Elemental Assassin: Unraveled Part 5

"Infecting it with awesomeness," he shot right back at me.

My eyes narrowed, but Finn grinned even wider, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back against the table, knowing that he'd won our verbal sparring match. In that moment, he seemed more like his old self than he had in weeks, since everything with Deirdre had gone down. I didn't have the heart to burst his bubble with more suspicions and worries right now, so I looked at the hotel brochure again.

"You really want to drive down there this weekend?" I asked. "Don't you need to stay here and help Mosley? I thought you guys still had some more safety-deposit boxes to sort through and make sure that the contents were returned to their rightful owners."

"We finished up with the last of the boxes a few nights ago." Finn paused. "Mosley's gone through all of them and double-checked everything. Apparently, he has a master list of every single item in every single box, right down to the last uncut diamond and gold coin."

"And how did he manage that? I thought the safety-deposit boxes and their contents were supposed to be completely confidential."

Finn shrugged. "I didn't ask, and frankly, I don't want to know. I'm just glad that everything's back in its proper place. All Mosley is doing now is hiring and vetting new guards and poring over new security procedures and protocols. Believe me, he's briefed me on those quite thoroughly."

Finn muttered the last few words, and his cheery expression vanished. This time, I winced for him. Anyone would have fallen for Deirdre's deceptive charm and gotten ensnared in her elaborate plan to rob First Trust. But like it or not, Finn was the one who'd given Deirdre, Rodrigo Santos, and their crew of thieves access to the bank, even if it had been at gunpoint, and several of the bank's guards had died as a result.

Naturally, Stuart Mosley had come down hard on Finn. Oh, the dwarf didn't yell or scream or threaten him. Mosley didn't even say a single word about firing him. He just made sure that Finn was involved in every single aspect of getting the bank back up and running again, from reviewing the new security procedures, to a.s.suring customers that their valuables were still safe, to attending the funerals of all the guards who'd died.

Finn would have done all of those things anyway, but that last one had been particularly hard on him, since he'd worked at the bank for years and had been friendly with all the people who'd been killed. He didn't say anything to me, but he'd come to the Pork Pit after a few of the funerals, his eyes dark, his face gray with grief, his entire being radiating sick misery. I knew that it tore him up inside that his coworkers were dead and that their families were suffering their devastating losses. Finn blamed himself for all of it, and the guilt was like a lead weight yoked to his shoulders. I knew that he wasn't eating like he should, and Bria had told me that he was barely sleeping as well.

Finn absolutely loved his job, so the robbery and everything that Deirdre had done to him had been punishment enough, but Mosley made him suffer a little more, just because. Something else that had added to Finn's misery the last few weeks, although he hadn't complained about his boss's tactics. Not even once. Finn thought that he deserved to be punished, and nothing that I, Bria, or anyone else said convinced him otherwise.

"Besides," Finn continued, "I think that we could all use a break after everything that's happened the last few weeks, and where better to get your mojo back than at a fancy hotel? A seaweed wrap will do wonders for the skin, and frankly, my dear, you could use some cuc.u.mber slices on your eyes. Get rid of those dark circles and worry lines, and turn your perpetual frown upside down."

"Frowning makes me look more intimidating, and the only cuc.u.mbers I'm interested in are the ones in the Pork Pit's salads."

He rolled his eyes. "You are so wrong about so many things in life, I don't even know where to start."

I grinned at him, and he sighed, knowing that I'd won round two. But Finnegan Lane was never down for long.

"Come on, Gin," he wheedled. "You, me, Bria, Owen. We'll road-trip down there, spend the weekend playing cowboys and getting pampered, and be back in time for you to open up the restaurant on Monday morning. It'll be fun. A vacation from everyone and everything in Ashland."

"Vacation?" I scoffed, and crossed my arms over my chest. "Do you remember what happened the last time we went on vacation?"

He winced, thinking about our time in Blue Marsh.

"A psycho vampire almost sucked out all my magic, along with my blood, and I ended up tromping through a swamp in the middle of the night," I said. "So forgive me if I am not eager to go on another vacation. To me, vacation just means extreme danger in a different place."

Finn waved away my concerns. "That was a onetime bout of bad luck, and you know it. Nothing like that will happen again."

I arched my eyebrows at him.

"Well, probably not," he said. "Although I do know for a fact that you won't be tromping through any swamps."

"And why is that?"

"Because they aren't any down there."

He smiled, pleased with his logic, but I kept glowering at him. The smile slipped from his face, and his shoulders sagged again.

"Please, Gin," he said in a much quieter voice. "It would mean a lot to me."

"Why?"

His lips pressed together in a tight line, and it took him a moment to answer. "Deirdre said that she spent a lot of time at the hotel. I'd like to see her room and her things, whatever she might have left behind."

Just like that, everything made sense. Even now, after how horribly she'd betrayed and tortured him, Finn still wanted to know more about Deirdre, the same way that I wanted to know more about my own mother, and if she'd really been a terrible person like Tucker had claimed. Finn needed to know if there had been anything more to Deirdre than her insatiable greed and cold, cold heart. I couldn't blame my brother for his curiosity, since the same questions burned in my own heart about Eira.

"Besides," Finn continued, sensing that I was wavering, "maybe there's some clue in her things about the Circle. She was their money manager, after all. At least, one of them. Surely, she kept records somewhere on their business interests and finances."

He had a point. We hadn't found anything in Deirdre's personal possessions in her rented penthouse suite here in Ashland, but perhaps she had left something behind at the hotel. Something that the Circle hadn't gotten to yet. Something that might help me identify the other members-or at least figure out how my mother had been involved with them.

Maybe Finn was right. Maybe a change of scenery would do us all some good. Clear our heads and hearts, and let us come back to Ashland with fresh eyes and renewed determination. Right now, I was just spinning my wheels when it came to the Circle, and I'd run out of people to question and places to look.

I sighed, and Finn grinned, realizing that he'd won this third and final round and thus the whole shooting match.

"Well, Gin?" Excitement was creeping into his voice again. "What do you say?"

I shook my head and tossed the brochure down onto the table. "The only thing I can say. Cowboy up, y'all. We're going on a road trip."

6.

"Shoot me," Owen Grayson muttered in a low voice that only I could hear. "Just go ahead and shoot me now. Please. Someone, anyone, put me out of my misery."

I looked over at my significant other, who was sprawled across the backseat of the Range Rover. We'd left Ashland early this Friday morning, and now, three hours later, we were finally approaching the Bullet Pointe theme park, which was located on the outskirts of Chattanooga, although it was actually in Georgia instead of Tennessee.

Finn was driving and singing yet another cowboy-themed song, just as he had been ever since we'd left home. His warbling was enthusiastic but gratingly off-key. I didn't know that so many Western songs existed, much less that Finn knew the words to so many of them, but he'd made a special playlist just for our trip. Yee-haw.

Owen sighed and ran his fingers through his black hair as if he were thinking about pulling it out, just as he'd done a dozen times already in the last hour alone. The sunlight streaming in through the windows highlighted the rugged, handsome planes of his face, including his slightly crooked nose and the scar that slashed along his chin. Owen swiveled his neck from side to side, trying to release some of the tension that had gathered there and in his broad, muscled shoulders.

I reached over and grabbed his hand, threading my fingers through his. "Relax," I whispered. "We're almost there."

"You so owe me for this," he murmured back.

"And how would you like to collect?"

His violet eyes flashed with a sudden, intense heat, and a slow, s.e.xy smile pulled up his lips. "Oh, I can think of a few ways."

"Well, then." I grinned back at him. "I'll be more than happy to pay up."

Detective Bria Coolidge was sitting in the front pa.s.senger's seat, and she must have heard our whispers because she turned around and looked at me, her blond hair flying out around her shoulders.

"I just saw another sign!" she chirped, her voice more manic than genuinely enthusiastic. "We should be pulling into the hotel any minute now!"

Both of her blue eyes twitched. So did her fingers, and she glanced at Finn, then the volume control on the radio, as if debating which one she wanted to shut up more. Owen wasn't the only one who was tired of my foster brother's three-hour karaoke act.

But Finn kept right on bellowing along to the music, singing about horses and beer and other cowboy things. I was the only one who seemed to notice how strained his smiles were and how forced and fake his over-the-top, giddyap cheer really was. Finn seemed determined to have a good time and forget all about his problems back in Ashland, at least for the weekend.

I admired his determination, if not his singing.

Thankfully, Bria was right, and Finn turned off the main road and into a long, paved driveway that arched up a tree-covered hill. According to the brochure I'd read, the Bullet Pointe hotel was located at the top of the hill, with the Western theme park spread out down in the shallow valley below it.

"And here we are," Finn said, steering out of the trees and into a wide, circular area in front of the hotel.

He pulled up close to the entrance and stopped, and the four of us got out of the car.

The Bullet Pointe resort hotel loomed up before us. The seven-story structure was made out of enormous gray rocks fitted together, along with thick, st.u.r.dy beams of old, gray weathered wood. Wide, short windows gleamed like rectangular diamonds in the sunlight, while the black slate roof rose to a sharp point. The front of the hotel was flanked by a stone porch that featured rows of rocking chairs and old-fashioned barrels with checkerboards and other games perched on top.

Christmas had definitely come early here. Large cl.u.s.ters of potted poinsettias were s.p.a.ced every few feet along the porch, while mistletoe and other greenery wrapped around the stone columns, along with white twinkle lights. Still more white icicle lights dripped down from all the windows and eaves, while ten-foot-wide evergreen wreaths topped with red velvet bows dangled from the sides of the structure. The hotel reminded me of some rustic Western hunting lodge that had been decked out for the holidays and dropped into the middle of the Appalachian Mountains.

"Isn't it cool?" Finn said, his face lighting up with excitement. "This is going to be such a great weekend. Let's get our luggage and go inside."

Although it was just after ten o'clock in the morning, a steady stream of people moved in and out of the hotel, checking in, checking out, hauling suitcases, coolers, and more here and there. A valet dressed like a cowboy took Finn's car keys, while a couple of bellmen, also dressed like cowboys, hustled up and loaded our luggage onto a bra.s.s cart. The four of us headed for the main entrance, a stone archway that was lined with deer and elk antlers with white lights wrapped around them.

Finn was busy talking and pointing out things to Bria and Owen, but I looked around, examining everything and everyone around me. The valets and bellmen were hurrying to do their jobs, while the other guests were busy wrangling their kids and their luggage. I also reached out with my Stone magic, but the rocks that made up the hotel only murmured with all the fast-paced hustle and bustle of the thousands of people who stayed here every year, and I didn't detect any loud, obvious notes of malice, mayhem, or murder.

Still, I couldn't help but feel like someone was watching me.

A familiar ominous dread filled the pit of my stomach, and the spider rune scars embedded in my palms started itching and burning, almost in warning. I could have sworn that someone was staring at me. I looked around again, but the busy scene was the same as before, with guests, valets, and bellmen all caught up in their own luggage, tips, and ch.o.r.es. So my gaze wandered higher toward the upper levels of the hotel- A white curtain twitched in a window on the third floor.

My head snapped up, and my eyes narrowed as I peered at that window, but the curtain had already dropped back into place, and I couldn't see who-if anyone-was standing behind it. Still, I stayed where I was, hoping that the curtain would move again, revealing exactly who was on the other side- "Come on, Gin!" Finn called out. "Time's a'wasting!"

He waved at me before stepping through the arched entrance. Bria and Owen followed him, but I stayed where I was and looked up at the window again.

The white curtain remained perfectly still, although my uneasy sensation of being watched didn't vanish. If anything, it intensified the longer I looked up at the curtain, as though I were locked in a staring contest with someone I couldn't even see- "Gin!" Finn called out again, hanging on to the side of the archway. "Come on, already!"

At his second, louder shout, guests and workers alike turned to stare at me, increasing my discomfort, and I had no choice but to duck my head and hurry forward. Still, as I stepped into the hotel, one thought kept running through my mind.

We'd just gotten here, and I already felt like we'd made a dangerous mistake.

I stepped through the archway and caught up with Bria and Owen, who were looking around the lobby while Finn talked to one of the cowboy clerks at the checkout counter.

The Bullet Pointe hotel might have seemed rustic from the outside, but Deirdre Shaw had certainly spared no expense remodeling the inside, which was all rich, luxe comfort. An enormous gray stone fireplace at least fifty feet wide took up one entire wall of the lobby, with padded rocking chairs and overstuffed sofas scattered in front of it. Given the cold outside, several folks were relaxing in front of the crackling flames and sipping tall mugs of hot chocolate and spiced apple cider, while other guests were perched on stools at a bar close to the fireplace, sipping harder brews.

Waiters dressed like cowboys and waitresses in saloon-girl costumes moved from the bar, through the crowd in front of the fireplace, and back again, serving and refilling drinks. Still more costumed waitstaff circulated through the lobby, dropping off plates of appetizers and small snacks, before heading back down a hallway to a nearby kitchen.

More chairs and sofas were cl.u.s.tered in groups throughout the lobby, for those who preferred to relax away from the heat of the fireplace, along with tables that featured tall lamps made out of deer, elk, and moose antlers. Those same sorts of antlers also wrapped around the wide wagon-wheel chandeliers that dropped down from the ceiling.

But the rustic decor couldn't compete with all the Christmas trees. More than a dozen of them were spread throughout the lobby, ranging in size from cute three-foot tabletoppers to the showstopping thirty-foot spruce in the center of the lobby. No fakes here. These trees were definitely genuine, given the strong tangy evergreen scent that perfumed the air.

Each tree had a different theme and decorations to match. One tree was its own toy box, with rag dolls, miniature trains, and tin soldiers dangling from its branches, along with popcorn and cranberry strings. Another had a cowboy theme, naturally, with miniature boots, la.s.sos, and silver spurs covering it from top to bottom. One was its own winter wonderland, decked out in crystal snowflakes, gla.s.s snowmen, and silver tinsel. On and on they went, each tree boasting more lights and ornaments than the last.

I enjoyed holiday decorations, and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the tree was one of my favorite things about Christmas, but it always made me a little melancholy too, and I always missed Fletcher a little more during this time of year. The old man had always embraced the holiday spirit, decorating the Pork Pit with lights, tinsel, and mistletoe, conducting toy and food drives, and buying me, Finn, and the Deveraux sisters silly little gifts. This year, I felt even bluer than usual, Fletcher's loss compounded by all these unanswered questions about my mother.

"Hey, guys," Owen called out. "Come check this out."

I moved away from the Christmas trees and went over to Owen, who was peering at a large wooden display case. Bria walked over to us as well.

To my surprise, several pieces of old-fashioned jewelry lay inside the case, perched on black velvet stands. A square pendant, a wide choker, several rings, earrings, and bracelets, even a couple of antique hair combs. All the pieces were done in silverstone, and all were missing the most important things-the gemstones that went in the settings.

"The Hidden Treasure of Bullet Pointe," Owen rumbled, reading the information placard inside the gla.s.s. "This jewelry belonged to Sweet Sally Sue, a wealthy coal baroness who built the Bullet Pointe hotel and theme park back during the Great Depression."

Several photos were also propped up in the case, showing Sweet Sally Sue, a tall, slender woman with blue eyes and long auburn hair curled into fat ringlets. She must have loved her theme park and jewelry because in every single picture she was dressed like an old-fashioned saloon girl and decked out in all her gems.

I leaned closer, peering at the photos. A large, square sapphire went in the empty pendant, while the choker had featured three rows of diamonds. More sapphires and diamonds adorned the rest of the jewelry, along with generous helpings of rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones. Sweet Sally Sue hadn't skimped on her baubles. Even back then, the gemstones would have been worth a fortune.

"Sweet Sally Sue loved puzzles," Owen continued reading. "To celebrate what would have been Sweet Sally Sue's one hundred twenty-fifth birthday this year, her jewels were removed from their settings, placed into a black velvet bag, and hidden in the Bullet Pointe theme park, where they remain to this day. Whoever finds the bag of gemstones will be allowed to keep them, as well as their original settings. They will also receive a free lifetime pa.s.s to the theme park and hotel."

Owen stopped and blinked, as if the final sentence on the placard surprised him. He cleared his throat and finished reading. "The contest was the brainchild of the current resort owner, Deirdre Shaw."

I eyed the empty jewelry settings. They reminded me of an engagement ring that Fletcher had once given to Deirdre-one that she'd pried the diamond out of and sold on the sly.

"Hidden treasure? Up for grabs for whoever can find it in the theme park?" Bria huffed. "Sounds like a publicity stunt. A way to get more people to come to the park and spend their money searching for something that's not even there."

"Probably, knowing Deirdre," I said. "That, or she sold the stones to pay for her own creature comforts and upgrades to the hotel and didn't want anyone to realize what she'd done."

"Well, don't tell Finn," Bria warned, "or he'll have us all out scouring every park bench and trash can for those rocks."

"Actually," Finn said, coming up behind her, "that is on my to-do list."

Bria winced and faced him. He arched his eyebrows, but she shrugged, realizing that it was too late to take back her snarky words.

"Anyway," Finn said, "I've got us all checked in, and the bellmen are taking our luggage up to our suites. The manager's expecting me upstairs in her office. Let's go see what she has to say for herself."

He held his arm out to Bria. "Shall we, my lady?"

She nodded and threaded her arm through his, and the two of them headed for the elevators in the back corner of the lobby.

I stayed by the display case, still staring down at the empty jewelry settings. They were just metal husks now, stripped of the stones that had made them so lovely, but the longer I looked at them, the more heavy worry weighed down my stomach. Even though Sweet Sally Sue was dead, and Deirdre along with her, I could almost feel their ghosts hovering in the air around me, whispering taunts that I couldn't quite make out.

"Gin?" Owen asked. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," I said, once again trying to banish my nagging feeling that something was seriously wrong here. "As ready as I'll ever be."

7.