I turned back to the man, who looked irritated. My face scrunched in disgust when I caught onto what he’d said.
“No. He’s the shop’s bodyguard.”
The man’s eyes grew wide. “This place has to have a bodyguard?”
“Sometimes, yes.”
Ignoring the confusion and fear on his face, I recited his list back to him to verify. I couldn’t believe my luck. The minute there might be a break in the case, some cranky old jerk had to come in to demand a long list of ingredients from the apothecary.
After I gathered up the ingredients and brought them out, I noticed that Jo was back inside. The dark-haired woman was nowhere in sight. He stood with his thumbs hooked through his belt loops, shifting from foot to foot while I rang up the annoying old man.
As soon as the customer left, I rounded the counter and approached Jo.
“Why did you let her go?”
He shrugged. “Were you expecting me to arrest her?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Of course not. But I’m pretty sure that was the woman who’s been intimidating me and breaking into my house!”
His eyes went wide. “What makes you say that?”
“Jade caught the intruder trying to get into my house again last night,” I said, making sure to steer clear of the mention of magic. “When she got up to run, I saw that she had long, dark hair. Besides, that woman has been in here before, scowling and sneering at everything.”
Jo’s face creased with confusion. “I…don’t think that’s right.”
I shot him a withering glare. “Let me guess; she said she didn’t do anything?”
“I didn’t ask her if she’s been trying to get inside your house.” He paused, rubbing his chin with his fingers and thumb. I threw my hands in the air, fed up with his short answers.
“Then what did you talk to her about?”
His eyes met mine. I couldn’t quite read his expression, but I could tell he was debating what to tell me. “I asked her why she came in here.”
I raised my eyebrows. “And?”
“And…she said that she was told to come.”
My eyes went wide. That was not the answer I’d expected. “She was told to come in here?”
That made no sense at all. Who would tell Chandra to come to my store? She lorded over everyone in this town, and I was sure she didn’t take orders from anyone.
“Is there some higher authority that Chandra reports to, then?”
It was Jo’s turn to look confused. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m almost a hundred percent positive that the woman who came in here is Chandra. She has to be the one trying to break into my house. There’s no other explanation, but who would tell her to come here?”
Jo shook his head. “That wasn’t Chandra. But…you’re right that she’s not safe.”
“She’s not Chandra?”
This was getting weirder by the minute. How did Jo know who she was? Was he even telling the truth?
“No, she isn’t. But she knows Chandra.”
“Who is she, then?”
He opened his mouth to answer, but a group of three women came in at just that moment. I tried not to glare when I greeted them. A few other customers followed behind them, so we had to cut our conversation short.
Jo hung around, looking at the merchandise and decorations I’d put up on the walls. I was dying to talk to him, but for some reason, all the citizens of Woods Crossing decided to come in that afternoon.
As I helped customers, I realized that Jade was gone. I looked for her when I went back to the apothecary to get ingredients, but she wasn’t there either. She must have slipped out when people were coming in. I began to worry, especially since she’d been injured only yesterday.
Five o’clock rolled around at last, but I still had some stragglers in the shop. One woman in particular seemed to agonize over the essential oils display, hemming and hawing over the best combination of oils. I wanted to scream.
I locked the door at five-thirty, then jumped when I turned around and saw Jo.
“I forgot you were still here.”
He gave a tight, uneasy grin. “We didn’t get to finish talking.”
“No, we didn’t. Who was that woman?”
Jo licked his lips a few times. “I’m not sure how much to tell you.”
I clenched my hands into fists. “If she’s the one trying to get into my house, I need to know!”
