Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

“He followed us back to the B and B,” Burnell added.

“He didn’t follow us back,” Jay objected. “Burnell, you can’t exaggerate. We didn’t see him again until we met him in the hall. He just stares at us.”

Malichai had encountered Craig’s stare. There was nothing against the law about staring. “When was that, the day and time?” It was easy enough to have Amaryllis double-check when Craig had arrived.

“A week earlier,” Burnell answered vaguely.

Malichai knew it had been the day before he had fixed Marie’s dishwasher.

“You didn’t go back to the magic shop, did you?” he asked the two men.

Jay shook his head. “Of course not. Bryon and I made it very clear it wouldn’t be a smart move. We wanted to just drop it.”

Burnell hung his head. Malichai waited. The other man remained stubbornly silent. Malichai sighed. “Just tell me. If I’m going to help, I need all the facts.”

Burnell shot a quick glance at his partner. “Anna and I did go back to the shop. Just a quick visit. We wanted to see who worked there. An older man, with darker skin and a few wrinkles, like he’d been in the sun a lot, was there. He was very fit though. He kept pointing things out to us, and seemed very grateful when we purchased a few items.”

“Burnell.” Jay sounded horrified. “What were you thinking?”

“We didn’t like the way you and Bryon acted like we couldn’t have heard what we know we heard,” Burnell said defiantly. “They were going to kill the maximum amount of people. I heard that. Anna heard it. Then creeper man showed up and he just stared at us.”

“For all you know, he could have some sort of staring disability,” Jay said.

Malichai nearly choked. “It isn’t going to do any good to argue amongst ourselves. Burnell, don’t break into anyone’s room. I’ll look into this, but you have to just go about your business and forget Craig no matter how much he stares. Don’t let him get to you.”

“He could be a serial killer,” Burnell pointed out. “He might plan to murder every single person in this B and B.” He shuddered at the thought and then glared at Jay. “It could happen.”

“It could,” Jay conceded. “But it’s unlikely.”

“Give me a couple of days to do some investigating,” Malichai said. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I know anything.”

“We’re leaving in another week,” Burnell said.

“I’ll get back to you before that.” Because on the off chance that they’d really overhead something, whether or not Williams was involved, he wanted to make certain he investigated every possibility. Or he really was that lost on what vacations were supposed to be.

The two men thanked him and left his room. Malichai padded barefoot across the room in order to inspect the lock. It was a really bad lock, easily picked, but in this case, he hadn’t locked it. Just in case Amaryllis decided to visit him. That would teach him to be so careless.

He fired off more data to Ezekiel. The name of the magic shop. He needed to know who owned it. What they looked like. How long they’d owned it.

Ezekiel came back with a thumbs-up and a question of his own. Malichai had sent him a picture of a woman. So far no one had identified her. Was she still at the bed-and-breakfast? How long had she been there? What was her name? Could he lift a fingerprint?

His heart thudded once very hard in protest. He had known. Amaryllis had to be one of Whitney’s escaped girls. What was he going to do about her?

His first week of vacation was over. It had gone by fast when Malichai had been certain it would drag on forever. Now, he was contemplating extending his leave. He could. He certainly had it coming, and his leg wasn’t healing as rapidly as everyone had anticipated. He could always use that as an excuse, although Joe Spagnola, his team leader, would more than likely insist he come home to have the doctors check him out if he admitted how much the damn thing hurt. Still, he looked forward to waking up every morning. He couldn’t wait to start his day—all because of Amaryllis.

He got up at five and went “walking” every morning. For him, that meant, running-jogging-walking. He’d been running nearly every day for the last ten years or more, and just stopping seemed impossible. Then he went swimming, the best part of his protocol. That was the only thing that felt halfway decent. The leg felt great in the water, with no weight on it.

He liked San Diego, although the weather was far different than in his beloved swamp. He couldn’t help but wonder if Amaryllis would be comfortable in the swamp. Some people had a lot of trouble with the humid heat.