Page 61 of Curse of the Wolf
But where had I seen it before? Jasmine was right that it wasn’t on the earlier list of addresses her father had dredged up. I’d seen it… I flexed my fingers in the air, groping for the where and when. “Oh,” I blurted and pulled out my own phone.
“Oh?” Jasmine peered at it.
I flipped through the recent photos, then found one I’d taken of a shipping label on a box in the mushroom farm.
“When I saw this, I figured it belonged to an alchemist client that Radomir’s business was shipping mushrooms to.” I showed them the screen.
“Maple Falls?” Duncan asked. “That’s quite the happening little town.”
“Yes, and that thug I tackled at the theater said he’d delivered my sword to a laboratory in that area.” I tapped the address into my map app. Driving directions appeared, heading to a location well east of the gas station and grocery store that marked the center of town. “Do you want to check it out?”
Right after the words came out, I wished I hadn’t asked. Duncan hadn’tfaintedanywhere, as I’d worried earlier, but with bags under his eyes and a slump to his usually straight posture, he looked exhausted. No, more than that. He looked like he was dying.
Tears threatened as I studied him.
“This auction was years ago?” Duncan was focused on the phone screen rather than on me getting teary-eyed. That was for the best. He wouldn’t want me worrying about him. “It seems unlikely anyone is there now.”
By the time he looked at my face, I’d blinked away the tears.
“The auction may have been years ago, but someone was shipping mushrooms there last week.” I summed up my investigation at that property with Jasmine. We’d found Duncanafterpoking around there, so he hadn’t seen the inside of that garage.
“Ah, interesting. It’s a bit of a drive, but we don’t have any better ideas about their location, so it might be worth checking out.” Duncan looked wistfully in the direction the armored SUV had gone, doubtless wishing he’d managed to catch Radomirhere. We could have been questioning him now instead of making plans to drive all over the Puget Sound area again.
“I can go. Maybe you can stay here and rest.” I waved to his van, then looked at Jasmine and Bolin. Should I invite them along again? They’d been helpful in distracting the kidnappers at the cabin, but I worried about them being hurt. Especially Bolin. He wasn’t a werewolf, and he wasn’t a relative. What would I tell his parents if I got him killed?
“Rest?” Duncan asked. “It’s the middle of the day.”
“Yes, but you’re…” I glanced at the others. “Looking peaked.”
His eyebrows flew up, and he straightened. “Nothing a shot of caffeine won’t fix. Let’s visit your espresso maker. You have take-away mugs, don’t you?”
“Several.”
“That’ll do.” He nodded firmly.
Sadly, I doubted all the caffeine in the world would help him, but I nodded back. “Okay.”
He was my biggest ally. Not taking him didn’t seem right. Besides, if we found Radomir and Abrams, and they had a tool or artifact that could help him, he would need to be there for it to work.
“Do you want us to come, Aunt Luna?” Jasmine asked.
I bit my lip, considering them again. “Radomir and his building inspector might still be in the area. Would you stay here and keep an eye on things?”
“Things?” Bolin asked. “You mean the priceless artifact stuffed in your glovebox?”
“It wasn’t stuffed. It was carefully placed inside. I even insulated it.”
Bolin eyed the truck skeptically. Covering the case with a Kleenex possibly didn’t count as insulation, but I hadn’t crammed it in there.
“I could take it to my parents’ house,” he offered. “Dad has a safe, and it’s a pretty secure spot. Their house also isn’t due to have anybuilding inspections.”
I hesitated. After Radomir had looked up my family and known all about Austin’s trip home for the holidays, I assumed he also knew about my intern and his parents. Radomir probably had their address as well as that of Bolin’s home. Still, leaving it in my apartment wouldn’t be a good idea either, not after the supposed inspector had confirmed it was in the area.
“Maybe I’ll take it with me,” I said.
Bolin shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
“And possibly deliver it into Radomir’s hands?” Duncan asked.
