We were no closer to finding Larry’s killer than we’d been the day he’d turned up on my porch. I didn’t want to make him think we weren’t taking this seriously.
The truth was, we’d been doing spells and the police department was doing everything it could as well. Sam and Drew had even snuck one of the coins to us to spell. Nothing Owen or I had tried gave any results. Whoever was using these coins was covering their tracks too well with their own spell work.
It was going to take some old-fashioned sleuthing to get to the bottom of this mystery.
And in the meantime, I had to figure out how to get Lucifer to go back to Hell without taking all of us with him. Some of the books I’d ordered for Clint had descriptions that had made me hopeful that they’d have something helpful inside. We’d find out when they arrived.
Olivia had scoured the online book world for occult books, but apparently, witches hadn’t gone electronic yet. There was a stunning shortage of authentic occult eBooks.
As I opened another trunk, I considered the possibility of turning some of my family’s grimoires and books electronic. But I’d have to figure out a way to make them seem like fiction to the humans.
Could I put a spell on the internet?
This was the sort of thing I’d like to discuss with a coven, but they had to be total assholes. I supposed I could call Cynthia. We hadn’t yet had our talk about Mariam’s accident. And now Lorelai’s.
“Here’s something,” Larry said. “This box has books.”
I hurried over to the corner to peer down into the crate Larry had just opened. “This is it,” I said excitedly. “Thank you.”
Turning, I carried it to the small table against the wall to go through it. If I sat one more minute on the hard attic floor, my back would revolt against me. It was already trying to.
I stepped over Snoozle, who was sniffing around the floor. “There’s nothing there, Snoozer.”
He chuffed at me, looking up with his little tongue barely sticking out.
“You’ve got a blep,” I told him. “In case you didn’t know.”
The old meanie shot me a glare, then delicately licked his front paw, as if he’d meant to have his tongue sticking out the whole time.
I shook my head and went back to inspecting the contents of the box. As I pulled out the first book, carefully opening it, Snoozer walked toward the back of the attic.
Olivia sat in the other chair and grabbed a book, too.
When Alfred and Larry came closer, I held up my hand. “Olivia and I will handle these. Thanks, guys.” I appreciated their help, but we didn’t need their dry and bony fingers ripping pages.
Snooze meowed a couple of times from the corner as Olivia and I slowly read through each of the grimoires. I had no idea what the cat was doing, so I ignored him. He sometimes meowed at Winston, the house. At least I hoped Winston was the house itself and not a ghost. I wasn’t ready for them yet.
I’d gotten to the third book when a racket scared me to death. I jumped in my seat, almost dropping the grimoire.
Snoozle was howling something fierce, but when I rushed over to the back of the attic, he was nowhere to be found.
“Snoozer!” I yelled.
He went silent for a second, then yowled again, and I could’ve sworn it sounded like the word help.
“Where are you?” Olivia called from right behind me.
Snooze yowled again, and Alfred dropped to his knees beside me, scrabbling at the wooden planks of the floor.
I ran to the corner, to an old box of tools, looking for a hammer. There wasn’t a hammer in the box, but there was a crowbar. It would do!
Returning to the other side of the attic and my pitiful cat who was still crying and howling at the top of his lungs, I wedged the crowbar between the planks of wood and pressed down on the end to try to loosen them.
Snoozer went quiet, then yowled again, and I paused, looking at Olivia. “Did he just tell me to hurry?”
“It sure sounded like it,” she muttered. “That cat is something else.”
I heaved against the crowbar, and the plank came up on one end with an awful squeal.
Snooze’s head wedged out of the small space I’d created with the crowbar. “Snooze, wait,” I cried. “I don’t have it fully up yet!”
Leaning against the crowbar, I held the plank up as long as I could while Snooze wiggled his way out of the hole. “How did you get in there?” I yelled when he finally got free, then shot across the attic. I turned my head to see his tail disappear out the door.
“Wait,” Olivia said. She reached carefully into the hole while I tried to use the crowbar to hold the plank steady. “There’s something here.”
She pulled out something wrapped in an old, ratty towel, then peered down in the hole again. “Hang on.”
Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out her phone, then turned on the flashlight on it. After a careful examination, she shook her head. “That’s all. Let it go.”
“How in the world did he get under there?” I asked, letting the plank fall back into place.
I stood and stepped on the floor. Nothing. No sound and no movement. None of the planks nearby were loose either. Olivia knocked on walls and the floor around the area. We didn’t find anything that told us how the fat cat got under the floor.
“Was it the house?” Olivia asked as she wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. We’d looked everywhere. There was no way we could find that Snooze could’ve gotten under the floorboards.
“I don’t see what else it could’ve been. Winston up to mischief again.”
As if agreeing with me, the shutters on the front of the house rattled in the wind. “Yep, it was him.”
I returned to the table and took the towel-wrapped mystery from Alfred. “Let’s see what Snoozer accidentally found. Whatever it is, Winston really wanted us to have it.”
Chapter Ten
“It’s a mirror,” I whispered. Why in the heck would a mirror be hiding in the floor of the attic? Apparently, Winston knew, or the dang house wouldn’t have trapped poor Snooze in the hollow spot with the mirror.
Winston and I were going to have a serious talk about his attitude.
“Hey, what are you guys up to?” Owen said. “I heard a racket.” He stuck his head in the attic door and looked around. “Everything okay?”
I shook my head. “We think the house is acting up again. Snooze got caught under the floorboards and we had to fight to get him out.” I sat back and looked at Owen. “And now that I think about it, I’m wondering if the house wasn’t fighting me a little.”
Definitely having a talk with Winston. His behavior was unacceptable.
“Why would it trap the silly cat, then fight you to get him out?” Olivia asked. “I think the house wanted you to find whatever’s in that towel.”
I shrugged and picked up the mirror. “Let’s see.” A beautiful, antique hand mirror. The silver handle and frame holding in the mirror looked to be hand-carved with floral-like designs. Going by the weight and the magic that kissed at my fingers and hand, it was cast from real silver. Would have to be to have a spell on it.
“I don’t remember ever seeing this before,” I said. “Why was it hidden?”