My face heated. “Well… maybe. But then we’d at least be able to see his reaction.”
Gideon looked around at the crowd. It was getting surprisingly busy. He slipped his hand in mine and gently tugged me away from everyone. Yeah, I guessed it wasn’t the best plan to talk about murder in the middle of the festival. And, okay, perhaps confronting Leon in front of all these people wasn’t my most well-thought-out plan.
“If we do something here, there’s a chance someone will record us,” he said quietly.
I winced. “Fine. I get it. We don’t want to end up in a viral video. I have enough going on in my life right now. I don’t need that, too.” I tapped my foot. “But we can’t wait too long. The guy is on his way to becoming a serial killer. I mean, how many people does someone have to kill to get that label? Three?”
“Let’s confront him after the festival ends tonight. That way, we can get him alone.” Gideon glanced at his phone. “And by then, we should have an update from Grady about Jim’s death, too.”
When I opened my mouth to argue, Gideon shook his head, as if he knew what I was going to say.
“He’s going to be busy here today. He won’t be able to do anything else.”
“Okay.” I heaved out a sigh. “But for the record, I sort of hate this.”
“I think we all do,” Gideon agreed. “Do you want to look at more booths?”
I’d been excited to explore everything earlier, but now I felt too distracted. I’d known for days now that there was a murderer walking amongst us, but it was so damned surreal to realize we were in the middle of the festival with one. Suddenly, being here was justtoo much. Too much noise. Too many people.
“Maybe we should check on Tulip.”
“Sure,” Gideon said.
Ugh. Why was he always so damned agreeable? It made me feel like a whiny brat.
“Thank you,” I said. I squeezed his hand. “I was having fun with you. I’m sorry that I’m changing the plans now.”
He leaned forward to rest his forehead against mine, and he raised his hand to cup the back of my neck. Some of my tension instantly ebbed away under his touch. “You don’t need to apologize. This situation is difficult for all of us.”
I closed my eyes and sank deeper into the feeling of calm he’d created. It was powerful stuff. I wondered if it was a magic thing, a wolf thing, or an us thing.
“Better?” he whispered.
I nodded and opened my eyes. “Yes. Thank you.”
A small smile teased his mouth. “Anytime.”
Then he swept his lips across mine in a chaste kiss. He was always kissing me. I liked it.
When we stepped into The Mystic Menagerie, I was surprised to find there were no customers. Was it wrong that I let out a sigh of relief?
Tulip’s hand fluttered through the air in a little wave.
“Welcome to The Mystic Menagerie,” she said slowly, enunciating each syllable clearly, as if she’d been practicing it all day. “May I help you find anything?”
Then she stared at us, as if waiting for us to say something. She didn’t blink. It was a little creepy, but I knew she was trying, so I smiled back at her.
“Thanks, Tulip. We wanted to see how everything was going here and see if you needed anything.”
She huffed out a breath. “Everyone must be at the festival. I haven’t seen a customer for hours.”
“Oh…” I wasn’t sure what to say to that. Was she feeling sad about missing the festival?
“So, I’ve been helping Eugene.” She narrowed her eyes. “You aren’t going to tell Elwood that I’m not watching the store properly, are you?”
“No, of course not,” I assured her quickly.
Gideon glanced toward the back room. “What’s Eugene doing?”
