Dead and Dusted by Lily Webb (reader novel .TXT) 📕

shrug. There wasn’t much else I could say — given the way both Leland and Zadie died, I couldn’t exactly guarantee his safety if he stayed in the inn.

“I never should’ve done it. I don’t know what I was thinking,” Kade muttered, then looked to Agent Gemwood with pleading eyes. “You aren’t gonna arrest me, are you?”

Gemwood laughed and shook her head. “Trespassing on government ground is illegal, but it’s out of my jurisdiction.”

“I didn’t do anything else, I swear,” Kade said as he wiped his palms on his pants. “I just took pictures like they asked me to.”

“I believe you,” I said, and I meant it. Anyone who’d had something to hide wouldn’t have been so eagerly forthcoming. Kade’s involvement in the trespassing had clearly been eating him up inside, so it’d probably felt good to confess. “But I want to ask you something else.”

“I’ll tell you anything, as long as it keeps me out of trouble.”

I liked the sound of that. “You said Mayor Nash forbid anyone from visiting the land Leland wanted to buy. Did he know those creatures were there?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems like it. Why else would he be so determined to keep everyone away?”

I’d thought the same thing, and I also wondered why he’d suddenly changed his mind to come to the negotiating table with Zadie and Leland. If he knew there were creatures living on the mountain and that they were dangerous, why would he ever entertain the idea of selling the land to a private party?

“Or keep their existence a secret from the FBI?” Agent Gemwood added, and my eyes shot open as I realized I hadn’t even considered that. “It’s our job to keep tabs on things like this in case there’s ever an incident.”

I picked up the photo of the creature, folded it in half, and tucked it the pocket of my robes along with the tooth and as many of Kade’s memory cards as I could fit. “I think it’s time to ask the mayor about all of this personally,” I said, and hurried for the door before I lost the courage.

Chapter 11

Kade dashed down the hall after me as I rushed to the elevator. “Selena, wait!” he called, but I didn’t stop until my hands reached the elevator’s grate. “What can I do? I want to help. I have to make up for what I did somehow.”

The offer took me by surprise, but an excellent answer occurred to me immediately. “Keep an eye on Zadie’s room on the third floor for us,” I said, and Kade’s brows furrowed.

“Why?” he asked, and I realized he didn’t know what happened to the evidence in the restroom on the ground floor, but I didn’t have time to fill him in.

“Just do it. Stake out in the hall or plant cameras, whatever you need to do. We need eyes on it, digitally or otherwise, at all times. Hers was room 312.”

“Okay,” Kade said, though he still looked very confused. I opened the elevator and ushered him inside.

“We’re going the same direction,” I said, and held the door open for Agent Gemwood as she caught up with us after magically resealing Leland’s door. “All good?”

“All good,” she answered with her wings buzzing. “So, what’s the plan?”

That was a good question, and one I didn’t have a brilliant answer for, so I shrugged and pressed the button for the third floor for Kade. “We’ve got to find the mayor first, and I figured the most likely place he’d be at this hour is in the kitchen,” I said, realizing that despite how much had happened since Agent Gemwood’s arrival, it was only breakfast time for the guests.

“A safe bet,” Agent Gemwood said. “But I think you should let me do the talking when we find him.”

“Why’s that?” I asked as the elevator lurched downward and Agent Gemwood chuckled at my question. “No, really, why?”

“Fairies are walking lie detectors,” Kade answered for her. “It’s physically impossible for anyone, supernatural or not, to lie to them.”

“Exactly. If the mayor tries to twist the truth even a bit, I’ll know right away,” she said, which made me wish she’d gotten here sooner. She could’ve saved me a lot of time and energy talking to everyone at the inn, and maybe we would’ve solved all this by now. Was that why Brady had called her specifically? Even if it wasn’t, the fact that he’d asked for help from a lie detecting fairy convinced me he had nothing to hide.

“That must make for some interesting interactions in your line of work,” I said, and Agent Gemwood nodded.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe some of the stories I could tell you,” she said just as the elevator dinged to announce its stop on the third floor.

I turned to Kade. “We’re counting on you. Keep watch on that room.”

“I will, I promise,” Kade said and lifted his camera to illustrate his seriousness. “If anything happens, I’ll get it on film.”

It occurred to me that whoever was behind all this mayhem might use magic to move around undetected, but I decided not to share that with him. “Good. Let me know right away if you see anything,” I said as I opened the grate for Kade.

“Will do,” he said and left Agent Gemwood and I alone. As soon as the elevator started moving downward again, I locked eyes with her.

“Can I ask you something, Agent Gemwood?”

“Please, call me Flora.”

“Um, okay. Can I ask you something then, Flora?”

“Of course. What’s on your mind?”

“More than I have time to tell you about, but there’s one thing that’s been bothering me about all this.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“If anyone could, it’s you. So, in both deaths, there was a letter accompanied by what we’re all guessing is fairy dust, but now that we know about the existence of these creatures in the mountains, whatever they are, I can’t help wondering if these are really fairies we’re dealing with.”

“I’ve been thinking the