by Kelly Ethan
“That’s what PIG is good at. Paladin is a little more subtle about their manipulation.” He smiled slowly and focused on Xandie. “So, no backing out?”
“Not unless you annoy me.” Xandie drained her coffee and slammed it on the table. Thank goodness for beverages, caffeine or otherwise. She actually felt halfway human again and somewhat awkward about this entire conversation.
Holly stumbled down the stairs, eyes half closed. “Do I smell coffee?”
Xandie shoved the empty takeaway cup at Zach. “Braun bought a honey coffee for himself, but he finished it. Try the coffee pot. Lila made some before she left for work.”
Braun smirked at Xandie’s lie. But after a night of off-key caterwauling, she wasn’t about to admit to taking caffeine bribes from attractive law enforcement officers.
“I’ll take anything right now. Those pumpkin mimosas leave a nasty morning aftertaste.”
Elspeth sailed into the kitchen, bright eyed with a neon-blue waist length curly wig flaring behind her. “Might be the wormwood I slipped into that last batch. I’ll work on it.”
“Why in all that is holy in Point Muse are you not hung-over?” Holly glared at her grandmother.
Looking innocent, Elspeth shrugged. “Probably my black heart. You should try it sometime.”
“Pass. We already have enough issues with our Harrow DNA,” Holly whispered to Xandie. Both girls giggled until Elspeth frowned.
“Librarian, where are we with our investigation?” Elspeth deposited herself at the head of the dining table and nodded encouragingly.
Xandie cleared her throat. Where were they? Living in the land of bupkis with zero clues, but she couldn’t tell Elspeth that. “Well, I mean...”
“Spit it out, child. Do I need to dose you with something?”
“Cease the evil witch routine, woman.” Buchanan slapped a file on the table. “Whitburn’s financials and history, contacts, even his bra size.”
“Bra size?” Holly scratched her head, confused.
“He likes to wear disguises, apparently.” Xandie focused back on the file scuffle between Elspeth and the Paladin.
Xandie released her held breath as Buchanan’s file stole Elspeth’s attention.
“Nice redirection from the Paladin,” Braun whispered to Xandie.
His honey-scented breath tickled her ear. Xandie refused to look at the Police Chief as Elspeth and Buchanan squabbled over who’d hold the file.
“Isn’t everyone nice and cozy?” Agent Jackson slammed Harrow House’s front door behind him.
“Look what the House let in,” Elspeth sneered good-naturedly at Jackson.
“Can you tell me why I have three agents sick this morning?”
Xandie and Holly pointed straight at Elspeth without saying a word.
“Your boys couldn’t handle the pumpkin mimosas or the karaoke. Not my fault.”
“Our medic had to dose them with a cure-all potion before they stopped vomiting and seeing double.”
“Might be time to look at employee standards.” Elspeth winked. “But when has PIG ever had standards?”
“Ooh, zing. Elspeth—one. Agent—zilch.” Theo wandered in with a hot pink wig askew on his head.
Everyone in the room stopped and stared at the fuzzy black cat.
“What? Never seen a talking cat in a pink wig before?”
“Oh, good gracious. What have you done, Elspeth?” Holly pointed a trembling finger at the older woman.
Elspeth nodded in satisfaction. “I may have placed a tiny spell on Theo so he could sing aloud last night. His rendition of that Titanic song was epic. And he begged so beautifully, I couldn’t resist making a few adjustments to his vocal cords. I still had some potion left after creating my baby boy, Colin.”
“Yes, but you assured us it would wear off by the morning. That damn talking pug of yours is bad enough. Until now, only Xandie had to suffer Theo’s mouthy comments. We were fine with that. We don’t need more talking animals in Harrow House.”
Xandie rolled her eyes at the look of horror on her cousin’s face. None of Theo’s or her grandmother’s antics were a surprise to her. Everyone else could hear her cat’s voice now, not just her. Not to mention his complaints ad nauseam. Until now, Xandie had been the only one to hear Theo because of his link to the Library. But now everybody else had to suffer. Suckers.
“Yep, watch out, witches. Theo’s rapping in da house.” The cat pranced around the kitchen, wiggling his tail before pouncing on a dust ball and wrestling it into submission.
Buchanan snatched the file out of Elspeth’s hands. “Mind if we focus on Whitburn’s financials before another dead body appears?”
“The Paranormal Investigative Group have already run Whitburn’s finances. There’s nothing of interest here.”
“And we’re going to trust the group that let Whitburn slip through their fingers to begin with? No offense, but I’m happy to trust Paladin info over anything you’re likely to come up with any day.” Braun crossed his arms over his chest and glowered.
“I’m sure as local law enforcement, you have valid insight into Point Muse, but the group is more accustomed to dealing with bigger issues.”
“In other words, Zachy bear, he doesn’t think you should play with the big boys. Maybe he’s jealous you scored coffee time with our single Librarian.” Theo hacked up the dust ball he’d accidentally swallowed and battered it at the agent’s boots.
Buchanan snorted. “I think Paladin has both you boys beat since we deal with worldwide mass magic extinction events.”
Elspeth rolled her eyes. “For Hecate’s sake, put your manly egos away. It pains me to admit it but you’re all big enough to play in Point Muse.” Elspeth snatched the file from Buchanan’s grasp and scanned the contents. “Whitburn’s video-game company has been steadily bleeding profits for the last five years. Our wealthy necromancer is on the verge of bankruptcy. Then six months ago, he disappeared from public view, and his vice president is now running the shop.”
What happened six months ago to send Whitburn into hiding? Xandie leaned forward and tapped the table. “It’s not the money. Something must have sent him into hiding, or at least out of view. What was it? Was PIG monitoring him?”
Jackson took a seat at the table, all macho posturing forgotten. “As long as he completed his mandatory check-in, we weren’t interested in him. Considered him low risk.”
“And that’s where we differ, boyo. Paladin thinks Whitburn is a loose cannon. We’ve kept a semiregular surveillance team on the necromancer since Elspeth contacted us initially with her suspicions on Proctor during World War two. In fact, all members of the Morrigan Coven have been under surveillance.”
Elspeth snorted and Buchanan amended his statement. “Almost all the coven. This old hag has a habit of blocking our surveillance. We only check in with her occasionally now.”
“Back to six months ago. What was Whitburn doing?” The necromancer disappearing for no reason annoyed Xandie’s orderly brain. They were missing something.
Elspeth flipped through the file. “He was approaching banks to bail out his company. Most froze out him out until one institution backed him, but he turned them down flat. Said he didn’t need the money anymore.”
Bingo. Somehow, he’d come into money, but from where? “That’s it. That’s what we’re missing. Check the surveillance around then. Who was in contact with him?”
Buchanan snapped his fingers and nodded at Xandie. “You’re on the right track, Meyers. Hang on.” He snatched the file back from a hissing Elspeth and grabbed out the phone records. “In a four-week period leading up to that date, he received multiple phones calls every few days from a burner phone.”
“Paladin Inc. didn’t find that curious?” Jackson tweaked a supercilious smile at the older man.
“An investigation was started. Then it was determined that Whitburn had engaged in phone and escort duties with a contractual supernatural dating service. My agents checked out the s
ervice and they confirmed Whitburn had scheduled phone interactions with an employee named Alberta. No last name of record.”
And there it was. Alberta. “That’s the same name as the person who’s been organizing the tickets for the singles’ cruise and getting people out of the way. Alberta, whoever she is, is Whitburn’s accomplice.”
“Lookee there, big boys. Seems like my Librarian granddaughter found a clue you all missed.” Elspeth cackled and slapped the table, her mirth causing her dentures to wobble back and forth.
Tearing her eyes away from the mesmerizing effect, Xandie ignored her grandmother. “The big issue is who initiated the contact first? We’re assuming Whitburn is the bad guy leader. What happens if he’s just an errand boy?”
“Whitburn identifies with a strong female lead, but I suspect he groomed this Alberta as a potential henchwoman from first contact. Our focus should be Whitburn primarily.” Jackson took out a notepad and made a few notations. “Ms. Harrow and the vampire, Benoit, are our priority now. With all the amulets, Whitburn could force a supernatural panic across the world that would bring entire countries to their knees.”
Braun stiffened next to Xandie as his phone vibrated.
Xandie whispered to him as he fumbled it out. “Let me guess, Elspeth spelled your phone so you can get better reception?”
He grunted an affirmation before grabbing his phone and heading into the hallway.
Since when did Braun need privacy? Maybe something was afoot? Xandie shoved Braun out of her head for the moment and looked around the room. “Where’s Benoit?”
Elspeth wrinkled her nose and checked the time. “He left about an hour ago with two PIG agents to do a bakery run. He should have been back by now.”
“We’ve got a problem.” Braun strode into the room with a worried grimace, along with a furry monobrow covering his forehead. “Benoit never made it to the bakery. A pack of dead animals ran them off the road and an elemental hex incapacitated the two agents. Trees along the side of the road had them tied up as soon as they exited the car. The vampire’s missing and presumed injured as they found blood on the passenger seat.”
That meant Whitburn had the third piece of the amulet, but it would take time to cut the tattoo out and transmute it back into its solid-state.
Then it was Elspeth’s turn...
Fifteen
“Looks like the human cavalry twigged to a potential supernatural Armageddon.”
“Huh?” Xandie looked up as her cousin, Lila, slumped into a chair next to her.
“The black-suited agents have me run off my feet.” Lila indicated the empty bakery cabinet.
Xandie finally noticed the group of men crowding into Lila’s bakery. Black suits, check. Military haircuts, check. Annoying, supercilious expressions, check. ASP was in Point Muse. She’d run into the Anti-Species Project a few times over the last few months, but since the incidents in the parking garage of the hospital and the pet show, they’d kept their distance. Now the threat of supernatural Armageddon had bought the ASP agents out in force.
“Told you I’d see you again, Meyers.”
A gravelly voice she recognized ripped at her nerve endings. The overzealous agent who’d threatened her at the hospital, and the cocktail party at the pet show, stood smoking a cigarette in front of her. “I’d love to say it’s great to see you again, but I’d be lying.”
The golden dragons handled the removal of this joker for her when Marjorie Penne had been in a coma. And Xandie had put him in his place at the cocktail party. She’d hoped he’d gotten the message that his presence wasn’t wanted in Point Muse, but here he was, with his regular buzz cut and black suit, still in her face. He must want her mom, Miranda Harrow, so badly.
“ASP will always look over your shoulder. You and that Harrow family are on our radar.”
“Yeah, but is my mother? Weren’t you looking for her, not so long ago? Did you find her?”
“Your mother will come in soon. She won’t be able to help herself when she remembers her darling daughter. Just because Miranda Harrow’s protected by the big dogs now doesn’t mean she always will be.”
Big dogs? What was the ASP ass talking about?
“Miranda’s alive?” Elspeth stood in the doorway. Black clouds literally hovered above her head.
Xandie clenched her teeth. The last thing she needed right now was Elspeth Harrow on an emotional rampage.
The ASP agent let out a bark of laughter. “What a surprise. The Harrows are keeping secrets. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree with you three, does it?”
Xandie took a deep breath as the agent dropped his bombshell and left with a gaggle of other agents.
Lila moved cups and plates out of reach of Xandie and Elspeth.
“I’m not going to snap and throw your serving plates.”
“I’m not worried about you.” Lila pointed to Elspeth as she weaved a path to Xandie. The black clouds wreathed her body with mini flashes of lightning.
“Granddaughter? Got something to tell me?” Elspeth rose into the air, her clouds holding her in place, her now snowy white wig streaming out behind her.
Family drama, the cornerstone of Harrow life. “Look, Great-Aunt Sera started investigating mom’s disappearance. Her Troll private investigator found a Merrow witness. Twenty years ago, mom was alive, but had no memory of her past life or us. Those ASP idiots swept in and snatched her. That’s all I know. But now she’s missing again and they’re looking for her too.” Xandie threw her hands in the air as tiny electrical sparks flickered over the table where her hands had just rested.
“Where is she?”
“I told you, ASP lost her. I think she might be getting some of her memories back and has gone rogue. Because when Marjorie Penne was in a coma, they tried to use me as bait to get her back. A golden Dragon stepped in and got rid of them. Since then, the agents have periodically popped up. But mostly, they keep their distance. They come just close enough to let me know they’re there.”
The clouds thinned out around Elspeth and she dropped to the ground with a thump. “I understand not telling the rest of my offspring. But why keep it a secret from your grandmother?”
“Because it’s still only reports, rumors. Nothing verifiable or concrete.” Xandie sighed and looked forlornly at Elspeth. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up, let alone yours.”
Elspeth considered Xandie’s words and then slapped the table and sat. “Fair enough. But next time you keep a secret like that...” Elspeth draw a line across the base of her throat and cackled but there was no energy in it.
“I have a question.” Lila held a hand up like she was a schoolgirl. “What did that ASP mean when he talked about Miranda being protected by the big dogs?”
Nodding, Elspeth pursed her lips. “Excellent point. If someone’s protecting her from the government, they have to have a power base to back it up. There are only two legitimate choices in the supernatural world. The Paranormal Investigative Group and Paladin Inc.”
Xandie shook her head, confused. “Surely both groups would have notified us when they realized who she was.”
“Depends on how useful Miranda was to them,” Elspeth sneered. “PIG will use you until you’re useless and then discard you. Paladin always has an angle for the greater good and all that pious poop.”
“You said two legitimate choices. So we’re talking about above board entities. But what about the not so legal ones?” Lila chimed in.
“Well...” Elspeth dragged the word out as a gleam appeared in her eyes. “There are a few private consortiums that would have the juice to keep Miranda hidden, but no one would dare cross me. I’ll put some feelers out, but my best bet is those two law enforcement losers already in town.”
“Let me guess. Elspeth’s spewing her anti-Paladin views again?” Buchanan scrambled over Lila’s bakery counter and stood with a heaving chest as he scowled at the elder witch.
“I’m equal opportunity. I hate the PIGs as well.” She
traded scowl for scowl.
“Next time you raise a metaphysical barrier around the bakery, you might reinforce the back door. It only took me ten minutes to break through.”
Elspeth smiled, a wicked slash of dentures. “You mean when I let you in?”
“Listen here, hag. I’m your protective detail. I’m trying to keep your wrinkled patootie alive.”
“Ain’t no wrinkles here, honey.” Elspeth patted her bottom planted in Lila’s chair.
“Timeout, please.” Xandie did a hand signal above her head. “No one needs to imagine Elspeth’s rear end. Besides, don’t we have more important issues at stake? Like dead bodies, missing vampires, pending Armageddon, and missing mothers?”
In a move that belied her elderly years, Elspeth stomped up to Buchanan and pointed an accusing finger. “Speaking of missing mothers, where is my Miranda, you daughter thief?”
“Have you been at your potions again, Harrow? Your daughter died years ago.”
Xandie cleared her throat. “About that... According to ASP she had memory loss after her fall, and they acquired her at the hospital. She worked for them until she disappeared. The agent implied Paladin, or the PIGS, have her now.”
Buchanan frowned. “I’ve been on non-active status for the last ten years until this Morrigan Coven incident. If it’s need to know, I wouldn’t be on the list.” He stared at Elspeth, somber. “If I’d known, I would have told you straight away. Your family doesn’t deserve to lose anyone else.”
Elspeth patted the grizzled Paladin on a whiskered cheek. “I know. But we need to find Miranda before the government does.”
Buchanan covered Elspeth’s hand with his own. “I’ll call in some favors. If she’s out there, we’ll find her.”
Lila leaned in and fake whispered to break the tension filling the bakery, “Is this an episode of old people falling in love?”