Page 24 of Shadow Seeking

“Do you have the security camera footage of her entering the office?” I asked. We kept security cameras all around the office because of cases like this one.

“Yes, I do. You want me to print out the best pictures of her?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah, and save them in jpg format, too.” I turned to Dante. “You have a stalker. You might want to change up the times you go to the gym and, while we’re at it, Sophia, did she at least give you her address?”

“She gave meanaddress, but I’m not sure if it’s accurate.” She opened the file folder. “So, it was all a lie? About the boyfriend?”

I nodded. “I’m positive. I think when Dante entered the room, it threw her off and she started to spiral. When I started asking her if we could record the intake interview, she probably realized that she wouldn’t be able to keep the lies straight and so dug in her heels.”

“She can’t have all her ducks in a row, not if she assumes I don’t recognize her from the gym. She’s never talked to me, but I’ve noticed her there several times, and she’s never really working out. She’ll be on a treadmill, puttering around, or sitting on a bench with a towel around her shoulders, but I never see her actually exercising. And every time I’ve noticed her, she’s been watching me.” Dante looked over Sophia’s shoulder as she screen shotted the best frames of Rowan’s image.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked.

“I wasn’t sure it was anything to worry about,” he said. “I should have listened to my intuition. I’ll start using my apartment’s gym,” he said. “It’s pretty good, and I can go down there at night without having to drive across town.”

“I think you should file a report with the police,” I said. “I know they can’t—and won’t—do anything for now, but get it on record. And we can add in what happened with her today.”

Dante shook his head. “I doubt they’d even take the report.”

“It’s worth a try,” I said. “At least tell Destiny.”

He sighed. “All right, I’ll talk to her.”

“Excuse me, but your 11:15 should be here, soon. I had no idea Rowan was going to be such a problem.” Sophia tapped her keyboard. “Pictures sent to everyone in the office, and I’ve filed them in our records.”

“It’s not your fault she was a loon.” I stood, glancing at my watch. “All right, let’s get ready for the next one. Hopefully he won’t be a problem.”

Alf Lindstrom turnedout to be the opposite of Rowan. His insistence on not talking about the theft till he was in the appointment was less because he was paranoid, and more because he was embarrassed.

“I can’t believe my neighbor stole my action figure collection,” he said. “I think he took it for his kid. He gives the kid anything he wants.”

“Action figures?” I asked. Alf seemed like a blue-collar guy whose idea of a good time was sitting with a beer, watching football. But according to him, he was an avid gamer, he farmed game gold and sold it on Game-Go, an online market place specializing in gaming supplies, in-game currency, and other various commodities.

“It’s a huge business,” he said. “I make a lot of money. And my figurine collection is worth over ten thousand dollars. But it vanished last week, after Holden White and his son visited my gaming room. The kid is twelve, and he immediately gravitated toward the figurines.”

“Does the father know how much they’re worth?” Dante asked.

“I doubt it,” Alf said. “When I told him to leave them alone, his father tried to buy them for two hundred dollars. I told him forget it. He tried to make light of it but the kid was whining nonstop. They left after awhile, and I thought it was over. But I came home from the store the next day and the figurines were gone. I called a buddy of mine who works on the force, and hetold me they’re so overloaded that, even if I file a report, they won’t do anything about it.”

“Do you have a list of the figurines that are missing? And are there any other people that you think might have done this? We can’t rule out somebody else stealing them.”

Alf gave us a list of the figurines that had been stolen, then a couple names of potential suspects, and by noon, we had everything we needed, including a big fat retainer. He wasn’t a cheapskate, that was for sure.

As we walked him out, I let out a long sigh. Two cases out of three wasn’t bad for a morning’s work.

After lunch,I prepared to head for Windchime Magical Academy. “What can you tell me about Philip Groveletter?” I asked.

Sophia walked me to the reception area. “He’s a stickler for the rules. He’s also been vying for Letty’s job for a number of years, but was passed over in favor of her. So, he has a chip on his shoulder, from what I understand. But…he’s known for his compassion. He volunteers at the Children’s Hospital, reading to kids every Sunday afternoon. From what I’ve dug up, none of his neighbors have anything bad to say about him, and even though he’s strict with the student body, the kids say he’s fair.”

“So, not likely to have killed Letty for her job?” I shoved my arms into my jacket and buckle the belt.

“Right. You never know, but he wouldn’t be my first choice in suspects,” she said. “Anyway, off you go and here’s hoping you can find out something.”

I waved, then clattered down the stairs to the main floor. As I exited the building, the wind picked up and whistled past. Ijogged to my car, sliding in as the clouds opened and a sheet of blinding rain poured down.

Windchime Magical Academy was up in East Bothell, which was a drive. It was off 57thAve SE, a dead-end road with a massive thicket of forest around the school. As I came to the driveway leading into the campus, I could feel the magic rise. Gather several hundred witches in one area and—whether or not they were young—the energy was going to reflect it.

The academy had originally been housed in one building, but the campus had grown over the years and now there were two buildings for classrooms, two dorms—a girl’s dorm and one for the boys, a gymnasium with an indoor pool. The main administration/community building housed the cafeteria, the bookshop, a small convenience store of sorts, and all the teachers’ offices as well as the main admin offices and an auditorium. The clocktower that overlooked the main square was also attached to the main admin building. The buildings were red brick, although the newer buildings had less of a weathered look than the main one.

---