Shear Magic, page 12
part #5 of Silver Hollow Series
Cosmo ruffled his wings. Not just a box. Enchanted keys can open anything.
“Right. Good point.” Gray made a mental note not to focus too much on boxes and to check the walls, floors, even the ceiling tiles for hidden compartments. Heck, even boxes could have hidden compartments, and he shouldn’t overlook books, which could be hollowed out, or even kitchen canisters that could have false bottoms. The possibilities were endless.
Don’t worry. I know what to look for. Cosmo preened the feathers under his right wing.
At twelve forty-five, Raine’s yellow Jeep pulled up in front of his shop. The top was down, and his three cousins were inside. Gray hopped in with Cosmo on his shoulder. The bird immediately flew to the roll bar, clutched his massive claws around it and squawked, “Let’s go!”
Issy turned in the passenger seat and looked at Gray over the top of her sunglasses. “How are you doing? I heard you ran into Owen and Dex.”
Gray nodded. “And Stan. But he seemed more interested in finding an excuse to hang around at the morgue.”
Raine snorted as she pulled away from the curb then glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “It’s great that Stan is too interested in Ursula to think about capturing you, but how are you going to persuade Owen to drop you as a suspect?”
“I’m not worried. Hopefully we’ll find something at Beth’s, and we can get DeeDee to help us integrate that into the investigation.” Gray tried to act nonchalant. He didn’t want his cousins to know how worried he actually was, but judging by the glances they all gave each other, he wasn’t fooling anyone.
Issy turned back around to face front. “Dex will hold them off as long as he can. We have to work fast. If we don’t find anything at Beth’s, we need to get to Tim Stevens’s place at five o’clock sharp.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence, except for Cosmo, who squawked while his head bobbed up and down, his neck craned forward to catch the breeze. Gray was always a little worried that the wind would rip Cosmo from the roll bar when they drove in Raine’s Jeep, but the bird seemed to love it and always managed to keep his grip.
Gray wasn’t sure why he worried. After all, Cosmo could fly.
Beth seemed happy to see them and even happier to see the oversized plant Raine had brought. She invited them in and then sat on the sofa, putting the plant on the coffee table in front of her, stroking its leaves lovingly. “Hey, thanks for drinks the other night.” Beth sank back into the couch. “We did have drinks, right? My memory is a little fuzzy.”
Raine sat down next to her. “Yeah, it was fun to get together.” She pushed the plant a little closer to Beth, who sighed and closed her eyes.
Cosmo took the hint and flew off into the kitchen, making a slow circle around the room, checking for secret compartments. He landed on the countertop, his beak tapping on the canisters.
Issy, Raine, and Ember kept Beth talking. The plant had relaxed her enough so that she was practically asleep. Once Gray was convinced she wasn’t paying attention to him at all, he conducted his own search, starting in the bathroom, which was a total bust. Beth didn’t have much clutter, and even the linen closet was mostly empty, with only five towels and three washcloths. No boxes or secret compartments.
In the bedroom, he found a jewelry box, but the key didn’t fit. He held the key in his palm, figuring it would light up if it was near the item that it unlocked. He made a circuit around the room, going into the closet and pushing the key under the bed, but it never sparked, and he found no boxes or hidden panels.
I got nothing. You get anything? Cosmo asked.
“Nope.” Gray went back into the living room, where his cousins were still talking to Beth.
“I don’t know why my memory is so inconsistent. Sometimes it seems like I remember things fine, but other times it’s almost like a veil is in front of me when I try to remember. Especially back years ago when I was younger.”
Raine looked up and caught Gray’s eye. Further proof that Beth had been cursed.
“But you remember some things. And I bet you have some keepsakes from back then.” Issy glanced over her shoulder at Gray, frowning when he shook his head to indicate he hadn’t found anything. “Like maybe some keepsake boxes with mementos?”
Beth frowned. “I don’t have anything like that. As you can see, I live a very simple lifestyle. I don’t like clutter or knickknacks.”
“But you remember Charlie and Bobby, right?” Ember asked.
A smile played on Beth’s lips. “They were very nice.”
“The three of you were pretty close, weren’t you?” Raine asked.
Beth frowned. “I think so. But Bobby doesn’t talk to me anymore, and Charlie ... well, he’s gone.”
“What about Charlie’s wife? Did you know her very well? She must’ve been part of your group.” Gray still wasn’t sure if Eric had stumbled upon information about a love triangle or the toad warts.
“Oh yes, she was very nice. I didn’t really know her that well. She didn’t come around the barbershop that much, but she was funny,” Beth said.
“Did they have a good marriage?” Issy asked.
“Yes, I think so.” Beth smiled. “And they had that adorable kid. Tim. Of course he’s all grown up now. Looks like Charlie.”
Judging by Beth’s fond memories, it didn’t seem she’d had a secret relationship with Charlie. So maybe Eric’s discovery did have to do with the black-market toad warts and not some clandestine affair. Which meant that Tim Stevens wouldn’t have had a reason to kill Eric so as not to bring the affair to light.
“But something happened at the barbershop, didn’t it?” Raine asked.
Beth’s face clouded over. “Yes. Charlie died.”
“No, before that. Something to do with the toads.”
Beth made a face. “Toads? I don’t know anything about toads. I only know we used to hang around there, and then Charlie died and the shop was closed.”
Raine glanced up at Gray, the expression on her face asking if he was done looking. Gray nodded. He hadn’t found anything, and the conversation was going nowhere. Looked like their trip to Beth’s had been a bust.
The cousins said their good-byes and got back into Raine’s Jeep. As Gray slid into the back seat, he felt a dark cloud settling over him. They hadn’t found anything at Beth’s that could help clear his name, and he was rapidly running out of both time and options.
Chapter 21
Raine dropped Gray and Issy off in front of Issy’s pet store. They all had to get back to their businesses for the afternoon but agreed to meet at Issy’s again just before five so they could go to Tim Stevens’s home.
Gray and Issy parted ways, and he crossed the street on the way to his shop, the key tucked firmly in his pocket and Cosmo perched lightly on his shoulder.
He was almost to his front door when a figure emerged from the alley, blocking his way.
Martin Ellsworth.
Gray glanced down the alley in time to see the flap of a long coat disappear around the corner. Luigi? Had he been meeting with Martin and passing him information about Gray? Were they following him?
“I heard you and your cousins paid a visit to Beth Wilkins today.” Martin looked at him as if he were a fly that had dropped into his French onion soup.
News traveled fast in the town. “Yeah, so? She’s a friend.”
“Really? Or would you be meddling in an important investigation?” Martin’s eyes narrowed and flicked over to Issy’s shop. “You wouldn’t want your pretty little cousins to be arrested for obstructing wizard justice, would you?”
Gray’s heart lurched. Was Martin threatening his cousins? “What do you mean? Like I said, we went to visit a friend.”
“I know what you’re up to, Mr. Quinn. And I know what you’ve done.”
Cosmo dug his claws into Gray’s shoulder and telepathed an image of him pecking Martin. Gray telepathed back the word no. Familiars that harmed other paranormals, especially powerful wizards, usually met with a very unfortunate fate.
“That’s the thing. I’m not up to anything. But it seems as if someone is trying to make it seem that I am. Someone is trying to frame me, and because no one will believe me, I have to figure out who the real killer is on my own.”
Martin stepped a little closer, and Gray got a whiff of foul wizard’s breath. It smelled like rotten quail eggs mixed with decades of mildew. “It’s not gonna help you anyway. I’m very close to putting the final nail in your coffin. All I need is one little piece of evidence. Just another day or so, and you’ll be done.”
Martin stepped back and stabbed the end of his staff in Gray’s direction. “And you’d better stop investigating unless you want to see those innocent little cousins of yours in paranormal jail.”
And with that Martin whirled around and disappeared back into the alley.
Bad man, Cosmo telegraphed.
“You can say that again.” Gray glanced over at Issy’s shop. She stood at the counter, smiling at a customer who was buying a small green gecko. The gecko reminded him of the one she’d given to Dex. Which reminded him about how happy she was now that she’d found Dex. He couldn’t do anything to jeopardize her happiness or that of his other cousins. If having them help him would get them into trouble, then Gray needed them to stop.
And if Gray didn’t figure out who killed Eric soon, he wouldn’t be around to protect them in the future.
The key burned hot in his hand. There was only one thing left to do. He had to use the key to reveal whatever it was that Bobby Knight had hidden. Only then would he have the evidence to clear himself.
If the box was in Bobby Knight’s possession, then Gray was out of luck. And the only other place it could be was Charlie Stevens’s house. Tim and his mother wouldn’t be home for hours.
But Gray couldn’t wait for hours. He turned on his heel and headed toward his car. He needed to conduct a thorough search of the Stevenses’ house now.
Chapter 22
Breaking and entering by magic was frowned upon in Silver Hollow, but Gray didn’t have much choice. Still, he felt like a thief as he stood in front of the Stevenses’ back door, flexing his long fingers over the locked door knob.
“Apertania inalasorous!”
Click.
A puff of purple dust flew out of the keyhole. The air filled with the smell of melting wax, and the door popped open.
Gray stepped inside.
The house was so quiet that Gray heard his heart beating. The anticipation of getting caught had quickened his pulse, but he willed himself to calm down. He needed to conduct a methodical search, and Tim and his mother would not be home for hours.
Besides, it wasn’t as though he was some common thief that was going to rip them off. Well, okay, he would take something if it would prove his innocence, but it probably wouldn’t be anything that Tim or his mother would even realize they had. Now if only he could figure out where Charlie might’ve hidden it — whatever “it” was.
He took a deep, cleansing breath. He still felt as if he was violating the Stevenses, but Martin’s threatening words against his cousins gave him the bravery to continue.
I’ll check the bedroom down the hall. Cosmo flew off, and Gray started in the living room.
He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. An old box full of things from Charlie’s barbershop? Or maybe Charlie Stevens had some sort of secret hiding spot. He lifted the rugs, looking for a loose floorboard, tapped on the walls, and covered every inch of the cabinets. He looked inside the entertainment center and the china closet and even between the mattresses.
But he found nothing.
He took the key out and passed it over every surface. It never sparked.
Cosmo didn’t have any luck either.
When they finally met in the kitchen, Gray was crawling on his hands and knees, looking inside the bottom cabinets, desperate to find something hidden in the back.
“Dammit!” Gray crawled out of the cabinet and sat in the kitchen chair, his heart heavy.
Nothing? Cosmo perched on the kitchen counter, the crest atop his head sticking straight up.
“Not a thing. Maybe this was all a wild goose chase. It makes sense that if Bobby had the key, then Bobby probably has the box, or maybe he has it hidden in a secret compartment somewhere at his place.” Gray’s spirits plummeted. There was no way he could look through Bobby’s house. Could he talk Starla into doing it? What if she got caught? Would Bobby harm her? The thought made Gray’s heart squeeze painfully. He couldn’t ask her; it was too dangerous.
Gray looked around the kitchen one last time, his eyes coming to rest on the photo that Tim’s mother had shown him from the barbershop with Beth, Bobby, and Charlie all smiling.
The photograph had been taken three decades ago, but the shop looked so familiar because Gray had kept so many of the original features. Looking at it almost made him cry. He loved the shop. He loved styling hair. He loved his life here in Silver Hollow. And now he was going to lose it all.
He thought about how he’d painstakingly restored the barbershop to maintain the retro look. He’d even bought vintage glass doorknobs and repaired the crown molding. Not everything was the same, though. Gray didn’t have the old-fashioned barber chairs, and he’d brought in shelving for his hair products. But the rest of it was the same, right down to the black and white tile flooring.
Except for one thing. The tile in the photo was perfect. But when Gray had moved in, there was one section where two black tiles had been placed together. It had always bugged him that whoever fixed the floor hadn’t taken the time to use the right tile, and he’d never been able to find those exact tiles so he could fix it himself. It had bothered him so much that he’d put one of the display shelves on top so he didn’t have to look at it.
And then something clicked.
Gray had to get back to his shop right away.
Chapter 23
Gray rushed out of the Stevens house to find Brimstone on the hood of his car.
“Get in, I’m in a hurry,” Gray commanded.
“Yeah, I know. I’m a familiar, remember?” Brimstone replied as he hopped in the open driver’s-side door. “I sensed the urgency and figured I’d come to help you.”
Interesting. The cat talked a good line but was always there whenever they needed help the most.
As Gray made his way back to the salon, he half expected to see Martin and Luigi run out into the road to flag him down and haul him off to see the tribunal on some trumped-up charges. Still, with Brimstone purring on the passenger seat beside him and Cosmo perched on the back of the rear seat, his mind wandered over the facts of the case and what the key might open. The whole thing could be just another ruse or trap to throw him off the scent of the real killer.
“Why was Eric at my shop to begin with?” Gray mused aloud.
“If that key of yours unlocks something in the salon, it makes sense,” Brimstone said.
Cosmo squawked a telepathic response. Who else knew there’d be something hidden in there?
“Bobby, of course,” Gray said. “It’s his key.”
He turned the corner to head around the town square. “Charlie was selling illegal toad warts, or at least someone was. Charlie, Beth, and Bobby were close friends. And Martin Ellsworth investigated the case back then, but Charlie killed himself before he could be prosecuted.”
“What if Charlie wasn’t the one dealing in toad warts?” Brimstone asked.
What if Martin was about to discover it was actually Bobby Knight who was selling the warts and Bobby did something to frame Charlie? Cosmo suggested.
“Good point.” Gray pulled into his usual parking spot in front of his shop. “Maybe Beth knew too. They were all close. Bobby could have cursed her so she wouldn’t remember the details. That would explain why Bobby was so angry when he left Eric’s office.”
“And that could also explain why Martin Ellsworth is so hot on your case now,” Brimstone added. “Because everyone knows he was gunning for the wrong man back then. He needs to redeem himself. And Bobby could have killed Eric, especially if Eric was asking about that old case and Bobby feared he was getting too close to the truth.”
Gray hefted the key in his hand. “Well, if my hunch about what this unlocks is correct, we may be about to discover what really happened back then.”
As they walked up to the entrance of Shear Magic, something still didn’t sit right with Gray. He thought back to the old photo he’d seen hanging in the Stevenses’ kitchen. Tim’s mother had said the four of them were friends, but only Beth, Charlie, and Bobby were in the photo. He’d never found out who the fourth member of their group was. At first he’d thought it was Mrs. Stevens, but Beth had said she didn’t come to the barbershop much.
Gray unlocked the front door and rushed inside, Brimstone and Cosmo right behind him. He rushed to the shelf unit he’d positioned to hide the mismatched tile and moved it aside before crouching down.
Brimstone padded to him and sniffed the area before backing away. “Something stinks.”
He didn’t smell anything, but Gray didn’t have heightened feline senses. “What does it smell like?”
“Betrayal.” Brimstone’s eerie orange eyes glowed in the darkness.
As he removed the key from his pocket, Gray’s mind whirled. Someone was betrayed back then. Was it Charlie? Bobby? Beth? All three of them?
Cosmo landed on Gray’s shoulder, and they all stared down at the mismatched tiles as he held the key over them. The key glowed bright purple. Magic pulsed through the air, and a sharp click sounded. The tiles slid open, and the stench of rotting toad warts wafted out. Gray’s pulse stumbled. Inside was evidence that proved someone had been selling black-market toad warts.
The photos from the Stevens’s kitchen flashed into his mind again. The three friends stood there, but there’d been something else — a burlwood staff leaning against the back of one of the chairs. Gray’s stomach swooped as he realized that staff hadn’t belonged to Charlie, it belonged to the fourth member of their group, the person who’d taken the photo. Tim’s mother had said they were all good friends. They’d all looked so happy in the photo before things went bad. Before one of them betrayed them all.
