Chapter 3 #4
“Why? In fact, why the hell is he here at all? The only thing he’ll achieve is getting in the way of the investigation, and quite possibly put himself in the line of danger in the process.”
“I agree, but he is a father whose daughter has gone missing. Wouldn’t you be doing the same thing in the same position?”
In the same position, I’d be tearing apart heaven and hell, but Tane was more the “employ someone else to tear” type. Besides, if Monica’s disappearance was connected to the same threat against him, coming here just heightened the danger to everyone, including his daughter.
“This order comes from the top, so neither your opinion nor mine matters,” Lowell said. “You will meet him.”
“The top as in Sophie Ashworth?”
“No, the very top.”
“The board? Hell.”
It was very unlike the enigmatic board to issue direct orders, and that had to mean there was a whole lot more to this case than what we were being told.
As soon as I finished speaking to Lowell, I was going to ring Michael.
Even though he ran the night division and could well be home by now, he’d still be awake.
He did have three kids under five—something that still surprised me, because we’d all thought that he, like Samuel, was a confirmed bachelor—and generally didn’t go to sleep until they were all off to day care.
“What about Ginny?”
“He requested you and no one else.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all, does it now?”
Lowell chuckled. “He is a man used to getting what he wants and, sadly for you, he also has the connections to enforce it.”
A fact I was well aware of. My father had spent decades on the High Council’s advisory board—a position he’d ceded to Owen some twenty-two years ago—and we’d mingled with many of the most powerful witches in Canberra at various official and unofficial social events.
Tane Ashworth had been a prominent feature at many of those events, though I’d always avoided being in his presence.
Like many of the high-profile witches, he’d exuded too much power and energy for my liking, despite the fact every high-born witch shielded their output as a matter of routine.
I might not have been aware of—or understood—the inner darkness back when I was a kid, but she’d nevertheless caused a restlessness that made such events unpleasant at best and excruciating at worst.
I scrubbed a hand across my face, wincing a little as I hit the cut on my cheek. “And the shard?”
“Head office is sending in a specialist to deal with it, but they won’t arrive until this afternoon, so probably best to keep it where it is for the moment.”
It would be far better to not take that risk, but it wasn’t like I had any other choice. There was no way known I could get to the office and still make the interview with Tane in time.
I sighed. “What about Lanie? Did either of your teams find her last night?”
“We have her phone—it was in Levi’s car—but there’s no sign of her or indeed him.”
“Have you had the car towed?”
“Yes. It’s currently in the garage undergoing inspection.”
Hopefully, they’d find something. “Where was the car found?”
“Middle Park. Her last call was for an Uber.”
So why go to Middle Park if that was not their end destination? “What time was that? And do we know where she went?”
“The call was received at three forty-five, and she was taken over to Rocklea, near the airport there.”
Meaning there was a good hour or more of movement we couldn’t account for. “I suppose you’ve checked recent flights out of there?”
“Yeah,” he said dryly. “We have. Neither Lanie nor Levi went into the airport.”
“Where did they go then?”
“According to the Uber driver, she was picked up by an unmarked black car. We have the plate number; they were false.”
Of course they were, because why would anything be simple right now? Then I frowned. “That’s the second time you’ve said she. Levi wasn’t seen on either occasion?”
“The driver stated a man was with her on both occasions, but couldn’t give us a description.”
“That’s odd, don’t you think? Did he have security cams in his car?”
“He did, and the images are fuzzy.”
“Deliberately done, I would suspect.” There were, after all, concealment spells capable of fooling electronic devices. I even knew a couple of them. “If we have Lanie’s phone, what about getting a psychometrist to look at it?”
“They generally need something that has been in constant contact to be able to draw any information about the owner or their current whereabouts.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, Lanie’s generation consider the phone as vital to their life as their limbs.”
“I still don’t believe it will yield results, but I’ll put in a request to the local branch of the RWA. I believe they have a psychometrist on retainer.”
“Good. I’ll update you once I talk to Monica’s father.”
“Thanks. I’ll return the favor if we find anything new before then.”
He was being exceptionally friendly this morning, which made me wonder what the hell had happened in the few hours since I’d last talked to him. Maybe he’d gotten lucky last night.
Wish I had....
I shoved that thought away, hung up, and then tried to call my brother, but it flipped over to voicemail.
I asked him to call me, then climbed out of bed, wincing and groaning for several seconds as the bruised muscles down my spine vehemently complained about the sudden movement.
For the most part, I didn’t feel—or even look—my age, but every now and again, my body did its best to remind me.
I did a few stretches that helped a little, then tugged on a dressing gown and padded out of the bedroom to the apartment’s small kitchen area.
After taking a couple of pain killers to help with the various aches, I investigated the fridge for something to eat but found little more than takeaway leftovers that were at least a day old.
I wrinkled my nose, slammed the door shut, then put on the kettle and settled for toast smothered with peanut butter.
Ginny limped in ten or so minutes later. Much like her hawk form, she was small, brown skinned, with gold-shot, fluffy brown hair and dark golden eyes whose corners were framed with laughter lines.
“How are you feeling this morning?” I asked as she plopped down on one of the barstools lining the kitchen counter.
“Like shit warmed up.” She scrubbed a hand across her eyes. “What happened last night after I was batted away?”
“Monica went missing, presumed kidnapped, a man with no energy saved my butt, Francesca and Marnee were murdered, and Lanie picked up the younger man dancing with them and both are currently missing.”
“Well, fuck.” She frowned. “Hang on, back up—what man with no energy?”
“That is the question of the day. I never actually saw him, so—” I shrugged. “Anyway, you’ve the rest of the day off, and I have a morning meeting with the ever-pleasant Tane Ashworth.”
“Better you than me,” she muttered. “And what do you mean, you never actually saw this man? You just said he saved your butt.”
I reheated the water and made us both a cup of coffee—sadly, it was instant, because this place was not equipped with an espresso machine, let alone decent beans—then slid one mug across the counter to her.
“We were surrounded by a curtain of evil darkness, and he disappeared before I could question him.”
“Well, that was inconsiderate of him.” She sipped her coffee, then nodded in appreciation. Unlike me, she was not addicted to the good stuff. In her oft-expressed opinion, I was a coffee snob, because there was no such thing as bad coffee, as long as it was hot and black.
“So, what’s our next step after your meeting with Tane? Because you and I know I am not going to sit around this goddamn apartment for twenty-four hours twiddling my thumbs.”
“And yet would be advising me to do that very thing had the situation been reversed.”
“True, as is the fact that you would also be ignoring said advice. Who do we go after first? The two men who picked up Francesca and Marnee, or the one who left with Lanie?”
“I think Lanie should be the priority right now—if we can find her, then we might get some understanding as to what the fuck is going on.” I took a sip of coffee, made a face at the bitter taste, and then added more sugar.
“Jack’s in the process of grabbing the phone records for all three bridesmaids, so we—meaning you, mostly—can go through them. ”
“I doubt any of the three were involved in the planning of their own murders.”
“Well, no, but at the very least they knew about Monica’s intention to sneak away from the club. There has to be some discussion of it somewhere.”
“They could have simply talked to each other face-to-face.”
I snorted. “Young people these days are glued to their phones, even when they are face-to-face.”
“Because you’re so old and never have your phone glued to your hand.”
Her voice was dry, and I grinned. “I can at least hold a conversation with a stranger.”
“Yeah, but most of the time, you don’t want to.
” She reached for the nearby packet of pain killers.
“All that aside, record scanning is not my idea of a good time, especially when Jack can probably use one of the many AI programs available these days to run a search and get results quicker than an eyes-on by either of us.”
“It’s kind of hard to program AI when you don’t know what the keywords are.”
“I’d imagine ‘kidnapping’ and ‘disappearing’ might be two good ones to start with.”
“Except Monica likely knew her calls were being monitored. Besides, you’ve a talent for sussing out minor details few others see.”
She snorted. “Compliments don’t cut it in this type of situation.”
“What about a bribe? Perhaps a hearty lunch of ribs along with a shake?”
She pursed her lips, eyes narrowing slightly. “A caramel thickshake?”
“If that is your wish.”
“And fries?”
“Fully loaded with cheese, bacon, and sour cream.”
“Then we have a deal.”
I laughed, clicked my coffee cup against hers, then drained it and dumped the cup into the sink. “I’d better get ready. Tane does not appreciate tardiness.”