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“Do you know why?”
“Richard didn’t say why he was closing.” Aline glanced over his shoulder at the empty storage room. “He just packed up and disappeared. Later he left a note on my door asking me to keep an eye on the place until he could get it on the market.” She waved a hand toward a building on the opposite side of the courtyard. “I live over there.”
Valen ground his fangs together. He felt as if he was running into one roadblock after another, a sensation that was asunusual as it was annoying. He was a member of the Cabal. Nothing and no one put roadblocks in his way.
And worse, he possessed a growing suspicion that the miasma posed a direct danger to Peri. A knowledge that was intolerable.
With effort, he leashed the frustration pulsing through him. He didn’t want to frighten off Aline before he could get answers.
“Who is Richard?” he demanded.
“Richard Pascal,” Aline readily answered. “He owns this building. And he managed the auction house. Or at least he did.” She shook her head, her ponytail bobbing. “I still can’t believe he closed it. Masque Salon has been here since I was a little girl. It’s hard to imagine it would simply close and disappear overnight.”
Valen shared a quick glance with Peri. If the owner had disappeared, it had to have something to do with the miasma. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he would abruptly shut down an auction house that had been there forever at the exact same time that Peri’s mother had received the statue filled with the evil magic.
“I didn’t even talk to him. There was just the note on my door.”
“Do you know where we can find him?”
“He lived in the upstairs apartment,” Aline said. “I don’t know where he’s at now.”
“Do you have his phone number?”
“Only his business number.” She shrugged. “He hasn’t been answering.”
“Did he have any employees?” Valen pressed, refusing to accept defeat. “Anyone we can contact to find out where he might be?”
“No.” Aline abruptly yawned, as if the adrenaline that’d given her the courage to leave her home and confront potential thieves was crashing. “Look, I’m sorry. I really don’t know anything else.”
Valen could sense the truth in her words. They’d learned all they could from the woman. He stepped close enough to touch the tips of his fingers to her cheek.
“Aline, I want you to relax and listen to me.”
A dreamy expression softened her features, her lips parting in an unspoken invitation. “Okay.”
“It’s time to go home and crawl back into your bed,” he softly commanded. “This has all been a bad dream.”
Something that might have been disappointment flashed through her eyes. “I’m dreaming?”
Valen ignored the question. “When you wake in the morning you won’t remember seeing us.”
She yawned again. “I’m so tired.”
“Go.”
He gave her a mental push, and obediently the woman turned to cross the courtyard, her movements sluggish as if she was fighting to stay awake long enough to reach her bed.
Waiting until he was assured Aline was safely locked in her building, Valen turned to discover Peri staring into space with a wistful expression. She at last heaved a sigh.
“She’s so young.”
“Aline?” Valen was confused. “She’s your age.”
Peri shook her head. “She’s a lifetime younger in experience.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Didn’t you notice how she was staring at you?”
