“I do,” Gideon said. “He said he saw Lily on the street that night, though…”
“So, she might have seen or heard something,” I finished for him. That was a good lead. Maybe we should interview all the people who’d been at the festival meeting. Any one of them might have noticed something and dismissed it as unimportant.Huh. We probably should have done that right at the start.
“Does that mean Janis did it? Or Mason?” Sandy stroked his chin as he studied the board. “There really isn’t anyone else, is there?”
“Well…” I paused for dramatic effect, because why not? I felt like Hercule Poirot about to do the grand reveal. “It turns out Jim had cameras set up next door…”
Gasps rose up around the room.
“So, who did it?” Tulip stared at me without blinking. Moisture was shedding from her like a waterfall. I needed to get pee pads to put under her chair or maybe a kiddie pool to collect the water.
“I don’t know,” I confessed.
Everyone slumped back in their chairs.
Oops. If I acted like I was doing a grand reveal, I should have realized they would expect me to identify the murderer.
“What do you mean?” Gideon asked.
“I was talking to Paula. She said a bunch of interesting things, like things being different from how the construction crew had left them that night, but the key thing is that there were cameras and now they’re missing.”
“The killer stole the evidence that’d incriminate them,” Az said as he folded his arms over his chest. He clearly wasn’t impressed with my announcement.
“Well, yes, it looks that way. But she thinks the recordings might have been backed up on the cloud. She’s going to check.”
Everyone gaped at me.
“Shit. I shouldn’t have said that to everyone. Oh, man, I hope none of you are the murderer.” Sometimes my mouth got ahead of my head.
“The murderer isn’t here,” Elwood said. “I’d have felt the need to smudge again if they were.”
“Okay. That’s good.”Phew. Then I stared at my grandfather. “But if you can sense the murderer’s energy or whatever, why don’t you walk around town until you find them?”
Elwood didn’t look impressed. “It doesn’t work that way. I’m not a walking crime detector. But I can sense worry and foreboding and anxiety and anger… amongst other things.”
Yeah, okay. I already knew what some of those other things were.
“Over the course of the meeting,” Elwood continued, “the energy here has eased for everyone present. But if the murderer was here, it would have grown heavy again once we started talking about the murders.”
“But, just so we’re clear, the information Declan shared with us doesn’t leave this room, got it?” Gideon asked with a deep growly voice as he stared each person in the eye until they nodded or angled their head to the side to expose their necks in acquiescence.
“That’s still excellent news, dear,” Hazel said after Gideon finished intimidating his friends. “Do let us know if you need any help to wrap this all up. My silk is very sturdy, much better than those handcuffs the humans insist on using. My husband has tested it.”
I really hoped I wouldn’t have nightmares from that bit of information. And for some disturbing reason, I was also now wondering if Hazel’s husband had a bondage kink.
I’ll takeThings I never wanted to imaginefor five hundred, Alex.
“Eugene, can you update the boards?” Gideon asked.
The shadow undulated, and I assumed that meant he’d agreed.
After that, the meeting broke up quickly. Perhaps the others had exciting Saturday night plans. I didn’t, but I could think of things I might like to do. With Gideon, specifically.
As if Gideon read my thoughts and agreed with them, he was the last to leave. I walked with him to the door. I wanted to invite him upstairs, but Elwood was home now. And if my grandfather could sense we’d had sex after we’d finished, I could only imagine what he’d pick up on while we were actually doing it.
I’d never be able to relax knowing that.
Gideon cupped the back of my head with his hand and drew me close. Then he stared into my eyes and said, “Come home with me tonight.”
