Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1)(28)
The price popped up on the screen, and Jeremy handed over a twenty of his hard-earned money. There was little chance of him using them soon, but buying something gave no one a reason to imagine why he visited the shop. Jeremy took his change and left with his heart intact and the fools inside flailing about in retail boredom. Outside, the sun waged war on fall, removing all traces of that morning’s early frost and torturing every poor soul who left their homes dressed for cold. Jeremy’s coat clung to him in seconds. A man wearing three coats rolled his cart to a trash bin. As he mumbled to himself and dug through Starbucks cups and McDonald’s food wrappers, Jeremy sidestepped past him. The porn shop workers didn’t seem the bleeding-hearts kind, so he wondered why they hadn’t booted the man from in front of their building. Magic that he hadn’t called forth tingled in his fingers. Just for a second the homeless man paused and then went back to rummaging. Jeremy narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Oh that sneaky bastard! On or off the stage, Desmond did love his costumes. Jeremy turned in the man’s direction, but a hand clamped over his mouth.
“EDARRA, SINCE Jeremy called in sick, I could use your help on a job.” Clive tilted his head in Simone’s direction, who was focused on filling out a letter granting them permission to obtain more trapping cages for dangerous creatures. Every cage and its use were documented to curb illegal smuggling.
She glanced at Simone and nodded. “I’ll join you, then.”
They said good-bye to Simone, who barely looked up as they walked past her desk. During the drive, as Edarra nibbled on a protein bar, Clive remained silent. Perhaps I was wrong, and we shouldn’t investigate the murders on our own. We don’t have a genuine reason to get involved, and Edarra might feel obligated to help me because I’m her boss. Clive pointed at the interstate signs heading for Atlanta. “I want to go to the Kitty Purr and surveil the staff. We can make a U-turn to the office if you want.”
“Do we only watch?” Edarra opened her fingers wide and cracked her knuckles. It was obvious she wanted to do that to someone’s bones.
Clive smiled. I worried for nothing. There’s isn’t a thing anyone could force Edarra to do. “For now, yes. I want to know what these energy vamps are up to, and if they’re related to Levi’s murder.” He raised his hand as if swearing an oath. “I’ll give everything I find to the Council after that.”
“Okay. I’ll keep driving to the porn shop.” Edarra grinned. “Maybe you can show me the good kind of trouble my other jobs failed to deliver.”
“I should say I hope not, but I do miss a good fight.”
SLOW HUMANS hadn’t yet clogged the roads for their lunch breaks, so Edarra quickly arrived at the exit near the porn shop. She drove them past the Kitty Purr and then parked a few blocks away in a CVS parking lot. On the same side of the street, SUVs blocked them from direct view of the shop. In consideration of Clive’s normal eyesight, she rolled down her window so he could see better. At first there was little activity, but Edarra soon swatted Clive’s shoulder for him to look at the patron who while in disheveled clothes, was still recognizable to anyone who watched that haughty walk every day. Even when he was impersonating a nondescript patron, the man couldn’t slouch.
Clive inhaled sharply. “Jeremy seems to have recovered from his illness remarkably.”
“I bet he’s here for the same reason we are. I’ll move closer on foot, so I can hear anyone inside talk.”
“I should join y—”
Edarra shook her head adamantly. “Stay in the car in case I need to make a quick exit.” Tossing aside the empty fruit juice bottle that she had purchased so they could linger in the drugstore parking lot, Edarra strolled from the car like a pedestrian with a place to be. Once she reached the Kitty Purr’s parking lot, she walked to the wall away from the street and placed her ear and hands on it. Whatever vibrations her ears didn’t quite catch, her fingers absorbed. Edarra felt the heartbeats of two employees, one of whom bungled everything he touched. Underneath those sounds was Jeremy shouting phrases she never would have imagined the uptight man saying. The lack of sincerity saved her from being embarrassed. He’s a worse actor than those porn stars, Edarra thought.
Edarra flinched from the sound of metal grating and whatever else Butterfingers inside the porn shop knocked over. She was praying for him to be fired already when Jeremy’s scent wafted away from Edarra and toward the other side of the shop. His actions puzzled her until she heard the tumblers of a safe turning. Her eyebrows rose. Strange things are taught in that city called London. Edarra faced a conundrum. Pretend not to see him when he left or confront him? Her decision was made when Gulley’s scent carried to her nose. Edarra followed the smell to a car a traffic light away holding two men.
Jeremy stepped out of the shop with a small bag in his hand. He paused to look both ways, taking his sweet time. Edarra bundled the witch close with her hand over his mouth, and whisked him to her lookout spot. He briefly stiffened in her arms, but something gave her away because he relaxed without a word.
Convinced he wouldn’t make a scene, Edarra released him. “Gulley just pulled in with who I think might be Perry.”
Jeremy grimaced as he turned to look at the front of the store. “I appreciate the snatch and grab.”
“Tiny arrogant humans,” Edarra muttered as they returned to Clive’s car. She motioned Clive to sit in the driver’s side, so she sat facing Jeremy.