A flashback of a time when I let Rufus lead me to another place seared my brain, and suddenly I was suffocating, unable to get any air into my lungs. Heaving, I yanked my arm away.
He stopped, whirled around. Concern filled his eyes. “Are you okay?”
My hands shook, and my mouth suddenly felt parched. I stared into his eyes. They appeared so much like they had that night and yet so different, the emotions not toying with me, not attempting to deceive me.
I got myself under control. “Yes,” I whispered. “I’m fine. Let’s just go.”
It took a couple of minutes for the sergeant to get Sadie’s things, but when he returned to the desk, he handed me a gallon-sized plastic bag filled with cement-caked clothes and Sadie’s small purse that she used after business hours, when she didn’t have to haul swatches and samples.
I immediately opened the bag and unsnapped the purse, looking for her cell phone. But the only things I found were keys, a tube of lipstick, a mirror and a tampon.
Not exactly what I was looking for.
My gaze cut to the sergeant. “Where’s her phone? Is Sluggs keeping it for evidence?”
The sergeant glanced down at a sheet of paper that listed all the contents that the police had collected. “There’s no phone on here. None was found.”
My brows stitched together. “That’s impossible. Sadie always had her phone on her.”
But then I remembered that I hadn’t seen Sadie’s car parked at the barn. “And did you find her car?”
He nodded. “It was discovered down the road a ways.”
Must’ve been parked where we couldn’t see it last night. “Was the phone in there?”
The sergeant shook his head. “If we’d’a found it, it would be in that bag. Sorry, but that’s all I’ve got.”
I thanked him and left, Rufus leading the way.
“Did you get her keys?” he asked as soon as we were out the door.
“Yes. They’re here.”
“Good,” he murmured. “That means we can check her house, see if the phone is there.”
My eyes widened. “You really are good at this.”
Red dotted his cheeks again, and he glanced away. “As I said, it seems that I have some sort of experience in this.”
“Apparently you do.”
We were about to cross the street when a dark limousine came to a rocking halt in front of us.
I stepped away from the curb to let whoever was inside out. Wait a minute—what was a limousine doing in Peachwood? This wasn’t exactly the sort of town where limos rolled down the street.
The door swung open, and a young man with a chubby, cherubic face and dark curly hair appeared. He looked to be sixteen. “Get in,” he commanded.
I glanced at Rufus, thinking that clearly this was about him. The wizard had probably tried to steal this guy’s powers, too.
I gestured to Rufus. “You heard the man. He wants you inside.”
Rufus looked at me, surprised. “Oh no, I’m fairly certain that you’re the one he wants. He was pointing to you.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
“Yes, he was.”
The man jabbed a finger at me, and before I could say another word, my legs were acting on their own, moving me toward the vehicle.
