Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(62)

Kayo, whoever he was, let out a soft chuckle. “Very well. Carry on.”

And with that, Essie Vanderbilt nodded at me. “Maudlin can fill in the blanks. She’ll verify that not only did Thornton deceive her, but that he was in possession of the journal you seek, and that he, not I, was the one who stole it.”

And with that, my stomach hit the ground and I promptly vomited onto the table.





Chapter 17





KAYO LET OUT a grunt of disgust. Ruby jumped up and, in a blur, was back with a cloth to wash up the table, as well as a glass of water for me, and a mint.

Essie smiled softly. I was surprised she wasn’t upset but then she said, “See, I told you Maudlin was feeling under the weather.”

Not sure whether to laugh at her ability to turn on a dime, or to cry because I knew what was going on and who Kayo was, I let Ruby clean me up and then drank the water and ate the mint. The last of the sedative—or whatever it was they had used to knock me out—felt like it was trying to work its way out of my system.

Kayo rolled his eyes. “Whatever the case, let’s get on with it.”

I cleared my throat, then finished off the water. Essie was up shit creek without a paddle, and so was I, if he decided he didn’t believe us.

“Very well. Maudlin, will you verify that you hired Thornton, and when?”

Apparently, the ball was in my court. I thought fast. “I hired him, yes. It was on October eleventh, I believe. I had no clue he was part of your stable at the time. He answered my advertisement for a housekeeper.” I tried to choose my words carefully. If this was what I thought it was, I could easily slide the noose around both our necks.

Essie paused, then nodded. “Did he ever tell you he had been part of my entourage?”

I snorted. “I don’t keep track of your love life, nor of your comings and goings, Essie. Thornton never mentioned it to me.” I figured I had to make my answers realistic, even if I was trying to lie through my teeth.

Essie arched her eyebrows. “Yes, well…perhaps you’ll tell us what happened when he arrived. I assume you helped him unpack?” She put a stress on the words and I hoped to hell I was reading her correctly.

“Um, yeah, I did.” At her nod, I continued. “He only had a couple suitcases with him.” I paused, then decided to run with my intuition. “Well, he mostly unpacked. But he had one box that he set to the side, and he asked if I owned a safe. I don’t, so he said he’d find someplace else to keep it. I don’t know what was in the box, but he seemed to be protective of it.”

“Did he ever tell you what was in the box?”

Kayo stiffened, focused on me. I tried to remain unreadable. Luckily I could see both of them because I knew that if I so much as flickered over to Essie to look for a cue, he’d be on me. She shifted, just slightly enough to tell me that this was a make-or-break point.

“No. I didn’t ask, either. I don’t pry into people’s personal affairs.”

One beat. Two, and Kayo leaned back just enough to indicate that he was buying it.

Essie paused, then asked, “After he died, when you packed up his things to return them to me, was that box still in the room?” Her gaze was unnerving.

I froze, scrambling over the potential responses. Both Kayo and Essie were poised, waiting for my answer. I shook my head.

“No, I didn’t see it anywhere. But then, I didn’t expect to.”

“Oh?” Kayo asked.

“No, because the day he died, he went out to run some errands and he was carrying the box with him. I assumed that he either gave it to someone or that it was destroyed during the crash that ended his life.”

Essie visibly relaxed, deflating as a relieved look flashed through her eyes. “When did you find out he had been working for me?”

I licked my lips. “Shortly before he died. I swear, if I knew he was still in your employ, I never would have hired him.” And that was the truth.

Essie turned to the strange vamp. “You see? It’s as I told you. Thornton accompanied me to the castle the weekend before he ran off. Your records will show that. During the day, he must have broken into your study and relieved you of the journal. We had so much luggage that I never noticed it and when we arrived home, he unpacked. The next evening, I woke to find he was gone. I thought he was out running errands. It didn’t occur to me that he had run off till the next night, when he didn’t appear and we found his closet cleaned out.”

This went against everything Ruby had told me about Thornton being stuck in a cell, but I wasn’t about to bring that little fact up just now.

Kayo leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “So the man is dead and no longer available to answer my questions. I thought you would have already started the process of turning him into a vampire? Favorites are usually accorded the status.”

Essie frowned, but inclined her head. “As I did, but he turned while in the morgue. He escaped, showed up at Maudlin’s house in search of witch’s blood, and she staked him.”

“That’s true. I had just returned from the Ostara ritual and I had my dagger with me. He attacked me and I dusted him.” I shrugged. “If you want his ashes, they’re in my trashcan. You can probably do some sort of spell to figure out it was him.”