The rest of the day was a blur. Tempest gave her statement to the police, then she and her grandfather were able to explain to her dad and grandmother everything that had happened with Sylvie’s confession.
Well, almost everything. Tempest strongly suspected that Moriarty was the raven. She believed that in his own twisted way he wanted to help her. He had time to get back from Scotland. For all Tempest knew, he might have spoken to her from the same flight back as Grannie Mor had been on. He hadn’t been in touch since the incident with the person in a creepy beaked plague doctor mask at the window of Lavinia’s Lair, but she expected he would be. It was only a question of when.
Ash was back in the hospital, where he’d returned on his own. Vanessa was making sure all charges against Ash were dropped as quickly as possible. Since he wasn’t the one who’d cut off his ankle monitor, and there was no evidence he hadn’t simply accidentally fallen down the stairs and hurt his leg, Vanessa was also arguing he wasn’t responsible for breaking the conditions of his bail. He was back at the hospital after just a couple of hours, after all. Perhaps he’d simply gotten lost in the labyrinthine hallways of the hospital, Vanessa suggested. Anything was possible.
Darius had a secret of his own he finally told Tempest. She prepared herself for him to say he was dating someone. Instead, he said, “I’ve been working on building a pop-up stage for you to do performances whenever and wherever you’d like to do them. I knew that even though you’re doing your one last send-off show, performing is still in your blood. I wanted you to have an easy way to perform whenever you wanted to. The stage folds to fit in my truck. I didn’t want to work on it at the workshop, since I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“I thought you were wearing a strong aftershave when you came home the other night.”
“Eau de paintvarnish.”
Tempest laughed and threw her arms around her dad’s shoulders.
For the first time since Corbin Colt’s death, Tempest felt her body relax. She climbed up her secret staircase and lay down on her bed. She told herself it was only for a minute, but when the beep of a text message alerted her that her grandfather was back home, she saw that she’d been asleep for hours.
“I knew Tempest could solve it.” Ash rocked back and forth on his heels happily as he stirred a pot of jaggery coffee. “Now, have you eaten?”
Tempest enjoyed a hearty dinner with her family, then headed to a second dinner at Veggie Magic with her friends. One she was late to.
She hadn’t expected Lavinia to show up at her café after all that had happened, but she was already sitting with Sanjay, Gideon, and Ivy when Tempest arrived at Veggie Magic, stuffed from the three-course dinner from her grandfather. She was glad to see they’d eaten without her and were already having dessert and coffee.
Lavinia stood and gave Tempest a hug. “Thank you, Tempest. For everything.”
“Sorry I had to wreck the merry-go-round horse.”
“Are you kidding?” Lavinia pulled up an extra chair for Tempest and they both sat down at the table. “That act of destruction has completed the christening of the space as my own.”
“You make a great pie,” Sanjay said, “but I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“I think she means,” Tempest said, “that the classic mystery novels that inspired the distinct sections of Lavinia’s Lair each factored into solving the mystery.”
Lavinia grinned. “Do you want to tell them?”
“No spoilers,” Ivy cut in. “In case Sanjay and Gideon haven’t read the books.”
Tempest moved her empty right hand over her empty left hand. The king of hearts now rested in her palm, the face card with a sword appearing to cut through the king’s head. “During the events this week, we encountered a person we believed to be dead but who wasn’t.”
Tempest smacked her hand on the table. The queen of hearts took the suicide king’s place. “We also had a woman who created a very devious plan because she believed she had been in love.”
She twirled the queen of hearts between her fingers as she decided which card would best represent the Oxford Comma. When the card stopped spinning, she opened her palm and revealed the jack of clubs. The lowest-ranked face card that also represents knowledge. “And the whole thing began and ended at the Oxford Comma pub, which transported us in our imaginations to the British university town.”
“Bravo.” Ivy clapped.
“Nice sleights,” Sanjay said, “but I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Guess you’d better read the classics,” Ivy said.
Gideon picked up the jack of clubs and inspected the edges. “It’s a regular card. How did you—”
“She’s not available for private lessons.” Sanjay snatched the card from him.
“I wasn’t ask—”
“You were totally—”
“I solved the mystery of the raven who likes to watch my house,” Lavinia said, silencing them both. “He was Corbin’s half-domesticated pet. I was cleaning up the house and found a bag of hidden dog food. We’ve never had a dog. I visited our local pet store. The manager remembered Corbin. Said he bought it to feed a crow in his yard. That’s why it was always near the house. Corbin loved the mystery it conveyed, so he never told me there was a rational explanation.”
Ivy groaned. “I can’t believe I let a cute little bird freak me out.”
“Now that I know the truth,” Lavinia said, “I rather like the fellow. He’s incredibly intelligent.”
“I doubt the raven will stick around if you take in Lord Peter,” said Tempest.
“Ellery is taking Sylvie’s dog. He’ll be looked after well. Now I should get back to the kitchen. Can I bring you anything, Tempest?”
“Just coffee.” After the week she’d had, she would have taken an IV drip of coffee.
“Then the only mystery that remains,” Sanjay said, still eyeing Gideon as the stone-carving carver inspected the playing card, “is what happened to Corbin’s car.”
It was far from the only mystery Corbin Colt had left Tempest, but this wasn’t the time to think about his manuscript.
“They found his car this morning,” Lavinia said as she stood. “It was parked in the big parking structure around the corner. Since they didn’t end up charging for people to park there, nobody noticed it hadn’t been moved in days.”
“That’s not the only mystery remaining,” Ivy pointed out after Lavinia disappeared into the kitchen. “Who was in the raven-beaked plague-doctor costume?”
Sanjay blinked at her. “Ash set that up. Didn’t he?”
All eyes turned to Tempest. She held up her hands. “He’s not talking. I expect it’s to protect the innocent.”
“That plague doctor was anything but innocent.” Ivy shivered.
“That makes sense,” Gideon said. “Ash doesn’t want to get his helper involved any more than necessary.”
“Do you think Lavinia will be okay?” Ivy asked.
“I’m not okay.” Sanjay speared a piece of blackberry pie with his fork but didn’t eat it. “It’s terribly embarrassing that my only role in solving this case was to stand at the sidelines and hold a rope.”
“I don’t know,” said Tempest. “You did a lot more than that. All three of you did. Thank you.”
Tempest lifted the dragon’s wing that opened her secret staircase. As the secret door slid open, she stood on the threshold for a moment and appreciated what she’d accomplished. She had solved Corbin Colt’s mysterious murder and saved her grandfather.
She stepped forward onto the staircase. Moving forward. Always. She’d helped bring one killer to justice, but there was more to do. Corbin’s notes in his duplicitous manuscript might help her solve her aunt’s murder and her mom’s disappearance. The accusations about Tempest’s dad weren’t true, but Corbin had noticed other things. Now that she wasn’t so angry and scared, she could see it. Tempest could use the clues from Corbin Colt’s manuscript to assist her in finding out what had really happened to her family. She was a step closer to figuring out the real answer behind the Raj family curse that had taken her aunt and mom from her.
Tempest’s phone alerted her to a missed call. Her manager, Winston, left a message asking her to call him back right away. Tempest’s role in solving the murder of Corbin Colt was great publicity, he said. He wanted to talk more about what she was planning for her final televised stage show. Tempest wasn’t yet sure what it would look like. But she knew one thing. Whatever it was, it would be magic.