Page 54 of Horn in My Side
“Unlikely.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“No.”
But she had a feeling he had a suspicion.Anyway, that didn’t matter now.“Would it have crawled out—Oh no!”
Mal’s head whipped toward where she was looking—one of the panels of the display window had been broken too.“Fuck,” he cursed.“I noticed the reinforcement spell wearing out—I meant to fix it this week.”
“We have a bigger problem, though,” she pointed out.“The carcinos, or whatever it is, is out there.”
“Mother Trakku.”He rubbed a palm down his face.“All right, let’s go find our escaped jailbird.”
Did he think it was a bird, then?
“Okay,” he began as the door locked behind them.“Let’s split up.You stay on this side of the street, and I’ll take the other.”
She held up a hand.“But how do we know what we’re looking for?”
“We’ll probably know it when we see it.”
“True.”As he turned to cross the street, she called out to him.“Wait, Mal!We have to be discreet.If the Main Street Business Association hears about this ...”
“We’ll get a big fine.”He clenched his jaw.“Okay, we’ll keep it as quiet as possible.”
“Thanks, Mal.”
Jasmine began her search next door at the dry-cleaners.Pushing the door open, she entered Main Street Dry-Cleaning and Laundry, her heart pounding as she waved at the owner, Mrs.O’Shea.
“Hello, Jasmine,” the sweet, elderly woman greeted.“How are you?Did you have a good Founding Day Festival?”
“We did, thanks for asking, Mrs.O’Shea.”Hopefully her voice sounded casual.
“What can I do for you?Did you want something dry-cleaned or pressed?We’re still offering a ten per cent discount for all employees on Main Street.”
“Not right now.I was wondering ...”Oh Mother Goddess, how was she going to do this?“Have you seen anything strange going on around here?Anything unusual outside?”
The woman laughed.“This is Dewberry Falls, dear.I’m not sure what you would categorize as strange and unusual.”
“Right.”She forced out a laugh.
“Is there anything wrong, dear?”Concern creased her face.“You look flushed.”
“Er, you see ...”Her brain scrambled for an explanation.“We had one of our windows broken.”
Mrs.O’Shea gasped.“Oh no.Do you have any idea who it was?Have you filed a report with the police?”
“No, not yet, ma’am.I think it might be just some kid.I’d like to speak with them or their parents before I get the authorities involved.”
“How generous of you.”She clucked her tongue.“All right, dear.If I see anything or anyone suspicious, I’ll call you.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Jasmine went to every business on her side of Main Street, from the general store, the brewery, the bakery, and even the gardening store, asking if they had seen anything weird or out of the ordinary.By the time she reached the last store, the Glitter and Gold Jewelry Emporium, the sign in front had been turned to “Closed.”
“Oh no.”
She pressed her nose up against the glass, trying to peer inside, but didn’t see any creature crawling around nor were any of the windows or display cases broken.The employees of Glitter and Gold always locked everything up tight at closing time and they also had a top-of-the-line security system.If anyone—or anything—broke in, they’d know right away.Still, she wished she had come here first, before they closed up.Her fingers itched, wanting to do something like break the window to check inside, but she didn’t want to spend the night in jail.
