“No.” Daisy looks amused at the idea. “He was really quiet back then. I barely knew him. But he was on duty when I got to the station, so …” She shrugs. “I gave it to him.”
“Do you, um, think he was the best person to handle something like this?” Ellery asks.
Daisy crinkles her brow. “I don’t know. I guess. Why not?”
“Well. I’m just wondering.” Ellery leans forward, elbows on her knees. “Did it ever occur to you that he might’ve given the bracelet to Lacey?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ellery
Friday, October 4
When I knock on the cellar door, I’m not sure anyone will answer. It’s four o’clock on Friday afternoon, three hours before the House of Horrors is supposed to open. I’m not working tonight, and no one’s expecting me. Unless you count my grandmother, who’s expecting me to be in my room and is going to be furious if she realizes I’ve left and walked through the woods on my own. Even in the middle of the afternoon.
Brooke’s been missing almost a week now, and nobody in Echo Ridge is supposed to walk anywhere alone.
I knock louder. The park is noisy and crowded, a blend of music, laughter, and shrieks as a roller coaster rattles nearby. The door cracks just enough for an eye to peer out. It’s deep brown and winged with expertly applied liner. I flutter my fingers. “Hi, Shauna.”
“Ellery?” The Fright Farm makeup artist swings the door open with one tattooed arm. “What are you doing here?”
I step inside and look around for any sign of Murph, my boss. He’s a stickler for rules. Shauna is a lot more laid-back. I can’t believe my luck that she’s here and he isn’t, although I half expect him to come barreling through the velvet curtain with a clipboard any second. “Are you here alone?” I ask.
Shauna raises a brow at me. “That’s an ominous question.” She doesn’t look worried, though. Shauna has at least six inches on me, and is all slender muscle and perfectly toned arms. Plus her spiky heels would make lethal weapons in a pinch.
“Heh. Sorry. But I have a favor to ask, and I didn’t want to ask Murph.”
Shauna leans against the doorframe. “Well, now you’ve got my attention. What’s up?”
I channel Sadie again, twisting my hands with fake nerves. “My grandmother gave me an envelope to deposit at the bank the other day, and I can’t find it. I was trying to figure out where it went, and I remembered that I tossed a bunch of stuff into the recycling bin the last time I was here.” I bite my lip and look at the ground. “I’m pretty sure the envelope went with it.”
“Ooh, sorry.” Shauna grimaces. “Can she write another check?”
I’m ready for that objection. “It wasn’t a check. It was cash.” I tug at my dagger necklace, running my thumb over the sharp point at the bottom. “Almost five hundred dollars.”
Shauna’s eyes widen. “Who the hell carries around that much cash?”
Gah. Maybe she noticed I lifted my entire excuse from It’s a Wonderful Life. “My grandmother,” I say as innocently as I can. “She doesn’t trust checks. Or credit cards. Or ATMs.”
“But she trusts you?” Shauna looks as though she’d like to give Nana a detailed explanation of why that’s a terrible idea.
“She won’t when she finds out. Shauna, is there any chance … do you think I could get the keys to the recycling bin? Do you know where they are?” She hesitates, and I put my hands together in a praying gesture. “Please? Just this once, to save me from having to hand every cent I’ve earned over to my grandmother? I’ll owe you big-time.”
Shauna chuckles. “Look, you don’t have to beg. I’d open the damn thing if I had a key, but I don’t. No idea where it is. You’ll have to ask Murph.” She gives my arm a sympathetic pat. “He’ll understand. Five hundred dollars is a lot of money.”
He would, probably. He’d also stand over me the entire time. “Okay,” I sigh.
Shauna goes to the vanity and plucks a few makeup brushes from a can, dropping them into a half-open leather bag resting on the chair. “I have to get a move on. You caught me on the way out. The evil clowns need touching up at Bloody Big Top.” She zips the bag closed and slings it over her shoulder, crossing to the door and pulling it open. “You wanna come with? Murph might be there.”
“Sure.” I make as if to follow her, then wince and put a hand on my belly. “Ugh. Do you mind if I use the bathroom first? I’ve had kind of a stomach virus all day. I thought it was better, but—”
Shauna waves me away. “Just meet me there. Make sure the door locks behind you.”
“Thanks.” I dash toward the tiny restroom for effect, but she’s already out the door. As soon as I hear it click, I pull two paper clips out of my pocket and head for the office.
I’ve never tried to pick a lock before. But I took Vance’s advice, and I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos in the past twenty-four hours.
“You took it all?” Ezra stares at me as I empty a trash bag’s worth of paper onto Mia’s bedroom floor.
“Well, how was I supposed to know what’s important and what isn’t? I couldn’t sit there on the floor and sift through it. Anybody might’ve walked in.”
Malcolm eyes the pile. “At least we know they haven’t emptied it in a while.”
Mia plops down cross-legged on the floor and scoops up a handful of paper. “What are we even looking for?” she mutters. “This is some kind of invoice. This looks like an envelope for an electric bill.” She makes a face. “We’re gonna be here for a while.”
The four of us sit in a circle around the pile and start sifting through its contents. My pulse has slowed since I left the House of Horrors, but it’s still jumping. I checked the office thoroughly and didn’t see any security cameras, but I know they’re all over the park. It’s entirely possible that someone’s staring at footage of me hauling a garbage bag through Fright Farm right now. Which, okay, could easily be the sort of thing an employee would do in the normal course of business. But it could also look weird, and I wasn’t exactly subtle about it. I didn’t even wear a baseball cap or pull my hair back.
So I hope it’s worth it.
We’re silent for almost fifteen minutes until Malcolm, who’s sprawled next to me, clears his throat. “The police want to look at my phone.”
Mia freezes, a scrap of paper dangling from her fingers. “What?”
We’re all staring at him, but he doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “Officer McNulty said that with Brooke still missing, they need to dig a little deeper. I didn’t know what to do. Peter was … kind of great, actually. He managed to get across the point that they shouldn’t be asking for access to my personal stuff without a warrant while still sounding totally helpful. Officer McNulty ended up apologizing to him.”