Zach let the conversation lapse until they drew closer to the estate, and Kayla gave him directions to the service entrance.
They trundled over the rippled and unrepaired asphalt, skirting several large potholes. Apparently, Alistair hadn’t bothered to maintain the road. Zach swore as the tires slid off the road on Kayla’s side and the top-heavy van tipped ominously. He twisted the wheel and gunned the gas. For a moment, the wheels spun on the muddy clay shoulder, and then the van lurched back onto the road.
“Remind me to equip the van with a levitation spell,” he said as they jolted through another pothole.
“If you’re going to go that far, why not just make it a flying car?”
“Can you imagine the chaos? No lights, no speed limits, and no roads. You’d have people crashing and dropping out of the sky like metal meteors. Not a good idea.”
“But levitation is different?”
“If it’s only a few inches or a foot and you keep your speeds down, follow the road, and obey the traffic laws, then yes, it’s a whole lot different. Anyway, as rich as your family is, you’d think they’d take better care of the road.”
“Why would they? It’s not like they have to use it. Just the hired help.”
They turned sharply around a jut of low-sweeping cedars and pulled up to the gate. A tiny white guard shack sat on the other side of a chain-link fence topped with razor wire. Four trucks and a half dozen guards with AR 15s and wearing body armor eyed the van. Three of them stepped through the door-sized gate. Two came to stand in front, guns raised and aimed at the windshield. The third approached the driver’s side, gun at eye level.
“Roll your window down!”
Slowly lifting his hand from the wheel, Zach depressed the button. The window slid down into the door.
“Who are you and what is your business here?”
“Portland Metro Police,” Zach said, hooking his thumb at the logo on the van. “I’m a technomage. Detective Ray Garza sent for me.”
“I.D.”
Zach pushed up his sleeve to reveal a metal band fastened around his wrist. He touched the design on the top and an image of his face along with other identifying information popped up in the air above it.
Kayla was pretty sure she’d seen something like it in a sci-fi flick a long time ago.
The guard examined the identification hologram and then nodded to Zach whose touch powered it off again.
“Who’s she?” The guard jerked his chin at Kayla.
Zach didn’t miss a beat. “Consultant. I’m to escort her to Detective Garza.”
The guard gave them both a long searching look, then turned away, talking into a microphone attached to his collar. They waited as he conferred with someone, and then he nodded. “Follow your escort. Stay on the road and don’t leave your vehicle until you’re cleared to do so.”
He waved and the gate rolled open. Two guards hopped into one of the four parked trucks and pulled out. Zach fell in behind.
“Tough crowd,” Zach murmured. “Is it always like this?”
“My father probably called them in after the kidnapping. Locking the barn door is so helpful after the horses escape.”
“What’s your father going to do when he sees you?”
“Probably have me shot.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Unexpectedly, Zach reached out and wrapped warm fingers around her hand, squeezing gently. “I’ve got your back. So does Ray.”
Kayla had her doubts about Ray but appreciated the sentiment.
Their escort led them up through trees and pulled up behind the imposing garage at the back of the house. Zach parked and hopped out, circling around to meet Kayla. He put a hand on her back as he guided her toward Ray who stepped out of a doorway on the side of the building.
Ray waved off the guards. When they’d disappeared back the way they’d come, he turned to Zach. “Something’s weird with the house. I need you to check it out.”
“Weird how?”
“I don’t think there are any active magic suppression wards.”
Zach looked startled. “Really? You’d think this place would be tiled with them. They can certainly afford it.”
Kayla bit down on the tip of her tongue. She knew why, but much as she liked Zach, she should tell Ray first.
“Take a look around,” Ray told the technomage. “Keep a low profile. I don’t want Runyon crawling up my ass, and something tells me he won’t be excited to see you.”
Zach lifted his hand to his forehead in a mock salute. “Aye, aye Captain.” He looked at Kayla. “You going to be all right?”
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Ray growled.
“This place doesn’t hold good memories for her,” Zach said to the other man without looking away from Kayla. “Remember what I said,” he told her. “You’re not alone.”
She nodded but didn’t answer. She’d taken to carrying a water amulet with her. It functioned just the opposite of the one she’d used to dry herself after jumping into the fountain. This one would soak her to the skin in an instant, allowing her a swift transformation. If it came down to it, she’d activate it. Her father had no idea what she’d become, but Kayla was willing to give him an up-close-and-personal demonstration of her other half if necessary.
“You should get on it,” Ray told Zach, who nodded and walked off in the direction of the house.
“You two are awfully cozy,” Ray observed when the other man had vanished from site.
“He’s nice,” Kayla said.
“Nice enough to have dinner with.”
She cocked her head and folded her arms over her chest. “Have you got a problem with that?”
“I didn’t think he was your type.”
“And what is my type?” It took all she had to keep the anger out of her voice. Did he think she didn’t deserve a man like Zach?
She waited for his acid response, trying to convince herself that she didn’t care what Ray thought.
“Your type is—” He stopped and looked away.
“Is what exactly?” She pushed, a sadomasochistic part of her wanting to hear his disparaging opinion.
“None of my fucking business,” he said finally, his mouth tightening. “Come on. We’re wasting time, and Landon’s waiting.”
He turned to go inside, and she followed him, curiosity gnawing at her. What had he been about to say? Not that she’d like the answer. Kayla was pretty sure Ray thought she ought to be with a slack-jawed, booger-eating lowlife. Unfortunately, she thought he might be right.
Chapter 10
Ray
WHAT WAS HIS fucking problem? He didn’t need to antagonize Kayla, not when he needed her to get Landon talking. Yet after learning she’d been to dinner with Logan, he’d wanted to punch a wall. And when Logan put his hand on her back as if she belonged to him, Ray’d had to use every ounce of self-control he had not to punch his friend in the side of the head.
Why should he even care if they went out? Kayla was free to do anything she wanted with anybody she wanted.
Unbidden, his brain conjured an image of her and Logan wrapped in each other’s arms. He recoiled, a jolt of hot emotion thrusting through his gut. The image looped through his brain again. And again. What in the holy fuck? He was reacting like he was jealous. But he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.
No, if she wanted Logan in her bed, more power to her. No skin off his ass.
So why did the thought of them together make him want to hurl Logan off a cliff? Why, when he’d started to tell her what he thought her type was, had his own name been the only one to pop into his head? And, God Almighty, why did the thought of her naked make his dick hard as cement?
“Ray?”
&
nbsp; Kayla’s voice jerked him out of his absorption, and he realized he’d stopped halfway up the stairs. Mechanically he started climbing again, his mind reeling at the stunning realization that he wanted Kayla.
He shook himself. He couldn’t think about this now. He couldn’t let himself be distracted because he had a literal hard-on for his old partner, the same partner who’d walked off and left him like trash in a dumpster.
Violent emotion flared again, and he ruthlessly smothered it. He didn’t have time for this shit, and more importantly, he didn’t want to care about Kayla, not even on a superficial level. She’d evaporated out of his life four years ago, and she’d leave again just as fast when this was over. Ray wasn’t going to let his dick run his brain. If Logan wanted her, he could have her.
He told himself he believed that as he marched down the corridor to where Landon waited.
RAY HAD LEFT TO door to the game room open. When he went inside, he found Landon sitting in a blocky leather chair, his pool cue across his knees, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. When Ray appeared, the kid tensed, his hands white-knuckling around the wooden cue. His expression when he saw Kayla morphed into a mix of gratitude, hope, desperation, and then anger. A whole lot of anger. Ray could sympathize.
“Kay!” Landon rose jerkily to his feet as if pulled up on strings.
Kayla hesitated just inside the doorway. Ray turned to watch the reunion. Looking at Kayla, it was like seeing her for the first time. He scowled. He hadn’t given it any thought back at Keller Fountain, but she seemed smaller than before. She appeared thin—almost gaunt. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, and tension lines bracketed her eyes and mouth. Though clean, she was ragged around the edges, almost as if she lived on the streets. Her jeans were frayed at the hems, and her boots barely had anything resembling a sole.
Four years ago, she’d been a ball of fire. She’d radiated energy and reckless confidence. He’d always been the one to talk her down from the wild risks she was willing to take to get a criminal off the street. But now?
She’d shrunk into herself, giving off a furtive vibe, as if she spent a lot of time looking over her shoulder and hiding in the shadows.
More startling was the vulnerability that colored her features as she stared at Landon. Raw emotion molded her expression. Her dark eyes had grown shiny. Were those unshed tears? Ray’s stomach twisted, and the unwanted urge to get between her and anything that might hurt her clawed through him, especially when he realized the dominant expression was pain.
The knowledge felt invasive, like rifling through her underwear drawer. She was more naked now than she would be without clothes. It shamed him to intrude in such an intimate way.
Ray stuffed the feeling down. Being a cop brought him face-to-face with people at their lowest moments. The fact that he knew Kayla couldn’t be allowed to stop him from properly executing his job. Two lives hung in the balance. Families of victims and witnesses all too often held back or hid vital information that might embarrass or implicate someone. Alistair Runyon was one of those. So far, so was Landon. As for Kayla—once upon a time he’d have said she was the most honest and blunt person he knew. Now she was just another question mark. Make that a bagful of question marks.
If he hoped to find Theresa Runyon and her daughter, he needed all the facts and fast. Without a ransom demand, the likelihood of their remaining alive—if they still lived—diminished with every passing minute. That meant he couldn’t be squeamish about doing whatever was necessary to find them before the kidnapper got rid of them.
Landon had been so adamant about finding Kayla that Ray half expected the kid to fly into her arms and cry on her shoulder. Instead the stare-off went on. Kayla finally took a half step forward.
“I’m sorry this happened, Landon. I’ll help any way I can to get them back for you.”
At her words, the kid broke. All the anger and resentment that had been holding him together dissolved. The cue fell from his hands, and he covered his face and spun around, his chest jerking with harsh sobs.
Kayla wrapped him in her arms and pulled his head to her shoulder. She murmured things in Landon’s ear that Ray couldn’t hear. He shoved away from her, and she let him go, her expression rippling with guilt and pain.
“Don’t touch me!”
Kayla flinched, and her shoulders wilted. She blinked as if trying not to cry.
Cry? Kayla? Ray stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from trying to comfort her. She wouldn’t welcome it, and for all he knew she was putting on an act. A really good act.
“You wanted me to come,” she reminded Landon in a dead voice.
Landon scrubbed his hands over his face. He looked far younger than his twenty-two years. “You need to find my mom and Grandmother.”
Kayla nodded. “I know.” She licked her lips and wrapped her arms around her stomach. “What happened?”
He flicked a suspicious glance at Ray.
“He’s okay,” she said. “You can trust him.”
Landon’s jaw knotted, and his chin trembled. His lips pinched together, and he gave a microscopic head shake.
“My father won’t touch you, I promise,” she assured him in a steely voice. “Anyway, he’s not going to be looking at you. You aren’t the one who’s going to let the cat out of the bag. I will. You just have to tell us what you know about the kidnapping.”
“If you tell, he’ll kill you.”
Ray stiffened and jerked his hands from his pockets, eyes narrowing. The kid didn’t mean it metaphorically.
Kayla only shrugged. “He can try. I’d bet on me, if I were you.”
Landon stared at her a long moment. “Now you want to get in his face?” Red suffused his cheeks. “For Grandmother and my mother,” he said bitterly.
Not for me.
Ray could almost hear the unspoken words.
A tear slid down Kayla’s cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Fat lot of good that does.”
“I should have taken you with me.”
“You shouldn’t have left!”
He kicked a small table. It flipped over, the glass shattering. Kayla flinched, her face paling. Ray could totally sympathize with Landon’s frustration. He’d broken a lot of things over her, too, including most of his knuckles on his right hand. But punching that wall had felt good at the time.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
“Yeah, you are sorry,” Landon declared bitterly. “You pretended pretty good, but you’re just as much a selfish lying bastard as Uncle Alistair. But whatever. I’m over it. Now I just want you to get my mom and Grandmother back. Then you can do your disappearing act again. We won’t miss you.”
Seeing the flare of hurt in Kayla’s eyes, it took all Ray had not to slug the kid, even though she’d made her bed and should have to lie in it.
She stepped back and seemed to draw into herself even tighter.
That’s it. This little family reunion had gone on long enough. “Someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Landon startled as if he’d forgotten Ray was even there. “Nothing. Water under the bridge.”
“The hell it is.”
“It’s fine,” Kayla said, finding her voice again. “Landon’s right. Old news.”
“What did he mean that Runyon would kill you?”
Kayla gave a dismissive shrug. “Just a figure of speech. Alistair and I don’t get along real well. That’s all.”
“You’re lying,” he declared flatly.
She just looked at him. His fingers curled into his palms. He wanted to strangle her. No, he wanted to shake some goddamned answers out of her. Instead he looked at Landon.
“Tell me what happened.”
Ray didn’t like the nervous slide of Landon’s gaze away from his, and he
definitely didn’t like the way Kayla and the kid locked eyes as if they were having a silent conversation.
“I didn’t actually see anything,” Landon muttered.
Ray didn’t know why or what about, but he knew Landon lied. And he knew he had to figure out the why and the what fast or his investigation was going nowhere. “What can you tell me?” he asked in a quiet voice.
The silent communication between Kayla and Landon went on for another few seconds.
“I found where it happened,” Landon said finally. “Where they broke in.”
“They got in there? Christ,” Kayla muttered, wiping her hand over her mouth. “Seriously?”
The kid nodded.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t that be at the heart of it?” She sighed. “Shit. Alistair must be shitting bricks.”
Ray’s temper simmered. Too many damned secrets, and he didn’t know any of them. “Mind letting me on things? I’m not a damned mushroom. Quit keeping me in the dark and feeding me shit. We don’t exactly have a lot of time here.”
Kayla ignored him. “You should stay here. Plausible deniability,” she said to Landon.
He shook his head. “Fuck him.”
“Be sure. You get on his radar, and he’ll target you more than he already has. It will be ugly. He already hates me, and there’s not much worse he can do to me now.”
The “now” caught Ray’s attention. He was sure she was talking about her father, Alistair Runyon. What had he done to her before?
“I can handle him,” Landon said, but Ray heard the tremble in the kid’s voice.
“If that’s what you want.”
Kayla finally gave Ray her attention. She looked more bruised around the eyes than she had when they’d arrived. It annoyed the fuck out of him that he not only noticed, but that he cared.
“I should probably start with show and tell.”
With that cryptic statement, she strode toward the door. Landon followed with Ray bringing up the rear.
The Witchkin Murders Page 10