Page 57 of Real Fake Hauntings

Dru snorted. “Show Mark. Maybe he’ll recognize them from the Crawler.”

I hated to admit it, but she had a point. I gestured for Mark to come closer, and after he squeezed by Dru, I showed him the screenshot.

He studied the photo for a few moments, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Could be anyone.”

His response wasn’t exactly unexpected, but my shoulders slumped all the same. My one hint for the UNSUB was getting me nowhere, and neither was my investigation into Crane. To think I’d had such hopes last night…

With any luck, Ian would be able to uncover something on his end, but judging how the day was going, I had my doubts.

“Hope,” Dru called out.

“Yes?”

“Do we have any sweets in the back?”

A small boy was all but hanging on the counter, watching Mark with wide eyes. A woman who must’ve been his mother stood behind him, staring at the paper cup of coffee in Dru’s hand like it was mana from heaven.

“Let me check.”

I went into the storage room and peeked inside the box of candy bars I’d ordered a couple of weeks back.

To my horror, there were only a few bars left. How could we have run out of candy so fast? I checked the other boxes, but no, this was the only one we had at hand. Halloween was tomorrow! This couldn’t stand.

I returned to the shop with the last candy bars and gave one to the boy. He squealed with joy and ran to the door.

“Arthur,” her mother yelled, paying with alacrity. “Wait for me!”

As the woman left in a hurry, and a couple took her spot at the counter, studying the list of teas with intense concentration, I went into the back and placed a call to Key.

“Hi, Key,” I said when she picked up. “Are you busy with the tour, or can you spare a couple of hours?”

“You need my help?” she asked eagerly.

“At the Tea Cauldron, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t mind.” Although her enthusiasm had dimmed somewhat.

“I’ll tell you all I’ve learned about the pentagrams after,” I promised.

“Great.”

“Can you bring Bee-Bee with you?”

“Sure. You need me right now?”

“As soon as possible.”

I returned to the shop and pitched in until Key came in, breathless and eager to help, then I told Dru I had to go on a candy run and escaped before she could strangle me.

I hated having to leave the shop when it was this busy, but some things had to come first: pentagram inquiries, murder investigations, and candy for Halloween.

EIGHTEEN

Going around Olmeda on Bee-Bee made everything a hundred times better. I zoomed around the traffic, earning myself some very inventive curses, and arrived at my favorite grocery store.

Which had also run out of candy.

Telling myself this wasn’t a sign of bad luck, I moved on to my second-favorite supplies store.

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