CHAPTER TWO #3
I squared my shoulders. “Do you have suspects of who would have taken the grimoire?”
“Yes. There’s only one person who had access to the entire magickal library.
My executive assistant. He has been in my employ for over ten years,” Montgomery explained.
“He was also a member of our order, and he was the only other person who knew how to unlock the wards and shields that protect my collection.”
I frowned at the news. “So, the book was under magickal protection, then?”
“Yes,” he said. “And I feel like a fool. I trusted him implicitly. We were friends, and I would have never expected him to steal from me.”
“Well, I hate to state the obvious, but have you confronted him about it?”
“I tried,” he said. “But he’s been absent for the past few days.”
“Since the theft of the book?” I asked.
“Correct,” he said. “Yesterday afternoon I went to his home in Highland Park where I found his front door ajar, the inside of his home ransacked...and his roommate murdered.”
“What?” I asked, incredulously.
He blew out a long breath. “And then I spent most of my evening talking to the police and confirming my whereabouts for the time of…the roommate’s estimated time of death. Fortunately for me, I have a solid alibi. I’d been lecturing downtown at the commercial realtor’s convention.”
So that’s what he meant when he said it was complicated. “Do you think his roommate was killed over the stolen book?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
A flicker of emotion crossed Montgomery’s face. “It’s possible,” he said. “The roommate’s death was an ugly one.”
“Did the cops pick up your assistant for questioning?” I asked. “I imagine they’d want to speak to him.”
“No, both he and the third roommate, his girlfriend, are missing. Which is why I am bringing this to your attention. It is my understanding that you know—and are friendly—with the couple.”
I frowned. “I don’t think so,” I said. “I rarely hang out socially with members of your lodge, Montgomery.”
He sent me an annoyed look. “My executive assistant is Sawyer Weston.”
“Sawyer?” I recognized that name and my stomach dropped in dread. “Does he have dark curly hair, is tall, in his early thirties and wear glasses?”
“Correct,” Montgomery said. “It was my understanding that Sawyer shared a house with his best friend, Tadd, and also a girlfriend, a Witch named Shelby Murphy.”
“Oh my goddess,” I whispered.
“Shelby Murphy assists you with keeping notes on the Witch community meetings, does she not?”
“She does,” I said. “But Shelby wasn’t at the New Moon Book Club meeting last night. Are the police looking for her too?”
“They are now,” he confirmed.
“Do you think Sawyer and Shelby took off with the grimoire?” I asked him. “Or are you worried that they were also killed? What did the police say?”
“The police are investigating Tadd’s death as a homicide. They do not know about the missing book from my collection. I merely said that after Sawyer hadn’t come into work and as I hadn’t heard from him for the past three days, I dropped by his home to check on him. Which was true.”
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose. “Which means the police are probably thinking Sawyer and Shelby had something to do with their roommate’s death, or that they are also victims.”
“Yes, but more importantly, we have a dangerous Fae grimoire that is unaccounted for. If it ends up in the wrong hands, the consequences would be dire.”
I flinched at his words. “The level of compassion you have for Sawyer and Shelby’s safety and their poor roommate’s death is overwhelming,” I said dryly.
He scowled at me.
“You said Sawyer was your friend, and that you had trusted him,” I whispered angrily. “Did you even bother to consider what could have happened to have made him take the book? Could he have been coerced or compelled into it?”
The man across the table from me flushed slightly at my questions.
“You never even contemplated that possibility, did you?” I said, knowing that I was right.
“No, I did not,” Montgomery admitted. “At first, I thought there was a mistake, that the book had been misplaced, but after a few days of searching I realized that it had been taken. That’s when I became angry. Angry at the thought of a long-time friend betraying and stealing from me.”
“I hate to ask,” I said, “but when you were at the rental house were there any signs that the attack on the roommate had been magickal?”
“Not that I saw,” he said. “The door was hanging open and so I walked in. I smelled the blood right away and found Tadd’s body off the main room in the hallway.
It was obvious that he was deceased and so I called 911 and backed out carefully, trying not to touch anything. Then I waited for the police.”
My stomach churned at the thought of it. “You also said the house was trashed,” I pointed out. “Like whoever took out Tadd had been looking for something?”
“I believe that was one of the theories the police floated yesterday.”
For a moment we both sat there silently, each lost in our own thoughts.
The waiter came back and asked us if we’d like to order.
I politely refused.