“I tried to negotiate to get my clearance rank up for database privileges, and I may be getting a new partner.”
There was that word again, and this time he sounded even angrier. “I’m afraid to ask who the partner is.”
“Melody Grace.”
“Oh, Abigail.” His voice lowered. “It sounds like your life is about to get very interesting.”
Yeah, he was probably right. “I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch; we can chat about it then. And the letter you gave me.”
“No, no reason to chat about the letter. It should have been given to you long ago. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He disconnected, leaving me in silence.
After a few minutes of making sure the building wasn’t going to explode, I finally sat down at the desk. The glass top caught the sunlight a little bit, but not at an angle that was blinding, and it gave off the feeling of a fancy office. New office equipment was amazing like that.
I wiggled the mouse and clicked on the keys to unlock the computer. Typing in my password, I wondered how long this had actually been in the works because it seemed like short notice to get everything ready for me.
Of course, Boss Man had known I was an elemental for about three months now. Maybe it was something that he was planning on the moment he found out.
I pulled up the search program and decided it was time to get to work. This time nothing tried to warn me off as I typed in the name Carmen Jones.
Not much came up, except she was a registered shifter. Not surprising because of what I knew about the other victim. I scrolled through her information and tried to find some link to Drake. I stopped at the place of employment and pressed my lips together. She’d worked at a place called Loraine’s Dollhouse. I hadn’t heard of the place before, but the name caught my attention. Loraine was the name of Drake’s daughter. Interesting.
I wrote the address down to visit later. Something in my gut told me not to call, but I did pop the name into the search, and the results that came up were as expected. Loraine’s Dollhouse was a little toy store down in Manitou the specialized in custom-made dolls. It sounded creepy.
I clicked around on the images on the website to see examples of what they had for sale and happy clients with their customer-made dolls. The last picture was a smiling child, her hair in ringlets that fell to her shoulders, and she was clinging to a doll in a plaid dress that looked very similar to her.
And the child was the one I saw in my vision when I was hit by the spell in my office. My heart skipped a beat, and I stared at her for a moment just to make sure. Yes, she was. Holy shit.
I jumped out of my chair and grabbed the address before running out of my office. I sprinted to the stairs and took them two by two down to the main level. I didn’t bother waving at the receptionist as I darted out of the building. Only to realize that my Hummer was at the other PIB building and I was standing at the south building, in the parking lot, looking like an idiot.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Simon. “Hey, you want to go shopping for dolls?”
He stuttered through his words. “What?”
“I need a ride, the Hummer is at the north PIB building, and the big scary man took me to the south building.”
“Got it. I’ll be there in twenty, okay? Then are you going to explain to me what the big scary man wanted with you?”
I laughed. “Yeah, it’ll make for a fun story on the way to the doll store.”
“What kind of dolls are we talking about?” His voice sounded skeptical, and the sound of an engine turning came after him.
I laughed. “Creepy custom-made ones. You’ll love them; maybe you can pick one or two up for the pups.”
“Right, because nothing says welcome to the pack like creepy dolls. I’ll see you in a bit.”
I was still standing in the parking lot when Simon pulled in. There were probably things I could have done in the office, but I didn’t want to spend my time up there while I was thinking about the child. What on earth was such a young kid doing involved in such magic? Certainly, she wasn’t the one who cast it. I mean, I’d seen some pretty powerful kids over the years, like the one who managed to bring to life a velociraptor using Life Magic, but hexes were a whole other ball game.
Simon pulled up in front of me. “Need a lift?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, of course I do.” I jumped into the passenger side of his car. “It’s been a strange day, and I’m ready for it to end.”
“But first, we’ve got to go shopping for creepy dolls. I’m sure the pups would appreciate them,” he joked again. “And when they think I’ve gone crazy, I’m blaming you.”
I buckled in. “They’ve met me before, so I’m sure they wouldn’t be that surprised. Though they’d be suspicious of what I wanted since I’m a witch.”
“Voodoo dolls?”
“That would probably be their first assumption, yeah.” I sighed. “Here’s the address to the doll shop.”
He looked down and nodded. “That’s not far from Clarissa’s shop, is it?”
“Not at all. Might pop in and say hi to her after we’re done with the creepy dolls.” I leaned back in the chair and watched things pass as we drove. “So I have a new title.”
“Oh? Was that what the big scary man was about?” Simon never took his eyes off the road, and his voice was even. “I was debating on calling someone to help you.”
He wasn’t the only one, after all, I’d sent a warning to my uncle. “Yeah, PIB has convinced me to become a Special Agent working with the Black Magic task force.”
“Does this mean if there’s a crime involving my wolves, you won’t handle it anymore?”
I sighed. “Probably not, unless it’s something like Mina, where someone is using black magic.”
“Well, guess that means I can’t special request you.” He snorted. “Who’s replacing you?”
I shook my head and played with the seatbelt. “I have no idea. They are talking about putting me with a partner.”
“You don’t sound happy about that.” His voice was low. “But who is it?”
“Special Agent Grace. And of course I’m not happy. I don’t want another partner. I’ve never wanted a partner, and when I finally got used to having one, he blew up.” My voice raised a little bit, and I sighed. “I’m sorry, just…”
“A sensitive subject, I know.” He turned down the exit to get to Manitou. “And I don’t plan on pushing it, but a promotion sounds like a good thing.”
I pressed my lips together. “They told me if I didn’t take it then they’d tell the government about me being an elemental.”
“Well shit.” Simon sighed. “No wonder why they sent the big scary man after you. This is going to prove to be interesting.”
Wasn’t that the truth. “I’ll have to tell Levi tonight, Oliver already knows. He doesn’t like it at all; there was something in his reaction that didn’t sit right with me.”
“It’s your uncle; he probably knows a lot more about the situation than you think.”
That had occurred to me, but since I couldn’t tell what Oliver was thinking in most situations, I hadn’t put too much thought into it. “Scary thought, if he knew about it before I did.”
We pulled onto the main shopping street lined with connected buildings. The street sloped down dividing the main strip into two roads. Shops crowded both sides of the roads. Simon drove down the hill leading to a large park. “I hope you don’t mind walking; this is the only parking open.”
“Don’t mind at all.” I got out of the car when he parked and stretched. “I love this place.”
“So do a lot of the wolves, it’s a very welcoming place for supernatural creatures.”
It was, and a lot of the local coven members chose to live down here. I was hoping we wouldn’t run into any of them. I started walking across the street so that we’d be on the side with the shops. Simon followed me. “Something up?”
I shook my head. “Nope, just on a mission. Get this done, get so
me information, and get on with my day.” I didn’t want to let him in on the fact that we could be talking to someone who’d put a hex in my office. He didn’t need to know that. I wasn’t planning on asking investigation questions at this time, just scope out the shop and see what I might be able to learn that way.
We stopped in front of a tan brick store, a wooden sign hung from a small overhang above the door. Loraine’s Dollhouse, there was a small painting of a dollhouse next to the scrolling words, all done in white. Realistic eyes of dolls stared at us through the window. Each perfectly crafted to look lifelike. From the lashes that framed the eyes to the soft curve of a child’s lips. Tiny hands with sculpted rolls of baby fat and chubby legs peeking out from under dresses or shorts completed the look.
Simon pointed to one that had brown curly hair and big brown eyes. “This one looks like you.”
I shook my head. “That’s your imagination.” It wore a frilly red dress with black lace, and I leaned closer to look at it. Tiny little, painted fangs peaked out of the lips. “Woah, that’s not what I was expecting.”
Simon looked as well. “That’s a bit creepy.”
It really was. I shook my head and walked in. “If they have tiny vampire ones, maybe they’ll have tiny werewolf ones.”
“We do have tiny werewolf ones, and they come with their own stuffed wolf.” The woman’s voice caught me off guard. “Does the alpha need one?” She gave a slow smile. “Or perhaps the PIB agent needs a doll?”
Either she’d known we were coming, or she was just knowledgeable. It wasn’t a secret that I was a PIB agent, but I wasn’t sure if it was common knowledge that Simon was alpha. I glanced at him.
“We’re actually looking for a gift for one of my pups. She collects dolls.” He didn’t miss a beat.
“Mmm, do you know what kind she likes? I have a variety of porcelain dolls, fabric dolls, clay, glass, and…” she glanced at me as she paused, “some with real hair.”
Because that didn’t scream magic with the way she said it. I gave her a polite smile. “Where do you get the hair?”
“If it’s a personalized one, we use the hair of the person it should resemble. If not, then it’s donated, or I’ve used my own hair once or twice.” She shrugged.
“Porcelain,” Simon said easily. “She has a few already.”
“Right this way.” She led him further back into the store, and I hung around the front looking at the dolls on display. I was hoping something would trigger a memory of the child I saw in the vision, give me a clue that she had some connection to the shop.
She came back up a few minutes later. “Simon is making his selection. That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here Abigail.”
“It’s Special Agent Collins; I’m following up on a death.” I hadn’t wanted to be straight to the point, but it was going to be hard to keep up the facade if she knew who we were.
“I figured as much.” She walked behind the glass case that held the register. She pulled out a deck of tarot cards and spread them over the glass. “Care for a reading?”
I shook my head. “I don’t need a reading. I need to know when the last time you saw Carmen Jones was.”
She flipped over a card, and the Death card stared up at me. Every deck of cards had their own style; this one was a style where death looked like a teenager, carrying a scythe with a destroyed world behind her. “Death, the most misunderstood card in the deck. Change, Agent Collins, good or bad, but it doesn’t mean that someone is dying.” She looked up and met my gaze. “Yet.”
Of course there was change going on in my life, it seemed to be constantly fluxing. I didn’t miss the similarity to Clarissa’s reading though. “Carmen Jones, Ms?”
“You know my last name.”
“Moll. You’re Drake’s daughter.”
She flipped the card back over. “Carmen worked for me and then one day she just disappeared.”
“Did you two get along?”
She gathered her cards and didn’t look at me. “We did, she was quiet, kept to herself, newly divorced, and wanted to start building up a savings and paying her debt off so she could provide a good life for her daughter.”
Another divorced mom, there were a lot of those, but it was something that linked our two victims. “Where is her daughter?”
“Dad has custody of her, the courts granted her visitation rights, but he has her most of the time since Carmen was working two or three jobs at all times to get on her feet.”
That was a lot more information than I had before. “Thank you.”
“Don’t need to speak to me about my father?” She met my gaze again. “I know he’s crazy Agent Collins; he wasn’t really sane to begin with, and then Mario turned him into a vampire and his sanity all but disappeared.” She pushed away from the glass and walked toward the window.
“I don’t at this time unless you have some information that you think I should know.”
She shook her head. “No, I’ll be honest, I don’t really keep in contact with him anymore.”
“Thank you.”
Simon came back from the back part of the room. “Thank you for letting me take a look. It’s occurred to me that I have no idea what kind of doll she’d want.”
Loraine picked up the one Simon had been looking at in the window. “Why not take her this one. It’s one of a kind.”
Simon looked at me for a moment and then to the doll. “Okay, thank you. I’m sure she’ll love it.”
Loraine stroked the doll’s hair and started humming for a moment. The tune caught my attention. Hush Little Baby
“My mother used to sing that to me.” I smiled. “Do you have children, Loraine?”
She didn’t answer me and walked to the register. “Five hundred.”
“I’ve got it.” I put an elbow on Simon’s arm; it was only fair that I pay for it since he was just going along with me. I handed her my card. “You didn’t answer me about the kid.”
She didn’t say anything to me and just swiped my card. The receipt printed and she handed me a pen. “Please sign.”
I wasn’t going to get an answer out of her, and I wondered why she was trying so hard to avoid it. I decided not to push. “Do you happen to know the name of Carmen’s ex-husband?”
“Daniel Jones, she never changed back to her maiden name. Too much paperwork.” She shrugged. “Had I been her, I would have been trying to get rid of anything attached to him.” She turned and packed the doll up and handed the box to Simon. “I hope your pup likes it.”
Simon nodded. “Thank you, me too.”
We both walked out of the building, and the moment we did, I heard the tumbler click, locking the door. Interesting. Simon shrugged. “Maybe it’s her lunch time.”
“Maybe.” I started walking further up the block to Clarissa’s shop. “No idea what we’re going to do with a five-hundred-dollar doll.”
Simon snorted. “Give it to Levi? It is a tiny vampire version of you.”
“Don’t even joke; he’d probably flip his shit.” I laughed. “Abigail, why would you do this? You are not a vampire.” But it did have an ironic ring to it, a doll version of me as a vampire, dressed in a frilly dress. The Princess of Vampires.
I paused. There was no way that she could know. Was there? I shook my head. Just paranoia. There were plenty of people who had dark curly hair and brown eyes. I pushed the thought off as we entered Clarissa’s shop.
She walked out from the backroom as the little door on the bell ding. “Welcome.” Her eyes lit up at seeing us. “What are you two doing here?”
“We had to make a trip to a nearby shop.” Simon held up the box.
I nodded. “PIB work, Simon just got wrapped up in it because I needed a ride.”
Her eyes widened, and a lot of horror passed over her face. “You didn’t destroy the Hummer did you?”
“No, I just need to go pick it up. Simon and I went out to lunch, so I’m without it right now.” It was the shortest explanation I c
ould muster, and Simon went along with it without elaborating
She nodded and held her hand out for the box. “Let’s see what doll you bought from Loraine.”
Simon handed her the box, and she nearly bounced over to her counter to open it.
“Do you know Loraine well?” I asked and walked over to the counter with her.
She pulled the doll out and looked at it. “Such beautiful work, and a great likeness of you. When did you have it commissioned?”
Simon started laughing, and I glared at him. He covered his mouth and pretended to cough. “I didn’t commission it. It was in the window for sale. Simon is supposed to give it to a pup.”
“Yeah, except she thinks dolls are creepy. I still vote to give it to Levi. Did you see the tiny fangs?”
Clarissa’s eyes shot to the doll, and she started laughing. “This is a joke right?”
“Nope, made that way. Hadn’t met Loraine until today. One of her employees is a victim in my case.” I crossed my arms. “Do you know if Loraine has a daughter?”
Clarissa sighed and packed the doll away. “She did. No one knows what happened to her. One of her employees said that the little girl was in a home of some sort, for some mental illness that was too much for Loraine to handle. But that was a while ago, and Loraine’s never mentioned her. Loraine is a powerful witch, so I’m wondering if the child hadn’t come into her powers early.”
That could be a scary combination. “I’m sorry to hear that. That explains why she shut down when I asked.” I took the box from her. “Has there been anything weird going on around here lately?”
“Nothing stranger than normal.” Clarissa shrugged. “I’m sorry Abby, I don’t have answers for you.”
“Ah, well, one could hope. But you gave me some inside information on Loraine, and that helped a lot.” I hugged her over the counter. “I’ve got to pick up my Hummer and follow up on another lead.”
Simon handed me the box. “And find out what you’re going to do with this.”
Maybe I could make it a white elephant gift or something. Though that was a pretty expensive gift. I could return it, but that would be extremely rude, especially since Simon put on such a good show about wanting to buy one. “Maybe I’ll set it on my new desk and make it face Agent Grace.” I snickered.
Here Witchy Witchy Box Set 2 Page 33