The raccoon ran and jumped into Trace's arms and snuggled him. Trace looked down at it and then to me. "How? When?"
"Why do you assume this was my doing?"
He glanced at the raccoon and then to me. "It's the wrong colors."
"Okay fine, so, remember the day the scarf went crazy?" He nodded, and I continued. "A hat was knocked over the same day and with all the magic the scarf used, it might have been possible for something to come out of it." I held my arms out for the Raccoon. "I'll call the agency that took all the bunnies."
The raccoon snuggled further into Trace's arms. Trace sighed. "Well, it looks like I have a new pet. I think I'll call him Nooccar"
"Really?" I chuckled and then looked out the front window. "Cops are here, I'll go have a chat with them while you figure out what you need to do to get your new pet settled."
Two hours after talking to the cops and calling the landlord about the incident, Trace and I finally made our way to the address that Mortimer had given us. I stared at the beaten down Victorian house. "This sure does feel like a place where you'd talk to spirits."
One of the crooked shutters creaked as if to prove my point. The boarded-up windows gave no hints as to what might be inside. A person? A monster? A crazed bunny rabbit? I had no idea of knowing. From the look on Trace's face, I'd assume he didn't either.
His face was scrunched up as if he smelt something awful, his eyes scanned over the house, and then he turned and looked at the overgrown yard. "You know, I think I should probably have my cop friend on standby."
I nodded. "Probably. Does this count as breaking the law? Because I don't really want to be arrested."
"I don't see any no trespassing signs. The boards on the front door are already pulled off enough we can climb in." He shrugged. "So no breaking and entering."
I snorted. "That sounds like a very gray area."
"Some days it is." He pulled his phone out and sent a text. "Okay, let's go."
I nodded and walked up the rotting porch, watching where I put my feet. I glanced in the hole in the boards that covered the door.
I could see a small light in the back of the house, letting us know that there was some type of activity in the house. I crawled through the small hole, bending my body through and trying not to make any strange noises as I wiggled my way in. Trace followed behind me in an equally humorous fashion.
I put a hand to my mouth to keep from laughing. He glared at me and motioned for us to continue forward.
The floorboard creaked under each step, and I flinched every time. There was no sneaking up on these people in this house. We paused after each step, my heart pounding so hard that I swore whoever was there was going to hear it.
We approached the lit area and heard a strange muffled noise. Trace took the corner first, and I followed quickly, only to find a balding man tied up in a chair, a gag in his mouth, trying to scream.
I rushed over to the man and pulled the gag out of his mouth and untied his hands. He threw his arms around me in a hug, almost taking me down to the ground. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
I patted his back awkwardly as Trace pulled his phone out, I assumed to call his cop friend.
I heard a car door shut and looked up at Trace. "We need to go."
Trace nodded, and we headed to the back of the house, but the man held his hand up. "No, he comes in that way."
Of course he did, because who would crawl through a hole in the front every visit? Trace and I nodded, and Trace ushered us back toward the front. "Break the boards down, get out. I'm going to snap a couple of pictures in case all of this disappears."
Like everything else in the case. I led the man to the front door and tried kicking down the boards. No go. I tried prying it off. No go.
I huffed and called on my magic, I waved a hand hoping they'd disappear. For once, it worked. I ushered the man through and out to Trace's truck.
A loud. "What the hell!" Echoed from the back of the house. Trace came running out of the front door and jumped in the truck, getting it started as the man and I buckled up.
"Nice touch with the boards." Trace said as he squealed his truck tires pulling into the street.
I looked at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You made them appear on the back door."
"Oh, so that's where they ended up at."
The man looked at me. "You mean you didn't know where they would go?"
I shrugged. "Now that we've rescued you, who are you?"
"It's Mark, Lacey. Mortimer was right about his location." Trace tightened his hands around the wheel. "We need to get Mark to the hospital to get him checked out, and my cop friend will take it from there."
CHAPTER SEVEN
The next day the landlord still wasn't able to get the goop off my window, and the cops had asked me to keep the shop closed for the day, especially considering what had happened with rescuing Mark. There was no telling if the two were related, so I agreed. Instead, I spent the day in Trace's office playing with the raccoon. Trace and I looked up as the bell over the door rang. Mark and Chloe walked in, hand in hand. Mark looked better than he had the day before. Dressed in clean clothes and less pale and panicked.
I stood up and ushered Nooccar to the kennel Trace had gotten him. "Mark, Chloe, what brings you two in?"
They both sat in front of Trace's desk. Trace smiled at them both. "I'm glad to see you both well."
Chloe gave a small nod. "Thanks to you, Mark was found safe."
"It was Mortimer who gave us the address. I didn't realize that you used to perform in homes." Trace kept his voice even.
She laughed. "When we first started out, Mark would perform anywhere he could. The house was up for rent as a business property, so we took it. You have to admit, it had charm for a psychic to do his work."
That it did, especially now that it was abandoned and boarded up. Creepy really. I kept my thoughts to myself and watched the happy couple. It hadn't been Chloe that had kidnapped Mark, but part of me didn't think she was all that innocent in it. Neither was Mortimer, I was sure.
"Mark and I just wanted to let you know how grateful we are for you. We are working with the police now to figure out the money and who did this to Mark."
Trace looked at me, and I shrugged with one shoulder. "Mark, you don't know who kidnapped you?"
"No, I was at this event. I was just meeting my brother there and the next thing I knew, I was sitting in the room tied to a chair."
Trace made a note. "No other memory?" He pulled out the envelope with the pictures. "At all?" He handed them to Mark.
Mark looked the images over, and with each one, his face paled a little more. "No, I don't remember this at all. Like I said, I was just there to see my brother."
"Your brother, the hypnotist," I said gently. "He was looking to blackmail you."
"How do you know this?"
"Because he wanted to do the same thing to me. I was lucky enough to get out of there before he could work his magic."
Mark and Chloe sat there quietly for a few moments. "Have you turned this information over to the cops?" Mark asked.
Trace nodded. "I gave everything to the officer who came to the hospital to meet you yesterday."
"The man that came to give me food and water was wearing a mask."
"A devil mask?" I took a stab in the dark.
Mark nodded. "Yes."
"He was at the party the other night. Chased me down a hall but disappeared before someone could get him." I crossed my arms. "Nice guy, whoever he is." I couldn't keep the sarcasm from my voice.
"Make sure you work with the police and give them any details you can." Trace looked at Chloe. "And make sure you keep them in the loop about anything you see; my friend will take you seriously."
The couple stood up and shook Trace's hand, and then shook mine. The two of
them walked out and got into their car. Trace crossed his arms and watched them. "Whoever did this was very careful. They've still made out with a ton of cash, without blackmail."
I nodded. "Neither of them mentioned the cash. Maybe Chloe is just happy to have her husband back."
"It's possible." Trace stroked his chin. "So, who's behind the mask?"
I thought about it and shook my head. "I don't know. Eli? Mortimer? It makes no sense that it wouldn't be either of them. Unless the wife is in on it."
"No, she was pretty clean." His phone rang, and he picked it up. "Trace speaking."
I waited in my chair to see who was calling him. Maybe it was another job.
"Really? He's an employee there?" He nodded and mmhmm a couple times. "And he was the last one touching the account?"
A couple more mmhmms came through. "Thank you so much." He disconnected the call and looked at me. "Eli's involved for sure. He works at the bank. They have him on camera accessing the account. It looks like he waved his hand over the screen and suddenly the amount in the account went to zero."
"He made data disappear?"
"And most likely it reappeared somewhere else."
The question was where. I watched as he picked up his phone. "I'm going to grab us lunch while you work with your phone calls. There's nothing I can do to help right now."
Trace gave me an idle wave of his hand that I assumed was him agreeing. I shook my head and walked out of his office, heading toward the pizza place down the block.
When I walked into the pizza show, I saw Eli standing in the line in front of me. I debated for a moment to turn around and leave, but I told myself that Eli had no idea I knew of his connection to the bank. Also, I really wanted my pizza. He stepped away from the counter after paying, and I stepped up without sparing him a glance.
"Your usual, Lacey?" Grace asked as I stepped up. Grace was the usual cashier at the pizza place, and I was starting to think that Trace and I ate here way too much.
"Yeah, thank you." I handed her my debit card and waited for her to swipe it. Eli stepped up next to me.
"Hey, want to go out tonight?"
I looked at him. "Are you nuts? You just went out on a date with my best friend, and you were willing to participate in blackmail."
He bobbed his head from side to side as if debating that was reason enough for me to say no. "Yeah, but come on, I mean, that was all just fun and games."
"The date with Jenny was fun and games?" I asked, raising a brow. "I'll make sure to tell her you think that." I rolled my eyes and took my card from Grace.
Eli snorted. "Go ahead, she was a bore anyway." He took his pizza from the counter and walked out of the store, grumbling on his way by.
I rolled my eyes and looked at Grace. "Some men are just jerks."
She nodded. "He seems to fall into that category." She shook her head. "Best to stay away from that one."
"Trust me, I plan on it." I grabbed the pizza when it came to the counter and basically bounced out the door. The smell of cheese and grease alone was enough to raise my spirits. I glanced around as I left the building and saw no signs of Eli. I gave a small sigh of relief before turning towards my shop and the office.
I stopped to wait for a couple cars to turn into the alley that separated the blocks. I went to step into the street, and something struck the back of my head throwing me forward and into the dark.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The first thing that came back to me was the pounding in my head. It came like a hammer slamming away on the inside of my skull, and it made opening my eyes extremely hard. I finally managed to force both my eyes open and saw a faint light. Once my vision cleared, I realized that I was in a room with my feet and hands tied to a chair. A lamp in the otherwise empty room gave the space an eerie glow. I took a deep breath trying to remember what happened. Had I been hit by a car? No, I would have woken up in a hospital…I hoped. What happened to my pizza?
Not the time to think about that.
I tested the ropes around my wrists. They weren't too tight. If I kept wiggling, I could probably get out of them. Hopefully before whoever had kidnapped me came back. I could still feel my phone in the inside of my pocket pressing against my hip. That was good. If I could get to it, I could call Trace. Or I could use the fancy-smancy voice activation.
"Hey-" my voice died in my throat when I saw Mortimer walk in with Eli by his side. I swallowed the rest of the command.
Mortimer smiled at me. "A little birdy told me that you and Trace figured everything out."
I shook my head. "Little birdy is wrong." We hadn't figured everything out, not really. How on earth was I going to get me out of this one?
"You and Trace are close enough to it. The thing is, you'll never find the money, it's long gone. Disappeared." Mortimer smiled at me, there was something wicked with the way his lips turned up. "Just like you."
"You know, it's really hard to make people disappear," I mused. "You could end up killing me, making half of me disappear…oh." I realized that was probably their point.
I shrugged. "Go ahead and try to make me disappear. You said it yourself; I'm a powerful witch." Bluffing was probably the only way I was going to get out of here.
"That's a lie. Your mother said that your magic was quirky."
"Quirky doesn't mean weak." I pointed out. "This week I pulled a raccoon out of a hat. What the hell have you done?"
"Made a half a million dollars disappear," Eli snapped back. His face grew red, and I assumed it was from anger. "Bet you can't do that."
Mortimer looked at him. "Shut up."
No, I probably could do that, but I had an idea. "I can make it reappear. Right back to the Leer's house." I met Mortimer's eyes. "If you don't let me go, I'll do it."
"What would keep you from doing it after you left?" Mortimer narrowed his eyes.
"My word?" I offered. "I can just walk away from this, get seen for the pounding in my head. Tell the doctor I stepped off a curb wrong. I'm clumsy; they'd believe it." I tried to think fast as the lies tumbled out of my mouth. "Trace will pick me up from the hospital, drive me home, end of story. There's insurance to cover the disappearing money, I'm sure."
Mortimer stroked his chin. "No, I don't think that would work."
He pulled out a knife, and my breath hitched in panic. I had to think of something, and I didn't think being pelted with candy was going to help here. No, but all the things that had disappeared could. Including the candy.
I called on my magic, and a familiar hum went through me. The hum grew stronger, and I could only hope that the quirk that was about to happen was going to be the lifesaving one. Things started falling from the sky, pelting everyone and clinking against the ground. I wiggled my hands out of the ropes while Mortimer was distracted. Once my hands were free, I bent down to untie my legs. My heart was beating hard as more things fell from the sky. I took a moment to realize that coins were falling. I ran towards the door at the same time Eli and Mortimer did. The coins started coming down in sheets instead of just one at a time. Eli grabbed me around the waist and dragged me to the ground. I kicked him as hard as I could and crawled away from him, tripping on the mountain of coins that was forming. I looked behind me to see Mortimer working his way through the ankle-deep coins that now covered the floor, and yet they kept coming.
The noise of coins pouring on top of coins was almost deafening. I resisted covering my ears as I finally made it out of the room and into another empty room of the house. Luckily for me, it looked like it could have been a family room, and the front door was right there. I rushed to the door, the noise of the coins still echoing through the house.
I wrenched the door open and ran right smack into an officer. I stumbled backward trying to find my words, but he looked from me to behind me and at the room full of coins, and then back to me.
"I can ex
plain?" I yelled over the noise. He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the house, handing me off to another officer, before he went in.
The noise of the coins died down after I exited the house, and I assumed my magic stopped pulling coins from places. I looked at the officer who I was handed off to. A glance at her name tag told me she was Officer Lull.
"Um, I need medical attention, they bashed me on the head with something."
"Who?"
I pointed to the house. "The two men your partner is going to find half buried in coins. My head is killing me." Now that the adrenaline was fading I felt like I was going to throw up from the pounding in my head.
Officer Lull nodded and called on her radio for back up and an ambulance. I gave her a small smile. "Thanks."
I was sitting in the waiting room when Trace walked in. I had a concussion, had talked to several officers about what happened, and was finally released. I didn't want to bother Jenny at work, so it was Trace that I had to call. He looked at me with his hands on his hips. "You had me worried sick."
"Sorry, I was going to use my phone to call you, but before I could activate the voice feature, Mortimer and Eli walked in. Did they get them?"
"The cops? Yeah, Eli cracked. Mortimer was splitting the money from the blackmail victims with Eli in exchange for his digital-altering magic. But they got greedy. Mark had decided that there would be no more, and Mortimer took matters into his own hands. Eli got mixed up and wasn't sure how to get out. So he just went along with it. You were right, he was the one in the mask."
I nodded, and I felt like my entire brain shifted. "Um, if someone reports a bunch of missing coins…"
"The police have the exact amount of coins on file and in a reserved account, just in case people start reporting missing money. What on earth were you trying to summon?"
"All the things I ever made disappear. Apparently, I summoned all the coins that had disappeared over the years instead." I chuckled and looked at him. "Quirky magic saves the day."
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