She excuses herself to go meet her sisters, and then Ben has to deal with an order out in the back.
Riley’s phone beeps, and she looks down at it and laughs.
“What is it?” I ask her.
She glances at Blake, who’s looking down at his own phone.
“Nothing.”
Blake looks up. “You know what I find funny?” he says. “No one’s ever tried to let this supposed ghost out of her cage. Instead, they give tours and point at poor Jane trapped in a cell, but nobody ever opens the door. Why not?”
I gesture behind me to Vivian’s diary. “You’re asking me to decipher Vivian’s mind? Her diary states that no one can break the spell by opening the door. People could open and close the thing all day long, and it won’t matter if the spell’s still intact. And they still believe only one couple is a match to the legend and that couple is out there somewhere.”
“Let’s open the cell and see if it frees her,” Blake dares me. “If it doesn’t work, you’ll be in the same place you are now. But if it does? The mayor will give your daddy a shot to run the bar again, right?”
“I like this idea,” Riley says with a smile.
“No,” I say. “As in, no, I won’t open the jail cell.”
“You scared?” Riley challenges me.
“No!”
Logan shoots Blake a look. “You’re such a fucking troublemaker. And now you’ve got the younger Henwood on board with you.”
Riley narrows her eyes at me. “So where’s the key?”
Chapter Thirteen
Only Daddy and I know where the key is.
I hesitate for a split second before I step out from behind the bar.
Logan, Blake, and Riley follow me down the hallway to the liquor room. We all go inside, and I shut the door behind us before going over to my desk and feeling underneath for the wrapped fabric shoved inside the secret opening at the back.
I pull the little packet out from its hiding place and unroll the tightly wound fabric until the ancient gold key with the heart-shaped handle rests in my open palm. I hold it up, and it jingles on the ring as it moves.
“That thing is so freaking old,” Logan says.
“You think it doesn’t work? I may have something in my purse that can help clean it off…” Riley says.
Blake grabs the key out of my hand and races to the jail cell. By the time I reach him, he has the key in the lock and is fiddling with it.
When the cell door swings open easily, we both step backward.
“To answer your question, I think it works.” Blake grins at me and steps inside the cell.
I go in after him, and Logan and Riley follow.
“Hey, Mace, my phone’s behind the bar. Let me see yours so I can take a picture of us inside the cell.” Riley holds out her hand.
I reach into my purse. “Shit. I left it upstairs.”
She turns to Logan. “Can I use your phone instead?”
He fishes it out of his pocket and gives it to her.
She steps backward to the door and holds up the phone. “Say cheese!”
