The Werewolf Dates The Deputy - Kristen Painter Page 0,52
love spell? That seemed even less likely.
So what about the wraith? Titus said he’d seen it in the attic, though that didn’t mean it was connected to the bomb. Wraiths had no capability for magic and no way of contacting anyone capable of doing something like that on their behalf.
Alice had said the bomb used death magic. Jenna couldn’t imagine anything more like catnip to a wraith than death magic.
Could the wraith really be after her? The hard truth was…yes. The fact that it had shown up in the attic meant it had probably been in town for a few days. Watching. Waiting. Looking for the right chance to come after her.
The dark recesses of the attic were a pretty perfect place for a wraith to materialize. Just like the woods in early evening had been.
But that didn’t help her figure out who’d created that bomb.
She put her head in her hands and sighed. This was the frustrating part of any investigation, that feeling that she’d hit a brick wall and didn’t know which way to go next.
Maybe if she went back out to the house and had another look around, that would spark something. Give her a new direction or a fresh idea.
Knowing how important it was to find out soon who’d created this spell only increased the pressure she was feeling. She got up from the table and went next door to Titus’s office.
He looked up as she knocked. “How’s it going?”
“Not great. I was thinking if I could go back to the house, take another look around…”
“Seems like a good idea. Do you need to call Pandora to let you in?”
“No, I have the number for the lockbox she put on the house. I can get the key out of there.”
He stood. “Then let’s go.”
“What about the inspector?”
“I called and told him this isn’t a good week and the inspection would have to wait. We have to figure out this spell.”
“Thank you.”
Thirty minutes later, they’d been around and through the house without finding anything new or noteworthy.
She and Titus now stood in the attic, having one final look around.
“Still smells like sulfur up here,” he said.
She nodded. “Did you notice Alice used that when she did the blood tests?”
“I did. What does that mean?”
Jenna shrugged as she searched the shadows with the flashlight on her phone. “Just that it must be a common ingredient in magic. Enough so that it might not have been added to the spell used on us for the purpose of making us think there was a gas leak. That might have just been a side effect. Then again, how was anyone supposed to get in range of that bomb if they weren’t in here investigating?”
“Are you saying you think it could have been aimed at the first person to happen upon it?”
“No, I don’t think that was the case. First of all, that’s a lot of work and setup to make a random person fall in love with you.” She turned her phone’s light off and faced him. “That part of it makes me think they were aiming for Pandora. She was the one most likely to be in the house.”
He crossed his arms and leaned against one of the trusses. “But?”
“This house is on my regular patrol route. My routine isn’t hard to figure out. Look at it this way: If the smell of gas was intentional, that means they were trying for a fireman. But that’s random. So if the smell wasn’t on purpose, then they must have been trying for me.”
He seemed to think about that. “So it was supposed to go off while you were here alone.”
“I’m starting to think that. But who would target me? And why?”
“I’d say for that sword of yours, but after seeing how impossible it is for anyone else to get their hands on it, that can’t be the reason. Although…”
“Although what?”
“Is it common knowledge that a valkyrie’s sword can’t be held by anyone but her?”
Jenna thought that over. “I mean, maybe? If you did some research, I suppose you could find that out. But not everyone knows we carry our weapons on our bodies like we do.”
“So then, let’s say you are the target. If that’s true, and someone was going to make an attempt at your sword, that narrows down the suspect list a bit.”
She nodded. “They’d not only have to know I’m a valkyrie but also about my weapon.” She took a sharp breath. “Or maybe they know that when