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Incredibly, in spite of everything that had gone terribly wrong, Jade found herself headed into the kitchen feeling just the tiniest bit excited and optimistic.
When she got there, she was amazed and grateful to find that the agency had arranged for the kitchen to be stocked to the gills. There were ingredients for everything she could think of, along with plenty of foods she had never seen before in her life.
In the icebox, there was even a large sphere of what looked like real butter and several jars of preserved fruit.
“Do dragons eat bread?” she called to Rafe.
“Love it,” he called back to her.
“I’m going to make drop biscuits,” she decided. “That will be quick and tasty, good brain food.”
She started a pot of coffee first, then hummed as she gathered her biscuit ingredients. Before long, the whole house smelled like baking dough. With a roaring fire crackling in the grate, it was actually quite cozy.
While she was taking the tray out of the oven, Rafe wandered over and sat at one of the stools that was pulled up to the counter. She poured him a mug of coffee and handed him a plate and knife before pouring her own coffee.
“Mm-mm,” he hummed appreciatively, opening a jar of jam.
By the time she headed back to the counter with her mug, he had transferred half of the biscuits from the cooling rack onto his plate, and was happily slathering them with butter and bright lava-berry jam.
She smiled and chose a biscuit for herself. It was hard to spread the butter without getting any on her gloves. But she was used to it at this point, and she definitely wasn’t about to take them off.
“I love how the butter melts on them,” Rafe said, gazing down at his plate in rapture.
“Yes,” she said, smiling indulgently. He wasn’t wrong. She only hoped they tasted half as good as they looked.
“We have several decent suspects,” Rafe said, taking a swig of coffee before continuing. “The most obvious would be Tag. He wants to expand his land holdings, but the judge was potentially going to put a stop to it.”
Jade nodded.
“Then there’s that lady with the big glasses,” he went on. “No idea what her deal is.”
“And the two rough-looking guys,” Jade put in. “And the old man.”
“Sure,” Rafe said dubiously. “We should question them all.”
“So, we start with Tag?” she asked, knowing the answer would be yes. “Since he’s our main suspect.”
“No,” Rafe said thoughtfully. “If it’s him, the others can maybe help us build the case beforehand.”
That made sense to Jade.
“Then it’s obvious who we talk to first,” she said.
“Who?” he asked, his brow furrowed.
“The schoolteacher,” she said, wondering how there could be any question.
“Why the schoolteacher?” he asked.
“First of all, did you see where the school was?” she asked, grabbing another biscuit. “It’s right at the center of town. She probably sees all the comings and goings.”
“True,” Rafe said thoughtfully.
“Also, she’s likely to know a bunch of these people,” Jade went on. “Teachers get to know kids, parents, grandparents, and the proprietors of any place that donates to the school, as well as the locales of any field trips. And…”
She wasn’t sure how to broach the real reason the teacher would be a good person to question.
“And?” Rafe asked.
