by R. L. King
“Possibly,” Jason said. To Stone, he added, “my police contact told me they’ve thoroughly investigated Marshall, and they don’t consider him a suspect right now.”
Stone nodded. “Right, then. Let’s leave off Marshall for a moment. Ms. Ellerman, I assume the police asked you about the man in the blue jacket?”
Her aura spiked, and fresh tears appeared in her eyes. “They did, yes. That’s who they think took Ty. But I don’t know anything about anybody like that. They didn’t have a good description. They just said he was at some Indian restaurant in Sunnyvale.”
“Do you have any family friends who might match the description? One of Ty’s teachers, perhaps?”
“Like I said, it’s not a very good description. We know lots of middle-aged men. I already gave the police a list of anybody we know who might even come close to that description, and they’re going to question them all.” She sighed. “I don’t see how this is getting us anywhere. Please—could you just go? I want to be alone for a little while before the police come back.” She pulled out her cell phone and checked the screen. “I keep expecting them to call me back to tell me they’ve found…”
Stone nodded soberly. “All right. I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to upset your further. I know this is a terrible time for you. I’m sure the police will do everything they can to find him, and Jason and I will as well.”
“Yeah…I know.” Her voice trembled, and it wasn’t hard to tell she didn’t believe him. “I just want my son back.”
Stone and Jason left the way they’d come, through the back door, and once again Stone used a combination of magic to keep them from being noticed as they headed back to the car.
“Did you get anything from that?” Jason asked when they were on the road.
“Not a lot, unfortunately.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think so. I was hoping the dad might have something to do with it, but it sounds like that’s a dead end too.”
“Possibly not. It’s probably worth investigating him a bit, just to make sure.”
“The cops are—”
“Not the way the police will. Have you been keeping up your little network of nosey mundanes?”
“Yeah. We’ve actually added several people to it—friends of the ones we already have. We’ve got people spread out all over the Bay Area now, and even a few in other areas. But what—”
“I want to know—discreetly, of course—if there’s any chance Marshall Ellerman might be a mage, or a mundane with any connections to mages.”
Jason glanced sideways, narrowing his eyes. “That’s stretching things, isn’t it? I’ve seen Marshall—he doesn’t look anything like the description we got from Ravi and Isabella.”
“Perhaps not—but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t employ a mage to do the job. If Mrs. Ellerman is wrong and he does want custody, what better way to do it than to spirit the boy away somewhere the authorities can’t reach, wait a while until the heat is off, and then head there himself?”
“Shit, Al, I’m glad you’re on my side. You’ve got a devious mind.”
“Not really—I’m just thinking like a mage. It’s what I would do if I wanted to make someone disappear.”
Jason sighed. “I’ll check with them. If he’s got any connection with the magical community around here, somebody might know about it. I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, Amber, Gina, and I can keep pushing the mundane angle. Is there anything else you can do magically?”
“If you give me another one of those tether objects, I can try another ritual. But I warn you—if he’s far away it will be more difficult to find him, and if he’s under wards it’s likely impossible. I can punch through wards at a closer distance, but if he’s on the other side of the country, or the world…”
“Yeah. I get it.”
“Plus, if the guy did a runner with Ty because he got wise that someone was tracking him with magic, he’ll probably be more careful, which makes it more likely there will be wards to contend with. Even if I can somehow get through them, if I alert him that we’re on to him, he might decide to kill the boy and disappear.”
Jason paled. “Shit, that’s a good point. And anyway, since I don’t really want to ask Mrs. Ellerman for anything else of Ty’s right now, probably best if we hang on to the two we have until we’ve got a better chance of finding something.”
They reached the agency, and Stone got out. “Let me know if you find anything else. Anything at all—in cases like this, the smallest or oddest detail might be important.”
“I will. Thanks, Al.”
Stone didn’t miss how discouraged Jason sounded as he trudged back inside the office. He understood the feeling—privately, he wasn’t convinced anyone in this area would ever see Ty Ellerman again—alive or otherwise.
7
A week passed with no information about Ty, and everyone involved became more discouraged and less hopeful with each day.
Jason kept Stone up to date with a brief call every evening, but the calls were all the same: nothing new. His network of mundanes with magical connections didn’t turn up any useful information; as far as any of them were concerned, Marshall Ellerman had no ties to the magical world. Jason even confided to Stone that he’d found out from Leo Blum that the SFPD had arranged to have Ellerman tailed for a few days, and his phone tapped.
“That came up a dud,” he told Stone late in the week. “All the guy did was go back and forth between work and home, and he didn’t call anybody except food delivery places, work associates, and Sylvia. He seems as stressed and broken up about the whole thing as she is. If he had anything to do with Ty’s disappearance, he should be eligible for an Oscar.”
“Bugger,” Stone muttered. “There goes my best theory.” He’d been working on others throughout the week during breaks from his portal construction, but couldn’t come up with any valid reason why a mage would kidnap an unremarkable teenage boy. “And nothing’s turned up with his parents’ friends, his teachers…?”
“Nothing. The police questioned every one of his teachers and their spouses, Ty’s friends and their parents, and everybody on the lists Sylvia and Marshall provided—their work associates, family friends, the whole bit. Everybody has iron-clad alibis, even if they matched the description.”
“And there wasn’t anything dodgy with the bank? Unexplained payments from Marshall’s accounts?”
Jason chuckled. “You’re starting to think like a detective, Al. But no, they checked all that too. And before you ask, the rental-car people don’t remember anything about the guy who rented the car, and the house wasn’t rented at all. Our kidnapper was apparently squatting in an empty rental unit.”
Stone sighed. “It certainly sounds like this was carefully planned, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah. This wasn’t an impulsive snatch-and-grab. This guy knew exactly what he was doing.”
“Hmm.” Jason’s words had sparked something. “I wonder…”
“What?”
“Well…if this kidnapping was carefully planned, it suggests two things to me. Either there was something specific about this boy that this bloke wanted, or else he’s done this before. Possibly both.”
“I hadn’t thought about that. But how would we even check? Mages are pretty hard to trace. If we hadn’t had you along, we probably would have thought the whole thing was mundane anyway.”
“Sadly, you’re right. It was just a thought. I can’t even tell you anything to check for. I assume children vanish without a trace more often than anyone wants to admit.”
“Yeah.” Jason’s tone was sober. “Not as many as you might think, though. By far the largest number of child abductions are by somebody the kid knows—either a custody dispute, a relative, that kind of thing. It’s rare for a stranger to snatch a kid, and usually if that happens it’s either for ransom or some kind of human-trafficking situation. But there hasn’t been a ransom demand, and I’d bet nobody’s grabbing an upper-middle-class suburban teenage boy fo
r the sex trade. I mean, it’s possible, but I doubt it.”
“And then when you add the magical angle, that muddies things even worse.” Stone sank back into the couch cushions and stroked Raider’s head. “The only thing that makes any sense is if the kidnapper suspects the boy has magical talent. That’s possible, even if both his parents are mundane. But—” He spread his hands. “I’ve got no idea how he’d know.”
“I take it you haven’t had any success tracking down that Ben guy.”
“Not much, no. Kolinsky’s out of communication again, and Halstrom seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. I’ll keep checking, but don’t count on me turning up anything quickly.”
“Yeah…” Jason let out a loud sigh. “Thanks, Al. I’ll keep you updated. I’ve got a couple other jobs I’m working on, and unfortunately our retainer with Mrs. Ellerman ran out and she decided not to renew it now that the cops are taking the case a lot more seriously. So anything I do now is gonna have to be on my own time.”
“You’re not planning on giving up, are you? Because I’m not. I’m intrigued now, and you know what that means.”
“Nah, not at all. Amber’s not an official part of the agency since she doesn’t have a PI license, so she and Gina are working some angles on their own, and I’m doing what I can in my spare time. I want to find this kid as much as you do.”
8
Early the following evening, Stone was in his study, halfheartedly catching up with some research. Nothing new had turned up about Ty Ellerman, and even though he was off work for the summer, he still had papers he needed to finish. He was trying to decide if it was worth his time to shoo Raider out of the office and go in search of something to eat when his phone beeped, indicating a text.
Hey. It’s Amber.
That was unexpected. He couldn’t remember if Amber had ever texted him before, but he didn’t think so.
Hello, he replied. What can I do for you? Did something come up with the Ellerman case?
No, nothing about that. I’d like to talk to you about something else. Jason’s out on a surveillance job tonight. Are you busy? Maybe 8 or so?
Odder still. Stone glanced at Raider, who was perched on the corner of the desk, eyeing a stack of papers appraisingly as if trying to decide if he could get away with shoving them off. Everything all right with Jason?
Oh, yeah. It’s not about Jason. You available?
There was that characteristic bluntness again. Stone found it refreshing. Care to tell me what it’s about, then?
Would rather talk in person.
Sure. Not busy tonight. 8’s fine.
Great. Frank’s Bar and Grill on Almaden. See you then.
Stone put the phone down, looking with narrowed eyes at Raider. “Curiouser and curiouser,” he murmured as the cat nuzzled his hand. “I wonder what she wants.”
Stone had never been to Frank’s; he wondered if Jason and Amber had discovered it together, or if she’d picked it at random. It was an unpretentious little place with a rough-wood façade and rock music piping through speakers out front.
She was already there when he arrived, seated at a booth in the bar with a beer in front of her. She wore her characteristic, no-nonsense outfit of T-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket, her brown hair tied back in a ponytail. “Hey,” she said as he approached. “Thanks for coming.”
“Er…I couldn’t exactly turn you down. I assume Jason’s clued you in about my legendary curiosity.”
She grinned. “Yeah, he said it’s kind of a defining characteristic, and I haven’t seen anything to the contrary yet.”
“That might be an understatement.” He slid into the booth across from her, and the server almost immediately stopped by again. He ordered a Guinness and settled back. “So—what can I do for you? I assumed it would be about the Ellerman case.”
She looked troubled. “I wish. We’re coming up empty on every angle with that. I’m getting worried about the kid, if you want the truth.”
“So am I. But if it’s not about that, I’m guessing you asked me here instead of to your place because you don’t want Jason to know whatever you’re planning to discuss with me?”
“Not…exactly. He knows about it—well, he knows how I feel about it, anyway. And I’d mentioned I wanted to talk to you.”
This was getting more intriguing by the minute. He shifted to magical sight, but her blue-green aura revealed nothing. “Please, enlighten me. I haven’t got a clue what you might be getting at.”
“It’s about Verity.”
He blinked. “What…about her?” He’d been forcing himself to keep busy so he didn’t think about Verity, but it wasn’t working as well as he’d hoped. If nothing else, he figured it might be helpful having another mage around to search for leads on Ty Ellerman.
Sure, that’s why you want her back. Everyone believes that.
She looked down into her drink, her typical bluntness deserting her for the moment. “Let me start by saying I know this isn’t technically my business. This is really something Jason should be talking to you about—but he won’t.”
“Did something happen? Have you heard from Verity? Is she in trouble?” The server dropped off his Guinness, and he tightened his hand around the glass.
“No. She’s not in trouble as far as we know. Haven’t heard anything from her since you said you did.”
“Well…what, then?”
She sighed. “Look. I don’t know a good way to say this without just coming right out and doing it. That’s the way I usually do things, but in this case, you might not think it’s the best approach.”
“Go ahead. I’ve never been one to dance around difficult topics.”
“Okay. I hope you mean that.” She took a long drink. “I haven’t been around you guys all that long, so this is the perspective of a perceptive outsider.”
“Sometimes that can be the most useful one.” Stone continued trying to second-guess where she was leading, but so far he was coming up empty.
She met his gaze, as if gauging whether she thought he could handle what she had to say. “I don’t like the way Verity’s been treating you. And I don’t think Jason’s too thrilled about it either.”
Stone started. “What?”
“Told you it wasn’t going to be easy. Look—I know you two have a long history, one I barely know the details about. I know she was your apprentice. I know something happened—Jason won’t tell me what, and it’s none of my business anyway—that got you two together when you weren’t expecting to. But…I’ve been watching, and talking to Jason, and…yeah.” She trailed off, glancing at him as if expecting a reply.
His first impulse was to snap back at her, to take the defensive, to tell her none of this was any of her—or Jason’s—business. But he didn’t do any of those things. Instead, he only said, “I see.”
She remained silent, continuing to watch him.
“And…what is it exactly that you think she’s doing that’s objectionable?”
She leaned forward, sharpening her gaze. “Let me ask you a question, Alastair. Suppose the situation was reversed.”
“Reversed?”
“Yeah. Suppose instead of what she’s been doing to you, you did it to her? Asked her to accept you seeing other people, strung her along, and then had a big fight with her and decided to take off on your own for nobody knows how long, expecting her to just wait for you until you got your shit together?”
Tension crawled up Stone’s neck. “That’s not how it is. Not at all.”
“No? Tell me where I’m wrong. I’m listening.” She didn’t sound blunt or accusing now—simply calm and matter-of-fact.
“She—” he spread his hands. “It’s…complicated. And I’m not sure I want to be discussing my personal life with you, Amber, to be honest.”
“You said you’d hear me out. You don’t have to agree with me, or like what I have to say—but I think it’s high time somebody stopped tiptoeing around you and actually said what everybod
y else is thinking.”
“Everybody else?”
“Well…Jason and me, anyway.”
Stone narrowed his eyes. “Jason thinks this? For a long time, he wasn’t even in favor of Verity and me getting together, but not because of her.”
“Yeah, I know. He told me. He thought you were too old for her. He doesn’t think that anymore. But I’m pretty sure he’s starting to think she might be too young for you.”
“That’s just semantics.”
“It isn’t. Look—it’s no knock on Verity. She is young. She’s been through a lot of serious shit in her life, the kind of stuff that would break somebody who isn’t as strong as she is. And it’s not like I think she’s doing it on purpose.”
“Doing what on purpose?”
“What she’s doing to you. I think maybe she just doesn’t see how it’s affecting you.”
“Is that right?” He glared at her. “And you do? We’ve barely interacted, Amber. How can you presume to know how any of this is affecting me?”
“It’s not hard to see. Frankly, you aren’t doing a very good job of hiding it. You’re the kind of guy who doesn’t let people see what he’s feeling. Believe me, I know the type. My oldest brother is the same way. He’d gnaw his own leg off before he’d let on he was hurting about anything.” Before Stone could speak, she held up a hand. “All I’m saying is that I don’t think this is either of your fault. Nobody’s wrong here, not really. But you can’t let her keep doing this to you.”
Again, Stone drew breath to snap at her, and again he subsided. “You don’t get it,” he said heavily. He wanted to get up and leave, and had to force himself not to. Amber was right: he’d never been any good at discussing this kind of stuff, even with Verity. But when he looked up at her again, he saw no accusation, no confrontation—only the straightforward look of a friend who wanted to help. “She is young. I get that. I can’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. It wouldn’t be fair to her.”
