Page 21 of The Aura Answer
So, the mayor’s son, Toby, and the gallery owner’s daughter, Verity, were do-gooding. Evie headed back down the ladder again. “Was that your big surprise, telling your family that you were almost famous?”
Yeah, part, I guess. There was gonna be an article in the paper and everything. They didn’t wanna hang my new stuff until the opening. She said it would be a surprise. But my momwon’t go into the city, so I did one for her too. Bertie’s aura grew grayer.But even my paints are gone.
“What was in the sketch? Maybe I can find it.” Evie had an uneasy notion the sketch was long gone, but she couldn’t fathom why.
This and that, Bertie said vaguely.Things I saw. The gallery person said I was imaginative, but I just draw what I see.
“And this one was bigger than your others?” Knowing ghosts couldn’t remember names, Evie understood his vagueness. Bertie drew people. And even buildings usually came with names, if only a street name.
If he nodded, she couldn’t tell. He was starting to fade.
Big. He may have stretched his hands, but she couldn’t see them.
Bertie had never been a math whiz. Evie held her hands about a foot apart. “This big?”
Bigger, he insisted.
She went for three feet, approximately.
Yeah, like that. For over a mantel, he said in satisfaction.Can you find it?
Since that was most likely the reason he was still here, Evie nodded. “I’ll try. Was there anyone else besides Miss Janus and Toby who saw your work?”
Maybe, he said vaguely.Sometimes I don’t remember so well.
“All right, why don’t you think about that while I look for Mayor Block. Do you know where he hides when he sulks?”
Little room with flag and a nice couch. I useta sleep on that some nights. He blinked out.
Judge’s chambers, Evie surmised, carrying her broom back to the central hall. Did each judge have their own? How many judges’ chambers were there? Other than her ghost-bustingvisits, and her teenage adventures on the roof, she avoided the courthouse.
Downstairs, she scooped the hall debris into a trash bag from the closet, then dug out a vacuum cleaner. She bet there were carpets in rooms with couches. She added a dust rag for good measure and entered the closest courtroom.
The little door at the back of the room was locked.Dang. Ghosts might pass through, but she couldn’t. How had living Bertie slept in here?
She checked the courtroom across the hall with the same result. If she couldn’t get in today, when no official was present, she’d never be allowed in another day. Stupid cowardly Blockheaded ghost.
She texted Roark, their resident lock-picking expert.can you pick antique locks?
courthouse? not going to jail for you babe. find keys
Well, fine. Ariel would probably empty Evie’s bank account and Loretta’s, too, to get revenge if Roark was locked up. Jax’s genius sister did not know normal parameters, and she weirdly liked the anarchic Cajun.
Evie went back downstairs where the construction crew was removing broken windows. They shook their head when she asked if they had keys for upstairs and kept working.Le sigh. She was accustomed to being ignored and thought harmless.
Who would have keys? Better, who would have keys who’d let her have them. Answer to that, nobody.
Huffily, she texted Jax and added Mayor Larraine, just in case. They at least knew she wasn’t using keys for nefarious purposes. Maybe they could talk to whoever was in charge of a courthouse.
While she waited for replies, she scoured the janitorial closets up and down, hunting for any sign that someone, anyone, might have shoved one of Bertie’s sketches out of sight. Andshe didn’t even know why she cared. Finding Bertie’s artwork wouldn’t produce any rewards.
Jax hadthe late Mayor Arthur Block’s laptop backed up to a cloud drive and was organizing the files when Evie’s text came through. He knew better than to ignore her plea for keys.
why?
cause blockhead is hiding
CC’d on the message, Larraine responded with laughing faces and clown hats. Their new mayor wasn’t very fond of the old one. Or she could be commenting on the request for keys.
