Page 58 of A Seer and Present Danger

A single tear tracked down her cheek.

“Hey, now,” I said. “Here.” I walked around the counter and stopped right next to her.

Jules pulled a tissue out of the box on the counter and handed it to me.

“Gail, are you all right? Can I call someone for you?”

She was dressed, but instead of shoes, she wore mismatched slippers. One was a bunny and the other said Wine O’Clock.

“There’s no one.” Her gaze finally shifted from the screen. “There’s no one. Hugo’s dead. Kenny’s dead. I’m alone.”

Someone must have told her the news, and they must have done it at her home.I didn’t know why she’d felt like she had to come in to work (in mismatched slippers), but maybe she was so overwhelmed, she was just running on automatic.

“I am so sorry for your loss,” I said.

“I wanted to leave them. Both of them. But I didn’t want them to leave me. To…to die. I’m alone now. Why am I alone?”

“We’re here,” Jules said gently.

“That’s right,” I said. “We’re here. You’re not alone. Can I call a friend? Maybe a relative?”

She shook her head. I pressed the tissue into her hand. It took her a minute to register it was there. Then she scrubbed at her cheeks, clearing away a layer of foundation.

“Are you washing your car?” she sniffed.

“Not today.” I glanced at Jules for suggestions, but she shook her head.

Gail was really distraught. I felt bad about suspecting her of murder. It felt wrong to question her about Kenny’s death. But she was the most likely suspect.

“Can I ask you a couple questions?”

She nodded. Her eyes were unfocused, like maybe this felt like a dream to her.

“Do you know who would want to hurt Kenny?”

“Kill,” she said softly. “They killed Kenny.”

“Yes. Kill.”

“Me, I suppose. I wanted to get his money. The business. I wanted the building. I’ve never had much, and he seemed to always have more. Hugo too. All those things he stole and smuggled through the shop. All those things.”

It wasn’t that big of a leap to discover Kenny had run a smuggling business out of the pawn shop, but still, I was surprised. How had he run the shop into the ground if he was smuggling on the side?

“What kinds of things did he smuggle?” Jules asked. “Drugs? Guns?”

“No, not those. He said it was rare stuff. I never saw any of it. Hugo was a very private man. He didn’t even like taking his clothes off if the lights were on.”

The tears were coming faster now. Jules handed me the tissue box. I placed it in Gail’s lap.

“He had a good eye for valuable items, though.” She pulled more tissues into her hand. “Said it was magic that made them worth stealing.”

Gail was mortal, and I didn’t think she knew magic was real. Same went for Hugo and Kenny.

“Magic?” Jules asked. “Like hocus-pocus stuff?”

Gail wadded the tissues. “He said stuff like that. Called things magic when he really meant they were easy to sell to the right buyer. He just loved cheating people out of money. Loved it so much. And he was so good at it.”

A fresh wave of tears shook her.