Dead on Arrival, page 8
“There’s no room for the personal in business,” Dom said, and I could barely believe my ears.
“No wonder Giles wanted nothing to do with you,” I spat, and though Dom opened his mouth to fire back, the phone ringing in the foyer silenced everyone.
“I’ll get it,” Blair said and disappeared, but I didn’t want to spend another second with Dom, so I stood.
“Good luck with your deal,” I said as stiffly as I could and chased after Blair into the foyer before Dom could say anything back. I found Blair standing behind the front desk with the phone held inches away from her face, her expression blank as she stared at me.
“It’s… It’s for you,” she said and held the receiver out to me numbly.
Confused, I took it from her and pressed it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Selena! It’s Bella. Listen, I don’t know what the heck is going on, but Petals & Potions is on fire and they think Giles is inside!” she shouted, borderline hysterical, and the world surrounding me screeched to a halt.
Chapter Ten
By the time Thorn and I magically warped back to Petals & Potions — or the charred skeleton of it, anyway — the square had filled with dozens of people who’d all gathered to watch the show from behind the ring of firefighters surrounding the store.
As if she’d been waiting for our arrival, Bella spotted us and shoved her way through the crowd. It didn’t bother me though because if anyone would have all the gossip about what’d happened, it would be Bella.
“Bella! Are you okay?” I asked as she approached with tears in her eyes.
“I’m fine, but the store… And poor Giles,” Bella sobbed and threw herself into my arms. “First Oliver and now this? It’s just not right.”
“No one’s seen Giles?”
Bella peeled herself out of my arms and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, leaving blotchy flour streaks on her face. “Not yet, but he had to have been inside. No one had seen him before the fire started.”
“What caused it, do you know?”
“I have no idea, honestly. I was in the middle of baking a cake for an order when I got a whiff of that terrible smell coming from Petals & Potions again, so I stepped outside to have a word with Giles about it and that’s when I saw the smoke billowing from the building.”
“So, you were the one who called the police?”
“I did, right before I called you. I didn’t know what else to do, but I thought you’d want to know considering what we’d talked about.”
“Have the police asked you about any of this yet?”
Bella shook her head. “No, but I’m sure they will when and if the firefighters get the blaze under control,” she said and stared at the blackened wall of her bakery nearest Petals & Potions, which had also caught fire thanks to its proximity.
“Selena, look! There’s Officer Aimes,” Thorn said, pointing above us at a group of men and women on broomsticks equipped with flashing red and blue lights. They descended on the square, and the crowd parted to give them space to land. As soon as they did, they sprang into action, casting spells that sent water cascading from the tips of their wands to douse the fire. I’d definitely have to talk to Officer Aimes after she and the others got the situation under control, but at that moment, I was much more interested in speaking with Bella.
“Let’s step away from here for a few minutes, Bella,” I said to her and thankfully she followed me toward the far end of the square, mostly away from all the commotion, where a table similar to the one we’d sat in earlier waited. She collapsed down into a chair and cradled her head in her hands.
I shot Thorn a concerned look. “Do you think she’s going to be okay?” I whispered.
He shrugged. “I think she’s handling it better than I would be if I were in her shoes. Could you imagine one of your best friends getting deathly sick and then having your bakery catch on fire?”
The thought of losing Blair and then Kindred Spirits going up in flames flashed in my mind, and I felt sick. Thorn was right; if I were in Bella’s robes, I would’ve been a complete mess — but that got me wondering, how was she able to keep herself so well put together? Was it just the shock of everything that helped her keep it compartmentalized, or was it something else?
I sat carefully in the chair next to Bella’s and rubbed her back. “I’m so sorry this happened,” I said, and all at once the mental dam she’d erected to hold back most of her emotions gave way. She dissolved and threw her head onto the table, howling, which didn’t strike me as a thing she’d normally do — but then again, these weren’t normal circumstances.
“I don’t understand! It’s such a freak accident!” she sobbed, but I wasn’t sure I agreed with that assessment. First Oliver mysteriously shows symptoms of vampirism, so bad that he’s hospitalized, and now Giles gets trapped in a fire in their store? It didn’t seem coincidental to me at all.
“Do you really think so?” I asked as gently as I could since there wasn’t a better way to ask. Bella tensed beneath my hand and her head shot up off the table. She stared at me, teary and wild-eyed.
“What? You think someone did this on purpose…?”
“I don’t want to believe it either, but given everything else that’s happened lately, I have to wonder,” I said, though truthfully, she was the one I wondered about. It would’ve been far too easy for her to start some sort of magical fire in or near Petals & Potions, then call the cops and me here to cover for herself — because what kind of person would burn their own business down to get rid of a nuisance? “Did you see or notice anything else weird prior to the fire? Anything at all?”
“No, nothing. Like I said, I was putting a cake in the oven when I smelled the chemicals again and—” she started but cut herself off when she raised a shaking hand and covered her mouth with it.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Azalea,” she whispered.
“What about her?” I asked, puzzled.
Bella moved her shaking hand from her mouth to point at the spot between Petals & Potions and her bakery. “There. I saw her there, but it didn’t click because I was so panicked.”
“Wait, you’re saying you saw Azalea outside the shop just before the fire?”
“No, after the fire started. I ran back into the bakery to call the cops and when I turned around, I saw Azalea walking across the window, away from the bakery.”
“And you’re sure it was Azalea, not just someone who looks like her?”
Bella scowled at me. “I was upset, yes, but I’d recognize her anywhere. Her hair is unmistakable,” she insisted, and I had to admit she had a point. I’d never seen anyone else with Azalea’s distinctly pink hair.
“But Azalea was in class at the Institute, or at least that’s what she told us,” I said, though now that I thought about it, Thorn and I never saw where Azalea went after we’d talked to her. She’d boarded her broom and taken off, but that didn’t mean she’d gone back to class; she could’ve gone anywhere.
Bella looked me square in the eye. “It was her; I promise you.”
“What would she be doing here again so soon, though? Why wouldn’t she have gone back to class like she said she was?”
“I have no idea, but don’t you think it’s more than a little suspicious that she’d lie to you about that and then show up here near the fire?”
It was suspicious, but there easily could’ve been another explanation. Maybe Azalea had forgotten or left something behind? She’d left our table in a hurry, so it wasn’t impossible. Or maybe she’d decided she’d already missed so much of her class talking to me it wasn’t worth heading back until the next class started? Then again, she also could’ve been looking for Thorn and me to make sure we were still alive after talking to Bella.
Regardless, I found it hard to believe that Azalea would be so airheaded as to have started a fire in broad daylight with her unique hair uncovered. She seemed ditzy, but not that dumb. She was most likely just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I’d still track her down to talk again, if for no other reason than to assuage Bella.
“Your silence says yes,” Bella said, pulling me back to the table.
“You’re right, it’s weird on multiple levels.”
“Especially when you consider how obsessed with Oliver she is.”
That wasn’t the first time Bella had mentioned it, and while Azalea admitted to worshipping the ground Oliver walked on, based on the conversation I’d had with her, she didn’t seem to have an unhealthy fixation on him, nor a strong desire to eliminate Giles, despite clearly taking Oliver’s side in their dispute.
“What if she started this fire to get back at Giles?” Bella asked, which seemed more than a little farfetched to me.
“That makes no sense, Bella. Azalea’s taking lessons with Oliver, so why would she want to torch his shop just to get to Giles?”
“It makes perfect sense when you think about it in context.”
“In what context?”
“Azalea isn’t just obsessed with Oliver; she’s in love with him.”
My eyes shot to Thorn’s. He let out a long exhale, his lips fluttering, as the new piece of information settled in. If it was true, it definitely changed things. “How do you know that?”
A smug smile cracked Bella’s face. “Oliver complained to me about it, more than once. She’d leave him little love notes after their lessons, often coded in flowers.”
“Like secret messages?”
“Exactly, but they were always variations of the same thing. You know, the usual teenager stuff. Unrequited love, waiting for him forever, things like that.”
“Whoa.”
“Right? At first, Oliver thought it was just a harmless crush. Lilith knows it wouldn’t be the first time he’s dealt with something like this, so he assumed it would pass as quickly as the others, but the more he tried to ignore Azalea, the more determined she grew to be noticed,” Bella said, all of which seemed strange but still didn’t convince me that Azalea was the type to burn down Petals & Potions because Oliver didn’t return her feelings.
“How determined are we talking here?”
“Well, Azalea’s messages turned more and more passionate. Actually, Oliver came to the shop the other morning and found a display of red tulips and tarragon waiting for him at the door,” Bella said and left that hanging between us as if I had any idea what it meant. When I didn’t react, Bella sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected you to know the language of flowers. Red tulips are a declaration of love, and tarragon is a way of saying her interest isn’t fading.”
“That sounds more or less like her previous messages. What’s so weird about that one?”
Bella’s eyes twinkled conspiratorially. “It wasn’t weird until later that afternoon when another bundle got delivered. This time, it was nothing but yellow roses. Those can mean a lot of things, but I’m pretty sure Azalea was trying to tell Oliver she was jealous.”
“Jealous of whom?” I asked, confused.
“Giles.”
“What? Why on Earth would Azalea be jealous of Giles?”
Bella chuckled and leaned closer to me, right at home in her role of gossipmonger. “Apparently, Azalea wasn’t the only one who had feelings for Oliver,” she said, and I went rigid in my chair.
“Wait? You mean Giles also…?” I trailed, and Bella nodded enthusiastically.
“Yep! Can you imagine your business partner and best friend of Lilith only knows how many years confessing that they want to be more than a friend?” Bella laughed. “Azalea must’ve picked up on the uncomfortable energy between them after Giles came clean — she plays dumb, but she’s amazingly observant and sometimes even gets the drop of juicy bits before me — and I swear that’s what this is all about.”
I sat staring at the fire still churning in the distance, struggling to make everything make sense. If Azalea was really as obsessed and unstable as Bella suggested, finding out Giles had feelings for Oliver too would explain why she might’ve wanted to torch Petals & Potions with Giles inside it.
It also explained why Giles was so upset with Oliver for trying to cut him out of the deal with Dom — because it wasn’t just business for Giles, it was deeply personal. He’d developed the key to the vampirism vaccine and shared it freely with Oliver, who he thought of as more than a friend, only for Oliver to stab him in the back in more ways than one.
“Azalea must’ve gotten it in her crazy little head that Oliver and Giles were a couple or were about to become one, even though they weren’t, and I bet it sent her over the edge. Maybe for her it was one of those ‘if I can’t have Oliver, then no one can,’ notions,” Bella said, tying everything together.
“So, I assume that means Oliver didn’t feel the same way about Giles?”
Bella sighed and shook her head. “Oh, for Lilith’s sake, no! But having to shoot Giles down like that tore Oliver up inside. He told me that repeatedly,” she said, but I wondered just how guilty Oliver felt if he still found it within himself to throw Giles under the bus on their vaccine deal.
“I can’t imagine. Wow,” I mumbled, unsure what else to say.
“I know, it’s all so terrible. I feel the worst for Giles in all this.”
I agreed, but I didn’t want to say so. “Well, let’s not give up hope on him just yet. If no one’s seen him, then he might not have been in the building when the fire started at all.”
Bella shot me a sad smile. “Maybe you’re right, but if he wasn’t inside, don’t you think he would’ve heard about his own shop being on fire and gotten here as quickly as he could?”
“Good point.” I couldn’t argue with Bella’s logic, but I still found it hard to believe that a vampire could get trapped in a burning building. Between Giles’ superhuman strength and speed, couldn’t he have gotten himself out of a situation like that without trouble? It just didn’t add up. The only way I could think of that he’d get trapped in a fire was if it was completely unexpected — or if someone had made sure he couldn’t get out.
“I guess we’ll find out for sure after the police put the fire out and comb the remnants,” Bella said. “Though I have no idea how long that’ll take.”
“You might be in luck with that, actually,” Thorn said, pointing across the square. I followed his finger and found Officer Aimes scanning the crowd of people. “She’s looking for someone. Wonder if it’s one of us?”
“Could be. Let’s go find out,” I said and stood from the table, waving my arms to get Officer Aimes’ attention. Her face lit up when she spotted me and beckoned us over. Heat radiated from the still burning shop as we approached, though the crew had mostly gotten the fire under control.
Officer Aimes ran a hand over her buzzed head when we stopped in front of her. “Selena, Thorn. Why am I not surprised to find the two of you here?”
I chuckled and shrugged. “Well, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were looking for us just now.”
Officer Aimes’ hazel eyes flashed as they swept over the three of us and settled on Bella. “Actually, I was looking for you, Miss Vigil,” she said, and I heard Bella gulp.
“M-me? Why?”
“Well, your shop is right next door to the scene, for starters. Beyond that, I wanted to ask you about something we found. Follow me,” Officer Aimes said and turned to lead us to the entrance to Bella’s Bewitching Boulangerie. There, we met another member of the SVPD I recognized, Officer Kane, who held a black vase in both of his gloved hands. Inside, a shockingly pink flower bloomed.
“Officer Kane found this sitting on the ground in front of the door to your bakery. You have any idea how it got there or what it might mean?” Officer Aimes asked, and Bella stumbled, nearly falling on her back until Officer Aimes and I caught her.
“I-it’s an azalea,” Bella said, pointing at the vase in Officer Kane’s hands and backing away from it like it might leap out and attack her, so I could only guess it also had some kind of secret meaning.
“What is it, Bella?” I asked as I reached out to rub her shoulder, hoping it would comfort her enough to speak.
“An azalea… In a black vase…”
“What does it mean?” I coaxed, and Bella’s head turned slowly until her eyes locked onto mine.
“It’s a death threat. Against me,” Bella wheezed, her voice so low I barely heard her.
Chapter Eleven
My head spun as I tried to make sense of Bella’s words. Who would want her dead, and why would they go to such trouble to send a coded message to tell her so? Were they trying to scare her into keeping quiet about what she’d seen?
“I-it was Azalea. It had to have been,” Bella mumbled as she lowered herself to the square’s ground and sat stunned and staring at her charred bakery. Her eyes widened slowly until they were the size of dinner plates, and they shot to mine. “That’s it! That’s why she was here after the fire! She dropped that cursed flower off to warn me!”
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t you have noticed or tripped over it if that were true? You said you came outside to talk to Giles about the smell when you noticed the fire, right?”
“Yes, so I ran back inside to call the police and you, then I saw Azalea moving across the bakery’s front window.”
“Was the vase there when you went outside next?” Officer Aimes asked, her brows furrowed as she stared down at Bella like an increasingly unreliable witness. I had to admit, even I had trouble believing Bella’s version of events.
Bella hesitated and looked away. “I’m not sure. I can’t remember seeing it.”
“Then maybe someone put it there afterward, while they distracted you with the fire?” I offered, and Bella seized on it.
“Yes! That must be it. With all the people who crowded around, anyone could’ve slipped by the bakery to leave the plant — including Azalea! I don’t know where she went after I saw her pass by the window. What if she was off waiting somewhere for the chance?”
