Page 39 of Borrowed Time

What the hell?

Despite how dim it was back there, Seth’s frown was clear enough.

“Did you see that?” he whispered.

“I sure did,” I replied. “An amulet or some kind of pendant, right?”

“Yes.” He hesitated, then said, “Do you think that’s what he used to escape the trunk and get to the back of the theater? Some kind of magical trinket?”

My first instinct was to say no, our magic didn’t work that way. It was a part of us, intrinsic to our very natures, and not something that worked because we chanted spells or drank potions…or employed magical amulets.

On the other hand, there was a whole hell of a lot that I didn’t know about our magical world, and I supposed it was remotely possible that Lorenzo the Magnificent…whatever his real name was…had a talent that needed some sort of external focus to work. I hadn’t gotten the ringing in my ear that happened whenever I was around a strange witch or warlock, but he’d been more than three feet away from me when he hid the amulet in the trunk, and maybe that hadn’t been close enough.

“Why would he keep it in there rather than in his pocket, though?” Seth asked next. “That doesn’t seem very safe.”

“I’m sure he just put it there temporarily,” I replied. “It sounds like he’s mingling with the rest of the cast right now, and he probably thought it would be better not to have it on him. I’ll bet anything that he comes back to retrieve it before he leaves the theater.”

Although Seth still looked skeptical, it also seemed as if he didn’t feel like contradicting me because he said, “Possibly. So, what’s the plan?”

A very good question. No one seemed to have noticed us loitering back there in the shadows, but I had to believe that eventually the congratulatory session going on backstage would break up and everyone would head back to wherever they were staying. One of the local hotels, I assumed, since a boarding house didn’t seem like a very good fit for someone who would only be in town for a day or so.

“We go outside and wait,” I said. “Find some inconspicuous spot to hang out until everyone leaves and goes wherever they’re staying. There aren’t so many hotels in Flagstaff that it should be too difficult to figure out where Lorenzo has a room.”

“And then we what, ambush him?” Seth responded, sounding more dubious than ever.

I made a disgusted noise. “I’m not saying we jump him and pick his pockets. But we need to find out what’s going on with that amulet. For one thing, no one in the witch community should be showing off their talents in public like that. I kind of doubt Jeremiah Wilcox would be too thrilled to learn that a strange warlock has shown up in town and started pulling flashy tricks.”

And sure, I supposed I could have hung back and not done anything, and waited until I could talk to Jeremiah, but since we were right here, it seemed kind of silly not to learn what we could.

Especially because it was Saturday night, and the soonest we’d even be able to contact Jeremiah without raising eyebrows would be Monday morning, which right then felt about a million years off.

My comment about the Wilcoxprimusseemed to have some effect, because Seth nodded. “Fair enough. Because you’re right— it’s not very smart. Let’s go see if we can find a good place to hide.”

Now in agreement, we left the backstage area and retraced our steps so we could leave through the theater’s main entrance on Leroux Street. Most of the audience members had departed by then, although a few people still loitered in the area, chatting and clearly not ready to put an end to their evening.

To my relief, though, no one seemed to pay Seth and me any mind as we casually moved to our right and then cut down the alley next to the theater. It wasn’t a true alley, not really, just a space between the theater and the building next door, which seemed to belong to a wool wholesaler. I didn’t like how dark it was back there, but Seth’s hand slipped into mine, strong and reassuring and warm despite the chill of the night air, and that made me feel a little better.

The rear of the Sundown Theater was nothing to write home about, plain brick and without any of the adornments that decorated the façade that overlooked Leroux Street, but we weren’t here for the ambiance. Unfortunately, there weren’t any handy dumpsters to hide behind, although we spied some packing crates and headed right for them, slipping into their shadows just as the members of the theater troupe began to emerge from the building’s stage door.

None of those people were Lorenzo, though, and I found my spirits starting to sink. What if he’d gone out the front of the building for some reason?

“There,” Seth whispered in my ear.

Sure enough, there was the man himself, standing in the exit. It seemed he’d waited until almost everyone was gone, although he paused in the doorway to say something to someone I couldn’t see, maybe the troupe’s stage manager or someone who worked for the theater itself.

After that brief exchange, however, he came briskly down the back steps, his breath little white puffs in the icy air. Seth and I waited until he reached Leroux Street and turned left, then slipped out from behind the packing crates and followed, although enough of a distance back that we hoped he wouldn’t notice us.

As far as I could tell, the ploy worked. He walked briskly, an overcoat covering his white tie and tails, and seemed intent on his destination.

Which turned out to be the Bank Hotel, the same place where we’d eaten lunch earlier today. Again, Seth and I hung back, watching as he went through the double front doors of the hotel, since we knew that following him too closely would surely arouse suspicion.

“All right, we know where he’s staying,” Seth said. His breath also hung in the cold air, and I could tell he didn’t want to loiter out here on the street any longer than necessary.

Well, he wasn’t from Flagstaff and wasn’t used to the cold. Jerome could get pretty chilly, but it was still nothing like my hometown on a black November night.

“Now,” I said with a smile, “I employ some feminine wiles. You can come inside, but wait near the door until I get what I need.”

Somehow, he managed to look both confused and disapproving, but unlike a lot of guys I’d known over the years, he didn’t demand that I explain what I was up to.

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