Chapter 15
MONDAY
IN WHICH JAMISON CHANGES HIS MIND ABOUT MONDAYS
For the last year, weekends hadn’t meant anything to Jamison.
In the purgatory of murder suspect-dom, he hadn’t worked or gone to school as he waited for his family to find a solution to the curse that plagued the male line.
Before then, of course weekends had been a distraction as he’d bobbed along in the center of a thriving social circle, one that had at least kept him entertained.
Not that it had produced any friends willing to stick around after the scandal.
Now, however, he was surprised to find that he, in fact, did not like weekends.
Predictably, his dad had freaked out when he heard about Grandfather’s little office visit.
So much so, that it had resulted in a rare call with Jamison’s mother, who was traveling somewhere in China on business.
Now she was cutting her trip short to return and assist with the situation.
Even thinking about it dragged a sigh out of him.
Once again, his parents seemed determined to keep him on house arrest, all in the name of protecting their poor na?ve son.
But with Noah absent for once, Jamison filled his hours, largely alone, lifting weights, swimming laps in the pool, or losing himself in books.
His mind often wandered to Dessa, and he couldn’t help but wonder what she got up to on the weekends.
She’d hinted that she didn’t have any remaining connections in the area, so did she just stay in her loft by herself?
Or maybe with that weird budgie that had shown up on Friday.
Or had Rhett Carline decided to come around again in his free time?
The thoughts bothered Jamison more than he liked to admit.
And the memory of his grandfather looking between him and Dessa with his curling smile did too.
This could be interesting. The remembered words made his blood turn cold.
Jamison liked Dessa, of course. She was a good friend, a good coworker, a good partner.
So what if he may have had a bit of a crush on her in high school?
And yes, he still enjoyed trying to get a smile out of her, but he understood full well that his situation demanded that it went no farther.
How the family curse worked still remained a mystery, but until they figured it out, he didn’t need a genius to tell him he couldn’t fall in love with someone.
Especially not Dessa McKinney. He thought of the last time he’d seen Rachel—flitting about in a yellow sundress with a smile on a warm Florida-fall day.
She hadn’t deserved to die over whatever was going on with his family.
No one did.
But he had his feelings for Dessa solidly in check, while she was obviously still grieving her broken engagement.
For better or worse, they were destined for nothing but the friend zone.
A smiley, fun friend zone hopefully—but that was no one else’s business but theirs.
Besides, if he wanted to solve the curse for good, he was certain AzRIO was still his best chance to find out how to undo the wretched magic.
Which basically meant he didn’t have a choice anyway.
All of this spun through his head as he walked into AzRIO at 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning with a box of croissants and a caddy with four cups from the Brew.
He’d been hoping for a few minutes alone with Dessa before everyone else got in, but of course, there was Arthur already shooting him a surly glance from his desk.
“Good morning,” Jamison said, his voice quiet as he squinted at the early dawn light coming in through the windows. He was about to ask where Dessa was when the stairs creaked, and a second later she popped into the room with still-damp hair and a harried smile.
“Geez, you’re all up early for a Monday.”
“Six a.m. to nine a.m. are statistically our most productive hours,” Arthur said. “I, for one, don’t plan to waste them.”
“Well, all right then.” Dessa turned away, throwing a comical grimace toward Jamison. “And what’s your excuse?”
Jamison raised the coffees. “I just figured if we had to be here on a Monday, then I could at least bring supplies.” He pulled out one of the cups from the caddy. “Mocha?”
Dessa melted a little before his eyes, and he couldn’t repress a smug grin. “Okay, I approve.” Her fingers brushed his as she accepted the cup. “You can come in early whenever you feel like it.”
Jamison quietly deposited the caramel latte on Melba’s desk and the black coffee on Arthur’s.
Arthur gave him another glare, then a begrudging sigh. “Thank you, Jamison Kane.”
“You are so welcome, Arthur.” Jamison flashed him an extra bright smile; he was more than aware Arthur didn’t like him, but he was also well up to the challenge of winning him over.
Even if he had to resort to bribery. He turned back to Dessa.
“So what’s new today?” A chirp answered him as the green-and-yellow parakeet fluttered onto Melba’s desk.
“I guess the budgie also decided to come in early? Or has he never left?”
Dessa smiled as she reached down to pet the budgie’s head with a finger. “Well, he’s been coming around all weekend, so I put out food and water for him. I’m not exactly sure if he’s tame or wild, but I leave the window open and he comes and goes as he pleases.”
Jamison’s smile fell as he recalled the threat on their doorstep. “But it’s not safe to leave the window open when no one else is here.”
“Oh, please,” she scoffed, straightening. “If someone really wanted to get in, they would just break the window anyway. And we haven’t received any more threats, so it was probably just a prank or something.”
“Uh-huh.” Jamison raised a doubtful eyebrow as he put the box of cream-filled croissants on the desk. “Well, at least keep the pop-stake with you, and if you ever need backup, give me a call.” He nodded to her cup. “I wrote it on the side.”
“Thanks, Jamison.” Dessa’s cheeks pinked, her gaze darting to his number with a subtle smile, and Jamison’s stomach flipped.
“Speaking of backup, I was wondering if you might come with me to the Hexxer compound today? I was looking into more of Carly’s activities before the weekend, and she visited the compound two weeks before she went missing.
To be fair, it seems like she was trying to start up a new business and visiting everyone in the Magicker community, but I think it’s something worth checking in on.
” Her lips twisted to one side, and Jamison got the distinct impression there was something she wasn’t saying.
“Also, they haven’t come in for their monthly review, so we need to go to them anyway. ”
Jamison leaned back against his desk and sipped from his cappuccino. Although he had a good handle on Werewolves, Vampires, and even Magickers like the ones who ran the coffee shop, he still had no idea what to expect from a Hexxer. “Is it normal for them not to come in?”
Arthur answered. “If Melba’s records are accurate, in the past eight months, they’ve only shown up once, but unfortunately Brad was too busy to follow up on their other delinquencies.
It’s been three months since anyone has heard from them which means”—he plucked a fat folder from a desk drawer, and in three long steps dropped it in front of Dessa—“they have seven months of overdue status reports they need to complete.”
Jamison shared a glance with Dessa, their suppressed laughter dancing between them as Arthur ducked back behind his desk. Maybe paperwork, not coffee, was the way to Arthur’s heart.
Dessa shrugged as she picked up the folder and waved it at Jamison. “Duty calls. You in?”
Jamison pulled his keys from his pocket with a jingle. “I’ll drive.” He walked backwards toward the door and pointed a finger at Arthur. “Make sure to save a croissant for Melba.” With that, he jogged to catch up to Dessa where she strode purposely to his passenger door.
It was hard to believe they’d only been working together for a week as she climbed in and programmed the GPS.
There was a reassuring familiarity to her presence that surrounded him like a warm blanket on a cold day.
He’d always thought he had lots of friends, but working side by side with Dessa was a whole different feeling.
He knew, on some base level, that he could trust her, and that slowly, she was learning to trust him too.
She looked at the numbers on the cup before typing them into her phone, and he had to hide a grin.
The robotic voice of the GPS interrupted his thoughts, and he pulled into the street. “So, you seem pretty jazzed about going to this place, considering your guide insinuates that Hexxers are bad news.”
“Oh, they are definitely my least favorite.”
“But how can that be when Weres and Vamps are so much…I don’t know, cooler, I guess? With the teeth and the muscles and everything, wouldn’t they be way more dangerous than paranormal humans?”
A shadow flickered across Dessa’s face, and she rotated the cup in her hands.
“The first person to go missing, before Zach, was a member of the Hexxer collective. The whistleblower went to our school, but when we approached the Hexxer elders about it, they acted as if the girl had never existed. Brad has a, um, history with missing persons cases, so he just about lost his mind.”
“But I thought you were attacked by Vampires?” Jamison asked, trying to remember the details in the case file. One of Dessa’s friends had been changed into a Vampire for sure.
“No, Alana was injected with the altered venom-blood mix, but not necessarily by a Vampire. Much like this case, it could’ve been done by anyone with the right tools, and we didn’t have any evidence to go on.
” Dessa looked at the marshy fields that lined the city on the south side.
“But I am glad we have an excuse to go over there. After all, they’re the last major entity in the neighborhood that we can ask about Carly. ”