I purchased a small orchid with beautiful shell-shaped leaves for far too much money to keep up my cover story, then Edie and I caught a rideshare back to the shop. Edie and Oscar came inside to do some orientation around the shop before she took Oscar back to the guide dog center. I kissed him goodbye, feeling a tug in my chest at the idea of saying goodbye. But Edie promised the two of them would be back tomorrow.
Quoth and Heathcliff returned from their outing just as they left. “We’re not with that gormless estate agent any longer, so you can stop giving me the come-to-bed eyes,” Heathcliff muttered.
“I can’t help it if my normal eyes make you horny.” Quoth swiped a strand of shimmering black hair back from his face.
“Just because Morrie’s gone, doesn’t mean you have to fill the void of his annoying presence.”
“If I wanted to fill his void, I’d have spent all morning calling you The Archbishop of Crankybury, instead ofmy darling husband,” Quoth shot back.
“Just for that,” Heathcliff yanked a ring off his finger and held it out to Quoth. “You can have your engagement ring back,honeybunch.”
“Did the newlyweds find the perfect love nest?” I teased. While Oscar and I checked out the nursery, Quoth and Heathcliff had gone to the local real estate office with a cunning backstory to check out empty properties nearby. Nothing sold in the village in the last week would work for Dracula, so we were hoping he hadn’t purchased anything yet.
“We looked at all seven properties on our list,” Quoth said. “Only two fit the requirements, and one overlooks an old churchyard and cemetery,andthere’s a creepy crypt right on the boundary line.”
“That’s got to be the place.”
Quoth nodded. “Only we didn’t get to look inside. Just as the agent unlocked the door, her phone rang. It was someone who introduced himself as a friend of the developer, and he offered a large sum of money to close on the house immediately. She got quite excited and rushed us back to the office so she could finish the paperwork for her illustrious buyer.”
My chest tightened. I knew it was him.
“There’s something else you should know.” Heathcliff slammed a glossy real estate brochure on the desk. “The property he purchased was developed by Lachlan Enterprises.”
Chapter Eighteen
“You mean, Grey Lachlan’s company?”
Heathcliff nodded.
This information rattled around in my head. Grey Lachlan – his name kept coming up in connection to murders here in Argleton. Murders that also always seemed to involve Nevermore Bookshop. He’d tried to buy the bookshop out from under us, andnowhe seemed to be a close, personal friend of Dracula himself?
That can’t be a coincidence.
“You’ve got that look on your face,” Heathcliff growled. “The scheming look.”
“Grey Lachlan’s been buying up property all over Argleton,” I reminded them. “He purchased Mrs. Ellis’ flat, and he’s been offering Oliver at the bakery an inflated sum for his building.”
“Andhe threatened us if we didn’t sell him the bookshop,” Quoth added. Grimalkin took the opportunity to saunter in, drop a dead mouse at my feet, and slink off again, her tail in the air.
“So?” Heathcliff growled. “He’s a developer. Isn’t that what they do?”
“Don’t forget, he knew all about Morrie’s money. He was the one who told us Morrie’s accounts had been frozen. That’s not the sort of thing a developer should know.”
Heathcliff stepped around Grimalkin’s gift and slumped into his chair. “He’s a scumbag, but that isn’t exactly a surprise.”
“He’s more than that – he’s involved somehow. What if he’s like, Dracula’s real estate agent?” I grabbed my phone from my pocket and pulled up Morrie’s algorithm. The map on the screen blinked, showing all the real estate purchases near sites of the dirt robberies. I scrolled through them all, punching the different buttons to try and see the information I needed.
Quoth peered over my shoulder. “Tell us what you’re thinking…”
“I’m thinking that in Bram Stoker’s book, Dracula had Renfield – a man he’d pulled under his influence. What if Grey Lachlan is Dracula’s new Renfield? We could find out, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to see if these recent property sales are on Lachlan’s books. Even without that info, if you look at the pattern…” I held up the phone, clicking off the real estate overlay to show only the robberies plotted on the map. All the recent ones clustered within a two-hour radius of Argleton. “He’s closing in on us. I’ll text Morrie. He’ll probably be glad of a way to help us—”
I cut off as the shop’s bell tinkled. A moment later, a figure appeared in the doorway.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite Scooby-Doo bookshop gang.” My blood froze in my veins as I recognized the voice. Grey Lachlan.
Grey stepped into the light, brushing a fine layer of dust from the front of his suit onto our rug. Heathcliff stiffened, his hands curled into fists. Quoth moved beside me, his arm brushing mine. I sensed the tremble in his skin as he struggled to hold his human form in Grey’s presence, but he set his jaw in determination and glared at the developer.
I pushed my phone into my bat-shaped purse so Grey couldn’t see it. “What do you want, Grey?”
