“Are you warm enough?” he asked.
“Surprisingly, yes.”
“Good.” His voice held a smile. “I added thermal scales to the costume to insulate it.”
“Thermal scales?”
“Just a little magic, but the point is, it shouldn’t let any of the cold in.”
“Thank you.” His thoughtfulness was more addictive than his smile.
He put his hands in his pockets. “I haven’t been to the Northanger party in a while.”
“Me either,” I admitted. “I don’t care for haunted houses.”
“Are you scared? If so, you can hold on to me.” He moved a step closer and offered his hand.
“I’m fine.” Even though it was impossible to see Riley’s expression through Jack’s huge stitched grin, the amusement in his voice had me resist the urge to reach for him. “I just don’t like creepy things, and Northanger Abbey is super creepy.”
“That’s what makes it fun,” he said. “Although it is weird that they call it an abbey when it’s just an old Victorian house.”
“That’s because the old abbey was destroyed in a fight between fae a century ago. When they rebuilt it, they turned it into a house but kept the name.”
“And you know that because...?”
“You would know things like that too if you had Mary for a sister,” I told him. “Anyway, let’s just focus on what we need to do. I didn’t have much luck gathering info today, but Elaine told me that Caleb came over straight after his shift that night.”
“I had a bit more luck than you.” He turned down another street. “It sounds like he and Graham were roommates before, but I guess they pulled some sort of prank and it ended up costing Caleb his scholarship at AHCC.”
I whistled. “That sucks.”
“But does it suck enough to kill someone?”
“I suppose that’s what we have to find out,” I said.
Riley pulled out a small notebook and read his notes. “I also looked into his job at the apothecary shop youmentioned. It sounds like he worked until 5:30 that day, and then I guess he went straight to Elaine’s house?”
“I guess.” I wrinkled my nose. “But maybe Caleb lied to her about when he got off, because I’m pretty sure Elaine’s sister said he showed up at 7:00 that night.”
“So at least an hour of his time is unaccounted for.” Riley rubbed his chin.
“That would have given him time to get to Graham’s house and poison something.”
“Yeah, we need to look into him more, but let’s focus on finding Eve at the party tonight. I was thinking we could divide and conquer, try to weed out as many suspects as possible and make sure we don’t miss anything.”
A twinge of disappointment went through me. “Oh, okay.”
We turned onto the street that led to Northanger Abbey and joined the throng of people heading the same way. As usual, it looked like the party was going to be a big hit.
The front gate stood open, creaking softly in the windless night as if granting visitors permission to enter. The house loomed in front of us, its stone walls cloaked increeping ivy. Two imposing columns stood guard by the front door. From the outside, the house reminded me of my grandmother with its sagging lines and stern facade. Shingles had fallen from the roof, leaving a few bald spots, and the front door gaped open like Gran without her dentures.
When I thought about it that way, it wasn’t too scary.
A jack-o’-lantern floated by, spinning around to leer at me as it glided across the yard while a few skeletons danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” I wasn’t sure who enchanted the bones each year, but it would require an impressive amount of detail to make a spell like that work.
“Ready?” Riley said.
“Yeah.”
