Love Your Entity(80)

“So you thought the key could be on a body Hal buried in the backyard? Did you find anything out there?” she said.

“Some bones. Not human, though.”

“And no treasure?”

“No. I even ran a metal detector across the property. Nothing,” he said.

“Okay then. So we can knock those two locations—the passageway and the backyard—off the list of possible hiding places. What about the front yard?”

“I dug that up too.”

“At vamp speed?”

“Of course.”

“And no one saw you?”

“It was still dark. Before the sun came up.”

She could only imagine what the neighbors would think. Wait, the neighbors were witches and vampires. “I still think we’re missing something.”

“We’re missing the third piece of that damn map,” Ronan said.

A warbling scream came from upstairs.

The door at the top of the stairs flew open and Ruby stood there, frantic. “It’s Valentine’s Day! Hello? Why aren’t you doing something?”

“Can she see us?” Sierra asked Ronan.

He shook his head. “It doesn’t appear so. Remember, this is a secure site.”

“Maybe she could hear me if I stand on the stairs. I’m still here,” Sierra told Ruby. “Ruby, can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can hear you but I can’t see you. Something new invaded the house the other night and now everything is out of whack.”

“Do you know what it was? Had you ever seen it before?” Sierra asked.

“I didn’t see it at all,” Ruby said.

“Yeah, me either,” Sierra said.

“But it was evil. Even worse than Hal. That doesn’t mean that Hal can stay though. He has to go. Today!” Ruby shouted. “He has to go today!”

“Today is the anniversary of her death,” Sierra told Ronan.

“Not my death, my murder,” Ruby said. “And no, I wasn’t part of the Valentine’s Day massacre. I had no idea that was going to happen. Why are you hiding down there? What’s going on?” She paused a moment. “There’s someone knocking at your front door.”

“Ignore it. They’ll go away,” Sierra said.

“It’s Tanya.”

“I’ll get rid of her,” Ronan said.

The knocking stopped and instead Tanya showed up in the basement with them. “I used the tunnels. I figured you couldn’t hear me. Maybe you were writing with your headphones on.” She looked around at the messed-up sheets on the romantic bed. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

Tanya was dressed conservatively for her in a black skirt and a fuzzy red angora sweater. She had a large tote bag over her shoulder.

“This really isn’t a good time,” Sierra said, going back down the steps to face Tanya.

“I’ve been doing some research and self-publishing is the latest thing. Also fan fiction. I already wrote a chapter about Nicki and posted it. But here’s the bottom line. You need a street team.”

“Is that a vampire thing?” Ruby asked from the top of the stairs. “Can that help you get rid of Hal?”

“It’s a marketing promotional sort of thing,” Sierra said.

“I’m the perfect person to head your street team,” Tanya said.

“Let’s talk about this some other time,” Sierra said.

Tanya shook her head. “You snooze, you loose. Not that you two have been doing much snoozing down here. I really do wish you’d talked to me before you did the deed, Sierra. I was going to give you some helpful hints. You may not know this but I’m a graduate of the Mansfield School. I was their star pupil.”

“How about I meet you tomorrow at Heavenly Cupcakes,” Sierra said, “and we can talk about your childhood schooldays—”

Tanya interrupted her. “The Mansfield School was not for kids. The full title of their establishment was the Mansfield School of Undressing.”

Sierra blinked. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not at all. Back in the fifties, they had a third-floor office downtown on State Street. The teachers gave us invaluable lessons. For example…” Tanya took hold of the hem of her sweater and started shimmying.

“Don’t you have someplace else you have to be?”

“No,” Tanya said.

“I was talking to Ronan.”

“I’ll be nearby,” he said.

Once he was gone, Sierra drew a deep breath. “Look, I know you’re only trying to be helpful here.”

“Because clearly you need help.”

“But this isn’t a good time.”

“Okay, then I’ll give you the one-minute lesson. We can’t have you practicing faulty disrobing techniques. You do not want the word to get out that you are a sloppy undresser.”