Page 50 of Crazy Spooky Love
I ask the only question that means anything to me about the whole incident. “Did Leo tell you to do this?”
They both look up, stricken.
“No,” one of them whispers.
“Please don’t tell him,” the other begs, tears leaving crisscross tracks in her immaculate makeup. Her face is so perfectly smooth that she suddenly reminds me of one of my favorite childhood dolls,one that you could put water in the back of and she’d cry real tears. She peed her pants too, but let’s gloss over that part.
“He’d left his jacket at Scarborough House and asked us to pick it up on our way into work, and when we got there, well…”
“What?” I say, unmoved by their emotion. “You realized we were there and thought it might be fun to trap us in a damp, dark cellar and leave us there to rot?”
They flinch, and I feel horribly like I’m kicking kittens. “We thought it might put you off,” one of them mumbles. “We just wanted to help him.”
And then I get it. The twins, after all, are fully paid-up Darklings; they saw a chance to do something they thought would aid their hero’s cause and went ever so slightly, temporarily insane. I don’t know whether to be impressed or scared by that level of devotion.
“Well, you couldn’t have got it more wrong,” I say. “Because all you’ve done is strengthened our resolve.”
Next to me, Marina sighs heavily. “You’re not going to tell Leo what they did, are you?”
Hope flares in the twins’ eyes as they both stare at me, and I glance down and notice they’re holding hands. For God’s friggin’ sake! Where did he find these child-women?
“Just go,” I say, resigned. “And don’t ever think about pulling another stunt like that on us again. I’ll tell Leo in a heartbeat if you do, are we clear? No second chances.”
They nod and begin to back away, their stilettos unsteady on the cobbles.
Marina folds her arms across her chest and clears her throat as she stares them down.
“I think you forgot to say ‘thank you.’ ”
The twins both nod, hurriedly gabbling their thank-yous at her over the top of each other.
“Not to me.” Marina rolls her eyes and jerks her head in my direction. “To Melody.”
“You did us a bit of a favor, actually,” Artie says, lifting his hand to wave them off. “We found some important things down there, didn’t we? Those—”
Marina and I both lurch forward and slam the door at the same time to cut him off mid-flow and prevent him from spilling the news to the twins about the diaries, but not soon enough for me to miss the looks of complete panic that cross the twins’ faces at the idea that they’ve inadvertently handed us an advantage.
I look at him and grin, and then laughter bubbles up in my chest. “Artie Elliott, you are one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.”
I laugh, and as I catch Marina’s eye the tension finally leaves her shoulders, and she laughs too. This ghost-busting lark is turning out to be more hair-raising than any of us had anticipated. I don’t know what’s in Nonna Malone’s tin today yet, but whatever it is I’m having at least four of them.
Artie watches us, perplexed but pleased. “I’ve never been locked in a cellar before. This is the best job ever!”
“I think these are myfavorite yet.” I reach for a third anginetti cookie despite the fact that the lemon icing is rich enough to dissolve my teeth on contact.
“They go lovely with tea,” Artie says, a comment designed purely for the purpose of winding up Marina, who narrows her eyes at him as he dunks one in his snake mug.
“Nonna would weep,” she whispers, slamming the lid down and putting the tin out of his reach. Sadly, it’s out of mine too, so it looks like break time is officially over.
“Right. Shall we take a look at Lloyd’s diaries?” I’m dying to see what lies inside those pages.
Marina nods. “Do you think we should wear white cotton gloves, like on TV?”
I pause. “Because they’re old and precious or because they’re evidence in a murder case?”
She shrugs. “Both?”
We don’t have a shred of police procedural knowledge between us that hasn’t been gained from watchingCSI. “There’s a box of those thin surgical rubber gloves under Mum’s sink,” I say. “I’ll go and grab some just in case.”
