Had someone gotten in somehow, set up the magic trick to scare her and moved things around in Cutter’s study?
She stood up uneasily. She heard the brass knocker at the door, and she jumped. She laughed nervously when she realized that Liam had arrived. She checked that it was him through the peephole and let him in.
He clutched her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You’re all right—really all right?” he asked her.
She smiled. “Yes, of course. Liam, I have an odd request.”
“Oh?”
“Is it possible to dust that magic box for fingerprints?”
He arched his brows. “Yes. Why? You don’t think that someone was in here, do you?”
“I don’t see how anyone could have been in here. The place was rekeyed. We’ve bolted all the windows, and the doors have been locked,” she said. “I don’t know, I guess it’s bizarre, but…”
He didn’t act as if she was getting paranoid or losing her grip on reality. She wasn’t sure that made her feel better.
“Avery is with you, right?” he asked.
She smiled. “Yes. He’s napping upstairs. I guess we should wake him, or he’ll never sleep tonight.”
“Maybe he wants to do the town tonight,” Liam suggested.
“Maybe,” she said with a shrug. “I was about to start reading the book. In Defense from Dark Magick. I thought it might give me an insight into Cutter’s state of mind.”
“It might.” He frowned. “By the way, where’s the shotgun he was holding? It was left by the fireplace when his body was taken.”
She frowned. “I believe someone must have moved it the other day, when we were cleaning. I don’t actually remember seeing it.”
“Hmm. I’m thinking we should find it. You read—I’ll start looking for it,” he said.
“Read? Doesn’t anyone ever think about eating around here?” Avery asked suddenly. They looked to the top of the stairs. He was standing there, grinning down at them. She felt a moment’s discomfort, seeing him there and remembering her mother’s fall.
“Come down here, now,” she said.
He frowned at her tone, but obliged.
“Of course we eat,” Liam assured him. “We’ll head out to Duval Street. There’s a nice little place that isn’t too touristy right off of Front Street.”
“Lovely,” Avery agreed.
Liam looked at Kelsey. “We’re meeting Jaden and Ted,” he told her.
“Oh, how nice,” she replied.
“Ten minutes? I’m going to hop in the shower,” he said.
“Very clean,” she teased.
He hesitated. “I’ve been back at the morgue,” he said.
“Oh, of course,” she said. “Oh, Liam, I feel horrible. What did you find out?”
“Gary White was murdered. Someone pricked him in the heart, and he bled out internally.”
Kelsey gasped. “How horrible!”
“When?” Avery asked.
Liam shook his head. “Days ago, maybe a week. Valaski can’t really tell. The body was too compromised.”
“But…shouldn’t bugs tell him…or…larvae or…”
“No. He was probably underwater at first. But he was murdered, and he was murdered here, on this property.”
“Kelsey, you’ve got to leave now. Come back to California!” Avery insisted.
She felt numb, uncertain. There were so many possibilities. She’d been scared. Very scared. But Avery was here now, and when Liam was working, she wouldn’t be alone.
It was possible that this man’s death had to do with drugs or a heist gone wrong; he had broken into her house. He had lived in a world where bad things happened.
Or…
There was also the possibility that someone was trying to scare her out of her grandfather’s house. That someone might have done something to hurt Cutter.
She didn’t want to be scared away.
“Avery, you’re here now, and Liam is here every night,” she said.
“Oh,” Avery said, looking at the two of them.
She looked at Liam. “I don’t want to be scared out of here. I want to know what happened. I want to have answers. I need to be here—I haven’t begun working on his collection. Let’s go to dinner. Is there a reason we’re meeting Jaden and Ted?” she asked.
“Yes,” Liam said. “Jaden thinks she’s found out something about the little gold reliquary box that Cutter was holding when he died.”
One of the nicest things about the people in Key West was that they were quickly accepting of friends of friends.
Ted and Jaden greeted Kelsey as if she’d never gone away, and greeted Avery warmly, even though they had only met him that day.
Once they were all seated, before they ordered drinks, Liam asked, “All right, come on. Give. What have you discovered?”
Jaden reached into her bag for a book. For a moment, Liam thought that she was going to produce the book that was missing from the library, but she did not. She brought out a large hardcover book on reliquaries of the fourteen hundreds.
“Wow. It’s that old?” Kelsey asked.
“Yes and no,” Jaden said.