Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
With bated breath, I stepped inside. The glowing thread zigzagged around the reception area, spiraled – and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. The magic had run out.
I was spinning around, in the forlorn hope to glimpse any sort of residue, when the receptionist spotted me. “One moment, ma’am, I’ll call Ms. Darling’s room for you.”
“Thank you.” Cosmo and I stepped up to the desk while the receptionist did her job. In less than a minute, she was off the phone again and ushered a bellhop to take us up.
“There’s no need for that,” I told the man. “We’ve been here before.”
“It’s no problem, ma’am.” He pressed the elevator button. The door opened with a soft whoosh.
On the floor I noticed a silvery white needle from a plant. Cosmo’s nose twitched and again, he sneezed.
I stepped on the needle. More rosemary. With any luck it would stick to the sole of my shoe, so Adriana could examine it.
Genie’s door was already open. She ushered us in while the bellhop took the elevator down again.
“We didn’t expect you this early,” she said.
“I think it’s swell to have company.” Adriana did a few Charleston steps behind my back. “We could all go out for a night on the town, when we’re done here.”
“Maybe,” I said.
Cosmo glared at me.
“It’s a great idea,” I hastened to add. In my eagerness to complete my own mission I’d forgotten how lonely it must be, if there’s only one person in the world who can see you. The least thing I could do for Adriana was to make her afterlife a bit more social.
“What have you found out? Have you been to the auction house yet?” Genie asked.
“No. Is it open again?” I took out my phone and checked my messages. Sure enough, there was a text from Shawn. “It only says that the reopening will happen tonight. Did he give you a fixed time?”
“No, but I thought you’ll want to be first in line, to use your witchy powers while there’s hopefully nobody else from the opposition around.” She grinned.
“Maybe we don’t have to go there at all.” I sat down, lifted my foot and picked the needle off my sole.
Adriana sniffed. “What is it with this rosemary? First around the auction house and now here?”
“I found the needle in the elevator.” I placed it on a fresh Kleenex and put it on the table, as far as possible from Cosmo’s sensitive nose.
“Didn’t you smell it earlier?”
“No,” Genie and I said in the same breath.
Adriana shook her head at our useless senses.
“It’s not part of an incense stick, that much I can tell,” Genie said.
“But it was used in the auction house,” Adriana said.
“In the auction house or by someone in the building?” I smiled. Finally, the big pieces of the puzzle were falling together.
“What do you mean?”
I’d left the voodoo doll in my B&B, but even without seeing it, Genie and Adriana were suitably impressed when I explained how I’d cast a spell that led to the Fontainebleau.
“That shows that Shawn was here,” Genie mused.
“Or someone else.”
“Oh, definitely someone else,” Cosmo said.
We all looked at him.
“Bex, repeat everything that happened along the way. No, let’s act it out.”
He trotted across the room, his head stretched out, as if he was following the trail again, and I added a running commentary.
“We reached the town hall,” I said.
Cosmo stopped, zigzagged, and circled.
“That’s where the two women who were viewing the same lots as we did, crossed our path. And Cosmo sneezed.” I waited to see if Genie or Adriana caught on.
The ghost did. “That’s a screwy way to move around someone.”
“It is. The trail of the glow went right around them, and it had circled the rosemary earlier. That’s when I realized that Shawn had nothing to do with the burglary. These women did, or at least one of them. Have you noticed in what great shape you are?” I asked the ghost.
“Why, thank you, but I’ve always been widely considered to be the bee’s knees.” She took a deep bow.
“That’s not what Bex meant. I get it. You should have been exhausted whenever we came back. Instead, you got an extra boost of sparkle. The stolen items are here in the hotel.” Genie sashayed around the room.
“Then let’s go and get them,” Adriana demanded.
“Not so fast. First, do you both agree with our explanation?” I asked.
“Absolutely we do,” the ghost said.
“Then you’ll also agree that our next step is to figure out where the two women are staying and to find a way to sneak into the rooms and search,” I said.
They agreed.
I grimaced. “That’s where we hit a snag. I don’t think I can use witchcraft to get inside. Most likely there will be a spell in place, to keep me out, and even if there isn’t, I’m not sure I can break in and at the same time stop people from catching me in the act.”
“Is that all?” Adriana shrugged her shoulders.
“I think it’s kind of important for me, not to end up being arrested,” I said.
She wiggled her fingers. “No need to worry. Just leave it all to me.”
“You?”
“You’re not the only one who can do things. Ask Genie.”
Her great-great-niece chewed her lip. “You’ve never dealt with a witch before.”
“Applesauce. She’s never dealt with me before. You can stay outside the room, if you want to.”
Without further explanation, we sprang into action, or rather the others did. I saw Genie open her door. Cosmo slipped out behind her. I waited until I’d left the room too before I closed my eyes, to see the ghost with my witchy senses.
“Nothing,” she called out, as she passed one door after another. “We’ll have to go up.”
As we rode the elevator, Adriana crinkled her nose. “It’s getting stronger from up here.” She indicated a height from the top of my head to around my knees.
I had no clue what she meant.
“Fabric softener? No, that doesn’t smell remotely like incense.” Genie gave up as well.
We exited single-file, with me bringing up the rear again. Cosmo and I hid behind the door to the stairwell. I propped it open with my foot, so I had a chance to peer out and interfere, in case of an emergency.
I gasped at what happened next. Genie covered her great-great-aunt, and Adriana stretched out an arm. It disappeared through the door, followed by the rest of her.
“She’s not walking through walls, she’s gliding through them.” Cosmo sounded as awestruck as I felt. “I’ve never observed anything like it.”
We stood transfixed, until finally, after what felt like an eternity, a slender leg reappeared, and then the rest of Adriana came into view again. “Nothing yet,” she said and, without another word, she vanished into the next room.
I bit my knuckles.
Cosmo stood stock still.
My nerves were on edge when Genie lifted her hand in an ok sign, before signaling us to go down.
I staggered down the staircase, and Cosmo also took it slowly. Worrying about others took a lot more out of both of us than I’d anticipated.
We waited outside Genie's door less than two minutes. Yet it felt long enough for me to fret until she and the ghost caught up with us.
“You must be tired,” Adriana said in a concerned tone as we entered their room. “I forget that you belong to the older generation.”
“Ignore that remark,” Genie told me before I could sputter an indignant response. “She’s the only one here who’ll be 21 for eternity, and she’s just had a huge boost.”
“Did I ever!” Adriana floated a couple of inches off the ground and twirled in the air.
“What did you find? And who occupies that room?” I asked.
“The one with the silk turban. Fay something or other.”
I thought back to the conversation I’d overheard. “Fay Morgan. She’s one of the two who staked every cent they have on Shawn’s emporium.”
“That explains the rosemary,” Genie said.
“It does?”
“You may know everything about how to protect wooden furniture from infestations. I happen to be in charge of Adriana’s wardrobe.” She caught my confused expression. “Rosemary is a natural moth repellent that’s suitable for delicate fabrics.”
“Like silk,” I said.
“Exactly. Can I now continue?” Adriana interrupted her great-great-niece.
“We’re all ears,” Cosmo assured her.
“You’d better be because this will knock your socks off. She’s hiding the loot in her suitcases. Not very imaginative.”
“It doesn’t have to be, only safe from the maid when she comes to clean. Did you see what’s inside?” It might be a play of the light, but for an instant I thought that Genie tensed at my question.
“Not my necklace but the cutest headband. I wore it for a Christmas party, with a turquoise feather. It’s inside the ebony box, like I told you all along.”
“Were you able to open it?” Genie marveled.
“It wasn’t a big deal, only a loose metal clasp.”
“And the rest?” I asked. My mouth went dry.
“I couldn’t open the music cabinet. Even I have physical limits.”
“We’re no wiser then.” I sighed.
“Did I say that?” Obviously, Adriana’s flair for the dramatic easily matched Cosmo’s.
She let her words dangle until she decided to end her dramatic pause.
“I used my hand to have a quick rummage inside. My friend had the same model. It comes with a side compartment for records. There are still some inside.” Again, she paused.
“And?” Genie asked.
“Someone’s added an extra panel and behind that I felt it.
” Adriana shivered. “It gave me the heebie-jeebies, just touching it. It’s this big --” she indicated a coffee table book.
“It’s all bound in old leather, from the feel of it, with embossed pentagrams, and it’s got wide metal bands all around it and a lock. ”
“A grimoire,” Cosmo said. “Was it opened?”
“No. And I couldn’t find the key. I took care to search for it.”
“What do we do next?” Genie asked.
“We steal the things back,” Adriana suggested.
I shook my head. “No. We’ve got to be careful, and smart.”
“Right, so your good witch reputation stays intact.” The ghost chuckled.
“Do you remember the lock?” I asked her.
“I’ve got an excellent memory.”
“Good. Describe it.”
Genie grinned. “We can do something better. If Adriana shares the details with me, I’ll draw it for you.”