by Ashley Meira
The scattering of coffee beans brought me back to reality, and I watched Ollie gather the spilled beans together with a perturbed expression. Not that I should’ve expected different with the news we brought.
“Are you all right?” Adam asked him. “You seem restless. Even before I told you about Adrienne.”
Ollie nodded distractedly. “Yeah. Been waiting on a call from my parents. Now this…. Is there anything more you can do?”
“I tried tracing her phone, but it’s been switched off. Can’t turn it on remotely either,” Adam said. He had? When? The question must have shown on my face, because he added, “I did it in the car while you were brooding.”
“Brooding is sexy,” I stammered.
“Don’t you mean adorable?” Fiona teased.
Adam saved her life by saying, “We’re going to pay a visit to Thomas after this.”
“Which means I’ll need you to hold on to the rest of this pie,” I told Ollie, casting the delicious dessert a mournful glance. When he didn’t reply, I looked up and saw he was too busy staring at the coffee beans in front of him like they’d killed his family. “Ollie?”
“I didn’t need to fill this order,” he finally whispered. “Damn it.”
“Hey, if the customer cancelled, I’ll take it,” Fiona said.
“No. Yes. No. Damn it. Sorry.” He sighed and leaned back, covering his face. “This is Sandra’s order. She picks it up around this time every Thursday. I fill it automatically in anticipation of her visit.”
I reached for him, and he took my hand, revealing half of a miserable face. The rest of my body was pressed against Adam, who nuzzled my hair. Fiona pouted at me for leaving her out before pulling Ollie into a hug. The rest of us may not have been close to Sandra, or Elizabeth, but having two young, innocent women die in one night was a tragedy on its own. Not to mention all the people they left behind to mourn.
Fiona looked up with a furrowed brow. “Jeffery?”
Jeffery Corbin stood frozen in the doorway, the lost expression he had on this morning still in place. When he noticed us staring, he took another step, then another, like he was doing the wedding march, before finally coming to a stop at our table. He opened his mouth a few times but couldn’t get the words out. Finally, he pointed at the coffee bags.
“Those are Sandra’s favorite blends.”
“Yeah,” Ollie said softly. “It’s her order, actually. Habit.”
Jeffery swallowed thickly and nodded, his eyes misty. “That’s why I’m here. She came to get her coffee, and I’d come by to pick her up for lunch. Every day. Didn’t even need to call and schedule.” He let out a shuddery chuckle. “I was waiting out there. Thought she was taking too long.”
Ollie didn’t like Jeffery. He was pompous and looked down on this place, thinking it was low grade. He was open with his criticism too. But right now, there was no animosity, no criticism, nothing. Just mutual understanding and sadness.
“I went through Sandra’s things, by the way,” Jeffery said tiredly. “I couldn’t find anything about the necklace except some papers about the will. Sorry.”
Fiona grimaced. “I can’t believe they died for a fucking necklace. Whoever did this is getting the beating of his life. Twice.”
“And now Adrienne is missing.” Ollie ran a hand through his hair and looked at Sandra’s order with dead eyes. “What the hell is going on? This time yesterday everything was perfect. It has literally been less than twenty-four hours since everything went to shit.”
“Adrienne, too?” Jeffery said. “Is she—”
“We don’t know yet,” I said thickly. “Have you heard from Thomas?”
He shook his head. “Still no answer.”
“I couldn’t track his phone either,” Adam said. “Or turn it on.”
Did we have two more victims? “Can you call the Council? Maybe they know where he is.”
“Why don’t you just track their magic?” Jeffery asked. “Aren’t you the world’s highest ranked tracker mage?”
“Second,” Adam said. “Damien is first. But Adrienne’s magic is blocked off, and Thomas’ damn bangle—”
Jeffery frowned. “Bangle?”
“The inhibitor bangle,” Adam said. “He said he’s been bulking up, but the strain makes his magic go off and hit his trainer.”
Fiona raised a brow. “Damn. That’s dedication. Leave it to Addi to change a man.”
“She’s worth being a better person for,” Ollie said sadly.
“He put on an inhibitor bangle? He got a trainer?” Jeffery seemed more surprised about that than the bangle. “I had no idea.”
“New thing?” Fiona said.
“Really new,” he said. “I saw him two days ago to ask if he could drive Sandra over to her new apartment yesterday. We had dinner, spoke for hours. I didn’t see a bangle on him, and there was no mention of a trainer. Or exercising, period. My brother doesn’t like lifting anything heavier than a glass of wine.”
I sat up straight. Maybe we didn’t have two victims. “Inhibitor bangles block magic.”
“Yeah,” Ollie said slowly. “We know that.”
“But that’s not all it does,” I continued. “Because their magic is blocked, you can’t track someone with an inhibitor bangle — and they don’t leave any traces behind.”
Adam stiffened. “Are you serious? He’s a member of the Council.”
“Who asked to be put in charge of this case. Who has a bangle that blocks magic and access to more. Who knew Sandra, which Elizabeth would know about. Who has access to Adrienne—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jeffery interrupted me. “You think my brother did this? What the fuck? No way. No way in hell.”
“Calm down—”
“Calm down?” He stood up. “My girlfriend was murdered — probably for some stupid necklace — and now you’re accusing my brother of being the killer? Do you really think he’s capable of killing someone?”
“I don’t think he meant to kill anyone,” I said calmly. “If he wanted Elizabeth dead, it would’ve been easy to sneak up on her. Instead, he spoke to her. They ended up struggling…. It’s possible he just wanted to keep her quiet and held on too tight, strangling her.”
Jeffery was still shaking his head. I didn’t blame him. Finding out your girlfriend was murdered then learning your brother could’ve done it was enough to break anyone.
“There’s a way to find out for sure,” Adam finally said.
“What?” Jeffery looked at him, full of hope. “My brother didn’t, couldn’t, do this. I’ll do anything to help you prove it and find the real killer.”
“What are you thinking?” Fiona asked.
“You,” Adam told Jeffery, “are going to help us break into his office.”
Chapter Fourteen
No amount of tea or cake could soothe Fiona when we told her she wasn’t coming along.
“Excuse me?” She planted her hands on her hips and puffed her cheeks out like a blowfish. “Can you shrink down so no one can see you?”
I backed away from her murder-aura. “I don’t want to leave Ollie alone until we find out who sent those assassins — and why.”
“Then leave your giant boyfriend here.” She jabbed a finger at Adam, nearly poking out his eye. “No way he’s going to sneak in anywhere. He’s probably too big for the windows.”
“Actually, we can get in through the front door,” Jeffery said, for once not drooling over Fiona’s attitude. He had a nasty habit of hitting on her even harder when she mentioned how much she’d rather die than go out with him. Once, he practically proposed when she threatened to strangle him with his own intestines. Like I said, rich people were weird.
“What if Thomas isn’t home?” I asked. “Actually, what if he is home? Snooping is a lot harder with people in the house.” I knew that from experience. “Not that I mind a challenge. Things have been so easy lately.”
“I can practically taste the sass coming off you,” Adam said, wrap
ping an arm around my shoulder. “If you’re really feeling down, I could go with Fiona while—”
“Finish that sentence, and you will never be able to have children.”
“Did you want to have children?” he asked.
“I didn’t say you’d have them with me,” I stammered while Fiona cackled in the background.
“So, you two are going to have children?” she asked with a wide grin.
“Don’t get too excited,” Ollie said. “Their firstborn is being named after me, remember?”
“There will be no naming of any children,” I announced. “See what you did?”
“I did nothing,” Adam managed through his laughter. “But Sophia’s right, guys. We’ll consider your names, but our children—”
“Stop.” I stood between my friends and my… Adam, arms spread as a physical barrier. “Adam and I are going with Jeffery to Thomas’ house. Fiona and Ollie are staying here. That is it. That is all. No one is talking about babies or children or having either of the above.”
“You’re babbling,” Adam said.
“And you’re a dead man walking,” I told him before turning to Jeffery, who looked confused about how to react. Finally, someone who understood me. Huh. Never thought I’d say that about Jeffery Corbin. “We’ll take your car.”
“I’m sure Oliver will be fine,” Jeffery said, casting me another wary look. What? Was he afraid my rapidly tapping foot would pound a hole through his shiny Mercedes? “And it’ll be good to have someone there in case Adrienne comes by.”
In case. With my luck, it wasn’t likely. Sighing, I stopped tapping and leaned back. It sounded selfish to think of it in terms of me, of my luck, but that didn’t stop me from doing it. Responsibility pulled me down like lead weights around my ankles. It felt like it was my fault, like I was a vortex pulling everyone around me down. My bad luck rubbed off on them, got them involved. Ollie had almost gotten killed by assassins sent after me, and now Adrienne might be—
It wasn’t my fault, I forced myself to remember. I wasn’t responsible for the actions of an insane killer.
But it felt like I was.
“We’re here,” Jeffery announced.
My brows hit my hairline as I took the place in. This whole debacle read like a tour of Santa Fae’s upper class homes. Sandra’s house, Adam’s estate, the apartments at Water Nymph Bay, and now Thomas’ mansion.
“I forgot how close he lived,” Adam said, peering down the street. “Only five homes down.”
“No, no,” I said. “Five gigantic estates down. These places take up so much room I can’t even see your house from here. Hell, I can barely see his neighbor’s house.”
“You’re overreacting.”
I glared at him through the rearview mirror. Why did he get shotgun anyway? “Let’s just go.”
Thomas worked from home. The Garden District was quiet, which I wasn’t a fan of. It was easier to sneak in through a lot of ruckus — unless I had blueprints and time to devise a plan of attack. At least the large distance between homes meant we were less likely to be spotted by neighbors.
Thomas’ not-so-humble abode was built with oak wood and emerald stone decorations. Based on the window layout, it looked like there were three floors. Dark curtains blocked all visibility into the home, but I didn’t sense his magic inside. Not that I would if he had on that damned bangle.
An abundance of greenery surrounded the place. There were no flowers, just plain hedges, but every piece was immaculately trimmed. Hopefully, the gardeners were done for the day. A large tennis court took up the leftmost side of the lot, and I couldn’t see past it. Jeffery told us there was also a golf course farther back.
“And immediately behind the house is a small pond,” Jeffery finished.
I blinked a few times to process that. Tennis and golf courses. Fiona and I couldn’t even fit a ping-pong table in our place.
I eyed the army of men patrolling the perimeter of the mansion. They were dressed like Feds, with dark suits and even darker sunglasses. Must suck to be the guy patrolling under trees. Magic came off every one of them, but I couldn’t tell if there were tracker mages.
As we stepped through the large iron gate, Jeffery cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Hey, guys! Looking as boring as ever. Seriously, do any of you own another kind of suit? Start small, try a dark gray.”
The men stayed stiff, but their magic relaxed once they recognized who was speaking to them. One of the men, a short guy with black hair, approached us, “Good afternoon, Mr. Corbin. I’m sorry, but your brother isn’t home.”
“You sure he’s not just sleeping in?” Jeffery grinned, though it looked a little forced from here.
The guard’s mouth twitched. “Do you see flying pigs?”
“Not since Thomas made me stop taking Fairy Dew,” he muttered. “Anyway, Sergeant Hardass isn’t answering his phone. Do you know where he is, or when he’ll be back?”
“No, sir. I haven’t seen him since dawn yesterday. He did mention having to deal with an influx of work, however.”
“Typical.” Jeffery rolled his eyes. “Listen, there’s an insane party happening right now, but I can’t go without my secret weapon.” He winked. “Unfortunately, I left it inside.”
“I’m sorry,” the guard said. “Mr. Corbin has given us strict orders not to let anyone enter without his say-so, and certainly not while he isn’t here.”
“Seriously? I’m his brother. You let me in all the time.”
“New orders, sir.” Did he overheat in the summer?
“Come on, I need this thing. Give me a break. This is gonna be the beach party of the century. I can’t show up without it.” Jeffery nodded to us. “We don’t want to be late. I mean, she’s pretty hot, but it won’t matter how tiny her bikini is if she shows up after everyone’s already shown off. You know what I mean?”
It was impossible to tell through the tinted glass, but I swore I felt the guard’s eyes roaming my body. Adam’s grip on my wrist was the only reason Robo-Cop and Jeffery were still alive.
“I’m really sorry, sir,” the guard said, forcing his gaze back to Jeffery.
“Man, forget this,” Adam said, sounding oddly thuggish. “You’re wasting my time. Let’s go, babe.”
My eyes widened — both at being called “babe” and by the way Adam clamped a hand on my hip as he dragged me away. Jeffery hurried after us, waving over his shoulder at the guards.
“The manhandling tough guy schtick doesn’t work on me,” I hissed, trying to ignore the way it was working on me.
What was it about Adam taking charge? Once we were out of sight, he released me with a soft kiss to my temple. Right. It was because he always backed off when I asked him to.
“Sorry, guys. They used to let me in before. Didn’t know my brother changed the rules.” Jeffery sighed, tugging on his hair. “There’s a big tree by the pond. Its branches stretch toward one of the windows. It’s the only way in that I can think of.”
“Guards?” Adam said.
“Everywhere. Thomas has been really heavy-handed with his security lately. Doubled everything.” Jeffery’s expression dropped as he considered the reasons behind his brother’s sudden change. “I can distract the guards out front, but they’ll get suspicious if I talk up the side guys.”
I nodded, uncomfortable with this whole situation. Change of plans were never a good thing during a heist, and neither were uncertain methods of egress. My Fire hissed. It knew I could probably get in by myself, and if I went at night, it’d be child’s play. But someone could be home at night, and there was no way I could wait that long. Every second we spent was another second Adrienne didn’t have.
Jeffery rolled up his sleeves and sauntered back to the front door. “They ditched me! Some friends. Whatever. You guys don’t mind if I hang around for a bit, right? Just in case Tommy comes home? Awesome.”
I watched his performance in silent awe. The last time I saw someone work a crowd that well
was when Fiona played decoy while I stole Marie Antoinette’s favorite corset. To this day, I had no idea why Symeon wanted to get his hands on that.
“I have new respect for Jeffery,” I whispered as he blathered on about something. Whatever it was enraptured the guards standing around the entrance.
Adam dragged me along the right side of the lawn, sticking to the shadows. We stopped to take cover behind a large oak tree and surveyed the patrols.
“Am I the only one who thinks it’s cruel having oak trees around a home made of oak?” I whispered.
Adam smirked. “Coast is clear.”
We scurried forward, our backs ridiculously hunched. Towering over forty feet tall, with thick branches, and a trunk wide enough to flatten an elephant, the oak tree was impossible to miss. I hoped there were no fish in the small pond beside it. They’d spend their lives under a constant eclipse.
“The first branch is quite a ways up,” Adam said with a frown. “Ten, maybe fifteen feet. Do you think you can—”
Telling him off would have brought some satisfaction, but actions spoke louder than words. I gave him an unimpressed look from my perch on the oak tree’s branch. Who did he think I was?
Adam was staring at me, either in shock or awe. Maybe both. Pride tickled my insides. Impressing him made me feel good. Raising my wrist, I tapped at the empty space where my watch would be if I wore one. He snorted before hopping onto the tree and scrambling up like he did this sort of thing every day. Maybe he did. Who knew what he got up to when he wasn’t rolling around with me.
Running around with me.
“Took you long enough,” I said when he reached the branch.
All I got in reply was a quick smooch against my lips before his broad form crawled over me and toward the window. He stopped halfway with a quiet swear.
“Barrier,” he said, turning back to me. “I can’t shatter it without alerting people.”
“Why aren’t we knocking everyone out again?”
“Because Thomas is a member of the Council, and we don’t have any proof that he is guilty.”
“Do you think he’s guilty?” We hadn’t had a moment alone until now, so I hadn’t had a chance to ask.