Page 90 of Sigils & Spells

It would probably be a waste of his time. I didn’t want to pull him away from something important. I could take a quick look myself.

The call connected. My belly tightened in anticipation of Livie’s rapid-fire inquisition.

The possibility we’d missed something that would lead the PED to Jonah ran through my brain, round and round like a hyper gerbil on an exercise wheel.

A third ring. A fourth.

The call went to voicemail.

“Leave a message,” Livie’s recorded voice insisted.

I sagged in relief.

CHAPTER4

I cruisedpast the partially occupied apartment buildings. Now that I was here my idea of searching the building seemed ridiculous. I wouldn’t be able to get inside. Besides, the police had a host of magic users at their disposal and they hadn’t found anything.

Except I couldn’t let go of the damned backpack. They might have stumbled upon it eventually, but …

The parking lot had filled up quite a bit since we’d left. A jogger, several walkers, and three kids on bikes were out enjoying the fresh air. A gray SUV and a white sedan were the only vehicles parked on the street now that the construction crews were gone. Neither car was close to the stretch of road directly in front of the backpack’s location.

I looped around the block.

The smart thing to do would be to call the PED and ask for Aidan. He’d probably let me go through the building. Maybe.

More likely he’d think it was a waste of time. Or worse, he’d think me a nuisance.

What-ifs ear wormed through my head. The loudest being what if I missed something that would ease the Budneys' torment?

Stewing over it all was only driving me crazy. I was here. It wouldn’t take that long to check.

I turned into the parking lot and found a spot at the far end that put me across from the ramp. A man walking a golden retriever paused on the sidewalk while the dog enthusiastically investigated a newly planted birch tree.

After another few minutes debating my sanity, I shut off the car. The dog walker continued down the sidewalk. I got out of my MINI Cooper. At least in my jeans and black t-shirt, I felt comfortably inconspicuous … until I pressed my key fob. The double chirp sounded like a shotgun blast in the quiet neighborhood.

Whether real or imagined, I was convinced a score of eyes bore down on me as I crossed the street. The back of my neck itched.

I searched for cameras and found none, which surprised me. I’d expected more security. I walked up the ramp, half-excited at the prospect of searching and half-terrified that someone would pop up and demand to know what I was doing.

The door had a keycode lock. Simple enough to bypass with my magic. There weren’t any cameras to capture my image. No one would know if I went in and took a peek. Anyone passing on the street probably wouldn’t even look twice at me. Ten, fifteen minutes tops to check the place out. I couldn’t live with myself if another of my spells was inside, hiding another clue.

I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants. A rush of adrenaline surged through me as I disabled the locking mechanism. I turned the knob.

No one shouted at me to stop.

No alarms blared.

I slipped inside. Collapsing against the door, I sucked in air like I’d run a race. It took me far longer to catch my breath than I’d liked.

The interior was gloomier than I’d expected so I cast a simple illumination spell. A white orb of light bloomed in my palm. Sawdust, nails, and a few hand tools littered the plywood floor. The distant sound of a whirring motor—possibly a fan—drifted through a stairwell positioned several feet up the hall on my left. To my right, someone had mounted a large fire extinguisher on the wall. The end of this hall opened onto another.

Breathing back under control, I flipped the deadbolt. In the silence, each sneakered footfall sounded like a Clydesdale tromping along.

Half of the apartments had entry doors installed, but no locks. I chose one without a door and walked inside. The builder was stingy with windows, but I had enough light I didn’t need my orb. At each odd creak or clack, I’d pause, worrying what had caused the noise. It made for slow going. Fifteen minutes later, not only hadn’t I felt even a twinge of magic, I hadn’t made much progress. I’d make a horrible burglar.

I stepped back into the hall and froze. From the entry, I heard the ding-ding-ding of someone punching keycode numbers.

Great. Now I’d get caught trespassing by the foreman or some real estate agent. I darted into the doorless apartment I’d just searched. The mechanical whirr of the deadbolt unlatching kicked my heart rate up into the stratosphere. I plastered my back against a kitchen wall, praying to the goddess and straining to hear.

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