Psycho Guard edged into the room and stood next to Ma’am. Her jaw muscles bunched when she saw me, and she narrowed her eyes. The hand hanging at her side still had her gun in it.
“Still planning on shooting me?” I folded my arms and raised my brows.
Ma’am’s mouth opened slightly, which was akin to a normal person dropping their jaw on the floor. Her voice rose. “You were going to what?!”
“Well, she ran. I told her to stop, and she wouldn’t, so I said I’d shoot.” The woman stood taller, as if that would lend her position credibility. Taking in Ma’ams thundercloud expression, I figured it wasn’t working.
“Do you know who this young lady is?” Ma’am asked.
“She said she was Agent Bianchi’s sister. But so what?”
As fun as it was to watch Ma’am tear strips off her, Imani couldn’t wait. “Um, Ma’am, I’m sorry to interrupt, but Imani’s missing. I was almost murdered at that house, and I killed someone in self-defence. We need to get back there now.”
The secretary behind the desk drew in a sharp breath, and Ma’am turned back to me, poker face in place. “Do we have coordinates?”
“No.” I told her the address.
She shook her head. “I’m afraid we’ll have to do this the non-witch way. Follow me.” Just before we left, she scowled at the stupid guard. “You’re on leave, effective immediately. There will be an enquiry into your conduct. Leave your gun at reception.” As we marched past her, I finally gave in to my gloating smile. And boy did it feel good.
As we hurried to the lift and car park, Ma’am got on her phone and gathered the troops. At least this was in more capable hands than mine now, but unease cramped my stomach.
Was it too late for Imani?
Chapter 14
Ma’am put a no-notice spell on our Porsche—even she seemed to be partial to the charm of the pretty sportscar—so we could speed to our destination without attracting police attention. As she changed lanes onto the wrong side of the road to overtake a red Mini, I gripped the door and gritted my teeth. “Um, won’t other people not see us and drive into our path?”
“I made it so only police don’t notice us, and we’re invisible to radar. The average person will see us. Don’t worry, dear.”
Easy for her to say—she was the crazy-fast driver. As she took a sweeping bend, my side plastered against my door. My life had never felt more out of my control—both figuratively and literally. But I didn’t say anything else. Imani’s life was at stake, if she was even still alive, and if we were late by a few seconds, I didn’t want to be the reason. Ma’am was a good driver, but I was betting she needed to concentrate while in racing mode.
We finally arrived at the estate. The car kicked up a lot of dust as Ma’am gunned it down the long gravel driveway. She threw the handbrake on and slid one-eighty degrees to a stop. I slapped my hand on my chest. “For the love of God. Since when did you turn into a hoon?”
She raised a brow. “Whatever do you mean, dear?” Her voice was as composed and calm as if I’d just questioned her choice of tea. “My driving skills are impeccable.”
I rolled my eyes. I supposed my heart rate would return to normal eventually. “Whatever. So how do we find Imani?”
Another car, a black BMW SUV, sped down the driveway and stopped a couple of car lengths away. Three black-uniformed agents jumped out. Ma’am gave a nod and opened her door. “These lads will help us. Just a moment, dear. When I’m finished, you can show me through the house. We’ll go over things as they happened.” Without waiting for my answer, she hopped out and met the men at the bonnet of our car.
I got out and eavesdropped. There was probably nothing I could add to help, but you never knew. By the sounds of things, though, they had a decent plan. They’d tracked her phone to this property, but whether we’d find her with her phone was another thing. Wings of panic fluttered in my chest. Please be okay. I hurried to my car and got my camera out of the boot. I’d never tried to get photos of things that had just happened, but I didn’t see why it wouldn’t work. The past was the past. I returned the Porsche.
“Okay. Stay connected,” Ma’am said.
One of the agents nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.” He mumbled something, and he and another of them ran off, towards the left side of the house.
Ma’am and the third agent stayed with me. “Time to show me what happened, Lily.”
Ma’am was young for her age—not that I knew exactly how old she was—so I jogged, knowing she’d easily be able to keep up. The front door was still unlocked. In the vestibule, I called out, “Hello! Anyone home?” What if the owners had no idea of what had gone on? That was assuming they were still alive. This whole scheme had gone pear-shaped pretty quickly. The owners could be oblivious and out shopping, or dead. What a mess.
No one answered. I turned to Ma’am. “All the bad stuff happened in the upstairs bathroom.” I hurried up the stairs. The poker was still where I left it on the floor in the hallway. The pool of blood had begun to seep into the timber floor. I approached the bath, careful to avoid treading in any of the blood. My phone sat at the bottom of the tub, face down. I didn’t want to grab it and sully any evidence.
“So this is it?”
“Yes. The copywriter guy’s name was Adrian. He shoved me into the bath and tried to throw a heater in with me, but I jumped out just in time, then grabbed him and pulled him in. He was holding the heater, which was on, and he fried.” I told her what happened with the agent, Samuel, and how another witch had arrived, that I’d heard a gunshot, but all the bodies were missing when I’d returned with the poker.
I wanted to take photos, but that other agent was standing there, and we didn’t want details of my talent getting out. The less everyone knew about my special power, the better. I wasn’t even sure about mentioning the Regula Pythonissam tattoo. How much had Ma’am told the other agents? And who did she trust? We were generally operating with the assumption that we couldn’t trust anyone except those sworn in at James’s place, which was Imani, Olivia, Will, Beren, Millicent, Ma’am, and James. That was a tiny proportion of PIB agents.
Ma’am turned to the agent, who had stayed watching from the hallway. “Agent Barber, could you secure the house, please? I’m going to call in the forensics team. And find out who owns this place. We need to contact them.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He slid his phone out of his inside jacket pocket and strode down the hallway, towards the stairs.
Once he was gone, I stood at the doorway. “Show me Adrian, after I killed him.” His body appeared in the bath, the heater with him. I clicked off a shot and shuddered. Without looking away—I didn’t want to risk losing the image—I walked in an arc to my left, well away from where I knew the blood was. When I reached the other side of the bath, I leaned closer and took a picture of the tattoo and another one of his face. The dead, staring eyes made me gag. I lowered the camera and took a few deep breaths.
“Are you all right?”
I nodded and swallowed. “I’ll be fine.” I went to the hallway, just outside the door, and raised the camera again—I needed to finish before the forensics guys arrived. “Show me in the bath.” Adrian’s back was to me. He stood over the bath as I looked up at him, my hands on the sides of the tub. It was weird seeing myself in one of these pictures. And even though I knew I’d been terrified, it only just showed through my angry face. I actually looked like I was about to unleash hell. And I had. I smiled, proud of myself. Click. Click.
Not wanting to waste time, I then said, “Show me who killed Samuel.” Samuel’s back was to me, and he raised his hands. Crap! I flicked my camera to video mode and pressed the shutter button to start recording.
The warmth of my magic trickled from my stomach, up through my chest, to my scalp. This was definitely drawing more power than taking photos, but if I channelled it to the river of magic, maybe I could conserve more of my own energy. I opened the portal to the river wider and drew from it.
Adrian was still in the bath, and the newcomer stood behind it, facing Samuel. My mouth dropped open, and I sucked in a loud breath.
“Lily, what is it?”
The guy behind the bath was the same guy who’d been in the photos with Piranha at the warehouse during the tea incident. This was all related somehow. Were they the witch equivalent to the Mafia? “I’m videoing. Hang on.”
I carefully edged to the left of Samuel. Filming from the side would get both of their facial expressions, although I had to stick close to the wall to get them both in, and even then, I had to pan from one to the other. Right now, the new guy pointing the gun at Samuel was talking. I didn’t think the voices would come up in filming later, but you never knew. My magic was full of surprises. And assuming it didn’t have any good surprises, we might be able to read his lips later. His lips stopped moving and curled into an evil smile.
I moved the camera to get Samuel’s face. He said something. His eyes widened. Putting his hands up in a placating move, he shook his head, and now it was clear he was saying, no, no, no. The gun moved into shot. A flash, and Samuel stumbled backwards, clutching his stomach. He fell to his knees and dropped onto his side. Everything froze. That must be it. I filmed for a few more seconds, just in case it was like the Marvel movies where there were outtakes or extra stuff after the credits, but no, nothing more to see here.
I pressed the shutter button and stopped filming. As usual, I had impeccable timing because I could hear voices coming up the stairs. “Are you done?” Ma’am asked.
“Yes. Let’s go downstairs, and I’ll show you the footage.”
We passed the two forensics guys on the way down, and Ma’am stopped to have a quick chat. I kept going—there was no reason for me to eavesdrop this time. Ma’am joined me a minute later, and we wandered into the games room. I created a bubble of silence. “Here are the photos. The last one is a video. I’ve turned the sound up, just in case. I couldn’t hear anything when I was filming, but you never know. My magic is mysterious, especially to me.” I smiled.
Ma’am looked at the photos, then pressed Play on the video. Oh. My. God! The voices came through. Ma’am nodded. One corner of her mouth turned up. My grin, however, was huge. I guessed it was too much to ask for her to have more than an understated reaction, but I wasn’t going to let it ruin my excitement. This was huge. At least I thought it was.
The Greek-looking guy with the neck tattoo said, “We can no longer do business. And your friend here has managed to stuff everything up.”
Samuel’s forehead wrinkled. “He was never my friend. And I’ve done everything you asked.”
“It wasn’t enough.”
And there Samuel was, putting up his hands, trying to plead his case. “But we got you those properties. No, no, no!”
Bang!
He fell to the floor, and the picture on the screen froze.
Ma’am’s voice was quiet as she said, “What’s their overall agenda?”
Was she talking to herself, or did she expect me to answer? “I don’t know, but they seem to be doing things that affect non-witches.”
She turned her sharp gaze on me. “Ah, but not always. Your mother is missing, and they’ve tried to kidnap you. Today—I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice—they tried to kill you.”
“Maybe it’s just because I got in their way, or maybe they weren’t supposed to kill me?”
“Wishful thinking, dear. As it stands, we have to assume the worst. And what have they done with Imani?”
I looked out of the glass doors to the grounds beyond. Was she out there, or had they taken her somewhere? She had to be alive. And where was Will? While I was at it, I might as well ask why we had to die at all. Sheesh, life was a depressing farce sometimes.
Ma’am’s phone rang. “Yes?” She listened for a minute, then turned to me. “Which way to the back garden?”
“Through here.” I hurried to the next room and to the doors facing the back of the property. I tried them, but they were locked. Asking for a rhyme on such short notice was impossible. “Please unlock the doors.” A zap of power shot out through my hand, shocking me. I snatched my hand back, and the door opened by itself.
Ma’am smiled. “Nice one, dear. Now please get out of my way.” I stepped to the side, then followed her through. She jogged for a couple of hundred metres, to where a large brick shed stood surrounded by short topiary balls. The shed was about the size of a triple garage. We entered from the side door.
Imani! The two agents from earlier were standing on either side of her. She sat with her back against a tractor wheel—the wheel was still attached to the tractor. I ran to her and dropped to my knees. “Are you all right? What happened?” I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked her over, checking for wounds or blood. There were none, thank God.
She looked at me, her eyes red and unfocussed. She squinted, shook her head, and winced. “I have the worst blinking headache.” She placed her head in her hands and groaned.
“What can you tell me?” Ma’am asked the two agents who found her.
The taller one answered, “She was lying on the ground, stiff as a board. Her arms and legs were straight—she’d been tied with magic, couldn’t move. We asked her what happened, but she doesn’t remember.”
Ma’am knelt next to me and put her hands on either side of Imani’s head. Ma’am stared into the distance, then shut her eyes. Familiar warmth vibrated my scalp. While she did that, one of the agents dialled someone on his phone. “Agent Minter here. Can you get agent Beren DuPree into the clinic? Yes, under Ma’am’s request. It’s urgent. Thank you.” He hung up as Ma’am opened her eyes.
She angry-snorted out her nose and pressed her lips together. “I’m afraid her memories of the last few days have been wiped. Such an imprecise spell. Damn fools who use it. We’re lucky more isn’t missing. There aren’t too many witches who can do that spell without wiping half the person’s memories out. Whoever did this was competent, but not great. They managed to only wipe a few days, but I’m betting it’s a few more days than they were trying to get rid of. At least there’s no other damage. She’s going to have a migraine until we can get Beren to heal her.” She stood. “Boys, please get her back to the PIB and my nephew.”
Imani gave me a weak wave before one of the agents bent down and gently grabbed her arm. He must have made his doorway around them because they disappeared. The other agent stepped through his doorway, and Ma’am turned to me. “Time to get to work. Are you ready to take some photos?”
Was I ever.
I shouldn’t have been so keen though. “Show me who tied Imani up.” Two men appeared—the guy with the neck tattoo who killed Samuel stood facing the camera, but another man in black stood with his back to me. I swallowed. I knew I’d been missing Will, but now strangers were reminding me of him. This guy was a similar height. His broad shoulders, and the way he stood, his proportions, all reminded me of the man I missed like crazy.
I carefully walked around until I could see the man’s face. Click. Click. “God, no.”
“Lily? What is it?” It was as if Ma’am’s voice came from Jupiter through a voice-mashing fog. Was I still in the real world? Maybe I was, but my heart wasn’t. It had gone to Hell and left me here with a chunk missing, and my breakfast wanted freedom. I swallowed against its attempt.
I took one more photo and lowered the camera. Not bothering to hide the tears spilling over my lashes, I handed her the camera. “See for yourself.” Even my voice came out dead.
She looked at the screen, and her mouth fell open. When she looked at me, I expected her to say something, make some excuse, or tell me it couldn’t possibly be Will standing over Imani, helping our enemy. But she said nothing. Which was the last thing I wanted to hear.
My throat had closed, and my next question barely escaped. “Now what?”
She set her jaw, and her nostrils flared. “We go and save some homeowners.”
Chapter 15
; We both kept our own counsel on the drive to the first house. How could Will betray us like that? Surely he had a good reason. But why wouldn’t he just come home and tell us what was happening if he knew? And did he know they’d tried to kill me and had still done nothing? I shook my head. Not my Will. No, not your Will. Maybe he’d never been your Will? I bit my tongue, trying to stop my tears—I didn’t want red eyes at the next appointment.
After what seemed like a bazillion miles, we pulled up in front of a neat home. Ma’am got out first and led the way to the house. I followed, camera in hand. We were going to pretend to be from the agency since no one would know Samuel had disappeared yet, so the owners would have been expecting us. Our aim was to remove all the haunting devices and stop any more unwanted property sales. Something good had to come out of today, or what was the point?
The man who answered the door to the semi-detached cottage asked why we were forty minutes late. “I’m so sorry,” said Ma’am, smiling. “Our last client kept us back, and we strive to make sure everything is perfect for our clients. We’ll reduce your fee by two hundred quid. Here.” She fished in her pocket and pulled out the money. What the hell? She handed it over.
The man’s eyes widened. He smiled and took the money. “Come in. Come in, please. I’m just glad your clients matter to you so much.”
Ma’am went in first and turned to me. “You know what to do, dear.” She smiled and then turned to the man, taking his arm in a friendly way to lead him to wherever the sitting room was—poker-face champion and now acclaimed actress. I didn’t know where she pulled that smile from. I’m sure mine had left for a holiday until next year. Her wonderful ability—not just with finding smiles when she needed them—was going to get us information. If his house had been haunted, she was going to spell him into forgetting that had ever been an issue and make him decide not to sell.
I visited each room, panning my camera around and taking photos of the invisible cameras. Once satisfied I’d found all of them, I repeated a spell Ma’am showed me just before we’d gotten in the car. “Spying devices be gone, make this house an unhaunted home.” Once the tingle of the spell had faded, I lifted my camera and pointed it at where I’d seen one of the cameras. “Show me the hidden camera.” It was gone. I repeated this for all the spots. I’d done it! One house down, three to go… at least three we knew of and had appointments to. Ma’am had one of the other PIB agents sifting through Samuel’s office to find out all the other places they’d been in the middle of targeting.
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