I smiled, thinking back to when we’d first arrived in New Orleans and how strange everything had felt. “So it would seem. It feels like a lifetime ago.”
We passed a small group of shifters, all chattering animatedly. One of them did a double take at the sight of me, and spun back. “Miss Roxanne?”
I felt bad, but I didn’t remember her name. Rand and I stopped.
“How is Gloria doing? I haven’t spoken to her in ages.” Ah yes. This girl was a dog shifter and had been one of Gloria’s roommates.
“She’s well. I’ll tell her you asked about her. She’d probably love to hear from you.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“Do you mind answering a question or two for me?”
“No, not at all.”
“Have you noticed any water, er, shifters around here?” Belatedly, I realized I didn’t know what kind of water shifters there even were and that it might be a bad idea to mention fae of any kind.
She cocked her head. “No,” she said slowly. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”
“It’s probably not. A thing, that is. I was just curious. Thanks.” I’d forgotten how little some of the ‘newer’ shifters knew about the rest of their world. Not that I was one to talk.
“No problem.” She ran to catch up with her friends, her tail wagging excitedly in my Sight.
Jeremy reached the door to the restaurant, holding it open for us. “Tess, are you okay to do this part on your own?”
“Yeah, sure. Why?” She paused just short of stepping inside.
“Rand and I are going to take a stroll around the resort. I don’t know if it will help with any of this, but I want to check something out.”
She studied me as Jeremy continued to hold the door. “Be careful.” Her eyes flicked to Rand. “Take care of her.”
“Always.” He gave her a mock two finger salute.
“Hey, you two, I’m standing right here. Tess, we shouldn’t be long unless we find something.”
She nodded and went in. The last thing I heard her say before the door closed behind them was, “Hey, think I can get an appetizer while I work?”
Chuckling, Rand and I walked away. When we were in a fairly clear area, he asked, “Care to share?”
“Since apparently we can both see and hear ghosts, I was thinking maybe some of them might have noticed something. That . . . thing . . . you did with Suzette might come in handy, if any of them don’t want to play nice.” I gave him a sidelong glance. “Did you know you could do that? Or what would happen when Suzette tried to touch you?”
“Nope to both of those.”
“When she touched you and those sparks flew . . . did it hurt?”
He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Not me. And truth be told, I don’t know if it actually hurt her or just startled her. I don’t even know what that was. Jake and I have come into contact daily since, well, this,” he gestured down at himself, “and that’s never happened.”
Processing that, we walked in silence. This part of the day was usually a slow time for seeing ghosts, but I figured any that would be around would be the ones we’d want to talk to anyway. We made a complete circuit of the main tourist and camper areas without seeing a single ghost.
“Think we should try down by the water?”
“Probably. There used to be a few regulars that would hang around there when we were here before. But then again, I always noticed a few around the campground area during the day, too. They were some of the old-timers that just liked being around people and watching the day-to-day stuff. I think they found it . . . comforting.”
I thought about the two that had popped their heads through the wall earlier. And then I realized what had happened. “Crap.”
Rand went on alert, his gaze sharpening and taking in everything and everyone around us. I started to lay my hand on his arm to reassure him and barely stopped myself in time.
“Sorry.” Pulling my hand away awkwardly, I held it up, palm facing him, and looked around us. There weren’t any people around close enough to overhear us and we’d been speaking in fairly low tones the whole time anyway. “I bet Suzette and those two from the store warned everyone away.”
He considered it. “She would do it just out of spite if she figured out we wanted to talk to any of them. With the help of those others, they could have reached pretty much all of them in a short amount of time.”
Lovely. Sighing in resignation, I turned toward the beach and the marina areas, knowing what I had to do. It would only hurt a little, I told myself.
When we reached the docks, I called out softly, “Suzette. We need to talk.” And then we waited.
After five minutes with no appearance, I tried again. “Suzette. I’ll tell you what we’re doing here and what we need Jeremy’s help for if you agree to help us. The offer is only good for the next thirty seconds and then it’s withdrawn. If I have to send Rand to drag you back from the gray, it won’t be pretty.” Rand gave me an impressed look. I had no idea if he could even do anything like that, but I figured neither did she.
I heard a gasp and I knew I had her. Whirling around, I spotted her behind us, about twelve feet away. She was being cautious. Good. That meant my bluff had worked.
“I wanna know how he can do that stuff, witch,” she huffed, pointing at him but glaring at me. I’m pretty sure she’d meant witch with a capital W, too, like it was part of her repertoire of profanities.
“And I’d like to be home, relaxing, reading a book, and enjoying a tall, cold glass of sweet tea. Sucks to be us, doesn’t it?” I stared her down until she began to fidget. When she finally crossed her arms and pouted her lower lip out, I continued. “Will you help us? Please? There are kids missing and we don’t have a lot of time to find them. We don’t know if they’re hurt or . . . still alive, even.”
The mention of the missing children did it, I could tell. She took a couple steps closer. “What kids?”
How much would the ghost of a human know about the fae? Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Might as well give her all of it. Who else could she tell, really? Wade? Either Tess or I would be telling him anyway, so he could question the locals, if nothing else.
Explaining in as few words possible, I told her as much as I felt she needed to know. Surprisingly enough, she didn’t interrupt, not once. By the time I was done, her eyes blazed with anger.
“Why do assholes always have to go for the kids? Kids should be exempt from shit like this!” Her vehemence surprised me.
“So, do you have any ideas about who could be involved? Or why they’d take fae children?”
She started to shake her head, then tilted it. “Have you talked to that Margo beyotch in town?”
Rand exchanged a glance with me that spoke volumes. That was two votes against Margo. Turning my attention back to Suzette, I asked, “Not yet, but she’s our next stop. What can you tell me about her?”
The ghost bared her teeth. “She heads up the para and witchy black market in these parts. That woo-woo little shop of hers, with all its New Age crystals, fake love potions, charms, and nasty incense is just a front. I snooped around in the back of it, years before we got stuck on lockdown here at the resort. There was some scary-ass stuff back there. She had dealin’s with those Curtens sisters, too. A lot from what I saw. I tried to tell Jeremy, but you can probably figure out how that went. He can’t make out most of what I say.” She lifted a shoulder in a dejected half-shrug and her face fell. I suddenly realized how much it truly bothered her, not being heard.
“Did you see that ring I gave Jeremy earlier, when we were in his office?” I asked softly. She shook her head. “I Made it for him. Actually, for the both of you. You won’t have to yell to be heard, because he’ll be able to hear you easily now. I don’t know if I’ll be able to Make something that will allow him to see you or not, but I’m going to try. I know you two mean a lot to each other.”
“You did that . . .
for us?” Hope warred with disbelief in her voice.
Before she could ask why, I said, “Both of you have been helpful in the past, so I wanted to do something for you in return. I know it has to be just as hard on Jeremy, not being able to hear you, as it’s been on you. This will help him out in the park, too, so there’s that.”
She gave me a curt nod, the last bit of suspicion finally leaving her expression. “So where all have you searched for these kids?”
“We just found out about this a couple hours ago, so this is our first stop.”
Suzette began to pace. “Well, you’re right in that there’s a lot of boxes and packages that come through here for paras that are off-the-grid, so-to-speak. It wouldn’t be hard for anyone who knows what to look for to figure out what’s goin’ where ‘n all. If those kids were actually the target, look for things like water toys that were ordered and where they came from. There’s a few local warehouses and manufacturers in the area that could have filled orders like that, and I’m sure it would be easy enough for a spell or a tracker to go right in the toy.” She stopped pacing and began thrumming her fingers on her thigh as her gaze became unfocused as she thought. “Water fae kids would need to be kept close to the water, maybe even in the water, right?” I nodded. “Check along the shoreline ‘n all the bigger inlets. You’ll likely have to look at fishin’ skiffs or any other boats capable of holdin’ decent amounts of water and recirculatin’ it to keep it fresh.” Her face suddenly paled and her throat moved as she appeared to swallow hard. “If they’re wantin’ to keep them alive, that is.” She looked up at Rand and I, her eyes wide. “You need to tell Jeremy—no, I’ll tell Jeremy—you’ll need that little boat of yours in the marina readied, right away.” She disappeared abruptly.
Rand and I just gawked, shellshocked. Finally, I said, “She was so much more help than I thought she’d be.” Not to mention everything she’d said made sense. The chances of those kids being kept somewhere along the shoreline or maybe one of the inlets were probably pretty high.
He responded, “You have a boat?”
Chapter 7
Investigating Margo
Rand and I ran for the restaurant. On the way, I dialed Clyde’s number and asked him to pick us up as soon as he could. We were going to pay Margo a visit. My next call was to Sam to let her know what Suzette had told us. She promised to look up everything the firm had on Margo and urged us to be careful. She did confirm that I had a boat with a permanent spot moored here, though. Beyond that she didn’t say anything more about it, but she sounded smug enough to arouse my suspicions.
At the restaurant, we were led straight to a back office with its own door leading to a small, private dock cordoned off from the rest of the area. That must be as much for the water fae to access the office as anything else. Suzette was already there, of course, hovering over Tess at the keyboard, with Jeremy acting as the ghost’s relay as Tess’s fingers flew over the keys. I wasn’t surprised to see the nearly empty plate of appetizers next to her on the desk. She paused to look up at us.
“Hey. I’m pulling up toy shipments and anything else that looks like it might be intended for younger kids. Great call.”
“That was all Suzette.” Jeremy beamed with pride at my words. “Jeremy, what can you tell me about Margo?”
His face darkened so fast, I almost stepped back. “Dat woman, she bad news. Jeremy tells yer aunt dat, but she no listen to ole Jeremy. She send dem bad t’ree to Stella an’ look whut ‘appen!”
His words brought back so many memories. I did vaguely remember my aunt mentioning they had been recommended by someone she’d thought she knew and could trust. And I remembered Jeremy’s anger at—yes, Margo—after the three had been run off.
“It seems I’m overdue to pay her a visit.”
Our host straightened. “Jeremy go wit’ you. Margo no mess wit’ Jeremy.”
Suzette tore her gaze from the computer screen and met my eyes. “Take him. She’s scared of him. Don’t ask me why; I’ve never seen him do anythin’ ‘cept threaten her.”
I texted the Draftmans. “Have you left yet?”
“Not yet. Just wrapping things up. Everything okay?”
“Fine. Jeremy will take us to Margo’s shop. Take your time.”
“No problem. Holler if anything changes.”
I slipped my phone back into my purse. “Tess, you okay to stay here and finish?”
“Sure. I’m almost done, but I want to see Wade and Gretchen anyway. Jeremy says they’re home. I’ll finish up and print out everything here so we can see if any of this stuff was given to the missing kids.”
“Jeremy, be a doll and leave the ring with Tess, please. And make sure you have Cappy get Roxanne’s boat ready before you go.” Suzette’s crooned words made Jeremy smile like a lovesick . . . crow.
By the time we were situated in Jeremy’s truck and on our way, Sam called. I put her on speakerphone. “The firm has quite the list on this woman. According to her file, she’s a lower level common witch, as far as her abilities go. She seems to have had her hand in every pot associated with trouble in the para community over the past several years, even though she’s never been brought up on any charges directly. Somehow she always manages to come out smelling like roses. There’s some conjecture that she’s been under the protection of the Curtens up until, well, you know. I think that alone warrants caution when you approach her.”
“Thanks, Sam. We’re heading there now with Jeremy.” I gave her an update on everything Suzette had told us. “You might want to give Tess a call. She can send over everything she’s found so far.”
“I’ll do that. I’ll also have a team start looking into any warehouses or factories in the area with links to the community.”
We hung up and I sat back in my seat, thinking about Sam’s words. “So, if the firm had all this info on Margo, why on earth would my aunt trust her?”
Jeremy, not taking his eyes from the road, answered. “When Margo firs’ come ‘ere, oh, t’irty, forty years ago, she make frens wit’ yer aunt. She help her in dat shop, den Stella, she lets Margo run it, den later buy de biz’ness. Margo don’ own de building or de shop, even tho’ Margo ask to buys many times. She always sees de monies and magicks Stella has, an’ she jealous. Ole Jeremy sees dat in Margo’s eyes when yer aunt no looks. Peoples like dat always jealous, always wants more.” Jeremy shook his head. “Jeremy warns Stella many times.” His expression serious, he turned to catch my eye, as if to stress that point. I nodded and he seemed satisfied, focusing once more on the traffic around us. “Stella t’inks Margo always in wrong place, wrong time. Jeremy know dat not true. Ole Jeremy, he watches and sees.”
Could mere jealousy really be enough motivation to pit Margo against not only my aunt, but the para community as a whole, I wondered. Surely there had to be more to it than that.
Rand’s voice came from the seat directly behind me and I twisted in my seat as far as the seat belt would allow, trying to see both men. “How would Margo know about the water fae or that they ordered stuff from either your place or Roxie’s?”
Jeremy's expression turned worried and he shook his head. “Jeremy don’ know.”
“Do you have a regular delivery person who might have said something, even innocently, to Margo about the type of stuff they were delivering?”
“Maybe. Jeremy finds out. Jeremy’s Suzette, she helps. De ghosts, dey sees evert’ing dat goes on der.”
Surely we couldn’t ask for a better surveillance team. I asked, “What kind of magick does this Margo have? Sam said she’s only a low level witch.” I knew from Zara that most of the common witches in this area only had the most basic magickal abilities. Potion making, small defensive spells, glamours, and, depending on if their family had any elemental magick in their ancestry, some control over the elements.
Jeremy made a disgusted sound. “She no have much magicks of her own. She steals an’ use others’ magicks.”
My brow wrinkling, I
looked back at Rand. He shrugged and shook his head. “Care to explain?” I prompted the crow shifter.
He pulled around into a service drive behind a building that appeared to consist of all kinds of small, touristy-type shops and parked in a spot marked ‘private.’ “She steals or talks others out of der magicked jewelry.” He tugged at his bare ear. “Jeremy no lose dat udder earring Stella gives him. Dat Margo, she steals. She gots other magicked jewelry, Jeremy knows. She say she trades fer dems, but she no honest enough fer dat. Many witches, dey no go in dat shop anymore.”
“How did she manage to steal it?” I wondered. Every time I’d ever seen him he was wearing just the one earring.
“She an’ one of her employees use ta come ta Jeremy’s park many years ago. She knows Jeremy can hears ghosts an’ dat Madame Stella gived Jeremy dem earrings. Jeremy no use’ to always wear dem. Don’ know how dey gets into Jeremy’s place to take dem, but one of de shifters, he sees someone coming out. He chases and dey drops dis one.” He fingered his remaining earring, frowning. Then his expression turned smug. “Dat person go missing not too long after dat.”
A little shiver ran down my spine at his words as I remembered Gloria’s ‘suggestions’ about letting Jeremy ‘handle’ certain matters not all that long ago. But Jeremy had been the one to pick up most of the slack in the community when my aunt had no longer been able to manage the territory, so he’d probably only done what he’d had to do. He’d been more than loyal to my aunt and he hadn’t hesitated to help me with anything, so far, so I couldn’t really fault him for his methods.
“So you’re saying she could be somewhat dangerous.” Rand’s voice interrupted my thoughts. He didn’t sound like the idea bothered him. “This is the part where still being incorporeal would definitely come in handy.” He gave a little sigh. “What’s the plan? We go in and do the good cop, bad cop thing? Or maybe Roxie and I just play tourists while we scope the place out?”
MAKING MAGICKAL ALLIANCES: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel Page 8