The Girl with the Uninvited Ghost: Pandemonium Cozy Mystery #1

Chapter 39

In Humbaba's large window, a set of long, scaly fingers held the dark curtain ajar. Two piercing jade-colored eyes stared through the glass at Mahogany.

Magnolia yanked on Humbaba's door, but it was locked. She hammered on the glass with the side of her fist. "Stheno. Euryale. I know you're in there. We need to talk," Mahogany said, her voice firm and no-nonsense.

The latch clicked, and with a soft scraping of metal on metal, the door swung inward.

For all of Mahogany's bluster, she hesitated before crossing the threshold. She took a deep breath and entered the viper's den.

Inside Humbaba, it was dark. Shadowy statuary loomed in the gloom. Cold fear crept through Mahogany's stomach and across her scalp.

Outside, Tony and Evelina exchanged a pregnant glance and hurried into the shop after Mahogany.

"Yess?" a snake-like voice came from the shadows. Mahogany turned in its direction and squinted in the darkness.

"I need to know if you saw Neema in the Haughty Hemlock the night of the murders," Mahogany said, her voice disappearing into the dim interior.

Stheno walked out of the shadows, her heels knocking their way toward Mahogany on the hardwood floor. A crown of red locks encircled her head and trailed over her shoulders.

"I was watching Curb Appeal on HGTV while I put the finishing touches on a fresh batch of lawn gnomes. Snooping is more to Euryale's taste," Steno said, hissing her esses.

A soft scraping on the floor behind where Tony and Evelina's stood huddled behind Mahogany made them jump. Tony gasped, and Evelina swallowed a ball of air, making her burp.

Mahogany turned and faced Euryale. "Did you see Neema in the Haughty Hemlock the night Magic Mike and Guy were murdered?" Mahogany asked the scaly Euryale.

"Yess," Euryale said, dragging out the end of the word. "She was in the apothecary, working on something, and then she put on a dark coat and left," Euryale said.

"What time was this?" Mahogany asked.

"About one in the morning. That infernal clock tower had chimed only a little while before," Euryale said.

"There's enough happening at that hour to warrant you sit and snoop?" Tony said.

"You'd be surprised," Euryale said. She licked her lips, her tongue giving a reptilian flicker. "This is Pandemonium, after all."

Tony and Evelina took several tiny steps toward Mahogany, placing more space between themselves and Euryale.

"The other person," Mahogany said, closing her eyes.

"What other person?" Guy asked.

"There was someone else at the brownstone that night. Well, sort of. I saw someone running toward the park after Bazgul, and I got out of the house," Mahogany said.

"Could it have been the murderer?" Tony asked.

Mahogany shook her head. "Not unless they got a block ahead of me and transformed from tall skinny into someone short with the gait of one who hasn't run in a decade."

"Thank you," Mahogany said to Euryale and Stheno. "Sorry, I barged over here."

"Don't be. Please come by any time. You would make the perfect model for our art," Stheno said, stepping toward Mahogany and taking her by the chin.

Mahogany stared into her jade eyes, memorized.

"Thank you again," Tony said, taking Stheno's hand and firmly guiding it away from Mahogany.

"We do need to be going," Evelina said. And they slipped out of the shadowy store and back across the street to the Haughty Hemlock. Mahogany gave a fleeting look over at the Gorgon's shop. Two pairs of eyes peered at her from Humbaba's large front window. Mahogany shivered. They needed to get Neema out of jail.