still in the clear. I went back to snooping, this time in the personnel files.

  This drawer was divided into two sections. The six files in the back of the drawer all had a little black dot next to each employee’s name. The employee names on the front files had no dots. No college degree required to figure out what that meant.

  As much as I wanted to look at my own file, I dug deeper and pulled Bertie’s instead. The very first piece of paper in the folder was the note of resignation that he’d written. Very to the point. Probably not fifty words. I thought about taking a picture of it, but after how the last one went, decided against it. Besides, I had copies in the file my dad had given me.

  Next was Nora’s. Same thing, her letter was first in the sheaf of paperwork. This one was a little longer, but not much. The handwriting was more flowery, too. Full of swirls and loops. But a little shaky, too, like a grandmother’s might be.

  The third file I pulled belonged to a guy named Will. I remembered him from the dossier because he’d won the skiing gold in the North Pole Games three years running before being transferred here. He’d been the second to leave, after a young woman named Trina, and long before anyone had begun to think it odd. His letter was much longer, but also up front.

  This wasn’t getting me anywhere. Maybe there’d be something in Toly’s desk drawers. I shifted my phone around to get a peek at the rest of the office. It looked exactly the way you’d think a tinker’s office would. Stuff everywhere. Stacks of papers on the desk, shelves crammed with books and toy prototypes. Drawings tacked to the wall. From the looks of it, he was still inventing. Good for him, but I was never going to get through this mess in a timely fashion.

  I decided to try the desk anyway in hopes of turning up something that would make this clandestine visit worthwhile.

  Then the elevator chimed.

  I froze for a split second, then turned my phone off and went to the door to find out if I was about to get busted.

  I stood to the side and stuck my head around just enough to see through the window. Light appeared from the opening elevator doors. I jerked back. Then took another look to see if I needed to find a hiding place.

  That’s when I realized the light was coming from the restricted elevator, not the one that went to the apartments. I could just make out a dark shape stepping into the vestibule. They’d be gone in seconds.

  Curiosity got the best of me. Without another thought, I magically slipped back under the door. The speed only added to the after effects, causing me to wobble toward the elevator. I felt like I was wading through molasses while being tilted forty-five degrees. Fun. The street door was swinging shut. Or maybe that was a trick of my vision. No, whoever had come out of the elevator had left the building.

  I finally reached the vestibule, pushed through that door and nudged the street door open a crack. The dark form I’d seen disappeared around the corner and was gone.

  My only lasting impression was that the dark form had also been tall and slim. So that narrowed it down to all the tall, slim supernaturals in town. So helpful. And frankly, I wasn’t even sure I trusted my judgment on that assessment considering how shaky I was from the under-the-door trick.

  A sigh of frustration slipped out as I slumped against the door in disappointment. I stayed there for a moment, my head not quite done spinning.

  Whoever it had been, they’d moved quickly and kept their head down. As my vision came back to normal, the thought made me look up. Were there security cameras? I glanced around the street. Nothing that looked like a camera.

  Maybe they just wanted to get home and into bed. The idea sounded like perfection. I had a full dayshift ahead of me and then another non-date with Cooper. I’d be running on fumes if I didn’t crash soon.

  Toly’s office was a battle for another day. Or night. Like tomorrow night. I slogged back into the warehouse and pushed the button for the elevator. While I stood there, I stared at the dark office window. Breaking in had gotten me nowhere. The name of the cleaning service was something my father could have figured out by contacting the Financial Department to sniff through Toly’s check register. I felt like a failure. I was no closer to figuring this thing out than I had been two days ago.

  Cranky and frustrated, I rode up to my apartment and let myself in. I shucked my clothes, threw on my PJ’s then did a quick search for Spider. I found him sleeping on one of the kitchen chairs.

  “That’s not comfortable, you silly thing.” I scooped him up, getting a stinky cat-breath yawn in return, and brought him to bed, settling him on the pillow next to mine. He stretched, then curled even tighter.

  Being tired apparently wasn’t enough to equal sleep. For me. Spider was comatose. I stared into the dark, watching the shadows and trying to make sense of what I knew. I got nowhere, but I kept at it until my head ached with questions.

  I thought about calling Greyson and making another attempt at finding out more about that elevator. Despite what my father had told me, I couldn’t believe all that lay under the town’s streets was electrical conduits and sewer mains.

  If that was true, why so much cloak and dagger?

  I opened my eyes to the persistent clanging of one of the worst sounds in the world: my phone alarm. I guess I’d slept after all. I fumbled for the phone, hating the noise but thankful I’d set the alarm, because over-sleeping definitely could have happened.

  I kicked it into gear, getting Spider fed, his box cleaned (wow, that cat could poop), then grabbed a Dr Pepper for myself and took it in the shower with me. What? Don’t judge.

  Clean, dressed and hungry, I ate a couple of donuts with another Dr Pepper while I checked my phone. Two messages from last night that I’d missed.

  Cooper had texted the fire station address along with see you soon and a winky face.

  Greyson had texted a selfie from Insomnia, judging by the background. He was holding a drink and making a very come hither look. On second glance, that was just his normal face. The only note attached to that was Tomorrow.

  My dating life had never been better. I should have lied about who I was ages ago.

  I finished the donut in my hand, dried my hair, did my makeup and locked up behind me.

  Juniper was already in the hall. “Morning!”

  “Morning.” I screwed the top onto my Dr Pepper and stuck it in my purse. “You’re awfully chipper.” I smiled. It wasn’t her fault I’d had a lousy night.

  “Well…” She drew the word out as she made a coy expression. “I might have called this guy I’ve sort of had a thing for, Pete Cathaway, to see if he wanted to join us at the fund-raiser tonight.” She squealed softly. “I hope that’s okay. I figured since you’d be hanging out with C
ooper, I might as well have a guy there too.”

  How could I say I’d been hoping Juniper being there meant I wouldn’t have to be alone with Cooper? Especially when she’d squealed? Clearly she was excited about seeing Pete. “Yeah, sure.” Now it was going to seem like a double date. But I kept my smile in place. I didn’t want to dampen her good mood. “So this guy, Pete, you dig him, huh?”

  “Dang skippy, I do.”

  “What’s he like?”

  We walked to the elevator while she talked.

  “He’s a pharmacist at the drugstore in town. I know, not the most exciting job, but he’s really sweet. He came in to buy Christmas gifts for his nieces and nephews, and we sort of hit it off. Then I pretended to have a cold as an excuse to go see him.”

  I laughed as the doors opened and we got on. “Nicely played. But if you hit it off, why do you need the excuse?”

  She shrugged. “He’s a little on the shy side. He’s half-fae and while he’s got pointed ears and the most beautiful blue-green eyes you’ve ever seen, that’s about all being half-fae has done for him. I think I intimidate him.”

  “Did he say he’d come tonight?”

  She nodded and her smile brightened. “Yep.”

  “Well, maybe he’ll see there’s nothing to be intimated by. That you’re just an awesome person he should get to know better before someone else snatches your hotness up.”

  All smiles, she poked a finger into my arm. “Thanks.”

  “I mean it. Any guy would be lucky to have you.”

  “You too.” She assessed me, her gaze going head to toe. “You’re tall, beautiful, smart and funny. If I was a guy, I’d be all over you. Heck, if Pete doesn’t work out, I may still ask you out.”

  I put my hand to my chest and fluttered my eyes as I answered her in my best Steel Magnolias Southern accent. “Why, Juniper Trembley, you do know how to flatter a girl.”

  Laughing like fools, we stumbled off the elevator and straight into Toly’s path. That snapped us out of it.

  I hoisted my purse strap a little higher on my shoulder. “Morning, Toly.”

  “Morning, Toly,” Juniper parroted.

  “Morning, morning, work to do,” he muttered as he side-stepped us and kept going into the shop. He had a piece of paper in his hands, and his attention seemed to be focused on it.

  Juniper and I looked at each other and shrugged.

  We got set up for the day. A very distracted Toly gave us a couple of jobs to do and then disappeared back into his office.

  As the first customers drifted in, I nudged Juniper. “What do you think that was all about with Toly?”

  “Nothing. He gets preoccupied with stuff all the time. Probably some new toy idea he’s working on or a notice about the next delivery coming from corporate. Who knows?”

  I glanced back at the warehouse. So long as he hadn’t figured out someone had been in his office. Which reminded me that I hadn’t relocked the filing cabinet. Hopefully, he’d think he’d just forgotten.

  But we only saw him two more times the rest of the day, both times when he came in to assign us more tasks. Mostly me. Lots of stocking and inventory and straightening.

  Owen and Buttercup showed up a few minutes before five to spell us. She leaned around to grab her apron. “You missed it, Lilibeth. The werewolves were out in force last night. Howler’s was happening.” She fanned herself. “Ooo, those wolfy boys are smoking.”

  “Next time, I swear.”

  Owen stood a few paces behind, waiting until she moved to reach for his apron.

  “How was your dinner, Owen?”

  He looked up and blinked a few times, all movement frozen in place like every bit of energy he had was going into answering that question. He must have gone to bed even later than I had, judging by the circles under his eyes. “What was that?”

  “Your dinner last night. How was it?”

  He blinked some more, put his apron on and straightened. After a long pause, he said, “Good.”

  Then he shuffled off into the back of the store.

  “Don’t mind him,” Buttercup said. “He’s half asleep most of the time because he spends all night online with his hordes running missions or whatever they call it. He’s a total gamer. That’s all he does outside of working here.”

  “Well, it’s not all he does. He was going out to dinner last night. I saw him leave.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think Owen’s left the building since he got here. If it wasn’t for delivery, I’m not sure he’d eat.”

  “Based on the way he was dressed last night, he looked like he was going to meet someone. Like a date. He had a tie on.”

  She screwed up her face and looked back at the way he’d gone, jerking her thumb in his direction. “That guy? I would have bet a paycheck he didn’t own a tie, forget him knowing how to tie one.”

  “He probably Googled it,” Juniper said.

  I glanced over my shoulder. Owen was nowhere to be seen. “He also told me Toly had called him in to make sure he could handle the Snowy Saturday shimmer, in case Toly wasn’t there. I got the sense he had to give Toly a demonstration of his magic.”

  “Amateur.” Buttercup crossed her arms over her apron. “Juniper and I know better, don’t we?”

  I peered at her. “You mean Toly’s asked you guys that already?”

  Juniper nodded. “He usually gets around to it within the first couple months after an employee arrives.”

  “But those kinds of skills are detailed in our files. Why would he need to ask again?”

  Buttercup shrugged. “Because he’s forgetful? Because he doesn’t trust corporate? Because he checks everything twice? Pick one. Either way, Juni and I both faked it when he called us in.”

  Juniper gave a little half-grin. “I didn’t really fake that much. I told him the best I could do was icicles that had no guarantee of being around longer than five minutes.” She snorted. “He scratched me off his shimmer list pretty fast.”

  “But with hair that color, he had to know you were lying.”

  She tipped her head forward. “Take a closer look at my roots.”

  I did. They were dishwater brown. “You color your hair?”

  She lifted her head. “Yep. In this day and age, and especially in this town, why not?” She must have read the expression on my face. “It wasn’t my magic that got me here. It was my people skills.”

  So much for my theory that you had to have a certain level of magical skill to work here. “You are better with customers than anyone else I’ve seen.” I glanced at Buttercup. “Don’t tell me that yours isn’t real either.”

  “Nope, this is all mine.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Then you must have skills.”

  Her lids went droopy with how much she cared. “I do, but I don’t want to get stuck handling the shimmer by myself. I told him my gifts are unpredictable. And to prove it, I accidentally”—she made finger quotes around the word—“filled his office with snow in about five seconds.”

  I would have paid money to see that. “I guess if I get called in I should do the same thing.”

  Buttercup nodded. “Unless you want to be the Big Elf in Charge on Snowy Saturday, I’d say hells yeah.”

  Juniper let out a little gasp, then grabbed my arm. “Look at the time. We need to bounce. We have to get ready for the spaghetti dinner.”

  Ah yes, the non-date and the maybe date. “Yep, let me grab my purse. See you later, Buttercup.”

  She waved us off. “Later. Have fun with the fire hoes.” Then she snorted. “See what I did there? Fire hoes? Hose?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” we said, but we were laughing as we left.

  Twenty minutes later we were on the street, headed to the fire station, looking as chillacious as possible with twenty minutes of prep time. Which, if I do say so myself, was pretty freaking chillacious.

  I glanced over at Juniper, who was wearing a cute purple dress and boots. “We clean up good.”

/>   She nodded. “Yeah, we do.”

  I’d stuck with skinny jeans, boots and a flannel shirt over a lace-trimmed tank top. My version of country chic. And once again, trying for cute but not too cute. “Pete’s meeting you there?”

  “That’s what he said. I hope he doesn’t back out. Hang on, I better check that there weren’t any pharmacy emergencies.”

  “Is that a thing?”

  “It can be.” She pulled her phone from her purse. We both stared at it. “Nope,” she said. “No text from him so I guess we’re still on.”

  “Isn’t this an unexpected pleasure?”

  The warm honey-over-gravel voice brought my head up in time to stop myself from running smack into Greyson. Whoa. Talk about unexpected. “Oh, hi. Hey.” I shuffled nervously, feeling a little like a kid caught lying. Not that I’d lied about anything this time. Or had any reason to feel guilty.

  “Lilibeth. How are you?”

  “Good, thanks.” His gaze shifted to Juniper as his brows rose. Oh, right. “This is my friend Juniper. We work together. We’re going to the spaghetti dinner fund-raiser at the fire station.”

  He nodded. “Sounds…filling.” Then he smiled that bone-melting grin of his at Juniper. “A pleasure to meet you, lovely Juniper. Any friend of Lilibeth’s is a friend of mine.”

  But no kiss to the hand. Maybe he was afraid of scaring her. She was looking at him with a slightly bug-eyed expression. Or maybe I was special. I know, long shot, but everyone liked a little ego stroke now and then.

  “You, too,” Juniper managed.

  “You’re working?” I asked as I remembered he’d already told me he was on the schedule Friday night. He was dressed pretty much the same as he’d been the night I’d met him. Although he seemed to be wearing a touch of black eyeliner this evening. Very Depp.

  He nodded. “VOD until midnight.” Then his sly smile was all for me. “But don’t worry, not tomorrow night.”

  I swallowed. “Okay, well, we should get going.”