Celia looked sick as she stared down at the pictures James had printed. “I’ve never seen that in my life,” she said, picking one up from the small pile on Gran’s kitchen table.

“And you’re sure it wasn’t there when you moved in?”

“Positive,” she said. “I was pregnant with Krissy when we moved in, so I distinctly remember going into all the closets to make sure that they were big enough for both kids. There were no creepy symbols on the wall, I would have remembered that. What the fuck is that, James?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he admitted. “I’ll be looking for that tonight when I get back.”

James had taken his second official lunch break in probably eight years to come over to Gran’s house and go over this with Celia. “Is there a chance any of the kids drew it?” he asked. “Not saying they know what it is, just that…like when Gabs kept drawing pictures of monsters and scaring herself.”

Celia laughed, which was a relief. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was accusing the kids of doing something wrong. “No,” she said. “I’m sure of it. Obviously it’s not Jenny. But Penny doesn’t like drawing, and it’s way too neat for Krissy. I mean, I can check with Pen if she knows anything about it, but I highly doubt it’s anything to do with her.”

“Has anyone been over?”

“Not really. I have no life.”

“God, same,” James said, glancing at his watch. The reason he had no life was waiting for him to get back in thirty minutes.

He was about to ask about the cousins, then realized there were some things that, once said, he’d never be able to un-ask. But Celia answered the question before he had to say it. “I mean, literally nobody,” she said. “My mom comes over, but there’s not a chance in hell. Adam hasn’t been in the house in a while, though I don’t see him doing that either. We actually get along pretty well and he adores the girls, he’d never want to hurt Krissy. He cried when I told him what happened. And no one else has been here, none of the cousins or anything. So unless someone snuck in the window…”

She trailed off, looking up at the tea shelf. “What?” James asked.

“There was one, at the end of the school year. Penny was out sick and a mom of one of her classmates stopped by with some homework for her. Pen was at Adam’s house, but I took it. She was only here a minute, but I got a work call just as she was leaving. I didn’t think she went any further than the foyer, but I assumed she walked out after we said bye and I thanked her for the worksheet. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure I actually saw her leave.”

“What was her name?”

“I don’t know,” Celia admitted. “God, I never know the parents’ names. It was her friend Ava’s mom, though.”

Ava…why did that sound familiar? And how would James possibly think any of Penny’s friends’ names were familiar? 

“Wait,” he said as it clicked. “I can’t believe I’m saying this. Ava, ‘mad at Penny for getting the role of Dorothy in the winter musical’, Ava?”

Celia looked at him for a moment. “I guess?” she said. “I know the girls both auditioned at the end of the school year. They’ve started doing that so they have time to prepare. Starting in September was too much for the kids in previous years. But I didn’t know that Ava was mad at her about it.”

“I got the full rundown when she was painting my nails the other night,” James said.

Celia laughed, but then her face fell. “I didn’t know there’d been a problem between them,” she said. “I knew Ava auditioned too, but with the summer being so busy, I never thought to ask Penny about it. And when Pen didn’t say anything… I wonder if she told Adam.”

James wasn’t going to touch that in any way, shape, or form. “So her mom was here at the house, dropping off homework,” he said. “Has she ever done that before?”

“No, but Pen rarely misses school.”

It could be completely innocent. After all, who would terrorize a five-year-old as revenge for their eleven-year-old not getting cast in the Wizard of Oz? That was a stretch. But something about this was not sitting right with him. “Any idea if the family is into magic?”

“I have no idea,” Celia said. “But she doesn’t seem like it. I’ve met the daughter a few times, at birthday parties and those kinds of things. Girl Scouts, for the twenty minutes Penny wanted to do Girl Scouts. But she’s always struck me as very business, very straight-laced the few times I’ve seen her. I’ll ask Adam if he’s talked to her more. Maybe she went with her mom to drop off homework there before. Or he brought Penny to drop off Eva’s. I mean, remember we had homework buddies when we were kids? So maybe…”

She groaned. “I don’t know. I’ll talk to Adam about it.”

“Let me know what he says,” James said. “We’ll figure it out, Cel. Maybe this woman is connected, maybe she’s not. But we’ll find out. And if you think of anything else, just call me.”

***

Bradley and Gabriella were on shift when James got back to Headquarters a little while later. “Sorry I’m late,” he said as he came up the stairs, carrying a cardboard tray of Dunkin Donuts coffees. “I meant to get back before Madelyn left, but there was traffic and I figured if I was going to be late anyway, then maybe coffee would get me off of everyone’s shit list.”

Like he was ever getting off of Bradley’s shit list. But they both took the coffees with thanks, so James could assuage that guilt of taking too long on his lunch break.

“How’d it go with Celia?” Gabriella asked.

“She said there’s no way it was any of the girls,” James said, sitting down on the couch beside Bradley. “And the only other person who’s been in the house was Penny’s friend’s mom, dropping off homework a few months ago. Which seems weird, but I can’t really say why. Celia says she didn’t see her go any further than the foyer, but didn’t actually see her go out the door. So there’s that.”

“Dropping off homework?” Gabriella said. 

“Yeah,” James replied. “I don’t know. And the girls were fighting over the school play. I guess Penny got the lead and Ava was pissed about it. And that led to some fighting about that and boyfriends and rumors that she relayed to me while she was doing my nails the other night.”

“Gorgeous, by the way,” Gabriella said.

“Took forever to get off,” he said, inspecting a finger that was still tinged slightly purple, even now. 

“What was the homework she was dropping off?” Bradley asked.

James turned to look at him. “No idea,” he said. “Why?”

“Because it’s possible, but I don’t know why the mom would drop it off when the teacher could just put it on a portal or email it to her.”

“You’re right,” Gabriella said. “I mean, maybe it could be a worksheet she just didn’t upload for whatever reason.”

“Or the teacher doesn’t have email,” James added.

Gabriella looked at him for a long moment. “What?”

“The teacher has email.”

He glanced at Bradley, hoping for maybe once in his life that Bradley might defend him, since they were the same age. But no, Bradley just shook his head. “The teacher has email,” he said. “Just because you can’t handle yours…”

“I get it,” James said. “So my thought was, why did the mom drop it off there when Pen was at her dad’s? But you’re thinking, why would the mom drop it off at all?”

“Exactly,” Gabriella said, swirling her iced coffee to mix in the overly sweet hazelnut flavoring she liked for reasons unknown to James.

“I thought it was like the homework buddy thing we used to do,” James said. “Gabs, maybe they didn’t do this when you were a kid, you’re a lot younger than me. But Bradley, did they have you team up with a classmate and you’d collect each other’s homework if one of you was absent?”

“No, I went to boarding school.”

James almost forgot about the monsters. Almost, just for a second. “What?”

“Yeah.”

“Seriously? Where?”

“Connecticut.”

That was more than he’d expected to get. James had asked the question on impulse, then expected venom in return. And even now he wanted more information. He’d gone to college in Connecticut, maybe he’d know the school. But Bradley actually looked uncomfortable as he inspected his coffee a little too closely, so James wasn’t going to keep digging, as curious as he now was. “Alright, so are we thinking that the mom is as out of date as me and Celia, which is why she thought this disguise would work?”

“I think it’s plausible,” Gabriella said. “So what do we do next?”

“Celia’s going to talk to Pen and see if this is the same kid she’s been having problems with,” James said. “Which I’m almost positive it is. And then after that, I’m not sure. We have to clear out the house, that’s the priority. But I don’t know if there’s anything to be done. Legally, I mean, with the family. I could go break their windshield if they’re terrorizing a five-year-old, but let’s get all the facts first.”

“I’ll be right there with you,” Gabriella said. “Just let me know and I’ll have a brick ready.”

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 14