Jasmine watched me with a knowing smile. Damn her. “I saw you flirting with each other. You want that city boy, and he wants you.”
I grabbed the nearest item to throw at her, which was a crumpled paper. She laughed as she batted it away. “He’s an officer of the Force, and he’s only here to help us. Besides, he’s probably straight. And I bet he has a girlfriend.”
Jasmine took a long drink from her glass, eyeing me the entire time before she said anything. “Sleeping with patrons never ends well for you, anyway.”
“He’s not a patron. And I won’t sleep with him.”
“We’ll see,” Jasmine said in a sing-song voice. Gods, she was so annoying sometimes. I imagined my relationship with her was what having a sister would have been like.
Someone knocked at the door, and I panicked at the thought of facing a customer in this tipsy state. I snapped to my feet and straightened my shirt out. “Do I look sober?” I hissed.
Jasmine only shook her head, taking another drink.
“You’re the worst,” I said as I walked to the door, Jasmine snickering behind me.
It was Sterling. Maybe the wine was getting to my head, but he was more handsome than the day before. His drawstring shirt hung loosely open, revealing a section of bare brown skin that made me flush further.
“Hey!” I said, holding the door open and stepping aside. “Come in!”
“Oh—thank you.” Sterling took a hesitant step inside. He folded his arms stiffly behind his back and threw a smile at Jasmine.
“Hey, handsome!” Jasmine said. “We were just talking about you.”
“You were?” Sterling asked with raised eyebrows.
“You’re surprised? It was your brilliant idea that saved us all,” I said, shutting the door behind him.
“Oh, that. Right,” he said. “I’m just glad it’s working. It’ll buy us some time in the investigation.”
“You got any leads?” I asked, hovering my hand beside his arm to guide him into the chair beside Jasmine. I grabbed a third glass from the liquor cabinet against the wall and poured him a glass of wine, pushing it into his hands.
“Um—thanks. I’m not sure. I spoke to Olive this morning. She really seems to love this place, and you, Cassian. She spoke fondly of you,” Sterling said, setting his wine on the desk.
“It wasn’t Olive,” I immediately said. “Wait, she spoke fondly of me? I thought she and Griffin both hated me.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that, actually,” Sterling said. “You didn’t tell me you knew them before you inherited the inn.”
“Well… yeah. Sorry, I guess that’s not so obvious. I used to visit my grandfather almost every weekend, and they’ve both worked here for years,” I said.
“She said you and Griffin got along until you started here,” Sterling said.
“Yeah,” I said. I didn’t know what more I could add, because I didn’t know why he suddenly disliked me except that I wasn’t my grandfather.
Sterling leaned forward, glancing from me to Jasmine and back. “Cassian, do you think it could have been him? Do you know of any motive he might have for shutting down the inn?”
“Griffin wouldn’t have done that to the inn. I don’t think anyone here would,” I said.
Sterling tilted his head, and I saw pity in his eyes. “Things aren’t always what they seem. Good people sometimes do bad things, especially when money or death is involved, and this case has both. If it wasn’t your customers from the night it happened and it wasn’t someone who works here, who else could it be?”
“S-someone else,” I stammered.
Sterling smiled, which felt a lot better than pity. “It probably wasn’t Griffin, but I want to be thorough. Let’s list out the facts so far.” He began counting on his fingers as he made his statements. “Griffin was a family friend with whom you got along until you inherited the inn, and now he doesn’t like you. Griffin wants you to step down and give or sell it to somebody else. He did not like the idea of offering free rooms and did not want to let us try. As an outsider, these things are suspicious to me. Do you know if Griffin has easy access to magic, or if there is a witch in the area who he might have hired?”
My blood went cold at the question. Jasmine and I exchanged a look, and I knew she was thinking the same. I didn’t want to tell himIwas a witch. How could I do that to someone else?
Sterling watched us both, clearly picking up on the look. “What is this? What am I missing?”
Jasmine’s lips parted, and I subtly shook my head at her, but her brows knitted, telling me to shut up and let the officer do his job. “Griffin’s wife is a witch,” she said.
