by Nova Nelson
Ruby felt a little silly about her anxiety, but gave herself a break. “Nobody home then?”
“Doesn’t look like it,” Zax replied, poking through a pile of clothes with the toe of his boot as if there might be something important hidden beneath.
Ruby ran her palms down the front of her robes. “Very well then. I guess we have a pretty good idea of where Opal is now.”
Zax caught her eye. “Dead and buried?”
“What? No! No, no, no. Well, I suppose it’s possible, but I was imagining she’d be at Cedric Pine’s home.”
“Oh, yeah. That makes more sense.”
“Then we shall head that way.”
“What about all this mess?”
Ruby scanned it. “All I see is a bunch of piles of not-our-problem. Come on. Let’s go catch those two love birds in their nest.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Just up here,” Zax said as he led Ruby and Clifford down the path on the way to their next interview. “That’s where the Pines live.” He pointed at a wide cabin with two small footpaths leading up to the front porch.
“The Pines? How many live there?”
“Just Cedric and Virgil.”
Ruby inhaled so suddenly, she nearly choked. “Cedric and Virgil share a home?”
“No, no. The cabin is two connected homes. They live separately.”
“This changes things,” Clifford added.
“It certainly does. I’d assume the entire building was Cedric’s home. But what, exactly does it change?”
“That’s the question of the hour, I’d venture.”
Something tugged at the back of her mind, some event that could make much more sense given this new context, but she would need a moment alone before she could dive deep enough to locate it and allow it the space it needed to breathe and grow into a tangible hunch.
As they drew closer, she did notice that the front porch was actually split in two by a small wooden divider in the middle. Well, it was no wonder Virgil knew about his brother’s affair. The cabin’s walls couldn’t be that thick.
Cedric answered the door looking perfectly healthy, contrary to what he’d told his work. “Sleuth leader,” he said, clearly not expecting the visit. “What can I do for you?”
Zax slapped on his most congenial smile and said, “I heard you weren’t feeling well, and I wanted to stop by and check in.”
The lie was so obvious, what with Ruby and Clifford standing just to his side, that it was laughable. But it did the trick and temporarily disarmed Cedric.
“Oh. Um, thanks for your concern.”
“You don’t look sick.”
“It was just a stomach thing. I think I turned a corner for the better about an hour ago.”
“So you’re going back to work?”
“No… I think it’s best if I stay home and rest and drink some water. I’ll be good as new in time for work tomo—”
“Great. If you’re not doing anything, then we’d love to have a chat with you. Would you invite us inside?”
Cedric planted his feet and cast a furtive glance over his shoulder. “Er… I don’t know if it’s a great time. The house is a mess—”
“Must be going around,” Clifford said.
“—and I just ran out of tea to serve, so I would be a poor host.”
Zax’s grin stretched wider until he was practically baring his teeth. “That’s not a problem. We just had a hot drink before we came. And besides, we’d really like to talk to Opal.”
At that, Cedric’s eyes grew wide, and Ruby felt a strange pride for Zax’s bold move to catch the other werebear by surprise. Maybe coffee made him bold and blunt too. Maybe they could spend more time in the near future drinking coffee together and causing trouble around town…
Sheesh, the coffee was even giving her bold thoughts. And completely useless ones, at that.
“Opal?” Cedric sputtered, trying to recover. “Why would she be here?”
Ruby decided to answer that. “Because the two of you are sleeping together. I thought that would be obvious.”
Zax licked his lips, presumably in a desperate attempt to keep from laughing, and Cedric’s next words caught in his throat, emerging finally as a garbled mess.
Finally, he managed, “How do you—I mean, where did you hear that?”
“Dear man,” she said, “not only did I hear it through thick glass, but I saw it with my own eyes. Now I suggest you and Opal speak with us so things don’t look even worse for you.”
Cedric swallowed, his sand-colored face flushing red, and finally stepped to the side.
Zax nodded to him as he passed, and Ruby thanked him kindly. No one loved having a hellhound in their home, she was acutely aware of that, but they had Cedric by the snout now, and he didn’t protest in the slightest as Clifford trotted past him.
Opal was wrapped in a silk dressing gown when she peeked her head out of the kitchen and saw who was waltzing into Cedric’s living room. She appeared appropriately horrorstruck when Ruby said hello and asked her to join them.
“They know,” Cedric groused right before he threw himself down onto a plaid wingback chair. Opal approached him cautiously and perched on the arm of his chair, taking in the newcomers with big doe eyes.
No one offered them anything as they sat, but Ruby didn’t mind.
“We just visited your home,” Ruby said, starting things off.
Opal’s wide eyes narrowed. “You did?”
“Oh yes, and now we’re very curious, as you might expect, what you were looking for in there.”
Opal’s attention jumped to Zax before landing on Ruby again. “What do you mean?”
“Someone was clearly searching for something in that home. Either that, or someone was in the mood to destroy all your possessions. Maybe you can enlighten us on what the case may be?”
Opal’s mouth had fallen open, and she blinked, but said nothing.
“It wasn’t you?” Ruby asked, feeling suddenly unsure.
“Someone was in my home?” Opal finally managed to force out.
“Oh yes,” Ruby said. “And ransacked it. Did quite a number. My assumption was that you were looking for something.”
Opal shook her head promptly. “No. I haven’t been back there since… Well, I suppose the secret’s out. I haven’t been back there in a couple of days.”
“Ah, the sleepover was too fun, I suppose.”
“No! It’s not that. It’s just that… We saw Taurus. Virgil was attacked. And Swamy… He went into the woods and never came out. I can only assume he’s dead.”
“I believe there are other assumptions still available to you if you so choose. But while we’re on the topic of your boyfriend, I’d love to know when you last saw him.”
Opal opened her mouth to respond, but Zax cut in. “When you really last saw him.”
She exchanged a nervous glance with Cedric and paused before speaking. “I told you he didn’t come home after work on Tuesday. But the truth is that I didn’t see him before he went to work, either.”
“The day before, then?” asked Zax.
“Yes. The morning before. Monday. I saw him then.”
“And you stayed over here that night?”
“No!” she said, sounding scandalized.
Ruby only just managed not to groan. They were well past propriety at this point.
Opal continued, “I saw him before he left for work on Monday. Then I left for work. My shift ran long and then, yes, I did spend a little extra time with Cedric afterward. By the time I got home, it was late, and I thought it best to sleep on the couch rather than waking up Swamy.”
“You mean,” Ruby said politely, “you decided to sleep on the couch to avoid waking him and letting him know what time you really got home. If he slept through your arrival, you could fudge the time, say you made it home at a reasonable hour for someone working late at the lodge rather than tip him off to your nightly hobbies.”
Opal looked suddenly murde
rous, and Ruby straightened up in her seat on the couch. Next to her, Clifford’s hackles rose.
“Yes.” Opal’s tone was clipped. “I suppose that’s what I mean.”
“And you didn’t see him Tuesday morning before he left for work?”
“No.”
Ruby sighed. “Since I’ve just seen your home and am familiar with the layout, I find it hard to believe you slept right through his morning preparations while you were on the couch so close by. Did he not eat breakfast? Fix himself coffee?”
“I’m a sound sleeper,” she said gruffly.
“And you’d had an exhausting night, I get that. But is it possible that Swamy didn’t wake you up the next morning because he was never there? I assume you didn’t check when you made it home to ensure he was safely asleep in his bed.”
“I didn’t. And I guess it’s possible.”
Ruby nodded. “And where exactly did your rendezvous take place on Monday night?”
Now both Cedric and Opal looked properly embarrassed. Well, that was a small consolation. “We met,” Cedric said, chivalrously stepping in front of the bullet, “in one of the rooms of the lodge.”
Zax growled. “Your boss will want to know about this.”
Ruby placed a hand on his bulging bicep to calm him. He could handle that sort of detail work later. There were more pressing matters on hand.
She addressed Cedric. “And where did you go afterward?”
“Straight home.”
“And can anyone verify that?”
He sighed. “No. I live alone. And I don’t think Virgil saw me.”
“You’re right. On Monday night, he was busy being attacked in the Silent Reach and then hiding in his bedroom with a battle hammer.” She turned to Opal. “And you?”
“I went straight home, too.”
“And I assume no one can verify that, either.”
She shook her head, her arms crossed tightly like a petulant child. “Obviously not.”
“That’s unfortunate for you two, then.” Ruby paused. “Were you aware that on the same night that you worked late and paid a visit to Cedric, Swamy had made plans with Virgil to track Taurus in the woods?”
Opal’s gasp made it clear this was news to her. “I closed with Virgil that night. He never mentioned anything about that.”
“Of course not. Why would anyone mention that they were dashing half-cocked into the woods after a legendary creature that is, at best, poorly defined?”
Cedric shook his head disappointedly. “That’s just like Virgil. Talk about someone who could use a woman in his life.”
Ruby couldn’t stop herself. “If only we knew of a woman who had showed interest in him.” She grinned pleasantly at Opal, whose murderous glare only intensified.
Cedric, though, didn’t catch on, which was just fine.
Zax slapped his knees before standing. “We won’t take up any more of your time.” They made for the front door, Cedric close on their heels, herding them along.
Once on the doorstep, Zax turned around and called over Cedric’s shoulder, “You should take care, Opal. There might be a murderer on the loose.”
And Ruby didn’t miss how Zax’s eyes lingered on Cedric’s for just a moment too long.
Chapter Seventeen
Bloom was exhausted as she climbed up Fluke Mountain. Not physically exhausted, thankfully, but mentally so. While she didn’t need sleep, she regularly recharged with a recentering routine that involved deep breathing and a deep meditative state. But she hadn’t had an opportunity to practice it in what seemed like days. No wait, maybe it was days.
She’d once heard Ruby sarcastically say, “I can sleep when I’m dead,” and had always envied that claim. Sometimes, when the work got too tedious, Bloom envied the thought of not only sleeping, but being dead. A little finality sounded luxurious. As it was, neither sleep nor death made the cut on her long list of abilities, and she would just have to deal with it.
One thing she had no tolerance for, though, was hunger. Eating wasn’t a requirement to her existence, but since leaving Heaven, she’d developed quite the addiction for food of all types, and when she went too long without it, she became cranky.
So when she entered Treetop Lodge and got her first divine whiff of a pan-seared steak, she hoped to goddess that she could find time during this meeting to order herself one.
She spotted Ruby and Zax across the restaurant. Both leaned forward with elbows on the table, and Ruby cradled a steaming teacup between her palms. Bloom paused, watching the two of them interact. She would definitely be the third wheel here. Ruby had had raw luck in love up to this point. Maybe Bloom ought to let things develop a little more between the flirtatious duo before she interrupted; when it came to eros, the presence of an angel could be tantamount to dousing someone in cold water.
There was really only one man in Eastwind who had found that particular quality of Gabby Bloom’s attractive, and that relationship—if she would even call it that—had ended a century ago. That man was no good for her or anyone, but that was a whole different matter.
It was the lure of expertly cooked red meat that, in the end, drew her farther into the restaurant and over to Zax and Ruby’s table.
“Oh, hello,” Ruby said pleasantly, leaning back in her chair and taking a casual sip of her tea. “We were wondering if you’d be here at the time you set in your letter. We actually had a bet going. Zax thought you would be held up by police work, but I said you’d be right on the dot.”
“I’m about thirty seconds late,” Bloom said, not mentioning that it was a result of her hesitancy to interrupt the impromptu date.
“Still counts as on time,” Ruby said. She turned to Zax. “What’d I tell you? Never bet against Gabby Bloom.”
Zax chuckled and nodded his concession. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He turned to the sheriff. “Will you ever forgive me?”
“Only if you allow me to join you and order myself something bloody.”
Ruby waved her off. “No need. I already ordered you a rare pan-seared steak with a side of scalloped potatoes and salted asparagus.” She grinned. “Like I said, I knew you would be on time.”
Bloom could have kissed her, but that would have fallen squarely under the list of bad third-wheel behaviors. “I guess it pays to be on time.” She waved her wrist and a chair from the empty table next to theirs flew over to meet her. She took a seat and said, “I had an interesting interview with Arthur Flufferbum.”
Ruby nodded politely. “And we had an interesting chat with Opal and Cedric. You go first.”
Bloom filled them in on Arthur’s refusal to give a hint as to his anonymous source, and Zax interjected, “I’m happy to go speak to him on behalf of the High Council.”
“I’m sure you are. And I told him as much. It was only after I’d played that card that he gave me the scoop on this.” She pulled out a copy of the article draft from Arthur’s desk. “This will be running in the Eastwind Watch tomorrow morning, alongside a write-up about Swamy Stormstruck’s disappearance.”
She handed it first to Ruby, who read it over, nodding slowly, then handed it to Zax. As he read through it, she said, “Well, that makes sense of one thing.”
“Does it?” said Bloom.
“Yes. If I’m not mistaken, and I don’t believe I am, what I just read was a sampling of incriminating love letters between Opal Barker and Cedric Pine. Judging by the content, they seem to have been shared over a course of years. Years that Opal spent living with Swamy.”
Zax folded up the sheet of paper, concern written in deep lines at the corners of his eyes. “There’s going to be a lynch mob on Cedric’s doorstep.”
Bloom nodded.
But Ruby didn’t seem to care so much about that. “There’s something you don’t know about yet, Sheriff.”
“And that is?”
“Opal and Swamy’s house was ransacked sometime in the last day or so.”
Oh, that was
interesting. She suspected she knew where Ruby was going. “The letters?”
“I believe so. Whoever sent the letters into the Watch was very likely the one who ransacked that house. But that means the person must have somehow known about the letters, but not known where they’d been moved. I guess whoever it was found them in the end.”
“Or didn’t find them,” Bloom said. “Perhaps Opal went looking for them, knowing they were incriminating evidence against her lover. If they were already gone when she arrived, it would make sense for her to tear up the house looking for them.”
“Except we already asked her about that. When we mentioned the state of the home, she looked genuinely confused.”
“So you don’t think it was her?”
“I do not.”
“Then why don’t you fill me in on the whole story?”
“Of course,” Ruby said.
But before she could get another word out, Zax interrupted. “I’m sorry to dine and dash.” He scooted his chair back from the table. “But I just noticed the time. I promised Count Malavic I would meet him to go over a budget proposal for tomorrow’s High Council meeting, so I’d better take off.”
“Right,” Bloom said, derailed slightly by his sudden announcement. “Tell the count I said hello, won’t you?”
“Of course.” He nodded at Ruby. “Ms. True, it’s been a pleasure playing detective with you. Please keep me updated.”
“Certainly. And tell the count I also say hello.” She grinned. “He’ll hate that.”
Zax grinned and left, and Bloom returned her chair to its original table and took his seat; she hated having her back to the room.
“You know,” Bloom mused, once Zax was out of earshot, “this investigation is messy, but at least we haven’t once had to speak with Sebastian Malavic for it.”
“True. It is rare that Eastwind’s vampire-in-residence doesn’t have his cold hands in the matter in some way, shape, or form.”
Bloom grinned. “You would know all about those cold hands.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes at the angel. “First off, that was years ago, and secondly, you’re not without your own knowledge of them.”
