Since I didn’t know him, I nodded. But with only a couple of months acquaintance, how well did she know him either?
“Have you tried calling him since?”
“Yes, but he won’t answer my calls. Could you do something?”
I dropped my hand as if she’d burned me. “Me? I don’t even know him.”
“But you got along so well with Jack,” she pleaded, placing a hand on my arm. Even red-rimmed and smudged like raccoon’s, her dove-eyes were effective. “Maybe you could talk to him together.”
Hell would freeze over before that happened. “Maybe you should call Jack yourself and ask him to help.” He wouldn’t, but at least I wouldn’t have to get involved.
Only, I already was.
Bugger.
I patted the hand on my arm. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do. But I’m not promising results. Maybe Henry has a medical condition that caused a sudden amnesia. And if he’s faking it, he really must not want to marry you to pull off something this stupid.”
She straightened and drew a fortifying breath. “If he truly doesn’t want to marry me, I’ll understand. But I want to know why.”
“That’s perfectly understandable.”
Pity I couldn’t tell her the truth.
With my promise, Olivia recovered from her bout of crying. She headed to the loo to wash her face and redo her makeup, and I wandered into my side of the office space. Kane was sitting at my desk, working at his laptop.
He shot me a glare. “I hope this sort of drama won’t become a habit.”
“Absolutely not,” I hastened to assure him. Then I reconsidered. “Well, it depends on Jack.”
His brows shot up, but Olivia emerged from the loo just then, looking her usual ethereal self, and Kane rose hastily, his face softening. He wasn’t immune to her power either.
She smiled and apologised prettily for the intrusion, and he was perfectly willing to forgive her, bowing a little for further measure.
The twinge inside me wasn’t jealousy. It was envy. He never treated me with that much tolerance.
I saw Olivia downstairs and to the door. Kane was standing by his office when I returned up. “To my office, please.”
“I really am sorry about that,” I said as I followed him to his desk. “I’d say it’s not my fault, but it kind of is.”
Or his.
He took a seat behind his desk, gesturing me to do the same. “Let’s hear it, then.”
I slumped on the guest chair. “Henry broke off the engagement with my cousin Olivia. That was her right now.” I told him everything Olivia had told me. “It was Jack’s revenge, like he threatened yesterday. He’s somehow made him fall out of love with her.”
He considered my explanation with a deep frown. “There isn’t a spell that can make two people fall in love—or out of it. Mages have tried over the millennia, but no one’s managed it.”
“Well, Jack must have managed it, or Blackhart. What else could explain it?”
“Based on what you told me, he must have used a spell that made Henry forget your cousin. That one does exist.”
I stared at him stunned. Then my blood surged in fury. “That rat bastard! What an awful thing to do.”
“It is,” he admitted, looking angry too. “And he couldn’t have done it alone.”
“Blackhart.” I almost spat the name.
He nodded. “Or the mystery mage who helped him earlier, if we presume Blackhart isn’t exactly a helpful person.”
“Can we undo it?”
“We can certainly try,” he assured me, and I smiled, relieved that he was willing to help.
“Meanwhile, I could try to find out if Henry is just acting.”
He shot me a worried look. “You’re not going to talk to Jack, are you?”
I shuddered. “Absolutely not. I couldn’t promise not to punch him.”
Although that would be satisfying…
“I’ll talk to Ida, Henry’s cousin.”
“What good will that do?”
He was genuinely puzzled, and I couldn’t blame him. “If he’s faking it, she could talk sense into him.” Another thought occurred. “And she seems to know Jack well too. Maybe she could talk to him.”
“And tell him what?” He gave me a pointed look. “That he shouldn’t use magic against ordinary humans?”
I made a face. “No. Although, she did take it well when I told her I was spelled to repel men.”
He pulled back. “Why would you tell her that?”
“She noticed how men were behaving around me, and it sort of came out,” I said, a tad defensively. I was perfectly aware that I shouldn’t have done it. “But I don’t think she actually believed me.”
“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to talk to her. At the very least, you could get Jack’s address from her.”
After everything, we’d forgot to look it up the previous night.
I sent Ida a message, but before she had a chance to answer, Kane’s phone rang. His grimace told me clearly who it was.
Danielle.
He put it on video call. “Have you anything for me?” He didn’t waste time for pleasantries this time, although he looked like the omission pained him. That, or speaking with Danielle did.
“I have Blackhart’s address, but I doubt he’s keeping Rupert there.”
My body quickened in expectation. Now we were in business.
Kane nodded. “If nothing else, it gives us a chance to keep an eye on him.”
“I’d stay clear of him,” she warned. “You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“Do you know who his associates are?” Kane asked.
“Apart from Palmer? Random people in the community. But he brought someone with him when he came to London. A relative. I’ve never met her, so I don’t know how powerful a mage she is, but she’s the only one who has any sway over him.”
Perhaps we should try with her.
“What’s her name and where can we find her?”
“I have no idea.”
That was helpful.
Kane thanked Danielle, and finished the call. A moment later his phone pinged for an incoming message.
“We have the address. Let’s go and see where that leads us.”
Kane popped into the gallery to tell Mrs Walsh that we’d be gone for the day. I waited for him outside, taking the chance to study the window display with a critical eye. I saw it every day and had stopped paying attention to it. But Mrs Walsh never failed, and it looked excellent as always.
While my back was turned to the court, the pressure in my neck suddenly returned.
I swirled around, determined to finally find the source, but people were passing through the court in droves, it seemed, and I couldn’t detect anyone.
Kane exited the gallery and gave me a puzzled look. “Is something amiss?”
“The pressure in my neck is back. Ashley said it could be someone keeping an eye on me from a distance with magic. Is that possible?”
He glanced around too. “I guess it could be,” he said dubiously. “Some version of the location spell I put on Jack. Do you think he put one on you?”
Since that was exactly what I’d thought, I nodded. “But he’s not here, is he?”
“No. The spell would tell me.”
“So where is it coming from?”
Just then, someone hailed me from the door of my favourite café, and the tension in my neck disappeared. Ida.
“That’s Henry’s cousin,” I said to Kane, heading across the court. “I have to talk with her.”
“Well met,” I said with a smile when I reached Ida. I found it funny that we both favoured the same café of all the cafés there. We stepped away from the door to be able to talk uninterrupted.
“Are we becoming BFFs?” she quizzed me with a grin. “You’ve contacted me twice in two days.”
I tried to smile, but remembering why I’d contacted her made it look more like a grimace. “It might be this is actually
the last time we meet.”
Laughter disappeared from her eyes. “Oh?”
“Your cousin broke off the engagement with mine this morning.”
“What?” She made a sharp, rejecting gesture with her hand. “That’s not possible.”
“He did. He even made her give the ring back. Olivia is distraught.” I didn’t want to tell her about Henry’s claim that he didn’t remember Olivia, that was too incredible, but I had to tell her something. “I think it’s Jack’s fault.”
She pulled back. “What does he have to do with it?”
“I … had an altercation with him last night and he didn’t take it well. He threatened Olivia, and now this. I think he talked Henry into breaking up with her.”
“I told you he’s no good.”
“You did,” I admitted, even though she’d talked about womanising and didn’t know about the rest. “Could you talk with Henry? Or Jack?”
Her mouth tightened with determination. “Don’t worry, I will.”
Relief released a knot in my gut. “Thank you. Let me know how it goes. I’m away the whole day with my boss, but send a message.”
She tilted her head, looking over my shoulder. “Is that your boss?”
I turned to look and saw that Kane was waiting for me by the gallery with tense impatience. His suit was impeccable as always, his handsome face groomed, and his black hair settled for once. “Yes.”
“Nice…”
“He is,” I admitted with an easy smile. “But I guess I have to go before he comes to fetch me.”
With a wave, I crossed the court to Kane, and we headed to his car.
“Will she be able to help?” he asked, glancing back at Ida, who had already returned to the café.
“She’ll talk to Henry, and maybe Jack too.”
One less worry for me.
Since Kane’s Jag was in the shop having its tyres replaced, he’d driven to work in his other car, a large Land Cruiser with plenty of room at the back for transporting antique furniture and other items he collected from all around the country. It was old, its blue paint faded to grey, but there was much more room inside than in the luxurious Jaguar.
“Do you want me to sit in the back?” I asked, eyeing the back seat with misgiving. Years of being used as a furniture transport had made the upholstery and cushioning suffer and it didn’t look terribly comfortable.
“It won’t make much difference. I’ll manage.”
I climbed next to him. He set the address on the GPS, and we headed into the traffic.
“Do you think we should fetch Ashley?”
He gave me a puzzled glance. “What could she do against powerful mage?”
“I don’t know, bite him?”
He grinned. “That would be a sight.”
“She did manage to subdue the demon that attacked you,” I pointed out. “In human form.”
He swallowed, his mouth tightening, but he nodded. “True. Let’s fetch her.”
Ashley was instantly willing to participate, even though she had to sacrifice her day off for it, and so was Giselle. Soon the four of us were on our way to Blackhart’s house.
“Do you think he’ll be there?” Giselle asked. “Maybe he has a day job like a normal person.”
“There isn’t much more we can do,” Kane reminded her.
“If we need to stake out the place, I can take today. Luca can take the night like the last time,” Ashley promised. “But I’m back on duty tomorrow, so you’ll have to take the next day.”
“If we haven’t found Rupert by tonight, I’m not sure there’s much point in looking anymore,” Giselle said grimly. We drove in silence after that.
The address was near Parliament Hill on the south side of Hampstead Heath. Streets rose steeply towards the top of the hill, with three-story redbrick Victorian terraces and houses on both sides. Hedge fund managers, media personalities, and other people with excellent incomes lived there.
Blackhart must be wealthy.
Mid-morning, the streets were relatively empty of cars, and we had no trouble finding a place to park, choosing a spot one street over. We exited the car and looked around.
“Nothing immediately strikes me as magical around here,” Kane noted. “Let’s go take a closer look.”
The street Blackhart lived on ran along the edge of the heath, the back gardens of the houses facing the park. His house was divided into several flats, and I went to check the names on the door to see which one belonged to him, while others waited by the street.
There was no Blackhart, but there was a familiar name. My heart jumped to my throat, and I had difficulty swallowing.
Jack Palmer.
Chapter Fourteen
“Why would Danielle lie to us?” Kane asked, looking a bit hurt, when I told them who lived there.
I gave him a pointed look. “Apart from the obvious?” But he wasn’t amused, so I shrugged. “Maybe Blackhart lied to her. I wouldn’t wonder it. Or he lives with Jack.”
“I seriously doubt that,” Ashley noted, and I was inclined to agree. “So which flat belongs to the little shit?”
“The upmost,” I told her, and she nodded.
“I’ll round the house to check it from the back.”
She headed to the park with a steady lope, and the rest of us retreated away from the door so that we wouldn’t be instantly spotted if Jack happened to exit the building.
“What now?” Giselle asked. “Shall we stay here and keep an eye on the place?”
“Is Jack home?” I asked Kane, who shook his head.
“The spell isn’t reacting to him at all. It has a fairly wide range too, so I’d say he’s not anywhere near.”
“In that case, this would be the best time to sneak into his flat to look for the spell book,” I suggested, but like before, he rejected it instantly.
“Absolutely not! And what if Blackhart is there?”
It was a worrying possibility, but I couldn’t let that stop me. I needed the book. “There’s four of us. What could he do?”
“Plenty,” Kane said, but Giselle gave me a pensive nod.
“This is the only chance we have. What if we don’t find Rupert in time.”
Two against one, Kane gave up. “Fine, but I want Ashley with us.”
I dug out my mobile and called her, and she soon returned. “We’re breaking into Jack’s flat,” I told her, and she was instantly excited.
“Excellent. I can keep watch.”
Now that we were doing this, I was getting nervous. I’d never done anything criminal before, and I was sure this was the first time for my companions too. Experience was needed in these kinds of undertakings, and we were sadly lacking.
Kane studied the entrance door carefully, running his hand above it as if feeling the air, and found three different wards on it. “I can’t take all these down, or they’ll know instantly that we’re here.”
“We’ll look for another way in, then,” Giselle declared, heading down the steps to round the house.
We found a small annex at the end of the house that led below grounds. Since the basement flat had its own entrance towards the street, we concluded that this one was for the rest of the house to use. And it only had one simple ward on it that Kane quickly took down.
Another feat of magic opened the lock, and we were in.
It was a small storage space for bicycles and garden tools, and there was no alarm—which we came to think of only belatedly. Concrete steps led up into the house, and the door at the top opened to the entrance hall. It was a small, later addition when the one-family house had been converted into flats.
A narrow staircase led up on one side, and we climbed the slightly worn wooden steps as quietly as we could, with Kane checking for wards on each landing. But Jack—or Blackhart—hadn’t been so paranoid that he would’ve put obstacles or warning wards along the way.
On the other hand, there were several wards on the landing outside Jack’s door. “These will take
a moment to unravel,” Kane said, studying them with grim determination.
“I’ll help,” Giselle offered. Together they began to take them down, working in concert, as if they’d done this before. Since I couldn’t see the wards, I had nothing else to do than send updates to Ashley, who had found a spot up the street where to keep an eye on the house.
The wards came down faster than I’d imagined, and soon Kane had the door open. He checked the threshold for traps, but there were none. He listened carefully, but if there was someone in the flat, they weren’t making any noise. Relaxing a little, he entered the flat.
“For the record, I don’t usually break and enter into people’s homes,” he said in a quiet tone. Since this was the first time for Giselle and me too, we just nodded. I drew a deep breath before I stepped over the doorstep.
I was now officially a criminal.
Turned out, it was easier than I’d thought to break the law. My palms were getting a bit damp and my heart was beating too fast. But that was just for fear.
I paused to look around. It was a loft convert, a vast open space with no partitions, which allowed us to see pretty much everything with one glance. Only the loo was behind walls by the entrance, but there was a large bathtub in the middle of the bedroom area. Handy for watching TV while you bathed.
“Nice…” Giselle said, walking in deeper.
I nodded. The floors were polished oak, the walls plain redbrick, and the ceiling had the heavy support beams visible. Windows in the slanted ceiling gave in plenty of light. Furniture was a carefully selected combination of antique and modern that made my gallerist fingers itch.
It infuriated me to no end that Jack would live in such a beautiful home.
“Let’s be fast,” Kane said. None of us wanted to be surprised by Jack—or Blackhart.
With everything out in the open, it was a straightforward job to go through the flat. At first I was hesitant to rummage through the drawers, but urgency soon cured me of any scruples. And it turned out to be a quick job.
“Here!”
Giselle stood by the Super King size bed, holding a large leatherbound tome with both hands. Even knowing that Jack had stolen the book, I was slightly surprised that it was here.
Saved by the Spell. House of Magic 2. Page 11