A Drop of Magic, page 19
part #1 of The Magicsmith Series
“No idea, but I’ve got this under control. Let’s see what she can tell us about Antonio’s death. We’ll deal with Simon when we’re done.”
“You think he’s okay?”
“He probably just ran out of juice. C’mon, let’s get this over with.”
The three of us sat in Mrs. Dantes’s kitchen sipping tea from perfect china cups on matching saucers. She’d even brought out a serving tray with cream and sugar and a plate of Italian cookies. This was a woman who took her hosting seriously, even if the guests were uninvited.
“What happened to your husband?” Kai asked.
I choked on my drink and shot a glare over my teacup. He could at least try to be tactful.
Mrs. Dantes, however, seemed unperturbed by Kai’s question. “He was murdered about a month ago. This used to be such a lovely neighborhood. Families looked out for one another. What’s this world coming to when a person breaks into someone’s house and kills a harmless old man?”
“Were you here when it happened?” Kai prompted.
“No. I was shopping, same as I do every day. Only when I came back that day the police were here. They told me I couldn’t go in. Can you imagine? Someone saying you can’t go into your own home?”
“Did they tell you what happened?”
She shook her head. “They asked a bunch of questions about people Tony knew and what he’d been doing. When they finally let me in, they walked around with me and asked if anything was missing, but the only thing missing was Tony’s body. Just a stain where he died.”
She looked over her shoulder, as though she could see through the wall to the living room. “They did a good job cleaning, but I still see it.”
Sweat beaded Kai’s brow. He leaned forward and placed a hand over one of Mrs. Dantes’s as though offering comfort, but there was no empathy in his eyes. “Where were the blood stains?”
“Next to the coffee table.” Her dark eyes were glazed with tears, but she didn’t look away from Kai. She didn’t even blink.
“Alex, check it out.”
“I already looked at the coffee table.”
“Do it again.”
Heeding the strain in Kai’s voice, I headed back to the living room. I expected Mrs. Dantes to voice a complaint at this odd behavior, but she continued to stare mutely into Kai’s eyes.
As I left the room, I heard him ask, “Did your husband have any family heirlooms, or an item that seemed precious to him?”
Her response was lost as I made my way to the coffee table. Kneeling beside it, I placed one hand on the table itself and the other on the carpet between my knees. I stayed like that for a good two minutes, trying to clear my mind, to open myself up, but I didn’t feel anything that didn’t belong to me.
Kai popped his head into the living room. “Anything?”
Shaking my head, I stood up. “Nope. What happened to Mrs. Dantes?”
“She’s gone to lie down. We should leave.” Kai was leaning heavily against the door frame.
“Are you all right?
“Just tired. That lady was suspicious as hell, and stubborn to boot.”
“And you were forcing her to talk.” My lips pressed into a thin line.
“What did you expect? We had to get her to—” A knock at the front door cut him short.
We looked at each other in silence. The knock came again.
“Mrs. Dantes?” came a muffled voice. “Are you in there?”
“Do you have it in you to spell someone else?” I asked under my breath.
“Let’s hope so.”
With that glowing reassurance, I moved to the door and swung it open. Standing on the porch was a uniformed officer from the Golden police department. He had his hand raised to knock again.
“Hello. Is Mrs. Dantes here?”
If I could talk my way out of this, maybe Kai wouldn’t need to use magic. “Yes, but she’s sleeping. Can I help you?”
“A neighbor called. She said she heard Mrs. Dantes scream.”
“That’s my fault, I’m afraid. We came for a visit and surprised her when she got home.”
“We?”
“My boyfriend and I,” I confirmed. “He’s in the living room.”
“I see. Well, I’ll need to confirm your story with Mrs. Dantes. Would you mind stepping aside?”
“Of course.” So much for avoiding magic.
“Everything okay, honey?” Kai strolled in from the living room where he’d been eavesdropping. When he reached the officer, he held out his hand. “Hello, you can call me Bob.”
The cop reached for the offered hand. Then his eyes glazed over. “Thanks for your time. Sorry to have disturbed you.”
I shivered. It was amazing, and in this case useful, but it was also terrifying. If magic could change a person so easily, was anyone safe? Was I?
I shot a sidelong look at Kai. He leaned heavily against the wall, but his smile was easy, his voice smooth as honey. “No problem.”
We waited for the cop to get back in his cruiser, report to dispatch that it had been a false alarm, and drive away. Only then did I dare to breathe.
I left the cozy house with its wild garden reluctantly. Despite the tragedy that had happened there, it was an amazingly restive place. Antonio Dantes had created a small piece of paradise in the middle of town.
When we got back to the Jeep, Simon was just sitting there, same as every other time.
“What the hell happened?” I snapped when I got to his window.
“Not now, Alex.” It was Kai who spoke, angling himself into his seat. “Just get us out of here.”
Being ordered around set my teeth on edge, but the exhaustion evident in Kai’s movements made me snap my mouth shut on a snarky response and climb into the driver’s seat.
WE DROPPED SIMON in front of Crossroads to collect his dubiously earned reward, stopping just long enough for him to jump out and Kai to climb up front. I was still annoyed about getting caught by both the widow and the cop after Kai had assured me Simon would be able to keep us hidden, but I didn’t want to argue while I was driving. Kai didn’t seem inclined to talk either, so we each brooded over our own thoughts on the drive home.
Once the Jeep was safely parked, I twisted in my seat. “What happened?”
With a sigh, Kai released his seat belt and swiveled toward me. “He ran out of energy. I was afraid it might happen. That’s one of the dangers of working with a fae you don’t know. There’s no way to guess their limitations.”
“Why didn’t he just tell us he couldn’t cover us for that last house? We could have skipped it. It’s not like we found anything anyway.”
“Telling us would have been an admission of weakness,” he said with a scowl. “No fae would admit to that. He may have thought he had enough when we got there, that we’d be in and out before it was a problem. Or maybe he knew but was hoping we wouldn’t notice when his spell wore off. If the widow hadn’t come in when she did, we would have been none the wiser.”
I shook my head, blowing my frustration out in a sigh. “I thought for sure we were busted when that cop showed up.”
“The cop was easy compared to Mrs. Dantes. That lady had a will of steel.”
I framed a mental image of Kai arm wrestling the old lady for control. In my imagination, she kicked his ass.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing. Are you out of energy now, too? Do you have to like, recharge, or something?”
“Something like that. Unlike practitioners, fae draw energy from within. In simplest terms, we’re made of magic. Similar to the way a practitioner can burn out by drawing too much energy without the strength to channel it, a fae can literally use themselves up. If we draw too much energy from our bodies, we can weaken, damage, or even kill ourselves.”
“So you could have died today?”
“Hmph. Do you think so little of me?”
“You looked pretty worn out after dealing with Mrs. Dantes,” I pointed out. “Besides, how should I know what your limits are?”
“Fair point,” he conceded. “Prolonged manipulation spells like the one I used to make Mrs. Dantes talk are difficult. I’m nowhere near killing myself, but I am tired. I could use some food and rest to replenish my energy, and a shower wouldn’t go amiss. So can we move this conversation inside, and maybe postpone it until I’ve eaten?”
Kai went straight to the bathroom to wash up. I spent a little time at my computer, checking emails and backtracking through my security footage to make sure there hadn’t been any visitors while we were out. When I reached the recording of my conversation with James, I stopped rewinding and hit play.
On the camera, James knelt to take care of my cut foot. For someone who gave the impression of being aloof and imperious, he’d been incredibly gentle. I sat forward, focusing on his movements, cataloging his gestures.
“Whatcha lookin’ at?”
I snapped the windows on my screen closed as quickly as I could. “None of your business.”
Kai put his hands up and stepped back, “Okay, no need to get bent.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
He waved a hand. “Angry. Agitated.”
“As in . . . out of shape?”
He looked down at his body, frowning.
“Never mind.” I rubbed my temples.
Kai shrugged. “I only meant to agree. If you want to spend your time ogling pictures of your boyfriend, that’s your business.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I said before I could stop myself.
Kai grinned. “So you were ogling him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Get bent.”
Stomping to the kitchen under the pretext of preparing dinner, I did my best to forget the conversation—and all its dangerous possibilities.
Once we’d both eaten our fill, I curled up at one end of the couch, tucking my legs beneath me. Kai took the other end, one arm draped along the back. As soon as I settled down, Cat jumped into my lap and butted his head against my chin. He turned in a circle and plopped down, purring contentedly.
“Hey buddy,” I cooed. “Finally got used to the new guy?”
Kai huffed, but didn’t comment.
I cast a sidelong glance at Kai, then fixed my eyes on Cat and took a deep breath. “I have a question, Kai, and I need an honest answer if we’re going to keep working together.”
He licked his lips and sat up a little straighter. “Okay.”
“That stuff you did to make people believe us. . . . Did you do something like that when you came to talk to me?” I had no guarantee he wouldn’t just do it again if the answer was yes, but I was counting on the fact that fae couldn’t tell an outright lie.
He was quiet for a long moment. “The amount of energy required to sustain something like that over our extended interaction is beyond me. If I’d made you believe me against your will at the beginning, you would have realized as soon as the spell wore off. You wouldn’t have agreed to work with me after that.”
As answers went, it wasn’t exactly a no, so I tried again. “Have you cast any kind of spell on me?”
He pursed his lips. “After the way you reacted in the alley, I couldn’t take the chance you’d reject me out of hand again.”
The snakes writhing in my stomach coiled tighter. “So you cast a spell to make me trust you.”
“I may have given you a little nudge to make you more open to what I had to say.”
I nodded, my suspicions confirmed.
“I didn’t alter your memories,” Kai continued. “Just soothed your suspicion to ensure you’d hear me out. You made your own decisions after that.”
I exhaled a long, slow breath that ruffled Cat’s fur.
“No use crying over spilled milk, I guess.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “But don’t you ever do that again.”
His eyebrows drew together. “I’m not sure what milk has to do with it, but you have my word that I will not use magic to manipulate you in the future.”
The corners of my mouth pulled up. “We need to work on your colloquialisms.”
Resting my head against the back cushion, I closed my eyes and thought through the day’s experiences. We hadn’t gotten enough to identify the killer. Kai could talk all he wanted about fae justice, but I’d been hoping for an easy ID that I could leave as an anonymous tip for the police. I had no desire to go head-to-head with a serial killer.
“If we had access to the police files,” I mused, “maybe we could find some way to link the clues we’ve found to a person from one of the victims’ lives. I’m sure the police must have looked into who Melissa was dating, or people who came into Angela’s building around the time of her death.”
“If the police knew of anyone who was at multiple crime scenes, you can bet that person would be at the top of their suspect list. It’s not going to be that easy, Alex.”
“Our best lead seems to be Melissa Row. We know she was sleeping with her killer. We have to assume the cops did all the basic stuff, like ask her friends and family who she was involved with. Plus, if they’d had sex right before she died there would be DNA, right? But for some reason, the police either haven’t been able to find him, or couldn’t connect him to the murder.”
Kai shifted beside me. “Which leads me to believe the magic I sensed was used in cleaning up the evidence rather than committing the crimes themselves.”
I opened my eyes and looked over at him. “What kind of fae would be able to do that?”
He pursed his lips, thinking. “There are a few options, depending on if they erased the evidence itself or masked it afterward. There’s also the possibility that someone working the case is involved, either as the killer, or being manipulated by them. Maybe the evidence was there but it was ignored.”
“Or tampered with.” I pictured Agent Garcia’s earnest face. She’d seemed genuine when she promised to catch Aiden’s killer. But then, the secretary Kai shook hands with had seemed sincere when she thanked us for taking an apartment tour. There were no guarantees when magic was involved.
“If only we weren’t so limited on resources.” Kai ran a hand over his head, making his hair stick up crazily. “We don’t even know how many people had access to the evidence.”
“David could—” I stiffened. “Never mind.”
Too late. Kai had already perked up. “Who’s David?”
I shook my head. “Just a friend.”
“And what is it you think he can do for us?”
“Nothing. Forget I mentioned him.” I was kicking myself for bringing up David’s name. I wasn’t about to drag another friend into this mess.
“If he can help us . . .” Kai lifted his palms. “Unless you’ve got a better idea.”
I ground my teeth. David could help. With his security firm, he could look into the officers working the investigation, find out who might have been able to tamper with the evidence. He might even be able to figure out who Melissa was hanging out with, maybe point us toward her mystery lover.
Dammit!
I slumped back, arms crossed. “I’ll ask him to run background checks on the officers who worked the scenes.”
“You think you can persuade him?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You are not going to magic him. In fact, you aren’t even going to meet him.”
I pulled out my spiffy new cell phone and dialed David’s number.
“Hey, David, it’s Alex. I need to talk to you, in person.”
“Can it wait? It’s pretty late, and I’m supposed to stay at Steve’s tonight.”
I pursed my lips. “Can you meet me for breakfast?”
“Sure. How about the IHOP on Twenty-eighth? I can meet you there at eight.”
“Perfect, see you then.”
Kai leaned forward. “Don’t mention the victims being halfers or having artifacts. If the PTF finds out we knew and didn’t tell them, the peace will be over.”
Chapter 16
DAVID WAS SITTING in a corner booth, silhouetted by a window that looked out over the parking lot. Waving off the hostess, I strolled over and slid onto the vinyl cushion across from him. My hand landed in a puddle of syrup. Wrinkling my nose, I unrolled my utensil bundle in a clatter of pressed steel and wiped at the sticky mess until the thin, paper napkin tore.
“Thanks for meeting me.” I plucked at the white shreds now stuck to my hand.
“I was actually hoping to hear from you.”
I looked up. “Oh?”
“Maggie told me about your visitor the other night.” He rolled a half-full mug of coffee between his hands, staring into the caffeinated swirl.
I drummed my fingers against the table. “Yeah, she mentioned that. Said she had you run his plates.”
“Did she tell you what I found?”
“That he’s a fae.”
“A fae who registered your address as his residence. Tell me you’re not actually letting that guy stay with you.”
I examined the sugar packets in their little ceramic bowl. “It’s temporary.”
David leaned forward, resting heavily on his forearms, and pitched his voice low. “Does this have anything to do with the fae who came to your studio? Are you in trouble?”
“I’ve got it under control.”
“How do you know this guy didn’t use magic on you?”
“I said I’ve got it under control.”
“I know you can take care of yourself, Alex, but you’ve got people who care about you. Don’t forget that.”
I glanced up, but couldn’t meet his eyes. Instead, I shifted to look out the smudged window. White popcorn clouds raced across the sky on a wind that swayed the trees in the parking lot. “I know, David. And I appreciate it.”
