Smoke and Mirrors - 7

“Haven’t seen her Jared, sorry.” The clerk at the front counter of Mordollwen’s antique store frowned. “As a matter of fact she hasn’t even checked in, in the last couple of days, which is not like her.”

“Probably hanging around the local sex shops terrorizing the under two-hundred set by showing them what happens to naughty little boys,” Daniel muttered.

“Shush, she’s not that bad, just a bit…over-sexed at times.”

“A bit?” Daniel shook his head but kept quiet for now.

“If you do hear from her please tell her to get in contact with me,” Jared said to the clerk. “It’s of vital importance that she does. If the damned woman had a phone this would be much easier.”

The clerk nodded in commiseration but refrained from commenting as a customer came up to the counter, asking to see one of the dolls locked in a display case across the main room.

“So where to next, Jared?”

“I suppose back to her house again. At least we’ll know if she got the note I left.”

“We’re breaking in?” Daniel’s face lit up at that thought.

“Easy there. We’re not technically doing a break-in, just a drop in,” —Jared put his arm around Daniel’s waist— “literally.” As he finished the sentence they landed in the living room of Mordollwen’s house.

“Okay,” Daniel said as he looked around. “Either she’s a lousy housekeeper or someone’s been looking for something."

Jared had to agree. Every drawer in the large desk on one wall had been pulled out, the contents emptied onto the floor, the pillows on the two sofas and the chairs were standing on their edges and it was obvious that someone had checked behind the books although they’d been left on the shelves, not tossed onto the floor as well.

“We’d better check the rest of the house,” Jared said angrily.

“She’s not here, dead or alive,” Daniel told him after sniffing the air. He knew Jared was as aware of that as he was, but felt the need to say it anyway.