Page 71 of Dragon Detective

Feeling a bit silly carrying soup through the building, I crept up the stairs and made the loop around the first floor, poking my head into each bedroom and bathroom, finding nothingunusual. I experienced the same thing on the second and third floors.

It was only when I reached the door to the attic and found it unlocked and open again that I heard someone moving carefully around above me. Was this Justin or had a fourth villain entered my building to search or harass me?

Max scrambled over to stand beside me, peering up the staircase. His tail whipped back and forth, and his whiskers twitched.

Like Reylor had yesterday, I moved slowly and with great care up toward the attic, avoiding the stairs I’d learned creaked when you stepped on them.

Near the top, I stopped and peeked up into the big open area still cluttered with Justin’s possessions.

Someone stood near the window, and with the light behind them, I couldn’t see who it was. Human, from what I could tell, though I couldn’t speculate any further. Their back remained to me while they riffled through one of the tall bureaus. I think this one had been in Justin’s room, though I couldn’t be sure. When I bought the place, I hired movers to haul everything up to the attic. Back then, I wanted his things out of the way while I renovated.

Leaving Max scowling on the stairs, I crept across the attic, taking care where I placed my feet. I kept the mug of soup by my side. When I was close enough I could reach out and touch the person, I stopped.

“What are you doing?” I snarled.

Evelyn Blakemore spun around and hissed. “Where is it? Where is it?”

“Where is what?”

“You know.” She lifted her arm and pointed a handgun at my head.

Damn, I should’ve left the building instead of searching.

“Grant was supposed to buy the place with the possessions intact,” she said. “And I’d take it off his hands.”

“You pushed Grant to buy my building and threaten me?” I asked in horror.

“It’s your own fault. You wouldn’t cooperate.”

“This is my building. I’m not selling.”

“Which is why I made Sylvia come here instead. She did a great job building your friendship. But you wouldn’t set up a time for the two of you to go through the attic, so I told her she had to act. Why did you have your poor friend Sylvia arrested?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Sylvia had pretended to be my friend? I was right. She’d acted like she was out of her mind as a cover for her actions. “You made Sylvia break into my building?”

“And you caught her. But I need it. We played with it when we were kids, not realizing it was real. I thought it was some ancient thing, a joke.”

“What ancient thing left for kids?”

Although . . .

“If I don’t get it . . . well, let’s just say that I owe a lot of people money, and they don’t forgive those who don’t pay them back on time.”

“Loan sharks?”

“More or less. But enough of that.” She tightened her grip on the gun and nudged it toward me. “Tell me where my grandfather hid the map or I’m blasting your brains across the room.”

I don’t think so.

With a grunt, I flung the thick, hot soup into her face.

Chapter 36

Reylor

Iwas kicking off my shoes in the foyer when a scream echoed through the building, coming from upstairs. I took the stairs three at a time all the way to the top, finding the attic door open.

“Hannah,” I bellowed, continuing up the attic stairs.

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