Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 1) (6 page)

“Get out.” I leaned in. “Are there werewolves too?”

Greyson laughed. “Oh, yes. And witches and fae and gargoyles.”

“Wow.” I couldn’t believe it. Obviously, I’d known what kind of town Nocturne Falls was, but man, had I underestimated it. No wonder my father was afraid I wouldn’t want to come back. This place was turning out to be far more interesting than the North Pole. “Who’s a werewolf in here?”

“Didn’t you say you went to Howler’s before coming here?”

“I did.”

“The woman who owns the place is a werewolf. She’s usually behind the bar when she’s not in her office so you may have seen her.”

“Bridget?”

“That’s her.”

“She waited on me! I sat at the bar. I knew she was
something
, I just didn’t know what. How cool.” I stared out at the people on the dance floor.

“You want to join them?”

I looked at him. “You mean dance?”

He nodded. “Much better view from there too.”

A little spark of joy lit inside me. “I’m in.”

We spent the next hour (or two?) dancing while Greyson simultaneously pointed out various supernaturals in the crowd around us and explained who they were and what jobs, if any, they did in town. It was quite the education.

Finally, we took a break, went back to the table, and ordered another round. Dancing had made me thirsty, so the first half of that mojito went down fast.

In fact, I was almost done with it when Greyson’s gaze latched on to someone in the crowd. He looked over at me. “If you’ll excuse me, I see someone I need to talk to.”

“Sure. I should go anyway.” As soon as I sucked down the last of the drink. “Tomorrow is my first official day on the job and all that.” All that being figuring out why Santa’s Workshop’s workers were disappearing while, at the same, being a good employee. That would require some sleep. And no more mojitos. Plus, Spider was waiting on me.

Greyson stood. “I didn’t mean for you to go. I won’t be long.”

“Thanks, but I really do need to go. It’s getting late. This has been awesome. I really appreciate the company and the cover charge. And the education.” I pulled some of the cash out of my jacket and laid it on the table.

He shook his head. “Don’t even try that. Your money is no good to me.”

“Very kind of you.” I put the money away and slid out of the booth to stand next to him.

Then he leaned against the table, and his eyes took on the silver sheen I’d seen upstairs. “What if I want to see you again?”

That gave me a slightly-embarrassing, girlish thrill. I really needed to get out more. “Do you?”

“Yes.”

We were eye to eye, so long as he stayed leaning. I smiled and decided to play it chill. “You know where I work.”

“Until next time then, Lilibeth.” He kissed my cheek, giving me another delicious whiff of his cinnamon scent.

The kiss was both chaste and devilish. It lingered too long to be classified as nice, but his mouth never moved lower than my cheek, so it wasn’t exactly naughty either. For someone well versed in naughty versus nice, I was confounded.

And a little hot.

“Night,” I muttered and took off for the elevator. Thankfully, the doors slid open as soon as I hit the button.

Chet the bear was still guarding the entrance. Now that I knew what he was, I could see it. Sort of.

“Have fun?” he asked.

“I did. I’ll be back.” No clue when, but why not? Insomnia was a happening place. Maybe I’d come back to celebrate achieving my mission. Then I could be Jayne and really let my hair down.

But for tonight, Lilibeth was going to bed.

I woke up unable to move my head and had a small panic attack until I realized Spider was sleeping on my hair. I slid him to a free spot on the pillow then gave him a scratch. “Morning, Spidey-cat.”

He rolled upside down and stretched his paws adorably toward my face. He was seriously the cutest thing ever. Then he yawned and sent a stinky wave of cat breath in my direction.

“Oh, Spider, your breath is heinous.” Mine probably wasn’t much better. I hoisted myself to a sitting position and rubbed my eyes. I’d only had three drinks last night, but apparently the stuff they served at the Pole was watered down compared to real drinks or something, because I was feeling it.

Or maybe what I was feeling was a night spent dreaming about Mr. Garrett and his nice, naughty kiss. How had he turned such a sweet thing into a moment that had filled my dreams with so many wicked images? Roma magic? Vampire magic? Who knew?

I barely remembered getting ready for bed. I pulled my hair off my face, and something brushed my hand. I still had an earring in my left ear. The other one was probably in the covers somewhere.

Oh boy, I was not fully functioning.

An ice-cold, fully caffeinated Dr Pepper would help. I hoped.

I stumbled through the living room and into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Spider traipsed in after me, looking as bright and happy as could be, the tuna-breathed bugger. I squinted at the light as I grabbed a bottle of the good stuff. It wasn’t quite as cold as I liked it. I turned the fridge temp down then wrapped my hand around the bottle. A quick blast of my magic and ice crystals formed in the liquid. Perfect. I leaned against the counter, twisted off the top and took a long pull.

Spider sat by his bowl, staring up at me, and meowed.

“I’m sure that means breakfast, right? I’m on it.” I changed his water, then filled his other dish with dry food. The bag was almost empty. I’d have to get him some more, but I wasn’t going to have time to hit the Shop-n-Save until my shift was over today. And I had no idea when that would be.

But I started at nine, which meant I had less than an hour to make myself presentable and get downstairs.

I showered, did the hair and makeup thing, dressed, ate a large bowl of frosted chocolate sugar crunchies, and drank as much Dr Pepper as I could manage. I was about to head down when I remembered Toly saying the housekeeping service came today. Since Spider had been Bertie’s cat, the service must know not to let him out. He’d probably run and hide anyway as soon as he heard the vacuum. I assumed he’d be okay.

But I wasn’t taking any chances with the snow globe. I tucked it away in one of my suitcases that was stowed in the walk-in closet.

Satisfied, I grabbed my purse and gave Spider a goodbye pat on the head. I walked through the shop’s employee entrance at eight fifty-nine.

Toly was sitting on a stool behind the cash register reading the Tombstone, which I took to be the local paper. He lifted his head and smiled at me. “Morning, Lilibeth. Ready to get going?”

“Absolutely.”
Not
. But I sounded enthusiastic, and that’s what mattered.

“You can put your pocketbook behind the counter here.”

“All right.” I leaned in and stuck my purse in one of the cubbies.

He hopped off the stool, put the paper away and presented me with a folded green square of fabric that had been sitting on the counter. “Put this apron on, and you’re officially an employee.”

“Thanks.” I shook it out, slid it over my head and tied the strings behind my back. As uniforms went, it was pretty benign. And it had pockets, which was a plus.

I did a little pose. “How do I look?”

He chuckled. “Very nice, very nice.”

I straightened and clasped my hands in front of me. “So what’s first?”

“We’ll start with a quick tour through the shop, then the warehouse. Juniper is on shift today from ten until five, so I’ll have her show you the register, but for the first few hours this morning, I’d like you to do some stocking. It’ll help you get to know our system and where things are on the shelves.”

“Great. Lead the way.”

And he did. In forty-five minutes, he’d shown me every toy in the store and explained where each was shelved and why, for what age group it was designed, and the kinds of children who’d most likely enjoy it.

If my head was aching before, it was throbbing now, but this time it was because of an overload of information, not tasty, tasty rum. This pretending to be an employee was going to be a lot harder than I’d anticipated. I nodded and smiled and did my best to look like it was clicking. It wasn’t. Not all of it anyway.

I made a few attempts at asking about the missing employees, but Toly was having none of it. He was fully focused on teaching me about the warehouse and the store. Or maybe he was using that as an excuse not to answer. Either way, I got nowhere on that subject.

Then another worker showed up, and I got a reprieve from Santa’s Workshop 101.

Toly introduced us. “Juniper, this is Lilibeth. She’s our new hire.”

Juniper was five feet of winter elf firecracker. Her short violet curls sprang off her head like they were trying to escape. She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Lilibeth. We sure can use the help.”

“Well, here I am.” I shook her hand. She had a grip like a stevedore. If she was happy for the help, did that mean she was unhappy about the workers who’d left? Maybe she knew something. I needed to talk to her more, but not with Toly watching.

He patted his stomach. “Juniper, you can teach Lilibeth the cash register after lunch. This morning I’m going to have her restocking.”

“You got it, Toly.” Juniper put on her apron, and as soon as Toly turned around, she stuck her tongue out and made crazy eyes.

I bit my lip to keep from snorting. Oh, I liked this woman. And I was starting to wonder if Toly was maybe a little bit of a slave driver. Sure, he was a legend, but that was all about his inventions and toy innovations. Being a legend indicated nothing about his people skills.

I wasn’t sure about the slave driver part yet, but he was
very
thorough. The tour continued through the warehouse and included a detailed description of what every shelf held, where new inventory was brought in, and how the Santa Bag worked.

Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I stopped him there. I knew how the bag worked. Every elf who lived at the Pole did. It was one of the most widely known magical creations that came out of the NP, but also the most secret. It was basically a direct portal from the NP to wherever the bag was. I also knew every store had one, enabling them to get whatever stock they needed, whenever they needed it. Other stuff could be sent through it, but nothing living. Otherwise, I could have saved myself eighteen hours in coach.

And of course, the big man had the original Santa’s Bag. Hence the name. How else do you think he delivers that many toys to that many houses? The bag gets refilled after every couple of stops.

It was a good system. Actually, it was a great system. Uncle Kris invented it himself, but then, he was the head tinker. And I didn’t need Toly to give me a twenty-minute lecture on how it worked.

Toly ignored my interruption and finished his spiel about the bag anyway, making me wonder if he was dense or just stubborn.

An hour later, the tour was over and I was on the floor, literally, stocking the bottom shelf in the puzzle and game department. I was supposed to be checking SKUs and moving the oldest inventory to the front, but frankly, my desire to be employee of the month was non-existent.

And what was Toly going to do? Fire me? I guess he could, but—

“Excuse me, I need some help.”

At the sound of the pleasant male voice, I looked straight into the legs of a man in uniform. Be still my heart. I followed the navy blue pants up to a utility belt and zeroed in on the firefighter’s patch on the guy’s sleeve.

Firefighters were hot. No pun intended.

My interest screeched to a halt at his face. The guy was a summer elf. Summer elves are those disgustingly flawless, California-types that are perpetually tan, have natural sun-kissed highlights in their perfectly tousled dirty-blond hair, and sport the kind of smiles that toothpaste companies rode to fame and fortune.

This guy was built like Disney’s idea of a surfer. Tall with broad shoulders that tapered to a ridiculous vee at the waist, then right back out again at the thighs. He was muscle-y in that easy, ropy sort of way that implies a lot of outdoor activities as opposed to time in a stinky old gym. If that wasn’t enough, he had a jawline that could shelter a small nation, blue eyes the exact color of a cloudless June sky, and a tiny, crescent-moon birthmark on his very firm right butt cheek.