Page 25 of Dead & Breakfast
Arthur shook his head. He knew there were a great many types of lawyers out there, but he couldn’t help but think of the well-dressed, slick-haired ones he’d seen on TV. He could almost imagine Salvatore bursting into his thoughts like the Kool-Aid Man to insist that a movie lawyer like Elle Woods was exactly what he needed, but Arthur would find another way. “I think we’ll be better off proving Sal’s innocence on our own. Investigative measures will get us much further than any legal ones.”
“What makes you say that?” Nora asked.
“Well, historically, lawyers haven’t been too keen to represent people like me. Who’s to say they wouldn’t try to sabotage us just for being paranormal?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”
“Illegal, perhaps, but not unlikely.”
Nora pursed her lips in thought. “We’ll just have to get you a paranormal lawyer—apara-legal, if you will!”
Arthur most certainly would not. Still, Nora was a guest and he didn’t want to ruin their rapport over a pun. Instead, he said, “I doubt we could afford their rates.”
“Hmm,” Nora began, then shook her head. “Never mind.”
“What?”
“I was going to ask something, but it’s rude.”
“Go ahead, if it’s important to the case.” Arthur hadn’t forgotten her name on his list of suspects, but perhaps she’d let something slip if he let her into his confidence.
“It’s just my curiosity about vampires.” She hesitated, then continued. “I assumed someone as old as Salvatore would have more wealth.”
“Oh, that.” Arthur nodded. “Most vampires are very wealthy bythe time they get to be Sal’s age. You don’t exactly have to begoodwith money when you have eternity to let your piles of riches accumulate interest in the bank, after all. Salvatore’s…an outlier.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“He has terrible luck with investments. He claims he was cursed by a fae to always back the wrong horse, but I think he’s just too rash.” Arthur shrugged. “Besides, we spent most of my savings on renovations for the inn.”
Before Nora could respond, her phone chimed with a text alert. She frowned at it. “I have to go straight to the office. No time for a detour. Carry on without me.”
“Quinn?”
Nora blinked at her phone. Though she didn’t respond, the sour expression on her face was confirmation enough. “Keep me updated about the case?” she asked, slipping her phone back into her bag.
Arthur nodded, though he couldn’t help the wave of unease that passed over him. Nora was awfully interested in this investigation. He hoped it was simple curiosity and not something more sinister.
“You’ll be wanting your cat back, I assume?” Nora lifted Rumble from her purse and held her out for Arthur.
He took the cat awkwardly, uncertain of what exactly to do with her. He could plop her down on the sidewalk, but she might scamper off and get hit by a car or something, and then he’d never hear the end of it from Sal. Instead, he just held her close to his chest, eliciting an indignant meow from the cat as she was unceremoniously smooshed.
Nora winced and fluttered her hand toward Rumble as if to assist, but she seemed to think better of it and simplyhmmed before giving them both a half-hearted wave and making for city hall.
Arthur watched her go. He supposed Nora couldn’t miss her first day as acting mayor to run around town playing detective with him, but suspicion itched at the back of his mind. If she was guilty, this would give her time to cover her tracks.
Shifting Rumble in one hand, his umbrella in the other, Arthur said to the cat, “I don’t suppose you found any evidence in her purse between naps?”
Rumble stared up at him as if he were the most foolish creature in the world. Maybe he was, if he was relying on a cat to be his sidekick. If he was to be a proper detective, he’d need someone more astute. A cat wasn’t suited to be the Dr.Watson to his Sherlock Holmes for plenty of reasons. She didn’t even have a medical degree. Lore, on the other hand…
Without further delay, Arthur made his way toward an old brick building surrounded by sprawling green grass. City hall’s lawn was dotted with flower beds, brightly colored petunias sloppily crammed into reddish soil, and among them were a half dozen benches painted a blue-gray slate color Arthur had never particularly liked.
Whoever had designed Trident Falls’ downtown area—perhaps the former city manager, as it had enjoyed a reconstruction since Arthur’s childhood visits—had taken it upon themself to decorate the entire street in a waterfall motif, apparently taking theFallspart of Trident Falls far more seriously than was necessary. The town was covered in blue statues of crashing waves—never mind they were nowhere near the ocean—and murals of cerulean waterfalls—never mind that water wasn’t actually blue.
Though trips to the eponymous falls had been a staple of Arthur’s childhood, he had visited them only once since they’d moved to town. The forced hike had been one of Salvatore’s schemes—Waterfalls are romantic, Arthur!—which had gone awry—Waterfalls are so loud and wet, Arthur!—but once was rather enough for him. The falls were beautiful: one stream of water splitting into three equidistant falls near the bottom, shaped like a trident, cascading down the mountain. But theywereloud, and theywerewet, and Salvatore and Arthur were decidedly not the outdoorsy, adventurous types at their advanced ages, so they’d never bothered to visit again.
As Arthur approached city hall, he caught sight of Lore on one of the benches with her legs tucked beneath her, staring at her phone in a manner that Arthur felt was all too common these days. When he complained about it to Salvatore, that people were ignoring the world around them to stare at little rectangles in their hands, Sal had glibly replied that the rectangles were windows to a much wider world than one could glimpse even from a scenic overlook, so why wouldn’t people want to stare through that window instead of at their familiar immediate surroundings? Arthur still felt it was a tad rude, but he appreciated the effort Lore was making to look inconspicuous. He sat on the other side of the bench, angling his umbrella so he and Rumble were in shadow.
“I said ten minutes. You’re early.” Lore didn’t glance up from her phone.
