From the charges, the meals appeared to be for one person. She wasn’t buying anyone dinner on the bosses’ dime. Suzanne Parker seemed to be a stickler for the details. No wonder Mia’s quick ascension to level three, then level five, had upset her. It just wasn’t done. She almost closed the file before she found the reservation notes. It showed Suzanne Parker’s airline details for coming and going, with a note about needing a ride to the airport.
The dates were off. She checked in on Sunday, but her plane landed on Friday night. She should have checked out on Wednesday morning, but the shuttle charge wasn’t till Thursday. And hadn’t Mark said her rental car was in the parking lot for the cross-country trailhead?
Mia reached for her phone and called him on his cell.
“What’s wrong? Is Sarah okay? Em?” He didn’t give her a chance to even say hello.
“Good morning, Mark. Do you have a little time for a chat? I’ll make you an omelet.” Mia stared out the window, wondering if Buddy was out in the tree or still at Trent’s.
“So they’re fine?” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m a little jumpy without them here. Sure, I’ll be right over with my files. Did you figure this out already?”
“No, but I have a question. Did you come by when I wasn’t home and tell Grans I was a suspect?”
“No. Why would you be a suspect? Yes, you spent time with the victim, but from what I know of that whole testing thing, you were probably surrounded by your entire group Tuesday at midnight when the scores cameout. You couldn’t have been at the ski trail at the same time, right?”
“Exactly. Look, I’ll fill you in on the fun we’ve been having here. I haven’t gotten a lot of sleuthing done, but I’ve got some information on the victim that you probably don’t have.”
“All I know is that she worked for an educational organization and traveled all over, testing and certifying people, which we know isn’t the whole truth. Let me grab my coat and I’ll be over in a few minutes. Thanks, Mia.”
After Mark hung up, Grans came into the room. She poured coffee, then sat down. No “good morning.” Nothing.
“Are you okay?” Mia stared at her. She wasn’t wearing the engagement ring that Robert had given her.
“No, I’m a complete idiot who likes making her life harder than it needs to be. How on earth did I allow Dorian to swoop in here again and fill my head with fairy tales? I have no future with the man. He just needs to go back to Boston and live his life. Not here, and not in your academy, where I have to run into him all the time.” Grans sipped her coffee.
“What happened?”
Grans blinked and looked up at her. “What do you mean?”
“What happened? What did he do last night that has you this upset?” Mia was starting to worry about her grandmother’s memory.
“Oh, dear, he’s just being Dorian. You can change a man’s name, but not his nature. I fell in love with him afew years ago for a good reason. Now, I just need to forget that reason and go on with my life. It won’t be with Robert—I’ve burned that bridge—but I’m sure I’ll find a perfectly acceptable substitute, if I can get Dorian to leave. He did what he planned. He stopped my wedding. He should feel good.”
“I’m sure he didn’t want to ruin your wedding, just because. Damien loves you. Tell me you don’t have feelings for him and I’ll tell him to leave. But I think you’re in love with him as well.” Mia moved the plate of muffins that Abigail had made yesterday closer to her grandmother’s reach.
She took a muffin. Feeding Grans always meant just keeping her busy until she ate enough. She never even noticed food when she was in one of these moods.
“I packed all that up when we buried his first body.” Grans broke open the muffin and put butter on it.
“Speaking of bodies, do you think there’s any truth to what Christina saw at the house? Or was it just a way to scare people off?”
Her grandmother took a bite, then washed it down with coffee. “I’ve heard rumors about passing a soul from one body to another. But the body has to be someone willing, and nowadays people don’t seem as receptive to having another soul in their bodies.”
Mr. Darcy meowed from his place on the window seat.
“I think cats are less likely too, but Mr. Darcy doesn’t blame Dorian. He knows it was an accident.” Mia smiled at her cat. Now her grandmother had her asking where they got the young woman who was on the othertable. Mia shifted in her seat. If Christina hadn’t been imagining things, who was the girl in the bed? Or was this entire scene just playacting for Christina’s benefit? Mia was beginning to think that the scene her friend had seen was just a re-creation of part of a movie. That neither Suzanne nor the girl were actually there.
Unless it was a past life transition. Was that how Suzanne had been able to live for three hundred years?
CHAPTER12
Grans excused herself to go to the potions lab when Mark pulled up. Of course Damian had arrived at the same time and had walked in with Mark. As Mia and Mark went upstairs to her apartment, Mark rubbed his head. “That guy looks really familiar.”
“His brother lived here a few years ago, before he was killed,” Mia said, focusing on the stairs. She hated to lie to Mark, but he liked staying out of magical things. Damien was probably more magic than he could deal with at the moment, especially when Sarah and Em were at Trent’s, training their hellhound.
Humans could only stretch their belief system so far before they had to worry a little about brain damage, which was why Mia wondered how Finn was really doing with her life overhaul.
“That’s right. His brother was killed just before you moved here. You found his body at the food bank while you were trying to set it back up.” He looked less stressedbecause he had an answer. “Man, I’m not sure I could move to a town where my brother was killed.”