The Lost Ones (Here Witchy Witchy Book 12)

by A. L. Kessler

  We sorted out the documents and the photos. Eventually, we found some hand-written notes on the back of napkins and menus. I frowned as I read one. “She was tracking someone, but it wasn’t me.”

  “But who was it?”

  “The person who gave her my name, maybe?”

  “Maybe, but then why would she go after you. Clearly you weren’t her target. Unless this person looked like you.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe they gave Agent Ross my name to throw her off their tail?”

  Liz nodded in agreement and put another paper menu in the pile for notes. “Whoever it is, they either visited a lot of restaurants, or Ross spent a lot of time ordering take out and thinking.”

  “So do I, but I don’t make notes on the menus.”

  Liz laughed. “Yet.”

  I shook my head. “Do you think we can get her travel records? Her PIB ones, at least? Obviously, this is work related, there should be some type of official records, right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll put in a request to get them.” She pulled out a pile of pictures and handed them to me. “About her not stalking you.”

  I frowned and looked at the top picture. It was me leaving Melisandra’s house with Oliver. “I remember this day. We went for a walk because I was getting antsy. It was before I healed enough for them to trust me to walk alone.”

  I laid that one down and studied the next picture. Me meditating in the field behind Melisandra’s house. “How did she get these? That place was supposed to be secure.”

  “The house has a protection spell, so does the land. Maybe Agent Ross didn’t mean you harm then.”

  My hand shook as I looked at the next one. “This one is me in Luna Grove. This isn’t a recent deal.”

  Liz took it and studied it. “You’re looking around?”

  “Yeah, I was waiting for the spell to lift on the coffee house.” There had been a magically protected coffee house in Luna Grove. The spell lifted for those without a corrupted aura. I swallowed. “There are vacation pictures in here too. The book fest I attended with Clarissa. Out of city trips Nick and I took for certain cases. This woman has an entire portfolio of my life. The only person I know who’s followed me that close is Oliver.”

  “Why him?”

  “It’s kind of his job to keep tabs on me.”

  I reached for my phone and called Oliver. If anyone would have seen this woman, it would have been him.

  “Ah, Niece, I’m a little busy.”

  “I have something regarding a case I need to pass by you. Can I text you a picture of a woman and you can tell me if you know her?”

  “I don’t know every woman, Abigail.”

  “This one has pictures of me at places you might have also been.”

  There was silence for a moment. “Send the picture.” He disconnected the call, and I got up to pull up Agent Ross on the computer so I could get him an image. I clicked a picture of her PIB profile and sent it to him.

  “He didn’t ask many questions.” Liz pointed out.

  “I think he might be spending some quality time with Melisandra.” I shrugged. I put the pile of pictures of me to one side, and we went back to work on the box.

  A couple hours later, we had documents matched up with evidence pictures. Notes matched up to documents, with a few scattered notes that made no sense in a different pile. There were very few notes pertaining to me and why she was keeping such a close eye on me.

  “This is all very odd. She’s almost talking in code in a lot of these.” Liz frowned.

  Many of the documents had people listed simply as ‘person a,’ or ‘person b’ and ‘child 1’ and ‘child 2.’ “I’m hoping there’s not something super nefarious going on with children involved.”

  Liz nodded. “I feel the same. There’s very little about the actual murders: two bodies, burned to a crisp inside a circle.”

  “And the circle part is why it’s gotten to us. That’s what O’Donald meant when he said this may not be elemental-related. The circle could be black magic.”

  Liz sighed. “I don’t know what she was chasing. Hopefully, once we get her records, we can find a starting point.”

  “She doesn’t even list where they found the bodies. I’ll dig in the system and see if any of her paperwork there says anything. It’s like she was worried someone was going to follow her.”

  “Which makes me think we won’t find much in her PIB travel records.” Liz leaned back, “But I’m sure we can get warrants for her personal records if we have to.”

  I looked back at the stack of photos of me. “Well, she made a lot of trips from Arizona to Colorado, that’s for sure.”

  “Quick drive, all considering.” Liz picked up the pictures. “I want to show these to O’Donald.”

  “Okay. While you do that, I’m going to dig in the system. On your way back, will you grab some actual files to put all this in?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, for now, let’s stack them nicely in the box.”

  She helped me put them back in the box and we both stood and dusted off our pants. “When I get back, we’ll order lunch and go from there.”

  I went to the computer. “That sounds like a plan.”

  “Okay, I’m off to talk to O’Donald. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  I waved her out the door and turned to the computer. I signed back in and started my own search. I still had Agent Ross’s profile up, so finding which past cases she had was easy.

  Scrolling through her records, I tried to find anything pertaining to the original murder she had accused me of. A file dated two years ago caught my attention. Opening it, I saw the same picture that she had shown me.

  Interesting. She had made it sound like the murder was more recent than that.

  I looked at the victim’s name. It wasn’t an agent. Doctor Daniel Pointe. There wasn’t a lot of information on him. They had identified him from dental records.

  She had said the body had been Agent Torrid. I frowned and put the name into the system.

  It still showed agent Torrid as alive and working as part of the night team. Because he was a vampire, much like Grayson, who Agent Ross said he worked with. Interesting.

  I leaned back in my chair and started searching further down. There were a lot of minor cases here and there, but nothing career-making or rank-making.

  It made me wonder what she was following and why a lot of it didn’t seem on record. We were supposed to update our case files as we went so that if we needed to hand it off for any reason, another agent could pick it up.

  It seemed like Ross did not want anyone to pick up this case.

  I glanced back at the notes and picked up the top one. It was one that we assumed was just scribbled.

  Underground was written several times on it, and I looked back to the screen. Was she working on something in the underground? Did she think the underground was to blame?

  I let out a frustrated groan and put the note back. Now I was just reaching for answers. I needed to think this out and not end up on a wild goose chase like Agent Ross had been. No, the pieces had to be here somewhere. I just needed to put them together.

  I looked back at Agent Ross’ files. She had tried to claim I murdered Dr. Pointe. But it was long before they called my mental health into question. I couldn’t talk to Agent Torrid until he was in the office after sundown, but maybe I could figure out why she wanted to tie him to it.

  My phone rang before I could run a search, and I saw Oliver’s name on the screen.

  “What’s up?” I answered.

  “That woman is dangerous, and you need to stay away from her.”

  “Glad to see you know her on sight. She’s a PIB agent, and she had me arrested and thrown in containment on some false charges. Now she’s out on leave and the case came to Liz and me. If you have information on her, I need it, because everything we got from her case files is a mess and we have no actual place to start.”

  Olive took a deep breath. “You said she
had images of you?”

  “Yes, Luna Grove, Melisandra’s house, a handful of others. Liz has them right now. She’s upstairs talking to O’Donald about it.”

  “I wouldn’t mention this to your new guard if you don’t want to get locked up. I’ll meet you tonight at La Soeur. Without Zayne.”

  “I don’t know if I can shake him. He stood at my door all night last night.”

  There was a beat of silence. “I’ll talk to Levi. I don’t want Zayne to have the information I’m going to give you. I don’t want anyone to have the information, but if Agent Ross is after you, then you’re already involved.”

  His words made me wonder exactly what I was getting into. I glanced at the clock. “Could you do an early lunch?”

  “No, I’m busy until five. I’ll meet you for dinner.” He disconnected the call, and I tried to process the conversation.

  I was just going to have to wait until dinner to figure out why he was being so cryptic. There was a moment of doubt where I thought maybe he was working for Samuel and that’s why he couldn’t talk, but I pushed it away. If he was playing both sides again, he would have found a way to tell me. He’d risked his life to contact me while he was working for Ira.

  I went back to figuring out why Agent Torrid had been the agent Ross tried to claim as dead. I mean, he was a vampire, so she technically wasn’t wrong, but according to his PIB file, he was still on duty and well.

  After a few minutes of searching, there was no obvious connection, and I turned away from the fruitless task when Liz walked back in with the pictures.

  “O’Donald wants you to try to keep your involvement on the downlow. So store the pictures somewhere that another agent won’t stumble upon them.”

  I nodded. “I’m going to take them to dinner with me tonight to see Oliver.”

  “He knows something?”

  “He seems to think so. I’m going to meet with him and see if I can’t figure out why Agent Ross came after me. He wants me to go without Zayne.”

  She grimaced. “Levi’s not going to like that. You can’t just randomly shake your guard, especially Zayne.”

  “Oliver is going to talk to Levi. Apparently, there is some super-secret information involved.”

  “Oliver has super-secret information, imagine that.”

  I shrugged. “Okay, what did O’Donald have to say other than keep my involvement on the downlow?”

  “He thinks we need to go talk to Agent Ross about it. He gave me her contact information, so I’m going to approach her. I think if you approach her, she’s going to shut down. We’re not sure if she’s aware you’re out of containment yet.”

  Probably a good plan. “I’m not supposed to be on the field, anyway. So, I’ll stay here and…”

  “Actually, I want you working from your house so Merick is with you.”

  “I don’t usually get to take case files home. Just pieces of information.”

  She gave me a look that told me that I was clearly lying, and she knew it. “You aren’t supposed to take the case files, but as your lead, I’m making an exception because of your situation.” She gave me a small wink.

  Ah, we were putting on a show. “Okay then, I’m closer to a coffee pot that way anyway.” I stood and picked up the box. “I’m going to head out now then and pick up lunch on the way.

  Liz nodded, and I walked out of the office together. “When are you getting a new car, by the way?”

  I looked out at the yellow Hummer and shrugged. “When I get a chance to go shop for one, or maybe I’ll just convince Levi to give me the Hummer for good.”

  “It seems to be the only one that has survived the car curse so far.”

  “Maybe it’s because I keep buying cars. Maybe I need a truck instead. Or an SUV like yours.”

  She shrugged. “I’ll go shopping with you this weekend if you want.”

  “Yeah, that’s something nice and normal we can do.”

  She held the box while I unlocked the Hummer. I set the box in and she grabbed my arm before I shut the back. “Go straight home. Even if someone is following you. Understood?”

  Well, that was a little more ominous than I was expecting. “Okay.” I shut the trunk, and she smiled and waved at me as she went to her SUV.

  I wasted no time in getting in the Hummer, locking the doors, and driving towards home.

  The drive home is long for someone to trail me, but nevertheless, I was wary of who was behind me on the highway, who was also switching lanes when I was.

  The entire time there was a little black car that came with me. When I pulled off on my exit, it followed me as well. I didn’t have many neighbors, so I didn’t think it was a fluke, but it also made me realize Liz had seen a threat that I hadn’t. Which also meant it wasn’t one of Levi’s people.

  Fuck.

  I pulled on to my street and didn’t think the little black car followed, but then the car turned the corner and I cursed. Okay, so they weren’t going to back down.

  Pulling into my driveway, I glanced at the mirror again. I made sure to pull far enough in that I knew the circle protected me. I parked the Hummer and got out. Crossing my arms, I leaned against the back of the Hummer and waited for the black car to pull up.

  It stopped right before my circle, but no one got out. I stood there and stared at the man and woman in the car. I pulled my phone out and snapped a picture of them before they could reverse and squeal away from the house.

  I shoved my phone into my pocket and went back to the Hummer to drive the rest of the way up to the house. No need to haul the box of information further than necessary.

  Parking the Hummer, I saw Merick step out of the doorway waiting for me. I got out and gave him a little wave. “Know anything about our little visitor?”

  “Just that they were there, and my magic wasn’t happy. You?”

  I went and got the files out of the back. “Nothing much. Liz seemed to know that they were going to be tailing me. I got a picture of them, though. I don’t think they were expecting me to meet them at the circle, because it surprised them when I took my phone out for the picture. I’ll have to run them through the database and see if anything comes up.”

  Merick opened the door of the Hummer. “I thought you were bringing food home.”

  “That was before I knew I was being tailed. Of course, maybe I should have grabbed food and they would have gotten bored and given up.” I chuckled. “We’ll order something.”

  “I’ll cook, actually. I don’t have anything to handle this afternoon.”

  That sounded wonderful. I’d gotten spoiled by Melisandra and Oliver cooking every night. “Okay, sounds good. I have to meet Oliver for an early dinner tonight, assuming he convinces Levi that I can go alone.”

  “Levi does not like Oliver with you alone.”

  “He’s gotten better trusting him. Now that he realizes Oliver isn’t out to kill me.” At least Oliver wasn’t out to kill me anymore. “And since Oliver sacrificed himself working with Ira to save me.” Oliver had also helped me kill Ira.

  Something pushed at my magic and I took a deep breath. Merick’s jaw locked. Another push and I cringed. “Who the fuck is out there?”

  Merick and I went to the front window and saw exactly who was trying to cross our magic.

  Samuel.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Fuck.” I whispered and looked at Merick. “I can’t stay here. He knows I’m here if he’s trying to get past the circle.”

  Merick nodded. “I can’t just pop you into Levi’s mansion or Oliver’s house.”

  Which would be the two most secured places to go.

  “But you can pop me outside Levi’s house, right?” I shuddered as Samuel hit the magic again. “I’m betting he comes back tonight with Hannah and tries to bring the circle down.”

  “Okay, to Levi’s then,” Merick agreed.

  “Let me grab the files first.” I grabbed the box and Merick put his hand on my shoulder. My house disappeared, and w
e reappeared in the front of Levi’s mansion. I quickly put my hand on the scanner and Merick and I both walked in. I kicked my shoes off by the door and went to the kitchen, setting the box on the counter.

  “Hello?” I called. No one answered, but it was still a little early for anyone to be awake here.

  Merick followed me. “Quiet during the day.”

  “Quiet as the grave,” I muttered. “Okay, well. My house better still be standing when I get back. Ira might not have wanted to destroy the house, but I’m not sure Samuel feels the same.”

  Merick nodded. “I’ll go back and make sure it stays safe.”

  “Don’t get hurt.”

  “I’ll get out of there if I need to. Samuel won’t get me.”

  He disappeared, and I sighed before texting Liz and Oliver an update on my location.

  My phone rang, and I expected it to be one of those two, but Simon’s name popped up. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Well, I went to the office hoping to surprise you with lunch and you’re not here.”

  “Yeah, sorry, Liz sent me home for the day, but I’m at Levi’s because Samuel’s at my house banging on my circle.”

  “An eventful day, then. So, rain check on lunch?”

  “Yeah, and I won’t be going back soon. Merick’s back there now trying to do damage control.”

  Simon was silent for a moment. “Is he going to be okay?”

  “I certainly hope so.” I rubbed my eyes. “Want to do breakfast tomorrow? I’m supposed to see my uncle for dinner tonight.” Of course, that was out of the question since Samuel was around unless Oliver came up here. “Or do you want to come up here after dinner? I think that’s probably the safest bet.”

  “I’ll come up there. Maybe we can actually get some alone time. I’m assuming Zayne won’t be glued to your side if we’re there.”