The Book of Secrets by Melissa McShane

Author:Melissa McShane [McShane, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948099622
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2018-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

Mr. Briggs’ car drove like a dream, for something that had almost 120,000 miles on it. I checked my rearview mirror every five seconds, looking for cop cars. It was possible the car had some kind of warrant out on it—could cars have warrants?—or at least something that associated it with a murder investigation. But I didn’t have any other way to get to the Kellers’, and I didn’t like telling them no just because I was afraid of the slim chance I’d get pulled over.

Rain had started falling about an hour before closing, a freezing rain just this side of slushy, and it had reduced the number of customers to zero. Viv left around that time, promising to come to my house Sunday for some kind of fun that would let both of us forget about our jobs. I locked up around 6:30 and headed through the busy streets toward Arlington Heights.

The Kellers lived in an upscale neighborhood, nestled into the gentle hills west of town. I skidded occasionally going up the rain-slick roads and tried not to think about how I was going to get back. Most of the houses were the sort of blocky, modernist construction I admired without wanting to live in one. Not that anyone was asking me to. I was fairly certain the Kellers were as wealthy as Malcolm Campbell, in their own idiosyncratic way.

I slowed to a crawl, looking for the Kellers’ driveway. Trees clung to the curbs and the steep hills where the houses perched, obscuring their lower levels. Lights from the windows gilded the tops of the trees, but cast the streets into shadow. I drove past a hedge, registered the house number was the one I was looking for, and backed up to make a turn into a curving driveway that circled the house. Deadheaded rosebushes brushed the car windows as I passed. The driveway would be beautiful in summer.

The Kellers’ house was gray, trimmed in either dark gray or blue; I couldn’t tell in the darkness. A BMW was parked in the driveway—not the sort of vehicle I’d pictured them driving. I pulled into the driveway next to it and sat for a few seconds with the ignition turned off. I’d already decided it would be bad manners to bring a list of questions to a dinner party, demanding answers, but friendly conversation couldn’t be wrong. Friendly conversation that happened to touch on some of the many, many things I wanted to know was perfectly acceptable. I ran over a few of those questions in my head, things like What do different kinds of magi do? and Who was Silas Abernathy? Though I wasn’t sure it would be polite to ask the latter, if his reputation was as dire as he’d implied.

The rain was turning to sleet. I hurried from the car to the front door and knocked, huddling into my coat. There was a garden gnome in the planter next to the front porch, its rosy cheeks and bright eyes gleaming at me in the porch light.

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