He pressed his lips together. “Binding would work too.”
“That’s also a dark magic. What the hell were you doing in the underground? You didn’t know how to do a tracking spell with blood, and now you’ve suggested two much darker spells.”
He met my gaze. “I did a lot while I was there. I learned a lot.”
I didn’t like how that sounded. His phone rang, and he stood up and answered it, walking out of the room as he did.
I pulled my phone out to tell Liz I was done, and I’d be heading back to my office in a bit. I stood just as Nick walked back in. “I’m going to head up to the office to do some research.”
“I have to go out for a bit. I’m going to take an early lunch, so I’ll be back later this afternoon. Let me know if you find anything out.”
He walked back out, and I stood there wondering what the phone call was. I shook my head and went up to the office.
#
When I got to the office, O’Donald was standing there, his arms crossed. I couldn’t figure out what his game was. He defended me to Balin, yet he couldn’t go into my office. He pushed away from the wall when I approached him.
“Collins, I want to talk to you about what we know on the case, all of it.”
I unlocked the door and motioned to my office. “Please, come in.”
He stared at my desk, took a step forward, shivered, and stepped back. He turned to me. “I’d prefer my office.”
Of course he would. I waited a moment to see if he would explain why, but he didn’t. I closed the office door and walked to the stairs while he went to the elevator. I met Liz in the stairwell. “I thought you were going to your office.” She held the stairwell door open for me.
“O’Donald wants to meet in his office. He still won’t go into mine.”
Liz shook her head and then turned around. “Okay, up to his office then.”
“You too?”
“He said he wanted to talk to me about something with the case.”
I started up the stairs. “He said that he wanted to fill me in on everything he had on the case. Boss Man never helped with the cases unless it got bad, but even the haunted house case he didn’t help with, and that one had a ton of bodies.”
“Yeah, O’Donald seems pretty invested in this one, and I don’t know why. Maybe we’re about to find out.”
“Nick’s out at lunch. He got a phone call and needed to go for an early one. So we might have to fill him in.”
“He mentioned the other day that he had a friend who was in the hospital, so that might have something to do with it.” Liz shrugged.
We walked into the hallway and walked down to the end where O’Donald’s office was. The door was open, and he was sitting at his desk.
Liz and I both took a chair in front of the desk and waited for him to speak.
“What I am about to say does not leave this office.” He looked at the two of you. “We found Nicolas’ DNA at the crime scene in Manitou. Once again it wasn’t a full match, but enough to know that it is a close relative. Mother, father, brother.”
I cringed. “His brother is dead, as far as I know his father is as well.”
“Yes, your case with Devon.” O’Donald leaned forward on the desk. “Are you sure about his father? No other siblings?”
“You know, I never asked about other siblings. The source that told me his father is deceased is a pretty solid source.”
Liz sighed. “You should pull Nick off the case then.”
“I tried that, and he argued that if I pulled him off, I have to pull Agent Collins off. I want Agent Collins on the team still because whoever is after her or taunting her will see that it’s not working. They aren’t framing her, and they aren’t scaring her away.”
“You’re using me as bait,” I said dryly and stared at him. “Typically at our branch, we ask Agents before we use them as bait.”
O’Donald shrugged. “I didn’t think you would argue.” He paused for a moment. “Was I wrong?”
No, he wasn’t, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Has anyone looked into Nick’s family?”
“I want you to do that, but not with the PIB database. Since he was undercover, we don’t know what information we can trust there.”
I glanced at Liz, who nodded.
“The official reason that Nick faked his death was because he was going undercover to learn more about the underground.”
I couldn’t confirm or deny any of it without letting them know that I knew Nick was alive, and I wasn’t sure if that would help keep them from thinking I was still a suspect in this case. “I have a couple sources that can tell me about Nick’s family. I’ll reach out to them today while Nick is on his lunch.” Though it felt almost dirty that I was investigating him, like I was betraying my partner. “Is Nick an actual suspect?”
“No. Like you, I think he’s being set up, but I don’t think he’s being forthcoming on any information regarding his past. That makes it hard to understand the connections there are there.”
I sighed. “Then it’s time for me to confirm a connection. Nick’s father, Christof Averin, worked with my parents.”
“We know. We found that out when we talked to Michele’s family about the connection.”
Lovely. I had a feeling some skeleton’s in my mom’s closet were about to come out. “What else do I need to know about the case?”
“I think we’ve gotten you caught up. Currently our two suspects are Annabella Louise and a family member of Nick’s. But that doesn’t explain the magic and the voice you and Nick are hearing or the missing werewolf.”
“Was Nick at the interview with Annabella?”
“No, Balin insisted that none of PIB be there.”
“I want the recording of that interview. Maybe Nick and I could recognize the voice.” I sighed.
“I’ll put a request in for the tape.” He motioned to the door. “Now, both of you watch your back, and let’s get this case solved.”
Liz and I both walked out of the office toward the stairs in silence. Neither of us wanted to say anything about the new weight on the case. Hiding information from your partner was rough, even if you didn’t trust them completely.
We got to my office, and Nick still wasn’t there. Liz followed me in and threw herself into the chair at my desk. I sat in my chair and sighed. “I’m going to work on the Annabella portion of the case. I can’t ask my contact about Nick’s family until dark.”
“One of the vampires?” Liz asked.
“Levi. He’s the only one alive that knows the full scope of what my parents were doing. Maybe he would know if Nick had another sibling. After that, I’ll try to dig through public records and see what’s there.”
“Okay, let me know what you come up with. I don’t enjoy sneaking around Nick, but if that’s what O’Donald wants to do…”
“Do you trust him?” I asked suddenly.
“O’Donald? Or Nick?”
“O’Donald.”
She sighed. “Other than not entering your office, he doesn’t seem bad. The cases I’ve worked where he’s gotten involved go smoothly, and he seems to know what he’s doing.”
“That’s good.”
She stood. “I’ll be in my office if you need anything. Hopefully Balin can stop being an ass and help us out more.”
“Good luck with that wish.” I laughed.
“I’ll see you at lunchtime.” She gave me a small wave and left, leaving me alone in the office.
There was one more thing I had to do before I could settle in and focus on research. I pulled my phone out and called Travis.
“Abigail, how are you hanging in there?”
He sounded exhausted.
“I’m okay. I needed to tell you, Liz and I checked out a location a tracking spell led us to.”
“And you didn’t find Simon. I can hear it in your voice. Where’s my alpha, Collins?” There was a bit of anger there.
“I don’t know, but I’m do
ing everything I can to find him. Now I have PIB back up because it’s related to a current case.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “The pack is restless. We need him back.”
“Hang in there, Travis. I’m trying.”
“Thank you, keep me updated.” He disconnected the phone, and I hung my head. The wolf pack needed their alpha back, and I needed Simon back. I needed the one thing that was normal and constant in my life. I missed him.
#
A couple hours later, Nick still hadn’t returned, and I only had a few notes on Annabella Louise. Nothing exciting. She was a known witch in North Carolina, where she had a small shop. It’d made the local paper a few times, but the press and media had nothing but good to say about her. She seemed to be squeaky clean.
Which typically meant that something was under the surface. I grabbed my bag and walked out of the office. Nick had said that the shop wasn’t due to open until the end of the week, but chances were someone would be there. If I got lucky, Annabella was going to be there.
I texted Liz on my way out. “I need a ride to Manitou. I don’t have my Hummer yet.”
“I’ll meet you downstairs.” Was what I got back while I was in the stairwell.
I cleared the stairwell and almost ran into Nick. “Oh, you’re back.”
“Yeah, where are you heading to?”
“I was going to go check out Annabella’s shop. See if there’s anything I can learn.”
“Have fun with that. I’ve got some research I need to do.” He brushed past me and headed up the stairs.
A moment later, Liz came out of the stairwell. “Why was Nick taking the stairs?”
“I have no idea, but he’s a little cold this afternoon. Maybe things didn’t go well with what he was taking care of.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Come on, we can grab lunch while we’re in Manitou.” She nudged me toward the door. “Don’t overthink Nick. It won’t end well if you do that.”
I knew she was right. I tried to let it go, but we were working more as individuals than as a team, especially with Balin not wanting us to be a part of the investigation.
Liz and I walked out to her SUV and climbed in. She turned the key.
Nothing.
She glared at me.
“It’s probably just the battery.”
She tried to turn it over again and again, nothing happened. No flashing lights, no dings, no attempt to start up. She let out a frustrated growl and popped the hood.
We both got out and looked at it.
“Or no battery.” Liz grumbled as we saw the hole where the battery should be.
“That’s new.”
“Who the hell steals batteries?”
“My question is, how did they get under your hood without someone noticing? This is the busiest part of the day for PIB. Someone would have questioned something weird going on.”
She frowned. “I’ll check footage with security.”
“Good plan. I’ll see if Oliver can bring me the Hummer. Since Nick’s back, I don’t really want to sit in the office and try to work.”
She grumbled and slammed the hood down. She walked back to the building while I stood outside and called Oliver.
“Niece, have you exploded something again?”
“No, but I’ve been too busy to grab the Hummer, any chance you can bring it to me?”
“I can’t leave Merick, remember? Where are you trying to go? As far as I knew you and Liz were just planning on going to Black Hawk today.”
“I was going to go to Manitou to check out a new shop and grab lunch. Liz’s car is um… disabled right now.”
He chuckled. “Your trip to Manitou is going to have to wait until this evening. Now if you’d excuse me.”
The phone went silent and I let out a sigh. I hated not having my car. I walked back into the office and headed to the reception desk. “Hey Mandi, do we have any SUV’s I could borrow?”
She looked at a log on her desk. “No, looks like they are all out right now. Sorry, Agent A.”
“Thanks.” I walked off and went back to my office. I walked in to see Nick hard at work on his computer. He didn’t even look up at me when I went to my desk.
I sat down and unlocked the computer. I could poke around Google and see if I could access any records through PIB on the house Liz and I went to.
Look at you two, hard at work.
Nick and I both paused in our motions.
Magic brushed against me, but then I felt my protection spell flair, pushing it away. Nick fell to his knees, crying out. I tried to throw a protective circle around him, but my magic instantly bounced back to me, causing me to gasp. He grabbed his shirt like he was in pain, his eyes wide. “Abby…”
Abigail, always with the protection. I own Nicolas. He’ll be coming to me.
With an audible pop, Nick disappeared. I let out a strangled cry of surprise.
I would have brought you too, Abigail, but you’re always so cautious, always ready to protect yourself and push my magic away. We’ll be meeting soon, sweet witch.
I sat in the silence of my office for a moment, wondering what I should do now. Our suspect just took our other suspect, and I was left alone with absolutely nothing.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“He just disappeared?” Liz asked. She sat in front of me, just a couple minutes after the incident.
“Yes, just pop. Not a fade away like with the transportation spell.” I sighed. “The voice said she owned Nick and that she would have taken me too.”
Liz took a couple notes down. “Fuck.”
“Indeed. Nick had mentioned something about doing a spell that could trace a person’s magic and use it to bring that person to him. I’m wondering if it wasn’t that spell they used.”
“Like Adrianna?”
“Yeah, I told him it was darker magic than I was comfortable with, but he was willing to do it, and now he’s gone.”
Liz sighed. “I’ll go update O’Donald. Do not leave your office.”
They were going to put me under house arrest again. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I wouldn’t be any help if I got kidnapped, but on the other hand, I would hopefully find Simon and Nick.
Without knowing exactly what I was dealing with.
Liz left the office, and I looked at the time as my stomach growled. It was past lunchtime now. I was hungry, and since I wasn’t allowed to leave the office, I was going to order lunch. I opened the app on my phone and scrolled through my choices. I was about to make a selection when my phone rang, and Oliver’s name popped up.
“Did you change your mind about the Hummer?”
“No, I didn’t. I wanted to tell you something, but I had to wait until Merick wasn’t in the room. Listen closely, he doesn’t want you to know, but he told me right before I healed him. Whoever is doing this has his sister as well. He doesn’t want her to become a victim, but he wants to keep PIB out of it. He said the Cult was also looking into it.”
I pressed my lips together. “They let him go to bring me in, didn’t they?”
“Probably.”
“Okay. I need to gather some information and talk to Liz before I do something extremely stupid.”
“How stupid are we talking?”
“Make sure that my tracker is working, and we can’t tell Levi about it.”
Oliver actually laughed. “I love when you go against his wishes. Let me in on the plan so you’re not going in completely alone.”
“Trust me, I won’t go in alone.” I paused for a moment. “How much do you know about the Averins?”
“Nick’s family?” Oliver paused. “His father worked with your mother and Tobias. You killed his brother in the case. I believe his mother is still alive.”
“Does he have any other siblings?”
Oliver was quiet for a moment. “I don’t think so, but his father was a bit of a man-whore if I remember right.”
Great, there could be several half siblings running around
. “Lovely, okay.”
“Where is Nicolas? I can’t imagine you’re asking these questions with him sitting right there.”
“Well, he disappeared about twenty minutes ago. Witch’s voice came, and then pop, no more Nick. She said he owned him and that she wanted to take me too, but my magic stopped her.”
“Good to see your protection spell in the office is worth something.” He sounded almost irritated. “Do not lay your phone on your desk or keep it in your bag. If you suddenly disappear, I want to make sure that your tracker is on you.”
I snorted. “Eventually you’re just going to need to put a tracker in my skin or something.”
“Trust me, I’ve thought about it.”
Liz walked into the office.
“I have to go. I’ll let you know if I need any help.” I disconnected the call. “So?”
“O’Donald has a crazy theory, and he wants to put a tracker on you.”
I stared at her. “I’m sorry, what?”
“He wants us to go to Manitou, check out the shop like you talked about, and then just see if the witch tries for you. I told him it wouldn’t work because it seemed like the witch knows what’s going on around you. She’d probably block a tracker or use magic to remove it.” Her voice shook a bit.
“Liz?”
“He wants to use you as living bait to catch this person. And I’m not talking like a full-blown thought-out plan here. I mean throw you to the wolves… so to speak.” She let out a frustrated noise. “As your lead, I know you can handle it. As your guard…”
“Levi would have your head. But this is PIB related, not Samuel. He typically stays out of my job duties.” I sighed. “I agree with O’Donald. We know that they tortured the victims before setting up a false sacrificial ritual. We don’t know how long it was between when they were taken and when they showed up dead. We have three people with this person now, there’s no telling when these bodies will start showing up.”
“Three?” Liz asked.
“Off the record, Merick’s sister is there. He doesn’t want PIB involved.” I tried not to think about Simon being the longest one there right now. “I want to do a little more research and try to get my eyes on Annabella Louise before I throw myself in as bait though.” I glanced at her. “Any news on your car?”
Something Wicked (Here Witchy Witchy Book 11) Page 15
