Chapter 5 #4
“A couple of things—the male involved mentioned having contacts in the HCI, and some incident in Glebe. I googled the latter, but didn’t come up with anything more than a car going over a cliff.”
“If it involved a high-profile witch, you probably wouldn’t. I’ll get an archivist on to it, and see what they come up with.”
“I did ask Jack up here to also search, so don’t be surprised if you come across his tracks. I’ll text you the notes I have on the conversation.”
“Good.” He paused, and I could hear Rochelle talking in the background. “I’m to remind you that the twins’ birthday is next week, and they expect their favorite aunt to be there.”
“Case willing, I will be.”
“If the case is not over by then, Monica will likely be dead and the trail long gone cold.”
I raised my eyebrows at the pessimism in his voice. “That sounds almost prophetic.”
“No, just a reality when it comes to these sorts of cases.”
“Not my cases.”
“I’d wait a few more years before you say something like that.” His tone was wry. “Trust me, even Sam, who has a very impressive record for bringing in bad guys, has had plenty of cases go sour. We all do.”
“Well, let’s hope this isn’t mine.” I paused. “Do you know if there’s anyone in Tane’s circle going by the name of René?”
“Last name?”
“Don’t have it. I can describe him, though.” I did so, then added, “He says he’s investigating some of Ashworth’s recent dealings with the High Council and that he has an interest in uncovering the truth.”
“So you’ve spoken to him?”
“Yes. He’s some sort of witch, but not from any known line here in Australia.”
“I gather he’s tweaked your radar?”
He’d tweaked more than my damn radar... but I wisely kept that thought to myself. “Yes, although right now, I’m on the fence about his involvement in Monica’s disappearance. He’s the one that saved me from the demon.”
“Could have been a ploy to stop you killing it.”
“I’m an underpowered Kang witch,” I replied dryly. “I haven’t the magical skill to kill a damn demon, you know that.”
“I’m not sure that’s true—”
“True or not, he wouldn’t have known that.” I paused to drink some shitty coffee. “Joseph’s going to ask his demonology professor if he knows what sort of demon it was.”
“Of course he is.” His tone was filled with fondness. “I swear that lad is going to grow up and be a hunter of some kind, be it dark witch or monster.”
“Hate to tell you this, bro, but that lad is already all grown up.”
He laughed. “And that is a fact I cannot comprehend. I mean, he was a kid what seems only a few years ago.”
“It makes you feel old, doesn’t it?”
“It does indeed.” He paused, and the soft sound of a whistle was followed by water being poured.
Tea rather than coffee, I presumed, because he hated coffee of any kind, good or bad.
“I’m not aware of any open investigations into Tane Ashworth, but given the recent threats, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were. ”
“What sort of threats are we talking about? No one seems to know.”
“Because it is need-to-know.”
“I need to know, bro, if I’m to do my job properly.”
He chuckled. “Your job was to protect Monica, and I won’t point out the obvious problem there.”
“As I have already said to Lowell, it’s impossible to protect someone who’s actively working on disappearing.” I sniffed. “I will get her back.”
“I wouldn’t be making rash promises like that, either. Not to Tane, anyway. If you fail, well, he will make your life hell.”
“Which is when my two older brothers will step in and protect me.”
“You, little sister, have never needed either my or Sam’s help when it comes to dealing with life’s problems.”
You’re wrong, big brother. So very, very wrong.
But then, I couldn’t blame them for not helping the one time I’d ever really needed it when my father had banned me from saying anything, ever.
I understood his reasons, but it rankled that they still considered me their sweet little sister without knowing the real me. The dark me. The taker-of-life me....
I shivered. In truth, that was probably a good thing. I’d hate for the inner darkness to destroy the connection we all had.
“Can you tell me if Tane was being investigated—openly or surreptitiously—by the High Council or anyone else?”
“I am not aware of any investigations, but that does not mean there isn’t one. The Society’s network is strong, but we will never be across every scrap of legal stuff that is going on, let alone all the underhanded activities that abound in the witch world. None could.”
“You make it seem like there’s almost nothing but underhanded and illegal dealings.”
“Some days that’s exactly what it feels like.”
“Sounds like you need a holiday, brother.”
“So Rochelle keeps saying, but there are the twins to consider.”
“You can take them with you,” I said dryly.
“Yeah, but then it will hardly be a holiday. I love them to death, but those boys are terrors.”
I laughed. “Is there any chance you can shove a firecracker up forensics’ ass for me? We really need to know what they found in the murdered women’s bedrooms.”
“We’ve sent up another team, and a specialist is on the way—”
“On the way? I thought he or she was supposed to arrive this afternoon?”
“Another case reared its head and scuttled those plans. She should arrive tomorrow afternoon at the latest, as long as nothing else arises.”
My eyebrows rose. “Surely we’ve got more than one expert on blood magic working for us?”
“Yes, but Chantel’s expertise comes from personal experience, and your report suggests her knowledge might come in handy.”
“Only if she gets here in time.”
“She should. I take it you’re still in possession of the shard?”
“It’s in a safe rather than here in the hospital with me, and thank god for that, because it likely would have been taken.”
“Will the magic protecting it hold until you get back to the apartment? Or do we need to send a retrieval team in?”
“A retrieval team—and maybe even the specialist—might not be able to unpick my magic without me there. Not without destroying the shard.”
“Point. You might not be the strongest of witches, but you do imbue some seriously weird energy through your spells.”
You don’t know the half of it, brother... “I’m sure Lowell and his team appreciated the extra personnel, but we’ve now three open cases that may or may not be connected, and forensics are not keeping up.”
“I’ll talk to Soph. In the meantime, you be careful.”
“You know me—careful is my middle name.”
He laughed. “That depends entirely on the situation.”
We talked some more about kids and family life—his and mine—then I hung up with a promise to keep him updated.
After sending him the notes as promised, I tucked the laptop back into its bag, slipped under the blankets, and settled down to sleep.
Not that a good night’s sleep was ever a true possibility when the nurses kept insisting on taking my blood pressure every hour or so.
To say I woke feeling less than refreshed and rather grumpy would be an understatement.
Breakfast was at least decent, even if the coffee remained watery.
I took a hot shower that went some way to easing the various aches, then got dressed into the jeans and crop top Ginny had brought me.
The doctors arrived midmorning and, after a quick examination, declared me fit to go but advised avoiding anything too strenuous for another couple of days.
They also handed me some pain tablets to help ease the ache of the various bruised and battered bits of my body.
I shot a message through to Ginny, then gathered everything together and went outside to wait for her in the parking area. Once I’d thrown my stuff on the back seat of the Toyota—which still was covered in fingerprint dust—I climbed in the front and said, “What? No coffee? I am bereft.”
She laughed and handed me a new earwig. “I’ve already checked out the local coffee options, and we’re heading for a drive-through now.”
I wrinkled my nose and shoved the comms into my ear. “Not Maccas, I hope.”
“And the inner coffee snob rises again.” She cast me an amused look. “There is nothing wrong with Maccas, but in this case, we’re visiting a small business with rave reviews.”
“Ah, perfect.” I waited until she’d pulled out of the parking area and into the morning traffic, then said, “How’d you go with the records?”
“I was up half the freaking night. I expect my reward sooner rather than later.”
I grinned. “Find someplace that does ribs, fries, and a shake, and I shall provide. Did you uncover anything useful?”
“As it happens, I think I did. They kept mentioning some guy called Luke—”
“Luke Marlowe?” I cut in.
She glanced at me, surprised. “Yes—why?”
“Because Tane mentioned she’d been ringing him a lot over the last month or so. He’s a distant cousin, apparently.”
“Well, distant cousin or not, the two of them were fucking like rabbits, if the conversation between the four women is to be believed.”
“They were discussing her sex life with Luke?”