Page 54 of Real Fake Hauntings

“Wait, there was Wyatt last week. They didn’t have a fight, though.”

The name sounded familiar. Then it clicked. “Wyatt from the bar at Guiles and Romary?”

“Yes, that one.”

“You don’t know what he wanted with Crane?”

“No, sorry.”

It’d have to do. Breaking out of character, and with my arms thanking me for it, I brought out my phone and showed April the screenshot from the webcam. “Ever see this person at the office or nearby?”

She studied the image closely, then shook her head. “Can’t really tell, sorry.”

“That’s okay. If you see someone like this will you give me a call?”

“Sure thing.”

She sounded dubious, and I couldn’t blame her. Half of Olmeda with a hoodie would look like my suspect.

I resumed my mummy walk, tuning out the screeches and laughter rising around us as more and more kids gave up on their walks and simply ran amok. Investigating Crane further wasn’t going to take me anywhere. All his clients probably hated him to different degrees, and that wasn’t even counting on his dark web marketplace contacts and customers. It’d take a lot of manpower to go through every name on the list—assuming we could get a complete list—and I only had so much time. Ian was good, but not even he could get alibis of so many people, especially without raising suspicion.

Speaking of which… I waved my phone. “Selfie for my shop’s social media?”

“Sure,” she said happily.

We made silly faces, and I posted the photo with the caption: Taking a break from witching to be a zombie mummy!

I hoped if Dru saw it before I got back, she recognized April and realized I was here on business not pleasure, instead of walking out of the shop and leaving my customers in a Lord of the Flies situation.

A trickle of sweat ran down my temple at the image. Time to cut the walk short and check in with her and Ian before moving on to the next stage in the investigation.

Movement outside the scattering of onlookers caught my attention. A figure in a dark gray hoodie was walking away through a small path branching off the main one.

No. It couldn’t be this easy, could it?

“Gotta go,” I told April. “Have fun!”

The hoodie-wearing figure was walking fast, so I jumped over the knee-high fence surrounding the patches of greenery and cut across the expanse of grass and pretty bushes.

“Mom,” a kid exclaimed behind me. “You said we couldn’t run on the grass!”

Not bad karma, I reminded myself.

I jumped back into the narrower side path, but couldn’t see any hoodies among the visitors strolling around. Cursing to myself, I trotted farther down the path, scanning my surroundings. The park wasn’t dense, so it was easy to see other people through the voids between trees. All coats and jackets, a couple of joggers. Kids seemed to be the only ones wearing hoodies today.

Then a familiar figure brought me to a sudden stop. A young man with longish surfer hair dressed in jeans and an open flannel shirt over a sweatshirt was talking animatedly with a familiar handsome, tall man in a suit with close-cropped black hair.

Alex and…Preston, the evil ex?

SEVENTEEN

Before I could sneak away, Alex noticed me and his grin broadened. “Boss!”

Preston turned toward me, his bright teeth on display in a calculated show of greeting. “Miss Avery.”

Rearranging my surprise—and deep, deep suspicion—into a cool and collected expression, I approached the pair.

“Cool makeup,” Alex said.

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