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Well, I couldn’t tell him that, because it wouldn’t have been the truth. Or rather, I didn’t think anyone deserved such a brutal fate, and I was genuinely sorry that Lilith’s last moments on this earth had been ones of pain. But I certainly wasn’t going to lie and say I was heartbroken over the whole thing.
“No,” I said, and I could have sworn the glance Archie slanted at me then was almost approving, as if he’d expected me to make some sort of halfhearted politically correct protest and was pleasantly surprised that I’d admitted I didn’t really care one way or the other. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to find out what happened to her. I mean, I did this whole Instagram thing to attract tourists to Globe, and the only thing that happened was we ended up with another murder here. Like that’s going to be any kind of enticement to visit.”
Archie jumped up onto the armchair and settled himself in the exact center of the cushion. Golden eyes fixed on me, he remarked, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Humans seem to be attracted to be scenes of violence. Some kind of perverse curiosity, I suppose.”
I opened my mouth to contradict him and then realized he was partially right. There had been tours of famous crime scenes back in L.A., after all. And I knew people scooped up books on serial killers by the millions. Also, when you got right down to it, many ghost tours also happened to be tours of crime scenes, just because a lot of spirits lingered in the places where they’d met a violent end.
After a pause, I said, “Maybe, but I don’t think that’s what Josie had in mind when she encouraged me to get on social media and make Globe a happening place.”
“Probably not.”
I closed the Instagram app and set the phone down on the coffee table next to my laptop. Looking at it reminded me of why I’d gotten out my computer in the first place. Should I mention to Archie that I’d started seeing Calvin Standingbear again, just to warn him that I might be having an overnight guest in the near future?
Maybe that would have been wise, but Archie was being remarkably mellow — for him — and I didn’t feel like rocking the boat. Besides, I’d already gotten myself set on the idea of cooking for Calvin at his house. I might have been using his gorgeous kitchen as an easy excuse, but I knew a big part of it was that I also didn’t want to deal with the concept of having sex while a cat that used to be a man was sleeping just down the hall.
Of course, I was probably jumping the gun. Our kisses told me Calvin and I had some serious chemistry, but it would probably be a good idea to have at least a couple of proper dates before we took that kind of step.
I just hoped I could hold out that long. Every time our eyes met, it felt like someone throwing a lit match on gasoline-soaked rags.
My phone gave a single clear chime just then, telling me I had a new text message. I grabbed for it and checked the home screen.
Calvin.
Still working,the text said.It’s going to be a late one. We found an email dated a few days ago from Lilith’s accountant, wanting to go over some discrepancies in her business account, but she never replied. It came in right before the ritual, so maybe she read it and thought she’d answer the next day when she had more time.
A day that had never come for her. I couldn’t help experiencing a twinge of sadness at that thought, just because I knew it was such a common thing for us mortals — we put things off, always thinking we had more time.
However, I pushed the melancholy away and reread the message. Discrepancies in her business account? That could have meant almost anything. But maybe the accountant had wanted to phrase the email in a neutral way, since he — or she — didn’t have all the facts yet.
Who would have access to Lilith’s accounts?
Doug Snyder, probably. He was her business manager, after all, and there was definitely something about the guy that rubbed me the wrong way. However, I had to admit that an instinctual dislike of a person didn’t necessarily equate to actual guilt, even though my gut feelings about people tended to be fairly accurate.
And Tansy? That was harder to say. She was Lilith’s assistant, but had Lilith trusted her enough to give her access to her bank accounts?
I had no idea…and because Calvin had pretty much told me to stay out of it for now while he worked, I couldn’t exactly pick up my phone and shoot Tansy a DM at the Instagram account she’d mentioned in her teary video.
That sort of restriction would have put a lot of people back to square one. However, I had resources that most people didn’t.
Archie appeared to have slipped off into one of his innumerable naps while I was reading Calvin’s text. I got up from the sofa and tiptoed into the office, then shut the door behind me. It wasn’t so much that I cared whether the cat knew what I was up to, and more that I simply didn’t want to be interrupted.
A brief glance at the box that held my two favorite sets of Tarot cards, and then I shook my head. Maybe the cards would be able to provide a few useful clues, but I had something far more important in mind.
I took hold of my office chair and rolled it across the room to plant it in front of the table that held my altar. After sitting down, I placed my hands on the crystal ball and said, “Grandma Ellen, I need to speak with you.”
No response. Well, sometimes she was busy, off doing whatever it was that filled her endless afterlife days. Part of the reason why I’d gotten the chair was that I planned to keep my rear end planted in the seat until I got a response.
“Grandma Ellen, this is urgent.”
A faint mist swirled inside the crystal ball. It felt almost icy to the touch, although I had to admit that could simply have been because it had been sitting in the direct flow from the air conditioning vent above the table before I moved the crystal ball closer to me.
The mist grew more solid, resolved itself into the form of my grandmother’s head. She didn’t always take shape in such a way, but when she did, I got the impression it was in fact because she’d been off occupied with something else when I called out to her.
Her blue eyes opened, gazing into mine. “What is it, Selena? Didn’t my advice work out for you last time?”
I blinked, then realized she was talking about me finding the answers to my questions if I went to the location where Lilith Black had been murdered. “No, it worked out fine. I learned the truth about Calvin, and we worked things out.”
My grandmother smiled. “Good. He seems like a nice boy. So handsome!”
