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“Desmon wants to keep this under wraps. That’s why I didn’t give any more information than I did. It doesn’t look good if people know one of his treasures has gone missing.”
Made sense, actually. If someone could steal one piece of his treasure, then why not more? It would prove that there was a weakness in his security. I still couldn’t believe my dumbass brother had been the one to break through it. Granted, he did have magical help.
Mateo continued to the passenger side and opened the door for me, which was sweet. I’d never had anyone do that for me before.
“Thanks.”
My phone started ringing just as he was helping me into the car. At first, I thought it was the local cat rescue. They’d sent me a message earlier this morning, asking if I could do an emergency groom on a few cats rescued from a hoarding situation. I’d said that I’d love to but explained that I’d need a few hours to get my table and equipment set up at a temporary location.
The plan was to head over to my place after visiting the marina to grab my grooming table and supplies. I would have to make do with the kitchen sink for washing the poor kitties, but that was better than nothing.
But it wasn’t Toe Beans Furry Rescue’s number, but my neighbor Charlene’s. Curious, I picked it up.
“Eva! Thank god you’re okay.” There was a huge note of alarm in her voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“You need to get back home right now. Your house is on fire.”
It took a moment for me to actually process her words. “What?”
“Yeah. I was so scared you were inside. I’ve already called the fire department. You need to come home right now.”
Shit. When it rains, it pours. My gut told me this was related to the decoy locket. The wizard was probably pissed when he realized it was a fake and decided to search my home for the real one. A fire was just the thing to hide the fact he’d been there. Or maybe this was a warning? Cooperate, or else?
“Thanks, Charlene. I’ll go right now.”
I hung up and stared out at the snow as it hit me. All my things! And my parents’ things! I hadn’t had the heart to throw most of their stuff away, but seeing their belongings every day had been difficult, so I’d packed everything up and shoved it all into the basement. It was a mess down there.
Even if they were spared the fire, I doubted they would survive the water needed to put out the flames.
And what if I’d been at home, instead of with Mateo?
He was just getting into the driver’s seat. I told him everything, the words tumbling out rapid-fire in half-formed sentences. Then we were both silent as we sped toward my home.
By the time we got there, they’d already put out the flames. Aside from the telltale smell of smoke, which was strong and acrid and burned my lungs, there was something else lingering in the air. I wrinkled my nose. It smelled like rotten eggs.
“Sulfur. There’s magic at work here.” Mateo stepped out of the vehicle. “Bad magic.”
It was a tin of photos at the edge of my yard, lid off, with the contents missing, that had my heart climbing up into my throat. I looked around and found an old photo, waterlogged with its edges singed. I could barely make out the image of my parents, Tony, and I at the beach. I found another, ruined beyond recognition.
All the photos from my childhood were destroyed and littering my front yard. All the birthday parties. All the cross-country road trips to visit Nana. That time the zookeeper let me pet a wombat because it was feeding time. Did you know wombats were solid AF? They were freaking tanks. It had been like petting a fur-covered living rock.
There had been pictures of the old house, the one I’d grown up in, before my parents had to downsize because of Tony’s bullshit. And of Archie, our crazy orange cat that had given me my love for furry felines.
I’d been meaning to get all the photos digitized but had never gotten around to it. All those memories…gone. I wasn’t naive enough to think that all the little details would stay in my head forever without the photos to trigger them. All those happy memories would disappear forever.
Tears filled my eyes, and Mateo came to put an arm around me.
A cop with a mean scowl saw us. “You can’t go in there,” he said gesturing to my yard. “This is a crime scene.”
Yeah, crime was right. “It’s my house.”
His eyes immediately narrowed on me. “Oh, is it, now? Looks like we’ve found our first suspect.”
Mateo put his body in front of mine protectively. “What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded. “Can’t you see how upset she is?”
“Yeah, yeah. Right. She’s putting on an Oscar-winning performance, but I know arson when I see it. They are still investigating, but if you ask me, Missy here is a prime suspect.”
