“We’d love to,” I said, ignoring the dismay on Owen’s face. It would be the perfect opportunity to see if there was any other magically stolen loot in their possession. I tried to give him a significant look to show him I knew what I was doing.
“Then how about we see you at twelve-thirty? Don’t bother bringing anything. I’ve got it all taken care of.”
When the house was finally empty of everyone but us, Mom, and Dad, I suggested to Owen that we go sit out on the porch swing and enjoy the lovely evening. As soon as I was certain we weren’t being spied upon—at least not closely enough to be overheard—I shared my conclusions. “I have a new suspect for us,” I said.
“One of your family?”
“Only indirectly. Sherri was wearing a new bracelet tonight, one Beth remembered having seen in the jewelry store on the square. Sherri seemed uncomfortable and was really vague about how she got it. I know she and Dean can’t usually afford stuff like that.”
“You think she’s our rogue wizard?”
“Either that, or she knows who it is because she’s buying hot goods from him at a discount.”
“So that’s why you accepted the invitation.”
“Exactly. Normally, I’d avoid it like the plague, but we might be able to see what else they have in their house, and you might be able to tell if there’s any magic going on. I don’t suppose there’d be any way to expose her as the thief without revealing the magical angle, huh?”
“It might be difficult.”
“Rats. I know it sounds awful of me, but I’d have loved to convince Mom that she didn’t hang the moon. Frank and Teddy have such great wives, and I’m glad to think of them as sisters, but I don’t know what Dean was thinking. He wasn’t thinking with his brains, that’s for sure.”
“She’s not even that attractive. She just looks cheap.”
I desperately wanted to hug him for that. I’d forgotten where I’d left off on the list of things I loved about him, but that needed to go on the list. Too bad a hug would be totally inappropriate for the strictly business relationship he seemed to be trying to maintain.
“I guess we rig the bank tonight after everyone else is asleep. How will we make it so that the customers and employees can still get in and out but our wizard can’t?”
“I can set it to only block people with a certain magical level. Someone who can actually work magic has to be beyond a particular threshold. If we hear reports of people being unable to get in the bank, we’ll know there’s more magic in this town than we realized. But if I’m right, he’ll try to hit the bank tomorrow night, so we’ll have everything taken care of before customers become an issue.”
“I take it we’re crawling out the windows again tonight.”
“I’ll have to get some things from my case first. I really hope your parents are heavy sleepers.”
We went back inside and made a big show of heading off to bed. Once I was safely in my room for the night, I changed into black jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt, made a dummy out of pillows so that my bed looked occupied, and pulled Owen’s case out from under my bed. Then I read by flashlight until shortly after midnight, when Owen tapped on my window.
He was also dressed in black. I moved to hand him the case, but he shook his head and crawled in through the window. “I don’t need the whole thing.” He knelt by the case, opened it, then dug around in it, putting various items into a black backpack that came from inside the case. I tried to get a look inside the case, but it was too dark to see much, and the magical light he used to illuminate his work was angled the wrong way to give me a good look.
After he had everything he needed, he relocked the case and shoved it back under the bed. Then we made our way out the window and down off the porch roof. We parked behind the Dairy Queen and walked the rest of the way to the bank, which was a block off the town square. It was a solid Art Deco building that must have gone up just in time for the banks to fail at the start of the Depression. The building had proved far sturdier than the institution, as it was still in use by a branch of a national conglomerate. Sam waited for us in front of the bank.
“Do you think you can manage a veil long enough for me to get this done?” Owen asked him. “I don’t want us accidentally fingered as suspects.”
“Got it covered, kiddo. I’m not sure it’ll be strong enough to block out our local wizard, but the cops on patrol won’t spot any suspicious activity. Just make it snappy. There’s not a lot of power to draw on around here. I spent a few hours on a church today, which helped, but it’s not as good as being able to tap into a real power source.”
