Lost Soul (Harbinger P.I. Book 1) by Adam J Wright Page B

attacked by ogres. How many more surprises was this town going to throw at me before the day was over?
    I checked my watch. It was after four. Maybe I should call it a day and go get some food for the barbecue and a couple of cases of beer. I needed to unwind for a while and then think about who had sent those ogre assassins to kill me and why.
    Felicity came into the office. “Everything is sorted out with Timothy Ellsworth. He’s paid two months in advance.”
    “Good. Providing security services to werewolves means a steady paycheck. I had half a dozen werewolf clients in Chicago. Every full moon, I locked them up in a warehouse by the river in Joliet. It’s easy money until one of them tries to take a bite out of you.”
    “And what about the other werewolf? The one that bit Timothy? It’s still out there somewhere.”
    I turned from the window to look at her. “Yeah, I’m going to have to deal with that.”
    “How are you going to find it? Do you have to wait until it murders someone during the next full moon?”
    “That’s one option, but it means dealing with the police, something I want to avoid. Also, it means someone has to get killed before we can pick up the werewolf’s trail. There’s an easier way to find out if someone in town is cursed.”
    She raised a questioning eyebrow. “What’s that?”
    “There are a couple of witches in town, the Blackwell sisters. They own the bookshop down the street. The werewolf curse is magical in origin, so the witches should be able to cast a locator spell that leads to the cursed person.”
    “And when you find them, are you going to…?” She made a cutting motion across her throat.
    “Not necessarily. If the cursed person has killed people while in werewolf form, then it’s my job to send him to doggy heaven, but if he hasn’t hurt anyone yet, I could offer him the same deal I offered Timothy. I was checking the local news reports earlier and there was nothing about dead bodies found after the full moon, so maybe this is a newly-turned werewolf whose only act of aggression so far was to bite Timothy.”
    “Or it could be that the killings happened elsewhere and the werewolf has recently moved to this area.”
    “Yeah, that’s a possibility too.”
    “When are you going to see the witches?”
    “Maybe tomorrow morning before we head off to the lake.”
    Felicity’s dark eyes widened as if she was suddenly remembering something. “Should I see if I can rent one of those cabins for us to stay in?”
    “Yeah, maybe you should. Get it for a few days if you can. There’s a time dilation between Faerie and our world. It depends which part of the faerie realm I end up in, but I could spend what I think are a few hours there and days could pass here.”
    She nodded. “I’ll make sure to bring some provisions.”
    “Speaking of provisions, let’s call it a day here and I’ll get some food for the barbecue.”
    “All right,” she said, that pretty smile playing over her lips. “I’ll just finish up a few things and then I’ll head home.”
    “Just come over whenever you’re ready,” I said. “I’ll have the barbecue all fired up.” I followed her out of the office and into the hallway. She went into her own office and began typing on her keyboard. “Where’s the nearest store?” I asked.
    She gave me directions to a general store on Main Street and I left the office, deciding to walk there. It was still warm, but not uncomfortably so, and a stroll along Main Street, I thought, might give me a better feel for the town of Dearmont. My initial impression, that this was a preternatural dead zone, was obviously incorrect.
    As I passed Blackwell Books, I peered in through the window to see Victoria Blackwell and a woman who was obviously her sister—same long, dark hair and similar black dress—serving customers among bookshelves that reached to the shop’s ceiling.
    I wondered if I should go in and ask them about the werewolf locator spell