Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Yes… It’s a date…
Gideon
As we left Jim working on the stage, I ran the conversation over in my mind.
Like Jim said, it didn’t make sense for him to kill Winston before he paid him for the work.
It had been obvious he didn’t like Winston, though, and I was sure he’d been lying about something, which meant, as far as I was concerned, he wasn’t off the hook.
We’d also heard banging at the Nook after Winston left the meeting, which didn’t make sense if Jim was telling the truth.
And he’d know someone would have heard him. Something wasn’t adding up.
“Why don’t we stop at Rue’s place and get you a fresh coffee on our way by?” I’d noticed he’d really been enjoying the coffee I’d brought him, but he tripped and dropped it before he got to drink much. I wasn’t much of one for coffee, but it was obvious Declan was.
“We don’t have to do that,” he said before stifling a yawn.
I chuckled. “You know, little witch, I think we do.”
“I need to buy a coffee pot, is what I need. I have no idea how my grandfather doesn’t have one, and it was fine when I thought I was just here for a visit, but I can’t keep going out for coffee every morning long term.”
My ears perked up at that, and my wolf started to pace, but not in an anxious way. Like he was happy or something.
“You’re staying?” I tried to sound all nonchalant about it, but the truth was I hoped he was.
I didn’t know him well, but I wanted to.
Not only was he sexy in an adorable kind of way, but something about him called to me in a way no one had before.
Maybe it was how determined he was to stand up for Elwood, or the easy way he’d taken the news about the supernatural creatures who lived here in Ravenstone, but for whatever reason, I liked him being here.
I looked forward to watching him learn to use his magic.
The way it had felt when his body had been pressed up against mine when he’d tripped earlier flashed through my mind.
Okay, I was looking forward to a lot of things with Declan, if I was being honest with myself.
“My grandfather thinks this is the best place for me while I learn all about magic.”
I nodded. “That makes sense, but what do you think?”
He looked up at me and smiled. “I think there are a lot of reasons it would be good to stick around for a while.”
I’d never been one to mess around when I wanted something, and knowing he was going to stay for a while removed the last of my reasons to hold back. “Well, I hope I can be one of those reasons.”
“Oh, you definitely are. It’s not every day I find a man who understands my love of coffee.”
Ten minutes later, Declan was armed with a fresh cup of coffee from the Twinkling Thistle Café, and we were ready to go talk to Janis.
“Where do you think we’ll find her?” He took a sip of the coffee and let out a relieved sigh. “Now this is magic.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s just regular coffee—or at least it better be—and I don’t know if Janis will be at the office since Winston’s gone or if she’ll be at home. Let’s try the office first since it’s right around the corner.”
As we walked down the sidewalk, Declan peppered me with questions about Ravenstone.
How many of the residents were supernaturals?
Did the humans know about magic? Did people outside of Ravenstone know?
Then came a list of all the creatures he’d heard of throughout his life.
Were unicorns real? No. Pixies? Yes. Gnomes?
Also yes. The Loch Ness monster? I didn’t know—maybe. And on and on.
I stopped walking just before we went around the corner. “I thought you were going to ask Elwood all these questions.”
“We really didn’t have time, and he was pretty beat from his time in the slammer.”
I sighed. “He wasn’t in the slammer. My guess is he and Grady were sitting around shooting the bull and swapping fishing stories.”
He sniffed. “Well, he still shouldn’t have taken him to the station.”
I raised one eyebrow and waited for him to actually answer my question.
“I don’t know. I guess I feel weird about asking him. I mean, he tried to tell me about it for all these years, and I completely blew him off. Shoot. I thought he was nuts. It feels wrong to be like, Now I believe you, tell me everything.”
“He loves you, and he’ll be thrilled to share it all with you. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
We started around the corner, and I saw Perry coming, just in time to grab Declan and pull him out of the way with one hand while securing his coffee with the other. I swear the man was a walking, talking wrecking ball.
Perry ducked his head and moved quickly around us, but I heard him mutter, “Sorry,” as he went by.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Declan called after him before looking at me. “Was he mad?”
“No, Perry’s really, really shy. Bigfoot are prone to be that way.”
Declan gaped at me for a second before eyeing me suspiciously. “Okay, now you’re messing with me.”
“Nope. Perry’s a bigfoot shifter.”
“Hold on. Bigfoots—or is it Bigfeet? No, that doesn’t sound right at all. I’m just going to say bigfoots. So bigfoots are real and they’re shifters?”
“Sure. Why do you think no one can ever find one when they go looking? If someone gets too close, they shift into their person form and slip away. They’re notoriously shy, though.”
We stopped in front of Winston’s office. It looked like there was a light on inside, so I wasn’t at all surprised to find the door unlocked. I opened the door, taking a step back to let Declan go inside.
“Can I help you?” Janis asked when she saw Declan, but then she saw me behind him. “Oh, Gideon. Hello.”
“Hello, Janis. I wasn’t sure if you’d be here today or not.”
She shrugged. “Someone has to keep the business going. Mr. Wilcox was a very important man, you know.”
I thought about what Declan had said earlier about him being the good cop and tried really hard to look sympathetic.
Which of course meant I didn’t respond with, well, he sure thought he was, like I wanted to, because if Jim was right and he and Janis were more than boss and employee, that would just be mean.
“Janis, my name is Declan Hawthorne. I’m Elwood Hawthorne’s grandson. He has the shop across the street.” He paused and waited for her to nod. “Anyway, I was wondering what will happen with the old Nook now that Winston is gone.”
Her eyes lit up. “Why do you ask? Are you interested in buying it? I never understood Winston’s fascination with the place, to be honest, so I’d be interested in selling.”
“Oh, will you be taking over for Winston?” I asked.
“I assume so. Winston didn’t have any family, and I was… well, we were close, so I assume all of this”—she motioned around her like there was a lot to see, although it really was just a couple of desks and a filing cabinet—“will all fall to me to manage.”
So Janis assumed she inherited everything. Good to know. Now we were getting somewhere.
“I don’t really know what I’m going to do,” Declan continued, “but if I stay in town, a shop next to my grandfather would be ideal. I’ve heard there were other people who wanted the shop, though.
I don’t want to get into a bidding war, so could you maybe give me a heads-up on who my competition might be? ”
“There were some people who really wanted the place, that’s for sure.
There was some silly rumor about treasure in the walls, but that’s just an old legend.
Winston ran a metal detector around all the walls just to be sure, and he didn’t find a thing.
But you know how people are. They love a good story.
So I wouldn’t sit on it if you’re interested. ”
“Did Winston have a will?” Declan looked at her, all wide-eyed and innocent. “I only ask because how it was written might affect how we’d need to proceed.”
I’d thought the people in town would be more likely to talk to me because they perceived me as their alpha, even if that could never be the case, but it looked like I’d underestimated Declan. He was really good at this.
“I’ve put in a call to Mr. Wilcox’s attorney to find out, but rest assured, once everything is dealt with, you’ll be in good hands with me.”
“Thank you, Janis, I appreciate that, but still—about those other bidders?”
She waved a hand at him. “Don’t you worry about that at all.
That was just Mason Meyers. He wanted to move his hair salon downtown.
He thought he was going to swoop in and grab it for a steal because of the shape of the place.
Of course, now with it being mid-remodel, I’m sure he won’t be interested. ”
“Who was Winston’s attorney?” I asked.
Her eyes flicked to me like she’d forgotten I was even there.
“Oh, that would be Roxane Forester.” She scrunched up her nose like she smelled something horrible.
“I tried to get him to switch to a different attorney. I didn’t really trust her, but he said lawyers are all the same and you can’t trust any of them, so he didn’t see any reason to switch. ”
“I thought he and Roxane were in a relationship at one point. Maybe that’s why he trusted her.” I watched her carefully, waiting for a reaction, and sure enough, I got one.
She clenched her teeth and hissed before she caught herself. Typical. Cat shifters were so predictable. She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “That’s exactly the reason he shouldn’t have trusted her.”
“Well, when you hear from Roxane, let us know.” Declan gave her a big smile and then grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the door.
I still had questions for her, but for some reason, Declan wanted to leave. I wasn’t going to fight him on it. I could always come back later since it was obvious she wasn’t planning to go anywhere.
Declan walked over to a trash can and threw away his empty coffee cup, then turned to look at me. “We need to add her to the list for sure.”