Ally smelled the fried chicken from around the corner. Her stomach rumbled with hunger. If there wasn’t the bad blood between Ris and Dara, she might have tried the diner after it first opened. In a small town, there really weren’t a ton of options and she appreciated good southern food.
She paused in front of the plate glass window that had the café’s name in large swooping teal letters like the T-shirt. A lot of café owners used their own names for their restaurants for ease in branding, but Ally knew Dara did it because she believed the world revolved around her.
Sidney opened the door for her and she straightened her spine and prepared her mental armor for the backhanded insults that would soon follow. As bad as dealing with a snippy Dara would be, nothing would be as bad as when Ris found out she’d passed through the doors into enemy territory.
Ally bit her lip as she took in the décor. Pink on pink on pink covered every surface. The color scheme not only matched the Tea Haven’s but it outdid it with extra pops of pink sparkle.
“Well, well.” The thick southern drawl called to them from the other side of the room.
The few patrons occupying the tables noted their presence but returned to eating and their own conversations.
Dara pranced over to them and pulled Ally into an awkward half-hug. “I knew the sensible Walker sister would eventually find her way in here.”
Ally took a deep breath and put forth a fake smile. One with teeth showing. It hurt her cheeks to be so insincere. “What a lovely diner, Dara.”
“Isn’t it?” She turned to Sidney and tugged her shirt down so that the V showed off all her cleavage. “Hello, there. Aren’t you just the talk of the town this morning?”
Sidney arched an eyebrow and smiled. “Am I?”
The tone of his voice purred across Ally’s skin and she swallowed hard with the realization that this was his flirty voice. She didn’t like it one bit. “How’s Patrick? Is he out of town again?”
Dara’s face pinched but she quickly recovered with a pout. “He works so hard, you know. Always traveling with that big corporate job of his while I wait patiently in this tiny, itty bitty town for him to return. If you ever get married, you’ll see what it takes to be a supportive wife.”
If she ever got married? Her fingers itched and she bet that if she touched Dara’s arm, she could get the woman’s over-teased hair to stand up on end for at least a week. She shoved her hands in her pockets, embarrassed that she’d ever contemplate using magic to harm another person.
Sidney placed an arm around her shoulders as if he’d read her mind about frying Dara’s hair. “A table for two, please.”
Dara twirled away from them and walked to a booth near the front window. She waved a hand at the table. “Look over the menu and I’ll be back for your order in a minute or two. Diet soda for you, Ally?”
“Water is fine,” Sidney answered for her. After Dara moved out of earshot, he tapped the table. “I thought the plan was to flirt with her. I can’t do that if you bring up her husband.”
Ally picked up the plastic menu. “It was a stupid plan.”
“What’s the deal between her and your sisters?”
“She stole Ris’s boyfriend and married him.” Ally sighed out the frustration building in her chest. “And she’s just awful.”
He reached across the table and poked one of her fingers. “I thought you were going to blast her for a minute there. I guess I’m not the only one who can set off your sparkly side.”
The touch of his finger against hers warmed her insides from head to toe. Oh no. The more time she spent with Sidney, the more she liked him. Like, really liked him. She glanced up at the wall to distract herself from his face and noticed a glossy framed picture of Dara with the paranormal hunter Samuel Chase. Seeing Samuel’s manipulative face wiped out the tickly feelings Sidney inspired like cold water on a flame. Everywhere she looked today seemed to be a reminder of all the chaos from the first interaction with the Lost Souls ParaAgency agents not too long ago.
She needed to focus on solving Mr. Henry’s death before it all happened again and to stop allowing distractions of romance sidetrack her.
Ally pulled her hand off of the table and into her lap. “We need a different plan for getting information.”
“Okay. I think I got it,” he said.
Dara returned with two glasses of ice water and held out a tablet. “Ready to order? Our special today is the fried chicken platter. The sides are mashed potatoes with brown gravy and green beans.” She wiggled. “I cooked it all myself.”
“We’ll take two. And a job application if you have one on hand.”
“Really?” She leaned a hip against their table and focused all her attention on Sidney. “I thought Ally was keeping you busy with all her little odd jobs.”
Sidney leaned forward and arched an eyebrow at her. “There’s never enough work in a small town. I’m great with washing dishes if you’re in need.”
Ally held her breath and waited to see if Dara took the bait.
“Matter of fact, my newest dishwasher has failed to show up today.” She leaned forward to whisper and Ally actually wondered if the woman forgot she was there. “That’s why you should never hire your in-laws.”
“In-laws?” Seeing her chance to gather the intel, Ally broke into the conversation. “I didn’t realize you had any other in-laws in town after Shelby left. Is there a cousin I don’t know about?”
Dara’s eyes lit up and the gossip spilled out of her too red lips. “Patrick’s daddy is in town looking to put down roots again. After he didn’t attend our wedding last month, I didn’t expect him to show up. But Patrick always says that his daddy only shows up when he needs money.”
Ally leaned forward and placed her chin on folded hands. “And you hired him? I can’t believe the mayor would ever allow such a thing.”
“Momma Henry threw a hissy when she found out, but Patrick told her that it’s better his dad have a job than move in with any of us and freeload. Or worse, he tries to scam the townsfolk. From what Patrick says, his daddy is always looking for the bigger, better deal.”
Ally tilted her head and bit back a snarky comment about people not being able to recognize their own bad traits in others. “What about his place in Florida?”
“Shelby run him off after just a few weeks. That girl is so strange. I can’t say I blame him for leaving. Anyhoo, let me get y’all’s meal going.” She batted heavily mascaraed eyelashes at Sidney and wandered off to the kitchen.
He placed his elbows on the table and propped up his chin with his hands. “Do we think any of that information is helpful?”
“I’m not sure. I’m surprised Shelby had the fortitude to make him leave. She’s the mayor’s youngest and the reason we came on the LSP’s radar in the first place. Unless provoked by her mother and sister-in-law, she’s pretty meek in nature.” Ally took the list of suspects out of her purse. She’d already crossed off the mayor but circled her name again. “He wasn’t well-liked by his family, but I don’t think any of them would harm him. And Dara’s the closest thing we have to a vamp in this town, but I can’t imagine her wrestling her father-in-law down in an alley and poking holes in his neck. We need a deeper dive into what exactly Mr. Henry would do for a payday. We don’t have a shady underbelly in town for him to get involved in. If there was, I’d have heard about it at some point. Kids tend to tell all their parents’ personal business and I’ve learned a lot about this town from them.”
Sidney leaned back and waved his hands. “We’re back at square one. No vampires. No shifty-shaping Yellow Cats. Are we leaning toward thinking a human did this?”
Ally’s eyes cut back to the picture of Samuel Chase. As much as she didn’t want her little town to become a circus of paranormal activity, she and Sidney weren’t gaining any ground in finding Mr. Henry’s killer. “I think it’s time we called Sparsh. We’ve spent half a day chasing our tails and he could probably wave his hand and have all the answers within minutes.”
Sidney mouth set into a grim line.
Ally leaned forward and put her hand over his, wanting to assure him she was on his side. “I’ll vouch for you. You’ve worked so hard with me to find the truth. There’s no way anyone could think you’ve done this. And I won’t let them. I’ll write letters.”
He chuckled and laced his fingers with hers briefly before pulling his hand away. “You did agree to give me until tomorrow morning, remember? We’re turning out to be a pretty good team. I don’t think there’s any harm in working on compiling the facts before making a call to Sparsh.”
Dara returned and set their plates on the table but didn’t hover this time. Ally put the list of suspects back in her purse.
At first her mouth watered with the smells but after closer inspection of the food in front of her, she realized the gravy had a thick greasy layer. The green beans were dried and shriveled. She poked the chicken with her fork and the juices had a pink tinge. Oh no.
She hadn’t seen Salmonella on the menu but no doubt that chicken had been bathed in it. “This chicken is still bleeding.”
“My kind of food.” Sidney shoved his fork into the chicken. “Vampires can’t get food poisoning so it’s all good.”
Ally swallowed hard but didn’t want to disrupt his meal. She pushed her plate away and placed a napkin on top to hide the uneaten food. The last thing she needed was Dara finding another reason to talk badly about the Walkers behind their backs. She watched out the window while Sidney finished his meal. Mrs. Lorenson hustled by and caught her attention. They shared a friendly wave.
“Have we considered Mrs. Lorenson to be the culprit?” Sidney gestured at her with his fork. “She was the last one out the back door.”
“I refuse to believe the murderer is someone I’ve known most of my life.”
“Really?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Your file mentioned a certain incident with a witch who’d lived here her entire life.”
Ally started and gave Sidney her full attention. “What file?”
“The LSP has a thick file on the three of you. Apparently, they’ve collected a lot of data in the past couple of months since your family blipped onto their radar.” He shrugged. “I’m sure they had to do a thorough background check to bring Amira into the agency too.”
Unease gripped Ally. She could understand why the LSP would need to background check Amira, but from the way Sidney described the thickness of the file, there appeared to be a lot more than their previous employee experience in there. She wondered if the file contained things about the great-aunts too. Now that would be an interesting read.
She shook away her anxiety. One problem at a time. “Our bad witch discovered her powers accidently and I’d say the odds of that happening again are very slim. But if so, that would widen our suspect list to almost everyone in town.”
Sidney stacked his plate on top of hers and ran a napkin over his mouth and chin. “Regardless of whether we consider Mrs. Lorenson a suspect, we should really question her about anything she saw in the alley. Any little detail might help.”
“That’s a great thought. But how do we do it without looking suspicious ourselves? If she saw Mr. Henry and then we ask questions about him, she may have some of her own that we can’t answer.”
He twisted the salt shaker back and forth as if thinking on her concerns. “I think we’re running out of options and it’s a risk we’ll have to take. We can manufacture a reason to speak with her and you can use your ability to draw out information in the form of gossip.”
She smiled at his semi-compliment. “Gossiping is an ability now?”
“In small towns it appears to be.”
Ally pulled her wallet out of her purse. “Let’s pay the check and get out of here.”
He put his hand over hers and little purple sparkles skipped between them like static electricity, only prettier. Oh no. She jerked her hand into her lap.
“My bad,” he said. “I was going to say to put your wallet away. All working lunches should be paid for by the LSP.”
Working lunch. Sure. The fact that it’d felt like the most interesting date lunch she’d had in years was something she needed to push to the back of her mind with all the other nonsense. “I’ll wait out front and see if I can spot Mrs. Lorenson.”
Ally stepped out onto the sidewalk and sucked in a deep, calming breath. She glanced back into the café and saw Dara do her best to wiggle and giggle for Sidney. He handed her some bills but thankfully he didn’t engage with the flirting. Not that it would matter if he did, she tried to tell herself. But that would be a lie. It would matter. She’d allow that truth to escape the recesses of her mind at least.
Sidney joined her and donned his sunglasses. “Which way?”
She twisted her lips into a grimace. Dang it. She’d forgotten to look for Mrs. Lorenson. Watching Sidney had distracted her. “I, uh, haven’t seen her come out of any shops yet.”
They walked to one corner and pressed the crosswalk sign. Burberry didn’t have a lot of heavy traffic but she waited for the light anyway, putting a hand out in front of Sidney when he tried to step off the curb. How could she teach her students to follow the signals if she wouldn’t obey them either? Inwardly, she cringed. The hypocrisy of not immediately reporting Mr. Henry’s body wasn’t lost on her. But that she’d done for the good of the town and the children. The less LSP and Council disturbance the better for all of them.
“A true rule-follower, huh?” he teased. Then his face sobered. “This sneaking around must eat you up.”
The recognition of her feelings warmed her. “I keep telling myself it’s for the greater good of the town.”
“You’d make a good mayor.”
Ally burst into laughter, the sound echoing against the buildings in the town square. The light changed and they walked across the street. “That is one job that is best left for someone like Mayor Henry.”
They passed the hardware store and through the plate glass window, she caught sight of Mrs. Lorenson in one of the aisles. “There she is.”
“The hardware store. How lucky is that? Being a handyman is the perfect reason to be in there.”
“Right. Let’s go.” She led the way into the store and waved to the clerk behind the counter. When Sidney walked past her to confront Mrs. Lorenson, she stopped with a tug on the sleeve of his shirt. “We can’t be too obvious.”
He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling but stopped to feign interest in a box of nails. She did the same with a tape measure. After a few more seconds, they eased around a display and into the aisle with Mrs. Lorenson.
“Oh, hi, Mrs. Lorenson,” Ally started. “Fancy seeing you here.” Did she sound as fake as she felt?
“Ally? Who’s running the Tea Haven?” Her gaze flickered between Ally and Sidney.
“I’ve had to close early today. There seems to be a problem in the kitchen and Sidney’s going to help me fix it.”
“We’re here getting supplies,” Sidney added and picked up a plunger waving it around to sell the lie.
She smiled at them. “Isn’t it serendipitous that the kitchen broke down and now you get to spend all day running errands together? It’s like one of those small town Hallmark movies where the couple doesn’t realize they are meant to be until the end.”
Ally turned her head and caught Sidney’s attempt to hold back a grin. If she wasn’t careful, the gossip about her and Sidney would overtake the Biddies Bridge Club’s interest in the budding relationship between Amira and Lex.
Ally focused on their mission and not on the way Sidney moved closer behind her. “Ahem. Anyway, the strangest thing happened this morning after you left. One of the missing dogs from the flyers showed up at the back door. I was wondering if you saw from which direction he came? He ran off again when I opened the front door.”
Mrs. Lorenson tapped her lips with a finger. “No, I don’t remember seeing any dogs in the alley when I left.”
“Did you see anything weird or out of the ordinary? Or anyone doing anything abnormal back there?” Ally twisted her hands together. They needed a lead. “Anything?”
Mrs. Lorenson patted Ally on the upper arm. “No, dear. The only exciting thing to happen to me today is Sidney here stepping off of the bus.”
She looped her arm through Ally’s and pulled her forward out of Sidney’s earshot. “Good for you having two men interested, but I feel it’s my duty to warn you. I returned some books to the library before coming down here and Brian had questions about your new handyman.”
“He did?” Oh no. Ally liked Brian and could only imagine how the gossip mills were playing out Ally and Sidney’s tour through town. “He has nothing to worry about. Sidney is only here for a short period of time.”
“That’s what I’ll tell him if he asks again.” Mrs. Lorenson patted her hand and took her supplies to the front counter.
Ally and Sidney milled around the aisles until Mrs. Lorenson paid and left.
She sighed and stepped outside, a cool breeze tickling her cheeks. In another month, they’d see their version of winter settle in. Shorter days and less sun. Sidney joined her on the sidewalk and closed his eyes as if soaking up as much of the sun as he could get.
Even though he’d answered her question about his beginnings as a vampire, there were still some things that didn’t make sense. “Why do you get to walk around in daylight? Is that another vampire myth?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and they started the walk toward the Tea Haven. “This job gets me a free pass in the sun. When I hand over the amulet, I’ll be back to a nightwalker only.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Beats the alternative.” He shrugged.
She took the hint that being a vampire had saved him from a miserable death on the streets.
The Tea Haven’s shopping center was a ten-minute walk from the town square. They approached the back of the building and Ally gasped. Oh no. “The back door is open.”
“Your delivery guy? I hope he didn’t have items to put in the freezer.”
“I know I double checked the locks before we left for that very reason.”
Sidney glanced around and then zoomed through the back door ahead of her. “Snarling sheep-skinned goats!”
Ally rushed inside and joined him inside the freezer. “Where did you hide Mr. Henry’s body?”
“I didn’t hide it. It was right here.” He spread his arms wide to indicate the middle of the floor. He kicked the floor and a weird dust lifted into the air before settling again.
“What is that? Ashes?” She backed away to make sure she wasn’t standing on top of Mr. Henry’s remains. “Please don’t tell me that while we’ve been running around all over town, the murderer came back in here and set Mr. Henry on fire. That’s impossible, right?”
Sidney crouched and ran a finger through the black substance. “I don’t think this is ashes.” He lifted his finger to his nose. “The smell is off but not a burnt human smell. It’s some sort of residue.”
“But they are his remains, right?” Her voice shook and she hated the screechy tone that echoed in the walk-in area. She wouldn’t ask him if he really knew what burnt humans smelled like. She backed toward the entrance when the door slammed hard.
She startled forward and bumped into Sidney, knocking him over. Her legs tangled with his arms and she crashed down on top of him.
He held her tight and rolled her to the side. “Are you okay?”
His lips were once again dangerously close to hers. Her heart thundered in her chest as she whispered, “Someone shut the door on us.”
He pulled them both to standing and pushed against the freezer’s handle. “Does this thing lock from the outside?”
“No.” She pushed against the handle. “Something has to be blocking the door.”
“Back up.”
“Oh, whoa there. Hold up. Is there some way to get out of here without smashing the place?”
“I’ll try to be gentle as I save you from freezing to death.” Sidney took several steps back and then zoomed into the door hard with his shoulder. The door burst open and a crash followed. He turned back to her. “This is turning out to be an expensive assignment for the LSP.”
She ran her fingers along the indent of Sidney’s shoulder on the inside of the busted door. She pushed on it in a feeble attempt to close it and protect the remainder of the food. No such luck.
In the kitchen, the large center island sat with a corner smashed into the bottom double oven. Holy goddesses above. In one day of being in charge, she’d ruined her sister’s business. “Amira is going to kill me.”
“I think someone tried to kill us.”