Page 16 of Investigation of a Quest

“No.”

“Of course there wasn’t. Are there any other cameras?”

“No.”

“Of course there aren’t. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find witnesses. There were dozens of people here.”

“Decorating for Halloween,” the deputy said. “So erecting this tin man wouldn’t have been suspicious. Someone definitely saw it, but I doubt they’d remember. Would you remember one person putting up a decoration when the entire town was doing the same?”

“Probably not,” Griffin agreed.

“Who found the body? Maybe they saw something?” the woman asked, and Griffin pointed at Bel.

“If anyone can help, it would be her,” he said.

“Excuse me?” She aimed for where Bel watched from behind the yellow tape. “You found the body?”

“I didn’t find it,” Bel corrected. “I just identified that it was a body.”

“Right.” The woman opened her notepad. “I’m Deputy Dorothy. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? I’m helping the Bajka Police with their investigation.”

“Umm…” Bel glanced at Griffin, and he nodded as if to say she would help him regardless of whether she was on the force. “Sure.”

“Can I have your name?” Dorothy asked.

“Isobel Emerson.”

“Isobel… Emer… wait, are you her?” Dorothy asked. “The detective who saved those teenage girls a few months ago?”

Bel cringed. The officer lived in a town that took ten minutes to drive through, and those ten minutes were pressed up against Bajka’s perimeter. Of course she’d seen the rescue on the news, but it was as if the entire universe wouldn’t let Bel forget her sins. Only now she wasn’t sure if her sin was pulling the trigger or walking away from the detective who’d saved so many lives.

“I am,” Bel said, her lips pressing into a firm line, and she had to give it to the deputy. For someone who was barely a police officer, she was observant, and she wisely didn’t question why Bel was a witness and not part of the investigation.

“Can you tell me what happened when you found the body?” Dorothy got right to the point.

“I’m one of the competition judges. My boyfriend and I were leaving the Hansel and Gretel haunted house when we heard there was an impressive statue in the town square. We decided to check it out, and realizing it was a body, I called Sheriff Griffin.”

“Where is your boyfriend?” Dorothy asked.

“Picking up my dog from the sitter,” Bel lied. He was witch hunting, so she’d have to text him to grab Cerberus on his way back.

“Did you notice anything suspicious? Any people out of place?”

“No,” Bel lied again. She wasn’t about to tell a stranger that magic had come to her town.

“Oh gosh!” Bel reeled backward as a fist barreled toward her face.

“Oh my god!” Olivia shrieked. “You scared the crap out of me!”

“I scared you?” Bel released a nervous laugh as she clapped her hand over her heart. “You almost punched me.”

“I was trying to knock on the door,” Olivia said. “I wasn’t expecting you to open it at that exact moment.”

“Cerberus was scratching at the door. I thought he really had to pee.” Bel glanced at her dog who was desperate to capture Olivia’s attention, and the blonde finally relaxed enough to give him what he craved. “I guess he just wanted to see you.”

Sleep had abandoned all in this cabin after they’d discovered the desecrated tin man. Eamon had searched for the missing witch late into the night, but she’d vanished without a trace, leaving the couple uncomfortably on edge. They’d slept at Bel’s place since the single room and entrance were easier to defend than the mansion’s endless rooms, but the witch never showed her face. Her absence made for an anxious bedfellow, and Bel had woken feeling like a zombie, but Eamon’s anxiety had him wired like too many cups of coffee. He’d left for an early run, but Cerberus had no desire to exercise with him after his treat-laden date with Violet. He’d stayed in bed with his mom until he leaped down and attacked the front door.

“Anyway…” Bel said when Olivia didn’t explain why she was here first thing in the morning. “I need to walk him.”