Vlad barked out one of those “as if” laughs.
“Hey, stop with your brooding and moping, and help us, would you?” Will yelled, giving him a thump with the rolled-up magazine.
Another eye roll by Vlad. Wouldn’t kids ever come up with something new?
“Try opening up a portal and then drawing something to it. That’s what your perp is doing,” Vlad said, glaring at us as though it were dead obvious.
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
He sniffed. “No one asked me.”
I groaned. “Vlad! Okay, okay, tell me this. If our guy is opening a portal and calling something to it, why is he doing it again?”
“He could be calling something that is only out for a limited time.”
“Like the holiday china you get from Burger King?” Will asked.
Vlad scrunched up his nose. “Kind of like that. Or, it’s not working.”
“I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t it work if he’s got the incantation and the girl?”
Vlad launched himself off the couch and into the kitchen, knocking over a series of long-expired condiments before finding himself a blood bag. He pierced it, took a swig and glanced up at it. “Because he just hasn’t found the right girl.”
Will and I exchanged a look as heat walked up my spine, vertebra by vertebra. “This is going to keep going unless we stop it.”
I flopped down onto the couch, feeling incredibly defeated. “We can’t ask Lorraine who or what this witch is trying to summon. She said some of the incantation was wrong on the original—” I swallowed, my throat dry. I didn’t want to say “body,” but that was the image that sparked in my mind’s eye. “It was wrong in the original case.” I paused, considering. “Hey, Vlad, what do you know about a store called Simply Charming?”
Vlad closed his laptop and shot me a narrowed glare. “I know that you can’t get me near that place with a ten-foot pole.”
“Why’s that?” Will wanted to know.
“Because that’s the kind of place where Kale shops and I do not need another wallop to the head anytime soon.”
“Bitches be crazy, right, cuz?” Will said in a spot-on American accent as he gave Vlad a fist bump.
“It’s like I’m in the Twilight Zone,” I muttered.
Simply Charming didn’t stand out on the retail block where it sat, but once we were inside, it was a world unto itself. Will pressed a hand over his nose and leaned down toward me. “Why do all these places smell like crappy incense?”
“Blessed be!” A doughy woman with bottle-red hair came floating toward us in a sea of gypsy style silks. I knew she was one of the knock-off witches that drove Lorraine crazy and I gave a short smile, knowing that Lorraine would innocently turn her into a barnacle if UDA law would allow. “I’m Meadow. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yes, actually, uh, Meadow,” I said, taking the lead. “We’re investigating a case with the SFPD. One of our victims had a book of protection spells in her possession that we believe is from this store.”
The woman clasped her hands in front of her chest and nodded, her cornflower-blue eyes wide but only semi-focused. “We do have a book of protection spells that we keep in stock.”
“Our victim was a fifteen-year-old girl.”
“Oh, no.” Meadow’s hands went to her throat. “That’s awful.”
“Do you get a lot of teen girls in your store?” Will asked.
Meadow pumped her head. “Yes. Mostly for love spells, sometimes protection spells.”
“Do you think you could recognize some of your teen customers?”
Meadow blinked. “I’m sure I can try.”
I held up Cathy Ledwith’s photo and the color immediately drained from Meadow’s cheeks. “That’s Cathy Ledwith.”
“You know her? Was she a regular here?”
Meadow shook her head, her long hair bubbling around her. “Oh, no. I’d never met her, but we did prayer circles after she went missing. Such a tragedy.”
“So you don’t remember her ever coming into this store and purchasing that book?” I pointed to the spell book on Meadow’s shelf.
“No, I’m sorry, I don’t.”
“What about this girl?” Will held up a photo of Alyssa.
“I don’t recognize her. I’m sorry.”
Will opened the manila file folder he was holding and went to slide Alyssa’s photo in. Meadow grabbed his hand, stopping him. “I know her, though. That’s Fallon Monroe. She comes in here from time to time.”
Heat zinged up my neck. “You know Fallon?”
“I do. Nice girl. Came in with her father the last time. Or maybe it was her grandfather.” Meadow looked up as though the answer were floating in the ether. “I think she called him her buddy.” She smiled. “Very sweet.”
I shifted my weight and steadied myself. “What did Fallon buy?”