Page 89 of Bright Dark Curses

“’Sup dude,” Alex said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Who’s that?” came Ethan’s strident, panicked voice.

“A friend,” I said. “He’s trustworthy.”

“That’s right,” Alex said in his usual upbeat tone.

“Did you call the police yet?” Ethan demanded. “What are they doing? Are they interviewing suspects? Did you tell them about me?”

Dru rolled her eyes and stood to get more coffee.

“Haven’t called yet. I wanted to run something by you first.”

“Sure, okay.” Ethan sounded wary but much less panicked.

“Either of you know Charles McKee?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen him around the set,” Brett said.

“You have?” Key asked.

“You know what,” Ethan said. “I think he was there the day with the mug incident. I remember it was weird because I thought the grips were supposed to be still setting up.”

“And he definitely was there the day the lights started acting weird,” Brett added. “I remember because he was the only one who didn’t seem too worried about them malfunctioning.”

“Why didn’t you guys mention him before?” I asked, a little peeved. We could’ve added him to our suspect list long ago!

“It didn’t occur to me until now,” Brett said defensively. “It wasn’t exactly suspicious, just odd.”

“Yeah,” Ethan said. “I had forgotten about him too.”

Key covered her phone. “Ethan could be lying to shift the blame onto someone else.”

It was a distinct possibility. “Let’s assume he’s telling the truth.”

“Assume, huh?” Ian murmured.

“Let’s act like he’s telling the truth.” I gave him a cheeky grin. “Better?”

He grinned back, and for a few moments, I was lost in his eyes again.

Dru snapped her fingers by my ear. “Earth to Hope.”

I turned back to them and cleared my throat. “Sorry.”

“Maybe you should sit in your own chair, eh, boss?” Alex suggested with a smirk.

“Or get a room.” Shane murmured.

“I’m okay,” I said. But they were probably right. Reluctantly, I abandoned Ian’s lap and took my bagel and diet soda to a free chair. Way too far from him, but it was for the best. For now, anyway.

Ian regarded my movements with amusement as he finished his coffee.

“You think McKee is the witch?” Ethan asked in a much more cheerful voice than before.

“He has motive.” I told them about how McKee had gotten into a fight over being denied filming rights in Olmeda.

“Do you guys remember where he was yesterday?” Key asked.

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