Null Witch: Secondhand Magic #1

by Lori Drake

  Reaching out, I flipped open the folder and sifted through the statements with one hand, still holding my fork with the other. “Did you notice that all of the victims had accounts at Del Norte?” I said, glancing over at Escobar.

  He nodded. “Yeah. So does half of Santa Fe. We didn’t find anything odd in their records.”

  “What about Gabriel? Didn’t he mention going to the bank the day of the attack?” I didn’t see a statement for him in the file.

  Escobar took out his notepad and flipped through it, brow furrowing. “He did, but he didn’t say which one.”

  I pushed my plate away in favor of the bank records again, once more getting that nagging feeling that there was something there. I grabbed a pen from the table and uncapped it with my teeth, keeping the cap between my teeth while I started circling dates. The pen cap fell out a few moments later, hitting the edge of the table and careening off onto the floor.

  “That’s it!” I pushed my plate farther away and spread the pages out in front of me, using the pen as a pointer. “Look here. Christina. Check cashed. Tori. Deposit and withdrawal. Same amount, probably just making change. William. Withdrawal.” Tearing my eyes away from the emerging evidence in front of me, I looked between Dan and Escobar. “Within twenty-four hours of their attacks, they all went to the bank. Every single one. And not just that, but they all walked out with cash in hand.”

  Chapter 28

  “This is a waste of time,” Dan complained. It was getting late, and we were deep in the bowels of the police station, going through a box of evidence bags in search of any cold hard cash William or Tori might have had on them when they were attacked.

  “You wanted to help,” I reminded him, pulling one at a time out, reading or observing its contents and setting it aside. Not even our pretty consultant badges had gotten us in here; Escobar had to sign out the evidence to preserve chain of custody. Technically, he probably shouldn’t have left us alone with it, but he had to go wake up a bank manager to try and get more information about the transactions that had been made at the credit union. If they were all processed by the same teller, well, we’d be on even steadier ground.

  “Yeah, but this is still a waste of time. There no way I can sniff out a spell that old, even if I did have use of my magic.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You were pretty intent on inspecting Luke’s ill-gotten gains,” I pointed out, finding a bag from Tori’s box with a few coins in it and passing it to Dan so he could inspect it more closely. I trusted his eyes better than mine right now, running on about five hours of sleep and liberal caffeine consumption.

  “Wishful thinking, I guess. Besides, I didn’t realize the trail was two weeks old when I started.” He started to open the bag.

  “Don’t do that!” I said, reaching out to snatch the bag from his hands. Or try, anyway. He was fast, yanking it up out of my reach like Lucy with Charlie Brown’s football. I glared at him. “Leave it in the bag. Escobar said not to touch anything.”

  He smirked, holding up the bag and peering at the change inside but making no further attempt to open it. “I don’t see anything, but if there’s some sort of residue I might be able to sense it by touch.”

  “I thought this was a waste of time?”

  “Blow me.”

  “In your lonely, pathetic, incestuous dreams.”

  He tossed the bag on the table with another smirk, watching while I went through the second box. “It’s that Gabriel guy we should be checking out. If he’s got a spell focus, it’s only a couple days old. Probably still has some juice.”

  “We’ll go bother him when we’re done here. Escobar had to get the ball rolling with the bank manager first.”

  “We could have taken two cars,” he said, folding his arms.

  Pausing, I glanced over at him with a frown. “It was quicker to ride with Escobar.”

  “You just wanted to ride in the car with the flashy lights.”

  My cheeks heated. He wasn’t entirely wrong, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of answering. Instead, I turned my attention back to the box.

  My silence and slight flush was all the confirmation he needed. He leaned against the table and asked, “Did you like the siren too? Woowoowoo!”

  “Shut up.”

  “Do you want to ride in the back on the way to the motel? Maybe the detective would put some handcuffs on you if you asked nicely. Or— maybe you two would like to be alone?” He honest-to-goodness waggled his brows at me. I threw a plastic R2D2 keychain in an evidence bag at him. He snickered but relented. “Are you going to tell me about your visit with what’s his name’s old Indian woman?”

  “His name’s John, and she wasn’t old or an Indian. Just a woman. We can talk about it later,” I said, a bit too distracted by my search to realize I was already saying too much.

  “Was she hot?”

  I ignored him, finally locating an evidence bag with money in it from Hines’s box. I smacked him in the chest with it, then picked R2D2 up off the floor and tossed it back into the box with the rest. He caught the bag before it fell and dutifully inspected its contents without opening it. “Don’t see anything. Not that I expected to.”

  I grabbed the bag and peered at it myself, but reached the same unfortunate conclusion that Dan had. “Okay, maybe this was a waste of time,” I conceded. I don’t like to admit I’m wrong, but sometimes it’s worthwhile to set a good example.

  He didn’t gloat, much. But he did grab a chair and spun it around, settling into it and folding his arms across the top of the front-facing chair back. “So, seems like we have plenty of time to talk about John’s not-so-old, not-so-Indian woman.”

  I dropped into a chair, glancing at my phone to check the time. It was a delaying tactic, but whatever. There was a notification on the screen. Matt had texted me hours ago.

  Matt: Why are you ghosting Barry? He’s a catch.

  Ghosting Barry? Okay, so I hadn’t returned his text the day before. Hell, I’d barely given him a second thought amidst the shitstorm that’d become my life over the last forty-eight hours. But he had no way of knowing how crazy it’d been—unless Matt had told him, anyway—and what lay at the heart of the chaos was so deeply personal that I doubted Matt would betray my confidence.

  I fired off a quick reply to my well-meaning BFF, then opened my message thread with Barry. His invitation to coffee was still sitting there, waiting for me. Points to Barry for not sending a slew of follow-ups.

  Dan cleared his throat, reminding me he was still waiting for my answer. I sent Barry a quick apology and assured him I’d be in touch in a few days when things quieted down, then put my phone away again.

  What could I tell Dan about my visit with Kassidy? It had left me with more questions than answers, and if what we’d deduced about my abilities was true, I wasn’t sure I wanted to share it with anyone. Not even Dan. Okay, especially not Dan. Plus, she’d basically sworn me to secrecy when it came to things about the visit that didn’t directly relate to my abilities. I didn’t want to break that confidence, even if I hadn’t really learned much about her. She was still a fairly intriguing person.

  When I looked up again, Dan was watching me. Really, sometimes he had no concept at all of what is and isn’t polite. Or maybe he just didn’t care. I could envy that, at times. “There’s not much to tell, really. We had tea. We talked. She wanted me to try to demonstrate what I’d done.”

  His brows lifted. “Did you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “With her?”

  For some reason, I was reluctant to answer. But I did anyway. “With John.”

  His brows went up. Maybe I’d hesitated too long. “Huh. And it worked? Same as before?”

  “Yeah. I mean, not immediately. But I got it, eventually. Same as before.” I fiddled absently with one of the evidence bags, desperately needing something to do with my hands. I am not a good liar. I hoped it didn’t come down to that.

  “So, what did she say? Did you get any, I d
unno, insight?”

  Shit. It was going to come down to that. I shrugged. “She said she’d do some research, and we’d have to do some more experimentation.” True. Technically.

  He nodded, not seeming to find anything amiss. “Well, I don’t know if you can do anything with me because of the… you know. But if you want to try, I’m game.”

  I nodded, feeling a small twinge of guilt. Very small. The more time I spent with Dan, the more I had to remind myself that I wasn’t supposed to like him. He grows on you. Kind of like moss, or a persistent toenail fungus.

  By the time we got to the motel, it was almost midnight. Fortunately, Doris wasn’t on duty. The fresh-faced uniform that was stationed inside the warded motel room seemed relieved for someone to show up, probably tired of sitting there in the dark while Gabriel slept. It had to be only slightly preferable to sitting outside in a cold car.

  As cooperative as Gabriel was when we were there before, he was none too pleased about being woken up so we could root through his belongings. But he did confirm that he was a Del Norte Credit Union member and had cashed his paycheck the day of his attack. Most of it had been dutifully turned over to Mrs. Sanchez, but he did have some of it left over. Walking-around-money, he said as he fished it out of his pants pocket and passed it over to me. I sifted through the change on my way to the door, which had been left open so Dan could watch from outside, behind the shimmering spiderweb of wards that kept him out. I started to get a sinking feeling.

  “I think this is a no-go. I should have realized before,” I said, stopping just inside the wards.

  “What?” Dan asked, eyeing me and the change in my upturned palm.

  “The wards. They’re supposed to keep magic out. They wouldn’t have let a spell focus pass.” I closed my fingers into a fist and passed said fist through the wards without difficulty. I dropped the change into Dan’s waiting hand.

  “Yeah, but were they up when he went in?”

  “Good point, but they went through fine just now.”

  Dan pawed through the change, peering at it intently, then flung it at the wall with a frustrated growl. It scattered, some of it flying into the room and other bits falling to the icy concrete outside. “Goddammit!” He gave the wall a kick for good measure. “It must be a one-shot item.”

  “Or it wore off before we got Mr. Sanchez to the motel. It took a few hours,” Escobar said, behind me.

  I turned to look at him, then flashed Gabriel a faint smile. “On the upside, I think you can safely go home now.”

  He grunted, turning to climb back into the warm bed. “Room’s paid up for the night, right?”

  Chapter 29

  The next morning, Dan was nowhere to be found. Neither was my car. One of these things was considerably more inconvenient than the other. I’ll leave which to your imagination.

  Fortunately, my ask-forgiveness-rather-than-permission brother hadn’t run off with my phone again too. I used it to call Escobar, who left me cooling my heels at home with the promise to call me if there were any developments in the case. Normally, I don’t mind hanging around my apartment on my day off. I can be kind of a homebody at times. But there’s nothing that makes you want to go somewhere quite as much as having no transportation. Suddenly, the coffee didn’t taste as good. Nothing I had in the house to eat sounded appetizing. There was nothing on television. Even the internet, my old standby, failed to entertain.

  They say that idle hands are the devil’s workshop. I may not believe in the devil, nor am I really sure who “they” are, but by mid-morning I was definitely up to no good—or at least up to ill-advised do-gooding. You see, I couldn’t help but notice that Del Norte Credit Union was only a short rideshare away, and I might not have had my car but I did have my wallet. Impulse control isn’t always my strong suit. Forty-five minutes later, I stood on the curb while the taxi pulled away. My breath frosted in the cold air, and large snowflakes drifted down lazily from the gray sky above.

  It didn’t occur to me that my reason for being there wasn’t a valid business reason until I walked through the front door. If there’s one thing banks don’t appreciate, it’s random people loitering in the lobby. There were a few people in line for the tellers when I got there, and a few more filling out forms on the tall station for such things in the middle of the room. I strode purposefully in that direction, smiling and waving when one of the tellers called out a friendly welcome. I grabbed a deposit slip and a pen, then started pretending to fill the slip out while surreptitiously checking out the tellers.

  It was getting on toward lunchtime. Almost every station was open, but I didn’t pick up a magical signature from any of the tellers. What did that mean? Maybe the teller had been fired. Maybe they were on break. Maybe they were working the drive-thru. Maybe it was their day off.

  Maybe we were still on the wrong track.

  I pushed that thought away and doodled a bit more on my deposit slip, debating my next move. I didn’t get very far, because a familiar voice spoke behind me.

  “How long do you think you can get away with doodling on that deposit slip?” Dan’s teasing tone was unmistakable, but at least he was being quiet. I glanced over my shoulder to snark back at him, but there was nothing but air behind me.

  Blinking, I looked around before turning back to what I had been doing. Or, at least to the appearance of what I had been doing. Was my mind playing tricks on me?

  “Oh man, if you could see the look on your face. It’s priceless.” The voice came from off to the left this time, still a whisper. I glanced over but saw nothing.

  “Are you crazy?” I asked in a tense whisper. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Same thing you’re doing, sis. Trying to get a bead on our suspect.” He’d moved again. I could practically feel him behind me, a tingle along my back where the invisible spell brushed against me. Why couldn’t I see the spell? Who the hell had the alarming lack of foresight to teach Dan, of all people, an invisibility spell? And how on earth was he using magic at all, bound as he was?

  “You’re using an invisibility spell. Inside a bank. Are you crazy?” I said, going back to trying to look like I was filling out the slip. Frowning, I scribbled on it like I’d made a mistake and ripped it in half, then reached for another. I scanned the room as I did so, locating the usual protective wards around the room. Why wasn’t Dan triggering them?

  “You’re the one standing here apparently talking to yourself, and I’m the one that’s crazy?”

  He was enjoying this way too much. I glared at him over my shoulder, but it wasn’t as satisfying when I couldn’t tell if he’d moved again.

  “I’m going to see if I can get into the break room.” His voice receded as he moved away.

  “Dan, no! Wait!” There was no answer.

  Well, shit.

  Sometimes men are like toddlers, you just have to let them hurt themselves or they won’t learn. Unfortunately, I felt kind of responsible for this particular toddler, despite my better judgment. But it was out of my hands for the moment.

  I lingered a little longer, then made a show of looking for something in my wallet before sighing and turning back toward the door. I couldn’t justify standing there any longer, no matter how much I may have wanted to. I was turning to go when a tall, well-groomed stranger stepped into my path. His gray polo shirt featured the credit union’s logo embroidered on the breast.

  He smiled solicitously. “Can I help you?”

  I didn’t answer, staring at his chest in sudden realization. I’d seen that shirt before. Okay, not that exact shirt, but its twin. The witch from the cafe, the older guy that’d been sitting under that magnificent painting, he’d been wearing it.

  “Miss?”

  My eyes snapped to the man’s face. I fumbled for an adequate cover story. “Sorry. I, uh, can’t find my ID. I’ll have to come back.”

  “Did you need to make a withdrawal? You can make a deposit without an ID as long as you know your account number
and don’t need your balance printed on the receipt.” He was so friendly and helpful. I instantly felt bad for my deception, but it really was for the greater good.

  “Er, no. I mean, yeah. Sorry. Thanks, though.”

  He gave me an odd look as I retreated in the direction of the door, heading back outside through the climate-controlled entryway and out into the midday sun. That could have gone better. I glanced over my shoulder through the glass doors, but the man had already moved on to another customer. Hopefully, he didn’t spare me another thought.

  Unsure what to do next, I sat down on a bench outside to consider my options. Could the witch from the cafe be the one we were looking for? I hadn’t seen any other witches in the bank, but that didn’t mean he was the only one employed there. I took my phone out and considered calling Escobar, but that’d mean admitting what I’d been up to on my own. And I didn’t have enough evidence to point the finger at anyone yet. I put the phone back in my pocket.

  My eyes skimmed the parking lot, and I located my car parked on the far edge. If I’d had my keys, I might have taken off and left Dan to find his own way back home. It would have served him right. But I reasoned that once he’d finished scoping the place out he’d come back outside. After about five minutes, I got up and walked over to the car, leaning against the driver’s door to wait. Better safe than sorry.

  Thirty minutes later, Dan materialized halfway across the parking lot, walking toward me at a steady clip. “Hop in! We’ve gotta go.” He unlocked the door and pushed me bodily aside so he could open it.

  “Hey! You’ve got some nerve, you know.”

  I didn’t get any further, because he grabbed me and shoved me into the open door. I could have resisted if I’d wanted to, but I went along with it, crawling through the car to sit in the passenger’s seat while Dan scrambled in behind me and slammed the door closed. The engine rumbled to life while I shot daggers at my brother from my side of the car.